The Tournament Begins

“From now on, I hope you will stop being arrogant. There are countless great martial artists in this world. If you weren’t the core disciples of the sect, instead of losing your hair, you’ll be losing your limbs for that kind of attitude.”

“Thank you senior brother for your mercy. We will remember your advice within our hearts,” the core disciples said in unison as if they told each other what they were going to say in advance.

“Return to your studies. Don’t make your instructor wait,” Leng San said in a flat voice before walking away. The core disciples bowed to the boy and returned to their training.

The only reason that he taught these core disciples a relatively small lesson was because these core disciples would become the eventual principal forces of the Soaring Sword Sect. Destroying these core disciples would mean that he had destroyed the future of the sect. He didn’t want to harm the sect as Yi Longtian saved his life.

“These core disciples are more obedient to you than my father.”

The core disciples had been a superb entertainment for Yi Longwang. Leng San only shook his head.

Leng San and Yi Longwang came to sit at the same marble bench within the training ground. Leng San had learned all the Soaring Sword Sect’s techniques within one night. Instead of Yi Longwang teaching Leng San as Yi Longtian had instructed, the boy was giving tips on qi circulation adjustment for certain techniques and skills to Yi Longwang. Yi Longwang was surprised, countless times because all of Leng San’s advice was true once she tried them out.

During the nine days that Leng San gave her advice, even though her qi was still at the ninth level of the indigo stage, her skills had improved substantially. However, she couldn’t even force Leng San to use both his hands when they had a sparring session!! All of her techniques had been received by only one hand. Also, Leng San used only the Soaring Sword Sect’s techniques, never using his original techniques.

“Sigh... why do I have to be born in an era where a monster like you exists,” Yi Longwang sighed after having sparred with Leng San.

“Perhaps, the heavens have sent me here to be your soulmate,” said Leng San, grinning.

“If you speak in this manner again, I will stop talking to you,” Yi Longwang’s face turned pink before turning away. Leng San could only smile at her reaction.

“Tomorrow will be the first day of the tournament. What are you planning to do?” She turned back to ask Leng San.

“I have a plan. You will see it for yourself tomorrow…”

....................…

The annual youth tournament would take place at the arena within the center of the Indigo Cloud City. Similar to last year, the tournament attracted a huge crowd, and all the sects in the city had gathered to support their representatives in the hopes to improve their sect’s reputation.

The representative of the Soaring Sword Sect comprised Yi Longwang, Leng San, also known as Ma Chen, and another bald core disciple named Qin Zhonghui. In this tournament, Yi Longhu personally came with his disciples, unlike the years before, where he sent only an elder or an instructor which had gathered much attention from the audience.

The leader of the Fire Fortress Sect, Su Songyu and his young brother, Su Zhao, who now came with the prosthetic leg Leng San sold to the sect. The old man could use the Divine Leg as if it was his own leg. Leng San took a glance and smiled.

“Aren’t you afraid that selling the Divine Leg to them would backfire later on?” Freya’s voice perked up.

“Hmm?... Do you really think I would sell something useful to my enemy? Weren’t you there when I was building the leg?”

“I saw it, but I don’t quite understand runology, so I didn’t pay much attention. What did you do to it when you made it?”

“I sold two runic weapons to them,” Leng San grinned as he stared at Su Zhao’s Divine Leg.

“Two runic weapons?” Freya was absolutely curious.

“There’s a cavity within the Divine Leg. So, I put a little gift inside the leg. It’s a green runic weapon.”

“Oh god!!” Freya was shocked.

“Yes, within the Divine Leg, I’ve planted another runic weapon, about the size of a fist, inscribed with an exploding type rune!! It could destroy anything within the radius of three hundred meters from where it exploded. Even Su Songyu with yellow qi would be seriously injured, if he was exactly at the spot where it exploded!!”

“The exploding type!! Isn’t that the most powerful type of runic weapon that will be destroyed once it's activated?”

“Yes, and that old geezer is going to take it with him everywhere he went. It will significantly raise the probability of me winning,” Leng San’s eyes were gleaming as he thought.

‘That old geezer knew nothing at all. Haha, this special gift will make the sect remember my name for a long time.’

But what made Leng San frown was the middle-aged man who stood beside Su Zhao. This man dressed differently from the members of the Fire Fortress Sect. Furthermore, the boy couldn’t sense the presence of fire qi from this man, and his qi was at the middle level of the yellow stage. The energy radiating from the man was not any lesser than Su Songyu, the leader of the sect.

‘Who is this person? His power level couldn’t be overlooked. He is standing with the Fire Fortress Sect, so this person is definitely an enemy.’

Soon after, the members of the Xiaolin Sect appeared. Despite being one of the biggest sects in the city, Leng San didn’t pay attention to them at all. Xiaolin Lun then came after with a young boy, but his qi was only at the first level of the indigo stage. Leng San suspected that this boy would not survive past the first round, similar to the previous years.

‘Why didn’t my lady come along?’ Leng San slightly furrowed his brows as he was wishing to see Xiaolin Yue.

The head referee this year was Xuanwu Jincan as well. Leng San heard that after he went to the Valley of the Ten-Thousand Trees, Xuanwu Jincan had returned to the city with a royal decree to take Leng San with him, but the boy wasn’t there. And he had a little argument with Su Songyu as he was not able to take Leng San back with him. However, he had to step back due to what Leng San had done to the Fire Fortress Sect, which was considered utterly severe.

And today he came here once again as the referee, hoping he would meet Leng San and take the boy back with him to the palace.

One referee went on the stage to announce.

“The annual youth tournament of the Indigo Cloud City will be held today. Thank you to all sects that have sent representatives not over the age of eighteen to participate in the tournament. There are eight hundred participants in total, similar to the previous year. We are going to use the same rules as last year. The tournament will span over two days. On the first day, the participants will be divided into sixteen divisions, fifty participants per division. The remaining two of each division will qualify for the next round. In the second round, the pair from each division will participate in two versus two matches. The winning side will qualify for the third round. The third round will be a one-on-one match to which the pair will be chosen by a lucky draw. The rounds after will continue in this manner until we have the last participant standing.

Last year, the winner of the previous tournament, Leng San of Floating Cloud Village had refused to accept the winning prize, so this year’s winning prize will increase by onefold!! And now, the annual youth tournament of the Indigo Cloud City begins…”