John continued to follow Zuri through the busy streets, hopping from street to street until they arrived on the widest one yet. The street was over a half-mile wide, and seemed to carve its way from the outer rings of the city to the fiery dome up top unbroken. The buildings lining the street were also grander, not only in the building size and quality, but also the quality of the items they were selling.
The shop owners and attendants shouted loudly regarding their wares, shouting about how their powerful weapons and battle arts would help any youthful entrant do well in the tournament. Others promised pills that would instantly raise one's cultivation, resulting in a better tournament performance.
While the shop owners hawked their wares, the cultivators in the street, both old and young alike, talked almost exclusively about the tournament as well. Rumors on entrants, youths bragging about how they qualified for the tournament and would make a name for themselves, elders and parents bragging about their children to others, and how they would shock the world with their performance, predictions on who would win each age bracket, and more.
John listened to the passing discussions curiously, as almost everything regarding the tournament was new information to him. As they made their way up the city towards the dome, the quality of shops and items being sold increased, soon reaching a level that even made John pause with curiosity, and even some desire to obtain.
He ignored them as Zuri kept dragging him along, not giving the shops a second glance.
"Are all the buildings in this city merchant shops?" John couldn't help but ask, as he noticed that despite walking up the street for over twenty miles, he was still surrounded by nothing but shops selling various things.
"No," Zuri shook her head. "The city is divided into four districts. The Merchant District, the Housing District. The Sub-Sect District, and the Forging and Formations District. Each district occupies about a fourth of the city, and stretches unbroken from the edge of the city to the Yang-Dao Sect at the top. We just happen to have our hideout established in the Merchant District, is all."
"I see," John nodded.
He followed Zuri silently for the remainder of the journey, opting to listen to the discussions of the passerbys. The conversations were varied and interesting, but there were two topics that were not only the most frequently discussed, but were also directly related to him.
"So, do you think Ji'Han will win the Dao Transformation bracket this year?" John heard an excited youth ask his nearby friends.
The group of youths were around his age, and were walking up the city streets towards the Yang-Dao Sect, allowing him to follow their conversation for some time. They all had Heaven-Tribulation cultivations, indicating they were not the cream of the crop when it came to youthful geniuses.
"He should win," another youth said, "but there's also Jaxus of the Yang-Dao Sect. He lost to Ji'Han three years ago in the finals, but the rumors are he's made incredible gains since, and is claiming he'll win the tournament this year."
The other youths nodded at this assessment, and added their opinions as well. John heard several names thrown around as potential victors, indicating there were quite a few geniuses to take note of.
"Of course he'll win," a girl of around eighteen years of age said, her expression scattered as if daydreaming of Ji'Han. "Not only is the most talented genius of the last tens of thousands of years, but he's also the most handsome."
"Stop daydreaming about Ji'Han," a male youth rolled his eyes. "You're not even close to being on his level. Besides, there's that marriage that his father, the Sword-Saint announced. Once he wins the tournament, he'll be married to a heavenly beauty beyond compare."
"That bet isn't just for him," another youth added. "Apparently the heavenly beauty agreed to marry however wins the Dao Transformation bracket."
"Is she really all that?" the girl harrumphed with displeasure. "Surely she's not that amazing."
"Are you serious?" one of the male youths said mockingly. "The Sword-Saint himself has gone all out trying to get her to agree to marry Ji'Han. She's obviously amazing, and from the rumors I've heard, not only is her beauty the real deal, but her talent is on the same level as Ji'Han."
"What? Really? Then how come we haven't heard of her before?" the girl asked skeptically.
"Who knows. We'll find out more when the tournament starts, I guess."
The group of youths veered off down a side-street, their conversation drowned soon after. John glanced at them then back at Zuri, noticing they had finally arrived at the top of the mountain before the dome of fire. The city buildings suddenly stopped, leaving a mile-wide gap between the city and the dome of fire itself.
John stared at the massive dome of fire before him with awe. Its size was much larger than he had initially guessed. It was over twenty miles wide, and almost equally as tall. It roiled and blazed with an overwhelming power, like it was a true star. Its power was more than enough to destroy John where he was standing, but the blazing heat of the dome seemed to be contained by some sort of formation, making it not affect the surrounding area. However, John was sure that if that formation failed, everything would be destroyed for thousands of miles.
"What could create such an overwhelmingly powerful dome of pure yang flames?" John asked Zuri, voice tinged with awe.
"In the heart of the Yang-Dao Sect is the Nine-Petal Yang Lotus. It's one of the most heavenly treasures in this world, and is the source of the fiery dome you see before you. Its existence is the sole reason the Yang-Dao Sect is one of the Three-Dao Sects ruling this continent."
A fiery desire burned in John's chest as he heard this, his natural lust for powerful treasures taking over.
"I want it," John couldn't help but say.
Zuri glanced at him and laughed, shaking her head as if John was an idiot.
"Don't even think about it," she said sternly. "Not only would you be killed by the Yang-Dao Sect before reaching the lotus, not even the Yang Sovereign is strong enough to take the lotus without perishing. You? You would be incinerated by its power the moment you laid eyes on it."
Zuri saw John's expression remain unwavering, and shook her head silently as if she was dealing with a true idiot.
"Come on, let's go," she said, moving forwards towards the arched entrance in the distance. "I'm not sure who, but there's someone waiting for you in the Yang-Dao Sect. I'm guessing it's the 'long-dead' first Guildmaster I'm not supposed to know about."
John stared at the dome of fire raging before him, then followed behind Zuri. He breathed in deeply, drawing in the Qi around him, forming a small tempest of Qi. The Qi burned with yang energy, filling him with a fiery, energetic heat.
"I could get used to this!" John said, a heated expression appearing on his face as he thought about the battles to come, and the battle with Ji'Han.
