Just Like That

Time waits for no one, even the world itself follows the time. Everything changes, even the time changes. The change was permanent.

One week passed in a moment,  

There were a lot of people present in an open field. In the middle of the field was built a stage measuring up to thirty meters in length and width. 

A lot of people were gathered around the stage. Some were sitting and some were standing. There was no noise in the area, it looked like something was about to begin. 

It could be said to be a silence before a storm. 

The game of death was officially about to begin.

Nobody knew how many people were going to die. Nobody knew the end result of this game. Common people only thought that it was a competition and nothing more: however, they did not expect that this competition was going to take many lives. This competition involved two whole clans, and even they themselves might get dragged into this.

A man stood in the middle of the fighting arena. Looking at a few certain people, seemingly waiting for the signal to start for the competition.

After a while, he nodded and began to speak,

"Hello everyone, allow me to introduce myself. People call me over watcher, my name is Zing Ghe. We are here to witness the start of a competition held by the Bai clan and the Ma clan. You might ask why I said ``the start of a competition."

"Well, let me explain why I said this. This competition will not end today, but will go on for a few months or might even extend to one or two years. Three disciples are chosen by the two clans each, summing up to six competitors." Zing Ghe moved his right hand toward everyone and began to introduce everything.

The crowd of people, however, was shocked after hearing this.

"What?!!! This competition will go on for a few months?"

"He… even said that it might expand to one or two years!!!!"

"There are only six competitors?!!! Do you think he might have forgotten something else?"

"No, I don't think so, he is an over-watcher. It is said that he can even observe the things that are unavailable to even the two clan leaders."

"Yeah, I also heard that both of the clans trust his ways completely. He also doesn't get bribed by anyone."

"Let's see what he says. I think something interesting is going to happen. After all, even the over watcher was invited."

On the other hand, Zing Ghe began to explain many more things.

"There will be three rounds, and only these six competitors will be playing these three rounds. The first round will be held today, the date of the second round will be announced in a month, and as for the third round, nobody knows about that."

"Not just that, there is something interesting in this competition that might pique your interest, and that is that you are also allowed to compete in this competition." 

These lines shocked the crowd again.

"What?!!! They don't even know when the second and the third round will be held?"

"Forget about that, I am impressed that they are going to extend three rounds for that much time. Why are they doing this?"

"I am also thinking the same thing, this competition doesn't need to go on for this long, right?"

"And what's more is that be said that there are only six competitors in this round, so what does he mean that we can also compete?"

Regardless of the others' shocked expressions, Zing Ghe continued speaking

"What I mean is that you can bet anything during the competition… even your lives. You can also resolve your many issues like this, just bet on who will win the fights or round, and you can just wait for the results after that. You can bet on a single fight or all three fights, even on round one, isn't it interesting, hahaha." Zing Ghe said with a smile and began to laugh eerily, scaring the hell out of others.

"As expected of Zing Ghe, he doesn't cease to amaze me."

"Yeah, I always wait for him to appear during the fights."

"I wonder, how can he laugh like this in front of so many people"

Not many people were surprised by Zing Ghe's laugh as they knew his personality. But as for the ones who had not heard of Zing Ghe before were too shocked by his behavior.

"Wh…what is that? W…wh…why is he laughing like this? And what is with this life bet?"

"Brother, he is too scary."

"Forget about the competition, even though I am not scared of the bets, I changed my mood to bet anything after seeing him laugh like this."

"You can bet any number of essence stones, and if the one on you bet wins, you will be able to get double the amount you bet. Think about it, this is a great opportunity, and you can get rich with only a single bet. Just bet any amount of essence stones and get the double." Zing Ghe began to convince people into betting in a clever way, he did not even once mention the consequences of losing, and he did not even once say that they can also lose their essence stones.

"What if we bet our lives, what will we get then?" Someone asked from the audience.

"You will be given ten thousand essence stones if you win, and also a rank 3 Ka by your clan. Not just that, if you don't bet with the clan but with another person, and you win the bet, then the clan will make sure to get you your reward from the one you won the bet from. Such as, if you experience some issue with your neighbor, just go bet something with your neighbor and record the bet on the counter placed to your right side and then wait for the results of the competition fights." Zing Ghe pointed at the five counters which were placed on a certain side and said.

These counters were placed there to record the bets in the clan records. All of these bets will be stored on a certain kind of paper which was created by a certain rank 2 material.

"These bets can go on until the third round, and you can bet anytime during this competition." Zing Ghe said before looking at his right and left,

"Very well then, now that it has been explained, let's move on to the battles. The first ones to fight in the line are Yang Zhai of the Bai clan and Ke Xin of the Ma clan." Zing Ghe announced, and two disciples stepped onto the fighting stage, one of them was Yang Zhai, who was calm as always.

"So, you know the rules, this fight will only stop when one of you exits the arena or is dead: otherwise, there are no rules, and everything is allowed. Now, we can start the fight if you two are ready."

Yang Zhai and both Ke Xin nodded,

After seeing this, Zing Ghe also moved back and shouted,

"Begin,"

And the fight started, however

"Brother Yang, let us have a brave and motivating fight. I hope you understa…huh…," however, Ke Xin began to speak and tried to increase his reputation by trying to look nice and heroic before the fight.

But, he suddenly spurted blood from his mouth and was sent flying out of the arena. Yang Zhai attacked Ke Xin with a heavy punch while he was speaking.

After that, he walked down the stage silently between a silent atmosphere. 

Everyone was quiet and nobody said anything, they just watched Yang Zhai walking down the stage with blank faces. Even the over-watcher Zing Ghe was silent. He had just taken a few steps back and was still going back, but the fight ended, and he could not even exit the arena.

"What just happened?"

"I think the fight ended."

"Do you think so?"

"I do,"

"But, a fight can't be this short, right?"

"But we just witnessed one,"

"You are right,"

"What the....!!!! What just happened!!!!!! And who are you!!!! Why am I talking so casually with you!!!!!"

"How would I know?!!!! I was so shocked that I didn't even notice that I was talking!!!!

On the other hand,

"Uh..uh…, I think the fight ended, uh…uh, the fight has ended and Yang Zhai is the winner," Over watcher Zing Ghe coughed embarrassingly after what he shouted loudly. After that, he announced the victor of the battle.

The fight had ended just as it had started. Nobody had expected this to happen. So, it was understandable that everyone was silent and could not react to this for a while. Even the over watcher, who was supposed to be watching the battle closely, was shocked and silent, let alone the others.

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