I couldn't believe it, we actually came first, and it was clear from the fanfare and the explosions that happened right after.
Not a moment later, however, the man we just bypassed got out of his pod, his eyes screaming bloody murder!
"YOU BASTARD!" he said, but before his Qi could accumulate even further, a powerful divine sense washed over us and dampened his aggressiveness so much that he began shaking.
"There will be no fights on this glorious day," a man spoke.
He then appeared out of nowhere, it was the same person with the purple robe.
"I cannot accept this! This bastard tried to slow me down, and what is with those pods, those clearly are modified and that goes against the race's rules!"
The man in purple looked at us and said, "Is that so? Huang Yu, do you agree to those words?" the man in purple spoke.
Another person soon came and arrived at the scene.
He looked at me, smiled, and said, "No, I don't see any violation of the rules," he said.
Not a moment later, many other cultivators began arriving, they were a bit disappointed by their late arrival but were thankful that they arrived among the first ones.
"Aren't you being too presumptuous! How is this even in the rules! Do you know who you're talking to blue robe?!" he said.
This caught the attention of the rest of the late arrivals, there was drama and their eyes and ears were wide peeled for some gossip.
"Wu Lei, son of Gu lei, I know you and know your father, but even if your father is a Purple Robe, you're not a part of the heavenly academy, so don't start pulling your weight around, you're unfit to do so." The blue robe Huang Yu spoke "Anyway, I'll explain," the man in purple said, "Could you please leave your pods," he said and the two of us left.
"Then, let's compare the inscriptions then, the rule says any modification that is considered an 'Upgrade' to the current inscription is considered a cheat," he said.
"Yes, that's clearly an upgrade, their pod is too fast for this race!" Wu Lei replied.
"So, you failed to see what I mean, an upgrade means that the quality of the inscriptions needs to be higher than the ones already on the pod, so you're saying that a cultivator like Shen Bao knows more than the Heavenly Academy in terms of inscription?" Huang Yu said, "Aren't you looking down on our Heavenly Academy too much?" he said.
"N-no, but…"
"Let me put your worries to rest then, I'm sure you studied inscriptions before, right?" he said.
"Yes, I know a bit," he said.
"Well, if the son of one the best inscribers in the Heavenly Academy says he knows a bit, then I know nothing," the Blue Robe mocked, "Anyway, what is this?" the blue robe said as he pulled an inscription.
Wu Lei frowned "That's a simple Qi conversion inscription," he said.
"What's the Qi conversion inscription that's on your pod?" the blue robe asked.
"This is an advanced Qi conversion inscription, my father was the one who devised it," WU Lei spoke in pride.
"Then, which among the two is better?" the blue robe asked.
He trapped him.
"O-of course my father's!" Wu Lei said.
"Then, isn't your pod inscribed with better quality inscriptions? How can you say that his is an upgrade while it only has far lesser quality inscriptions? Look at these," and then he began showing more and more of the inscriptions, enough that Wu Lei couldn't even talk back.
"Shen Bao never used an inscription that is of a higher grade than any of the ones supplied by the academy," the Blue Robe spoke.
"Then how come his pod is faster if it is of a lower quality!" Wu Lei spoke.
"It's the quantity," Wu Lei said, and then opened up the spatial formation that was hiding the real inscriptions.
Just as the spatial inscription was opened, hundreds upon hundreds of complex yet simple inscriptions that anyone could write were placed in front of Wu Lei.
The most astonishing fact wasn't the number, but the fact of how simple these inscriptions were.
"How in the hell are all these inscriptions in harmony?!" Wu Lei spoke, clearly stunned.
"It is not something that I'll explain, anyway, all the parts of the inscriptions here are of a lesser quality than your pod, and don't tell me, quantity is quality in itself, the terms of the race state that only the 'quality' of the inscriptions cannot be higher than what is given, nothing about the number. So, Shen Bao has won, fair and square," the blue robe said.
This almost made Wu Lei fume in rage.
"Then what about her?!" Wu lei said.
"She came in second," this time the purple robe said.
"I already noticed that Shen Bao had made his pod slightly ahead of hers, thus even if they both arrived at the same time, he was first, she was second and you're third. Anyway, enough of this, accept your loss and move on, I dislike sore losers," the man in purple spoke.
And his word was law.
Wei Lei was about to speak again but the man in purple spoke first, "I also was able to see your intervention in the race, you sent your hooligans to disrupt other people's race, I will look past it since everything turned out to be alright, but do this again, and I'll have your hide!" the man in purple spoke and it was enough to make Wu Lei's face pale.
Soon, a divine sense message came to my mind, "Shen Bao! Right, we're not done; you better watch your back!" Wu Lei said.
"Good, come at me whenever, bitch," I replied back with all the spite I could and left him wondering about the smack talk I just gave him.
"A race isn't a race if there are no rewards!" the man in purple said, "Once all the competitors arrive, we'll hold a banquet and a reward ceremony, then we'll prepare you all for the second test! Your token will allow you access to one of the best lodgings on Black City, rest up, tomorrow we'll be hosting the award ceremony and the banquet!" he said then he disappeared.
Many cultivators, some I didn't even know congratulated me on my victory, though I didn't expect them to be so friendly, I guess winning such a test will put me in a good position of entering the heavenly academy and they want to be friendly with me if I were to be admitted for some future benefits. Typical cultivator mindset.
I returned the greetings and after a while, I sighed as I turned to Liang Yu who was looking at me with a confused look.
"What?" I asked.
"You're a strange man, Shen Bao," she said.
"How so?"
"You know who that person is? This isn't going to be easy, you made yourself his target," she said.
"Meh, let him come at me, I'll break him every time. Anyway, where is my thanks?" I said grinning.
"Oh, yes, pardon me, I was too shocked by what happened, we actually came in first. I would have been satisfied with just clearing this stage," she said as a bright smile was painted over her face.
"Thank you so much, Shen Bao," she said as she bowed. "For the race, and for saving my Sect Members," she said.
"And I'll make sure to punish a certain someone once he comes here," she said.
"I'll trust you with that, for now, I'll go and rest," I said.
I inspected my token and found that it was displaying a number. Number 1. Then it shone bright, revealing a line on the ground that I needed to follow.
Following it, I arrived at the gate of a mansion that was disgustingly huge.
The garden was packed full of spiritual herbs and the pure Qi that was released from the manor was enough to invigorate anyone with a mere whiff.
However, I couldn't even use this place, since I couldn't use normal Qi. I was a bit saddened by such a reward that I couldn't even make use of.
I entered the manor and was welcomed by many servants.
The weakest of the bunch was already at the Soul Formation stage.
Someone of a higher cultivation stage than me was actually removing the weeds from the garden.
I shook my head and entered the manor.
Just as I took a few steps inside I stopped and said, "You don't really need to hide do you?" I said.
"Oh, I'm surprised you could see me," he said and the purple-robed master appeared right in front of me.
To be completely honest, I almost shat my pants. I just spoke this cringy line just to see if there was actually someone, and there was.
"Let's call it a hunch," I said smiling and making sure I don't look terrified.
Don't ever let them see you sweat.
"So, what can I do for you?" I asked.
"On the opposite, I came to talk to you about something," he said.
"Yes, please," I said.
"How did you escape the hunt of the Fire King?" he asked.
And almost all my world seemed to be breaking in front of me.
How did he know?