"Please, all people taking part in the main tournament, gather in the middle of the First Arena. There will be five areas illuminated. The red area will be for Blacksmiths, the purple area will be for Tailors, the green aura will be for Alchemist, the white area will be for Formation Maters, and the blue area will be for Talisman Masters."
Yasenia glanced at her girls and smiled. "Well, good luck, dears. Don't worry about holding back; there is no reason to. Just do your best!"
The girls nodded firmly and looked at Yasenia with blinking eyes. The dragoness tilted her head and then realized. "Oh~! Hahaha." With a laugh, she approached and gave each of them a hug and a kiss.
This left the Long family people speechless. When Kali, Angel, Evelyn, and Andrea left, one of the elders asked Yasenia in confusion, "Do friends where you come from find that kind of encouraging normal?"
"Friends?" Yasenia looked at them and blinked. "They are my wives. If I don't pamper them, who will?"
The Long Family elders who didn't know were stunned for a long time. Some of them were completely clueless about Yasenia's kind of relationship and asked, confused. "Two females? How will you create progeny? It's a very unnatural type of relationship!" That female senior continued. "Lady Yasenia, I can sense that your bloodline is exceptional. Making it go extinct because of that is not something that you should do! You should find someone that can have children with you."
Yasenia's eyebrows raised, but looking at the genuine concern on the woman's face, she didn't overreact. It was the truth that the grand majority of the culture across the heavens was unlike the Sky Continent's accepting nature. Same-sex marriages were prohibited in some cases since they prevented bloodlines from being passed down.
Of course, that didn't stop some people who used normal relationships as shields. Still, it was a fact that not even 0.000001% of the population was in a same-sex relationship.
"Senior, I understand your concerns. However, don't worry, we don't have that problem in our relationship." The few seniors were confused, and Yasenia added with a firm expression. "Even if we had no way of creating progeny, I wouldn't abandon them. There are many ways of creating progeny, but finding dao companions that will walk your same path is almost impossible to do."
The seniors disagreed with that view, but seeing Yasenia's firm face, they decided to stop the conversation there. Yasenia's private life was not of their concern, and she was just trying to give advice. Whether she took the advice or not, that was not her problem.
Their group moved to Arena Number 1 and bought an area for them to settle. Arena Number 1 was on the ceiling area, making it a place with an open-ceiling.
On the large arena, Yasenia could see the five different areas, each for one of the tournament sections. However, Yasenia noticed that there was a problem. Looking over, she couldn't help but have a headache. 'Why can't people mind their own business?'
In the arena, Andrea looked at the three Sixth Realm cultivators with a calm gaze and spoke firmly. "Seniors, I've been confronted a few times already, so I am going to ask a question that will ease your minds. May I?"
Andrea looked toward the other arenas, and seeing that the other girls were in trouble, she commented. "Seniors over there, this question will also clear your doubts, please listen to this junior."
Everyone glanced at Andrea, their faces filled with surprise. A muscular man raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Junior, you have guts! Regardless if the question is good or not, I will at least protect you until the tournament ends!"
Another person sighed. "Master Du, can you not be so impulsive?"
Master Du waved his hand dismissively. "Bah! None of your grandchildren have half the guts that this girl has."
That man's face turned black. Andrea coughed and then asked firmly. "What is the condition to participate in this tournament and gain this jade of proof?"
Andrea, Evelyn, Angel, and Kali waved their hands and flashed a blue, golden gem. The aura around it was solemn and made everyone's faces change. "That… How did you get it!? Did you rob someone!?"
A middle-aged woman accused the girls. However, Andrea quickly countered. "Can I steal this thing with my strength? Please, senior, don't make baseless accusations."
The [Jade Of Proof] Andrea and the others were holding was sent to all participants after their works were accepted as the minimum standard. Depending on the color and aura of the jade, it represented different sections. The light blue one was for people below 50 years old, the golden one was for the mortal competition, and the light and golden one was for participating in the main competition.
Everyone took it for granted that only Transcendent People could participate in these competitions. However, there was no such rule. The only rule was to create something that would reach the bare minimum skill required to participate.
Andrea and the others reached this standard, so they got the jade.
"No way. Mortal Cultivators with the strength of Transcendence Realm cultivators?! Impossible!"
"This is unprecedented!"
A relatively old man interrupted. "No! That's not true. There have been cases in the past. However, this is something that only occurs once every 1000 years! Now, four of them have appeared in the same generation. I wonder what powerhouse could nurture such monsters?"
In the arena, a beautiful woman spoke lightly. "Since they have the proof, there is no reason for us to block them. New talents are precious and worth nurturing. Only that way will our society become stronger." The woman's cold eyes swept the others as she said. "If you don't want to lose, then become stronger. It's that simple."
A man sighed and commented. "Master Xian, I am worried that the shockwaves of our techniques will hurt them. After all, their strength is just too weak."
Master Xian glanced at the man and commented. "Master Zhao's words make sense." She looked at our girls and asked. "Are you confident in resisting our auras? Remember that if something happens as an accident, no one will take the blame."
"That's right!" A man appeared floating in the middle of the arena, wearing elegant black robes and carrying a dignified aura.
The crow whispered. "Oh! That's the master of the [Seven Floor Medicine Pagoda], Lord Yao!"
"He is so handsome!"
"Don't be disrespectful! He is a dignified Sixth Realm cultivator!"
Lord Yao glanced at the mortal participants with interest and smiled faintly. "You four have enough proficiency to take part in the tournament, but you don't have enough strength. I accepted you because the rules are not something I can bend. However, do you want to participate after hearing this?"
Andrea and the others became thoughtful. Honestly, the rewards for participating were tempting enough, and they would also create good publicity for their shop. However, they didn't know if it was worth it to risk their lives.
Their gazes turned toward Yasenia. Such coordinated movement made the others in the arena look in the same direction, leaving everyone stunned on the spot by the dragon woman standing in the crowd. Yasenia smiled under her white veil and spoke. "Lord Yao, may I suggest something?"
Lord Yao didn't know who this beautiful woman was, but her aura was honestly terrifying. It was so confusing that he couldn't tell if she was a mortal or a Sixth Realm cultivator. Unable to see through her, he nodded. "Go ahead."
"I suggest placing a defensive formation around everyone. If the formation is the same, there won't be disadvantages and accidents will be much more difficult to occur. What does Lord Yao think?"
Lord Yao smiled and nodded. "That's also an option. However, who will pay for the formation materials? Creating something to protect them from sixth-tier pressure is not easy!"
"No need for that." Yasenia shook her head. "I was speaking about physical attacks. If they can't even bear the pressure a Sixth Realm cultivator emits passively when crafting items, then they are not qualified to compete and will naturally take the last place."
Hearing Yasenia's words, people were somewhat surprised. It seemed that she didn't want them to have any advantage. Lord Yao asked, curious. "Don't you want them to win?"
Yasenia chuckled. "I would love nothing more than that. However, winning with trickery is not something I want to see during an official match."
Lord Yao paused and laughed. "So, if it is not official, is cheating okay? Tsk, tsk. Let's do as you said. This once, my Seven Floor Medicine Pagoda will take the financial burden for these formations."
Soon, formation masters appeared and created protective spaces on each spot. Since the spots weren't divided yet, they could not tamper with the spots depending on the person, making it fair.
Then, the participants drew lots and took their own posts. Yasenia glanced over and saw that the first one was the Alchemy Competition. The others would remain in their posts, meditating, until it was their turn.
Ancestor Long glanced at Yasenia and nodded, gratified. 'Even if she is a junior, she acts neither servile nor overbearing with Transcendent Realm people, showing that she truly does not fear them. Even then, there is respect in her way of speaking that can't be missed, making sure to respect the seniority. Someone with this type of mentality is worth a spot in the Secret Realm.'
In the competition, the five judges arrived and looked at the participants. There were 12 participants in the Alchemy section, the one with the most people since the others all had between 8 and 11 participants.
An old woman presented the competition, her tone smooth and clear. "Welcome to the Alchemy and Medicine Competition. As you know, if you manage to succeed in creating medicine, it will be taken by our Seven Floor Medicine Pagoda. However, the reward for creating a successful batch of pills in the competition will be compensated accordingly. There will be three trials."
Another judge, a middle-aged man, spoke with a serious tone. "The first trial will involve creating medical pill recipes from a batch of set ingredients. The second trial will be using medicines from that batch of medicines to heal a sick patient who will arrive later. Finally, the last one is creating a pill that reaches the Transcendence Rank with the remaining materials!"
Kali heard the content of the tournament and was surprised. 'That's quite a comprehensive test. You have time to recognize the herbs and plan your approach, and you also need to leave enough precious herbs to produce a batch of Transcendence Ranked pills!'
Her eagerness to participate increased, making her tails wave behind her happily.
The judges were also paying attention to this mortal woman, she was too inconspicuous, after all. Seeing her tails wagging after they explained the rules, their eyebrows trembled. 'This junior… very cute. We should not be too harsh on her.'
Just the tail wag had made some of the resentful judges become little grandmas and grandpas looking after their grandchildren.