Chapter 291: Ruthless
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Even the council was shocked when Heidi announced her decision of partaking in this year’s tournament. It would be the first time in history that all of the elites of the younger generation had gathered in one event.
The most powerful three of the five were Patroclus, Li Shiming, and Lie Jian. Each one of them possessed one of the most potent tactics, and their talents and experience had made them even deadlier.
The sect of the divine masters had always kept things to themselves, so no one knew exactly how powerful their young master Michaux Odin would be. Nevertheless, his mysteriousness had stirred up great interest among the public.
The most puzzling participant of all was Heidi. The Kaedeians wouldn’t participate in such a tournament for no reason. So, everyone wondered what had motivated her to be part of the competition.
Was she here to test her power?
Nonetheless, the stage was set for an exciting show to take place. Unlike the last tournament, there were much more elite warriors this year, and even last year’s participants such as Li Shiming and Lie Jian had since improved their skills significantly. The number of elite fighters seemed to suggest that there wouldn’t be any room for unknown warriors at the podium.
The Templars had already agreed to open the Hall of Valhalla to visitors who had entered the top hundred. However, it was well known that the hall of Valhalla was never open to any Kaedeians. Therefore, people wondered what the Templar would choose in between their tradition and their promise to the tournament participants.
The earthlings had fought alongside the Kaedeians for centuries. Not only had the earthlings gotten used to the Kaedeian’s existence, they also started to appreciate their power and beauty. The Confederation had adopted multiculturalism and promoted the idea that all human races belonged to the same family. Therefore, should the Templars decide to block the Kaedeians warriors out of the Hall of Valhalla when they had earned the rights to enter, it would be considered rude and untoward even from an earthling’s point of view.
The recruiting committee of the tournament felt relieved as they were struggling to come up with a method to make the tournament more appealing to the prince and princesses. But right then, it looked like they didn’t have to worry about it after all.
Such as fire was the only way to test the authenticity of gold; the ability of a real fighter could only be tested in the fiercest competition. Despite their rare appearance in public, the five major tactics always had been at the center of public’s attention. It was very rare to see the five major tactics at the display. Only on the rare occasions could one catch a glimpse of its power, and even then, the power at display was only a fraction of the real ability. However, things would be different at the tournament, since it would be hard for the elite fighters to hide any of their secrets while fighting equally potent opponents.
The Sky Arena, the legendary stage, would soon welcome another legendary fight. The Ivantians were confident that they would be a good host for this tournament. The moon not only had advanced planetary transportation, but also five space cities, enough to accommodate the crowd of visitors from all over the space.
Since all other forms of sports had already died out a thousand years ago, no other sports events could compete with the tournament for the public’s attention.
Thanks to the participation of many elite fighters, this tournament had attracted the focus of the entire confederation before it had started. Everyone guessed as to who would take home the title of champion, but none of them were certain of their predictions.
Affected by the elites’ enthusiasm, the Templar had also unprecedentedly decided to send four of their disciples to the game. These disciples were carefully chosen among those so-called “Inner Court Disciples”. They were the disciples deemed worthy to stay at the court, waiting to be groomed into future Templar after their training had completed,
Everyone knew about the Inner Court Disciples, and the fact that only a very few of the disciples would eventually make their way into the inner court. Therefore, although people practically knew nothing about these four combatants from the inner court, they believed in their strength unequivocally.
All the elite figures welcomed the four disciples with joy. They knew that without Rilangalos, there wouldn’t be a General Li Feng, and therefore, a stronger opponent meant a stronger self.
Ma Dutian’s lips curled into a smile as he read the news about the tournament.
“What’s making you so jolly?” Wu Xin asked her gleeful husband curiously. Her husband had been troubled by an unresolved technical difficulty of the new battery technology. He had hoped to solve the technical problem at the science conference in Aurora City. However, the conference was fruitless due to the influence from the Li.
“This kid is ballsy! Look what he had done!” Ma Dutian extended his arm and a projection of the new paper unfurled in front of his wife.
Wu Xin glanced over the new paper and found out that her husband was referring to Wang Tong, “You do like this boy a lot! I want to make it clear, if he fails to prove his competency, I would never talk to him, much less letting him go near our daughter!”
“He is still young. But don’t you feel anything unusual about this boy? “
“Don’t distract the topic! We are talking about his strength and abilities. It means nothing even if he is the heir of the Blade Warrior. The Blade Warrior is dead.” Despite her disapproving tone, Wu Xin not only believed in her husband’s choice, she also could sense Ma Xiaoru’s feeling toward the boy.
“It’s his luck!”
“Luck?”
“That’s right! Every hero needed luck. Without luck, House of Ma wouldn’t be as powerful as it is today. It was luck that made him into the heir of the Blade Warrior, and it was luck again that had made him get acquainted with Xiaoru, and thereby gain a protector, me.”
After Ma Dutian had confirmed Wang Tong’s secret identity, he had made up his mind to protect the kid if he had to.
“Are you suspecting that he is the Einherjar Wannabe?”
“I am not just suspecting, I am very sure of it. I had told him that I would only consider him worthy of Xiaoru if he could win the title of champion at the tournament. He knew exactly what I meant, and had tried to lure Li Shiming out using Lie Jian.” So far, Ma Dutian had been delighted with the results of Wang Tong’s actions.
Ma Dutian had taken an interest in Wang Tong not only because he had discovered that Wang Tong was the heir of the Blade Warrior, but also because Wang Tong possessed something he really wanted.
After thorough research, Ma Dutian learned that Wang Tong was an orphan raised up by a stepfather whose only intention was to milk money from Wang Tong. After selling Wang Tong to Norton, his stepfather had sold the house and ran away, leaving Wang Tong, a 16 years old boy, to survive by himself.
“I see. Do you think the Dower’s kid has also noticed anything? He had been acting strangely lately. “
“Very likely! It only makes the matter more interesting, don’t you think? I say, what about being a bit nicer to the poor lad?”
“Don’t even think about bringing him here before Xiaoru has fully recovered!”
“Yes, yes, my love. But what I meant was that maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to let the two talk to each other from time to time. It might even be beneficial to Xiaoru’s recovery.” Ma Dutian’s words finally stroke a chord with his wife.
Ma Dutian smiled knowingly, and watched as his wife scuttle to check on Ma Xiaoru. Although he was impressed by Wang Tong’s bravery and sharp-wit, as one of the most influential men on earth, no one—including his wife— knew what his real intent was.
At the Lustre Academy on the moon, the students were shocked to see Patroclus at the gravity gym. He had started to take his training more seriously ever since he had announced to join the tournament. Many students wanted to spar with the Ivantian prince who almost never showed up in the gym. However, it would be considered uncouth in the Ivantian culture to interrupt someone’s training uninvited. Therefore, Patroclus’s classmates merely watched his training from a distance, and left him undisturbed.
This tournament meant a great deal to all of the heirs of the great houses. Once they had inherited the glory of the family, so did they inherit the burden.
However, all Ivantians were confident in the power of their prince, thinking that not even the Blade Warrior had stopped the rise of Ivantians, much less a few students. This tournament would be the best stage for Patroclus to show the world the power of the Ivantians.
Patroclus smiled away other people’s hope for him. He had never felt happier before, and he thanked the gods every day for giving him an opportunity to fight with Einherjar Wannabe.
Inside the gravity gym, Patroclus reflected on the years that had been wasted due to the bottleneck in his cultivation. The insurgence of Einherjar Wannabe provided him an opponent strong enough to help him breach his bottleneck and change the history.
In the private gym of House of Li, Li Shiming also started his preparation for the tournament. The competitive character of House of Li decreed that it would not accept failure. If Li Shiming wanted to push the influence of House of Li to a new height, he knew that he had to win the hearts of the masses by winning the title of champion.
Inside the gym, Li Shiming collapsed on the ground, and towering in front of him stood his father, Einherjar Li Zhidao.
Holding a cold expression on his face, Li Zhidao bawled out, “Get up!”
Wham!
The Einherjar kicked his son in the side.
“Get up!”
Another kick landed on Li Shiming’s body.
“GET UP!”
Only echo answered the Einherjar’s infuriated voice.
“He has come, but you are far from being prepared.”
Li Zhedao turned on his heel and left the room, leaving Li Shiming crawling on the ground in agonizing pain.
To achieve great deeds, one must be ruthless.
