Stakes
The sun opened up as a flower on the horizon, rising to send those petals of gold to warm the grandeur, floating eight trigrams arena – Formation Arena – which was located amidst eight sky-high mountains and shrouded in an intense atmosphere.
Disciples from Formation Sect filled up the eight surrounding mountains. Talisman Sect’s twelve members in the arena were the victim of an army’s malicious stares; nothing was going to quell their hatred for each other. Formation Sect’s nineteen Greater Heaven formation casters were face to face with Talisman Sect’s group again. Talisman Sect wasn’t shaken despite the overwhelming numbers and the fact that they were in enemy territory. To the contrary, they were condescending. Why worry when it was another tournament with fixed matches?
Situ Yangtian and Lu Deyi were both present, both of whom were in their typical characters, except Lu Deyi frequently had bouts of being out of sorts.
“Greater Heaven Caster Lu, what is the matter?” Mu Yu asked.
“I don’t know. I just have an ominous feeling about today. Maybe I’m anxious?”
Mu Yu patted Lu Deyi on the shoulder. “All is going according to plan. We will make them pay.”
Situ Yangtian noticed Mu Yu’s gaze on him. He stole a quick gander Mu Yu’s way, then looked away out of contempt. Situ Yangtian had no recollection of last night’s events, clearly.
“I hope so,” responded LuDeyi.
Accompanying his hand and fist salute with a smile, Chang Tiancheng said, “Patriarch Zhuge, I hope to see a better performance from your sect this year.”
“Worry not. Our disciples will polish our reputation,” replied Zhuge Xiaosheng, thinking, What am I even talking about? I’m humiliated at my own incompetence.
Chang Tiancheng let Zhuge Xiaosheng front. Luo Feilong, Ji Wenkai, Mu Chenghong and two more Lesser Heaven Stage competitors were all his spies. He cast his gaze Mu Chenghong’s way, and the latter nodded subtly.
“Patriarch Zhuge, how about we raise the stakes today?”
“What do you suggest?”
“Formation Sect is the treasure of Formation and Talisman Sect as it contains all formation and talisman techniques in existence. Originally, it was shared between us, yet Formation Sect has shown they are too inept to foster any talent despite hogging it all these years. Why not return it to us?”
“I will acknowledge you are right about it being our former treasure. Having said that, you took Formation and Talisman Stone when we separated, and that is equally valuable. If you want to make a bet, should you not also stake something of equal value?”
Back in the day, there was an unwritten rule that he who possessed both Formation Palace as well as Formation and Talisman Stone would be the patriarch of Formation and Talisman Sect.
“Hmph, sure. This old one shall stake his Formation and Talisman Stone, then.”
Chang Tiancheng brought out the black and white hand-sized stone. The stone vibrated as though it was afraid of something. Like Formation Palace, Formation and Talisman Stone was touted to be impervious to all formation and talisman techniques. Formation Palace could cast any formation instantly, while Formation and Talisman Stone could cancel any formation or talisman technique instantly except for Formation Palace’s interior protection formation.
As Chang Tiancheng stowed away Formation and Talisman Stone, he shot a quick glance Lu Deyi and Mu Chenghong’s way. As long as those two prevented Formation Palace’s activation, Formation Palace was nothing to fear.
“All right, let us commence!” Zhuge Xiaosheng announced, inwardly saying, It’s all in your hands, Feng Mu.
The tournament was no longer a priority from the time Zhuge Xiaosheng learnt of Talisman Sect’s plot. Chang Tiancheng’s Formation and Talisman Stone had him second guessing their plans in spite of all the plans they had in place.
Zhou Jinglin couldn’t even stop the corner of his lips rising.
Mu Yu kept Situ Yangtian in his sights.
Bong! The bell declared the commencement of the tournament.
As per routine, there were nine matches. The first match would be between Lesser Heaven Stage disciples. The second match would be between Heaven Stage disciples. The third match would be between Greater Heaven Stage disciples and then cycle back to the beginning until all nine matches were conducted. A winner was declared once one was ringed out or one competitor couldn’t cast another skill.
“Formation Sect’s Sun Yingdai.” Sun Yingda was a sixteen-year-old Golden Core Realm Ninth Layer Lesser Heaven Stage disciple. Most importantly, he was a spy from Talisman Sect.
“Talisman Sect’s Lin Hui.”
Zhuge Xiaosheng stuck with sending Sun Yingdai to mislead Talisman Sect into thinking their script hadn’t been exposed and due to it not making any difference. Luo Feilong and Ji Wenkai already exposed everyone’s weaknesses, after all.
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