SCC Chapter 14 (Patreon)

The competition had only taken a little over eight hours, but we had to wait until the next day for the foundation establishment contests to happen. There were slightly over a thousand early-stage foundation establishment cultivators. Unlike qi condensation, the vast majority of foundation establishment cultivators took part in this competition.

Only a quarter of the number are in the middle stage and even less than that for the late stage. The sect had three core formation realm cultivators, which was above average for most sects. It took hundreds of years to go through the first two realms, even if you cultivated almost every moment of your life. Even if you had a one hundred percent affinity and peak rank speed, you still wouldn’t be able to reach core formation in the first century of your life.

My entire lifespan was spent making it through core formation and becoming the first nascent soul cultivator in our part of the world. Sure, there were more in the central country, but they were all heavily tied to the shogun; very rarely did someone come up to that rank that wasn’t heavily tied to them… Fuck, was I murdered by the shogun’s faction? Possibly, I’d have to keep an eye out for it this lifetime.

Matches were also much faster in this realm. Qi condensation had many people who had never fought seriously in their entire life; that wasn’t something you could be once you reached foundation establishment. The flailing that happened when both fighters weren’t good at finishing their opponent wasn’t something that happened in this tournament.

I watched the fast conclusions, not a single long-paced match, as the winners were normally clear in the first or second clash of attacks. Most of the matches in this tier ended in withdrawals after the two clashed, as a person knew he couldn’t win against the other. Bai Bao had an unfair advantage; not only was she close to the next stage, but she also had my pills, techniques, and backing to help her grow stronger than she should be.

Even as skilled as she was, she couldn’t win against the inner sect disciples. She ended up in the twenties because of her bad luck. If the testing was completely unbiased and more of a ranking from strongest to weakest, she could have easily placed in the top ten. Her bad luck at going against one of the four people stronger than her led her to not get the goal I wanted her to get. The flying sword.

The flying sword wasn’t all that rare, but it was expensive. The cheapest models went for more than one thousand high-grade spirit stones. A multi-person sword went for even more than that, and most were owned by the actual sect for transporting new members. I could make one for a quarter of the price, but the process was time-consuming.

I sighed, as I couldn’t blame her; she did all she could, but I had only been helping her for a little under a year while the inner sect disciples enjoyed the benefits for a much longer time, solidifying their foundation in the foundation establishment realm. She gained nothing I wanted, and my idea was only to borrow the flying sword for the hidden realm.

It was possible to take weapons and items like that inside, but they were far too expensive for most to send with their qi condensation subordinates. What was much more likely to happen if someone went in with a flying sword was that they’d be targeted by the other cultivators who went inside because that sword was more valuable than almost everything they’d find in the realm. I would have to make a few dozen teleportation seals to travel around the hidden realm so I wouldn’t get bogged down in the first area where most of the cultivators would stay.

After the competition, we began preparing for diving into the realm. We had more than enough tokens to go, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sell the excess yet. On the one hand, it would make me money; on the other, it would give us more enemies to fight. I finished dual cultivating for the night and was making my way back home. This was one of the few times Fatty Wei didn’t wait outside for me because he was preparing for the hidden realm.

“Stop.” A cold voice came from behind me as I attempted to take a shortcut through an alley back to my home. If she didn’t say anything, I would have walked headfirst into the steel wire she had blocking the entrance on the other side. I smirked at their amateurish nature. It would have been much smarter to just outright attack me. As I turned and got a look at their disguised face, I recognized it.

“You’re the girl I defeated in the competition.” Even in her ninja attire, I could still see the delicate curve of her face behind the mask, and her eyes were impossible to hide. I couldn’t help but smile at her arrogance. Just because I didn’t have my bodyguard, she thought I was easy enough prey to attack by herself. 

I had already checked, and she was the only threat here unless someone in the core establishment realm who had a presence-hiding technique was nearby… But if that was the case, I had bigger problems to worry about and would need to run for my life.

“Give me the extra token you received for the hidden realm, or I’ll take it by force.” She was another person I didn’t remember from my first life. I could tell by fighting her that she was strong, but it was far more common to die than to become famous.

I playfully tease her. “Oh? You couldn’t defeat me fairly, so you decided to become a thug who strongarms people to give them what you didn’t earn. For shame, miss…?” She didn’t give me her name, and my teasing didn’t draw a single emotion from her. She stood there, still as a statue as she waited for a long enough time to not appear rattled by what I said.

“If you think this fight will play out like the one in the tournament, then you’re wrong. I held back, and you got lucky. You won't get lucky this time.” The smile hadn’t dropped off my face as I asked. “How about a trade? You take that mask off your face and let me see what you look like, and I’ll give you the token.” Now I could see her wavering, but it wasn’t on whether she wanted to agree to my demand or not. It was whether she was going to attack me or tell me why she wasn’t going to do that.

“This is your last warning.” She reached down and grabbed at a tanto blade, which was most likely a qi condensation weapon or treasure sword, but I doubted it was a treasure sword. If she was from a large clan that could give their children treasure swords, then she wouldn’t need to steal the token; she could just have her family buy one. “Give me the token, or I’ll take your life.”

I sat as I decided on how I wanted to play this out before deciding on another competition. “How about this?” I pull out the token before placing it on the ground. “We fight, and if you win, I’ll give you the token. But if you lose, I want a night with you if you’re a beauty or for you to work as my bodyguard if you’re not. So… Will you be fair, or do you want to remain this craven thief who cares nothing for their honor?”