The Dragon Ranking Tournament

Chu, the Imperial Capital, Zhenguan Academy.

Today, this academy, as old as the Chu Kingdom itself, welcomed its annual Dragon Ranking Tournament.

From early morning, the area within a hundred miles of Zhenguan Academy had been bustling with activity. People had come from every corner of the world, gathering in the Imperial Capital to watch the annual Dragon Ranking Tournament.

The Dragon Ranking Tournament was divided into two stages each year. The first was called "Defending the Rankings." The three hundred students who had made the Dragon Ranking the previous year had to defend their positions during this stage.

During this stage, any of Zhenguan Academy's tens of thousands of students could challenge one of the three hundred Dragon Ranking students. If a challenger won, he would take over the ranked student's position; if the defender won, he would keep it.

The second stage was called "Climbing the Rankings." After the first round of "Defending the Rankings," the three hundred students who emerged victorious would compete to determine their final positions on the Dragon Ranking.

Never underestimate the rankings. Even a difference of one place meant vastly different treatment.

The treatment reserved for the top ten on the Dragon Ranking was especially extravagant—so much so that it was hard to imagine.

This year's Dragon Ranking Tournament was once again being held at Jiaolong Plain. This was where the Dragon Ranking Tournament had been held throughout the ages, and where the Dragon Ranking had first been established. A stone stele stood on Jiaolong Plain, soaring into the clouds.

Every year, the names of the three hundred students who made the Dragon Ranking were carved onto it for all to admire.

That was why the stele was also known as the Ascension Stele. Once your name was on the Ascension Stele, your life would never be ordinary again.

At a quarter past nine in the morning, Jiaolong Plain was already packed with people. The stands around the plain were full of spectators who had come to watch this year's Dragon Ranking Tournament.

In the center of the stands, the Ascension Stele towered into the clouds.

Scattered around the stele were three hundred platforms. These would serve as the arena for the first round, "Defending the Rankings." The three hundred Dragon Ranking students would stand there and face challenges from every student in the academy.

"There are way too many people!" Ma Feifei and the others found seats in the stands. Looking out at the sea of people, he couldn't help exclaiming.

There had to be at least two hundred thousand people at Jiaolong Plain!

Since coming to this other world, this was the first time Ma Feifei had seen so many people gather for an event. Over two hundred thousand! What an absurd number. Only in a world of cultivators was something like this possible. Given the distance between the stands and the platforms, ordinary people wouldn't be able to see a thing—they'd be smaller than ants. Without giant screens, there'd be no way to watch the matches clearly.

But in this world, for cultivators, a distance like this was no big deal.

Ma Feifei and his companions had seats fairly close to the front. Word was that Zhou Guanyu had gotten the tickets from his father. Tickets like these were usually reserved for distinguished guests from other countries, nobles and ministers of the Chu Kingdom, and powerful cultivators.

Zhou Zhuling and Yun Qingyang sat on either side of Ma Feifei. Zhou Zhuling was used to the occasion, having watched the Dragon Ranking Tournament before. Yun Qingyang, on the other hand, was just as curious as Ma Feifei, looking around at everything. Hearing Ma Feifei's exclamation, even she, who rarely spoke, nodded in agreement. "There really are a lot of people."

Zhou Guanyu sat beside Zhou Zhuling. At that, a proud look appeared on his face, and he couldn't help bragging. "This is nothing. Shopkeeper, you've never seen the state banquet of our Chu Kingdom. Now that's a sight to behold."

"A state banquet?" Ma Feifei paused, as if remembering something. "You mean the one your ruler holds once every five years?"

The current ruler of the Chu Kingdom, King Saint Chu, was the kingdom's twelfth monarch and had been on the throne for over two hundred years. Though he had ruled for only a little over two centuries, he was the most famous Chu monarch after the kingdom's founding ruler, Emperor Chu the Conqueror.

As for King Saint Chu's great achievements... well, there weren't any. And when it came to cultivation, he was only a Spirit Venerable. So why was he famous? Because he had established the five-yearly state banquet during his reign.

The entire Chu Kingdom joined forces to entertain guests from the other four kingdoms.

Simply put, people from other countries were invited to the Chu Kingdom to eat, drink, and have a good time—for free! When they left, they were even sent off with heaps of gifts and treated with such care that they couldn't find a single fault.

Who could turn down an offer like that? So the state banquet was famous throughout the Azure Dragon Continent. Every time it was held, the traffic in the Imperial Capital was brought to a standstill.

A crowd of two hundred thousand gathered in one place, like the one here, was nothing compared to the state banquet. There, the numbers were counted in the millions.

"Exactly!" Zhou Guanyu said, visibly excited. "King Saint Chu established the state banquet so that the whole nation and all its people could celebrate together. He welcomed envoys from every land to experience five thousand years of Chu history. Such a grand occasion had never been seen before."

"King Saint Chu is every bit the equal of the Conqueror!"

Sitting to one side and listening to Zhou Guanyu, Ma Feifei couldn't help curling his lip. Another die-hard fan of King Saint Chu. People had two different opinions about King Saint Chu's state banquet. Some thought it showcased Great Chu's strength, won the kingdom the honor of welcoming envoys from every land, and helped boost its prosperity. They considered it a great achievement, one worthy of being compared to Emperor Chu the Conqueror's founding of the kingdom.

Others thought that although King Saint Chu had earned plenty of prestige on the surface, he was actually draining Great Chu's resources. If this continued, they believed, Great Chu would decline under his rule and might even fall.

Of course, most people held the first opinion.

When the subject touched on national pride, Ma Feifei really couldn't argue with him. As someone from Huaxia, a land with five thousand years of history, Ma Feifei had read about the rise and fall of countless dynasties. History had already made the answer clear when it came to what King Saint Chu was doing.

Zhou Zhuling had been watching Ma Feifei for a while. After knowing him for so long, she had learned to recognize some of his little mannerisms. Seeing him curl his lip, she couldn't help asking, "Big Brother Ma, do you have a different opinion about the state banquet?"

Ma Feifei shook his head. This really had nothing to do with him. What was the point of saying anything? He was just about to speak when the area around them suddenly fell silent. He looked up and saw everyone's attention fixed on the platforms below. Following their gaze, he spotted a middle-aged man standing in the air above one of them.

"That's my father," Zhou Zhuling said softly.

Zhou Wuji, Limitless Spirit Emperor and deputy dean of Great Chu's Zhenguan Academy.

Ma Feifei nodded. The middle-aged man bore a slight resemblance to Zhou Zhuling. With his feminine features, it wasn't hard to guess their relationship.

Jiaolong Plain fell silent. Zhou Wuji hovered in the air, surveying the crowd with a smile. "The annual Dragon Ranking Tournament of Zhenguan Academy is upon us once again. As the academy's deputy dean, I, Zhou Wuji, welcome everyone who has traveled from afar to watch this year's tournament."

His words were met with thunderous applause that lasted nine seconds.

When the applause died down, Zhou Wuji continued. "We are honored to have invited several renowned figures from across the Azure Dragon Continent to watch this year's Dragon Ranking Tournament. I will now introduce them one by one. They are King Saint Chu of the Chu Kingdom, King Yan Heng of the Yan State, Saint Chu, Saint Yan, Zhao Saint, Crown Prince Zhao..."