Martial Dao Tournament Registration
After leaving Wu La City, Gu Ding spent more than three months in the nearby Saar Mountain Range. During these three months, he lived like Wildlings, hunting down True God-level monsters in the Saar Mountain Range every day to hone his combat skills. He resolutely avoided using soul attacks unless absolutely necessary.
This also led to him being in dire straits on several occasions, almost to the point of death.
On one occasion, in particular, a Howling Moon Demon Wolf, a Fourth Sequence True God level creature, chased Gu Ding for over 30,000 kilometers. Gu Ding used every trick in the book, fighting and fleeing simultaneously, even unleashing his Emperor Body, but it was all torn apart by the beast's claws. Finally, when the beast caught up and bit off half of his body, Gu Ding was forced to use a soul attack to kill it.
However, after more than three months of training and cultivation, Gu Ding not only improved his combat skills, but also broke through to the strength of Fourth Sequence true god in his White Jade Emperor Body.
As it turns out, the Emperor's Body undergoes a significant upgrade each time it is broken and repaired. Furthermore, Gu Ding had no shortage of Crimson Blood Crystal rich in blood energy, so his breakthrough was to be expected.
For over three months, Gu Ding also released Bartholomew in his Crimson Flame Demon Tree form. Appearing in this new form, he wouldn't be detected by Celestine. During this time, Bartholomew also gave Gu Ding several times; with his god-level cultivation and insight, many of his suggestions were very practical and valuable. Most of the time, however, Bartholomew stayed deep within the Saar Mountain Range, using branches of the Crimson Flame Demon Tree to tease the Eighth Sequence and even Ninth Sequence True God-level demon beasts. Therefore, for over three months, the demon beasts of the Saar Mountain Range endured a miserable existence every day.
"The Martial Dao Tournament should start soon. With your strength, at the Half-Step True God level, first place is definitely yours," Bartholomew said with certainty. "However, before you go back, there's one more thing we need to do."
"What is it?" Gu Ding asked, slightly surprised.
"I will shield your cultivation, divine source, and the divine fire within you," Bartholomew said, twisting a branch. "Because your cultivation is completely exposed before the gods; I can see through it at a glance, which means Celestine can see through it at a glance as well. Furthermore, there are no cultivators with divine source in this world. As long as Celestine sees divine source within you, he will know that you are not from this world."
"But people in this world generally have very weak soul cultivation. How can this be faked?" Gu Ding suddenly thought of this.
"Don't worry about that. You don't need to hide your soul strength. If Celestine asks later, just say that you once bought a black stone at a street stall, and after consuming it, your soul strength increased dramatically." Bartholomew said, conjuring a phantom image in the void—a Black Crystal, like a black gemstone. "This is an Abyssal Soul Crystal that can directly enhance soul strength. Celestine is certainly familiar with this kind of thing. Given the omnipresent nature of those guys in the Abyssal Plane, it's not impossible that they explored this world and left some traces. Celestine certainly won't doubt it."
Gu Ding had no choice but to nod. Although he was reluctant to lie, he had no other option.
"Ready?" Bartholomew extended two branches.
Gu Ding nodded. "That's fine."
The two tree branches wrapped around Gu Ding's arms, and then a strange energy flowed into his body. A moment later, several arrays appeared within Gu Ding 'Gu Ding, completely shielding his cultivation, his divine source, and the divine fire in his Soul Space.
"I'm only using shielding, not sealing, so you need to be careful not to use divine power in combat. Fight for three more days in this mountain range to get used to combat without divine power, relying solely on physical strength. After three days, we'll return to Wu La City to register." Bartholomew arranged the last three days of training for Gu Ding.
Over the next three days, Gu Ding quickly adapted to fighting without using divine power, before putting Bartholomew back into his Storage Space and leaving the Saar Mountain Range.
Back in Wu La City, Gu Ding headed straight for the Martial Dao Tournament registration point.
The first day of registration was packed with people. Gu Ding even wondered if everyone in the entire city had registered.
Reluctantly joining the end of a queue, and seeing the long line ahead, Gu Ding could only chat with the Sea Emperor to pass the time.
"Seven months have passed. In five more months, I can leave this world and return to the Gate of Purgatory. With my current strength, if I activate my Emperor Body, I should be able to enter the Eighth Level of the Gate of Purgatory and obtain that item that allows me to escape, right?"
The Eighth Level of the Gate of Purgatory is filled with prisoners who are First Sequence True Gods. However, judging from the prisoners' Combat Strength beyond their Gate of Purgatory, it is not impossible for prisoners at the Fourth Sequence True God level to appear.
"That's not necessarily true. The Eighth Level the Gate of Purgatory doesn't rule out the existence of beings with Combat Strength reaching the Fourth Sequence True God level. Besides, you know those guys imprisoned there; they're all truly vicious and ruthless, and their combat experience is no weaker than yours. In my estimation, if your strength reaches the Fifth Sequence True God level, you should be able to reliably obtain that item."
"However, this way, you'll only need one year and three months to leave the Gate of Purgatory, which is far ahead of the three-year deadline." The Sea Emperor then gave a somewhat strange suggestion. "I suggest that after you obtain that item, you don't leave the Gate of Purgatory. Instead, continue your cultivation there until the three-year Gate of Purgatory is up before leaving. Because, to be honest, I personally think the Gate of Purgatory is a pretty good place for cultivation, with many excellent opponents."
"I've considered this issue, but I think I'll just let things take their course and make a decision after I get that item." Gu Ding hadn't made up his mind yet because he had previously mentioned the three-year agreement, so Liliath and the others' training plans were likely based on that timeframe. If anyone went into seclusion during that period, even after his release from prison, he wouldn't be able to gather everyone together in a short time.
"There's one more thing I think I should tell you," Sea Emperor said after a moment of silence. "I have a feeling that killing that guy named Celestine won't be so easy. Of course, I don't have any basis for this, it's just a gut feeling. I think you should be careful and try to escape the battlefield as soon as possible. If Bartholomew's attack fails and Celestine doesn't die, you can just change your face and hide. You can still be teleported away when the year is up..."
Gu Ding and Sea Emperor chatted idly. More than four hours passed quickly, Gu Ding finally reached the front of the line.
"Name, age, cultivation level—fill these out yourselves out, don't forget anything!" The registrar was clearly getting impatient, but he'd been sitting there for so long. It was unlikely he'd maintain a positive attitude if he had to say the same thing to everyone.
Gu Ding didn't pay any attention and simply filled out the form and handed it back.
The person registering took the registration form and glanced at it. "Age 1600 years old?"
The number 1600 was changed by Gu Ding at the behest of the Sea Emperor. Gu Ding had initially filled in 16, but the Sea Emperor said it was too eye-catching and had him add two zeros. Even so, the person registering the registration was still very surprised.
Upon hearing the registrant's voice, many people turned to look at Gu Ding, their eyes revealing surprise.
Because the strength of Gu Ding's blood and qi that he is currently displaying is that of a seven-star Half-Step True God. In this world, those who reach this level of cultivation are basically over ten thousand years old. To have such cultivation at the age of 1600 is already an extraordinary genius.
Gu Ding nodded, then asked in return, "Is there a problem?"
"No... no problem." The registrant's attitude immediately changed. He put on a smiling face. "This is your Challenge Plate. Please keep it safe and don't lose it. The number on it is your challenge number. For the specific rules, please refer to the notice board in front."
Gu Ding took the green sign, about half the size of his palm, and glanced at it. The number on the sign was 9527. He was a little surprised; he had come to queue up early in the morning, and his number was already close to ten thousand.
After taking a few steps forward, Gu Ding saw the notice board that the man had mentioned earlier, and he looked up at it.
There weren't many rules for the competition listed on the notice board.
Gu Ding glanced at it and immediately understood the situation. "It turns out that each city has a preliminary Selection Tournament. Only those who pass the preliminary selection can actually participate in the preliminary rounds of the Martial Dao Tournament."
"Each main city has three thousand slots per rank, and each subordinate city has one hundred slots per rank. It looks like the competition is quite fierce." The Sea Emperor's voice suddenly came, with a hint of schadenfreude in his tone.
"This isn't fair. The strength of people in each city will vary. Someone who can make it into the top 100 in one subordinate city might not be able to in another." Gu Ding felt that this rule was not fair.
"If a city has too many strong individuals, participants can simply register in other cities; there are no restrictions. The only requirement is that each person can only register at one registration point. Besides, this system can't be absolutely fair." The Sea Emperor offered a different perspective. "Actually, no matter how the quotas are allocated, it makes no difference to the truly strong."
Gu Ding also agreed with the Sea Emperor's last words: a true strong person will always stand out no matter which city they register for the competition in.
After leaving the notice board, Gu Ding returned to his hotel and patiently awaited the Selection Tournament three days later.
~~~
Judging from today's situation, I should be fine tomorrow. I've been taking four packets of Banlangen (Isatis root) every day for the past few days, and suddenly it tastes so good! Sweet, isn't it? It makes you want to lick the lid after you finish it. I'll take another dose tonight, and I should be fine when I wake up tomorrow. I also broke my personal record for the fastest use of tissues these past two days. I bought a 200-sheet pack the day before yesterday morning, and it was completely used up last night, in about 36 hours! YEAH! Today I probably only used less than 30 sheets, I feel so weak~~ (To be continued~^~)