Feng Luotian turned to the source of that voice. He gave a surprising smile before responding: “Oh? Brother Wei, long time no see. Come and sit with us!”

So, they were Wei Ci and his nine other identical clones.

After they seated themselves beside the group, Sun Wuji could not help but comment: “Brother Wei, you know what? I thought you were dead after leaving that entrance exam. You don’t want to see us so much that you hid from us for about a month before showing yourself before us again?!”

With a friendly smile, Wei Ci laughed and shook his head: “It was my master that strictly told me to cultivate every day in this past month. I really wanted to go out and have some fun with you guys and had been begging my master for a break. Alas, in my master’s perspective, my cultivation was more important than my own selfish desire.”

Feng Luotian casually said: “Seeing you with nine other clones means that you’re at least Ten Fangs! Your cultivation speed is heaven-defying, Brother Wei.” He took a glance at Wei Ci’s stat.

Name: Wei Ci

Level: Ten Fangs

Bloodline: Body-Splitting Golden Duck

Bloodline Ability: Divided We Stand

The user can split their body that shares Theríon, damage, cultivation, vision, soul, and death.

Feng Luotian thought: “I have to link my Theríon with him and see if he’s still hiding his cultivation. If he still has the treasure on him, then that means he is already a Talon Warrior.”

Hearing Feng Luotian’s words, everyone came to a realization. What came after was shock and bewilderment.

Sun Wuji stood up and screamed: “WHAT?! Brother Wei, you are already a Ten Fangs Fighter?!”

Wei Ci scratched his head and nodded.

Sun Wuji loudly exclaimed: “Good heavens! What’s with your cultivation speed? You were only Six Fangs last month. And after just a few weeks, you have reached Ten Fangs. That’s cheating, you monster!!”

Wei Ci let out a soft chuckle, then gestured his hand toward Feng Luotian: “Then what about Brother Feng here? He rose from a cripple to Eight Fangs in just a month. Wouldn’t that make him more of a monster?”

“This …” Sun Wuji became speechless since he totally agreed with Wei Ci in that matter.

Wei Ci added: “And that was two weeks ago when I heard about Brother Feng was an Eight Fangs Fighter. I wonder what level he is now after two weeks have passed.”

The group looked at each other. They knew that Feng Luotian had become Nine Fangs when he came and helped them with their cultivation. However, they rather not say it because this was personal information.

Feng Luotian laughed while waving his hand slightly: “You are thinking too highly of me, Brother Wei. I have not grown that much in these past few weeks.”

“You are being humble, Brother Feng. Oh, look! Peacock Lord is about to give his speech.” Wei Ci pointed at the central platform set up next to the arena. On that platform, there sat every elder of the Peacock School in the front row. In its second row, Ten Feathers seated themselves, basking in the limelight of the Colosseum.

Peacock Lord stood in front and, with a Theríon amplified voice, he announced: “Welcome everyone to the Colosseum and the Feather Ranking Competition. As you may already know, the key objective of this competition is to find young and powerful individuals who will become the main pillars of Divine Bird City in the future. Although talent is necessary to become stronger, it is not the only thing that drives this cultivation world. Hardworking is another factor that will lead you to a new height. Having only talent and not putting yourself into hardworking will stagnate your growth eventually. We know that you all are geniuses amongst geniuses through the school’s entrance exam, but whether you can rise above all others depends on your hard work. At this competition, we will see who had shed the most sweat, who had dropped the most tears, who had torn the most muscles, and who had broken the most bones in their training. I welcome everyone to show their ambition and passion for striving in this cultivation world and someday becoming the lord of the land. Today, we will see many promising disciples rising from the dark and basking in the light at the end of the day. I now commence the Feather Ranking Competition!”

At the end of his speech, the stadium shook from the crowd’s clamoring cheers. The disciples were all riled up by the speech, thinking back to when they were wholeheartedly training alone in the dark, and there was no one supporting them. Now, here they were, at the place where they could prove themselves to everyone.

Peacock Lord waved his hand to silence the crowd: “Next, First Elder will give you an introduction of the Feather Ranking Competition’s rules and rewards.” He turned toward First Elder and slightly nodded.

First Elder returned the gesture and walked forward: “Feather Ranking Competition this year will be divided into two stages: Preliminary Round and Feather Round. Moreover, you all will be fighting in the Arena of the Ultimate Battle.”

“Those who participated in the previous competition may already know about the arena and fighting rules, but I will explain about them again for the newcomers this year.”

“Within the Arena of the Ultimate Battle, you can fight all you want. The fight will be concluded when one of the fighters either surrendered or died within the arena, but don’t fret. There will be no actual injury nor death because of the formation enveloping the arena. Anyone that died inside the arena will be teleported outside with all injuries healed. However, you will be able to feel the sense of pain as though you are fighting normally. So, if you think you could not endure the pain, you can just say the word ‘I surrender,’ and you will be teleported outside right away.”

The crowd began to discuss amongst each other the unique feature of the arena.

Sun Wuji exclaimed: “This arena is quite convenient, huh? We can fight to the death without worrying about the consequence. If we can practice and train while fighting, won’t we have a stronger mind and a clearer picture when facing the enemies? This Arena of the Ultimate Battle is basically a holy training ground.”

Wei Ci rejected the idea: “You are wrong with that kind of thinking, Brother Sun. Actually, there is a consequence and a fatal one at that.”

Feng Luotian agreed and added: “Yes. Even though we can get to feel the sense of pain and death and experience what it’s like to fight to the death, if you experience it too much, it will come and bite you later.”

Tu Lingxi asked as she was also confused: “Why is that, Brother Feng?”

Feng Luotian said: “Imagine yourself without fear of pain and death. Will you fight like before?”

“!!” Both Sun Wuji and Tu Lingxi shook their heads.

Feng Luotian explained: “Those who had grown numb of pain and death through this formation will start to fight like their lives means nothing. They don’t even care if they will live and survive without any permanent injuries after the fight. Someone had already lost their limbs but still smiling after the battle. The more they train inside that formation, the more they become fighting machines that only know how to fight. That is probably the reason why Uncle Mei forbids everyone to use this place and only opens it on a special occasion like this.”

The rest of the team heavily nodded upon the revelation. Sun Wuji quickly discarded the thought of making this place his training ground.

First Elder continued explaining the rules of the Feather Ranking Competition: “Not including the Ten Feathers, there are 312 participants in total. In the Preliminary Round, we will divide all of you into six groups, 52 participants each. Within each group, you will be fighting 20 matches with random opponents. Win, and you will get 5 points. You will get nothing if you lose. If the battle happens to be a draw, each of the fighters will get 2 points. Top ten individuals with the most points will enter the Feather Round.”

The crowd gasped at the number of eliminations. From more than three hundred participants, only ten could pass the Preliminary Round.

“You don’t have to worry. Every elder here will be closely watching all of you fight in the Preliminary Round. If you can show them your dedication toward cultivation, they will come to you and take you as their disciples.”

That relit the light within the crowd’s eyes. Being a disciple of an elder would provide them with much more benefits than just being an average disciple. At least, there would be someone to guide them whenever they had a question regarding the cultivation.

“In the Feather Round, ten passing individuals together with the current Ten Feathers will get two chances to challenge any of the Ten Feathers. Win, and you will take their place. You will get nothing in return if you lose. There will be no draw in the Feather Round. You will fight until the victor is decided.”

“As for the reward, after the Feather Round ended, Seventh to Tenth Feather will receive ten thousand contribution points. Fourth to Sixth Feather will receive twenty thousand contribution points. Third Feather will receive thirty thousand contribution points and a copy of one rare skill book. Second Feather will receive fifty thousand contribution points and a copy of two rare skill books. First Feather will receive one hundred thousand contribution points and a copy of one rare skill set book.”

“A copy of one rare skill set book?! Why are this year’s rewards much more generous than before?” Not only the crowd but the current Ten Feathers were also surprised by the rewards. Their eyes were burning in excitement.

Feng Luotian could not help but laugh at his luck, thinking: “And here I have planned to earn contribution points via exclusive missions only available to the Ten Feathers, hoping to exchange for the skill set. Never did I expect that the skill set and also contribution points would fall into my hand this way.”

If others heard what he was thinking, they would absolutely roll their eyes at him for being too arrogant and too confident in getting the first place.