Suddenly a small buzzing sound appeared from the stage and a small, circular white light flashed in there. Ning immediately turned his head to look at it and was surprised by what he was saw.
The white glow was abnormal as it didn't originate from anything on the stage and it looked like the space itself bent on the stage.
As soon as it appeared, however, the light disappeared and the stage was back to normal. It wasn't only Ning that was surprised. The other disciples that had come along were a little surprised too at the paranormal event that had just taken place.
Ning could see people from the other islands getting curious as to what had just happened as well.
"What was that?" Someone asked.
"Tsk. And here we thought of keeping it a surprise until later on. Sigh, whatever. That is the opening to the secret realm. Once you enter there, you are teleported to the secret realm," Dion said with a disappointed face.
"What is the secret realm exactly? Another universe?" Ning asked.
"Another universe? Haha, you think way too grand Doctor Ning. No, it's either just a simple pocket dimension or the more possible answer, a simple portal to another location somewhere on this planet," Yelca said.
Ning finally understood a little. 'Maybe I will know if the place is on the map or not once I enter," he thought.
There were no more such flashes. People steadily entered the arena and soon the arena was almost filled.
A group of people walked onto the stage and stopped around the location where the white portal had previously flashed.
"What are they doing?" Ning asked the group.
"Ah, they are finally here. The tournament will begin very soon then," Gion said. "Just keep watching, you will see."
The 5 men who had just entered the stage suddenly took out a long metal rod with a weirdly iridescent cloth at the top.
'Is that… a formation flag?' Ning wondered.
He was correct. The 5 people had taken out formation flags and planted them in 5 separate spots around the place where the portal had appeared.
They then placed a bunch of spirit stones just inside the formation they had just created and started silently activating it.
Soon, everyone in the arena could see turbulence in the space inside the formation. The space started twisting and turning until there was a tear in it.
A visible crack in the space shocked everyone who was new to the place. Subsequently, the portal appeared once more.
However, this time, it wasn't wibbly-wobbly like the last time and seemed very stable. The 5 men had managed to make the portal stay open permanently.
"Is it as stable as it looks?" Ning asked.
"Yes. They do this every 3 years so they are quite good at it now. See? Not a single fluctuation in space," Dion said.
"Now that the portal is ready, I think you guys will have to leave soon. Remember, help each other whenever you can. Of course, that is if you happen to meet each other," Yelca said.
"What do you mean if we happen to meet each other, sect leader?" someone asked.
"Well, basically, you will all be separated once you enter. So, when you are inside you will have to fend for yourself," Yelca said.
"Good morning everyone. I am your host for the tournament. My name is Trivex. Before I announce anything else, will the participants please gather onto the stage?" Trivex said.
"Alright, good luck to you guys. Do as well as you can. No pressure," Gion said.
"Have faith in your training, you guys will do fine," Yelca said, before sending off the participants.
Ning and the other 14 disciples as well as the other 3000 participants walked down to the arena nearly filling the entire thing.
"Wow, I see this every single tournament, and this still somehow surprises me. There are always so many of you," the host said.
He waited for the rest of the people to come down and then started speaking.
"Alright, listen up carefully. I will now explain how the tournament will be held. The tournament will be divided into 2 segments."
"The first one will take place in the secret realm, while the second one will take place on this stage," the host said.
"The one starting right now is the one that will take place in the secret realm."
"For this tournament, each one of you will be given a bunch of storage bags and a single talisman that you will have to forever keep on your chest."
"Your task inside the secret realm is the either gather ingredients or kill the monster and then gather their corpses as much as you can."
"Each ingredient and monster will give you a certain number of points that will be recorded into your talisman. "
"The talisman is also your saving grace. The talisman will immediately teleport you out of the secret realm if you ever are about to face a fatal injury."
"If those damage or injuries are to be caused by the participants, you will lose half of your points then and there to your killer," the host said.
The participants got a little nervous as well as exciting learning that one did not have to hold back in fear of accidentally killing the other.
The host continued. "Here is how we will count your points. The points for the ingredients are very random and are determined based on their rarity, so you can't know for yourself how many points they will get you."
"You can however see how many points you have in your talisman at any points and find out."
"As for the monsters that you will kill, most of the monsters are only up to the 9th realm of Qi Condensation, so you will get points based on what realm there are."
"The monsters in foundation realm that you will rarely find will start at 50 points with 5 extra points for each higher realm it is in."