CH-14: The Tournament Starts (2)

"Bring it on, I was itching to test my body this whole time."

"I will test it thoroughly don't you worry! Guys, show him how the world truly works."

The remaining two goons dashed into Ye Tian, covering his two sides. The only means of escape would be through forward, which had the fierce-looking participant waiting for exactly that. Breaking all expectations, Ye Tian dashed towards his right, catching the goon unprepared. He hit his shoulder with a palm attack to disorient him, then followed with a punch to his solar plexus. As the first goon fell to his knees, Ye Tian grabbed his head and kneed him. Not giving him time to recollect himself, Ye Tian grabbed his sigil and crushed it.

"Die!"

Just then the second goon finally made it. Ye Tian did not say anything but replied with a back-kick, sending the second goon flying. Their Bodies were miles apart in quality and it showed. Second good crashed into a nearby tree, breaking it with how powerful he had crashed onto it. Grabbing the guy's head, Ye Tian slams him to the ground, causing several teeth to come off. Crushing his sigil right after, Ye Tian turned towards the fierce-looking participant.

"What, scared? I thought you were going to show me how the world works, don't tell me you're all bark no bite."

"If I, Ryan Mu, am scared of one measly quintuple roots trash, then I'm trash as well! Take my strike!"

Unlike the previous participants, Ryan Mu had a sabre. Swinging it with great force, he attacks Ye Tian. Scoffing at this, Ye Tian slaps the sabre aside and then strikes Ryan Mu's chest. His palms as heavy as iron, Ryan Mu is flung away. Catching up with him, Ye Tian grabs Ryan Mu by his leg and repeatedly slams him to the ground. As he was about to crush his sigil too-

-WOOSH!

'That was close, there were still some people left?' Dodgin the flying needle Ye Tian immediately crushes Ryan Mu's sigil and looks for movement around him. 'Did they retreat? No there isn't much time left. I already know they are here so they lost the initiative too. Unless...'

-SHIIING

Sounds of metal clashing came from Ye Tians punch above, meeting the lurker's sword.

"That's an awfully silent movement technique you got there, you nearly had me."

"Says the guy with metal as skin." As they both retreat, a glint flashes in their eyes. As they engaged in a brawl again, the barrier was getting smaller and smaller. Punches and palms repeatedly met with a swift sword, filling the area with noise. As time went on, Ye Tian undoubtedly would have the advantage with his closer range style. Lurker also knew this, so he used his trump card.

"Earth Tremor Sigil, activate!"

"!"

-RUMBLE!

With the sigil activated, the ground started shaking. It was so intense that trees fell, and Ye Tian lost his footing. Not missing the chance lurker swung his sword, only for it to be deflected by Ye Tian's kick, sending it fry away.

"You! You pretended to lose footing-"

-WHAM!

Headbutting the lurker first, Ye Tian then swept his legs, causing the lurker to fall and caught him by the face, slamming it to the ground. The lurker could not move now and it was easy to crush his sigil. It was an easy win for Ye Tian this round.

IN THE VIEWERS' AREA

Having expected a great show but only witnessing a shit one instead, I was quite mad.

"How lucky can this guy be? He had the barrier centre around him, more than half of the other participants lost due to touching the barrier, remaining ones were so bad even a toddler from my clan could fight them off! As if the heavens want this guy to hide his strength! And that Ryan Reynolds or something, you brought a mortal sabre to a place filled with Peak Body Building practitioners! That last guy at least had a plan going and had 1st Rank Middle-Grade weapons, but was too dumb to improvise when his plan had failed."

"I too certainly did not expect such low standards from the Institute, shouldn't they be expelled with such performance?" Looks like I wasn't the only one.

"All we got is that he probably has a movement technique, and he built his body with all 5 elements."

"I agree, without using a technique one shouldn't be able to blend with the environment so much, unless their body is a reflection of nature."

"Looks like he forged his skin with metal, flesh with earth, bones with wood, marrow with fire and washed his meridians with water. A five-elemental body refining technique, all with high-rank materials. How could a commoner have found such materials?" We came to a conclusion at the same time.

""An inheritance!""

"The real question is, is it an inheritance ground he chanced upon or something left behind by his family?" Said Iyana.

"Could be both, he is named with the old system."

After prominent clans had usurped the power, they made big chances all over to continent, one of them was the names. But they couldn't just replace a culture, so the surnames stayed the same. Although it has been thousands of years, there were still people being named with the old system, albeit very rare. It is mostly seen in old monsters with Birth Of Self cultivation.

"If it was really an inheritance, he should have plenty of good stuff too, what do you say? I think we could take better care of them."

"No, he is being watched by the Deans. If we tried to kill their research subject just like that, we wouldn't escape unscathed. Although they wouldn't either if they tried something funny with me."

"Tch, boring."

"I mean, do you need it anyway? You should know some places after all."

"Don't try going there with me, if you try it I'll kill you."

"And you call me boring..." 

With that, the pre-eliminaries came to an end. The tournament would start for real this time. I was in the first bracket of the matches, so I would be going first. As expected, an official came and made an announcement.

"We will start the elimination rounds tomorrow, those who completed the battle royale can check their opponents from the board."

I too looked at the board, not for my opponent but for where Ye Tian was placed.

"Looks like I will fight the guy before you do, and even that can be only in the semi-finals. Those old farts... What random matching, they know who will win against who already!"

"And where did you get the confidence you would be the one facing him? Don't you have a match with that Emmanuel guy or whatever?"

"Oh, do I? Now that's good. I can finally smash his head to the ground. Never liked the guy."

Since I had such an important match coming, I wouldn't slack off. I trained till there was one hour left for my match. As I came to the arena, the official spoke.

"First match of the day, Axel Lin vs Kai Yang! Step onto the ring." We did as we were told. I was facing a guy in blue robes and brown spiky hair. He had a familiar feeling I couldn't shake off...

"Start!"

With the cue, I dashed to him, slamming my palm to his stomach. He tried to deflect it with his arm while side-stepping but I hit his chin instead, then sent him flying with a roundhouse kick.

"Out of bounds, Axel Lin wins!"

'These guys are quite unlucky; before the top seedings would be placed in at least the top 32, but now everyone got placed into the top 256. Meeting me or other direct lines in the first match is just a death sentence.' Then I just watched the remaining matches. After a while, it was Ye Tian's turn and he was facing someone from Lin branches. 'Are we set up to be his antagonists or what? He will be fighting against brother Namor too.'

Ye Tian quickly subdued his opponent with a choke grip, making her faint. She looked dejected after she came to, probably because she lost to a commoner. Matches kept on going, and soon it was Iyana's turn. 'Please don't use your physique!' Contrary to my wishes she did just that. She started whistling after the match started, freezing the poor guy, and the audience as well. Only a select few were unaffected. She just dragged the frozen guy to the bounds and threw him after that. 'I bet they would put a barrier or something for tomorrow because of this...'

The first round ended quite fast, all the direct line participants defeated their opponent with quite ease too. It wasn't like there weren't any upsets though. Most of the commoners were already sifted through thanks to the pre-eliminatory and only the exemplary ones remained. My opponent was not such a person though, it seemed they got lucky too. 'Well, they say luck is one's power too, albeit an unreliable one.' I looked up to see my next opponent, a guy named Sam Tang. This one felt familiar too...