Young Patriarch Competition

"Good, I'm glad to see you all share my feelings! Then without further ado, let's first introduce the competitors before beginning."

"This fight is one of quality, not quantity, so while there aren't many fighters today, they are each the very pinnacle of my sect, examples of the pristine character of each and everyone of my Thousand Split Sword Sect disciples!"

"We have five competitors today, so let's get right into it with the eldest!" The elder said, as he gestured towards the middle-aged man walking up onto the stage.

"The Second Son of the Sword, Kendro." With his introduction, a massive cheer came from the crowd, a lot of people rooting for this person.

"Now for the Third Son of the Sword, Tren." The elder said, as another man walked onto the stage.

Like that, the elder went through each competitor, before finally it was Venix's turn, and his introduction also shocked the crowd.

"Now for our youngest competitor, and the most interesting one, the Seventh Son of the Sword, Ikki!" The elder said, shocking the crowd.

After all, Ikki's strength was well known, and it was impossible for him to compete with these other fighters, but as the crowd whispered, some shocking news also began spreading.

"Heh, you all seem shocked, but that's only because you don't know about Ikki's luck!" A man in the audience said mysteriously.

"Luck? What do you mean?" Someone couldn't help but ask.

"Have you ever heard of a Green-Furred Dragon Fruit? Well I heard that Ikki managed to find and eat one, and immediately broke through two life locks, being only one step away from the Inner Heaven Realm!"

"For real? What kind of amazing luck is that?"

"As fake as that sounds, it's the only thing that explains why he's confident enough to join the battle."

"Well even with the strength boost, he's still trained for far less than those other competitors, and his experience can't compare, so he probably still won't win."

"Hey, who knows? Let's just watch and find out."

It didn't take much time for the news of Ikki's encounter to spread throughout the entire sect, with everyone having heard the news.

Some still didn't believe, but for most it explained everything. Plenty of people couldn't help but tug at their hair, asking why they didn't have that kind of luck?

While news was spreading to everyone, the competition had also officially begun. Minos looked down from his seat with interest, but he already knew exactly how this competition was going to end.

Venix was already at the Twelfth Layer of Mortal Renewal, and while his strength wasn't much different from the Ninth Layer Mortal Renewal, he had access to some special abilities that would let him crush his peers.

Not to mention with Venix's talent, Minos really couldn't see any way for him to lose, but still, he secretly wished him well.

Given how few people were competing today, the fight used a special system, where each combatant would face the other one once.

At the end up, the wins would be tallied, and whoever won the most would become the new young patriarch. It was a simple method, but also best displayed the fighters true strength.

Soon two fights were completed, and finally it was Venix's turn to perform. The crowd went crazy as they began cheering them, curious to see how Ikki, the dark horse, would perform.

"Come on Ikki, crush him!"

"No way, Tren, destroy this cocky kid!"

"Tren, Tren, Tren!"

"Alright, three, two, one. Fight!" The elder said, initiating the battle.

Venix and Tren didn't even bother with any testing moves, instead opting to just lunge at each other with full force.

The two slashed and parried as they performed attack after attack. The fight looked incredibly intense, but Minos could tell that Venix was holding back, making it seem like he was struggling much more than he was.

After a half hour of back and forths, it seemed Ikki finally got 'lucky' and managed to squeeze his sword into an opening, landing a slash on Tren's sword wielding arm.

Tren could still fight, but considering the circumstances, the elder called the fight, giving Ikki the win, much to the crowd's surprise.

"What did I say, that kid Ikki has been secretly waiting for this day so he could shock the world in one performance!"

"Why are you getting so excited you fat bastard? It's only one win, there's still three more fights to go, heaven's only knows if he can maintain this strength."

"What a joke! If he can beat the Second Son of the Sword, then he can beat the fourth, and fifth as well!"

"But can he beat the second?"

"Uhh…"

"That's what I thought!"

The crowd kept talking as the competition continued, everyone having their own opinions and rooting for their own people.

Soon Venix began his second fight, and once again, after a bit of a 'struggle' he won, securing another victory.

By this point, more people began cheering for him, thinking he really did have the potential to win this competition once and for all.

Minos nearly laughed at Venix's performance, but he forcefully held himself back, just watching in silence, hoping that this farce of a competition would end soon.

Soon Venix had gotten through three battles, winning time after time. However he wasn't the only one with a perfect record, and Kendro also had yet to lose.

With all other fights being through, it was finally time for Kendro and Venix to fight, and for the young patriarch to be chosen once and for all.

The fight began under incredible focus, and for once, the crowd went completely silent, watching the fight with bated breaths.

Venix put on his usual performance, pretending to struggle against Kendro, but managing to just barely hold on.

The two didn't hold back at all, performing some Three-Moon level sword techniques that would kill if not properly dealt with.

It wasn't rare for people to die during the Young Patriarch Selection Competition, so once someone stepped on the stage, they've already forfeited their lives, agreeing that if they died, it was only their own fault.

Despite this, it was still quite rare for anyone to die, and usually competitors would hold back, but in fights like these where the two competitors' strengths were pretty much equal, that was impossible to do.

Knowing that Ikki or Kendro could die at any second raised the stakes, and the crowd couldn't help but stand on the tip of their toes, as if they were the ones at the end of those blades.

Minos couldn't help but slightly yawn as he watched the fight. As scary and wild as it looked to everyone else, Minos knew Venix wasn't actually struggling, and was instead just waiting for a good chance to end everything once and for all.

And soon enough, that chance would come. After releasing another Three-Moon sword technique, 'Ikki' managed to find a gap, slashing heavily on Kendro's chest.

Venix pulled back at the last second, so despite the blade landing, it only cut a centimeter deep wound, not deep enough to do any real damage.

Kendro wasn't stupid, and he knew right away that had 'Ikki' not spared his life, then that blow would have absolutely killed him.

Dropping his sword, he got down on his knees, and thanked 'Ikki' in front of the whole audience for sparing his life.

It was only once the wounded Kendro left the stage, leaving only Venix behind, did the audience go crazy with cheers and celebrations.

"There you have it everyone, welcome our new Young Patriarch, Ikki!" The elder said with a smile.

He hadn't really backed anyone this time, so regardless of who won, he didn't actually really care, but now that Ikki was the new Young Patriarch, he thought it was a perfect time to start sucking up.

"Ikki, Ikki, Ikki!" The crowd cheered uproariously as Venix raised his sword into the air, smiling towards the crowd.

"Thank you everyone for showing up today, but I think our Young Patriarch needs some space to recover, so everyone, please disperse." The elder said, and the crowd complied.

Despite wanting to stick around and talk to the new Young Patriarch, they knew this wasn't the time or place, so they eventually cleared out.

"You know Ikki, I was rooting for you from the start, congrats on the win" The elder said, as he patted Ikki's shoulder heavily.

"Many thanks." Ikki said with a polite smile, before walking off the stage.

Before he could even get far, a tall stern looking man walked up to him. Seeing the man, Venix's hands subconsciously clenched, and he tried his best to not show anything.

"Well done boy, I never expected you to win, but you did it." The man said, as he lightly patted Venix's shoulder.

Despite the pat being light, it felt like the entire world had collapsed on him, and Venix could only grit his teeth to fight back against the pressure. Seeing 'Ikki' resisting his strength, the man couldn't help but smile, soon stopping.

"Follow me, as the Young Patriarch, you need to learn some things." The man said.