Journey Of An Unknown - Chapter 22

Xinling seeing Zou Shen wanted to go up to him and talk to him but Ruozhen stopped her. He knew that Zou Shen identity would be more secure than any fake story they made up for then people saw them interacting.

Xinling understood and didn’t do anything, she became calm again and her worries were gone. Her cold beautiful look came back, Ruozhen also calmed down as he realized that Zou Shen had probably did this to hide his identity as the Guardian of the Iron Mountain Empire well. If no one saw them enter together they wouldn’t make a connection between him and Ren Clan.

He secretly ordered his head servant to go and bribe the tournaments officials to remove Zou Shen registered name without asking any questions. Zou Shen would be using his name from the open round for which he registered. The Ren Clan backed registered name wasn’t needed anymore.

He didn’t question why Zou Shen didn’t ask and plan before for the open rounds. He just thought that Zou Shen didn’t know that open rounds were even being held as Ruozhen hadn’t even given this information in the first place and Zou Shen didn’t ask that far.

The truth was Zou Shen probably guessed that there would be an open round registration. It was just that he didn’t know how to register for when or when it would take place. He was going to the Grand Arena alone and came across the open registration, coming up with the idea to go his own way.

He could have easily rested here in this hall all this time and met with other fighters for the main tournament by coming to the Arena with Ruozhen or the Ren Clan shop servant. It was getting in easily and getting the VIP treatment, he didn’t want that as being in the open rounds helped him get his first real fight against other cultivators. Getting to see how others fought and gain experience even if it was nothing to the geniuses and talents present in this hall.

After the greetings by Zou Shen, Tian Xinfan and the other two winners of the open round they moved to a quiet corner in the hall and talked amongst each other. Zou Shen just took a chair and sat down and started to drink and eat. He hadn’t eaten anything for the night or in the morning, he was meditating in the backyard from dusk till dawn. He just came here as soon as he finished his meditation, he also fought 25 matches in the open round to win nonstop.

Tian Xinfan and the others had eaten well in the city inn and restaurants before coming for the selection tournament. A man can’t fight on empty stomach they said. Zou Shen had to fight with an empty stomach, nonetheless.

There were 20 people present in the hall already with backers from sects and clans or branch families. With the winners of the open round the number of participants went up to 24. With 8 fighters being selected to advance to the next round automatically while the rest fought one match to meet them in the next round, going on from there.

The Tournament would take 5 days to finish with a 6th day to celebrate and meet the winner of the selection tournament. After this open round there would be a trial to see who the 8 fighters would be to automatically advance to the next round and wait for others to meet them next day.

Soon an elder from Red Rain sect entered the and greeted the hall.

“Sorry for the delay in the open round but we should enter the main arena for the opening ceremony and then we will proceed with the selection of 8 fighters who advance to the next round automatically. Then the 1 set of matches for the day will start after everything has be done.” The elder explained clearly to the fighters and backers present in the hall.

Zou Shen had already guessed what the format would be like, without an ego boost given to the top 8 fighters who automatically advance, what is the point of this tournament. Well it didn’t matter to him if people wanted to show off or take it easy by doing their best now and advancing one round.

Soon the Elder threw a talisman in the air and it radiated a bright light through every corner. The formation in the hall activated and teleported everyone out, onto the main arena with the large crowd.

Soon white lights appeared in the main arena where the crowd were waiting for the fighters after the opening ceremony entertainment had been done. Everyone cheered and roared in excitement as they saw the 24 cultivators appear in the large raised platform the size of a city. The magical screen showed the fighters in this selection tournament with all their beauty or strength.

Zou Shen weird clothes didn’t catch the of anyone as there were more famous talented prodigies to look at than him. He just stood there in the platform silently meditating with his eyes closed.

The people who came with the fighters appeared in a special section of the arena from where they could see the fights up close and clearly than anyone. Ruozhen and Elder Chang appeared there with the others.

Zou Shen used his spiritual sense in the main arena, sending it outwards. He soon saw many lights appearing in his mind, turning into a dense forest of Qi, this was the audience in the seating area of the arena. There were many cultivators from across the region who had come to watch the selection tournament with also ordinary mortals.

The Elder of the Red Rain sect then spoke with Qi infused in it sending his words to every corner around the arena.

“I Elder Huo Chun of the Red Rain Sect thank you all for coming to this event. I hope we can see the younger generation show their true strength and power to us all. We hope to see some Phoenixes and Dragons rise from among these talents.” He bowed to everyone as he greeted the whole audience.

The whole arena clapped and cheered loudly. After a while a large white pillar appeared in the middle of the platform. This was a Star stone pillar used to measure the Internal Energy of cultivators.

It was the dick measuring device of the cultivation world as Zou Shen looked it. This white pillar had an intricate star designs on its surface connected to each other with a line, with a big star design at near the top of the pillar. He guessed the pillar would light up from bottom to top as the internal energy of the cultivators became stronger.

Looking at he smiled in amusement with him thinking this must be the large version of the star stone pillar. A smaller and more moderate version were used everywhere in this world.

‘Big and Huge. Compensating for something are you Red Rain Sect.’ He knew they could have used the common version and just closed in to show on the magical screen.

The elder Chun then turned toward the fighters in the platform, telling them about how this Star stone pillar was changed so it could measure till the peak of Core Realm inner energy regardless of their cultivation level.

Zou Shen looked at Xiaoshan, Zhou Hanrong, Xinling and Tian Xinfan knowing that they would probably amaze everyone with their inner energy readings on the Star stone pillar. He was going to be called last, to test measure his strength on this large stage as the an official told to them the order in which they would measure their inner energy. They all moved to a participant seating area overlooking the platform, behind them was the special seating area for the backers and higher powers who came to watch the selection tournament.

Activating 7 stars designs or more on the star pillar would get them a spot to advance to the next round automatically. The first person to be called was a disciple from a mid-tier sect in the empire.

He punched the stone pillar and 7 stars activated. He looked very proud of this result. Everyone in the arena was amazed at this result, apparently this result was very good, and he would be considered a rising star in the world of cultivation.

In the seating area behind the many elders and disciples of the sects and clans who came to watch, were surprised and amazed by this result. This disciple from the mid-tier could be said to be stronger than even the common cultivators of higher powers who came to watch.

“He will be your goal to surpass once this tournament ends. He will be a powerful person in this region, watch out you don’t offend him or the Red Rain sect when he gets in.” An elder from a mid-tier sect told his disciples as he had accompanied them here to let them see others of the same generation. He looked towards the disciple from the mid-tier sect who was returning to the seating area for the participants.

Even Xiaoshan and the rest were amazed by the result for a moment, but they also returned to their usual self a moment later. His name was announced loudly later after he returned to his seat. “Guo Zan advances to the next round.”

Everyone in arena were excited at this result, a new star had risen during this tournament, his name would spread far and wide in the Heavenly Green Region. During all this commotion Zou Shen had closed his eyes and was sleeping quietly. He was feeling very bored and sleepy so he just wanted to

catch some shut eye during this part, he was last anyway so all he could do was wait.

Soon the second person went up to the platform to measure their inner energy. The result was 6 stars just one star short of Guo Zan, still there was another commotion for this person, who was also considered a strong cultivator.

“It looks like this selection tournament will be a great one with strong contenders for the final top 5 positions for many of them.” Elder Chun from the Red Rain sect was pleased by the results so far as he spoke. Many in the special seating area agreed with his words. It looked like there were many strong cultivators in this selection tournament.

Elder Chang didn’t react at all he knew that Xiaoshan would blow them all away. Xieren next to him also showed no reaction she believed 3 people would surprise everyone. Her choices were Xiaoshan, Zhou Hanrong and Xinling, they would blow everyone with their results.

No one thought much of the Tian Xinfan, he was known as a fallen prodigy but other than that no one held any high opinions about him. Only Zou Shen knew how wrong everyone was going to be when he really showed his true strength.

Two more people got a result of 7 stars advancing to the next round automatically. Exciting and amazing everyone in the Grand Arena yet once again, people also started to realize the participants for this time selection tournament were very strong.

Soon it was Zhou Hanrong turn to measure his inner strength, everyone in the Grand Arena turned silent and looked towards the platform in anticipation. It was the turn for one of the most popular prodigies to show himself. There were many fangirls of his present in the audience, they had formed an army for their charming prince. Still they also didn’t scream or cheer for Zhou Hanrong or else other cultivators and people would throw them out of the city.

Hanrong reached the star stone pillar and just punched it normally. Nothing happened for some time, everyone was confused thinking was the treasure broken or not working. Some officials went to check the pillar as they got close the star stone pillar activated, the star designs activated one after another. Soon it passed 7 which was the current record and reached 8 stars then finally after a while it reached 9 stars, finally stopping the activation there.

The whole stadium saw the activated 9 stars, they took in deep breaths in shock as they looked towards Hanrong was shinning handsomely as ever in astonishment. He quietly returned to his seat and looked towards the platform to see who would go next.

It was very silent for a few minutes until the announcer realized he had a job to do. He announced Hanrong result loudly to the whole Grand Arena audience.

“Zhou Hanrong advances to the next round.” Soon the fan girl army of Hanrong let loose their emotions in full force. The whole of grand arena woke up from the spell and joined in them in cheering for the Sleeping Dragon Zhou Hanrong.

Everyone in the special seating area was also shocked, even Elder Chang, Xieren and Ruozhen were shaken. They had heard of Hanrong strength before but had no contact with him personally. Now they saw him exceed whatever they had heard about him. He was a true monster not just in cultivation speed but also in strength.

Elder Chun was grinning from ear to ear, this monster had chosen to enter their Red Rain sect. No matter what happened he would be given full attention and resources of the sect. He was someone who looked like he would stand above other prodigies in the current era.

Every higher power present there were very jealous of Red Rain sect right now but still didn’t show it towards the sect outright. They just held the bitterness in and congratulated Elder Chun for getting such a strong prodigy. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience