Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 177: White Heron, White Lotus

Chapter 177: White Heron, White Lotus

“Cloud Stream, this time you’ll be the one opening the inner realm of the Luminous Cloud Abyss. Go ahead and start,” Red Lotus Primordial Lord, sitting atop his cloud chariot, said to a short and plump middle-aged man beside him.

“Yes, Lord Mountain Master,” Cloud Stream Spirit Master responded. He was a close direct descendant of Red Lotus Primordial Lord who had cultivated to the Divine Core stage in the Shangqing Mountain Range, which was why he referred to Red Lotus as Mountain Master and not Primordial Lord.

Although he was of a short build, his body gave off a powerful aura. In his hand was the temporary command key that could control the Luminous Cloud Abyss, which he promptly activated.

This command key had been handed out by Greater Lord Zhuri. It allowed entry into the inner realm, which was where the Eight Mountains Grand Tournament was being held.

Above the sea of clouds, thick clouds began to roil and turn. They slowly took shape in the center of the sea of clouds, eventually transforming into a large gate roughly 30 meters tall, formed from white clouds.

The aura coming from the gate was mysterious, constantly fluctuating between an aura like a blazing inferno and a bone-piercing cold.

“Welcome to the Sea of Qi division of the Shangqing Sacred Sect’s Eight Mountains Grand Tournament. The 820 disciples will now enter via the Cloud Gate,” Cloud Stream Spirit Master announced, his expression solemn. As he spoke, the qi from his Divine Core made his voice resonate through the entirety of the Luminous Cloud Abyss.

In front of the Cloud Gate, seven small-scale transfer arrays, composed of beautiful, intricate lines, began to glow brightly.

The 100 Sea of Qi stage disciples from the Shangqing Mountain Range were already waiting in the sea of clouds, but the disciples from the other seven Mountain Ranges started to appear from the transfer arrays.

Brilliant light filled the skies, and the air began to tremble as the teleporting power of the transfer arrays surged. When the light receded, the 100 disciples from the Refining Heart Mountain Range appeared!

Two Divine Core stage Spirit Masters from the Refining Heart Mountain Range appeared along with the 100 disciples. All of them had already seen through their own screens of light what kind of scenery would be greeting them once they appeared. The 100 disciples flew off on their respective flying tools and charged towards the mysterious Cloud Gate!

Having appeared from a different transfer array shortly after, the 100 disciples from the Wenyuan Mountain Range followed closely after them. Without hesitation, they all flew into the Cloud Gate one after the other!

The Fourth Mountain, the Mountain of Law! The Fifth Mountain, Mengyang Mountain! Followed shortly after by the Sixth Mountain, the Mingxin Mountain Range, and the Seventh Mountain, Fengzhou Mountain!

Four hundred Sea of Qi stage geniuses appeared in the sea of clouds from the transfer array, rose up into the sky, then flew into the Cloud Gate.

When the people from the Eighth Mountain, Zhuri Mountain Range, appeared, they followed after the 100 Sea of Qi stage disciples from the Shangqing Mountain Range and entered the inner realm of the Luminous Cloud Abyss.

“All of these Sea of Qi stage disciples have such strong auras!”

“Are these the Sea of Qi stage geniuses of the Shangqing Sacred Sect?”

“Practically all of them have high-grade Spirit Tools! Quite a few of them even have Magic Treasures! What is up with that person? He’s using a top-grade Magic Treasure only as a flying tool?! What an absolute waste!”

“The Shangqing Sacred Sect’s Sea of Qi stage geniuses are too strong. If you were to randomly pick one from that group, any one of them could crush over 10 rogue cultivators at the same cultivation realm, or even several disciples from a small-scale sect like ours,” a Sea of Qi stage disciple from the Clear Profound School said, watching the streaks of light from all different kinds of Magic Treasures flying past into the Cloud Gate. A bitter smile surfaced on his face as he remembered the years he had arduously spent saving up for a flying sword Spirit Tool.

After all 820 disciples entered the inner realm of the Luminous Cloud Abyss, several streams of qi revolved around the Cloud Gate. Moments later, it slammed close with a bang and submerged back into the depths of the sea of clouds.

High in the sky, a list of contestants, written in gold text, appeared with a loud rumble. With this, the Sea of Qi division of the Eight Mountains Grand Tournament had officially begun!

Xu Disheng’s eyes flashed. He arrived at an extremely desolate-looking town, filled with ruins and old, dilapidated buildings. There wasn’t a single person in sight—only a sad, lonely wind that occasionally swept past.

With a rough sweep of his senses, he found that the entire town only encompassed a few kilometers. When he expanded his senses further, he found that anything further than that was just nothingness. He tried using his profound qi and his Soul Force, but neither allowed him to probe any further.

He wasn’t surprised by this, though. He channeled some profound qi into the White Heron Robe, using the power of the Psychic Magic Treasure to build a pale white barrier of light around himself for protection.

The rules for the 820-contest battle were simple and straightforward.

Of the 820 disciples in the tournament, each person would be pitted up against one other person in a one-on-one fight at random. The victor would continue on and be matched with another opponent, while the loser would be sent out of the inner realm and lose any qualifications to participate further in the tournament.

The rankings of the defeated would be decided based on the order that they were ejected from the inner realm. When there were only 20 people left in the inner realm, the battles would stop, and the next round of the tournament would start!

These rules were extremely fair.

After all, no one knew who they would get paired up with. It could be a person of completely ordinary strength, or it could be an elite disciple who ranked in the top 30 in their Mountain Range, or it could even be a supreme genius with a Rank 3 or 4 Spiritual Root. Any pairing was possible.

The stage environment would also be randomly generated for each fight. But these stage environments weren’t ordinary stages, but ones that could supply and lend power to the contestants within.

For example, if the stage was a volcano, the environment would boost the strength of fire technique cultivators. They would receive an enormous advantage and even be able to display twice their normal strength.

Xu Disheng heard the faint sound of wind sweeping by. He suddenly turned to the side and saw a furious wind gusting into a massive tornado nearly 30 meters in diameter, rushing towards him in near silence!

The Dharma Breaking Sword appeared in his hands, and he unleashed a powerful slash in the direction of the tornado.

Glimmering sword light swept across half the town, mowing down many of the ruined buildings in its path. Dust flew up its wake, but there wasn’t a single person in sight.

The tornado’s momentum was great, but it simply wasn’t enough to break through the defenses of the White Heron Robe. The pale white barrier of light blocked all of its force, causing Xu Disheng to only feel a light breeze on the other side.

A barely audible huff of surprise rang out from somewhere. A light flashed in Xu Disheng’s eyes, and he unraveled the White Lotus Array Flag. When he swept out, an array manifested in the surroundings, attacking the area where that sound just came from!

This was one of the uses of this top-grade Magic Treasure that Xu Disheng unlocked when he broke through to the half-step Dao Foundation stage. Array-type Magic Treasures in particular could manifest arrays into reality, allowing the user to directly send out spells and attacks like the Soul-Devouring White Lotus Petals.

The power of this kind of attack was a bit lower than sucking the opponent into the weapon, but it was an extremely convenient method of attack.

“A top-grade Magic Treasure?” the owner of the voice, unable to hide anymore, said in a tone full of shock and resentment. “I just entered and was matched up against a genius with two top-grade Magic Treasures?”

A bell-type Magic Treasure appeared above the person’s head in an attempt to block the force of the White Lotus Array Flag. This person’s figure, clad in an ordinary green robe, came into view shortly after.

Xu Disheng hadn’t used the full power of the White Lotus Array Flag. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “Your concealing technique is pretty good. What’s your name?”

This disciple wasn’t powerful by any means, but his concealing technique was quite strong. He even managed to avoid Xu Disheng’s Soul Force-backed senses for a time.

The green-clothed disciple rolled his eyes and said, “What is your intention, Senior Martial Brother?”