(Book 1&2 Complete!) Dao of Healing [Transmigration Healer Xianxia]

The Yu twins along with a few other disciples had rapidly constructed some basic taverns and housing around the competition arena, selling the rooms at a fairly low cost to anyone who wished to stay overnight and hadn't brought their own preparations.

It was a fantastic idea that I'd agreed to as long as they gave half the profits to the sect's coffers. Cultivation resources were expensive, after all.

I made my way down to the arena beside Wang Ren. "Are there any disciples I should keep an eye out for? Every time I passed the sparring ring in the past year it seemed as though you were torturing the poor brats," I chuckled.

"Without pain, there is no learning. I guarantee they will be grateful for my teachings," he replied without a hint of sarcasm. "That being said, I think you'll be surprised by Teng Sheng. The Yu twins too. Despite spending plenty of their time building, they've developed as martial cultivators. The library helped a lot, even with the basic techniques you placed inside."

"Interesting. I was already quite proud of Sheng for reaching nine-star Body Tempering five months ago. I learnt a lot about the body and cultivating during our first reset. I wonder how many star realms he has regained since," I replied.

"It's more fun if it's a surprise," Wang Ren retorted.

"Indeed. I look forward to all of the battles between the disciples. Perhaps a dark horse will emerge and give us all a shock."

"That would certainly make the day interesting. The finals won't be held until tomorrow anyway, based on your new plan. Otherwise we'd know the first inner disciple too early."

"Right. We're here, anyway. Look imposing," I said with a smirk as we passed by the crowds and entered the arena.

Unlike the day before where I was able to enter without being recognised or accosted, every single person present saw my robes and face and cheered loudly at our passing. Apparently I'd made an impression.

Not everyone seemed ecstatic. I noticed a few sour faces, but that was life. Some people were never happy.

The arena was already full as we entered. All of the disciples who were competing in the martial tournament were lined up on the central stage. The arena contained five stages in total, which would be useful as there were going to be many preliminary rounds today.

From the hundred or so disciples we'd had when I returned from the Blossoming Heavens, the sect had blossomed in numbers. Just before the opening of the competitions, we had around four hundred. That was what Yu Chun told me, anyway.

I didn't handle the recruitments personally most of the time. I delegated appropriately, as was my role. A figurehead, as Wang Ren had teased me yesterday.

Of course, I knew it was far from the truth. What I did for the sect was something no one else could do, not even Wang Ren. Unless another extremely talented disciple such as Feng Mei joined, there was no need for me to directly meet them.

Today, I wouldn't be speaking as much. As the Prime Guardian Elder of the sect, and the man who'd led the disciples martial training, Wang Ren would be addressing the crowd and opening the martial tournament.

I sat in the same seat, the best view in the entire arena. Yu Chun was already sitting down when I arrived. I hadn't expected her to be as interested in the martial competition, but it made sense.

As the Administration Elder of the sect, it was her job to know about all of the disciples regardless of what their strengths were. Knowledge is power.

"Late to rise today, Sect Leader?" she said. The sparkle in her eye told me she was only teasing, but I couldn't help but rise to it.

"Perhaps I'm not as eager as you to see the disciples of our sect beat each other senseless," I retorted.

She snorted, not deigning to continue the taunts. Wang Ren flew—or rather, stepped on invisible platforms of qi—into the air above the arena. The ripped sleeves of his robe exposed his muscular arms, which were like braided steel cords.

His exposed chest made him seem more like a gorilla beast than a man, but it had the intended effect. Everyone fell silent in his presence, not even requiring a gesture to hush the crowd.

"He certainly has a striking image," Yu Chun said. "Although I don't think his torn robe gives him much face."

"I'd like to see someone tell him that to his face," I snorted.

We shared an amused glance before falling silent in anticipation. He hadn't told me what he was going to say. Knowing him, I assumed it would be improvised.

"Yesterday our great Sect Leader Zhao Dan, who some of you know as the divine doctor, opened the internal competition of our sect. What you saw yesterday was only a taste of what our disciples' have to offer. Today, all will know the martial strength of the Grasping Life Sect! While their cultivation realms might still be meagre, know that many of them were mere mortals when they joined us a year ago. Our knowledge and methods are unparalleled. No stale, scheming old geezers can compare," he roared passionately.

I felt his emotions in every word. Most of the people gathered wouldn't understand the true meaning of his speech, but I did. We would get revenge soon, but this was his way of letting the other sects know not to mess with us.

The disciples gathered below roared louder than any of the crowd. Wang Ren let them die down naturally before continuing. "The first round will be a series of battle royales. The disciples will draw lots for their opponents. As there are a little over one hundred and fifty disciples competing, there will be fifteen rounds," he explained for the crowd's benefit.

After that, he drew out a large box with a single character on it. It read 'fate'. Each of the disciples came up in turn to select a wooden token with a number from one to fifteen on it.

Groups one to eight consisted of ten disciples each, while the remaining seven groups had eleven disciples each. The winner of each group would advance to the knockout tournament, with the sixteenth spot going to the winner of a further battle royale between the second place in each group.

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It seemed quite harsh to knock that many people out in the first round, but Wang Ren assured me it was the way to go. The martial competition would take weeks to finish otherwise.

Also, testing the disciples in a chaotic battle with many opponents and also in single combat was necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. The first martial inner disciple needed to be a true paragon, an example to their juniors.

There would be five battles taking place at a time, in three rounds. They would last until there was only one disciple left in each, no matter how long that took.

Any disciple who was knocked out of the ring or knocked unconscious was considered defeated and would be swiftly removed for treatment by the healing disciples. My gaze scanned the crowd as the disciples continued to draw lots, but I didn't find what I was looking for.

Soon enough all of the disciples had drawn their tokens. The fifteen groups were decided. Groups one to five would be fighting first. The others retreated to the first row of seats in the stands to spectate, while those fighting stepped onto their designated stage.

The Yu twins and Teng Sheng were all in separate groups. Whether Wang Ren had managed to manipulate the drawing of lots or if that was purely by chance I didn't know. Either way, it was for the best.

Teng Sheng and Yu Jin were not fighting in the first five groups, but Yu Bao was part of group three who would be fighting on the central stage. Once the ten disciples in each group were standing on their stage, Wang Ren clapped his hands together. "Begin!"

The disciples leapt into action. There were large gaps in cultivation between some of them, but I knew more than most that one's cultivation realm wasn't everything when it came to combat.

Techniques, artifacts, and strategy counted for a lot. Especially at the lower realms where the gulf between two individuals wasn't yet that vast.

However, the few disciples who had reached the Qi Gathering Realm would have a definite advantage given their access to qi. We had considered splitting them into two groups, but there weren't enough to make it necessary.

It wasn't a guarantee of victory, so it felt like it would be an overcompensation. I watched all five battles at once. With my advanced spiritual senses it wasn't too difficult to follow the battles unfolding on all five arenas. Perhaps if it was Foundation Building Realm experts clashing I would've struggled a little.

Most of my attention was on Yu Bao. The moment the battle had begun, the arena beneath him began to shift. Seconds later, giant earthen spikes shot out of the stone towards each of his nine opponents.

Two were caught completely by surprise and were knocked right out of the arena. Three were struck, but managed to recover and stay upright with minimal wounds. The remaining four evaded completely to differing degrees of success.

One disciple took advantage of the chaos to strike with her staff, sending a third victim flying off the stage. Barely five seconds had passed since the beginning of the battle and already so many were defeated.

Similar scenes had played out on the four outer arenas. Every disciple had gone all out from the start and the number still remaining on the stages had dropped by about a third.

Wang Ren had stepped down to join us in the Sect Leader's box. "Damn, Little Yang is out already. That's surprising," he exclaimed, staring at a red haired youth who was plastered against the walls of the arena and nursing a nasty bruise on his temple.

"Was he a promising disciple?" I asked.

"One of the most exceptional in sparring and training. He broke through to peak Body Tempering the week before the competition began and is one of the most talented spear cultivators. Perhaps it wasn't his lucky day. Fate is strange like that," Wang Ren replied.

"True. Even the strongest cultivator can't defeat fate," I said, though I wasn't sure I actually believed it. I'd seen Grandpa Guan ascend, after all.

If defeating the heavens and breaking out of this lower realm wasn't defeating fate, then what was? I kept that to myself, however, knowing it was dangerous to say such things out loud after the Spring and Autumn Sage had explained the world's situation to me.

After the initial wave of knockouts, the battles had stabilised somewhat. Having to focus on multiple opponents at once was a difficult task.

One couldn't simply strike at a single opponent, as that risked leaving your flanks open to another disciple to strike. To be honest, some of these brats had more raw skill than I did when it came to fighting. The only reason I won most of my fights was my overpowered physique and devastating techniques.

Then again, techniques were just one facet of a cultivator's strength. Becoming an undisputed martial cultivator required not just talent with a weapon and good battle instincts, but mastery of suitable spiritual techniques too.

Yu Bao was single-handedly controlling the flow of battle on the central arena. He was expertly manipulating the very earth beneath his feet to make it almost impossible to get close to him. However, his three opponents were dealing with it well.

One was a female disciple with short pink hair who wielded twin fans. They were made of metal, the blades seeming razor sharp. They were certainly a King grade artifact, given that she was able to launch the blades at her opponents and they seemed to regenerate on their own.

She was a one-star Qi Gathering cultivator. I knew this because I could see her qi flowing from her dantian into the two fans. This was likely how they regenerated the blades.

The other two disciples in the central arena were a male disciple wielding a steel-capped staff and another female disciple with long black hair, who had… a horned rabbit fighting alongside. "Is that allowed? The spirit beast companion?" I asked Wang Ren, one eyebrow raised.

"Of course. I asked Disciple Nang if she wished to join the open competition as a beast tamer, but she said she preferred to join the martial competition. A warrior should be prepared for anything. If they can't handle a rabbit, they aren't worthy to become the first martial inner disciple of the Grasping Life Sect." Though he said all that with a stoic expression, I saw the mischievous glint in his eyes. Sadistic bastard…

Then again, I agreed with his sentiments. In the real world, one couldn't expect their enemies to line up and fight one by one in a polite manner. A true warrior had to be prepared for anything. The same went for a healer, though the battlefields weren't always the same.

The battles had concluded for groups two and five. It had taken just twenty five minutes and already the first two participants in the knockout tournament had emerged.

"Ren Huang and Li Kuo. I somewhat expected this result. They fought well. I have a feeling the battle between the second place contestants will be the fiercest of all," Wang Ren said.

While all of this was happening, Yu Chun had taken out a jade slip and was recording information within it. I wasn't sure exactly what she felt was worth noting down, but I trusted that she was working for the benefit of the sect.

The other three groups had reached a stalemate. None of the disciples had a decisive advantage and they didn't want to overreach, in case they were caught by a surprise assault that knocked them out.

After almost an hour of this, Wang Ren sighed and slapped the armrest of his chair. "This is tedious. Time to spice things up," he declared, before leaping into the sky.

I saw him make a hand seal and watched a colossal amount of qi flow from his dantian towards the three arenas that were still battling. I immediately recognised the technique.

Glaive Intent.

"Seems like overkill for a bunch of kids," I muttered. This was the technique he'd used to kill a damn Elder.

However, as the technique took hold I realised he wasn't using the Glaive Intent to directly strike the disciples. Rather, a barrier of crushing, razor-sharp Intent had formed around the arenas.

Then, as the disciples nervously appraised the barriers, they began to shrink. Wang Ren returned to his seat, a satisfied smirk on his face. "This way they can't stand around for hours. Neat, right? I had to train for months to master my Glaive Intent to this extent," he said.

"It's impressive. A little much for the disciples, perhaps, but you know better than me what they can handle," I responded curtly.

Wang Ren's actions changed the battles immediately. No longer able to wait for their opponents to tire and present an opening, the disciples were forced on the offensive. It was group one where this caused the most drastic change.