Chonglin came running out of the entrance to the arena, where Zixin was waiting for him. He was clutching a large, ornamental chest of wood. He was grinning from ear to ear, undeterred as he almost fell over from its weight when he came to a stop.

  “Zixin, we’re rich!”

  Zixin laughed, sharing his friend’s excitement. He had done so incredibly well in this tournament that it was hard to wrap his head around it. Finishing among the top eight from his age was a result that neither of them would have dared to dream of even after all of their training.

  “You completely deserve it. Let’s head out to celebrate tonight.”

  “Absolutely. But we gotta wait for Qiao first, she’s still being briefed about the finals.”

  The award ceremony for the lower ranking contestants had already been held today, as tomorrow was all about the finalists. They were probably planning a special spectacle, considering the grandeur of this event so far.

  “Oh, and we should probably store this somewhere safe before as well. I really don’t want to carry it around for the entire night. See how heavy it is?”

  He handed the chest over to Zixin to demonstrate. He was right, it was heavy, even for its already large size. Hardly a surprise though, considering how many spirit stones were supposed to be inside. Higher grades of these were known to be very heavy.

  “Huh you’re right. That’s quite something. Let’s just put it in your room here, shall we?”

  “Yep.”

  A few minutes later, Qiao came walking out of the arena. She still looked done in, though her face had regained some of its color. Regardless, when she saw the two, she smiled.

  “Hey there. Sorry for collapsing on you like that!”

  “You gave us quite the scare if I’m being honest. Good to see you’re up again. How are you feeling?”

  “Tired, mostly. But also, proud and accomplished. Thankfully I woke up just in time to see the ceremony as well. Congratulations, Chonglin. You are the only one among the top eight who doesn’t have a powerful family in the background.”

  “Thanks for the encouragement. We’ll be sure to cheer you on when you beat up the remaining contestants tomorrow.”

  “We want to celebrate tonight, but seeing how you’ll still have to fight, I suppose you can’t join us?”

  “Sorry, but yes. I really just need to sleep right now.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll just do another round after the finals.”

  “Sure, that sounds great.”

  The two accompanied Qiao to her room, chatting about the fights of the day, before heading over to Chonglin’s.

  “Well, here we are.”

  Zixin placed the chest on the ground with a thud. They had taken turns carrying it, though he had insisted on doing most of the work since Chonglin had already had a taxing day.

  “Now we can go and eat something.”

  “I’m starving as well. But before that… don’t you wanna look inside?”

  Chonglin’s eyes were sparkling with contagious excitement. Now that Zixin thought about it, that sounded like a great idea.

  “You’re right, let’s do that.”

  Not wasting any time, Chonglin pulled out a small golden key that he pushed into the lock. With an audible click, it sprung open and they lifted the lid together.

  Zixin almost stumbled backwards from the sight, inhaling sharply as his eyes adjusted to the bright light streaming out of the chest. He had known what Chonglin had won, it had been announced at the ceremony after all. Seeing it in front of him was a totally different experience though.

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  With all the other contestants who had come this far coming from rich and powerful families, the prizes were naturally chosen to be significant even to them. To the two background-less friends who had until very recently been just outer disciples, it was unbelievable.

  Stacked before them was a mountain of spirit stones, each one brighter and clearer than anything they had ever seen. Chonglin picked one up and held it up in the air, turning it in all directions to marvel at it.

  The fist-sized gem was cut in a beautiful hexagonal pattern, its diaphanous surface so smooth it seemed like calm water, and it gave off a faint glow of light blue light from within. To them, who had never held something like this, it seemed like someone had pulled down a star from the sky and put it in a container of crystal glass.

  These were all grade four spirit stones, especially pure ones at that. A mountain of treasure that would even catch the attention of a senior sect member. Yet the truly grand prize was tidily stacked beside it, contained in small wooden boxes, decorated with fine, golden engravings. Dozens of valuable pills for cultivation, most of which Zixin hadn’t had any idea existed before this.

  On top of that, Chonglin had been invited to pick out a weapon from the sect’s armory and an advanced martial art to match after the tournament. It was truly an unbelievable reward.

  The two spent a long time marveling at the contents of the chest, though they didn’t dare open any of the pill boxes yet, before they finally closed it back up and headed out for dinner.

  …

  They were back at the restaurant where they had eaten on the eve of the tournament, feasting on the delicious meat that the place offered once again. This time, Zixin had even gone for a lighter and sweeter kind of wine that he could actually enjoy drinking. He still wasn’t sure if he liked it better than just the juice that Chonglin was drinking, but it was a major improvement.

  They had been chatting and fantasizing about what they could do with all of their newfound wealth for several hours and the evening had already fallen, when the entrance door was flung open with a lot more force than usual, catching their attention.

  A group of about ten young adults came stamping in, visibly drunk and loudly discussing something with one another. Zixin wasn’t really well versed when it came to the insignia of other sects, but even he could recognize the dark grey robes with the distinctive lightning-like patterns that they were wearing: these were disciples of the Roaring Thunder Sect.

  As soon as they were all inside, one of them shouted out to the waiter, confirming that observation:

  “Waiter! A table! And hurry a little, we’re from the Roaring Thunder Sect!”

  The man in question gave the patron he had been attending to an apologetic look before shuffling towards the new arrivals, repeatedly bowing deeply before them.

  “Of course, good masters, your wishes are my command. Would that one over there be to your liking?”

  “That one? No, that’s too small for us. Give us that one.”

  The table he pointed to was already occupied by a large group of mortal merchants. The waiter tried and failed to hide a pained expression and Zixin winced as well. How incredibly rude could these guys be?

  “I… of course, good masters.”

  He turned around and went over to the table.

  “I apologize a thousand times, but would you please make room for the honored cultivators?”

  The merchants didn’t ever raise a fuss, already in the process of getting up and picking up their belongings to move to the other table. Once they were gone, the disciples didn’t waste any time to occupy their table.

  “Wine, get us wine! Lots of it.”

  Once they had gotten that wish fulfilled as well, the group returned to their conversation, speaking so loudly that it was impossible not to listen to them.

  “Anyways, as I was saying, Heng Zhou losing there was bullshit!”

  “You’re right! I know how strong he is, I personally trained with him. I’ve got two years of proper Body Reformation behind me, and he could still match my strength. There’s a monster hiding in those muscles, I tell you.”

  “So you’re saying that the girl cheated?”

  “Can’t think of any other explanation.”

  Zixin winced again. To talk about Qiao like that; What was the business with these assholes?

  “No way, man! They would have caught her from a mile away.”

  “I’m not saying that she did it alone. Someone must’ve helped her.”

  “Once again, they would’ve caught…”

  “But what if they didn’t want to? You know that the hosting sects are against us. I overheard a conversation between a few senior members. They were that the Lunar Peaks Sect may have joined up with them. They’d get a free win and the other two would get to see us embarrassed. Remember, all the others from our sect lost today as well!”

  “Damn it, you’re right! To think they’d stoop so low…”

  “The Patriarch should put them all in their place. We’re still the strongest sect after all!”

  “I say it’s right about time someone shows them their place.”

  “Hey! Get me more wine!”

  They continued running their mouth while Zixin and Chonglin finished their meal. When they were done, they paid quickly left. Neither of them was in the mood for any more of these idiot’s drunken ramblings. Not to mention that they might notice that they were from the Lunar Peaks Sect, and they really didn’t want to find out what would happen then. No matter how much they had trained, they weren’t in a position to fight with a bunch of older disciples who had already started strengthening their bodies through cultivation.

  Luckily, they got home without such an incident and as such, the encounter only left a minor bad taste in their mouths that they could easily forget considering the many victories of the day.

  They had no idea after all, that the sentiment they had just heard being expressed had been quickly spreading throughout the entire Roaring Thunder Sect…

  Or that it was being deliberately amplified by someone.

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