[Vol. 6] Chapter 227: A Turning Point in Fate
Violet, who had been flatly denied and coldly brushed off, sat back down at the table with a puzzled expression. She picked up the thick file reports she had just received from Mu Ze earlier that day. With a helpless shrug, she exchanged a glance with Miss Hen, who seemed to be suppressing a smirk, then resumed flipping through the file.
Her "climactic duel" with Xiao Kong had, unsurprisingly, ended with the priestess’s victory.
Even though the battle was just for fun and neither side used their ultimate moves, Xiao Kong was not in her perfect state. She faced far more limitations than Violet, and in a head-to-head confrontation, her support system simply couldn’t compare to that of the priestess.
This spectacular battle caused a massive sensation throughout Xingyuan City and even beyond. Violet and Xiao Kong deliberately made the fight as flashy and grand as possible. By the end, the spectacle had spilled out onto the open-air platform of the arena, rising into the skies above the city. The storm and clouds they stirred up were so vivid that the scene could be seen clearly from a hundred miles away.
News of [Immortals appearing at the Four Saints' Immortal Selection Ceremony] quickly spread, fueled by deliberate promotion from the event organizers. The story went viral, completely overshadowing earlier negative rumors. The names Violet and Xiao Kong, or rather [White Rainbow] and [Silver Cat], were rapidly gaining fame across the [Ancient Spirit Realm], becoming widely known.
Most ordinary people weren’t clear about the concept of the [Hidden Immortal] realm. To them, anyone powerful enough to transcend the mundane and surpass imagination was considered an immortal. The battle between Violet and Xiao Kong had gone far beyond anything previously seen on this land, perfectly fitting that description.
Experts saw the finer details, while casual observers enjoyed the spectacle. By any measure, the grand final of the tournament had been an overwhelming success in terms of impact and influence.
As such, Eastern Kingdom Saint Shangguan Qiuyue was more than willing to fulfill the generous promises he had made earlier.
The top three winners of the competition were granted the privilege of selecting treasures from the Holy Sect’s treasure vault. The champion could pick three items, the runner-up two, and the third place winner one.
When Violet and Xiao Kong returned to the resting area, greeted by unprecedented, deafening cheers from the crowd, Mu Ze personally delivered the thick dossier. It contained a detailed catalog of the treasures available for selection from the vault.
“So, the Holy Sect is pretty wealthy, huh?”
The thick dossier listed at least a hundred unique treasures, each described in several pages detailing its origins, uses, and strengths and weaknesses.
Although the item classifications in this ancient realm were different from those in “Illusory World” or the Origin Realm, the described effects suggested that the treasures in the vault were equivalent to high-grade purple-tier gear, and none of them were of low quality.
Violet turned her attention to the Spirit Maiden who had been studying the dossier for quite some time.
“Hen, is there anything you want?”
The treasure vault’s collection was impressive, but for Violet, most of it wasn’t particularly useful. If anything, its symbolic significance outweighed its practical value. She didn’t feel strongly about claiming any specific item, so if Xiao Kong or Hen had something in mind, she’d let them choose first.
What Violet was truly interested in was the special gift the Eastern Kingdom Saint had mentioned, one he had prepared specifically for her. Since he believed the priestess was connected to the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden, the “gift” he promised might also be related to [Dawn].
That intuition of hers was unusually strong.
The Saint’s gift was said to be delivered alongside the champion's rewards tomorrow, so everything else seemed relatively unimportant.
Closing the hefty dossier she had flipped through to the last page, the silver-haired girl shook her head.
“The Holy Sect has definitely spared no expense this time. It looks like they’re trying hard to win you over… I don’t need anything. I’ve already marked the more useful items in the list, so you can pick whatever you want. I still have the literary finals tomorrow, so I’ll head back now.”
Without waiting for a response, the Spirit Maiden abruptly stood up, pushed open the door, and walked off to her room next door, leaving Violet behind.
“?”
Violet exchanged a glance with the cat-girl lying on the bed, her face full of confusion.
“What’s with her this time? Is she upset?”
“How would I know?”
The priestess rolled her silver-blue eyes thoughtfully.
“Hmm… could it be ‘that’ time of the month? I’ve heard that even Spirit Maidens, no matter how mysterious their background, are still girls at the end of the day. Totally possible, right?”
Although the topic seemed odd, Violet, with her divine body, didn’t experience such biological phenomena. She couldn’t relate to the feeling, but back when Lilya had visited, her temper had also been notably worse during those times...
“Could it be…”
*Bang!*
Before the cat-girl could finish her thought, a loud crash echoed from the adjacent room, like something heavy had slammed into the wall. Startled, the two mischievous girls jumped in fright, exchanging embarrassed glances. They decided not to make any more wild guesses.
Out of respect for privacy, Violet didn’t investigate what had happened in the other room. What she didn’t know was that the silver-haired girl next door wasn’t angry. Instead, she wore a faintly bitter smile, tinged with loneliness and resignation. She looked down at her hand, which had already begun to appear faintly translucent even before she had slammed it against the wall.
With a soft sigh, she said nothing more.
……………………………..
On July 1, 1000 of the Four Saints Calendar, over three hundred elite representatives of the Eastern Kingdom, selected from a pool of one million participants, departed from Xingyuan City.
They were escorted by a tightly organized force of fifty thousand elite soldiers and a mixed unit of Eastern Kingdom Guards, heading toward a base in the Eastern Kingdom, where the Four Nations Grand Finals would be held.
The elite representatives of the four nations, Western Kingdom, Southern Kingdom, Northern Kingdom, and Eastern Kingdom, who govern the Ancient Spirit Realm, were set to gather at the final competition site personally designated by the Spirit Veil Immortal Island. There, they would compete for the 100 coveted spots to go to the Immortal Island.
At least, that was the official narrative.
However, some sharp observers had already noticed that the “guard of honor” accompanying the contestants from the four nations were far more numerous and elite than in any previous tournament.
“So, after going in a big circle, we’re heading back to where it all started,” the black-haired girl said thoughtfully, lightly stroking an ancient wooden zither that had never appeared before. She sat poised inside a luxurious carriage.
“Well, it’s not exactly the starting point. You’ve never been to [Mirror Valley], right? Although it’s pretty close to Cangyun Mountain…”
Violet simply smiled in response.
“I wonder if we’ll see Ling Feng and the others there. We originally planned to meet up in the Western Kingdom’s capital, but somehow, it’s already the Four Nations Grand Finals,” she said with a hint of regret.
If they missed this chance, who knew when they might meet again or if they ever would.
As someone with a unique status, Violet knew far more than the average contestant. This “special Four Nations Grand Finals” wasn’t as glorious as it seemed.
Why had the four nations deployed such large and powerful armies to [Mirror Valley]? Was it really just to show off their strength to the world?
The answer, of course, was no.
This wasn’t just a competition. It was a war. A war that was imminent and unavoidable. A battle for the very survival of the Ancient Spirit Realm. Those who survived and triumphed on this battlefield would be hailed as heroes, but far more lives would be lost in the process.
July 26, 1000 of the Four Saints Calendar. That was the date the Spirit Veil Immortal Island had foretold it would descend upon the world.
On that day, everything would come to its final conclusion.