Chapter 1361 Festival Finale
"Wait, is she for real?"
"Is that even possible?"
"Isn't this a cooking competition?"
The sect members gazed at an eccentric cultivator that seemed to be in her own world. All she had done was pile all the ingredients atop the flavor-changing fire, causing the entire pile to go up in flames.
Immediately after, due to how many varieties of flavors the flame had to take on due to coming in contact with so many ingredients, the flame immediately died out.
The cultivator then scooped them out and arranged them on a plate, calling it a day as she grinned at Krune, flashing him a thumbs-up as she asked, "Why don't you give me the prize already, turtle uncle?"
"Why the hell did she come here?" Krune facepalmed in response. Of course, the eccentric cultivator was a wisp, one that had recently reached the Semi-God Realm. She was named Kulla. Or rather, she had named herself after hearing about Krune's name, imitating his actions like what a child did from their parents.
"Of course…he's also here." He then gazed at the figure on a floating island behind her, one that was stuffing his face to the brim, actually devouring the ingredients with an expression of relish on his face.
The moment he noticed Krune looking his way, he stopped eating as his face resembling a stuffed squirrel glared at Krune, expressing unwillingness to share his food as he continued to eat faster, almost choking as a result.
But the surprising thing was the fact that all ten Monster Geckos on both islands had arrived before the respective cultivator, having already lost their minds.
"Dude, what the hell did you teach them?" Gegrafikan complained. "They aren't even cooking, but the Monster Geckos already lost their mind."
"Kulla and Kuttul, they… cultivate the same cultivation technique as me. And…" Krune scratched his cheek, smiling wryly. "They seemed interested… so… I taught them a few things."
'Thankfully, Garguntil finished before them.' Gegrafikan subtly wiped his sweat, feeling like he would have embarrassed himself after boasting to Hazak so much if his son was defeated by a pair of casual wisps.
"Actually, your son wasn't the first one to finish this round." Hazak seemed like she had been waiting for this all along, acting smug as she pointed at a certain floating island. "He was the first to finish."
"Relena…" Gegrafikan frowned, muttering the name of the candidate on the floating island. He extended his Divine Sense, seeping it through the floating island's barrier to come in contact with the terrifying aroma condensed within, shocked at its effectiveness as even he was partially affected.
Even though he had a feminine name, the cultivator didn't share any feminine traits. Rather, he was a buff man sporting a hulking figure that spanned three meters in height in his human form.
"A True Spirit… no wonder." Gegrafikan muttered, "Indeed the children of heaven."
Relena was the first True Spirit that Krune's Land Incarnation had birthed. After that, a few more True Spirits had been birthed, one per a couple of decades.
As for wisps, at least one was birthed every year. The speed wasn't much, but considering how the laws of the God Realm were damaged, preventing their natural births to a certain extent, this was a considerable speed.
At least they weren't hunted here.
As Relena was the first True Spirit birthed in the God Realm after millions of years, Sterlena practically taught him everything she knew. There was still plenty that she could teach him, but as a True Spirit, Relena was significantly talented.
If not for the fact that he was a reserved person that was inherently lazy, he would have actually reached the God Trial Realm by now. It really made Krune understand just how overpowered True Spirits were.
Then again, Spirit Aberrants were almost broken in that regard.
"In comparison, us wisps are pitiful," Krune muttered, sighing as he observed the ongoing cooking contest. At first, he thought it would be hard for them to achieve the goal he had set. But there were already a few that had already completed the contest.
That made him realize that he had actually underestimated his juniors.
"Continue underestimating them, and they'll surpass you soon enough." Sterlena's voice resounded in his ears.
"Sis, were you training them in secret?" Krune asked.
"It wasn't a secret, though. Those adorable kids like me the most!" Sterlena said in pride, pretty much flexing in the end. "I'm number one to them. You're only number two."
"…" Krune decided then and there that Sterlena had gone off the deep end, praying for her as he then chose to… ignore her.
It was pretty anticlimactic after that as Relena won the cooking competition, with Garguntil in second place. Surprisingly, Kulla and Kuttul ended up sharing third place.
With the cooking contest wrapped up, the crowd began to leave, only after Zamura had notified them of the pill refining contest that would begin the next day.
"It's the hundred contest festival!" He announced. "There will be one contest daily, and the entire festival would last a hundred days."
The reason he had made it a hundred days wasn't just to develop the hundred paths that were being cultivated in the Mountain Sect.
But it was also to commemorate the completion of the supercontinent. That was why he had begun the festival just now, ensuring that it would end on the same day when the supercontinent finished forming.
Following his announcement, the days continued to span past as the festival entered a new fervor. The prizes for the subsequent contests were better than what was announced for the cooking contest.
So, the number of participants increased exponentially while the hype for the festival continued to increase.
And finally, on the last day of the festival was the finale—battle!
It was actually split into various levels, each for its respective cultivation realm. This way, things would be fair. Plus, the winner of a lower realm could actually challenge the participants of the higher realm.
This not only allowed the geniuses of the sect to prove themselves, but it was also the most straightforward way for them to display their talent.
After all, the rewards for this were equivalent to ten of the previous contests.