The Selection Begins (2)

After Serina and Fatty told him about his opponent, Shui was slightly amused. His opponent didn't sound like a threat but Shui was intrigued by the spell he used.

'If I experience it first-hand it might prove helpful in my research.'

If they didn't tell him this then he would likely finish him off without giving him a chance to show off his abilities, so Shui was grateful to the two.

"Thanks for telling me. Do you mind staying for dinner as thanks?"

Serina and Fatty looked at each other before nodding.

"Sure."

"Good. You three," since they agreed Shui called Ryan's group who were timidly sitting at a corner of the room.

"Prepare something good for my friends and I. I don't care if you make a share for yourselves."

"Uh, yes."

They felt embarrassed at being ordered around in front of their juniors but they didn't dare ignore Shui. At first, the two felt awkward being served by their senior disciples but following Shui's nonchalance they got over it.

Early the next day, Shui met up with Fatty and Serina to go to the venue where the final tournament of the core disciple selection would be held. It was a very large stadium fit for thousands of audience members and currently had the atmosphere of a colosseum as disciples were eager for the brilliant fights they would witness. As one of the top 8, Shui was given a front row seat and was allowed to bring his friends with him. On the way to his seat, Shui felt several eyes land on him. Most were scrutinizing, quite a few were disdainful, but Shui chuckled when he sensed surprise from some.

When he looked in the direction of the surprised watchers, there was only one familiar face among them but that face told him who the rest were. Noticing where he was looking, Fatty told him the identity of the group.

"That's Homa's group. The one with the orange hair is Homa, he's your opponent."

"I see."

As Shui kept his eyes on them, the familiar face who had led men to his house was beside himself with fear. None of the rest of Homa's group said anything but they were all stabbing him with their sharp gazes.

'No, I'm sure of it. We took care of him. But then, why is he here?!'

Shui eventually looked away but that didn't stop the shivers running down the man's spine.

"I thought you took care of him."

The orange-haired man with cold red eyes at the centre of their group, spoke in a flat tone. However, this flat tone was several times scarier than anger or disappointment could have been.

"I-I-I-I-I'm sure I did. You have to believe me Sir Homa! I'm sure I saw him beaten on the ground with my own eyes!"

The rest of the group looked displeased as the man desperately tried to save himself, but none of them spoke up because they were sure of his fate.

"Hmm, I see."

"So-so-so, you believe me?"

"Of course I do. Take him away."

"Wait, wait, no!!!"

It was a drop from heaven to hell as Homa had the man dragged away. What would happen to him next was unknown, but he was never heard of again.

"Sir Homa, should we try something else?" asked one of Homa's group.

It may seem too much for them to sabotage someone who was three levels below Homa, but they knew Homa didn't want to take any chances.

"Hmm... no. He's more capable than I thought he would be but it's too late to make another plan. I'll just have to take care of him in battle."

Homa was cautious but not afraid. No matter what tricks Shui had, he was sure that if he gave it his all, he would crush him.

Once the rest of the top 8 and the elders appeared, the tournament began soon after. Shui's match was second, so there was one before his turn came up. Once he saw his fellow competitors, Shui was sure that the match-ups were made so that he would fight against the weakest of the top 8. It was a needless trick but thanks to it this selection wouldn't be too much a waste of his time.

The first match was between two male disciples at the eighth level of the Soul Realm.

"Boss, who do you think will win?" asked Fatty with a curious expression.

It sounded like a simple query but Shui spotted the bag of spirit gems in Fatty's hand and knew what he was going to do.

'Betting, huh?'

It wasn't something that could be done publicly, but betting on matches was something common in both the cultivator and secular worlds.

"They seem to be evenly matched so it could go either way."

"Hmm, I see. But if you were to pick one..."

Shui turned to face Fatty and even though there was a bit of shame in his expression, Fatty didn't move away.

"...The taller one."

"Got it. Please excuse me for a moment."

Fatty got out of his seat and went towards the back of the stadium. Shui shook his head and turned to his right but then he noticed Serina getting up as well. Her face turned bright red when he looked at her and she started to sit down again, but he held his forehead and sighed.

"Go."

After getting permission, she also hurried off to the back of the stadium.

'Well, there's nothing wrong with having more resources.'

Shui didn't feel like betting but he wasn't disappointed or anything because they would. A few minutes after the two returned, the match began. As Shui stated, the battle between the two disciples was very close. Every time a spell or technique was used, there was always another one to counter it. The two seemed to have fought each other several times before so they also knew that it would be hard to decide a victor. In the end, as Shui predicted, after narrowly dodging his opponent's desperate attack, the taller one claimed victory.

Since the match was so close the crowd was quite excited by the end of it.

"Wow Boss. How did you know he would win?"

Since the match was so close, Fatty couldn't help but worry that he would lose the bet but having faith in Shui was the right choice.

"Their atmospheres before the match. Since their skills and equipment were on a similar level, the deciding factor had to be their mentalities. The taller one was more calm so he made less mistakes and was able to take advantage of his opponent's instability."

"Oh, makes sense."

There was a short break before Shui's match began so Fatty and Serina left to collect their rewards and bet on Shui. On her way back to her seat, as she moved with a spring in her step due to the amount of spirit gems in her space expansion bag, Serina spotted the one who lost in the first match. Everyone else ignored him as they re-entered the stadium, but Serina felt a prick in her conscience since she profited from his loss.

She went up to his downtrodden self and asked with a nervous tone.

"Um, are you okay?"

He seemed surprised that someone would talk to him, but he didn't respond. This would be a good excuse to leave but since she was already here, Serina decided to reach into her space expansion bag and take out a spirit gem. She then reached for his hand and gave it to him.

"Huh? What are you-"

"Don't give up, okay."

After handing him the spirit gem with a gentle smile, Serina went back to the stadium. As she left, the man stared at her back. A single spirit gem was nothing to him, but he felt a special warmth as he grabbed it.

Little did the innocent Serina know, that this was the start of the legend of the 'Saint of Silver City'.