Kill The Old Ones!

--

Apart from Ren, Hunter Graves also moves on to the next round of the tournament.

He had seen the other guy give him the stink-eye when they saw each other in the waiting room. Ren heard that Hunter had defeated all else, aside from Ren, which made him qualify to proceed to the next round.

’Good for him,’ Ren thought to himself, then stopped paying attention to the guy altogether.

While Hunter did good fighting for his current spot, Ren knew that this is as far as he goes.

Ren was the first person who arrived in the waiting room. He had seen those who arrived after him and measured their strength. With what he had seen so far, he could confidently say that Hunter has little to no chance of advancing to the semi-finals.

He will be eliminated on the next round.

At the same time, Ren wasn’t the only one paying attention to others. The others were also paying attention to him.

Since the group matches all happened at the same time, the audience’s attention was too scattered to see the highlights. Edgar, the host, only paid attention to those with big names and backgrounds.

His attention lingered on Central City’s Four Heavenly Kings—heirs to the Ancient Martial Clans. And because of this, he made a mistake.

Edgar announced that Adrian Arclight, heir of the Sword Saint Clan and the Young Sword King, was the first one to win all of his fights and moves on to the next round.

But when Adrian arrived at the waiting room, he discovered that he wasn’t the first one to finish, just as Edgar announced.

There, he found Ren, who’s sitting at a corner, browsing through his system as if he had no care in the world. He looked bored and didn’t even acknowledge the other party’s presence.

The other Heavenly Kings arrived pretty soon, too.

Lucian Skyrend of the Heaven’s Reach Clan - titled Young Spear King.

Elena Frostmere of the Far North Clan - titled Young King of the North.

And Seraphina Whitelock of the White Haven Clan is titled Young White Lotus King.

They all saw Adrian finishing before them, which wasn’t all that surprising. The might of the Young Sword King was known throughout the whole city.

It’s Ren that shocked them.

This was how that conversation went:

**

”Who’s that guy?” Lucian approached Adrian casually as if they were long friends.

The steely and nigh-indifferent expression of the Young Sword King remained as he shrugged, indicating that he had no idea of who the other party was.

”The host said you finished first. Elena was second, then me, and Seraphina. I don’t recall another person being announced. Don’t tell me he was here before you?”

Lucian almost sounded in disbelief at the ridiculous guess he uttered.

”It really doesn’t matter whether he finished first or second, now, does it? We’ll know who he is eventually if he goes far. If not, then he doesn’t matter.”

Adrian didn’t care at all. To him, this wasn’t really a big deal. So what if somebody finished before him? It’s not like that indicates that the other party was much stronger than him.

Whether he’s second or last, so long as he wins this whole thing, who cares?

”What’s up, Serrie? You don’t look so good. Don’t tell me you’ve been injured by the extras. If so, then you’re losing your touch.”

”I will castrate you,” Seraphina threatened with a glare, causing Lucian to raise both his hands in mock surrender. ”And call me by my given name. We’re not close.”

”Aww, really? And here I thought we were finally starting to get to know each other,” Lucian teased. ”But no, seriously, are you good? Is it that time of the month for you?”

Seraphina near-damnation drew her sword to stab Lucian when he said that.

”Lucian, quit it,” Adrian sighed on the side. ”Don’t pretend to be a fool. You know that female martial artists don’t experience menstrual cycles anymore. You’re just asking to be stabbed at this point.”

”I’m joking! Chill! We can stab each other later at the semi-finals.” Lucian deflated, hiding behind Adrian from Seraphina.

”Hmph!” The lady snorted and let go of her hold on her sword.

She turned around, but not before glancing in Ren’s direction. There was a trace of complexity in her eyes, which faded soon enough and was replaced by a steely determination.

None of the boys saw this, but Elene Frostmere did.

She had been here all this time as the three talked. She’s not one for conversations, and to be fair, it’s not like someone involved her anyway. But she was observing.

Elena saw the complex look that Seraphina wore when she saw the guy with sleeve tattoos. She also saw how that look was replaced by something more resolute.

This made her curious, but only a little bit. She doesn’t know who the guy was and what exactly he did that captured the Young White Lotus King’s attention, but it seems that a confrontation between them is almost for certain.

**

As the rest of the 28 participants that will move on to the next round trickled in, the waiting room became more crowded.

Ren wasn’t close to anybody here, so he mostly stayed on his corner and distracted himself with some videos to pass time.

At some point, Edgar showed up and announced the next round. It was drawing lots again, and it’s most likely rigged again.

Ren stepped forward, along with the rest, to draw his match. And as expected, it was some random extra that passed through the preliminary round.

He didn’t even bother recalling the name of the guy since it doesn’t matter anyway.

After the drawing lots, the 1v1 fights began.

This is where Ren began paying attention to some of the reputable names that are participating in this tournament.

First, there were the heirs of the two guilds: the Lifestyle Guild and the Adventurer’s Guild.

Sophia Evergarden is the heir of the Lifestyle Guild. From what she wore, she does not look like a fighter at all. She wore these thick-rimmed, round glasses. She looks fragile and was about to panic at the first sign of danger. Her gait was unsteady; it’s as if she were going to trip when she stepped on uneven ground.

More importantly, she has three bulging satchels attached to her belt. No doubt filled with all sorts of random trinkets and gadgets.

She looks like a nerd participating in an MMA fight. Outrageous, really.

Nevertheless, she was the chosen representative of the Lifestyle Guild. And true to her image, she doesn’t fight like a martial artist at all.

The tournament permits the use of items so long as they are registered beforehand and inspected. Sophia looked at the rule and decided to take advantage of it.

From Ren’s research, Sophia was a genius but not combat-wise. She’s an intellectual. She prefers to tinker with tools instead of bashing faces and skulls.

She throws smoke pellets that could cause an allergic itch for her opponent. She has pepper spray, stun batons, flashbangs, flares, tranquilizer guns, etc.

Most of these were non-fatal tools and therefore were allowed for use in this tournament.

Although her opponent was indeed faster, fiercer, and more determined to win than her, Sophia cinched victory anyway.

One thing to note is that Sophia was only at the mid-marrow cleansing stage. Her elders probably sent her here to gain some field experience. None of them were expecting her to win this whole thing.

Her participation was more for the sake of appearance rather than displaying the real depth of the guild’s legacy.

On the other hand, there’s Rowan Drake of the Adventurer’s Guild.

Ren heard people calling him ’The Bandit,’ and this has a lot to do with his fighting style.

Rowan doesn’t display skill; he displays survival. He doesn’t mind resorting to dirty tricks to win. So long as he wins, everything is fair. If his opponent also fought as nasty as he did, nobody would hear a word of complaint from him.

Of course, Rowan didn’t go too far. He’s aware of the rules of the tournament. But his combat instincts and style were deeply influenced by surviving the worst the environment could face, and he’s not ashamed to reveal that.

Then, there are the poor heirs of the Three Martial Sects.

Rosalie Vespera of the Scarlet Blossom Sect. Caius Aurelius of the Golden Veil Sect. And Magnus Stoneheart of the Giant’s Cradle Sect.

These three fought well. They used the core inheritances of their respective sects, bringing them glory and highlights for a brief moment.

However, their appearance also brought up the fiasco that happened to all three sects not too long ago. A shame that stained the already low opinion of the public towards them.

The gossip ranges from believable to downright outrageous, depending on who told it. Regardless, these three were affected by the whispers aimed behind their backs, and it shows.

To this day, the triple-crossing disciple still hasn’t been caught. And until that happens, the reputation of the martial sects will continue to dip.