The Romantic Cultivator

Ji Yuan, Mo Bei and Feng Minyue now followed the rest of the cultivators into the Jade Mansion.

Ji Yuan had never seen a courtyard that was so large before that it could accommodate the thousands of cultivators and yet they could still make their way comfortably into the Jade Mansion.

He turned to ask Mo Bei, "Senior, do you know what this trial is all about other than defeating the other opponent? I'm a little clueless. Since I'm new, maybe…"

Mo Bei laughed as he stroked his beard, "You little rascal. I know your little tricks. Are you trying to borrow spirit stones from me under the guise of guidance?"

Ji Yuan rolled his eyes as he said silently; damn…this wily old fox…

"Ji Yuan, do you need help?" Feng Minyue asked him curiously.

Ji Yuan laughed. "Oh no, I am never short of spirit stones. I was just thinking of asking Senior Mo here for some advice. Haha."

Feng Minyue rolled her eyes before saying quietly. "Alright but if you do need any help, don't be shy to ask me."

"I will be shy? Never! Haha." Ji Yuan laughed aloud as he demonstrated his manly vibes.

But secretly he was smiling bitterly; Ji Yuan, one of these days you will be screwed by your pride…

As they entered the main hall of the Jade Mansion, they were immediately greeted by thousands of translucent serving maids that were floating to every one of them to offer their greetings.

A translucent serving maid was smiling to Ji Yuan. "Handsome, let me attend to you and to better explain to you the rules of the Jade Mansion."

Ji Yuan laughed. "This place looks so hospitable and just like a hotel. Is there anything that I should know?"

The translucent serving maid smiled angelically, "First of all, your possessions are scanned when you first enter into the Jade Mansion. It is to prevent you from cheating by passing your possessions to someone that you know. When you lost a match, you will lose everything."

JI Yuan smiled weakly. "Thank you for reminding me on this."

Then the translucent serving maiden bowed as they approached the counter where an old translucent attendant could be seen greeting them with a smile. "There are four classes of rooms here. The poor quarter is absolutely free of charge and is the lowest class of the four. The noble room is the third class and you will recover twice your daily recovery but it will cost you 100 high grade spirit stones daily…"

"100 high grade spirit stones daily?!" Ji Yuan was appalled as he gasped. "Why don't you go and rob instead?"

Many of the cultivators had heard Ji Yuan and they had all turned around to mock at Ji Yuan. "It seems that he is a poor cultivator."

Yu Jingjing who was nearby laughed softly. "I did say that he is a poor peasant."

Even Mo Bei and Feng Minyue were slightly embarrassed by Ji Yuan sudden appalling shout.

Ji Yuan smiled bitterly to the old translucent attendant. "Please continue."

The old translucent attendant grinned. "The royal room is the second class here and you will recover four times your daily recovery. It will cost you 1000 high grade spirit stones daily."

Ji Yuan: …

That would be 30,000 high grade spirit stones for a 30 day stay…

This time Ji Yuan had restrained from exclaiming aloud his appalling shock of hearing the cost of staying in a royal room.

Instead he muttered. "There is still one more class of room, am I right?"

The old translucent attendant nodded with a grin. "That is the empyrean class room. In this room, you'll be able to recover six times your daily recovery. It will cost you 10,000 high grade spirit stones. So which room do you want to take?"

Ji Yuan began to rub his chin to ponder; this is a fight of attrition. Whoever has the most recovery and has the better condition will stand a higher chance to win. This is especially so when they are at the higher levels. Every bit of recovery counts.

So this was actually a no brainer decision.

And so Ji Yuan declared loudly. "I will take the poor quarter."

When he had made his declarations, many of the cultivators were laughing and mocking at him. "He is really a poor cultivator…"

Yu Jingjing covered her mouth to giggle. "A poor peasant indeed."

Ji Yuan: …

The translucent old attendant asked. "And for how many days?"

Ji Yuan replied solemnly. "30 days since it is free of charge anyway."

All of a sudden Ji Yuan saw that his serving maid had turned into an old woman and he was stunned. "What the hell is this?"

At the same time he saw that Mo Bei's serving maid had turned into a gorgeous maiden with a full buxom figure just because he had chosen the empyrean class room for 30 days.

Ji Yuan was speechless by what he was seeing and Mo Bei was delighted by what he was seeing.

Feng Minyue was overheard saying. "I will try the noble class room for a day then."

Yu Jingjing was overheard saying. "I'll have the royal class room for the next 7 days…"

In the hall, the cultivators were overheard debating the strategy of choosing the rooms.

"It is best that we choose the best room that we can afford for the next 30 days or else we would lose all our spirit stones once we lose our fight…"

"On the other hand if we win during the fight, we can upgrade our rooms immediately…"

"So what strategy should we deploy?"

"We will lose our precious swords and even our divine swords if we were to lose…"

"I wonder which of the factions have the most number of experts…"

There was a sudden echo from the trial spirit. "Now that all of you have picked your rooms, you may register for your first fight at the battle counter in front of you. Alternatively, you may choose to wait for three days before you will be forced to battle an opponent from the other factions. Best of luck to all the geniuses of the heavens."

Mo Bei turned to Ji Yuan to ask him. "So what do you think?"

Ji Yuan said quietly. "Unless we can be sure that we are able to win ten times in a row then we can only battle every three days. This is the catch of this trial."

Feng Minyue nodded. "The more battles that we fight, the higher risk that we're taking and we may meet an opponent that may be our nemesis to our profound arts."

"That is why I've chosen the empyrean class room for 30 days so that I can always maintain my tip-top condition." Mo Bei laughed aloud.

Ji Yuan rolled his eyes before he said sarcastically. "Not unless you get kill mid-way."

Mo Bei: …

"You know Brother Ji Yuan…" Mo Bei suddenly chuckled. "I can easily replace my divine sword when I am back to the Mo Clan but you may get to lose your immortal-step divine sword…"

"It isn't an immortal-step divine sword anymore but a saint-step divine sword now." Ji Yuan interrupted him with a grin.

Mo Bei: …

Mo Bei was suddenly coughing softly. "What?! You've got a saintly divine sword? Whoever is your opponent will only be glad…"

"You sound as if I will surely lose." Ji Yuan interrupted him.

Feng Minyue pleaded quietly. "We're all allies here, am I right? The two of you sound like you're fighting with each other. Why don't we sit down quietly and to think of a strategy to overcome this trial? I really got a bad feeling about this trial. Something is off here but I can't place my finger in it."

Ji Yuan stared at the old serving maiden that was smiling at him before he nodded awkwardly. "You're right. It is really off here…"

Mo Bei asked in a low voice. "So what is the plan?"

Ji Yuan turned to Mo Bei with a bitter smile. "You're supposed to be the senior here and yet you're asking us? Aren't you shameless."

Mo Bei laughed as he looked at Feng Minyue. "Never too shameless and too old…"

Ji Yuan: …

Feng Minyue ignored Mo Bei and asked Ji Yuan, "Do you have a plan?"

Ji Yuan laughed. "Of course I've a plan. I always have a plan."

"What is it?" Feng Minyue and Mo Bei asked curiously at the same time.

Ji Yuan pointed at Mo Bei before he grinned. "Why don't we ask our senior here to fight the first battle while we observe quietly as we make our future plans?"

Mo Bei looked appalled as he asked. "Why me? Just because I'm a senior?"

"Because you've the empyrean class room for the next 30 days and you've nothing to lose." Ji Yuan and Feng Minyue said coldly at the same time.

Feng Minyue was startled that she had actually said the same thing as Ji Yuan and she was suddenly flushing.

Ji Yuan laughed awkwardly. "Haha. Great minds think alike…"