Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was all well and good that Yun Yang was confident, but how could the General Commerce League be free of worry?
The Residence of Nine Supremes’ current situation was as plain as daylight. There was only a handful of them. Their top combat force could probably fight the lower class Celestial Luck Banner sects’ least capable higher authorities, but once the latter was to bring out their top forces or if they came face to face with the General Commerce League’s combined forces, the Residence of Nine Supremes was wholly inadequate.
Their disciples recruited were unusually weak in their given talents. None came close to competing.
As for the Celestial Luck Banner contest, there were plenty of rounds to fight, including a one-to-one battle of one’s best combat force. The said round was usually attended by each school’s best fighter. Then, it was the higher-level combat force between two sects; there were basically three rounds, but it sometimes depended on the situation. Following that would be the battle among the schools’ core disciples; at least five rounds would take place while the party without a contender would be considered having surrendered. Last but not least, the final combat formation battle consisted of an all-out combined technique by one sect’s elite combat forces.
Therefore, the grand meet was said to have four rounds, but there were actually more than ten fights in each round.
As stated, the norm for the core disciples battle was best three out of five, while the challenger could only be qualified to enter the next round of higher-level combat force after winning this round. The higher-level combat force battle was usually best two out of three and similarly, the challenger must win in order to proceed to the next level of the meet. Losing the round meant an immediate loss of the subsequent challenging qualification.
What followed would be the battle of combat formations. This round was not as strict, as both the winner and loser could enter the final battle. However, the combat formation battle was usually the round with the most casualties among the four bouts. Contenders from both sides would suffer equally, as after this round, whether it was the challenger or the defender, both would lose their combat forces.
The final battle of the top was usually participated by the strongest forces of a sect to draw an end to the banner contest.
Winning three of the four rounds would allow one sect to acquire the Celestial Luck Banner through the flag contest, but a newly ascended sect that won all four rounds would earn the chance to immediately challenge a higher level. If the sect had only won three rounds out of the four, it could only attain the qualification for the last ranked lower class Celestial Luck Banner; the school would have to wait three years later to fight again if it wanted to go a step further.
In other words, if a school could maintain four wins all the time, it could charge its way up continuously – as long as the time gap did not exceed three months. Theoretically, the possibility to obtain many Celestial Luck Banners in a short amount of time existed.
The issue at hand was, instead, the fact that the Residence of Nine Supremes was miserably inadequate!
In the eyes of Lang Fantian and group, at least, Yun Yang’s Residence of Nine Supremes had no hope of even winning any round.
When a round of victory was already too much to ask for, what was more, the Celestial Luck Banner or even winning all four rounds and continuously challenging the higher ranking Celestial Luck Banner schools?
Shi Wuchen and friends had an excellent cultivation base, but they were about the level of core disciples in the higher-ranked lower class Celestial Luck Banner sects. There were only a few days left before the grand meet now. Could they achieve a breakthrough within such a short time?
Even if one or two of them were graced by Lady Luck and did advance, it was simply impossible for all of them to attain breakthroughs and increase their levels, thus eliminating the last ranked lower class flag sect, Cangwu Union!
Lang Fantian left in worry.
“I’ll take at most seven days – I’ll be back!”
Lang Fantian and colleagues soared into the sky and left speedily towards the south.
…
Song Changgong and Li Yixin stayed in the Residence of Nine Supremes. Song Changgong was well behaved, only staying in the house that Yun Yang had appointed to him.
Of course, the main reason was due to his brother. Day to night, he cleaned his sworn brother’s meridians with his refined mystical Qi. He almost never stopped, not at all showing signs of fatigue.
Li Yixin stubbornly tried to stop him, but Song Changgong was equally headstrong, ignoring him and doing what he wished.
“This hope belongs to both of us, not just one.” Song Changgong was willful.
“If only one can have it, I’d rather both not take it and go to the Nine Springs together.”
“We brothers aren’t able to achieve great heights that are earth-shattering but our brotherhood can’t be tainted nor obliterated! Not even by the both of us!”
…
On the second morning after Lang Fantian and colleagues left, the final two people from the Demiurge-Flawed Ten, Violet Robed Golden Needles, Wu Menghuan, and Star-Souled Saber Knight, Luo Dajiang, arrived at the Residence of Nine Supremes respectively.
The Demiurge-Flawed Ten, the ten legendary whetstones, had not come close to being complete for a long time now. Finally, they had gathered here at the Residence of Nine Supremes.
Besides Yun Yang, even the ten of them felt a long-lost sense of reverie.
Other than having made the longest journey, the reason Wu Menghuan and Luo Dajiang came so late was because they had brought along their families. It was like they had never considered if the Residence of Nine Supremes would refuse to take them in before they had departed.
Both troupes met coincidentally by the Residence of Nine Supremes’ mountain gate.
Wu Menghuan hopped down from the cart and looked at the gate quietly, not making any move for a long time. On his side, Luo Dajian assumed the same action. Both men had seen each other but it was as if they had not.
After some time, Luo Dajiang sighed softly. “Looks like you’ve decided.”
“Yes, you’ve decided too,” Wu Menghuan replied just as silently.
Both of them still had not loved but they chuckled without humor successively.
“Since Shi Wuchen and others have come, the Residence of Nine Supremes, as the Ten’s port, won’t disappoint us,” Wu Menghuan said.
“Even if it’s a disappointment, it’s the last time.” Luo Dajiang looked indifferent, as was his tone.
“Since when do we lack an opportunity to join a sect for so many years… However the outcome when we actually sent ourselves over… they were disappointment and humiliation over and over again…”
Wu Menghuan said, “I’ve taken too much of such humiliation that I barely care now. However, this time – the recommendation by the Demiurge-Flawed Ten, takes the same route and ends up to that treatment ultimately, I don’t think I’ll be able to take it.”
Luo Dajiang was silent for a while before he mumbled, “I hope, this time, we can truly have a place we can call our ground. Is such a wish too lavish? It is – very much so!”
Both of them did not look at each other still, but simultaneously, they took a big step forward. “Do be informed that Violet Robed Golden Needles, Wu Menghuan, and Star-Souled Saber Knight, Luo Dajiang, have come to join you!”
Before their words echoed, the mountain gate opened.
