Chapter 59 – Grand Ascension Tournament Begins
The blinding light faded.
Jin blinked as the world around him reassembled. Smooth, pale stone beneath his feet. Towering walls encircling a circular coliseum that stretched endlessly upward. The arena was impossibly vast, carved with floating runes and sigils of time, fate, and war.
Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of cultivators stood silently in the massive arena. The vast majority were Adept Realm, some shining faintly with elemental power, others cloaked in strange, foreign qi. All had survived this long inside the Grand Ascension Realm.
Now, they were opponents.
Above them, a translucent dome flickered. Within it hovered dozens of shimmering orbs—each orb pulsing with names and rankings, a manifestation of the realm's ancient judgment.
Jin glanced at Lyra beside him. Her hand was still in his. She looked calm, but focused, her fire and light essence gently humming beneath her skin. She was ready.
Then, a voice echoed through the heavens. Ethereal, genderless, ancient.
"Let the Grand Ascension Tournament commence."
---
Southern Continent — Tournament Colosseum
The massive viewing coliseum roared to life.
Elemental formations projected everything happening inside the realm—every match, every movement, every fluctuation of energy—onto floating screens for millions to see.
The three great sects sat at the highest pavilion, surrounded by a sea of lesser sects, rogue cultivators, and aristocratic families.
Sect heads leaned forward, eyes sharp. Among them sat Grandmaster Vael of the Luminous Peak Sect, a man draped in silver-white robes, his aura as bright and frigid as a star.
He furrowed his brow.
One of the elders beside him turned, concern on his face. "Reivan… his name isn't appearing on the participant list."
Gasps followed.
Another elder tried to divine his presence through an artifact, but it cracked in his hands. "Blocked… by something beyond Adept Realm interference."
Whispers broke out among the elite.
"Reivan was our strongest hope…" "He was undefeated inside the realm for decades…" "Is he… dead?"
Vael's jaw tightened, but he said nothing.
A screen flickered and shifted—showing Jin's silhouette in a calm stance. The moment he appeared, the air within the top pavilion turned cold.
"...That boy again," Vael muttered, eyes narrowing.
---
Inside the Ascension Arena
The air shimmered as the tournament interface completed initialization.
A booming declaration echoed across the arena:
"Participants: 13,214 remaining. First Round Initiating. Match pairing… complete."
Pillars of golden light descended from the sky, selecting two individuals at a time and pulling them into isolated sub-arenas suspended high in the sky. The crowd of cultivators watched as hundreds of battles erupted in these floating coliseums above them, each sealed and guarded by the will of the realm itself.
Jin and Lyra stood back-to-back, each preparing for the golden pillar to claim them.
Around them, others whispered.
"Who's that with the white hair…?"
"Wait, his name… that's Jin."
"His aura… it feels like fire and earth elements…"
"At least he's not a dual extreme like Reivan. Fire and earth's a strong, balanced combo."
Jin heard the murmurs but paid them no mind. He kept his elemental aura carefully reined in—only fire and earth leaked from his body. His true strength remained hidden beneath layers of suppression.
He had no interest in attracting the eyes of powerful sects or ancient beings again. Not yet.
Then—woooosh!
A golden pillar swept Lyra away. She smiled at Jin one last time before vanishing skyward.
Jin remained behind.
Another pillar of light surged toward him… but instead of entering it, Jin made a subtle hand seal. Space twisted, and in a flash, Gorr appeared in his place.
The onlookers were stunned.
"Wait—did he just summon someone in his stead?"
"That's… a beast? No, it feels like something more."
"Is that allowed?"
But before the confusion could escalate, the arena itself accepted Gorr's presence. The rules of the realm had been bent—no, allowed to bend.
In the coliseum pavilion, an elder's eyes widened. "That's a beast companion… no, not quite. It's been recognized by the realm."
One of the Blazing Phoenix elders muttered, "Did he form a soul pact?"
Jin crossed his arms and watched the battle begin.
---
Gorr's opponent was an early-stage Adept Realm cultivator with the wind element, agile and quick, but no match for the sheer brute force of the awakened beast.
The match ended within seconds.
A single roar from Gorr shattered the opponent's defenses, and a tail swipe knocked him unconscious against the barrier.
"Winner: Jin."
The pillar of light returned Gorr to Jin's storage space as if it were never broken.
Jin smiled faintly. "That'll give them something to think about."
---
Not long after, Jin's pillar finally returned.
This time, he allowed it to pull him in.
He landed gently in a fresh sub-arena. It was shaped like a shallow crater, surrounded by floating shards of stone. The environment favored explosive clashes.
His opponent appeared moments later.
A tall woman with pale blue robes stepped into view, her presence cold and fluid. She wielded a glaive made of condensed water, and her aura marked her as a mid-stage Adept Realm cultivator.
"I've been waiting to test myself against someone worth the challenge," she said, her voice calm. "Let's hope your reputation isn't hollow."
Jin didn't speak.
He lowered his stance slightly, feet grounded, palms glowing faintly with fire and earth.
The match bell rang.
The woman surged forward, water turning into whips, blades, and spheres, striking from multiple angles at once.
Jin's foot slammed the ground—earth pillars shot up, blocking the water projectiles. As steam hissed from the clash of elements, he twisted and launched a blast of controlled fire along the curve of one of the stone arcs.
She countered with a spiral of water, but Jin followed it up by collapsing the stone under her feet, forcing her to leap backward.
Their battle was swift, precise—no wasted movements.
Jin used only fire and earth, weaving them in simple but deadly combinations. His strikes were clean, brutal, efficient.
Still, the woman adapted well. Her water element was pure, her control sharp. She shifted her glaive to counter his fire, trying to drown it with colder and denser forms.
But over time, Jin's patience won out.
He disrupted her flow with sudden bursts of molten rock, combining fire and earth in clever ways. A feint of fire would give way to a trap of stone beneath her feet. A wall of earth would absorb her wave, only to explode with internal flame.
Finally, a massive spike of rock, glowing red-hot, burst from the ground behind her and knocked her out mid-spin. She crashed to the floor of the arena, unconscious.
"Winner: Jin. Advancing to Round Two."
---
Back at the Colosseum.
The top sects watched in silence.
No one had seen more than two elements.
"Fire and earth, strong combination," one of the elders muttered. "That boy's skilled but nothing unnatural."
Only one observer, Jin's master seated high above in isolation, whispered with a smile:
"Well played, Jin."
---
Elsewhere in the Arena Grounds
Lyra finished her first match as well, winning with radiant bursts of flame and light.
She didn't need to go all out.
Yet.
---
Meanwhile – Southern Continent Coliseum
Grandmaster Vael's gaze remained locked on the display.
Still no Reivan.
Still no sign.
He leaned back, folding his arms. "Reivan never would've hidden. He's either dead… or erased."
An elder muttered nervously, "But who could've—"
Vael cut him off. "We'll know soon enough. This tournament is far from over."
---
Back Inside the Arena
Jin stood calmly as the next round's preparations began.
He glanced at the sky.
Lightning flickered again.
Something deeper than the tournament was stirring. He could feel it in his bones.
He exhaled softly.
"One down."