Seven days later, flying boats of every size streamed into the Tai Sui Mountain Range, seven hundred li northeast of Jing Province City.
At the heart of the Tai Sui Mountain Range, a vast martial arena had recently been built in a basin encircled by three mountains.
The arena was paved with grayish-white stone and covered several mu. Thirty or forty banners stood around its perimeter, while farther out, an equal number of raised platforms had been built.
Some stone platforms were already crowded with Immortal Cultivators, while others held only a scattered few.
On one platform occupied by only a dozen or so people, the Immortal Cultivators stood in two distinct groups on opposite sides, the air tense between them.
Leading the cultivators on one side was an old man with crane-white hair and a youthful face. He wore a feathered robe and stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
Leading those on the other side was a sickly-looking middle-aged man carrying a black wine flask, the smell of alcohol rolling off him.
"Fellow Daoist Xin, I heard your Xin Household paid a handsome sum to invite an Inner Disciple of the Thousand Bamboo Sect to serve as a guest elder for this contest. Isn't that going a little too far?" the white-haired old man asked the tipsy man opposite him with a sigh.
"What choice did we have? Elder Bi, you know the Xin Household makes its living brewing spirit wine. Without land with a spirit vein, how could we grow the spirit fruits and spirit rice we need? Besides, didn't your Bi Household invite the renowned Lay Buddhist Qing Ge from the market town?" the tipsy man replied nonchalantly, then raised his flask for another swig.
"Heh, without a spirit vein, your Xin Household would merely