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Temion City, the God Stone Square.
A small hill-sized, diamond-shaped meteorite stood tall in the God Stone Square. More than half of the meteorite was sunk deep into the ground, and the part that was visible was hundreds of meters tall, making it look very magnificent.
Legends say that this was a piece of the meteorite that fell from the sky thousands of years ago. It crashed right here, where at the time there was no Temion City, but merely a piece of wasteland.
It was said that after the meteorite fell from the sky, in the beginning, every night under the glistening moonlight, the meteorite would emit a bright silver light. Later on, this silver light started to dim day by day, and in the last ten years, the meteorite has never shone, appearing just like a normal rock.
The people of the Merchant Union treated this meteorite as a God Stone, and established Temion City around it.
It has been many years since then, and now Temion City has become a big city and the center of the Merchant Union.
However, even though the meteorite stopped shining in silver brilliance, for the warriors of the Merchant Union, it was a blessing from God, and thus the meteorite was zealously treated as a God Stone.
The God Stone Square was also built from that meteorite.
In the Merchant Union, many couples would come to the God Stone Square and make their vows, with the God Stone as a holy witness to their love.
Every Martial Competition in the Merchant Union, was held in the God Stone Square.
On this day in the God Stone Square, there was an endless stream of crowds. Outside the Square there were countless vendors, many of whom were warriors selling mostly items that were associated with cultivation.
In the God Stone Square
In front of that enormous meteorite were sixteen battle arenas. Each one was about a hundred square meters and was made out of solid green iron. Even warriors in the Human Realm wouldn’t be able to break it using all their strength.
Around these sixteen battle arenas stood five tall stone towers.
One of the towers was fifty meters tall, while the other four were forty meters tall. These five towers were equally spaced a hundred meters apart in distance, and on those towers stood the people from the five families, who were able to view all sixteen arenas below.
On one of the stone towers, Leylin stood next to Eren Lenoir, calming looking down upon all the participants around the God Stone Square who came to compete in the Martial Competition.
Leylin didn’t bother to change his looks and appearance because everyone who has seen him is already dead, with the sole exception of Mary Dunn but Leylin has already made some nefarious arrangements and she isn’t in right state of mind to identify him.
This stone tower belonged to the Lenoir family, which was forty meters tall. The other four were for the Crystal, Ashdown, Delaney and Dunn Family.
The stone towers belonging to the Ashdown, Delaney and Dunn families were also forty meters tall, just like that of the Lenoir family. However, the Crystal family was an exception. Their tower was fifty meters high, a whole lot taller than the other four families’ towers.
Just from the height of the stone towers, it could be seen that the Crystal family held an absolutely strong position in the Merchant Union!
This was the first day of the Martial Competition.
The direct descendents of the Lenoir family;Gideon (Leylin cousin uncle) , Kenneth (Leylin uncle) and Mark (Leylin cousin uncle) were all on the stone tower by this time.
The Wrogan Brothers, Paul and Harris, were also in the stone tower, plus a few other strangers that Leylin didn’t know. Through Harris’s(Leylin follower) introductions, he learned that those were the loyal subordinates of the family. They usually worked in the city, but were called here because of the Martial Competition.
However, Raymond Alaister(Leylin father) was not in the stone tower, and that was because he did not practice Martial Arts. When the Martial Art masters of the other cities were called here, he had to go and take charge in case any problems come up while the Martial Competition was being held.
Every year’s Martial Competition was separated into five categories: Elementary, Nascent, Human, Disaster, and Earth. However, in the category of Earth Realm there would usually only be one figurehead.
Usually, even the warriors who were unaffiliated to any power, when they managed to reach the Earth Realm, they would have certainly gained their own cultivation opportunities. It was unlikely for them to covet the prizes given by the five families.
An Earth Realm warrior, whether in the Merchant Union, the Fire Empire, or the God-blessed Empire, would be considered a master.
Such warriors wouldn’t need to compete in the Martial Competition to obtain a nice cultivation environment. They can just go to any powerful force to become a dedicated warrior.
Even if an Earth Realm warrior didn’t join any power, the major forces would still reach out their arm, hoping to recruit the warrior.
Because of this, even though the Martial Competition set a competing category for Earth Realm warriors, but the warriors that actually came to participate, were nearly nonexistent.
Even the warriors who reached the Disaster Realm would rarely come to the Martial Competition. Every year, there would only be a few warriors that would show up.
The ones who really came for the Martial Competition were mostly at the Elementary, Nascent, or Human Realms.
These three kinds of warriors with lower capabilities were the majority, as they often couldn’t find their own cultivation opportunities. Therefore they would have to participate in the Martial Competition in the hope to win some precious cultivation materials, or to obtain a nice position in one of the five families.
The Martial Competition usually lasted for five days.
The first four days were generally for the warriors who came for the prizes. These people would be watched by the five families. Throughout the four days of fighting, the families would choose their favorite warriors and reach out to them.
The last day, however, would be the highlight of the Martial Competition.
On this day, the five families would send their best dedicated warriors and descendents to go compete with the masters of the other families. The five families would test each other’s power on the last day of the Martial Competition.
This day, was also the day when the five families would show their strength to others!
And on this day, the fighting was often accompanied with the enormous conflicts of interests and profits, and earth-shaking gambles would often happen.
Mines, commercial streets, treasures, and even bizarre Martial Skills could become the stakes of the five families!
Just one Martial Competition, could lead to one family gaining the most extravagant riches, and could also reduce a family’s savings to nothing. The last day of the competition would become a topic that people would talk about for years to come.
This day, the masters from the different families would expose their true capabilities, showing rare Martial Spirits. Also in the intense fighting, different secret treasures might also show up.
Most warriors who came from the outside were also here for the last day of the Martial Competition.
From the fights on last day of the Martial Competition, they could find out the difference between them and the warriors of the five families. Through watching the fierce battles, they could understand their own inadequacies, and find the ways to improve their standards and capabilities.
And they might even be able to raise their own strength through the battles from the Martial Competition.
This was why the Martial Competition attracted so many people!
Leylin stood on the stone tower calmly, serenely looking down upon the arenas and the many warriors who came to participate.
Two hundred meters away on the tower of the Crystal family, two beautiful figures followed Kyle up the high tower.
On the high tower, Mable and Demi stood side-by-side with Kyle. Together they were looking over all of the arenas.
Mable wore a white dress, her hair flying in the wind. On the tall tower, her beautiful posture made her look like a fairy on the mainland.
Demi was still in that crimson armor, her hot body was visible underneath the coverage of that armor made her figure look very seductive.
From two hundred meters away, Leylin didn’t even shot them a single glance at the two girls, but he knew about them.
“Brother, Gabriel from the Misty Pavilion has come to see you.” Thomas, who stood near the staircase entrance of the stone tower, suddenly shouted.
“Gabriel?” Surprise flashed across Eren’s face. He blanked out for a second, but then nodded: “Invite him up.”
Leylin stood indifferent but his eyes shifted a bit listening to the conversation between Eren and Thomas, he already knew why Gabriel is here.
“Would she come to snatch the half of the map, even though I have changed the course of story. I did made some effort to leak some false information to tip them off.”
Gabriel came up with a smile as he calmly walked next to Eren, and said, “Head of the Lenoir family, I have come to request help from you. I’m wondering where your son-in-law Raymond Alaister is right now, I want to invite him to the Misty Pavilion. Is that alright?
“Raymond?” Eren’s expression darkened as he snorted, but said in confusion, “The Misty Pavilion has been trying to find people named Raymond everywhere, what are you trying to do?”
“A friend of mine has come from the Endless Sea. Her older relative lost an infant a very long time ago. The infant is called Raymond, and so they requested me to look around for him. Thus I ask for your help, Master Lenoir.”
Eren’s heart skipped a beat and his eyes flashed with a strange unknown expression. After quite a while he finally shook his head and responded, “Raymond is not in Temion city right now, because I called many people back for the Martial Competition, He is has been taking charge in another city, this… we’ll talk about this some other time.”
“Sure, as long as you’d remember, Master Lenoir.” Gabriel didn’t urge deliberately, and smiled, “When he comes back, please allow him to come to the Misty Pavilion, Master Lenoir, haha, don’t worry, I won’t let him run all this way for nothing.”
“Okay.” Eren indifferently nodded.
“Then I will take my leave.” Gabriel didn’t stay for long, and after the issues were negotiated, he left straightaway.
—
Melodious and soothing music came from the tower of the Crystal family.
The heart-warming sound of nature immediately rang throughout every corner of God Stone Square. Mable sat crossed-legged on the stone tower of the Crystal family, absorbed in playing the zither.
Many warriors who came to the Martial Competition, were attracted by this ethereal music, and their expression was full of fascination as they looked up at the Crystal family’s stone tower.
Next to Mable was Kyle Crystal, his expression full of pride, and the corner of his lips showed a trace disdain for all living things. He stood there and accepted the admiring and envious gazes from the many warriors.
Mable’s music was like a mountain stream, flowing into the hearts of the warriors, as if cleansing their souls.
Just with one song, the warriors were mesmerized, their faces stunned.
Then at this moment.
Elrod Crystal suddenly flew from the tall tower, his magnificent figure magically floated on the sky above the God Stone Square, like a God looking down on all human beings. He shouted, “The Martial Competition, officially starts!”
“Walking in mid-air! Sky Realm warrior!”
Many warriors screamed out one by one, their expression in awe, shocked by the capabilities shown by Elrod Crystal.
In the Martial Competition field.
Dozens of warriors of various Realms were competing vigorously in different areas. Streams of bizarre light exploded on the field one after another, as if magical snakes were shuttling above the competition field.
The participants were performing all sorts of rare Martial Skills, and some even startled those people from the five big families.
In the high building of the Lenoir family.
Standing next to Eren, Leylin’s eyes were glistening with a blue hue, as he cast his eyes upon those fighting warriors one by one.
As the head of the family, Eren was standing beside him and explaining for him.
As Leylin showed some interest in one competition area, Eren would soon elaborate on the strength of the two parties, their Martial Skill levels, their competing strategies, and also teaching him the best way to win the fight.
Leylin was sitting like a spectator as he calmly analyzed the various skills and used A. I. Chip to record and understand the various skills and martial spirit of the competitor, although the skills were sub-par and the amount of warriors with Martial Spirit was even less, it was still a substantial amount of information to be recorded in the database.
In the stone building, Eren’s brother Thomas was also illustrating the situation on the competition field, explaining the various Martial Skills, their advantages and disadvantages, the opponent’s weaknesses, and how to beat them.
As the leaders of the Lenoir family, Eren and Thomas rarely talked on a normal day, but today they almost never stopped talking.
Time passed by unceasingly as the competition continued, Leylin was starting to be bored. The level of competition was rather low and by now, he has squeezed the different competitor for all their worth.
“Eh?” Eren suddenly cried, as he was talking to Leylin, and his eyes brightened and quickly looked over to someone. Something had suddenly occurred beside the competition field.
“Came finally, some entertainment now?” Leylin smiled,walked up and looked in the direction of Eren.
A troop of seven people were walking in slowly from outside the God Stone Square. The man in lead looked around fifty, with a hawk nose, gloomy face, delicate cap, and a silver gown, on the left shoulder of which was embroided five types of herbs.
“Level-5 Soul Alchemist!” Anyone can easily identify him only by a quick glimpse.
Just like Martial Skills, alchemists were divided into five levels: Mortality, Mystery, Soul, Royalty, and Divinity.
Kurt, who was killed by Leylinin the Dark Forest, was a mere Mortality Level alchemist, but was treasured by the Dunn family. Now that a Soul level alchemist had appeared, he must be an influential one!
“This is the Medicine King, Eren Katz.” Eren Lenoir glanced over Leylin “He is not only an alchemist of the Soul level, he is also a warrior of the Second Sky of the Nirvana Realm, and the Medicine Valley is a special institution too. Though it doesn’t get involved in fights between various parties, it is closely connected to them.”
Soon, Eren sneered and gloated, “Well, I guess Katz came to look for his stolen fragmented map, and his student, Kurt who stole the treasure entered the Dark Forest with people from the Dunn family. Eren Katz will definitely ask Fredrik Dunn, Head of Dunn family about that. Haha! This should be an interesting show!”
“The Medicine King, Eren Katz!”
The warriors in the competition field soon recognized this foreign visitor, as they cried out in surprise, and cleared the way for him.
Many other warriors squeezed their way forward and shouted crazily, “Medicine King, I collected lots of herbs, please refine me a pill! Please!”
As soon as the flock heard that, the competition field boiled with excitement. More and more people shouted, asking for Katz’s help.
People’s attention were drawn to Eren Katz once, and no one set their eyes on the competition field anymore.
On the buildings of the Crystal family, the Ashdown family, the Delaney family, and the Dunn family, many couldn’t sit still anymore. Lots of experts rushed down the buildings with their master’s’ permission and ran to Eren Katz to invite him to watch the competition in their building.
Without Eren Lenoir’s permission, Thomas also rushed down.
Suddenly, the Medicine King Eren Katz was crowded by the core members from the five big families, whose faces were full of smiles, hoping he would go with them.
“He will go to the Dunn family. Hehe. But nothing good will happen.” Eren Lenoir gloated.
Just as expected.
Ignoring Dunn family representative, who was coming up to invite him, Eren Katz soon walked toward the Dunn family building silently, with a rigid face.
“Dunn Family Head, how is my despicable disciple Kurt?”
After walking up the Dunn family stone tower, Eren Katz asked directly. His voice was not loud, but everyone in the God Stone Square heard him clearly.
Standing on the stone tower of the Dunn family, was in total dismay.
