"You can't win," Fang Yuan grinned: "You're just wasting your time."
But instead of being perturbed, Great Dream hadn't stopped grinning.
"Something's off," Fang Yuan couldn't help thinking to himself, "Why does she seem…pleased?"
Great Dream was grinning from ear to ear, "Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic! Success is sooooo near…" she thought to herself.
The two stared down at each other.
Meanwhile,
Meng Qiu Zhen was still being ensnared by Great Dream's constructs.
"Dammit," Meng Qiu Zhen had sweat dripping down his forehead, "The mysteries behind this Dream Prison Killer move are too profound!"
"It doesn't make any sense at all!" Meng Qiu Zhen was beyond frustrated, he'd pulled out all the hair in his head if could move.
"Just the ability to make Dream Path Dao Marks shape into tangible constructs that can be used to affect reality while still being in a Dream is beyond the current comprehension of this time period!"
Meng Qiu Zhen was stumped by the unfairness of it all.
"How am I supposed to compete with someone from the future!" he cried out in his heart.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head.
"Eureka!"
Meng Qiu Zhen sent a transmission to the Main Body, Fang Yuan, "Quick get me out of this I figured out a potential way of getting out of this Prison!"
A glint appeared in Fang Yuan's eyes,
The standoff between him and Great Dream quickly broke as he made a mad dash towards Meng Qiu Zhen.
"Hmph! Where do you think you're going!" Great Dream quickly caught on to his plan
Various pink constructs tried to impede Fang Yuan but were to avail, the defences of the Killer Move, I Am The Supreme Of Heaven And Earth, were almost flawless.
Almost.
As Fang Yuan was a couple of steps away from Meng Qiu Zhen, an explosion erupted from underneath Fang Yuan's feet, separating the two further.
"What the-" the explosion was as abrupt as it was powerful, nearly equivalent to a Peak Rank 8 Killer Move!
Smoke covered the ground as Fang Yuan was flung into the air,
Fang Yuan stabilized himself in mid-air and looked down upon the battlefield to find how Great Dream had laid such a trap without him knowing or sensing.
"Strange. I don't sense any lingering Killer Move aura nor do I detect any Gu in the vicinity."
As a Refinement Path Venerable, Fang Yuan was highly attuned to the use and presence of Gu Worms, yet he detected none in that explosion.
"A physical reaction? No, impossible, it would require a humongous amount of energy to replicate such a move, such an amount of energy is not hideable!"
As he was pondering what had happened another explosion occurred right above him, knocking him straight into the ground!
Before Fang Yuan had any time to contemplate what had just happened, he was once again sent flying, this time by an emerging pillar of earth from the ground.
This was followed up by a blast of air, throwing him in another direction, followed by a water spout, followed by a…
One after another, the barrage of attacks kept going
"Hmm? First, fire, then earth, then air…but strangely I don't see any Dao Marks moving?" Fang Yuan had decided to give up resisting, instead relying on the Taiji to keep himself safe.
"No matter where I turn to, the attack will just hit me from an unexpected angle, and the attacks themselves aren't concentrated enough to breech my defence, just a massive show of force meant to toss me around, clearly she's trying to buy time but for what and how is she making these attacks appear out of nowhere…"
Even though the attacks were loud and powerful looking, they could not breach his defence, however, their unpredictable and off angles were something Fang Yuan found hard to resist.
Fang Yuan instead decided to continue being a Human pinball while analyzing and figuring out what Great Dream was up to.
The moment the barrage of attacks had started, Fang Yuan lost sight of Great Dream.
"Where did she go," even after the smoke cleared up she was nowhere to be seen, Meng Qiu Zhen was still bound by Pink chains but Great Dream was not near him.
Gazing towards Meng Qiu Zhen, Fang Yuan found him to be in a deep sleep.
"She clearly wants to stop me from reaching Meng Qiu Zhen, and stop him from revealing something crucial, which means he probably found out something Dream Path related…but I can't communicate with him anymore…it seems she has placed him into a Dream."
"Tch, to think her attainment in Dream Path is strong enough to bypass a Pseudo-Rank 9 Dream Armor Gu, I guess I underestimate her a little."
But instead of frowning, Fang Yuan revealed a smirk, "But if she thinks that's all it'll take to keep Meng Qiu Zhen trapped she's got another thing coming."
~
Outside the Dream Prison
The Gu House countdown clock in Treasure Yellow Heaven had reached the final few hours.
At the base of the once glamorous Heavenly Court, hundreds of participants gathered, their cultivations, strangely enough, were an odd mix of Rank 8s, 7s and 6s, of course, there were no mortals present.
But one would expect that for such a grand competition the entry requirements would have been…higher.
Each participant had a flaming number inscribed onto their clothes, it didn't take long for them to understand that it was the order in which they arrived.
"Huh, to think they would even measure something like that?"
"Dammit if I knew I would have rushed here faster instead of taking my time!"
"Isn't this unfair towards those that live on the Central Continent?!"
The crowd grew a little unsatisfied upon hearing that.
"Perhaps it has no benefit and is merely a logistical matter?"
Someone suggested, and this statement seemed to appease the crowd somewhat.
After a few more days of waiting, the 10,000th person arrived.
As soon as they had crossed the threshold, a gigantic green, transparent barrier encircled the entirety of Heavenly Court.
!!!
"What's happening?!"
"Is it finally beginning?"
"What're the rules!??!"
Confusion, shock and anticipation spread amongst the crowd.
Outside the barrier, groaning could be heard amongst the participants that were just slightly too slow.
"Damnit!" they pounded on the barrier, "How is this fair! Those that live in Heavenly Court are bound to be first."
"No fair, we encountered a horde of Desolate Beasts."
"Hmph, a mere horde of Desolate Beasts, I encountered a brood of Ancient Desolate Beasts."
"Is that all? I had an Immemorial Beast block my path!"
!!!
It seemed as if everyone had encountered some form of Beasts blocking their path to the competition…almost as if they were designed as part of a trial…
As if confirming everyone's questions, a screen of light appeared over top of the Central Continent, broadcasting into Treasure Yellow Heaven as well.
"With the 10000th participant, the Grand Tournament can begin!" on the screen Genesis Lotus's voice on visage could be seen.
Genesis Lotus began his monologue,
"First, I would like to congratulate each and every one of the 10000 participants for qualifying, and I would like to take this time to address the complaints that all those who failed to qualify might have."
"There was no advantage given to those who were already residing in the Central Continent, everyone was assessed based on their cultivation level, and were given appropriate challenges."
Everyone stared at the screen in shock.
"So those Desolate Beast hordes really were a test," they thought.
Before they could raise a question,
"Secondly, the difficulty level of the qualification trial was meant to assess who had potential and the qualities and bearing of a true expert, not someone who has just accumulated more strength."
"Finally, the numbers on each participant do not represent the order in which they arrived, but the order in which they completed their trial, so those who had completed their trial first were shifted to the competition site."
After Genesis Lotus cleared up the queries, he proceeded to address the main thing on everyone's minds; how will the competition be conducted?
"As I mentioned before, the 10000 of you have the highest potential of the millions of cultivators that participated, you are the top 1%...that said…it's still too many so for the first round we'll be doing a mass elimination down to…100."
!!!
Too sudden!
Already the competition had shrunk from the top 1% to the top 0.01%!!
"The method of elimination will be decided based on a free for all amongst the 10000."
Instantly, those below Rank 8 cried out at the unfairness, although Genesis couldn't hear them and the video was a recording, his next words answered their cries.
"Of course, it would be wholly unfair for those amongst the Rank 6s to fight those at Rank 7, much less Rank 8 participants, therefore for this first elimination round, we'll be hosting it within the same cultivation level."
Genesis waved his hand and a pie chart of the different cultivations appeared,
"Rank 6s makeup 43% while Rank 7s makeup 37%, Rank 8s 19.9% and Pseudo-Venerables 0.1%"
"Based on this we have determined that among the Rank 6s, the last 150 standing will proceed to the next part of the elimination round, for Rank 7s it'll be the last 50, for Rank 8s it'll be the last 20 and for the Pseduo-Venerables…all of you can rest first and will proceed straight to the finale."
!!!
The arrangments set by Genesis Lotus drew outrage from the crowd.
"How is this fair?"
"Aren't we trying to pick the best potential to become a Venerable? Why are so many Rank 8s and even rank 7s being tossed out in favour of Rank 6s?"
It started as quiet murmurs then it grew to rumbunctious chatter and finally it was nearly riotous…
"Silence!" Genesis Lotus banged his fist and released his aura, reminding all those present the might of a Venerable is not something they can question.
Genesis Lotus straightened his attire before addressing the crowd, "WE have decided the arrangements to be such because we want the absolute best in potential and in strength. If someone of a lower Rank manages to overcome the odds and surpass someone of a higher rank than them, all the better, after all, we have no need to cater to the participants below 100th placing."
Genesis Lotus's words were clear, he stressed the 'we' to remind everyone that it wasn't just him, but also Red Lotus and Star Constellation Immortal Venerable that thought through the competition rules.
Seeing the crowd whispering with 0 objections,
"Now, let the Competition begin!"
Within the Dream Prison,
"Oh? A competition to determine the next Venerable candidate?"
Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!