The Meeting

The moment he came out the Battle Tower, he saw a noisy crowd waiting for him. The moment he came out it got all quiet. He was puzzled for only a moment before realizing the Battle Tower must have somehow conveyed his victory. He took a step forward intending to pose and receive their cheers when he realized that they were all looking behind him.

He turned around to look at the culprit that was spoiling his moment. An inner disciple robe with muscles bulging out of it appeared in front of him. He took a step back to get a good view. It was a seven foot muscular giant with golden hair and bronze skin. He was smiling but his build made him all the more scary.

Zhang Wuji instinctively jumped back till what he felt was a safe distance from this man and got ready to run at the slightest threat.

Seeing Zhang Wuji back up the man stepped forward and said "You were much more fun in the Battle Tower." He seemed to have remembered something and paused "On second thought you were never fun. Anyway come with me. Deacon Jiang must be waiting for you." He didn't give Zhang Wuji an opportunity to speak and picked him up with his hand and disappeared in the distance.

The crowd stared at his receding figure till it was no longer visible and got back to chattering excitedly.

....

Wu Dianshi brought Zhang Wuji a distance away from the Battle Tower and dropped him to the ground.

THUD!

"Hey!-"

"What?" Wu Dianshi gave him a mean stare and he quietened down. Seeing him submit he smiled and said "You deserve it, who asked you to use such stinking methods. Yuchk!! Just thinking of it makes my stomach churn."

"Now get up and look presentable. Deacon Jiang is a very strict man." Zhang Wuji got up and started straightening his clothes.

"What you have done is worth celebrating. The Battle Tower is beat every now and then. But beating it in the late stage is a whole other thing. To top it off, you used formations! You will be treasured by the sect. You may even be taken in as a personal disciple of some Elder, isn't that awesome!" He smacked Zhang Wuji's back and hug his shoulder "Once you become a direct disciple, you'll be guaranteed to reach foundation building. You may even become an Elder yourself!"

"Um, actually I am Elder Feng's disciple."

Wu Dianshi stopped abruptly and turned Zhang Wuji to face him. "You a direct disciple?"

"No not yet. I'm his in-name disciple. Once I reach qi-"

Wu Dianshi slapped his back hard and said "Man! Didn't expect you were such a hot shot. But why don't I know of you? The sect usually hold's a huge ceremony, did I miss it? Are you related to Elder Feng? Did he bring you to the sect? Is it supposed to be a secret? Why'd you tell me? Did you take a liking to-"

"Master Feng does not like such ceremonies and stuff. Don't make weird assumptions."

"Oh. Junior brother, then that would mean this win is totally meaningless to you."

"I know."

"Why'd you challenge the Tower then?"

"Just for fun."

"Glory it is. So you gonna participate in this year's tournament and win the championship?"

"You will anyway come up with your answer. Why ask me?"

Wu Dianshi looked at him for a moment and said "Of course you would! You are right, it is a stupid question to ask. Say, what was that sound thing you did along with the stink herb?"

"That is just a formation I came up with."

"Of course it is. Come on, I'm not a formation master, I won't be stealing your ideas. Don't be so unnecessarily secretive. I'm just curious."

"How much farther?"

"We're almost there. Come on, I promise I'll tell no one."

....

In the Pill House. Zhang Wuji gathered Pan Mu, Wan Lin and Lin Yingjie and went to meet Li Xiaomei to share his achievement.

"And then?" Pan Mu asked seeing Zhang Wuji pause.

"And then what? Of course I didn't tell him."

"Not that. The Battle Tower!"

"Right. Senior brother Wu took me to meet deacon Jiang. Since I was already an Elder's disciple, I got nothing! It was all disappointing."

"Stop acting." Wan Lin slapped his head and said "I know you are all giddy inside."

"Hehe."

"Hmph! If I hadn't concentrated on alchemy, I could've done it too." Li Xiaomei said.

"Yeah right!" - Wan Lin.

"What?"

"I said yeah, you're right."

"Hmph."

"Brother Zhang, they must've given you something." Lin Yingjie brought the conversation of the table back to the topic.

"I had my name engraved on a huge tablet."

"That's awesome, you have left your mark in the sect."

"Yeah with tens of other people. It's almost at the very bottom of the tablet."

"It is kept right next to the entrance to the Battle Tower. Future generations will see your name every time they enter the tower. Also the sect has more than a thousand years of history. Tens is not a huge number."

"Have you ever noticed the tablet when entering the Tower? I'd rather have something of value."

*smack*

Wan Lin smacked him again. "You are already an Elder's disciple. They have nothing to offer that you don't already have. You pout again, I'll sew your lips together."

Zhang Wuji rubbed his head and mumbled "You could've let me be smug a while longer."

"So what should we do next?"

....

The main hall of the sect.

Several Elders were sitting around at a long table discussing the operations of the sect.

"The Iron Rhino kingdom has a strong contender on their side, unless the Yi's have a special card hidden, we will be thrashed again by those uncultured brutes!" A middle aged Elder with black lion like mane said.

"As far as I know the royal family has no one like that. And they wouldn't reveal their special cards for an event like this." A bald Elder with a long white beard said.

"An event like this? This is a matter of prestige! How can you talk like that?!" The middle aged Elder was irritated by his utter disregard and shouted.

"Elder Min please. Forget about the Yi's for now. Whom do you think we should send?"

"Sigh, if only this was two years back. With Han Dongfang we would've definitely won." An Elder with a large build said.

"I did say we hold him back a little." - Elder Min.

"And what spoil his cultivation? Elder Min you are an Elder of a sect, act as one." A red faced Elder rebuked him.

Elder Min seemed to be scared of the red faced Elder and shut up.

"There is nothing to discuss. Sword Mountain, Divine Armaments and Crimson Moon are all sending fighters. The royal family has not yet released their list, but I'm thinking with the pressure from the noble families it will be similar to the last time and they'll end up sending all combatants. We should just send whoever holds the first ranking right now and send them." The bald Elder said.

"Sigh. Alright then. We'll do that. Elder Zang how is the search going?" The one sitting at the head of the table spoke at this time.

"Sect Master, I-" A ponytailed Elder answered to his query.

"Wait, I just got news. There is a disciple that beat the Battle Tower." An Elder with a token grabbed tightly in his hand interrupted him.

"So what? We don't have the time for this disciple to catch up."

"He beat it at seventh level."

All eyes turned to him. Even those that were previously not interested in the discussion.

"Who is he?"

"I myself am waiting for deacon Jiang's reply." The Elder closed his eyes and remained silent. Everyone in the room waited for his reply.

"Zhang Wuji. According to deacon Jiang he is the disciple of Elder Feng. And.. he beat the Tower using formations."

The room exploded into chatter. The Sect Master knocked on the table and all chatter stopped. He took out his own token and sent a message. "I have asked for Elder Feng to come. Elder Jiang if there is a recording, ask deacon Jiang to send it immediately."

"Yes Sect Master."

A while later deacon Jiang came with the recording and left after handing it over to Elder Jiang. He activated the crystal ball and projected an image above the table. It was Zhang Wuji's fight with Wu Dianshi.

After watching the whole fight, the room was back to silence.

"Good lad! But he seems to have concentrated wholly on formations. His personal prowess should be just average. If formations is all that he can do, then I don't think we should send him."

"If he coordinates well with the others, Frost Swallow will have a good chance."

"You know that no one can convince the noble families to work with each other."

"Shameful! One would expect them to behave at the very least in front of a common enemy."

When the room was getting filled with overlapping voices, the Sect Master intervened. "It is not in our hands. It will be brother Feng's decision. Let's wait for him to arrive before we discuss."

"Why should we wait? If this lad is useful to the sect, Feng Xi should just-" The red faced Elder said with dissatisfaction.

"Huo Lin be careful of what you say next. You are old, it would suit you better if you behave your age."

"Feng Xi, hmph. There is nothing one can learn from you. And what did I say wrong?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure any sentence that starts with 'Feng Xi should' is wrong."

"Brother Feng take a seat." Sect Master intervened before it further developed into a verbal fight.

"What was so urgent that you had to call me? I was in the middle of something."

"We were discussing the Crimson Sky secret realm"

"I don't think that concerns me in anyway. Gong Chende don't call me for such trivial stuff."

"We are considering to give the spot to your disciple Zhang Wuji."

"What?" The air in the room stilled as he glared at the Sect Master.

"Brother Feng, behave." The Sect Master waved his hand and the atmosphere in the room was back to normal.

Feng Xi looked straight at Sect Master Gong and said "Zhang Wuji just entered the seventh realm. How do you expect him to compete with geniuses who most probably are at completion of body refinement?"

"Your little disciple beat the fifth floor of the Battle Tower. See for yourself." The Sect Master signaled Elder Jiang and he played the recording again.

Feng Xi saw the whole recording with no change in his expression. After it ended he said "That still doesn't change anything. He won't have the high grade resources to build anything. He can't make formations out of thin air."

"He will have ample time to collect some resources in the secret realm and-"

"Process them? Make talisman paper from scratch? Ink from scratch? Flags? Arrays? Did you forget how much a body refinement realm formation master has to depend on resources?!" With every question his voice was raised a pitch.

"Feng Xi don't be stubborn. This is all for the good of the sect. It is his duty as a disciple to work for the sect. We are only-" - Elder Hou.

"No." Feng Xi cut him off and said seriously. He wanted to continue but Sect Master Gong signaled him not to.

"Brother Feng, summon your disciple. He has the right to know of the opportunity."

"Yes brother Feng, I'm also interested in discussing the fight with him." A muscular Elder spoke for the first time.

"Yeah that was quite a show he put. Especially that Bo type formation. He seems to have a diverse knowledge." The bald Elder nodded.

Many started to echo. Feng Xi thought for a moment and took out his token to contact Zhang Wuji.