Chapter 0108 – The First Round Of The Tournament
As Ning Cheng brought Ji Luo Fei to the God Wind Academy’s Stall, Liu Xian hastily came out to greet them. As an elder with the cultivation of Profound Congealing Realm, even if Ning Cheng was a core disciple of the God Wind Academy, Liu Xian’s attitude towards Ning Cheng was extremely polite.
But what made Ning Cheng feel a bit strange, was that he unexpectedly did not seen Zhu Mu Er. Just when Ning Cheng was going to ask about Zhu Mu Er, a suddenly clear and crisp voice sounded out next to him, “Deacon Liu, I want to take part in the tournament of the 5 Star Academies on behalf of the God Wind Academy.”
Ning Cheng immediately turned around and saw that the speaker was a woman with the cultivation of True Condensation 6th Level, and had a slightly dark skin tone. However, she was really pretty, and was even prettier than Zhu Mu Er.
When Liu Xian looked at that woman cultivator, he spoke with a wry smile, “Meng Jing Xiu, for the first round we have to let Ning Cheng participate to score points….”
Hearing the name Meng Jing Xiu, Ning Cheng immediately knew who the opposite party was, this Meng Jing Xiu was the same person who was ranked 7th in the preliminary round, before when he was still not a member of the God Wind Academy, she was the person who scored the highest points among the people from the God Wind Academy.
“Deacon Liu, this tournament is not the same as the competition between the Spiritual Roots. Although my Spiritual Root is somewhat of a lesser quality, but in the first round of written exam, I would not necessarily lose out to him. At least, my 71 points came from my own memory, moreover I also had not read any basics about Talismans before.”
As Meng Jing Xiu spoke till here, she also specifically looked at Ning Cheng, and then once again continued, “Even if I was not able to score good points in the first round, I can also get a good result in the 2nd and the 3rd rounds. Whether if it was comprehension or battle, I am confident that I will not be worse than anyone else. Deacon Liu, you are a senior of the Profound Congealing Realm, you should know that my True Essence is much stronger than that of other cultivators at the True Condensation 6th Level.”
Ning Cheng did not bother to interfere at all, moreover he also was very impressed by the way this Meng Jing Xiu managed things, this woman must have also joined the God Wind Academy with the same aim as him. The strength of the God Wind Academy was the worst among the 5 Star Academy, if he had not joined, then this Meng Jing Xiu would definitely be the representative of the God Wind Academy in the Tournament of the 5 Star Academies. But now that he had joined, Meng Jing Xiu’s position was given to him and she ended up being pushed out of her place.
For a person like Meng Jing Xiu to join the God Wind Academy to attend the Tournament of the 5 Star Academies, there was only one absolute reason that he could think of, and that was to enter the Angry Axe Valley. This has to be the idea of that woman. And although she was less than 30, and she did not have a Pure Spiritual Root, but she was still able to cultivate to the True Condensation 6th Level, it definitely showed that she was not ordinary.
Ji Luo Fei, although felt a little dissatisfied by the way this Meng Jing Xiu talked about Ning Cheng, but she did not like to butt in such a silly thing, as such she only frowned, but did not speak up. In her mind, she still had some concerns about the Shui Clan.
Liu Xian was also in a difficult position, he clearly knew why Meng Jing Xiu joined his God Wind Academy, it was to enter the Angry Axe Valley. If Meng Jing Xiu participated in the Tournament with her qualifications, he knew that she would not be able to get the quota for the Angry Axe Valley with just her intelligence. Even if the God Wind Academy somehow managed to obtain the first position, she would not be able to get the quota.
At this time, a middle aged woman arrived next to Liu Xian, and pulled out a letter as she handed it to Liu Xian. After Liu Xian opened the letter and read the contents, he secretly sighed. After he put away the letter, he said to Meng Jing Xiu, “Since that is the case, you can also enter. Ning Cheng your cultivation is the lowest, you can simply participate in the first two rounds, the third round will mainly depend on the scores of the three people – Chu Yong Xin, Gu Hong and Min Rui, the second round score will be handed over to Meng Jing Xiu.”
As long as Meng Jing Xiu could participate in the tournament, and comparing herself to the other people participating along with her, no matter what, she had absolute faith in her abilities, and definitely was not worse than others. Although she knew that the quota for the Angry Axe Valley was extremely difficult to get, moreover even if it was more difficult, she would try her utmost to get that quota.
Ning Cheng was also not going to say anything, and so after Liu Xian selected the 5 People, Ning Cheng just pulled Liu Xian aside and said to him, “Deacon Liu, in the morning I ended up with a bit of a minor clash with the people from the Shui Clan. During the course of the tournament, I ask Deacon Liu to please look after Ji Luo Fei.”
By now Liu Xian knew that Ning Cheng’s and Ji Luo Fei’s relationship was not shallow, if the relationship was just a general one, then two people like them would definitely not live in the same house together. Now, after listening to Ning Cheng’s words, he immediately laughed and said, “You can rest assured, Luo Fei is also a disciple of my God Wind Academy, although my God Wind Academy is at the bottom of rest of the 5 Star Academies, that does not mean that it would fear a trivial clan. Right, what exactly happened with you guys in the morning to end up fighting with each other?”
Ning Cheng gave an awkward smile, “On the way here, I killed a disciple from the Shui Clan, he dared to bully Luo Fei, so I ended up hitting him a bit heavily.”
“Ah……” Liu Xian suddenly felt a bit of pain in his head, just how was this a little skirmish? For a person to kill a member of the Shui Clan, it would really be strange if the Shui Clan gave up.
“Will you tell me exactly what happened, so that at least I can be ready.” Now that he knew that Ning Cheng had killed a member of the Shui Clan, Liu Xian also carefully asked, if he Shui Clan dared to cause trouble, he would definitely not be passive.
Ning Cheng also did not hide anything, and revealed the matter regarding Ji Luo Fei completely, after Liu Xian heard Ning Cheng’s words, he instantly relaxed, “Now that I heard your reason for doing so, I can assure you that during this Tournament period, the Shui Clan will not come. Moreover, after the Tournament ends, we will also return back to the God Wind Academy, and the Shui Clan would not be able to harm you in any way. However, when you and Luo Fei go out, it would be better if you guys kept a lookout for people seeking revenge on you, after all the Shui Clan will not be nice to you.”
“I understand, Deacon Liu, you can be rest assure that I definitely am not an easy-going man.” Ning Cheng smiled, he had always faced people with much higher cultivation than his own, otherwise he would not have dared to slap that Gu Fei at the entrance of the Cang Qin Academy. Now that his cultivation was countless times stronger than before, how could his courage diminish?
Liu Xian also silently shook his head as he thought, “I know that you really are not an easy-going man.”
For an easy-going man it would be impossible to take the first position in the preliminary round, moreover during the time when he had to choose a 5 Star Academy, didn’t he also borrowed a few knives to kill.
At this moment, a loud booming voice could be heard all around the Mo Ze Grand Plaza, “The Hua Continent’s Tournament of the 5 Star Academies’ First Round is about to begin, each of the 5 Star Academies, are required to send two representatives to the central area of the plaza above the main altar, all the rest of the cultivators are invited to spectate, but can only stand outside the Tournament Area, and calmly wait for the results of the Tournament. Those who try to hinder the tournament in any way, will be killed on the spot.”
The central portion of the Plaza now had an incomparably huge main altar placed on top of it, and directly above the main altar there was a man sitting in the middle. When Ning Cheng’s eyes fell on this man, he immediately felt an inexplicable sense of majesty emanating from him, and did not dare to continue to look at this man, let alone trying to assess his cultivation level.
Nevertheless, Ning Cheng was sure that his cultivation was not as good as the cultivation of that white haired old woman, he guessed that this man should be the person who came from the Intermediate Class Continent to chair the selection of the 6 Star Academy. On both sides of this dignified looking man, there were three people sitting. Looking at the big table in front of them, he could guess that they should be for the people who would judge the rounds of the tournament.
Below these seven people, there were a few seats dedicated to the 5 Star Academies with their emblems being branded onto them, every 5 Star Academy had two representatives that sat on those chairs. The God Wind Academy also had two representatives, other than Deacon Liu Xian, the other one was a woman with the cultivation of Essence Building Realm.
In front of the main altar was a huge square platform, as Ning Cheng looked all around this square platform, he could see that there were many Restrictions set on every side of the platform. Other than the 5 participants from the 5 Star Academies, most of the cultivators stood either at the side-lines of this huge square platform or were standing outside of the main altar.
Other than that, everyone could see what would go on inside from the 4 huge projection Array Formation screens. In accordance with the usual practice, everybody understood that the first 3 of the 4 Projection Array Screens should show the result after the first 3 rounds were over, and the final score along with the rankings of the five 5 Star Academies would be shown on the final 4th Projection Array Screen.
The booming voice could once more be heard again, “The 25 participants please enter the square platform, and take a seat at random, and make your preparations to begin with the First Round.”
Until that particular moment, although all the people in the Grand Plaza knew that the first round would be a Memory Round, but no one expected that it would be carried out in full view of others.
As that booming voice faded out, on the square platform in front of them, appeared 25 seats, and before each seat, there was a small table.
It was similar to the setup Ning Cheng saw in the 5th Preliminary Written Round. On the 25 tables there were 2 sheets of paper and a pen neatly placed as if they were just waiting for a person to start.