Sea Spirit Teacher Competition

Every ten years in the sea region, a large-scale sea spirit teacher competition would be held. The champion of this event would be given the opportunity to challenge the position of the ten great Purple Cards, and winning would allow the victor to take up one of the ten positions and become one of the incomparably revered Purple Card sea spirit teachers.

In addition, a new Purple Card sea spirit teacher would be given a chance to obtain a sea spirit baptism.

This was an ancient ritual only opened for Purple Card sea spirit teachers. It could enhance the abilities of a sea spirit teacher, and according to the private investigation of Sea Spirit Pavilion, it was found that it had a particularly great effect in enhancing one’s soul.

The ten great Purple Card sea spirit teachers were the most mentioned figures. When people spoke of them, their eyes would be filled with awe and reverence.

There were only ten Purple Cards, and each one was said to be the embodiment of sea spirits in the world, divine travelers that walked amongst mortals. The ‘sea spirits’ mentioned here wasn’t referring to spiritual plants and objects but to the invisible will that encompassed the entire sea region. It was the sea that gave birth to the sea races. It was the sea that gave them a place to reproduce and live, and it was the sea that gave them the right to survive and live in prosperity.

As incarnations of the sea spirits, it was natural that they would possess revered statuses. In some ancient and remote sea race tribes, these Purple Cards were respected even more than the ruler within the capital city’s royal palace.

All sea spirit teachers, no matter how great their talent was, no matter if they were strong or weak, would attend the competition with pride. This was because attending the competition represented the dream that they all chased after, as well as being a way to express their hard work and struggle to the invisible sea spirits to gain their favor and perhaps obtain a greater strength.

**Responsible**: **Competition Committee**

## Rewards

Obtain the opportunity to challenge the position of the ten great Purple Cards, and winning would allow the victor to take up one of the ten positions and become one of the incomparably revered Purple Card sea spirit teachers.

In addition to the opportunity to obtain a sea spirit baptism.

## Preliminary and Intermediate Stage

A vast, large-scale preliminary competition was held. After ten days of consecutive competition and layers upon layers of elimination, each competition area was repeatedly reduced to the top ten participants. These ten participants were able to compete in the next intermediate stage. Public interest sharply rose during the intermediate stage. More and more sea spirit teachers rose up amongst the new generation, each one of them displaying their skills and abilities with zest.

Various sea spirit influences, tribes, noble families, and many others dispatched observers to watch the competition with wide eyes. Even if the participants failed, this didn’t necessarily matter because there was always a chance that a rich contract would be delivered to them in the next moment. This great competition that swept through the sea region was designed to give sea spirit teachers a chance for them to show off and make a name for themselves. Of course, this didn’t conflict with their reverent thoughts, because in the eyes of the sea spirit teachers, this chance was granted to them by the sea spirits.

Half a month later, the intermediate stage finished. 170 sea spirit teachers were chosen from the 17 great competition zones. They all obtained the qualifications to enter the capital city and participate in the finals. Out of these 170 people, almost every single one was a high level sea spirit teacher possessing formidable strength, and even before they had stepped into the capital city they had already drawn a great deal of attention to themselves.

## Finals

In order to ensure an equal and fair competition, all of the sea spirit teachers coming from far away were given three full days to rest and recover so that the long trips to the capital city wouldn’t affect their condition.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. During this time period, 20 luxurious coral buildings were raised up in the grand Prosperity Square in front of the royal palace, an area normally used to hold ceremonies. Giant opulent pearls lit up the space, shining with brilliant splendor. In the competition, there were 170 people who had been selected from the preliminary and intermediate stage. Besides them there were also ten others recommended from various influences – Qin Yu was one of these individuals. Of course, this didn’t leave others unhappy, because if one had the qualifications to be recommended, that meant they had to be at least a famous sea spirit teacher with absolute strength in their domain.

If one possessed the abilities to enter the finals, then besides the most outstanding individuals who had passed through layers of tests, there were also the candidates recommended from various influences. Each one of them was a master and there was no need to test their foundation.

### **Fist Round**

Thus, the overall process of the finals could be called simple and even quite crude. There were 20 trays floating above the altar. Whoever could grab a tray would be able to attempt to open it. There was a time limit of a day, and if one failed, then the tray would automatically fly back to the altar where the other sea spirit teachers could attempt to snatch it. Of course, ‘grabbing’ the trays didn’t mean to fight and slaughter each other, but was a contest of soul force.

A day passed. Out of the 20 sea spirits, seven had been cured. Eventually, 13 sea spirit teachers wearily left their coral houses and handed over their sea spirits.

### **Second Round**

They were placed back on the altar. The second round of fierce competition began.

In this round, six sea spirits were healed.

### **Third Round**

The third round was incomparably brutal. Nearly every several breaths of time there was a sea spirit teacher that would spit out blood. The air bubble protecting them would retract around them, forcing them out of the battle.

Finally, almost half of the remaining sea spirit teachers were wounded and the seven sea spirits were brought into coral houses.

In normal times, after three rounds of competition, the 20 people headed to the next round should have been decided. But perhaps because some sea spirit teachers were too heavily wounded or perhaps they had used up too much of their soul force – no matter what the reason was – by the time the third day ended, there were still some sea spirits placed back on the altar.

The reason that the success rate was higher in normal times was because normally speaking, after the 20 sea spirits were taken away and treated, the ones that failed would sell the information related to their sea spirits in the upper circles. As long as one was willing to pay a certain price they could obtain information about the sea spirit they wanted to treat, and thus the success rate of treatment was usually higher after every round.

There were still failures in the third round. This might have been because some sea spirit teachers didn’t manage to buy the information they needed, or perhaps it was because of something else.

### **Fourth Round**

High level sea spirit teachers were wounded one after another and were forced to leave. The remaining ones had blood red eyes boiling over with rage. Slowly, the scene began to spiral out of control, leaving the committee staff sweating in panic. If there were severe injuries and casualties, then the next great sea spirit teacher competition would be affected; it might even be cancelled by His Majesty.

At this time, the committee staff quickly responded and offered a solution.

The final sea spirit would be obtained by whoever had the strongest and purest soul force. After debating over it for some time, the panting sea spirit teachers accepted this proposal.

The committee staff urgently borrowed a soul testing treasure from the royal palace and brought it to the square. The remaining sea spirit teachers that could still move all struggled back to test their ability. Even the old sea spirit teacher from Sea Spirit Pavilion that had ‘fainted’ upon seeing Qin Yu suddenly rose up and ran over upon hearing the announcement. As he leapt up from his bed, several caretakers couldn’t help but stare at him with disgusted looks.

In the end, the one who won was a cowardly sea spirit teacher who thought he lacked strength and so hadn’t competed in the brutal fourth round. He managed to win by the tiniest sliver, and looking at his smile that reached his eyes, it could be seen that he was shocked senseless by his victory.

### **Final Round**

At this point, the 20 people advancing to the next round were announced.

Chairman Xu spoke up, his voice echoing through the square. “Right now, we will have the altar make a final judgment upon the 20 sea spirits. The top two competitors will face off against each other to determine just who has the qualifications to challenge for the Purple Card.”

The altar was the same as the bell that hung outside the royal palace. Both were artifacts dating back to ancient times and both had unimaginable uses. For instance, the altar was able to reflect the quality of spirits. The 20 sea spirits that were chosen for the competition were carefully selected; they were all of the same rank and the difficulty of treating them was also the same.

When the 20 trays entered the range of the altar, they all simultaneously began to emit a pale light, just like the altar itself. This proved that the 20 sea spirits had already been restored to normalcy. As time passed, the light that the trays emitted also began to change.

Several trays began to glow with an increasingly rich color. The white light burned away to slowly reveal a deep blue. This proved that for these several trays, the quality of sea spirit had surpassed the normal level and were now considered excellent.

Beneath the gaze of countless shocked eyes, a touch of purple suddenly appeared on one of the extremely deep blue trays. It was like a drop of purple ink that fell into water and rapidly dispersed outwards. This purple light was incredibly faint and pale amongst the deep blue, but even so, it was noble and extraordinary, as high and lofty as the clouds overlooking the earth.

This was because this color represented an entirely different level!

The sea races revered the color purple. This purple light indicated that not only did the sea spirit increase in strength, but it had made a qualitative breakthrough.

A change in quality represented a change in its essential nature.

With a sublimation in nature, that represented a whole new leap in quality.

This sea spirit had exceeded its original level, surpassing all the other as it reached all new heights.

The sea spirit teacher competition had been held many times before, but there were actually very few times when this color purple would appear. And from those several times, the overwhelming majority of those sea spirit teachers had gone on to defeat the Purple Card sea spirit teachers they chose, becoming new legends in their own right!

In other words, the one who cured this sea spirit had an extremely high chance of becoming a new Purple Card!

But suddenly, an even louder clamor sounded. Those high ranking citizens of the capital city all gasped again, their jaws dropping open as dumbfounded expressions crossed their faces.

On the altar, another tray gushed out with purple light. It complemented the precious Purple Soul Flower within, making it seem even more dazzling.

Up until now, there had never been a situation in the competition where two purple lights reflected against each other. The audience was stirred into a frenzy, and their cheers seemed to tear through the waters and into the skies.

The two traces of purple light left the entire competition committee shaken. They all paled, unsure of what to do.

The results spoke for themselves and there was no one willing to argue anything else. After a brief time, Chairman Xu announced the results: Safesea City’s Jing Guanjin and Sea Spirit Pavilion’s Mister Ning were tied for first. Three days from now, a match would be held that would determine the champion of the sea spirit teacher competition.

#### **Final Tiebreaker Match (Qin Yu Vs. Jing Guanjin)**

At the start, there were no changes to the two sea spirits. This was normal procedure. After all, sea spirit teachers were not gods, and no matter how formidable they were, they still needed a period of time to inspect the sea spirit plants.

One hour later, fluctuations in the strength of one of the sea spirits began to appear. After a short pause, it started to rise at a slow pace. This indicated that the problems of the sea spirit were being solved.

It was Jing Guanjin.

Time slowly passed. Jing Guanjin progressed quickly and smoothly, and soon he had figured out the problem with the sea spirit and was now beginning to enhance its strength. But it was at this time that something occurred, a sight that left the observing sea spirit teachers shaken.

The light around the sensing treasure turned increasingly bright. This was an indication that the strength of the sea spirit was rising. This was something they could also accomplish, but what shocked them was that this enhancement of the sea spirit didn’t stop. Moreover, it was continuing at a horrifying pace like it had no intention of slowing down.

For example, if a sea spirit was considered to have 100 points of strength, increasing it to 110 was simple. But increasing it to 120 would be more difficult. And as the sea spirit became stronger, it would become increasingly challenging.

Such a stable rate of enhancement meant that Jing Guanjin possessed formidable skills. He intended to control the rate of strengthening, and the Purple Card sea spirit teachers knew exactly what this meant – he wanted to promote the sea spirit to the next level!

However after a long time, Qin Yu finally made his move and in a way that shocked everyone.

At this time, the sensing treasure started to hum and buzz, almost as if it were crying.

This sort of situation would only appear when the sea spirit was accepting a powerful infusion of energy.

It was unknown how much time passed, but the sensing treasure suddenly stopped humming. Wu Zetian hurriedly looked over and with a cough, his complexion became even uglier. The energy fluctuations representing Qin Yu’s sea spirit had actually surpassed those of Jing Guanjin. Even if it was only by a little, it was enough to shake his mind.

However again hears a turnaround in the competition when Jing Guanjin used Skyspirit power to fight everything he had against Qin Yu, or more precisely against the little blue lamp.

With a flick of his sleeves, the shining jade-like sea spirit in front of Jing Guanjin suddenly rose into the air. A finger fell. As his fingertip touched the sea spirit, faint and pale traces of white power were poured into it without end. The branches and leaves of the sea spirit swung about as if they were cheering and its fluctuations of energy rapidly rose.

Like this, the sensing treasure connected to Jing Guanjin’s sea spirit became even brighter and more dazzling. In just a moment, it caught up to Qin Yu and took the lead once more.

He was about to promote the sea spirit to the next rank!

However in the end he was unable to maintain the advantage against Qin Yu and was unable to recover, even after giving his all, and even dump all the Skyspirit power for more than ten straight hours in a final fight, he was still defeated in a sad state.

## Extra Match (Qin Yu Vs. Grandmaster Wu Zetian)

According to a long-established rule, the Purple Card sea spirit teacher who was challenged would be the only one to designate how the challenge was accomplished. If there were any objection, it would be no different than a loss.

And the topic of the match will be the cultivation of sea spirits.

> “These two lotus seeds are something I obtained long ago from a withered Blue Sea Lotus. The lotus itself had died before these two seeds could reach maturity, and they suffered tremendous inherent damage, leaving them extremely difficult to germinate. Then, the topic will be to cultivate these two lotus seeds.” - Grandmaster Wu Zetian explaining the topic of the challenge.
>
>

Grandmaster Wu Zetian chose to perform publicly, under the excuse of further the faith or the sea spirits in the world and helping some sea spirit teachers to make some harvests, however his real aim was to attract Qin Yu to do the same as he did, as well as to promote his own image.

As Grandmaster Wu Zetian defined the topic of the match, so Qin Yu established when the match would start and how long it would be, so it was established that the match would last for three days and it would start after he rested for a maximum of one day.

Grandmaster Wu finally made his move. He revealed all the strength of a Purple Card, leaving nothing hidden. Every action and every movement was like a textbook. No, it could even be said to be more elegant and classic than a textbook. His actions were like passing clouds and flowing water, every single thing he did linking together just right.

As time passed, changes began to appear on the lotus seed. It seemed to grow, and the withered lotus seed started to fill out. Then, on its surface, beautiful markings appeared. With more and more appearing, they connected together into a single stretch. The sound of rustling waves appeared in the void.

After resting for some time, Grandmaster Wu opened his eyes. His expression was serene. He completely disregarded all the eyes on him and continued to cultivate the lotus seed.

More smooth and simple movements, more entranced eyes.

One day passed.

The second day passed.

In the blink of an eye, it was the third day.

On the altar, Grandmaster Wu flicked his sleeves. The lotus seed in front of him trembled. The light that shrouded it all around suddenly reversed and flowed into it like a hundred rivers.

The lotus seed cried out, the sound of vast waves filling the air!

Grandmaster Wu lifted a hand and all sounds dispersed. The lotus seed slowly fell into a jade box. Though he looked a bit weary, a happy smile lifted the corners of his lips.

Perhaps it was because of his shock and anger, or perhaps it was because of his tumultuous mood, but his performance this time was a completely unprecedented display of his skills. The lotus seed in front of him didn’t have any signs of its previously withered appearance. It was bright and full of light, as if carved from jade. Markings wove around it like fog above the sea, and it sparkled with dazzling translucence.

Grandmaster Wu sighed. As he looked up, his eyes seemed as bright as stars. He looked all around, utterly fearless and fully confident in himself. While the results for this challenge hadn’t been revealed, he knew that he had won.

The committee quickly responded. Chairman Xu and the others were personally accompanied by a priest as they walked up the altar. They greeted Grandmaster Wu and then began their inspection. They took out their marking and contrasted it. After finding there was no problem, they all lit up with praise.

In order to have become committee members, forgetting all else, they still had good eyesight. This Blue Sea Lotus seed was now in a simply impeccable state. It was the top quality of all top quality.

Wu Zetian’s lotus seed had already been examined. So, only Qin Yu’s needed to be inspected. Seeing him nod in agreement, Chairman Wu waved his hand in invitation.

Qin Yu flipped his hand and took out a jade box. Everyone watched, their eyes wide like moons. In the next moment, everyone watching felt their hearts skip a beat. The seafolk who had made bets were all hopping with joy, and those who had hesitated were wracked with pain.

They saw the Blue Sea Lotus seed within the jade box. Although it was full and plump, the markings on it were quite simple and superficial, without any mysterious aura at all. At this time, as the committee inspected it, there was no phenomenon that occurred. No one could even hear the sounds of splashing water.

### Result

Even if everyone believed that Qin Yu had lost it was still necessary to make a judgment on the quality of the seeds.

To judge the quality of a seed, the most direct and powerful evidence was to have the seed germinate and grow, and then compare them.

The committee staff had already prepared nutrient fluid needed to hasten growth. The quality was exactly the same and it was placed on two worktables. What occurred on the projection screens next was sure to excite everyone. It was destined to be reviewed countless times in the future and be praised by innumerable people, so it had to be recorded in clarity.

The first to have his seed undergoing evaluation was Grandmaster Wu Zetian.

The committee staff moved. They carefully took out the lotus seed and placed it in the nutrient fluid.

In the next moment, the nutrients within the jade box began to bubble like boiling water. The power contained within was absorbed by the lotus seed, and light crackling could be heard.

The lotus seed had broken out of its shell!

Tiny roots drilled out at a speed visible to the naked eye. It rapidly grew, extending outwards. At the same time, thin and young buds grew out, swaying about.

One leaf, two leaves, three leaves…

Countless seafolk watched, completely absorbed, watching all of this occur like a miracle…

The entire growth cycle of the Blue Sea Lotus seemed to have been shortened to this, all of it occurring in a dozen some breaths of time.

Everyone looked with shocked eyes at the Blue Sea Lotus atop the work table.

The lotus seed cracked open in a breath of time; lotus leaves appeared in a breath of time; the stem grew in a breath of time; the lotus flower bloomed in a breath of time…this was the first time anyone had seen or heard about such a scene.

There was a long silence. Then, it was broken by earthshaking cheers. Countless seafolk cried out Grandmaster Wu’s name. They all wanted to express their highest respect and reverence for this living incarnation of the sea spirits in the world.

This performance had caught the attention of the sea race ruler and might have even changed his opinion of him; it could be imagined just what strength Wu Zetian had revealed at this moment. It was formidable to the point that everyone forgot this was a challenge, and made them all think this was his own individual performance.

But in the end, not everyone would forget this.

Now it was Qin Yu's turn, however after Grandmaster Wu Zetian's performance no one believed he could turn the tables in his favor.

Unfortunately, the course of the world was not determined by likes and dislikes. So, when the lotus seed fell into nutrient fluid and suddenly erupted with a powerful absorbing strength, causing it all to bubble and seethe, this performance was the true reality.

As if it had been starved for countless years, the lotus seed swallowed and swallowed, so fast and so much that it seemed as if it could devour mountains and seas and shake the earth.

Pa –

The lotus seed broke apart. It took root and began to germinate.

Everything seemed to replicate what happened a  moment ago.

No… The growth speed of this lotus seed was actually a point quicker than Grandmaster Wu’s lotus seed!

The Blue Sea Lotus continued to grow, grow, and grow.

The committee staff watched, seemingly frozen in shock. They completely forgot to pour in additional nutrient fluid. The black-robed figure reminded them, but in the end he could only personally pick up the bucket of nutrient fluid to the side and fill it himself.

Then, the bud within the Sea Blue Lotus began to quietly bloom. A similar projection of a blue sea appeared in the void.

It roared, it raged, as if coldly laughing and mocking the cheers that came from the audience not too long ago.

After the lotus flower bloomed, the wildly growing Blue Sea Lotus slowly calmed down.

Then the gorgeous lotus flower rapidly withered to reveal a seed pod. The blue sea floated in the void like mist as it slowly poured into the seed pod. Then, with a crack, the seed pod split open and a lotus seed slowly floated up. It sparkled with extraordinary brilliance, as if formed from the most exquisite jade in the world. As it floated in the air, a faint purple light sprinkled down from it.

This was because the lotus seed was purple.

Qin Yu raised a hand and waved at the lotus seed. After a brief hesitation, it flew into his hand.

This sight left countless seafolk utterly dumbfounded. A storm seemed to rise in the depths of their subconscious, rumbling and overwhelming their senses.

In the legends, the sea spirit was invisible and intangible; it was one with the sea. Because of its mercy, the sea races were born. In other words, the strongest ability of the sea spirit was to impart spiritual knowledge and develop spiritual wisdom.

The ten great Purple Cards were known as the incarnations of the sea spirit. But through the countless generations, there had been far more than a hundred of them. Even so, only the smallest number of them had been Spiritual Bestowers.

Each one of these was amongst the strongest powerhouses of the Purple Cards. They were said to be able to communicate with the sea spirit, and their status was a level higher than that of other Purple Cards.

In the records of history, it had been over a thousand years since a Purple Card sea spirit teacher had appeared who possessed the power of Spiritual Bestowment.

And today, in Prosperity Square, countless seafolk witnessed the birth of a Spiritual Bestower.

## Trivia

* According to tradition, the main forces, including the Sea Spirit Pavilion, have a unique quota for someone to enter the final directly. The quota for the Sea Spirit Pavilion was given to Qin Yu.
* During the competition, the force behind the Bluesky Tower and Earthfault Spire attempted to destroy Qin Yu's divine sense to eliminate him from the competition, in the end the two attackers were abolished by him.
* Qin Yu became the champion of the competition after defeating Jing Guanjin, who did not even manage to fight back, however after being provoked by Grandmaster Wu Zetian he challenged him to his place among the Purple Cards.