375 Contestants

Lin Mu had a different thing in his mind when he had thought of a stage for the martial competition. But when he saw the set up, he was rather surprised.

"Well… this is… rather simple." Lin Mu said upon seeing the plain stone platform that was surrounded by around two hundred seats.

"It is not really a harsh competition and is more for displaying the skills of their various powers. Thus there is no reason to get expensive materials to make it. Even if this sustains damage, we can just replace it." Wu Hei replied.

"Wait, I just realized… there's no prize for winning this?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Well, there are a few prizes of course. But its just monetary rewards, I doubt brother Mu Lin would even like them." Wu Hei answered.

"How much are the prizes?" Lin Mu further asked.

"Well, there were many different competitions, and now only the marital tournament is left. The other prizes were around a thousand gold coins, while for the martial tournament it is ten thousand gold coins." Wu Hei answered.

"Ah, I see…" Lin Mu muttered as he really did find them to be less interesting. With the amount of gold he had, Lin Mu didn't think he would be able to spend it for a long time now.

"Though… I did hear that the peak master Yi Deng would be adding a prize to the tournament from his own side as well. But I don't know what it will be." Wu Hei added after thinking.

'Hmm… now that could be useful. Something from an alchemical pill refiner should be good.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

Lin Mu looked around and saw the people waiting patiently while some of the aristocrats were enjoying a few fruits and drinks. He looked to the more higher seats and found madam Zhen Sui sitting there along with the people from the Tri cauldron Peony sect.

To the very right of her sat the future daughter in law, Yi Zi Jin. Her eyes spotted the three of them and she silently gestured for them to come to her.

"Looks like mother is calling us." Wu Teng said as a slight frown appeared on his face.

"Better to be quick than to make her wait. She's already angry with you elder brother." Wu Hei said before walking ahead.

Lin Mu walked beside Wu Hei and Wu Teng followed behind them, a couple of steps slower. They climbed the steps of the seating area and reached the top level where they were greeted by the people of the Tri cauldron peony sect.

"Ah! Even lord Mu Lin is here. What a wonderful surprise, I thought you left us since I didn't see you in the past four days." Quan Hong spoke.

"I was just preparing for the tournament, so took some days to seclude myself." Lin Mu replied.

"Preparing for the tournament? Lord Mu Lin, you are participating too?" Quan Hong asked in a surprised tone.

Similar expressions could be seen on the faces of the other people that heard it. Only Wu Teng, Wu Hei, and Zhen Sui had calm expressions as they already knew about it. In fact, Zhen Sui was even secretly happy with it.

"Yes, I am. I will be fighting on behalf of Lord Wu Hei." Lin Mu stated.

This time he drew a gaze from Yi Zi Jin. The girl had kept to herself since the start and was silent the entire time, but she had finally found something to be interesting.

"Wu Teng come sit here!" Zhen Sui said, gesturing to the seat beside Yi Zi Jin.

"Let's go take a seat brother Mu Lin." Wu Hei said.

They then went and sat there as well. Next to Wu Teng was Wu Hei, and next to that was Lin Mu himself.

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce. This is disciple Yi Zi Jin." The Senior bother Fa Lao spoke.

"Greetings Lord Mu Lin." Yi Zi Jin spoke, in a light voice.

This was the first time Lin Mu was hearing her and didn't expect her voice to be like this. Still, he responded to it and cupped his hands in respect.

Now that the formalities were done, the people were back to their usual discussions. Lin Mu scanned the area with his spirit sense, being careful not to accidentally touch anyone. Thankfully, his sensitivity to the faint spirit qi fluctuations was getting better and he could barely estimate the cultivation realm of what a person may be in.

He still couldn't tell the stage, but just knowing the realm was enough as he could estimate the stage by looking at their appearance to.

"Hmm… where is peak master Yi Deng?" Lin Mu questioned Wu Hei.

"He'll be coming later, he's got some last moment work to do." Wu Hei answered.

Lin Mu nodded his head and went back to check out his competitors. Out of all of them, the only ones he didn't know were the two aristocrats that had joined at the last moment. While for the rest he had seen them at the Ancestral temple.

Another person that Lin Mu found missing was none other than Qing Yuan Tiu. He couldn't see her anywhere and wondered if she was late.

"Now that everyone has arrived, we shall be starting the tournament. The first to fight will be Xuanyuan Fei and Muroung Ki." A referee spoke.

Lin Mu's eyes went to the stage and saw that two men had stood up from the seating area and headed towards the platform.

"The first person is a small aristocrat from here, while the other one is from Blue Mill city." Wu Hei informed.

Lin Mu nodded in understanding and saw the two of them greeting each other with a Dao salute.

"I shall explain the rules once more. There shall be no maiming and killing. If the referee asks you to stop, you are to stop immediately. If anyone falls outside the ring, they are considered defeated and if someone falls unconscious, they are considered defeated as well.

If one contestant wants to admit defeat, they can do so too." The referee explained.