To Walk The Mist

His eyes scanned the crowd as though threatening them to say another word. The crowd complied and went silent immediately, allowing the officiating elder to speak. He had said those words hoping to help the young master, yet he had ended up embarrassing them.

With a red face, he coughed and continued.

"Those that wish to participate, step unto the stages. The stage you pick does not matter. At least one hundred people on one stage."

The contestants complied and stepped unto the stage. Many started to whisper, wondering how the meet intended to carry out the mass elimination this time. The last time, they had put the contestants in a pocket world and sent them to bring back tokens laid around. They had to fight both each other for the tokens and the spirit beasts. The irony was that they were told that the tokens were important in the next level of the competition. Since they were not told how many tokens they were supposed to pick, people thought it better to be safe and pick more. Only to return and were told to look behind the token. They were supposed to fight any one with the same number as the one under their token. Some were forced to fight three to four times and ended up getting eliminated from exhaustion.

Seeing all the contestants on the stage, they waited for the officiating elder to speak.

"There are more than five hundred of you, we only need a hundred for the next stage. The match will end when only twenty of you remain on one stage. How you intend to remain, is up to you. When there are exactly twenty people on a stage, all conflict must stop." Many looked at each other as he spoke. Isn't this just putting them all on five stages and saying fight till only twenty of you remain on a stage? Why did it sound like there was more to this?

"When the time is up, you must be standing on the stage to be eligible for the next round. If not, the last persons to be removed on from the stage will return to fill your spot." many frowned even more, as they did not understand. Many contestants knew that they had to read in between the lines. The alliance liked to do this say something and leave meanings in it. If one did not truly listen, you would be eliminated. It was not about strength alone. You must also show your wit.

The officiating elder looked at those on the stages and spoke, "Begin."

As these words were said, a battle started on all stages. Those that were in the most disadvantage were those who had passed the preliminaries. But this was to be expected. After all, they were the least powerful amongst the contestants. If they make it pass this stage, it would be a miracle.

No one noticed five people on different stages vanish. At least, non on the stage. This technique, those who saw this could not help but look at a man sitting in the crowd.

Tie Nse smiled at this. That division had always been amongst the smartest people in the alliance. Now they had five people that can execute that skill. Even though it was still rough, it worked against the other contestants.

On the second stage, Jia Lin was a dominant figure. He had completely learned the thousand swords skill. With this came the ability to reach one with the world. As a swordsman, he took great pride in this. That energy manipulator may have stolen his limelight, but he was going to display his technique today. Moving like a feather in the wind, the cultivators around him could not really touch him. Their fists and weapons could only graze is clothes. As they attacked, he swayed out of the way, then sliced them with his sword. He had started to feel that this competition was too easy.

Being one of those that had passed the preliminaries, attention found it's way towards him from the chaos.

"One with the word. He is the one who performed the skill yesterday." Many remembered this dashing young man who had managed to learn the patriarch's skill. Even though his limelight was stolen, this was still an amazing feat.

Seeing him move so swiftly, their eyes trained on his form. They understood that his cultivation level of early spirit merging was a big attraction to some who wanted to kick someone off the stage fast.

"But, this boy is too brutal." someone commented.

Many nodded at this. Though the officiating elder did not say anything about killing on the stage, it was already understood that they were all from the same alliance. There was no need to be too brutal. Even though Jia Lin was not killing them, he was definitely leaving serious injuries on them.

Soon, Jia Lin paused and looked around. The fight was still going on, but the numbers had thinned. Though no one came after him any more, the fighting spirit had already been ignited in him. Without thinking twice, he entered the crowd and attacked.

He picked his opponent carefully. This girl was only at the late spirit awareness, this was several levels above him, yet he had confidence in himself. She was using a sword just like him, so he was sure the one with the upper hand would be him.

The girl saw him attack her suddenly and turned to defend frantically.

"Shameless." she said. She understood that it was his superiority in the art of swords that sent him her way. Still, her panic only stayed for a second. The next, she noticed his cultivation level and confidence filled her.

"Since your level in the thousand swords skill makes you so arrogant, I will crush it today." she said and attacked him with the full might of her cultivation level.