The Spell Talent Contest
In the immortal cultivation world, the range of spells was remarkably broad. From mental cultivation methods that gathered spiritual energy and stored it in the dantian, to offensive five-element techniques, weapon arts, spells for everyday living, and the techniques used in the Four Arts of Cultivation—talisman crafting, alchemy, and the rest—the possibilities were endless.
Which meant that a spell talent contest didn't necessarily require anyone to show off destructive power.
"This is a technique I recently acquired while clearing the Great Demonic Beast Cave."
But these uncreative cultivators almost always brought destructive offensive spells to a talent contest. Then again, it wasn't hard to understand—spending time on useless side skills when you could be learning efficient techniques wasn't exactly helpful.
"Haaaah!"
The specialty of such uncreative cultivators was predictable. Loud voices and an obsession with scale and flashiness—pure banality.
Two hand axes with oversized blades and short handles spun rapidly, scattering sparks.
Kukukukung!
The spinning axes soon slammed into the floor on either side of the cultivator, raising massive pillars of fire. It was certainly large and flashy.
"Ooooh!"
"Magnificent!"
Most of the audience was just as uncreative and banal, so they cheered and marveled even at this predictable display. From Han Yuhyeon's perspective, of course, it was laughable.
"You're going to burn all your skin off."
The other Baekun Sect cultivators besides Han Yuhyeon also seemed impressed by the destructive power and scale, but Baekri-wan was, as always, the exception.
Muttering, she tucked her white hand into her sleeve. She might not seem to care, but she did appear to maintain her appearance.
"The destructive power is impressive."
"Empty carts make the most noise."
Han Yuhyeon tested her carefully, but Baekri-wan dismissed it without mercy. It didn't feel like pride or bluster—she genuinely found it trivial.
"If you enjoyed that display of skill, cast your spirit stones!"
According to what he'd heard from Baekri-wan earlier, this was the unwritten rule of most spell talent contests. Spectators voluntarily set a value on the performance and threw spirit stones. The cultivator who received the most took first place. Simple, and hard to argue with.
In the game, they never implemented this, which had been a common complaint. Then again, spell specialties were an art form—hard to code into a game. But then why put the system in at all?
"How much are you giving?"
"I'm not giving any."
"Me neither."
You didn't even have to pay for the show if you didn't want to. What a wonderful rule.
"They're giving more than I expected."
Han Yuhyeon was surprised to see quite a few spirit stones flying into the basket. Honestly, he'd assumed selfish, unscrupulous cultivators wouldn't give any.
"It's an unwritten rule of sorts."
"Then why aren't you giving any, Elder?"
"I'm not giving any because I genuinely wasn't impressed."
Well, Baekri-wan had never once shown herself being stingy with spirit stones in front of Han Yuhyeon. If she said so, it was true.
"Don't tell me you were impressed and still aren't giving any?"
"No. I wasn't impressed either."
"Hmm."
Baekri-wan stared at him as if suspicious. If it had been her real face, he might have been flustered, but since it was a mask modeled after Yuhyeon's own face, it just felt nasty. Han Yuhyeon carefully didn't show it.
"Here comes another cultivator."
Han Yuhyeon quickly changed the subject. This cultivator at least understood the aesthetics of art.
"I shall present to you all the art of plucking strings."
The cultivator produced a guqin and began to pluck the strings. Certainly, few arts stirred human emotion like music.
He seemed to have genuinely learned a spell related to string-plucking—the instrument began to play a mournful melody. Tears even flowed from the eyes of some cultivators who looked like they wouldn't bleed if you stabbed them.
Compared to mere fire pillars meant for showing off, the guqin performance was far more impressive. But perhaps the audience's reaction had filled him with too much confidence. The cultivator suddenly began to sing.
Unfortunately, he seemed not to have learned any spell related to singing—his voice clashed completely with the beautiful performance. Listening to that garbage singing somehow made even the music sound like the trash accompaniment from a coin karaoke booth.
The cultivators who'd been moved by the performance immediately went cold-faced.
"What is that voice?"
"Just a crazy bastard."
As if he'd robbed them of their own emotion, the cultivators' reviews turned savage in an instant.
"Drag him out!"
"Booo!"
As the boos started, the performing cultivator panicked, scrambled to gather his guqin, and fled the stage in a hurry.
"Ha, haha. Then, if you found this demonstration enjoyable, please throw your spirit stones."
The Wonhu Sect disciple serving as host wiped away sweat and moved on quickly. Naturally, almost no spirit stones came flying. But Han Yuhyeon still thought the earlier performance had been moving enough to toss a single lowest-grade spirit stone. Baekri-wan seemed to think the same and threw ten low-grade spirit stones.
"Whoa, isn't that a bit much?"
"The performance was good. You, on the other hand—if you're only going to throw a lowest-grade spirit stone, just don't throw any. That's an insult."
"If only the singing had been good, it would have been two."
At Han Yuhyeon's petty excuse, Baekri-wan shook her head and turned her eyes to the next stage.
The spell talent contest certainly had many cultivators showing off their destructive power.
"That one's worth giving something for, right?"
"What? It's just a common Water-type spell."
With Foundation Establishment cultivators participating, there were quite a few contestants who showed techniques with enough destructive force to send a thrill even through Han Yuhyeon. No matter how banal the structure, the principle was similar to how Hollywood action movies sold well—and Han Yuhyeon found it fairly entertaining to watch.
Baekri-wan, however, was completely harsh in her evaluation of those offensive spells. She only tossed a few spirit stones for the occasional artistic demonstration.
"You say it's worth giving for, so why don't you give any?"
"I don't have any spirit stones."
"Didn't you make a ton recently?"
Han Yuhyeon flinched. Come to think of it, Baekri-wan had been his partner when he'd earned eight hundred spirit stones. Since he couldn't spend spirit stones inside the Wonhu Sect, Han Yuhyeon made a rough excuse.
"Honestly, I just don't want to give any."
"Ugh."
Fortunately, Baekri-wan didn't seem to rate Han Yuhyeon's character all that highly and accepted the excuse. In fact, among the cultivators, there were quite a few like Han Yuhyeon who gave no spirit stones at all.
"The highest score has just been updated. With two hundred twenty low-grade spirit stones, Daoist Yi Hui-yeong of the Cheongyu Sect currently holds first place."
"Waaaaah!"
A cheer rose from the Cheongyu Sect side. A single Cloud Water Heart could help a Qi Condensation cultivator with a Water spiritual root break through to Foundation Establishment with high probability. Among the cultivation sects of So-ui-ju, the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators was equivalent to combat power, so it was no small reward.
"Next is Daoist Han Yuhyeon of the Baekun Sect."
Then it was Han Yuhyeon's turn. Since he hadn't been given any advance notice of the order, Han Yuhyeon scrambled to his feet.
"Do well."
Baekri-wan encouraged him without even looking. Im Su-weol and Jeong Cheon-o also cheered him on.
"Do well!"
"Do well, Senior Brother!"
Han Yuhyeon woke Biyong, set the creature on his shoulder, and walked onto the platform with swaggering confidence.
"Now then. What will Daoist Han Yuhyeon show us?"
The host asked. Han Yuhyeon lifted Biyong from his shoulder and turned left and right to show the audience.
"This friend right here."
"Pardon?"
The slightly flustered host asked again. Han Yuhyeon decided to explain it in simpler terms for this artless, ignorant host and audience.
"What I will demonstrate is the Beast Taming Art."
"Oh?"
An immediate reaction rose from the audience. Beast taming. It wasn't a term Han Yuhyeon had made up. The technique of handling beasts, including spiritual beasts, was called the Beast Taming Art. In fantasy terms, it was like a druid's taming.
It wasn't one of the Four Arts of Cultivation, but it still had fairly high recognition and a solid fan base.
"By beast taming, you mean the art of raising spiritual beasts."
"Indeed. This friend is Biyong, whom I raise."
"I see. And what do you intend to show us with Biyong?"
The audience was already immersed from the mere words "Beast Taming Art." Countless contestants had come forward, but this was the first cultivator to bring beast taming as a specialty.
Some cultivators dismissed it as a technique awkward to display on such a stage.
"Beast taming? He's brought out something weird again."
"He's from the Baekun Sect, right? A country bumpkin from Yeongil-ju—he probably can't show offensive spells as a specialty."
Han Yuhyeon acknowledged those words even as he heard them. No matter how hard he tried right now, he couldn't use spells more flashy and destructive than those of Foundation Establishment cultivators. So this Beast Taming Art was, so to speak, an asymmetric weapon.
"Wait. This is a cultivator's talent contest, not a spiritual beast's talent contest, is it not?"
The expected nitpick came from the audience. But Han Yuhyeon snorted. He was a cultivator who had already taken first place several times in talent contests using beast taming in the game. That meant it was clearly accepted as common sense in this world.
"Raising a spiritual beast is also a cultivator's responsibility, so it cannot be said that it is not the cultivator's skill."
The host answered cleanly. Moreover, other audience members curious about what that cute raccoon would do poured on the abuse.
"Hmph! You're just ugly jealous because you don't have a single spiritual beast yourself!"
"If you don't want to watch, get lost, you bastard!"
When a cute pet was about to put on a performance in front of them, finding fault with that couldn't look good. It was behavior that would get you group-cursed even on Earth, and the cultivation world was the same.
In the end, the cultivator who'd raised the objection hung his head dejectedly. Han Yuhyeon confirmed with satisfaction that the rebellion had been suppressed and opened his mouth.
"The skill I will demonstrate is… tag."
"Tag?"
The host was flustered by the completely unexpected words. The audience was watching this interesting situation with amusement.
"That's right. Any cultivator here, come on up and try to catch this Biyong. You absolutely will not catch him."
Han Yuhyeon said, looking around the crowd with arrogant provocation. This was a radical declaration that broke the existing mold of spell talent contests.
Normally in a talent contest, you performed yourself—you didn't demand participation from the seats.
Even back on Earth in his previous life, interactive theater and stages were considered fresh experiences. In the stuffy cultivation world, it would be truly shocking. Han Yuhyeon's prediction hit exactly.
"Haha, interesting! Then may I give it a try?"
A familiar someone stepped forward. It was none other than Daoist Yi Hui-yeong, who had just demonstrated his specialty and earned the highest score.
Yi Hui-yeong had already proven he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator with his earlier spell. When a Foundation Establishment cultivator stepped up, the audience cheered.
"This'll be fun!"
"No matter how fast a spiritual beast is, it's a creature raised by a Qi Condensation cultivator—how is it supposed to outrun a Foundation Establishment cultivator?"
"He completely picked the wrong opponent!"
The majority of the audience expected Biyong would be easily caught. Yi Hui-yeong, who had come onto the stage, also didn't seem to think for a speck of dust that he might fail to catch it.
"I thank Senior for your enthusiastic participation."
Han Yuhyeon first offered proper courtesy toward the Foundation Establishment senior cultivator. Yi Hui-yeong laughed heartily and accepted the greeting.
"Haha. Not at all. I came out because I thought it would be fun myself."
"Then I'll give the signal, and you try to catch Biyong. Catching Biyong with both hands counts as success."
"Understood."
"Then, begin!"
Han Yuhyeon sent the start signal without delay. Yi Hui-yeong immediately charged like lightning.
The speed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator seen up close was tremendous. His eyelashes quivered from the wind pressure of the movement.
Everyone believed without a doubt that in that single exchange, the cute raccoon would be caught and thrash about.
"Hmm?"
But the outcome of that exchange appeared as a result no one had expected. Before anyone knew it, Biyong was sitting coiled on Yi Hui-yeong's head, yawning.
"Kyaaaang."
While everyone was shocked, the only one smiling was Han Yuhyeon.
No matter how young, Biyong was a dragon. Han Yuhyeon was a veteran who fully understood the potential and abilities of dragons, which were rare even in the Yeonhwa Seonrok worldview.
And by Han Yuhyeon's calculations—
A cultivator who could catch a dragon that was seriously trying to escape…
There was no such person in So-ui-ju, at least.