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Chapter 299 299 – Lioz 1/2

"Each team starts with points based on their performance in the first round. For every team you forced out of the competition, in any manner, you gain one point."

Ken and Tiara exchanged gazes, knowing they were going to take first place even if they did not challenge anyone. The rules for all rounds were set before the tournament began, and the judges did not expect a team with their score.

"You can challenge anybody who is ranked higher than you – if you win, you can have 25% of their points. If you lose, they get half of your points. There is no limit to your challenges, but you can\'t challenge the same team twice unless you win the first challenge, and of course, they still need to be ranked above you. If you lost, you can\'t challenge a team ranked higher than them."

Ken raised his eyebrows in disappointment, knowing that he could only be challenged but never go after others. The elders of the various sects could discern his real rank easily, and he was certain that nobody was going to challenge a fifth-stage disciple.

"The challenged pair gets to choose the quarter in which the fight will take place, and if two people want to challenge the same person, the one with the higher points gets priority! Count to zero with me, everyone! 10… 9… 8…"

The crowd cooperated, their voices echoed from the mountains and hills around the valley.

"3… 2… 1…"

When the countdown ended, flashes of light appeared and took all the participants to the center of the platform, and 128 pillars rose from the ground, each having a number on it. Ken and Tiara were teleported to the one marked with the number "1" and underneath the rank, another number appeared – "1092".

Ken\'s kill upon engagement was considered perfect because he killed everyone he met, but the same couldn\'t be said about the sharks he employed. Hence, they had more points than half of their kill count.

The two of them sat down, knowing they were going to have a peaceful last round. Indeed, the challenges began, yet nobody dared target them. The competition seemed to be a race for second place with nobody interested in coming in first.

Ken searched for the pair from the Jade Sky Sect, finding them on the 128th pillar, having only three points. 

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Lioz and Clint were top inner disciples from the Jade Sky Sect, and the former only rose to that rank lately. Lioz, a son of commoners, lost his mother at birth, and his father supported him alone.

Fifteen years ago, when Lioz was a teenager, he stumbled upon the corpse of a cultivator while crossing a forest by his home on his way back from the nearest city. He was shocked at first, even terrified. The man had a gaping hole in his chest and a pool of blood was formed beneath him. For a villager, this sight was not something he often came by.

Despite being dead, the cultivator still emanated a sense of danger, making the young boy feel as if he stood by the corpse of an apex predator. For a mortal like himself, cultivators were perceived almost as gods.

After the initial shock, he remembered the stories he knew about cultivators. He knew they even had stones, Qi stones, and those were worth thousands of commoners\' gold coins. 

\'If I can get one of those, my father and I will have enough food for a decade!\' Lioz thought to himself, hoping the man\'s belongings were not ransacked by the time he got there. He quickly patted down the body, trying to find different treasures. 

He saw the man\'s sword still in his grip, but the blood that covered it deterred him from taking it. Soon enough, he realized that the man had nothing on him, making him sigh in disappointment.

\'I guess the killer looted his victim,\' Lioz mused bitterly, \'Should I take the sword and sell it? It might fetch a good price, but swords can be identified, and I don\'t want to be entangled in cultivators\' problems. If they see it and trace it back to me, it might spell trouble for Dad and me.\'

He looked at the man\'s sword with greed again, and this time, he noticed something he didn\'t earlier due to his disgust and avoidance. On the man\'s finger was a plain golden ring with a few signs carved on it.

\'I remember the stories, cultivators have rings that can store a whole house inside them! This might be one of those rings, otherwise, why would a mighty cultivator wear such a simple ring?\' Lioz gathered his courage and acted on his deduction.

The teenager kicked the sword off the dead man\'s hand and slipped the ring off his finger. Unwilling to stay behind for any longer, Lioz placed the ring in a pocket in his robes and quickly ran away.

He\'d never know that a stern man with hawk-shaped nose came soon after and found the corpse, getting angrier when finding out the body was looted.

The next days were of happiness mixed with anxiety at his house. On one hand, they had the mysterious ring which they did not know how much wealth it contained, but on the other hand, they could not open the ring themselves since none of them was at the second stage and capable of channeling Qi.

"Listen, Lioz. I asked around the town and I found out there\'s someone in the city who provides such a service. They open those storage rings for mortals who found them by accident in exchange for a third of the spoils and the ring itself."

"Third? That\'s a lot! Who knows how much wealth there\'s inside it, and the ring itself must be a priceless treasure!" Lioz wanted to shout in protest but kept his voice down, knowing that his father did not want their townsfolks to know about the ordeal.

"It\'s something we cannot do without this man. You know I can\'t travel long distances due to my injuries, and I also have to stay here and take care of the rice. How about you go there? Don\'t be greedy, any wealth we can get is more than enough for us. Remember, don\'t be rude to this man, he must be in the second stage himself."

"Fine, I will do it. But I won\'t let him take more than a third," Lioz agreed reluctantly, understanding that he could only be ripped off in this setting.

Lioz\'s father gave him advice and a few instructions, and the young boy took off the next morning. He used to be the one going to the city, and he usually did it four times a year to buy necessities for their house and their rice field that were not sold in their town. 

"Hey Lioz, why are you going out of town?" the guards at the gate asked in curiosity, remembering seeing him return from there only a few days ago. It was a small town, and it was easy to remember all the faces and names of the residents.

"Ha ha… I\'m so forgetful. I forgot to purchase one of the tools my father asked for, and I must return now to buy it or else we won\'t be able to plow the land," Lioz told the lie his father made up for him in advance.

"I see. Next time, make a list before heading out. The journey to the city is long and exhausting," the guard somewhat scolded him and offered free advice.

"My father said the same, that\'s what I did this time!"

With that, Lioz was out of the town. It was a fourteen-hour trip, and he made it to the city during sunset.

"Hurry up, we are going to close the gate!"

The guards shouted, hurrying the people at the entrance to move without causing trouble.

\'Phew, I made it in time,\' Lioz muttered when his turn arrived and he was let into the city. He always departed at sunrise. The time taken for his city trip almost matched the time until the gates closed, ensuring he couldn\'t dawdle on his journey.

\'I will go and rent a room in a cheap inn first,\' Lioz thought. His feet and legs hurt from the continuous walking through the forest. Thanks to their town\'s location far from the center of the continent, there were barely any dangerous animals and he could travel relatively safely by taking the main road used by all townsfolk when they wanted to go to the city.

He paid for the room with an allowance he got from his father for the trip. They opened their savings especially for that, hoping that this investment would yield much more in return.

The next morning, he left the dirty inn he stayed in and asked around the city. He did it carefully, starting with general enthusiastic questions about cultivation before switching to talk about cultivators who accept mortal guests. It took him a few hours, but he eventually narrowed down the list to three possible men and one woman.

\'Father heard about a man, so I should leave the woman for last. However, she is the closest one, and women should be gentler so she might be more honest, right?\' Lioz thought naively, unaware of the many female scammers out there. However, his mother\'s personality and beauty were almost idolized in their house, affecting his thought process.