Chapter 624: Opening Ceremony
Translator: AL_Squad Editor: Chrissy
Two days later, crowds of people gathered outside the group of immortal tombs.
At last, the grand competition that decided the future of Nine Regions finally began officially. The cultivators of Nine Regions acted as soon as they got the news and gathered in Plentiful City.
The people directly related to the grand competition had already entered the City of Immortal in batches several days earlier. Now, most of the crowds were enthusiastic onlookers.
In addition to cultivators, there were now more ordinary people in Plentiful City. After all, cultivators were different according to their cultivation base. Those Jindan and Yuanying cultivators could live in the open air and not eat food. However, cultivators with low cultivation base had to rely on ordinary people to solve their basic necessities.
Most of the resident of Plentiful City outside the group of immortal tombs were now mostly ordinary human. They have traveled thousands of miles to the city to provide various services for the cultivators and enjoy the payment from the cultivators. As the grand competition came near, more and more of these transient population came from all parts of Nine Regions. There were millions of ordinary people alone. On the day before the opening of the grand competition, the nearest place to the group of immortal tombs was very crowded—cultivators and ordinary mortals mingled together. People were everywhere on the ground and in the air. Regardless of whether one was a Daoist Master of Jindan Stage or ordinary mortal cook, in such a crowd, one could not see the difference.
Naturally, there were cultivators who complained about the policy of equal treatment of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals.
In addition to those directly related with the grand competition and entered ahead of time, the grand competition was open to all the people of Nine Regions. Regardless of whether they were cultivators or ordinary mortal, upright or evil, all were welcomed, even foreign visitors from outside Nine Regions. As long as one entered the City of Immortal through the gate of the group of immortal tombs, one could watch all the events freely, and even had free access to food. Therefore, at this time, even people who fled from famine gathered in Plentiful City, which added a lot of chaos to the city.
A cultivator who was blocked by the crowd a few miles away from the gate could not help but complain, "Damn, what was the Organizing Committee thinking? It's alright if they just treat cultivators as equal, but now, how could they even let ordinary people in? What does this grand competition have to do with them? Are we going to perform in front of these ordinary mortals? That's so improper!"
As he spoke, he endured the suffocating odor of the people around him—the sweat and the breath of ordinary people and the greasy smell of food that some people ate while walking down the street. All of those smells mixed together caused this Xudan Stage cultivator somewhat unable to endure.
By his side, his junior brother also complained, "I really don't understand what that fellow named Wang Lu is thinking… I heard that during this period, he had made everyone suffer a lot."
Since Wang Lu held the post of the chief planner, his wonderful ideas that emerged one after another really caused the cultivators of Nine Regions to suffer. Especially the elite team of two thousand people who received no small matter of suffering. In order to be able to compete with the Earth Immortals within a short period of time, Wang Lu really used all the means available. The controversial cross-dressing was only a part of it. More creative means had made countless people feel like they wanted to die… Thus, in spite of the remarkable success, he also bore tremendous public opinion pressure.
Even those who were not qualified to participate in the training, they also knew that there was a Daoist Master of Jindan Stage in Nine Regions who did things unreasonably and hated by people.
"Damn, when this grand competition is over, we must find him to settle things."
"At least his ten years of cultivation must be scrapped!"
"Ten years are too cheap. Someone so lawless like him must sit quietly in the dead room for a hundred years!"
The two of them were filled with righteous indignation, but suddenly, there was a thick and powerful hand on their shoulders.
Suddenly, the core qi in the jade mansion of these two Xudan Stage cultivators condensed, and their physical bodies who had gone through thousands of hammers and hundreds of refinement trembled. When they wanted to turn their head around to look, they found their neck didn't follow their order.
Then, a buzzing sound entered their ears.
"You two are not even worthy to lick Wang Lu's shoes, so better stop saying nonsense here."
"H-Honored sir is…"
"Don't ask me who I am, you two don't deserve to know. I just want to tell you that you are lucky to meet me this time. Although Wang Lu's controversy is big, there are many people who have received his favor. If it were the others, they would've just swiftly dealt with you, two little Xudan. The rules of Plentiful City could not save your lives."
When the voice fell, the two Xudan cultivators felt their shoulders suddenly became lighter. The sudden change made them unstable and their legs, weak. They could hardly exert their magical power, and thus, with a plop, they fell to the ground. However, since they sat down in the middle of the crowds, their fate was self-evident. Very quickly, there were a large number of footprints on them.
The two of them were trampled into a sorry state. Though not in pain, their cultivator's bearing was gone. When they tried to look up to see the person who did this to them, among the shadow of countless pairs of shoes, they could only capture a sturdy back.
"... Why do I think that person is wearing a skirt?"
"Maybe you've been trampled on by a female hero in a skirt, sh*t, I'm going to be trampled to death, come and pull me! Ah, which son of a b*tch stepped on my face?"
—
The son of a b*tch who deliberately stepped on his face had a smirk on his face as he slipped in the crowds of people, holding a beautiful silk bag.
The name of the young man was Shu Si, fourteen years of age. He was a migrant in this Plentiful City. A few years ago, he arrived in Plentiful City along with a group of tourists. Later, when the group had left, he stayed and worked in various suburban shops. Although he was not tall, he had slender limbs, and he had a pair of flexible hands. Some merchants took pity of him when they knew that his parents had died since his childhood, so they often gave him some errands. However, soon they discovered that, although the boy was dexterous, his hands were skillful enough in walking off with other's possession. The places were he worked always inexplicably lost things. Although those things were not necessarily precious, they always caused bad luck to the shop.
With his nimble limbs, Shu Si spent most of the year in Plentiful City without leaving any evidence. However, no more shopkeeper was willing to take pity of him. When he lost his proper job, Shu Si simply became a gangster and formally started his business of stealing. He joined a gang in the suburb led by a black boss and had a good life relying on his quick-wittedness and nimble limbs.
He always knew who he could make his move on and who he could not. In particular, after he witnessed several of his companions unluckily provoke a cultivator, who broke all their limbs on the spot and even took away half of their intelligence that they became drolling idiots. He became even more cautious with his work, preferring to harvest less. Being scolded by the black boss was better than being refined into a magical tool. Life was better than death.
However, in the past two days, the atmosphere in Plentiful City greatly changed. A large number of people poured in. The clear and in good order situation of the past was no longer there. When Shu Si saw an opportunity, he boldly made his move and made quite a bit of gain.
Especially this day where the gate of the group of immortal tombs was fully opened. In such a crowded situation, the law monitoring array was overloaded and failed. In order to maintain some basic order, the city launched the forbidden array, restricting the cultivators from using their skills at will. Thus, these little punks were even more out of control, doing things inside the city regardless of the law and of natural morality.
Like the two Xudan Stage cultivators just now. In terms of strength, they could crush one hundred Shu Si with one finger at will. But now, they could only be stuck in the crowd, and their mustard seed bag was stolen by an ant-like petty thief.
"Shu Si, what about the harvest?"
At this time, Shu Si was hiding in the corner, weighing the mustard seed bag. Upon listening to the voice of his companion, he turned his head and saw that it was indeed his gang of scoundrels. Elated, the teenager lifted the front of his long skirt and showed the elaborately tied ten brocade purses.
His companion sucked in a mouthful of cold air. "Ooh, you got the nerve! These things belong to those cultivators, aren't you afraid that they would track you down and hook your soul?"
Shu Si smiled and asked, "Who wants to find a cultivator that could hook people's soul? I especially looked for fools. Don't think that those high and mighty cultivators are so great, a lot of them are actually fools. Many cultivate until they turn silly, they don't even have the awareness to do some precaution. If you hide well, you will be fine."
His companion was envious. "I'm not as brave as you… but this is cultivator's stuff, you can't open it, so what's the use?"
"Although I can't, somebody else can. Do you forget there's a dead face in the western part of the city? He accepts stuff of cultivators. Moreover, if you give cultivator's stuff to him, it would have nothing to do with you, no one would ever come to find you."
"But the dead face went through the gate."
Shu Si was immediately dumbfounded. "What? He entered the big stone gate?"
The so-called big stone gate naturally referred to the gate of the group of immortal tombs. Usually, this gate was opened only to cultivators who were authorized by the Management Committee. As for ordinary people in Plentiful City, although they could see the towering magnificent gate, they never had the chance to go in and see what was inside.
"A lot of people have gone through the big stone gate these days. In addition to the dead face, there are also the old black clothing and peach blossom wife."
Shu Si was even more dumbfounded. "Uh, how did all the people who could accept the harvest all go?" But then, the teenager rolled his eyes and decided. "That's right, I will go too!"
"You want to go too?" His companion was stunned. "What are you going to do there? Boss said no one is allowed to enter, you better not cause trouble to everyone."
Shu Si spat out, "That useless loser, don't listen to his farts! He said not to implicate everyone? Then why wasn't he afraid to implicate others previously when I got my hands on spirit stones and looked for the dead face to exchange it with money? I have to go. I heard that there are many immortals behind that big stone gate. If any of them find me pleasing to their eyes, even if they don't accept me as their disciple, they would, at the very least, bestow me with two immortality pills, and I don't need to be a gangster anymore."
"You're dreaming!"
"Humph, you didn't listen to an expert who spoke in a teahouse a few days ago. What is the difference between a person and a salted fish if he doesn't have a dream?"
"Salted fish can be eaten, could a person be eaten?"
Shu Si narrowed his eyes but didn't speak. The taste of human flesh was actually not new to him.
After a while, he said with a smile, "In short, I have decided that I have to go. If you follow me, when the time comes, we would become immortals together. But even if you don't follow me, when I become an immortal, I would not forget about you."
His companion knew that his mind was set, so he stopped persuading him. "Fine, I wish you good luck then."
—
Relying on his nimbleness, Shu Si made his way through the crowded road and finally arrived in front of the gate of the group of immortal tombs in the evening.
This gate, which had been continuously expanded, was several miles wide and had a towering height. It was like a mouth of an ancient huge beast, constantly devouring thousands of creatures.
In front of the gate, Shu Si swallowed his saliva and walked into it.
Behind the gate was a brand new world.