Wang Lei was just making trouble. They’d all only just arrived, now he wanted them to leave? This was obviously a slap in the Wu Family’s face.
“It does seem like it’ll take up quite a bit of time.” The head of the Liu Family smiled and nodded. It was true that he’d only just worked with the Wu Family to pressure the city lord into letting the younger generation decide who would take the position next.
But that didn’t mean their families’ relationship was good. They were on the same side purely for the sake of mutual benefits.
The various smaller family clans watching also knew full well that these two great clans’ relationship wasn’t as harmonious as it looked on the surface. They couldn’t help but glance over; they were eager to hear how the Wu Family would break this stalemate.
Wei Jie and the deacon of the Skyspan Trading Company were both silent. The two family clans’ relationship had nothing to do with them.
“Honored City Lord, Family Head Liu, please be patient,” the head of the Wu Family laughed. He was slightly chubby, and his cheeks jiggled as he laughed.
“We’re keenly aware that, should we follow the rules of a typical grand competition, it will indeed take up quite a bit of everyone’s time. Your time is precious, and I’m sure it wasn’t easy to find time to watch our clan’s competition. How could we possibly waste your precious time? That’s why we’ve cast the rules of former competitions and adopted new ones.”
“Then how do you intend to hold this contest?” Wang Lei arched his brows and chuckled.
“Please wait a moment.”
Countless children of the Wu Family stood in the arena, eager for the contest to begin. They eyed those around them hungrily. If this was like past competitions, everyone around them was an enemy.
Wu Di stood all the way in the corner. His relationship with the Wu Family, both the main and side branches, wasn’t particularly good. Only Zheng Yunan stood by his side. Otherwise, he would have been alone save for his shadow.
Another youth stood in the center of the arena, surrounded by countless other young people. He was obviously their leader.
This was the son of the family head, Wu Qiang. Those accompanying him were likely other members of the main bloodline.
“Brother Qiang, that brat Wu Di is here too. When the time comes, should we teach him a lesson?” The speaker was none other than Li Wanlong’s son, Li Kai. Who knew what Li Wanlong had fed him, to make him recover within three months and heal from his wounds just in time to participate in the clan’s grand competition?
“No need. Someone will naturally dispose of that small-fry anyway. In this competition, my only enemy is him….” He looked into the distance, his gaze sinister. Coincidently, another pair of eyes was looking right back at him.
“Wu Hai.”
Those eyes’ owner looked at Wu Qiang and smiled, then looked away. This was none other than the famed side-branch disciple, Wu Hai.
Wu Hai wasn’t just handsome: his talent was excellent, too. He’d entered immortality half a year ago. No one knew his current strength, but in this competition, he was going to be Wu Qiang’s biggest obstacle.
Before the grand competition, Wu Qiang’s father had come looking for him and said that the winner was to be granted a Condensing Immortality Pill. When an entering immortality expert broke through to human immortality, this pill increased their odds of success by over twenty percent.
If they were just comparing cultivations, he had nothing to fear from Wu Hai. However, side-branch disciples were always off adventuring mysterious lands and tussling over resources, so he’d have trouble taking Wu Hai in a fight.
He absolutely had to obtain the Condensing Immortality Pill, so Wu Hai was like a ferocious tiger blocking his path.
However, his father had told him that he’d have an absolute advantage in this competition, so he had no idea just how they were going to compete.
“Brother Hai, look. That Wu Qiang seems quite afraid of you.” The side-branch disciples snorted. Wu Hai was clad entirely in white, like a wealthy scholar’s son. Every time he moved, he surrounding girls couldn’t help but give him sidelong glances.
“Him? He’s nothing but a black hole for pills; he’s trash. But we can’t let our guards down. That dad of his might have leaked him information about the competition to him in advance.”
Wu Hai completely disdained those who relied on pills to forcefully increase their cultivation.
“In this family, the only one worth taking seriously is Zheng Yunan, but it’s a pity. She won’t be participating.”
“Big Sister Nan isn’t participating?” The surrounding side-branch disciples arched their brows. Wu Hai realized he’d misspoke, and smiled, but said no more.
“How are you doing? The Grand Competition is about to start. Are you nervous?” Off in the corner, Zheng Yunan smiled warmly. However, it was strange: today, she was wearing women’s robes, as if she were about to get married.
She gently rested her head in her hands and looked at Wu Di, who’d been silent this whole time. He smiled tranquilly. “A little, I suppose.”
Wu Di wanted to act tough, but now that he was really surrounded by so many clansmen, he dared not be arrogant. “Why are you wearing those clothes? It’ll be inconvenient when the fighting starts.”
“I, uh…. Hey, you don’t need to worry about it. Just stay calm and focus on your competition.”
It was difficult to understand women sometimes. Wu Di had no idea why she’d wear such impractical clothes to such an important event, but he was focused on the competition. Whether it was for himself, his mother, or to prevent his master from being disappointed in him, he couldn’t lose!
At that moment, a horse-drawn carriage rushed into the arena. All the children of the Wu Family looked over.
“This…. How despicable!”
There was a stone stele above the carriage. When Wu Hai saw it, his handsome face instantly grew ashen. By comparison, when Wu Qiang saw it, his face lit up.
“So you’re using a spirit stele! Family Head Wu, you really put a lot of money into this.” When he saw the stele, the Skyspan Trading Company deacon smiled, but the surrounding family clans seized up.
A spirit stele.
If you infused it with your spiritual energy, it would display your strength. Its results couldn’t be falsified, so it was an absolutely certain measure of someone’s strength.
However, this type of spirit stele was expensive to produce. Typically, you only saw it in major families of the Profound Great District or higher. Even there, only peak-level families could afford one.
“If I’m not mistaken, that spirit stele is the one belonging to the Profound Great District’s Cai Family. I sold it to them myself, and still have some impression of it,” said the Skyspan deacon.
“Deacon Guo, you’re right. We borrowed it from the Cai Family for the occasion” said the head of the Wu Family, clearly proud of himself. When the other families heard this, they were stunned.
If they could borrow such a precious spirit stele, that obviously implied that the Wu and Cai families’ relationship wasn’t simple, didn’t it?!
The Wu Family was just a family with no sky immortals, or even earth immortals. Countless family clans were just itching to replace them. Yet now they had connections with the Profound Great District’s Cai Family? They’d have to think carefully before acting against the Wu Family.
Nevermind replacing them. Even just fighting for the seat of city lord….
They’d have to think hard about it first!
