Mini Game

Ju Yuan was getting very excited, and he was as fired up as if he was going to fight, himself. He was totally gap moe, as that was not his personality. He wasn't the person who would care much about other people's stuff, especially not battles in which he was just a mere spectator.

Tao Xue was getting a bit suspicious, as he asked Ju Yuan, and said, "Hey, what's wrong? You aren't the kind of person who would be so enthusiastic in somebody else's battles, and the fights haven't even started. What's gotten into you?"

Ju Yuan was excited, but he was able to reply calmly, as he said, "In my family, there was a betting event organized, and we all bet on one or the other person to win. I have bet on my favorite cousin, Yi Yuan. He's a very skilled Cultivator, and he is very proficient in the ways of the sword as well. Other than that, he used to treat me to all kinds of sweets when I was little. He's a peak 3rd Level Soul Cultivator."

Tao Xue was surprised that there was actually a betting event in the family amongst the family members. He was a bit surprised that people would be able to choose sides in a family, as if they were enemies.

He looked down and saw that the announcer was about to say something, so he had now set his attention on the host, who was ready to start the fights.

The hose said, "Now, I'll be drawing lots, to see who will fight who in the first match."

He looked towards a servant, who came carrying a bowl, with different tiny scrolls in it, each with the name of a participant on them. It was the normal and traditional method of drawing lots, so no one payed much attention, but when the host said the next sentence, the whole audience started gazing down on the arena as one.

The host had said that there would be a mini battle for drawing lots itself. Each of the contestants had to fight an free for all battle, and whoever was able to get to the bowl first would win, and hence, earn the right to draw the lots for everyone.

This was a way to make the boring events a little more interesting, as that would engage the audience to watch this more carefully.

Other than that, this free for all battle wasn't that simple, as it had its own set of rules. This was a battle of wits and speed, not of strength. It wasn't allowed to even slightly injure one another, as that would have consequences during the matches, which would have unfair results.

The set up for the battles was one on one, and that was a big blow to those who were better at free for all battles. Now that they had heard that this was a free for all battle, they had high hopes for this fight, and wanted to eliminate a lot of the opponents right here. But, when they heard that fighting the enemies was prohibited, that was a big blow to them, as their bright hopes were shattered.

In a way, this was a time when some of the participants, those who were skilled in agility, or those who were brainy, had the upper hand, and those who were all brawn and no brain were rendered useless.

The host jumped out of the area where all the contestants were standing, and shouted, "3...2...1. Go!"

Just as he finished these words, all of the contestants, who were about 50 meters away from the bowl, which had just an instant ago, been placed at that distance, so that it wasn't too easy.

Some of the contestants with very high speeds ran and leapt forward, all racing to the front. Some of the threw distraction weapons to make them loose focus from their destination. This was a big shock, as they thought that they were being hit, and tried to dodge, but when they realized that they were being hit by smoke bombs and other non damage giving weapons, it made them pretty angry. The ones with the rather lower levels of Cultivation found it rather difficult to dodge all of the smoke bombs, and had to retreat, so that their paths wouldn't be blocked. Out of the 12 participants, 3 had been forced to back down due to the smoke bombs. Out of the rest, 4 of them were using their speed to run to the goal while dodging the other 4 throwing smoke bombs towards them.

This was a pretty smart move for the ones who weren't running. Smoke bombs were weapons that had to be dodged while either catching them, or outrunning them. As for normal projectiles, the only thing one had to keep in mind was that they shouldn't get hit, but smoke bombs erupt whenever they touch anything after they are thrown. If they let them hit the ground, their path would be blocked, which would be troublesome.

Tao Xue was looking at the boy who Ju Yuan was supporting, Yi Yuan. He was a fairly tall and handsome youth, about 15 years old, who had a sword kept inside its scabbard attached to his clothes, which were thick, and made of leather, which served a dual purpose, as battle armor against various types of basic level attacks.

He was standing quietly, at the back, and he had hardly moved since the whole event had started. All of the participants were at least under 30 meters of the bowl, while some of them had reached 15 meters and were about to reach it. He was still standing there, and not doing anything. Either he was preserving his strength and stamina for the actual fights, or he simply didn't care who picked the lots. As any normal person would think, whoever gets to draw the lots would only get more attention, and there wasn't any other practical advantage in that case.

This mini game was just to get the lazy audience interested in the competition. According to Tao Xue, this man was sensible, and he rather didn't want to waste his strength and stamina in this waste of time. Some of the competitors were showing off their skills as they had nothing to do, by aimlessly punching the ground, and showing off their muscles.

Out of the two that were under fifteen meters near the bowl, one of them stopped, and punched the ground near there, which caused the ground to shake, and the bowl fell off from the stool on which it was kept on. As it fell, the other man wasn't able to suddenly stop his speed, as he crashed into the stool, and fell down.

The man who punched the ground emerged victorious, and he had earned the privilege to draw the lots. This man was wearing simple everyday clothes, with combed and neat hair and has a scarf covering his neck and lower face. Other than that, he had an expression like that of an assassin. He was a man of few words, as he silently picked two random slips, and gave them to the host, who was smiling, and had now come back to the center of the arena.

He announced, "Now that the little mini game is finished, I will announce the names of the contestants picked out by our winner, Kai Yuan, who has proved his amazing talent. The first name is..."

This host knew what he was doing, as he knew when to give pauses in between. He had got everyone totally hooked on the competition. It was as if everyone's hearts were attached to the scroll, which he was opening, and was about to read. This suspense building up was rather unreal, and that which would appear in some kind of novel.

The host read the name, as he shouted out, "Xiang Yuan!"

A lot of the audience members, especially most of the family members, including Ju Yuan were a bit surprised. The results seemed a bit weird, as it wasn't good to see Xiang Yuan fight the first match. Xiang Yuan was one of the three strongest members present, who were all at the very peak of the third level. It would be very easy for him to win, as he was very skilled, if pitted against someone other than the other two of these three. It would be a bit unexpected to see one of the most awaited fights of the evening just at the start, and it would be way too boring to see someone getting utterly crushed in the first match, itself.

The scrolls were fool proof, at least fool proof for those under the limits of the 5th level, as the seal put on them could only be released by those of the 5th level or above, and without removing the seal, it was impossible to read the name of the person, and cheating was prohibited for such an event.

Tao Xue was also wondering about this, after everything was explained to him by Ju Yuan, when suddenly, Master appeared in front of him. Tao Xue took some time to recognize him, as he was emerging form a very unsightly place, which happened to be Ling Shen's butt. Tao Xue was looking at him, who told him that he was using his Projection ability.

Somehow, that fool managed to get himself toppled over on the ground from the seats, and he was in a rather unorthodox position. Due to his Void-Shadow form, he had an ability to be able to pass through various, or rather, all things, when using his Projection ability. He makes himself appear in a place where he isn't physically present, by using a projection of him appear instead.

His face was emerging from Ling Shen's butt, which was something that gave off a rather disgusting feeling, but Tao Xue ignored it for now, as he said to Master in his mind, (Master could understand his thoughts and use telepathy, and he had extended the use of this power so that his disciple could also use it.) "Master, what is it, and why are you not over here? What kind of weird form is this? What happened?"

Master was looking a bit out of shape, as he looked flustered, and a bit confused, as he replied, "Be careful around that man, the one who was drawing lots, and has a scarf covering his neck and lower face! He's no ordinary person! I can feel a weird presence coming from him!"