Chapter 843: Long Tao Lost His Confidence

As You Zhe watched the crowd, he said, "Now that everyone is here, there's no need to register for the Arts Stage, Martial Stage, or Martial Arts Stage. All of you should know that you can only participate in one of the stages. Those who are participating in the Arts Stage can come with me to the breeding room to choose your topic and nurture a fey accordingly.

"Although every person's topic is different, the topics were all chosen by the Moon Empress and Lord Bamboo Monarch. All topics have a similar difficulty level and will test your powers as a Creation Master. The person who comes out of the breeding room first shall be the champion. The Arts Stage will end once the top three exit the breeding room."

You Zhe walked toward a long corridor, followed by the disciples of veteran and top factions who were going to participate in the Arts Stage.

Long Tao also stood up to follow.

Lin Yuan, Li Xuan, Liu Jie, Gao Feng, and Sun Ningxiang gave him some words of motivation before he left.

Long Tao also seemed to be full of confidence.

Although Long Tao had strong fighting abilities, he had more confidence in his Creation Master abilities. He knew that even though his Creation Master education could not compare to that of Lin Yuan, Zong Ze, or Gu Lang, his level was still above the other disciples of top factions.

Coiling Dragon's Valley's Creation Master skills were only below that of the Moon Empress, Bamboo Monarch, and Chef Supreme. Not even the disciples of the members of royalty who had been learning Creation Master skills since they were young could compare to Long Tao.

As the only direct descendant of Coiling Dragon's Valley, his family had invested countless resources into his Creation Master education.

Long Tao's self-confidence had taken a hit after he failed to become the Moon Empress's disciple at Leaning Moon Mountain.

After returning to Coiling Dragon's Valley, he had basically locked himself away to increase his Creation Master powers, with the exception of participating in the S Tournament.

Now, Long Tao had realized that he could use a small portion of his soul to concoct spirit fluids when he was in optimum condition.

He knew that he was approaching the gate to cross over to Class 4 Creation Master territory.

After a few more years of hard work, he would definitely become an impressive Class 4 Creation Master.

The Guard Ye Banquet with all the veteran and top factions present was sure to be an incredible event.

The top 50 factions had been invited as expected, but the veteran factions had to fight to secure one of the 100 spots available to them.

The bar for attendance to the Guard Ye Banquet was just too high.

Hence, there were not many young disciples outside the Midnight Palace.

There were the four disciples of the members of royalty, 50 disciples of top factions, and 100 disciples of veteran factions, making up 154 younger disciples in total that were standing outside the Midnight Palace.

Most of the disciples chosen to represent the veteran and top factions had Creation Master skills, and it could be said that the area outside the Midnight Palace had the highest concentration of young Creation Masters.

Nonetheless, Creation Master was a rare profession, and only about half of the young disciples in attendance had Creation Master skills.

Due to the phenomenal prize of the Martial Arts Stage, Long Tao estimated that there would only be a maximum of 30 people participating in the Arts Stage as there would be at least 40 disciples who would be mustering up the courage to try their hand at the Martial Arts Stage.

While he was thinking, Long Tao inhaled sharply when he looked toward You Zhe.

His reaction was due to seeing Gu Lang, who was also walking behind You Zhe.

Gu Lang's actions shocked Long Tao and the other disciples of veteran and top factions who were participating in the Arts Stage.

Lin Yuan looked at Gu Lang warily. He even caught sight of a faint hint of confusion crossing You Zhe's face, indicating that even You Zhe had not expected Gu Lang to participate in the Arts Stage.

All of Long Tao's confidence abruptly shattered.

The second prize for the Arts Stage was an Island Whale that had not been nurtured by spirit qi and pure water-element yet, while the third prize was the Electric Crystal Turtle.

The Electric Crystal Turtle could grow electric crystals on its shell after absorbing enough electricity from storm clouds.

Although electric crystals did not have equally as pure elemental energy as heavenly-maiden-grade elemental pearls, they could have a purity of about 75%.

Most importantly, the Electric Crystal Turtle did not need to use Creation Master resources to grow electric crystals on its shell. All it needed was to find storm clouds.

As such, the Crystal Electric Turtle was essentially a fountain of resources that did not require much maintenance.

However, Long Tao knew that not even five Electric Crystal Turtles could compare to the Island Whale that had yet to be nurtured by spirit qi and pure water element.

The distance in value between the first place and second place prize was even further than that between the second place and third place prize.

Although they were both Island Whales, the second-place prize of an Island Whale that had yet to be nurtured by spirit qi and pure water element required a significant amount of Creation Master resources as compared to the first-place prize of an Island Whale that was about to hatch.

Even Coiling Dragon's Valley would have difficulty producing the Creation Master resources that the Island Whale would require.

An old saying had been repeated amongst top factions and veteran factions: "It's not that impressive to have an unhatched Island Whale. It's only impressive if you can hatch it."

Even veteran factions that had a wealth of resources required decades to hatch one Island Whale.

The moment he saw Gu Lang, Long Tao gave up all thoughts of becoming the champion.

Although he had given up on the first place, he was going to do everything in his power to attain second place.

Coiling Dragon's Valley would be able to hatch the Island Whale that veteran factions were unable to.

Despite already having a hatched Island Whale, the unhatched Island Whale was a strategic resource in itself.

Coiling Dragon's Valley could even use the Island Whale as leverage to trade for resources that they needed with other veteran factions.