Chapter 179 — The Champion of One Hundred and Eight

CHAPTER 179

The Champion of One Hundred and Eight

“Five thousand spirit stones,” Lu Yong announced. “Six Clear Essence Pills. And the champion's right to choose direct inner-disciple entry.”

Shi Feng accepted the sealed reward case with both hands. The official watched him check the seal and nodded, apparently pleased that someone remembered rewards were useful things rather than a reason to make a speech.

The stands were still shouting.

A mid Foundation Establishment cultivator defeated a newly advanced early Golden Core opponent. The broken sword made the result more dramatic, not less.

People who spent the morning explaining why he should surrender now tried to remember whether they actually said it aloud.

“I knew the sword would win!”

“You said the spear!”

“I said I'd watch the spear!”

“Then you watched him lose!”

Shi Feng looked toward the final board and felt a clear satisfaction.

He'd come for the choice. He earned it.

The exact force behind his victory remained unknown. So did his restored meridian count, the grade of his foundation, and the physique that made so much cultivation medicine usable.

The crowd didn't need those secrets to understand the result on the board.

Gu Zhan stood beside the runner-up mark with his spear resting against one shoulder. He accepted his own prize, then immediately examined the point as though the last exchange might've left a useful clue there.

Lu Yong finished the announcements before the spear user could ask for another platform.

Under the sect banners, attendants prepared the recruitment lists.

He Zhen stared down at Shi Feng's bloodied left hand and the broken half-sword with undisguised astonishment. A mid Foundation Establishment youth had just locked an early Golden Core spear in place with his bare fingers and finished the exchange with Xu Changhe's Returning Tide.

Beside him, Mu Shuyun let out a quiet breath. “The physical foundation beneath that boy's realm is monstrous.”

“The offers tomorrow will have to change,” He Zhen said, his brush trembling slightly over Artificer Hall's modest allotment sheet.

Wei Chengyuan looked toward the champion leaving the centre. The Martial Palace delegate's expression remained polite enough for the public, but his fingers tightened around the folded recruitment paper.

He'd already offered more than a country boy should've expected before the final. Now the young man could demand an answer from any of the three sects without accepting the same conditions.

That was inconvenient.

Several spectators nearby were discussing Hundred Flower Valley's early invitation to Ling Qingzhu.

“The wife left with an inner-disciple offer. The husband wins one himself!”

“Great Liang sent more than a prince this year!”

“Where will he go?”

Nobody answered the last question accurately. Shi Feng hadn't announced the decision.

Everyone had seen Ling Qingzhu's peak Foundation Establishment sword qi in Round Two, and the Valley's early inner-court offer gave the stands plenty to talk about without knowing the private foundation beneath it.

Her deepest talent remained her own.

Duan Yichen met Shi Feng at the passage and held out one hand.

Shi Feng took it. The sabre user pulled him into a brief shoulder bump and laughed openly.

“Champion,” Duan Yichen said.

“Ninth,” Shi Feng replied.

“Don't make mine sound smaller,” Duan Yichen said.

“It is smaller,” Shi Feng answered.

Duan Yichen laughed harder and released him before the reward case could be knocked loose.

“You'll need a sword,” Duan Yichen said, looking at the shortened weapon.

“Yes,” Shi Feng replied.

“A good one this time,” Duan Yichen added.

“A good price would help too,” Shi Feng said.

Sima Lan approached before the sabre user could begin naming every shop in the city. Her shoulder was wrapped beneath the Moon Lake robe, and her face looked less tired after the rest.

“Congratulations,” Sima Lan said.

Shi Feng nodded.

“You earned your place too,” Shi Feng replied.

“Barely,” Sima Lan said.

“The board doesn't add an apology beside tenth,” Shi Feng said.

She glanced toward it and smiled faintly. He was right. Her name stood among the ten recruits, without a note explaining that she almost failed.

That mattered more than looking magnificent in the process.

Gu Zhan joined them carrying the spear and a packet of food someone had pressed into his hand.

“Rematch when the new sword's ready,” Gu Zhan said.

“Not today,” Shi Feng replied.

“I didn't say today,” Gu Zhan protested.

Duan Yichen looked at him.

“You thought it,” Duan Yichen said.

Gu Zhan considered denying that and decided not to waste the effort.

At the inn, Kang Liu was waiting beside a freshly swept entrance. He looked at the prize case, then at Shi Feng's face, then back at the prize case.

“The champion stays here!” Kang Liu announced.

“To whom?” Shi Feng asked.

The innkeeper glanced at three guests who were openly listening from the front hall.

“To everyone,” Kang Liu admitted.

“No extra charges,” Shi Feng said.

“No extra charges,” Kang Liu promised quickly.

He'd already discovered that a famous guest could attract customers without being personally persuaded to pay more for a cabbage view.

Shi Feng went upstairs before the owner developed a longer speech.

Three business invitations waited beneath his room's door. One requested Golden Core medicine from the newly certified 1 Mark alchemist. The other two asked for bulk recovery pills before their caravans left.

He checked the dates and put the papers aside.

The first request named a formula he couldn't yet make reliably. The other orders would tie him to the city beyond the recruitment period. His success didn't make either promise sensible.

He wrote brief refusals rather than accepting advance payments he'd later need to return. Becoming rich required useful work, not collecting obligations faster than he could fulfil them.

Inside, he placed the reward case beside the sword. Five thousand spirit stones were useful. The Clear Essence Pills were more interesting immediately.

They were meant to support Foundation Establishment cultivation, and the seal guaranteed their proper preparation. He checked one carefully before putting it back.

His foundation was already near the next stage through months of pills, practice, and steady assimilation. The prize offered more medicine for a change he'd earned before the crowd began shouting.

He wouldn't swallow everything in a rush simply because today ended well.

Shi Feng washed, ate a proper meal, and left a message that he wasn't receiving visitors for the evening.

Then he sat beside the closed window and opened the pill bottle.

For the first time since leaving Great Liang, thinking about tomorrow gave him something clear to look forward to.