Substitute

Once they made it to the stadium and revealed themselves to Bartos who was with Lilia, the one chasing them finally retreated.

"Uncle Bartos!"

"Where have you two-, Kate!"

He started off thinking he would scold them for wandering off, but that thought went away the moment he saw the streak of blood rolling down Kate's chin. He and Lilia hastily went to them and checked on her. After a quick look, Bartos could tell that she had no serious or external injuries so he believed that the armour must have protected her.

'Thank goodness.'

Never before had he been so sure that he had made the right decision. If it wasn't for her chestplate, Kate knew she would have died so she was also very grateful to her father and pushed herself into his embrace.

"What happened?"

To Lilia's question, Kate answered first and then Shui. When Shui said his part, he only mentioned that they were able to get away and though Bartos planned on interrogating him further, he decided to leave it for later. During the entire conversation, Kate occasionally glanced at Shui in a dazed manner, so Lilia wondered if the experinece had changed something in her while Bartos thought that Kate had probably found out that Shui could cultivate.

After calming down, the four of them went to the Heaven clan area to report the matter. Once they found out that Kate had been ambushed, they were all furious and worried! In order to quickly treat her and assess the situation, majority of the clan returned to the mansion leaving only those who had to stay.

"She must have been targeted."

Majority of the Heaven clan thought like this, especially when Kate told them that she was in a trance. They thought a Soul Realm cultivator must have confused her senses with a spell in order to get her assassinated in an area away from her guardians. In front of the clan, Bartos said that he was the one who rescued her since he felt it would be more reasonable. After Kate, who was told by Shui, said where exactly the alley was, some of them went to the area but only blood stains could be found.

"Damn it!"

Once this was revealed, the atmosphere of the clan took another deep plunge. Though Kate was attacked and the culprits got away, the atmosphere shouldn't have been as bad as it was, but the news of Kate's condition had a terrible impact. Though there was no danger to her life, if she tried to fight the next day, her condition would worsen.

Soon after noon, Nalos returned and was informed of the situation.

"Those animals!"

Once the state of affairs reached his ears, the culprit was already drawn in his head. He believed that the Clite clan must have tried to kill Kate. Though he didn't think the tournament was important enough to do so, there was a chance Kalos wanted to weaken their clan. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, but he knew that wasn't his most urgent task.

"...So, should we put in a substitute?"

The room went silent. Though they were upset and angry about the situation, without Kate they knew there was no chance of them winning the tournament. Even so, they also didn't want whoever was behind this to feel any sense of accomplishment, not to mention the sneers they would receive from the other clans for having to forfeit twice. The desire to keep their honour was there, but they couldn't think of a way to do so.

In this atmosphere, Shui stood up. At first no one noticed, but as he got closer to Nalos more eyes turned towards him. When he stopped in front of him, Nalos sent a confused gaze at Shui who then bowed his head.

"Please let me be the substitute."

Shui had no strong feelings of attachment to the clan. If it was someone else that was injured, he would have at most felt pity and stayed out of it. However, he couldn't do the same when Kate was involved. Though he wasn't sure who exactly ordered it, he believed the culprit who was responsible for Kate's wound was one if not both of the two other clans. With that being the case, he knew he couldn't let them get away so easily.

He was still weak, so he couldn't simply stroll over there and get the answers he wanted, but making sure the tournament ended with the result it should would be easy.

"Boy, this is not a time for-"

Naturally Nalos had no reason to humour the cripple bowing before him, but as Shui stood there he quietly released his aura. Though it was faint, Nalos was sure he felt the aura of a middle Mortal Realm cultivator from Shui and so did the rest of the clan.

"What, but, when?"

"Wasn't he,"

"This is..."

Nalos glared at Shui as if trying to see through him but he couldn't understand.

'How could a cripple cultivate? And how could his cultivation be so high?'

"Patriarch, please."

Shui's second plead returned Nalos' mind to the situation, although he disdained the boy, he knew that the clan was more important than his own feelings.

"Very well."

"Patriarch! I agree that we need a substitute but how could you,"

"Do you have a better option?"

Kran tried to argue against Nalos' decision, but he knew it was fruitless. He didn't think much of Kate's talent since she was just a woman to be wed, but Shui was a threat. Even though he was a bastard to them, he was still the Patriarch's grandson so he could be a strong competitor to Nathan.

Nathan had also realised this so he stepped up to try and stop Shui from gaining any achievement.

"Wait Grandfather, I have no complaints in regards to Shui being the substitute but, why didn't he reveal his cultivation beforehand? If he had entered the tournament we could have performed better and maybe this wouldn't have happened."

Nathan's words inspired chatter from the clan. Shui knew this topic would come up so he wasn't flustered, he only sighed because of the trouble.

"You're right. If I had entered the competition from the beginning, we may not have had this situation. It's my fault for not realising the difference between our strength and the strength of the other clans. If I had known that they would be so much stronger than us then I definitely would have entered."

Though it was phrased like an apology, everyone could tell the actual meaning Shui was giving.

'Yes, it's my fault that you guys are so weak.'

The hidden insults lowered the heads of not only those ten and under, but also the over ten category participants. They clenched their fists in frustration because they were upset, but bit their lips because knew he was right. The adults felt awkward but they were also disappointed by the performance of the younger generation so they couldn't fight back. Nathan was also turned speechless by Shui and sat back down.

"Okay that's enough. Does anyone else have any objections to Shui being the substitute?"

None of the adults showed strong opposition, but there was still a group of children who didn't like Shui being the substitute. The leader of them, Olly, walked towards the Patriarch.

"Patriarch, I don't think Shui has enough experience. Even if he's the best candidate, he might not be a match for a weaker opponent."

"Like you for example."

Before Nalos could reply to Olly, Shui butted in first. Since he was already planning on showing off, there was no reason for him to act meek in front of such fools any longer.

"Patriarch, may I prove my meager fighting ability by sparring with Olly. I'll only use one hand of course."

Since he had a higher cultivation, it was reasonable for Shui to hold back, but Olly was still angered by his nonchalant tone.

'You think you can treat me like this? I'll show you.'

"That's fine. Let's go to the backyard."

Due to curiosity, the entire clan went to watch Olly face off against Shui. Kate was also watching while in the arms of Bartos. As she looked at him, she was overcome by strange feelings of gloom. This was the boy she had sworn to protect, but now it seemed he was the one protecting her.

As he faced off against Shui, Olly wore a chestplate and gauntlets. It was obvious he planned on using them to defend against Shui's hits, but no one said anything. Even if artifacts weren't allowed in the ten and under category, no one said anything since they wanted to see what the former cripple could really do.

"Start."

Nalos began the match and Olly took that as his signal to dash towards Shui. Shui waited patiently as Olly came closer, not even a hint of worry that he would lose. Olly wildly threw a punch at his face, unafriad of any counter, but Shui grabbed that fist.

"What, why is it?!"

Olly found his fist stuck in Shui's grip so he struggled to pull his hand out, but it only wasted his energy. Olly had made several mistakes when trying to go up against Shui, but one of the worst was assuming that Shui was barely in the fourth level of the Mortal Realm since he couldn't get a clear read on his cultivation. Though he would have lost even if that was the case, the artifacts couldn't help Olly overcome two levels of cultivation.

Since Shui knew that if he went too easy on him he would attack again, he decided to finish the match. With one hand, he swung Olly's body to ground and watched as his eyes rolled back. Shui then bowed towards Nalos once more.

"Am I worthy, Patriarch?"

"...Yes."

Nalos was shocked by Shui's aloof aura, but he didn't change his expression. Though he was confused by the boy's sudden splendour, he didn't change his mind about him. To Nalos, he was still the brat who played a part in ruining his daughter.