Final Competition III

Ji Li went down the stage with many people behind him. Shixuan and Qianyu had already put away the gong. They had to put the gong and kempul into a large chest, both way too heavy and large for their sleeve spatial tools. 

The reason they didn't use the gong too often was that they had to carry around the very heavy instrument every time they played it. But still, they enjoyed it because it was their brother that taught them how to play it, and they always felt benefits in cultivation after playing the gong.

They came to like the instrument and had practiced many times alone to try and impress Ji Li about their progress, who always praised them and taught them even more rhythms and play styles, surprising not only them but also their mentor, who in the end had only accepted it because Ji Li's talent in music was very proficient in general.

Rong Xi and young masters followed a few metres behind him, still whispering among each other and discussing. Of course, it was barely hearable, but for Essence Awakening Stage cultivators, it wasn't too difficult to listen. It seemed that the young men knew about this and only talked for a short time about not so important points, still countable as small talk.

Ji Li went down the stairs slowly until he arrived at the ground floor. He went deeper into the building to the open platform, where everyone could see him from above. Here, the ten participants had competed and now waited for the final judgement.

The judgement would be based on a point system, where Ji Li and Rong Xi gave 1 to 10 points each, and the highest points would be the winner, as those below would decide place 2 to 5. The participants below would be out and receive no more rewards.

Rong Xi meticulously looked at each medallion closely and was satisfied with everyone, although some were clearly better. Ji Li also looked at them shortly as he stepped up the stage and observed the breathing and temperament of each and every smith before he decided.

The first to be called out were the two fighting smiths, their work was presentable, but it had clearly not brought out the full potential of both smiths. Ji Li sends them away with the words "You are smiths, surely you need to take opportunities for the resources you want, that is not wrong.

However, to be so greedy as to fight another person for resources, when there was a table right next to your, having more than enough for everyone to craft something, this is truly a sham. Either your smithing is lacking, and you can only handle a few resources, or your temperament is lacking, and you compete for even the crumbs that fell down. 

In any case, you are not worthy of being part of the top five, not to speak about being a winner. You should go back and carefully consider your decisions that led you to be how you are today. The competition is merely a friendly spar in the end, but if you repeat that behaviour in your life, you truly can only accept your own fault when you lie down, forgotten in a corner."

Ji Li's critique was harsh and very cold, together with his temperament, most people would be mentally broken by now. The two losers felt the same, they came from families that always catered everything they needed and didn't want the prize but only the experience. But now that they saw how they lost and brought shame to their families, they could only accept the loss and train more.

Rong Xi nodded as he gave a small and nice addition "Although your temperament is lacking, you still have some fate with smithing, so you may visit the Ferrarius Town again in the future. What you learn from that is up to yourself, as even the horseman can bring his horse to water but not force it to drink. You should drink what is presented to you, not what others drink." The words surprised quite a few, as it was basically an invitation for the respective family to join under the Ferrarius Town. 

To the smaller families it could truly be called a blessing, but how they reacted would still be decided in the future. Ji Li already went to the next participant. Once Rong Xi was finished and came over, the next participant was already let go. 

They didn't need to present any number of points to those that were to be let go, and most of them barely didn't make it. So, it was only Rong Xi that talked and told them they were out, while Ji Li wasn't interested and just waited.

For the spectators, it seemed like Ji Li and Rong Xi had a taciturn agreement over who did well and who didn't, so they just waited till only the top five were left. Ji Li just gave them the number, at most eight points. Rong Xi was more generous, but also stopped at nine and wasn't fully satisfied with anything. The highest number was now 17, leaving only one person.

The last person was naturally the young man that came also with his friend. To be precise, said young man wasn't a human but a beast kin. Beast kins were the descendants of beasts that gained sentience. Over the course of many years, they became their own race. As they had the closest relation to beasts, they became excellent tamers, although no one of them would call themselves beast tamers but just friends of the beasts. 

Because of their naturally strong bodies, they were also excellent fighters. The only issue was that the beast kin were split into too many large clans and many of them were nomads, so they operated in Clans and not kingdoms. Still, the clans were often strong enough to rival duchies, and the largest of the clans could be called a kingdom even.

But there were many sub-clans, formed by specimen of said clan, would normally operate as smaller families and sometimes even single entities. The participant was of this kind, as he was of the bobcat species. One of the largest clans was the clan of the feline, which had many sub-clans, such as tigers, lions but also smaller clans such as lynx and cats. 

The bobcat was a lynx that had a distance relation to cats, making them not fully a lynx but also not fully part of the cat clan. Although all feline clans were in an alliance and they accepted anyone even with distance relationship, the bobcat still preferred to be alone, and so many bobcats were actually separated from any clan and acted alone or in small groups.

Although the Emerald Brilliance Empire had a lot of history and relation to many beast kin, the felines were different in that they had their own kingdom. It wasn't rated to find a feline beast kin, but for them to join permanently another kingdom was rare, if it wasn't a race such as the bobcat.

It seemed that the bobcat smith came together with his bobcat race, looking for a place to settle down, probably friends that spend some time together and are now romantical partners, looking for a home to be together. Even if the Emerald Brilliance Empire was saved, there were naturally dangers in the wild, making it smarter to settle down that to wander around all the time.

Ji Li happily accepted the beast kin, and now he was even more satisfied. He saw the medallion they made, and one could truly only talk about dedication. The bobcat beast kin made a medallion in the form and shape many leaves that were slightly bowed. They formed a small encasement. Looking through one of the small openings, one could see a seed being in the middle of the medallion.

What truly showed their dedication to the Eunuch palace were the several figures that had long robes with the Eunuch Palace's symbols on them. Not only were there the figures of them, but there were also the figure of two bobcats that sat down below them, guarding attentively as they each looked into one of the openings.

Obviously, they showed their dedication as well as loyalty to the Eunuch Palace, and Ji Li gave the bobcat full marks, while Rong Xi also gave the same as he commented "The silverwork is very well done. The flowing figures take a great picture while they didn't need a lot of detail work, making it possible for all experienced smiths to recreate after a period of experimenting.

This medallion of yours is truly a masterpiece that was created for this competition. The different materials used make the leaves truly look green and full of vitality, the same goes for the seed that was even emitting a bit of Essence, while the Eunuch figures were created warmly, showing their care for the emerald tree as the bobcats protected them."

Ji Li didn't comment on his own and only said aloud "The winner is Shanmao Luo (Mountain-Cat, To Weave) of the Shanmao clan." Of the other four winners, three of them were recruited while the second place is a person from the Yi family, naturally Ji Li wasn't interested in trying them.

Before the final stage, Ji Li had already set his eyes on Shanmao Luo and recruited him, but now he had different ideas and wanted to look if he could make them happen. If that was the case, then his faction in the Eunuch Palace would truly become a faction, not just in name.