Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
Huang Qinghu continually pressed both hands together as clear “Popping and cracking sounds” emerged from his joints. His expression was also extremely serious.
The result of the Stargaze would determine the final placement of the sects in the first section. Regarding whether the Dragon and Tiger sect could shrink that thirty points difference and whether they could carry the advantage to the final martial arts competition, it would depend entirely on their result.
The door of the Stargaze tower was also opened. Wei Yi was the first one that walked out, yet his face was calm as an ancient old well and one could not guess his thoughts.
Wei Shenglong could not help but look closely at this Wei Yi and thought: “This Wei Yi is the only one at the Stargaze that has the natural born spiritual roots. His strength is also outstanding among the cranes. It’s not strange that he could make it to the end.”
The ones that walked out after were Lu Shaonan and Huang Chaoyan. Both of them were disciples of the Head Palace Master. They walked out after Wei Yi.
Huang Qinghu clenched his fist and the veins bulge out on his forehead. He whispered to Wei Shenglong as he approached him: “Senior Brother Wei, how are the strength of these two after Wei Yi?”
Wei Shenglong shook his head and already, he was having some bad feelings.
Following them after, Zhao Muzhi, Deng Bohu and Miao Zhongxia also walked out.
Huang Qinghu shouted in a low voice: “How is this possible? Six of them had already come out. There is a Qin Wushuang, and Zhou Fu. These two are also powerful characters, they would not have gotten kicked out, this way…”
A helpless expression appeared on Wei Shenglong’s face: “Indeed, the Stargaze Palace is too strange!”
Before the sound of his voice had faded, Zhou Fu and Qin Wushuang walked out while laughing and talking. Compared to the rugged appearance of the Dragon and Tiger sect, besides Qin Wushuang that showed some traces of battle, all the other disciples appeared the same as when they had gone in. It seemed that they had only sat idle for two hours, instead of just coming out from taking the challenge of the eight trigrams.
Huang Qinghu almost suspected whether the Stargaze had cheated? Or could it be that the level of their formation was different than theirs?
Although disciples of the Archaic Mysteries sect were surprised, they were much more calm. They may be depressed, but they already knew that they had been saying goodbye to the first place in this Friendly Competition forever. To put it bluntly, the Archaic Mysteries sect had locked the last place of this competition.
All three big shots walked out together. From their expression, one could also see the situation of the competition.
Gao Yue had kept a stern face as someone owe him hundreds of millions of dollars without repaying him back.
And Shi Chenglong smiled faintly. There was a trace of seriousness among his brows and there were some vivid worry on the corner of his eyes.
Only Zhuo Buqun remained his calm expression. Yet one could see apparently that from his relaxed expression, the result of the Stargaze Palace had reduced his pressure greatly. He was extremely confident.
There were two tasks in the first section. It would not matter if they were lagging behind in the first task. They could still aim to catch up on the second task.
However, not only were they unable to catch up the difference, they had enlarged it. To the Dragon and Tiger sect that aimed to win first place, it would be a great disadvantage.
Soon, the result of the second task got tallied out.
All eight people of the Stargaze had remained to the last moment. Each one had got ten basic points, and it would be eighty points in total. Plus the twenty points rewarded to the first place, they had got one hundred points for this task.
For the Dragon and Tiger sect, seven people had made it to the end. Each person got the basic ten points. In total, with the ten rewarding points for being second place, their points was eighty.
Without a doubt, the Archaic Mysteries sect had placed last as only four of them had made it to the end. They had gotten forty basic points. Naturally, being last place meant no reward points, thus they only got forty points.
After close to a month of competition, the tests in the first section had finally finished.
Indeed, the result was beyond one’s expectation. The Great Luo Empire who had always showed an unflattering performance was putting on an extremely powerful display and had gotten two first places in both tasks for the first event.
The current scores had displayed the differences distinctively.
The first place was Stargaze Palace, they were at two hundred and forty points.
The second place was the Dragon and Tiger sect, their total points was one hundred and ninety points.
The third place was the Archaic Mysteries sect, and their total points was only one hundred and ten points.
The difference between the first and third place was one hundred and thirty points. Even if they were to perform badly in the last martial arts competition, the Stargaze would suppress the Archaic for sure.
Thus, it was almost certain after the two tasks, the Archaic Mysteries sect was locked in last place. Before the Friendly Competition, and before something had happened to Devil Boy, both Gao Yue and Bai Gujing had been full of confidence. They had been prepared to shine over everyone and to suppress the other two empires.
Unfortunately, will of the god had played tricks. Now, it was the Archaic Mysteries sect that had lost all their temperament.
For the Dragon and Tiger sect, from the second task, the gap between them and the Stargaze had widened by another twenty points. The total points difference was now fifty points.
Although the difference in points was not unsalvageable, it was not great. They must perform excellently in the second event, the martial arts competition.
Only, even if the Dragon and Tiger sect performed excellently, they still had to see how the Stargaze would perform. If they also performed wonderfully, the Dragon and Tiger sect would still have failed despite their final efforts.
With all the tasks finished in the first event, the second event was supposed to begin shortly after. However, since someone was injured in the eight divinatory trigrams, the martial arts competition had to be hold for half a month.
By that time, even if one had suffered some internal injuries, they should be completely healed by then.
And in this half month, the three great Empires could study and plan their soldiers and strategies.
After all, this martial arts competition was not in a lottery form in which one would fight with each other, it had other rules.
Of the Friendly Competition, only the martial arts competition was left.
Naturally, Zhuo Buqun did not need to work hard each day. When he returned to the Pine Crane inn, Zhuo Buqun gathered all the disciples.
“Guys, nice work!” Zhuo Buqun no longer suppressed his joyfulness from his expression like he had before. Here were all his trusted aides, and it was unnecessary for him to put on a facade.
Tan Zhongchi laughed: “Indeed, it was excellent. Although Shi Chenglong did not give up, I can say that unless we perform quite badly during the martial arts competition, then it is our turn to shine for this competition!”
Tian Zhixing was also filled with gratification: “Yes, this time, we can totally wash away the shameful results of the past competitions held in the Heavenly Lake Empire.”
Hearing the words from the seniors, the group of young disciples were also excited as their expression had become extremely eager. This was the history they had created, and the glory that belonged to them.
If they could take the first place from the Heavenly Lake Empire, they would surely become the talk of the entire country. And when they thought about those rich wagers, these young people could not help but feel excited.
Only Qin Wushuang and Wei Yi smiled lightly. To them, since they were the most elite warriors among the young generation in the Stargaze Palace, they could not show too much enthusiasm in order to avoid seeming immature.
Zhuo Buqun smiled and said: “Indeed, the situation is working to our advantage. And you all can create history for the Stargaze. However, we cannot be careless with our strategies. In the last round of the martial arts competition, theoretically, it can be as high as eight hundred points. Thus, we must not let our guard down.”
Tan Zhongchi laughed: “Theoretically, the highest points is eight hundred points. However, historically, no one has been able to achieve over six hundred points. The last round does have a lot of variabilities. We must plan well.”
Tian Zhixing said: “That’s right. Although the Archaic has lost their competitiveness, we must stay aware of them disrupting the scene to target us, and aid the Dragon and Tiger sect.”
After a moment of silence, Zhuo Buqun said: “Although it’s possible that they may do that, if they did it, it meant they would be shaming themselves under such a large crowd in the Heavenly Lake Empire. With their usual style, they would not do something outrageous as shaming their own country. Besides, even if they did act that way, as long as we’ve got the points, it’s still hopeful to get first place. In fact, the Archaic Mysteries sect is not a threat anymore. We only need to arrange the plans and target the Dragon and Tiger sect to hold our ground.”
Tan Zhongchi nodded: “There are two Middle Stage warriors in the Dragon and Tiger sect, the question now is will they balance their defense and offense, and play their cards regularly? Or will they burn their boats to put both Middle Stage warriors in the attacking team?”
In this competition, only the attacking side could acquire marks. The people in the defending team would not get any points. However, it did not mean that the defensive side would be useless. It would be equally important to defend and prevent the opponents from getting points.
Per the usual tactics, one would normally use the strategy to “balance both offensive and defensive strategies.”
However, currently, the Dragon and Tiger sect were behind the Stargaze by fifty points. Perhaps, they may use the strategy to grab points and put their elite warrior on the attacking side.
Of course, such arrangement may also cause some problems. For example, the defending side may get busted by the enemies. When you tried to harm the enemies greatly, you would also injure yourself.
You may have grabbed the points, but the enemy would have done the same.
Thus, in many situation, it would not be a smart choice.
Tian Zhixing looked at Zhuo Buqun and asked: “Head Palace Master, how should we arrange it?”
Zhuo Buqun stayed silent as if he was thinking.
However, Tan Zhongchi looked around and asked: “If you all have any ideas, feel free to share it.”
Wei Yi said: “Since the Archaic Sect is no longer a threat, we only need arrange our formation targeting the Dragon and Tiger sect. Currently, the Dragon and Tiger sect must be holding their breath. I reckon that they will burn their boats for sure and put both Middle Stage warriors in the attacking team.”
Zhao Muzhi also said: “Senior Brother Wei is right. They know that under the circumstances where we’re both equal in strength, they would not be able to overcome the Stargaze.”
“Wushuang, what do you say?”
After the first two tasks in the Friendly Competition, Tan Zhongchi’s expectations of Qin Wushuang had deepened. He could not help but ask his thoughts when he saw that he had remained silent.
At the same time, Zhuo Buqun and Tian Zhixing were also looking encouragingly at Qin Wushuang and waiting for him to speak.
