Chapter 213: Extraordinary Rewards

When the results of the Grand Competition were announced, the happiest person wasn’t Tang Chen, the champion—it was his father, Tang Yi, the head of the Tang family. He grinned every day like a morning glory in full bloom, telling everyone he met, “Do you know who won first place this time? My son—my own flesh and blood!”

At first, the various sect leaders politely congratulated him. But soon, they couldn’t stand his smugness anymore and started privately discussing which alley they might drag him into for a well-deserved beating.

Hmph! Your son took first place, not you! What are you so proud of? They were all from the same training class, and everyone knew their own test scores—did he really have no self-awareness?

Aside from the first place, second place went to a disciple of a Celestial Masters’ Hall elder, while the third place had two winners. During their duel, the two contestants had fought each other to exhaustion without determining a victor, so they shared the rank.

Yun Jiao was quite pleased with the overall outcome of the Grand Competition. After several years of effort, the Celestial Sect’s strength had indeed grown tremendously. Especially the top ten contestants—each already had remarkable talent and insight, most of them being elite disciples from various sects. With improved instruction, their progress had skyrocketed. Their power was now scarcely different from that of many elders and sect masters.

As this was the first Grand Competition, every sect took it very seriously. The Celestial Masters’ Hall even organized a full awards ceremony. Hall Master Xu stood atop a high platform and gave an impassioned speech before all the students and instructors. He invited the top ten disciples onto the stage one by one for commendation, urging everyone to train diligently and strive for even better results next time.

As expected of the Hall Master, Xu’s speech set the entire crowd ablaze with excitement. Even the sect masters of the awarded disciples straightened proudly in their seats.

After a long round of praise, he finally announced the prizes.

Originally, the top ten contestants were each to receive a single Heart-Nurturing Pill, refined jointly by the Medical Valley and several alchemy sects. Yet, whether it was due to excitement or perhaps because Yun Jiao had happened to pass by the alchemy room during the process and arranged a few spirit-gathering and flame-controlling arrays, the success rate of refinement had increased significantly. The sect leaders discussed the matter and decided to increase the reward—from one pill to one full bottle per person.

The disciples were overjoyed as they accepted their rewards, though the head of the Talisman Sect—who was responsible for the third-place prizes—nearly cried. If everyone in the top ten got a bottle of Heart-Nurturing Pills, then the top three prizes had to be even better!

His originally prepared reward—three supreme-grade Profound Thunder Talismans—suddenly seemed inadequate. Worse still, he had proudly volunteered to sponsor the third-place prizes earlier. And now there were two third-place winners!

With a pained expression, he took out six supreme-grade Profound Thunder Talismans, handing three to each winner. Then, grimacing, he produced two additional talismans—one Profound Ice Talisman and one Mind-Focusing Talisman—to even things out. In total, he gave away ten golden-grade talismans, nearly wiping out his entire stockpile.

At least one small comfort remained—one of the winners was his own disciple.

The doubled rewards drew envious cheers from the crowd, and soon every gaze turned toward the stage—toward Yun Jiao and Bai Yu—waiting eagerly for the first- and second-place prizes.

Bai Yu, however, appeared calm. The specific rewards hadn’t been announced beforehand anyway, so it didn’t matter if they changed. He walked toward the second-place disciple, smiling warmly.

“You are a disciple of the Celestial Masters’ Hall, correct? What is your name? And what cultivation method do you practice?”

“Answering, Master,” the disciple bowed quickly. “I am Le Jun, a student from the Celestial Masters’ Hall—Class Two. I studied the Five Elements Heart-Training Method under you, Master.”

“You’re Le Jun?” The old man blinked, recognizing the name. Le Jun was one of the few students in Class Two who had managed to pass his exams. Since Bai Yu usually stayed in Qingyang teaching or getting beaten by his patriarch, he seldom visited the Hall, unlike Yun Jiao, who often dropped by for meetings and to check on students. So he had only heard of Le Jun, never met him in person.

“Yes, Master!” Le Jun said excitedly, bowing again. “Thank you, Master Bai, for teaching me the Five Elements Heart-Training Method. I have already reached the fifth level.”

“Mm, not bad!” Bai Yu nodded, a sense of pride rising within him—the satisfaction of a teacher seeing his student excel. He studied Le Jun with growing fondness. “Since you cultivate the Five Elements Heart-Training Method, your main weapon should be a sword, correct?”

“Indeed, Master. The Five Elements Heart-Training Method, though a cultivation technique, is also a sword art—many of its spells require sword movements to activate.”

“In that case…” Bai Yu thought for a moment, then made his decision. “I happen to have a sword that suits you perfectly. Consider it your prize for this Grand Competition.”

He reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a long, snow-white sword.

The weapon was unlike ordinary blades—it wasn’t a mere spiritual tool. The hilt and blade were seamless, and a faint white radiance emanated from it. Even at a glance, one could sense its overwhelming aura.

“This is…”

“An Immortal Weapon!”

Before Le Jun could react, one of the nearby sect masters recognized it and cried out in shock. The white aura surrounding the sword was thicker than spiritual energy—this was immortal energy! A weapon that emitted such energy could only be an Immortal Artifact.

The moment those words left his mouth, not only Le Jun but all the disciples attending the ceremony were struck dumb.

An Immortal Weapon?! There really existed such a thing in this world? And Bai Yu—Master Bai himself—was offering it as a competition prize?! Just what kind of divine sect was Qingyang Sect, that its elders could casually hand out Immortal Weapons?!

“This…” Le Jun was completely stunned, staring blankly at the sword. He didn’t even dare step forward to accept it, his face full of panic and disbelief. It was as if he’d merely won a small local tournament, but someone was trying to reward him with a mountain of gold—so much wealth it terrified him. He quickly backed away several steps. “This disciple dares not accept it!”

“Master Bai!” Hall Master Xu couldn’t contain himself anymore. He stepped forward, trying to dissuade him. “This is merely a Grand Competition within the Celestial Sect—it’s far too much to grant such an extravagant prize. The world has never seen an Immortal Weapon before! To give one to an ordinary disciple so casually is far too reckless.”

“Yes, indeed, Master Bai,” added Elder Shen Daoyuan, Le Jun’s mentor, stepping forward as well. “An artifact from the Upper Realm is no common object. Though my disciple is gifted, he’s far too inexperienced to wield an Immortal Sword. Please, replace it with a regular spirit sword.”

Bai Yu froze. Wait—he didn’t have any regular ones! Everything in his storage pouch had been… acquired from his senior uncle—and all of them were Immortal Artifacts! The sect’s warehouse had a dozen more of these swords lying around anyway.

“Master Bai, this really isn’t appropriate—please take it back!” The two men continued urging him, hoping he’d reclaim the weapon.

Feeling helpless, Bai Yu turned to Yun Jiao. “Girl…”—after all, the idea of giving weapons as prizes had been hers in the first place.

Yun Jiao gave him a calm glance, then stepped forward, took the Immortal Sword, and shoved it directly into Le Jun’s hands.

“There’s nothing inappropriate about it. Since the old man’s giving it to you, it’s yours.”

“But Master Yun—this is an Immortal Weapon!” Hall Master Xu was flustered now. This wasn’t a question of propriety—it was an Immortal Artifact! Something that had never appeared in the mortal world before! It was a unique treasure—one of a kind!

That Bai Yu was willing to give it away was one thing—but whether Le Jun could keep it safely was another. After all, a man’s wealth is his crime. To possess such a weapon might bring more peril than fortune…

(End of Chapter)