Condemning the Heavens Chapter 156: Prizes

After realizing that they lacked the wealth to purchase anything in the marketplace, the two headed back to the inn.
The days before the tournament went by in a flash. Xue Wei and Hei Gou spent their time cultivating, only interrupted by meal times. Since they could eat spiritual food for free, they were not going to pass up on such a treasure trove of Qi.
Xue Wei had reached the third layer of the Sky Warrior rank, and had to stabilize his layer. Rushing straight to the fourth layer was not wise at the current point in time. However, Hei Gou managed to increase his Qi-level to the sixth layer of the Sky Warrior rank, while his physical strength-level was still at the first layer Heavenly Warrior rank.
The day of the tournament arrived, and Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and the other experts living in the fort town all headed towards the arena in the center of the fort town.
This arena was magnificent. It was surrounded by forty meters tall walls all around it, and it was a perfect circle.
Inside was seating all the way from the bottom to the top in three layers. The more powerful one was, the higher up one was allowed to sit.
The many experts all gathered inside the arena, on the main ground, and discovered that there were ten stages set up. There was almost no space for the many experts who had made their way to the Black Iron Fortress, and all of the experts were packed like sardines in a can.
Hei Gou had already left Xue Wei and had spent some of their few silver coins on a ticket to the seating area. This ticket lasted the entire tournament, but it was the cheapest of the cheap tickets, and it made him sit rather far away, and he did not have a good overview of the many stages that were located in the middle of the round arena.
Xue Wei stood in the midst of the many experts, but Hei Gou was incapable of finding him. Even with his trained eyes, there were simply far too many experts in the arena grounds that finding just one person was like finding a needle in a haystack.
The many experts in the arena were all eager to begin the tournament, but more and more were rushing in through the gates of the arena, and soon the ones who had entered were forced to stand closer and closer until they were almost hugging one another, and the stream of arriving participants was far from over.
Soon, the stages had to be filled with participants too, and only when eight of the ten stages had been filled did the final expert enter the arena.
The audience was observing the many experts that had entered the arena, while the attending warriors were sizing up their opponents.
Xue Wei quickly found the experts from the Crimson Sunshine Sect; they were standing on one of the stages, trying their very best to look very important.
The leader of the Crimson Sunshine Sect had no need for that, however, as he was very important in himself, and many gazes were aimed at him.
Many of the women present were looking at him with adoration in their eyes, whereas many of the men, and especially the stronger independent experts, were looking at the Argent Moon Sect's disciples who were standing on another stage.
The Cerulean Starlight Sect's disciples were placed on a third stage. Here, there were both female and male sect disciples, so they also caught a lot of attention, especially the female disciples as they had not hidden their appearances like the ones from the Argent Moon Sect.
When Xue Wei's eyes swept across the ones from the Cerulean Starlight Sect, he found that the leader of that sect was looking at him, a puzzled look on his face.
Xue Wei frowned. "What is it?" he asked with compressed voice transmission.
The eyebrow of the expert from the Cerulean Starlight Sect rose in surprise when he heard the hidden message and a smile spread on his lips.
"I am interested in you. From among everyone here, I feel the biggest threat from you. Even bigger than the one I feel from Xiong Bing. But why is that? You are fairly weak."
Xue Wei was not insulted. When comparing their cultivation levels, he was indeed weak, but when it came to actual combat, he was not as weak as these disciples thought.
"Let me ask you, you and your comrades, how many of you have been in lethal danger before?" Xue Wei asked casually, and his words caused the expert to frown.
"We are disciples of the Cerulean Starlight Sect, even when we were in the army, we were treated specially, so I guess we have only encountered life and death battle once or twice each," he answered honestly.
"In these one or two times, have you truly faced death, or have you just experienced chaotic battle? I have experienced deadly fights and battles time and time again. This is the difference between you and me." Xue Wei knew that he was revealing some of his secrets, but he had a good impression of this man from the Cerulean Starlight Sect.
Although the leader of the Cerulean Starlight Sect was an important disciple of their sect, he was not putting on any airs of superiority in front of Xue Wei.
Also when he heard these words, his eyes lit up, and he cupped his fists and bowed towards Xue Wei.
Many who were observing the Cerulean Starlight Sect were stunned upon seeing this, unable to understand who he was bowing towards.
"My name is Lin Yuelong. It would be my honor to fight you later. If possible, please have have mercy upon my fellow disciples in their battles with you."
Xue Wei nodded his head, but he did not give his name. He had long since learned not to be too honest with his name. Although he had traveled a long way from the Heping Kingdom, no one knew what might have been spread of information about him here.
The conversation between Lin Yuelong and Xue Wei ended there, as a heavy pressure suddenly appeared from above and a figure landed on one of the two empty stages.
This figure looked middle-aged. He had long black hair that was tied in a crown on top of his head, yet two long streaks of white hair could be seen on both sides of the head.
He was wearing a black robe with golden embroideries of clouds. "Welcome all," he said. Hearing his voice, Xue Wei instantly recognized it as the one from the restaurant. This was Wan Qiang, the ultimate expert that even the three great sects within the Skyward Empire would hesitate to insult.
"There are many more experts here than I had expected! Even the three great sects have sent me experts to participate in my tournament. Why, I am eternally grateful."
"I am going to tell you all now that the fight you are about to participate in is a life-and-death battle. If you do not wish to participate, then you can leave the arena whenever you please. No one will stop you, but remember, you have only one chance."
"If you admit defeat, then your opponent has to stop fighting, or they will be disqualified."
"Now to the thing you are thinking about the most, the prizes!" Wan Qiang had mentioned the life-and-death battles so quickly that many were feeling gloomy at heart. They did not have faith in being able to deal with their opponents.
"The top hundred will each be given five thousand gold coins and a Cloudy Caraway Root that is at least five hundred years old."
"The top seventy-five will each be given ten thousand gold coins and one Cloudy Caraway Pill of high purity."
"The Cloudy Caraway Pill is made from a Cloudy Caraway herb, including the root, leaves, and seeds, and the herb is at least a thousand years old, making it many times more powerful than the Cloudy Caraway Root that the top hundred gets."
"The top fifty will get twenty thousand gold coins and ten Cloudy Caraway Pills."
"Top twenty-five will get fifty thousand gold coins and one two-thousand-year-old Four-Layered Berry."
"Top ten will get a hundred thousand gold coins and a Four-Layered Berry Pill."
"Top Three will get a hundred and fifty thousand gold coins and ten Four-Layered Pills."
"Top Two will get two hundred thousand gold coins and a Shimmering Cardamom Pod that is ten years old. Do not look down on them, the Shimmering Cardamom Pods are very rare, and they rarely get to be older than five years. To get a ten-year-old Shimmering Cardamom Pod is truly difficult!"
"The winner will get three hundred thousand gold coins and a Shimmering Cardamom Pill."
"In this way, if you are the winner, you will get all the prizes, so work hard and do everything in your power to achieve victory!"
Xue Wei was eager to win. The number of gold coins could sustain the two of them for a long time, and all the materials they were promised on top of this were just outstanding.
Xue Wei who had already decided to do anything in the pursuit of victory was even more determined now.
He had to win! He had to make sure that these cultivation resources ended up in his hands.
Even the experts from the major sects were roused, and greed could be seen in their eyes. They were used to dealing with large amounts of wealth, but to have this amount of individual wealth was simply impossible as a sect member!
The Cloudy Caraway Root was invaluable to Xue Wei right now, but getting the high purity Cloudy Caraway Pills would be even better.
Above the Cloudy Caraway Root was the Four-Layered Berry which was also outstanding and almost a thing of legends to experts from the Heping Kingdom, and the Four-layered pill was nearly a myth.
Finally, there were the Shimmering Cardamom Pods. They were near impossible to get because they could not live past ten years old. The Shimmering Cardamom Pills were also very difficult to get a hold of because of the rarity of the Shimmering Cardamom Pods themselves.
On top of these pills and herbs was the amazing amount of gold. If he ranked first, he would be getting the five thousand gold coins from ranking in the hundreds, the ten thousand gold coins from ranking in the top seventy-five. The twenty thousand gold coins from ranking in the fiftieth. Then he would be getting fifty thousand gold coins from ranking in top twenty-five, one hundred thousand gold coins from top ten, one hundred and fifty thousand from ranking among the top three, two hundred thousand if he came second, and to top it all up, three hundred thousand gold coins on top of that if he could win.
In total, this would be eight hundred and thirty-five thousand gold coins. This was a fantastic amount of wealth. They would be capable of buying a whole lot of resources this way.
Xue Wei felt his heart beating fast. The urge to do battle rushed through his body, but at the same time, he was calm.
He knew that if he were not careful, then he would be the one to lose first. From his own experience, he knew that you could not judge a person solely on their cultivation base. There might be others capable of leapfrogging levels like him, and if there were, then he would be the one who got the shorter end of the stick if he did not take precautions.
His eyes were glistening when Wan Qiang suddenly waved his hand, and thousands of small tokens descended down from the sky like a rain fall, one floating down in front of each person.
These tokens were made from stone and had a number carved into each one of them.
The number that descended in front of Xue Wei was one thousand and twenty-seven.