Chapter 15 - First Years First Competition

Aster Wen woke up to a bell ringing from the sect's grounds once again. Getting up from his cot, he headed in the direction of the pavilion. He saw that only the first years were headed towards the pavilion, and thought that the older disciples knew what was happening and that it didn't involve them. Getting to the pavilion, Leon Fei saw him and joined him.

"Brother Leon Fei greets Brother Aster Wen," he said.

"En. Are you aware what's happening?" Aster Wen asked.

"You don't know?" Leon Fei seemed surprised.

"Am I supposed to know?" he asked.

"It's time for the first years' competition between sects. They hold it so early to avoid accidents. After all, there shouldn't be much of a power difference between disciples at this point. This allows them to see which disciples have potential as well. I thought everyone knew about this," Leon Fei explained.

"I hadn't really heard much about sects before I came here. I really only heard things through my older brother." Aster Wen rubbed the back of his head.

"No worries. There should be a bracket that we're put in when we arrive at the other sect. The competition will be held over many days, with one person competing in four rounds every day until the end. If they're not eliminated, of course," Leon Fei said.

"Do we have time to prepare things?" he asked.

"Yes, we have today to prepare things. We leave tomorrow, they're just announcing it today. I suppose for people like you who hadn't been aware," Leon Fei smiled.

"That's good," he said.

He would have to prepare some Foundation Forming Pills before leaving so he could restore his natural qi. He wasn't worried about being injured, and since the mid-week review, he imagined the disciples in the Lone Phoenix Sect would be better off than those in other sects. Hearing from his brother that disciples in other sects envied the Lone Phoenix Sect, he realized one reason why that was the case. There wasn't any obligation, nor any inclination, to hide things from the other disciples in the Lone Phoenix Sect. One person rises above the rest, the rest will soon rise above where they were before. Aster Wen had been the only disciple to hunt monster beasts above his cultivation, making him better off. But after the power difference was revealed at the mid-week review, everyone else started to hunt those above their level. This, in turn, made him start to hunt Foundation Body sixth stage beasts, allowing him to continue his reign at the top.

Of course, leaving for this competition might put his practice of the Looming Blossom Martial Technique to a halt until he returned. However, this wasn't much of a problem, and he imagined there would be rewards if he got far enough in the competition. Leon Fei said that there were four rounds one would compete in per day, which meant he could use one Foundation Forming Pill every two days if it took one move to take down another disciple. He only hoped that the move wouldn't be fatal to his opponent. He would bring along his Revitalizing Pills for this situation. This could serve to also put him in the good graces of the opponents, reducing their envy. However, he thought it could also have the opposite effect if they viewed him as knowing he would win and injure the opponent, bringing his pills just so he didn't kill them.

"Do you know if there are any rewards for getting far in the competition?" Aster Wen asked.

"There are some rewards. Contribution points aren't awarded, but you get to choose an artifact if you win first place overall in the sect. Since we'll be going to multiple sects to compete, it'll be awhile until we are back. I recommend you use all of today to prepare everything. Bringing your alchemy furnace with you wouldn't be a bad idea. Since it'll take a few days to travel to the sect as well. As for other rewards, I think you can choose some manuals or techniques and keep them on hand for half a year. All those manuals or techniques being used as rewards would probably need that long to learn anyway. You'd need tens of thousands of contribution points to have the chance to study one of them for so long otherwise," Leon Fei explained.

"An artifact, huh?" Aster Wen thought out loud. "Do you know what grade?"

"It should be Initial Flow mid-rank grade. Since we can't use it until we reach the Foundation Body seventh stage, it might not seem useful, but we won't have many chances to acquire something like this so early in our cultivation," he said.

All the first years were at the pavilion, and the elders soon explained to them about the sects' competition. Everything they said had already been explained to him by Leon Fei, and more. There was no mention of the rewards, and he wondered how Leon Fei had gotten such information. Though, it seemed like he knew quite a bit about how the sects of the world were like, so it was possible he was taught about things from his family. It seemed like becoming the teacher of Leon Fei turned out to be a good decision.

After the elders finished explaining, they let everyone go to prepare whatever they needed. As Leon Fei had just started practicing the Looming Blossom Martial Technique, he hadn't needed to use or gather any resources for it yet. This left him free of any preparation he needed for the competition. With needing no preparation of his own, Aster Wen asked him to accompany him to collect alchemy ingredients. He readily agreed, and they set out to gather all the ingredients he needed.

Spirit-Dripping Flowers and more yang affinity monster beast blood were collected first. They then headed to collect Yang Fire Grass. Leon Fei was worried about this part as he had no experience in fighting Foundation Body sixth stage beasts, and though Aster Wen said they were going to just sneak around to gather some Yang Fire Grass, it did little to dissuade his worry.

They snuck to a lone patch of Yang Fire Grass, and laid on the ground to collect it. Leon Fei constantly surveyed the surrounding to look out for Yang Fire Bulls, and just as Aster Wen was about to finish collecting the Yang Fire Grass, Leon Fei suddenly stood up as one of the bulls was running towards them. He kept his panic under control and used the first movement of the Looming Blossom Martial Technique to strike the bull right on the head as it arrived at their location. The bull died just like that, but this left Leon Fei immobile in an upright position in a field full of the monster beasts. Aster Wen grabbed him and pulled him down to the ground, so the other bulls wouldn't see him. Nine seconds passed, and Leon Fei could move again. He shook nervously as he turned onto his belly.

"I never want to experience that again," he whispered.

"Hopefully you won't have to," Aster Wen whispered back. "Come on, let's go. I got around three hundred stalks this time."

Sneaking back to the mountain, they made it safely back to the sect, and Aster Wen hoped it wouldn't leave any heart demons in Leon Fei. If it did, he would find some way to resolve them.

Aster Wen refined a Foundation Forming Pill on his third attempt, and went out to practice the second movement. Leon Fei joined him in his practice, and they soon were both exhausted of their energy. Aster Wen swallowed the Foundation Forming Pill and another Revitalizing Pill, and started to refine them. His immobility during the second movement had gone down to thirteen seconds, and he could replenish his natural qi to full power in just five minutes now. It still took thirty minutes for the Revitalizing Pill to heal him, and he doubted that the time would change in that without a better pill.

Setting off to bed, he wondered if there would be any talents in the competition that could match him. There would be a few days of travel to get to the first sect they would compete against, and he would use the time when they stopped for the night to refine pills. With experience in refining the Revitalization Pill, he hoped for more successful attempts on their journey to the sect. This could also serve Leon Fei to observe him performing alchemy, giving him a bit of a boost, like when he watched Aster Wen perform the Looming Blossom Martial Technique and had an easier time performing it.

Closing his eyes, it popped into his mind there could also be chances to gather alchemy ingredients while traveling. But that was for tomorrow, and right now was for resting. He fell asleep, and another dreamless night went by for Aster Wen.