The three chief seniors arrived at the dais.
Eyes running down the great central square, they fixed their eyes on Lin Xiao for a minute before they looked away.
The primary chief senior stood out and addressed the opening ceremony.
"It's time we held the annual martial contest again. Fairly speaking, I should have been poised as usual. However, I'm unusually excited this time."
He even waved his fist in spite of himself.
"As everyone knows, prizes are already an integral part of the ritual contest. To be honest, the previous prizes were barely presentable. However, gone are the days when we had that! For instance, our sect has prepared three types of bumper prizes for all of us. Attention! One is entitled to more than one type of prize!"
As a matter fact, the Taixuan disciples didn't take his statement seriously in the beginning — the opening ceremony was kind of cliches held and addressed that way. The only difference was the host — it used to be the patriarch himself.
However, hardly had the primary chief senior referred to the three types of prizes when disciples struck their eyes wide open across the board.
It was indeed substantial progress. Disciples stood a chance to attain ample prizes this time.
Right then, they all held their breath, eager to know what the prizes would be.
Fully aware of the prizes, the primary chief senior became thrilled to publicly announce them. He took a couple of deep breaths.
"Let's begin with the first one! The top ten contestants will have the privilege to take precedence to enter the wonderland. And they can prolong their stay in there in accordance with their rankings."
The first item disappointed the keen disciples a lot; they went down the boil forthwith, paralyzed with the shockingly unremarkable prize.
Some even started to grumble at it directly.
"What an awful bore! It sucks! I thought it would be something awesome!"
"Indeed! You know I had my hopes pretty high for it! Hello, reality!"
"Well, that's not too bad dudes. Haven't you learned that there might be spiritual stones in the wonderland?"
"That must be a fabrication! They did that lest we may get disappointed. Naive! You even fell for it!"
"That's odd. Do you still remember? This item always came last as a finale in the previous opening ceremonies. How come they put it forward this time?"
The last one's analysis cheered up quite a few disciples.
However, a water spoilsport soon struck in.
"Perhaps, this is the only prize this time."
"You dumb-ass! The primary chief senior said there were three. That was only one of them."
"You are hopeless! He said that to make us prepared for it. Then he will announce the other two items following the placation. Even if the other item is nothing but The Refining Divine Pithy Formula, we'll still be pleased."
"Jeez! It makes sense! Brother...How come you look so unfamiliar to me? It seems that I haven't seen you before?"
"Haha. I've been buried in martial cultivation in my room. Hence, I barely made a public appearance in the sect."
"I see..."
The primary chief senior caught every word they said on the dais, beaming radiantly. He was waiting for the right time to blow them away with the other two items. In so doing, the disciples will be further motivated.
Now came the right time.
He cleared his throat and went on.
"The second item is..."
He raised his head abruptly in midsentence, deliberately accentuating each syllable.
"The most Refined Royal Pellets!"
The name of the widely-received elixir wonder caused a stir in the crowd.
They had long been dying to procure another one. What a timely help it was for the sect to make them another prize!
However, the collective thrill soon faded away. Obviously, only the top ten or even top five contestants were entitled to the Most Refined Royal Pellets. They were nothing but onlookers, utterly out of it.
At that moment, they were filled with agony.
Right then, the primary chief senior continued with his announcement.
"Do you know? The targeted group of the Most Refined Royal Pellets was unprecedentedly huge!"
His statement brightened up the disappointed disciples' eyes.
"As long as you make inroads into the top fifty, you will have a pellet!"