As spring neared its end, the days grew longer and warmer, casting a golden hue over the landscape. Trees now fully adorned with lush, green leaves sway gently in the mild breeze. Wildflowers carpet the meadows in a riot of colors, their vibrant petals attracting busy bees and fluttering butterflies. The air is filled with the heady scent of blooming lilacs and honeysuckle, mingling with the earthy aroma of fresh grass and damp soil.
In the fields, farmers prepare for the upcoming harvest, covered in dirt and lines of sweat trickling down, the result of their efforts to live another day.
The year-end competition.
Rallying stone plateau, Three Martial Institute Gathering.
Hundreds and thousands of cultivators gathered here, forming a grand scale.
On a plain not far from the edge of the Jade Forest, there was a large, elevated stone platform. Hearsay tells the story of a past cultivator that came across a big boulder and used it to practice his battle skills, neatly splitting the boulder in two from the base.
The upper part was further cut until nothing remained, dust scattering with the wind, only the lower part of the boulder stood, a flat and smooth surface capable of accommodating hundreds of persons.
Such was the rallying stone plateau. No one knew how long it had been in this state, at least tens of thousands of years, possibly hundreds. Those who could say were long gone.
Throughout history, the rallying stone plateau was used multiple times as a gathering for clans and wealthy families of Azure Water City to form alliances but also by the martial institutes to join each other when a grand event they had in common was to be held.
On the surface of the platform, much furniture was assembled, like chairs, tables, and jugs of wine, where the three institutes' higher-ups sat and drank, closely discussing.
Surrounding the plateau, the plain opened in all directions. To one side stretched the endless emerald sea of the Jade Forest, its dense canopy resembling waves frozen in place. To another rose distant mountain ridges whose peaks disappeared into drifting clouds. The openness of the valley allowed winds to move freely, carrying the scent of grass, earth, and ancient trees across the plateau.
Below the stone plateau, the three institute students had their respective standings, forming three large groups.
Their attire revealed from which institute they belonged and their qi fluctuations gave away their cultivation level.
Ye Mo was among them, within the pack of Tiger Martial Institute's students.
He secretly observed the situation.
Most students below the stone plateau were at least 7th layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivators with many stronger and a few of them being at the 6th layer. Below the 6th layer, they weren't even allowed to take part in the competition, yet the majority of them who attained this level still refused to join it, fearing they didn't have the abilities to survive much less gain a good spot.
Only the most reckless 6th layer cultivators accepted to participate in the competition.
Ye Mo was observing, the other students were also watching. Countless gazes intersected with hatred, curiosity, and alertness.
In Azure Water City, there was a saying: Tiger Martial Institute for battle strength, Sky Martial Institute for cultivation, and Golden Martial Institute for resources.
Indeed, the Sky Martial Institute students had always been known for having a slightly superior cultivation compared to the students of the Tiger Martial Institute of the same age and talent.
On the other side, the Tiger Martial Institute students, when fighting against cultivators of the same level, often held the advantage and would win most of the fights.
As for the Golden Martial Institute, it was the most peculiar of the three.
The other two institutes would hold a recruitment competition and accept only the cream of the crop of the younger generation, but the Golden Martial Institute would accept anyone, as long as an exorbitant entry fee was paid first.
They didn't look at the person but only at the cash that was laid in their hands.
Because of this method, they were the wealthiest of the three institutes with a lot of funds and a steady supply of gold at disposition, but the quality of their students was also very unequal.
Many extremely rich merchant cultivators and wealthy families sent their daughters and sons there for them to enjoy the best resources, but without overcoming any challenge nor proving themselves, they actually turned into playboys that didn't put any effort into their cultivation, going outside to have some fun and relying on their connections and influence to assert their authority for a time, overall progressing very slowly if not stagnating at the same level.
If you also took into account rich parents who sent their offspring to the Golden Martial Institute because they were reluctant to put them at risk in the recruitment competition of the other two, those who took part in the said competition, failed, and as a result joined the Golden Martial Institute as a third choice, and lastly, the youths with trash talents and weak abilities who had no choice but to enroll there because it was the only place that would accept them as long as their family could pay, then it was no surprise the Golden Martial Institute had a whole batch of very weak students.
Nonetheless, in spite of this unorthodox recruitment method, the Golden Martial Institute also nurtured several formidable cultivators at the opposite of these young heirs.
The most well-known example was Qiong Lieyu who was like Ye Mo, a boy without any support or family to depend on.
When he was still a baby, his father left him and his mother to travel to the west of the central lands and began a new life, eventually starting another family.
His mother worked very hard to fend for her and her son by herself until she died, exhausted, when Qiong Lieyu was five years old.
The latter used the last coins remaining after her death to buy a brush and waxy paste, getting by as a shoeshiner for a meager amount of copper coins each week.
In good times, he could afford himself a loaf of bread and a glass of water a day, but when his waxy paste was exhausted or his brush grew too deteriorated, he had to starve himself to the verge of death to buy a new one, often blacking out in the middle of the street.
When he was seven years old, a steward came to meet him. His father apparently became an important member of a clan these last years but was now dying, and in his last days, he remembered this son he abandoned, so he sent his trusted aide to deliver all the wealth he accumulated to him.
Being at your strongest can often corrupt a person to greed and vanity, while being at your weakest could send them into retrospection and give rise to a change of heart.
His father didn't need to bring this gold with him in death and the wife he married in the west was already a member of the clan before they met and didn't lack money either.
This way, Qiong Lieyu suddenly came into the possession of a spatial pouch containing the massive sum of sixteen thousand gold coins.
However, Qiong Lieyu was not stupid and didn't let the sum rise to his head. He didn't reveal anything, enduring his miserable life as a shoeshiner for another year, until he was eight years old and apt to cultivate.
Only at this time did he suddenly pay for the entrance fee of the Golden Martial Institute and became a cultivator, leaving his past behind.
His low lying to this abrupt action didn't leave anyone the chance to take advantage of him.
If he did so when his dantian was too fragile and he couldn't cultivate yet, the Golden Martial Institute wouldn't accept him and his secret would have been revealed by then, it would be surprising at this point that no one comes to kill him and steal his pouch.
If he flaunted his wealth or bided his time more than necessary, someone might have discovered he held a large sum of gold, and his pouch would only invite trouble he could not bear at this point.
In the institute, he took his cultivation very seriously, always diligent and rigorous in his training. With plenty of resources at his disposition, his ascension was a matter of time.
Whether wealthy or poor, strong or weak, affluent or insignificant, all were defeated as he quickly became the number one student of the institute. In time, the dean himself could see his potential and nurtured him, answering his needs towards cultivation while even senior students grew helpless against him.
Now he was two months away from being sixteen years old but had already attained the Foundation Establishment Realm just a few days after Shen Xue, these two held the most presence in this competition among the new generation of students.
"Look, that long-haired guy is Zhang Xuanhan, the Sky Martial Institute dean's grandson. Although he failed his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm, he's still a peak Qi Gathering Realm cultivator and their strongest student." Some pointed out.
"Do you see that sickly yellow-skinned man? This is Zhao Da Xiong from the Golden Martial Institute, an 8th layer cultivator. He is very licentious and debauched towards girls, if you are caught, he will do you until you can't even stand up. With his Violet Stimulant Fumes battle skill, any woman will be at his mercy so you better avoid him at all costs." A few girls glanced at one scrawny man with an evil grin in the crowd and grimaced, visibly disgusted by him.
"Yan Mei! Hmph, this bitch took my eye three years ago. During the competition, I must get revenge!" Someone snorted in their heart.
"Hey, that little girl with a pink wand must be Shen Huanxin of the Sky Martial Institute. Don't be fooled by her appearance, she's actually a senior disciple nearing thirty, the moment you lower your guard is when she will strike." A burly Golden Martial Institute student warned as he looked at a cute little girl with rosy cheeks and a small salmon dress waving at everyone.
When she noticed him, she stuck her tongue out and winked at him, which made the man shrink back.
The three institutes' animosity and rivalry had long been deep-seated.
Rallying stone plateau's discussion noises became louder as it turned into an uproar. Many senior students were pointing around, introducing the strong people from the other two institutes to their juniors, reminding them to be careful of them.
"It was a student of the Sky Martial Institute who won the competition last year, despite that, it is our Tiger Martial Institute that is the favorite this time. That is because we have the four young masters in addition to Ma Shinfei and Jin Hao Tian who participate now, each of them stands among the strongest students in the city." Ye Mo contemplated.
The Tiger Martial Institute obtained good results in the past competitions, with the addition of these youths, they had a force to be feared by other students.
Ye Mo's gaze flew across the people as he stood in the crowd, observing the entire situation.
The Tiger Martial Institute had many experts, the Sky and Golden Martial Institutes also had their own outstanding students.
Together with the different deans and instructors on the platform, the rallying stone plateau can be said to be filled with elites.
However, till now, Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu couldn't be spotted among the students.
Gradually, the discussions focused on them.
"Where are they, do they not participate in the competition? That would be great if it was the case."
"Don't say that, who would profit the most with them out? It's the Sky Martial Institute of course!"
"Hmph, even if Zhang Xuanhan gets number one because they are not here, it wouldn't even be considered half a win. Actually, using their absence to take the top spot would be more pitiful than fighting them and being defeated, he will never be on par with these two."
The one that would be the most advantaged if Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu went missing was obviously the Sky Martial Institute which was the only one without a Foundation Establishment Realm student, and Zhang Xuanhan who might become the most powerful of them at this moment.
Zhang Xuanhan clenched his fists tightly as he listened to the discussions, a deep ardor of obstination and defiance in his heart.
Under such discussions, the cloth of a spacious tent placed on the center of the rallying stone plateau was flapped open as the three deans walked out, coming to the edge as they stared down at the thousands of students.
When they made their appearances, two figures moved in a flash, jumping from the rallying stone plateau and landing below among the crowd of students.
Once they stood on the ground beside them, everyone could recognize these two, they were Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu!
"It turns out they were sitting above waiting for the competition to start all this time." Many immediately realized.
This had great significance, it meant that in the hearts of the higher-ups, these two were already not considered students anymore but their equals on par with any instructors. As such, they could approach and talk with them, waiting on the rallying stone plateau with all the Foundation Realm cultivators while the students remained standing on the ground as they waited for the competition to start.
Hong Li held the railings, sweeping a glance at the crowd before saying, "Then without any further ado, this year-end competition shall begin this instant."
The rallying stone plateau's surroundings gradually quietened down.