The morning rays filtered in over the horizon, touching upon the gathered crowd standing around. A light breeze rustled my hair as Labby crackled with purple lightning, flickering her ears in nervous anticipation.
I raised my hand, petting Labby’s fuzzy head, echoing her nervous excitement.
“Chirp!” Sheldon exclaimed, bumping his head against my hand, as I held him. Twilight chimed alongside Sheldon, excitedly twirling as she sat upon my head. I grinned at the excitement I felt from Twilight, and her desire to explore and an undercurrent of the desire to hunt.
My hand went into one of my sleeves, feeling at the drugnades present inside, and the single Gu-nade which I hoped I didn’t need to use. I scanned the crowds present, glancing at the various cultivators standing around, wearing the robes of the outer sect. I felt slightly out of place as I stood among the many young cultivators, some extremely so, looking close to 14 years old and so on.
We’d all gathered just outside a little section of the forest that covered the sect hills. The area was marked with a massive formation that spanned across, shimmering with Qi and letting anyone nearby know of its presence. I wondered if the formation was to keep the spirits out of the area, or to keep them in. I noted similar formation areas rising in thin pillars of light. It seems as if this wasn’t the only place that the selection round was occuring.
I took one last look, not finding Liuxiang, or either of the twins in this part of the selection round. At least this should be fairly simple in that case.
I noticed a disciple glance at me in confusion, and I couldn’t tell whether it was due to the turtle, rat and plant spirit that I had with me, or the fact that I was visibly older than almost everyone present in the area.
I continued to ignore the boy, not willing to engage in any conversation. My mind was already starting to be filled with all sorts of possibilities and ideas for what kind of herb might be the prize, what may be the selection process itself, and how I could run all sorts of experiments with the things I would gain.
Just the thought of carrying out a mountain of herbs from the tournament and sitting on a pile as I sent the pills to Su Lin and began to establish my own Alchemy shopping and pill trading and selling network was enough to almost make me break out in a cackle. The same thought and the potential to gain these resources was likely also why so many more disciples were present here, than I’d anticipated.
I waited in silence as a few moments passed. As the sun had risen a decent way above the horizon, I felt Qi swirl and rustle up ahead, fog and mist spreading. A man garbed in white robes with light blue clouds sewed upon them stepped out of the fog, their presence spreading out.
Seventh. Realm.
Sheldon spoke in my head, and I nodded. I dipped my head in respect alongside the many disciples at the appearance of the Elder. A moment later, I raised my head, looking up ahead.
The elder swept his hands around, turning towards us. I saw the elder pause in surprise as his gaze rested upon Sheldon and Twilight for a few moments. I held my breath, waiting for the Elder to speak, but in a smooth motion the man continued and with a pulse of Qi, I heard a voice carry across the field.
“Disciples. It is an auspicious day on which we have all gathered here, to start the selection for the upcoming spirit herb tournament. To think of this as any lesser than the martial tournament running alongside would be a mistake, for this is a chance to perform, with not just your might, but by your cunning and knowledge. Two of you will be chosen from each selection area. Two among the tens gathered here. And these two will have the opportunity to present themselves in front of the entire sect, and Lord Zhou himself. Do not let this opportunity go to waste,” the Elder said, his voice clear and resonant with each word articulated with a slow careful humm, like the verses of a poem.
“The challenge is simple. There are eight tokens hidden among the area. Two tokens form a medallion of either the sun, or the moon. There are two lunar medallions and two solar ones. With each medallion containing a trial within it. The victor needs to acquire both the lunar and the solar medallion to qualify. Upon any fatal injury, the disciple would be teleported out of the arena, and attended to immediately. The ward placed upon the area will ensure no mortal harm befalls any disciple,” the elder said and I took a breath of relief. This opened up the possibility of using the Gu-nade too if the need called for it. Although I should try and test how effective the ward and teleportation was first. I looked back up, as the Elder finally finished his talk.
“That will be all. May Heaven’s favor be with the skillful,” the Elder announced, vanishing in a cloud of fog.
The disciples stared around in confusion for a moment, when a few people shot forward and towards the forest. Realizing that the selection had already started, a rush of disciples made their way into the forests ahead.
I decided to stand silently outside, scanning the area. Eight tokens, forming four medallions. Randomly searching for one didn’t seem like the best method to find them. There had to be clues given for where to find them, something to point out the location of the tokens.
“Can you smell anything?” I asked Labby.
“Squeak! Labby can smell lots and lots of herbs. So many herbs. But no, Master, Labby can’t sense the tokens,” Labby said, flicking her tail.
My sight went to another boy standing nearby, with tall thin limbs that hung awkwardly by his side and a book open in his hands, he stepped calmly towards the area where the Elder had appeared. I raised my eyebrows as the boy crouched down, touching the earth before he glanced back towards, his eyes narrowing as his lips curved up a light smile. I saw the boy whisper something, and even though the words didn’t read my ears, I could still tell what he’d said from his lips.
‘I’ll be taking this one’
I stared, confused as the boy walked ahead, and my eyes widened when he vanished in thin air. Some kind of illusion?
I walked ahead, going closer to the area and moving my hand awkwardly through the air, but found nothing. Closing my eyes, I spread my senses out and tried again. The presence of a thin veil touched upon my senses, anchored to the ground beneath. A small gap through the opening leaked minute amounts of Qi out to the world. I focused on the gap in the veil, stepped ahead with my eyes closed.
Something passed over my body, the sensation of Qi washing through. I opened my eyes, and was greeted by a dark cavern deep underground. Lunar Qi touched my senses, flowing in from ahead as I glanced at the dark area, with almost no light present in it. I doubted I could see anything if I hadn’t been a cultivator.
“Well, I guess we’ve found something at least. Now to get to it before that boy does,” I said, as Labby squeaked.
Forming a tiny ball of fire above my hand to provide some light, I started to walk ahead. The caverns curled and curved around, like a slithering snake, with branches upon branches diverting from the central tunnel in all sorts of directions. I continued to follow the trail of lunar Qi, ignoring the side areas for now, as I made my way ahead.
A crackle of lightning had me pause.
“Labby can feel it. Lunar Qi, lots of it.”
I nodded my head in response, pouring Qi towards my feet. Wind whipped up around me as I used the wind step, rushing ahead at high speeds. The cavern flew past me, as a two way split path appeared.
“Master, left!” Labby exclaimed, and I followed her, rushing into the left tunnel.
The area widened up ahead, much similar to how it had been in the cavern I’d found sheldon in. A silvery pool lay up ahead, shimmering with a beautiful mist as the image of a still moon reflected itself upon its surface.
I saw the crescent moon on Labby’s forehead light up, as the Lunar Qi coagulated all around her, her nose twitching as she tried to find for drifting Qi from the token.
“Chii~” Twilight chimed, a stream of thoughts heading towards me. ‘Big. Lake. Little. Fire?’”
I looked around, confused about what she meant when I found it. A little torch hid all around the surface wide cavernous section, with little beams of light coming from the shining moon from the lake heading towards them. I saw one torch shimmering with a blue light, a singular beam from it heading towards the lake.
“I guess… I have to light the torches and focus the light on the moon?” I said, a bit amused at how odd this puzzle was. My smile slipped when I realized that there was no good way to light the torches.
I stood around, trying to look for an answer to the puzzle, and find a way to solve the puzzle when I heard Sheldon speak up.
“Chirp!” the little turtle exclaimed, opening his mouth as Qi flared out. The pool of water shuddered as if shaking from a powerful earthquake and I stumbled back as the entirety of the lake lifted itself up in the air, in a swirling whirlpool.
My mouth hung open at the display of a literal ton of water hanging mid air before my gaze drifted downwards to a pedestal now empty of water, with a half token shining with the image of the moon.
I stumbled closer, dropping into the crater of the lake and grabbed the token. I looked up to the ceiling covered with hovering swirling water as laughter bubbled out from my chest.
“I guess that’s one way to solve the puzzle,” I smirked as Sheldon squeaked once more. Laughing, I turned around and made my way out as Sheldon let go of the hovering water, returning it to the lake with a massive splash that drenched me.
“You did that on purpose didn’t you,” I glared at the turtle through my wet soaking hair, even as I pulsed my Qi to evaporate it all. Sheldon squealed happily, bumping his head against mine and I couldn’t say anything more to his cute little smiling face.
“Alright, the other half might be in the right tunne-”
“Truly unexpected. I never thought the sect misfit would get so far, and so quick too,” a voice echoed through the cavern as the boy from before stepped closer, the other half of the lunar medallion grasped in his hand.
“My name is Xian Fang, and I would suggest handing over the token,” the boy spoke, his voice calm and his eyes assessing.
I struggled to hold back a sigh, putting the token in my pouch as I started to circulate my Qi. The classic fight with the arrogant boy in a tournament arc setup, I had been expecting this. With a deep breath, I looked up at the boy waiting for me to speak and announce my name. I decided to use my starting move.
With a pulse of Qi towards Labby, I shouted my first move. “Labby use thunderbolt!”
“Squeak!”