Capítulo 87: The Day of the Tournament - An Odd Pair.
Normally, the Titanic Steel Sect had a serene atmosphere as everyone went about their daily tasks and work, cultivators would either be looking to earn some points or closed away working on their cultivation, however there were times where a wave of energy would be injected into the atmosphere, causing the place to feel abuzz.
Today, one of those events would be taking place for the first time in a while, it isn't one of the large-scale events that would have the entire body of disciples running around, just a smaller one for the newer or weaker disciples; However it served as a starting signal, the sect was returning to its regularly scheduled events that had been on pause!
Not just that, many divisions, higher ranking disciples and elders had their eyes on the newcomers tournament, after all the entrees had only been in the sect for a short period, they were on the look out for gems in the rough so they could steal them before anyone else.
For Shu He, after he had retrieved his two techniques he decided to go full head down to work on learning them, he had other things planned in the future but at that time getting a good placement or winning the tournament felt more important to him.
A month had passed in that time.
Currently he was sat in a verdant garden that was near the housing for outer disciples, it was simplistic in design and nature, no special formations or inhabitants just a nice looking garden filled with life and large in size, the most important thing for Shu He was that it was placed in a location where plenty of sunlight would reach it; He had found it after searching around for an area ideal for the Two Celestials Method and saw other cultivators heading here, so he knew it was a good location from that.
He sat cross legged with a straight back, his hands clasped in a pyramid shape as he breathed steadily but in a controlled pattern unlike his usual meditation method, he could feel a warm energy his body through the pyramid like hand sign, steadily swimming through his body as each breath tugged at the string a warm light, pulling it towards a wellspring that he had formed in his body, it was located in the same ethereal location as the core flame, two pools one filled with a warm orange energy and the other a chilly blue energy, they were small and barely made up a few drops currently but they were pure yang and yin energies which would be incredibly beneficial for his future!
Every so often a miniscule amount of yang energy would form in the air and like water dripping from a stalagmite, fall and merge with his yang wellspring.
This was the core feature of the Two Celestials Method, by bathing in the sun or the moon you could form wellsprings of the respective energy, the best time to do so is mid-day when the sun is high in the sky, or when there's a full moon, but it can be done at any time as long as you can bathe in the 'Celestials' light.
*DOOOOOONG*
Suddenly, Shu He's eyes shot open as he looked to the sky, the Sun had began arcing towards the peak of the sky, morning was almost over as the bell called out, it was almost midday he had been here since sunrise in prepare himself.
The tournament would start in a couple more hours, but he wanted to head over there now so he could register early, he didn't know quite how busy it will get or how many people will watch but he didn't want to tempt fate.
He stood up and began picking his equipment up off the grass that had laid besides him, this time he wasn't only wearing his sect uniform since he would be fighting for the first time since he came here.
A long, thick, and black wood bow with an equally thick string to boot, it was Shu He's bow that he had inherited from his father, Shu Li.
He stared deeply at the bow as he took it in his hand, his heart throbbed with a tinge of pain as he felt the smooth wood surface that wanted to reflect his memories before he slung it over his shoulder.
One might think he'd want to use a weapon suited for cultivators, but to him this was the best bow he could get, its higher power and durability unlike normal mortal bows proves useful for him, even now he wonders just how strong his father was to use this without cultivation.
He also had a modified quiver that sat flat against his leg, a row of arrow butts sticking out the top showing he was fully stocked.
Unfortunately, the normal sect uniform wouldn't have allowed him to wear a quiver like this with its long outer robe, so he would have to ditch that; Luckily he found out that it was fine as long as the sect symbol and colours were shown properly the clothing could be worn differently so he had ditched the outer cloth and had the legs tightened so they flowed less.
He wondered why more disciples didn't modify the uniform.
'Maybe it's a culture thing? Hopefully no one takes it the wrong way…' His clothes didn't really resemble 'daoist' robes much anymore, but if he really needed he just needed to wear the outer robes again.
Though on second thought, it could also be the cost, he had asked Li Liling the manager of the Covetous Dragon Pagoda about it and she sorted it out for him in exchange for some menial tasks, maybe it was normally a lot more expensive?
Next, he adjusted a pouch that he had tied across his chest, hanging to the left side of his torso for quick access, and finally there was a small sheathe on the opposite leg as his quiver.
Looking at the weapon placed in it, Shu He couldn't help but smile, Yun Jiang hadn't let him down and a few weeks after he met with him he was called back to the Forging Division, apparently he didn't want to have it delivered but rather wanted in hand it over himself.
After arriving Shu He could see why, he was incredibly proud of his work and almost bragged Shu He's ear off about how he had finally perfected his current technique, saying he would be able to access even more resources because of it.
Shu He put it hand on the handle and drew it from the sheathe, it left its cover with a light *shing* sound as he stared at the blade, he wasn't deeply knowledgeable about weapons or their forging process, but he could tell this weapon was truly beautiful at a glance.
It had a long red blade that was just shy of being a short sword, the sunlight made it glimmer as if a red universe was contained in the semi-transparent material, yet it didn't have the feeling of bluntness a gemstone may give, instead it was as if every inch of the knife was made to cut.
It was his first spiritual weapon, so he couldn't help but be enthralled with it, the handle was made with tough and fine leather with a golden guard and metal fittings that accented the red nicely.
Of course, it wasn't just the visual appearance of this knife that was striking.
If he were to channel his Qi into it…
He sheathed the knife.
'I don't know if I'll get to use it here, I'd rather keep it secret honestly.' He thought to himself, pushing away the urge to test it out.
He stretched his body on habit, he felt the higher he increased his cultivation the less this process was needed, but it felt wrong to not do it after sitting still for a long time.
"Now then…"
'Let's try to win this thing'.
He set off for the training grounds.
…
The training grounds were one of the most populated areas of the sect usually, they contained multiple mock duel arenas, many training dummy or target practice areas along with wide open zones for free form training and other such pieces of equipment here and there, so many disciples would regularly attend.
It was free as well, so there's that too.
However today, it was even more bustling than usual, Shu He was stood at the entrance with his mouth dropping open at the crowds moving about.
'What the hell is all this?!' He thought as he looked at a scene that resembled a fair.
He saw multiple concession stands lining the grounds along with makeshift shops with carpet stocked with products.
"Is this a flea market or something?" He said with doubt, hoping someone would answer him.
But no one did, his voice was drowned out by the crowds chatting.
He sighed as he entered the grounds, he saw a sign high up that gave directions towards the sign-up location thankfully so he knew where to go, so he began to stroll in that direction while glancing at the pop up stores that he passed, he recognised a lot of them since he had seen or visited them in the entertainment district before.
'Hm?' he saw a long line that stuck out, when he stood on his tiptoes to attempt to look over the crowd he saw the sign for Yin Xiuying & Tang Ju's store.
"They're here too…" He wondered what they were serving today, he fondly remembers the soup he had that day.
'Maybe I'll visit after the tournament; if they're still here that is.'
There were many disciples that didn't normally own a store here as well, they had things they wanted to sell on mats on display.
'It seems events like this tournament are a great time to sell on unwanted items or amass customers, as expected of a massive sect' His shock had begun to wear off as he thought about it more, he had thought he'd just wander in and there would be some spectators and the few people that signed up, but he was clearly thinking too small.
"What do you mean you haven't reached it yet?!"
Suddenly he heard a yell above the crowd of people, his brow creased as he felt he knew the voice so he looked over, a few others in the crowd did too.
"I-I'm almost there, it's not like I'm in a rush!" Another voice replied.
Shu He also felt he recognised that voice too so he began pushing through the crowd until he reached the outer edge of the area where there were less people, his eyes locked on to two figures, one with her arms crossed and the other with his shoulders slumped.
Shu He looked on doubtfully.
"Mei Ling? Wei Yu? It's the two of you?" He asked, looking at the odd pairing, one a member of Huo clan's branch family and the other the descendant of a former member.
Mei Ling glared at Wei Yu, her pure black hair swaying and his red pupils locked on to his shrunken figure before glancing to the side and catching Shu He's visage.
"Shu He! You've got to listen to this, Wei Yu hasn't even reached Meridian Awakening yet!" She complained to him.
Shu He looked at her, then cocked his head in confusion "…So?"
"See! It's not that bad!" Wei Yu's eyes lit up seeing how little care Shu He gave it.
But Mei Ling huffed and asked "Shu He have you reached it? Are you entering the tournament?"
"Yeah" Shu He nodded in confirmation, unsure why she was asking.
"Look! You're the one of the only ones in our new disciple group that hasn't reached it, you're slacking!"
"It's not that!.... Um…." Wei Yu seemed to want to speak but held back for some reason.
Shu He raised his brow as he looked at Wei Yu's face, he quickly realised something as he spoke "Mei Ling, it's not entirely his fault he lost a lot of points and his token early on".
She looked at Shu He, her face filled with an incredulous expression "What?!" she then looked over to Wei Yu that looked like a child who had been told on by a friend "Really?".
'Oh, did I make things worse?' Shu He thought as he backed off slightly.
"Why did you tell her…" Wei Yu looked as if he was going to cry.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, surprising Shu He, he was expecting an outburst.
"I…" Wei Yu couldn't talk again, but Shu He looked on from a distance couldn't help but cross his arms as he thought.
'Could it be, these two…'
He wasn't sure where and when they had formed a closer relationship, but as the watched the two talk almost like a pair of siblings he felt he had missed something.
"Um, I'm gonna go ahead and register" He mentioned, beginning to walk away.
"You haven't registered yet? You better hurry and get it done then, I hear the registrations will be closing soon" Mei Ling mentioned as she waved.
"Good luck Shu He" Wei Yu spoke, albeit quieter than Mei Ling.
"Thanks" He began walking off with a pep in his step since he wanted to make sure he didn't miss registration.
As he wandered away he head Mei Ling complain that she didn't get a good luck from him before Shu He, making Shu He helplessly smile.
Those two will be a headache in the future.
Estado de energía semanal
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