The Martial Unity

"Please do," Rui nodded while simultaneously opening up the information guides that she had provided him.

"Very well," She nodded with a pleasant smile. "The Martial Festival of the Virodhabhasa Faith is held once every two years, it is a continent-wide festival where we celebrate the blessings of Lord Virodhabhasa in the form of a festival. After all, it is only thanks to Lord Virodhabhasa that Martial Artists even exist in the place, he is the one who decides which Martial Path shall continue, and which ones shall be destroyed…"

Rui sighed inwardly as he already began ignoring her. He should have known that these religious devotees would make everything about their lord and savior.

He instead quickly speed-read through the booklets provided.

The Virodhabhasa Martial Festival was celebrated with Martial Art. After all, what other forms of celebrations were necessary?

It did not deign to celebrate it the way other festivals across the entire continent were celebrated, not through special decorations across the entire town, nor through song and dance, or special ethnic cuisine, or ethnic attire.

No.

Only through Martial Art, or Martial-centric fields.

That was far more extreme than the Kandrian Martial Art festival which allowed for such forms of celebration.

However, the more he read, the more he grew engrossed in what he read, making several realizations.

('The Kandrian Martial Union copied the Virodhabhasa Faith,') Rui couldn't believe his eyes.

He came across something extremely nostalgic and familiar.

The Virodhabhasa Faith had been hosting Martial Contests since its very inception!

This far preceded the first Martial Contest held by the Martial Union.

It meant that what the Virodhabhasa Faith was doing was so viral that even the Martial Union did not feel any shame in copying it.

It was so similar to the point that even the structures were similar.

There were several contests divided by Realm.

A preliminary contest occurred at every Church town across the continent electing a single delegate who would then go on to become the representative of their particular Church town, they would then go on to compete across the entire continent with other representatives before a final winner was chosen as the Virodha Martial Champion.

Given the sheer magnitude of the contest, the Martial Champion could be declared as nothing short of the strongest Martial Squire across the entire continent!

Rui could only imagine the kind of monsters that would be competing in the Martial Contest. With the sheer number of Martial Squires competing, he highly doubted whether even being a grade-ten Martial Squire was enough to have a real chance of becoming the Martial Champion.

Most likely the Martial Squire that would become the Martial Contest would be an abnormal freak the likes of which were unlike anything the world had ever seen before.

Rui could see someone like Tokugawa Ieyasu becoming a Martial Champion, unfortunately, it seemed as though the man would most likely not be participating in the Martial Contest this year. He seemed all but content training on Ajanta Island as he grew stronger, taking a step to the Senior Realm.

That was rather curious.

Why didn't he partake in the Martial Contest and challenge himself with the strongest Martial Squires in the land?

He said that he had been waiting for someone like Rui to appear. But wouldn't the best place to look for the strongest Martial Squires be in a Martial Contest like this one as opposed to the Floating Sect which, while powerful, only had one thousand Martial Squires?

He wasn't sure but put aside the matter of Tokugawa Ieyasu for the moment, that man wasn't relevant until Rui returned back to the sect.

There were great incentives for the Virodha Martial Contest, winners at every level of the contest were rewarded with incredible benefits of their choice.

They could opt to cash out and earn a huge sum of money.

They could opt to procure powerful exclusive training and growth resources and facilities that would allow them to travel further down their Martial Path and develop their Martial Art in ways that no one could.

They could even opt to convert into more abstract rewards such as political capital. The Virodhabhasa Faith would back any political venture that a Marital Artist made. One could even begin the ruler of a nation with the backing of the Virodhabhasa Faith, within limits, of course. Trying to take over powerhouse Sage-level nations was impossible, but taking over nations limited to the lower Realms was quite easy for the Virodhabhasa Faith.

That was a tremendous amount of power that the religion possessed in all domains and fields meant that Martial Champion could do anything they wanted and would obtain incredible results.

A thought flashed through Rui's mind.

('Maybe I could…') He narrowed his eyes.

If he partook in the Virodha Martial Contest, then it was possible that he would be able to obtain what he needed for Senior Xanarn's treatment. He did not think that the Virodhabhasa Faith would be incapable of healing her condition. If they could not heal her condition then no one could, probably.

('Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.') He shook his head. ('If I can acquire the medical services or products to heal her without such extra measures, then I don't have to go to such lengths.')

Although his soul quivered in excitement for a continent-wide Martial Contest, he did not lose rationality. His circumstances were not the most optimal for such endeavors.

Firstly, he was in hiding, running away from Chairman Deacon. Secondly, he was here to fulfill Project Metabody, and thirdly he was here to find a solution for Senior Xanarn's condition.

Jumping into a Martial Contest such as this would make more sense if he didn't have more than one of those constraints, though ideally zero.

As he was right now, he could not afford to lose focus on what was important. His primary goal at the moment was to verify whether the Virodhabhasa Faith could help him with Project Metabody and Senior Xanarn's condition, and if so, what it took to obtain those services and commodities.