“How is it? Did you manage to find anything?” To Qiao Chu, the entire banquet had been most boring to the extreme. Those gyrating sultry dancers really were not his type and when compared to the Jun Family’s sibling pair’s unparalleled and flawless beauty, no one of common attractiveness would be able to catch their eye anyway.
Jun Wu Xie raised her head and looked up at the full moon in the night sky. “Little Black had not detected any signs of people from the Twelve Palaces in the Crown Prince’s Residence.”
Although the Crown Prince’s Residence was expansive, it wasn’t a place that allowed people to roam freely everywhere. And to avoid startling the enemy, Jun Wu Xie had gotten the black cat to investigate the Crown Prince’s Residence and the result the little black cat had slightly reassured them. Throughout the entire Crown Prince’s Residence, it had not discovered anyone that it suspected was from the Twelve Palaces. That seemed to be telling them that although Lei Chen was in contact with one of the Twelve Palaces, their circumstances was similar to the situation back at the Qing Yun Clan, where they only linked up with Lei Chen occasionally and did not remain around Lei Chen.
This piece of news was a rather good start for Jun Wu Xie and her companions as without having the people from the Twelve Palaces being in the Yan Country’s Capital city, it would have it easier for them to carry out the plans they had in mind.
“We are going to wait till the Spirit Battle Tournament ends before we make our move?” Fan Zhuo asked, looking at Jun Wu Xie. After being sure that Lei Chen did not have anyone from the Twelve Palaces around him, they could actually act anytime they wanted. The fact that Jun Wu Xie was still holding back must be because of the Zephyr Academy…..
Jun Wu Xie nodded. Although she had not spent that long a period in the Zephyr Academy where she had really learnt something, but the Spirit Healing Technique was genuinely highly useful to her. Irregardless whether it was for Gu Li Sheng or for the two Fan Brothers, she felt that she needed to at least provide the Zephyr Academy with another opportunity to rise up once again. If they acted before the Spirit Battle Tournament, they would end up being unable to remain in the Yan Country to take part in the competition and the Zephyr Academy would be deprived of this one chance to within a short period of time, return itself to its former glory.
She was doing this all because she wanted to return Gu Li Sheng his favour, and also to resolve one of Fan Zhuo’s deepest worries.
“Would anything unexpected occur? If the people from the Twelve Palaces were to suddenly appear, wouldn’t it make it hard for us to act then?” Hua Yao asked with a slight frown on his face. Although he understood Jun Wu Xie’s concerns, but with the incident back at the Qing Yun Clan as a precedence, he was worried that even though that no one from the Twelve Palaces was at the Crown Prince’s Residence at the moment, that did not guarantee that they would not subsequently suddenly appear. If they encountered those people another time, the results might be dire.
“We won’t.” Jun Wu Xie said suddenly.
“In regards to the circumstances at the Qing Yun Clan and the Zephyr Academy, the people from the Twelve Palaces would only make an appearance to urge when the other party did not take any action towards the Heaven’s End Cliff. But we had met with team that Lei Chen had earlier sent there, and that proves that the Twelve Palaces has already linked up with him and they had already achieved their goals. Before they gain any news to give them a better understanding of the Dark Emperor’s tomb, they will not appear.” Jun Wu Xie had only dared to push back their plans because she had already analysed the situation.
She would never put the lives of this bunch of people at risk that easily.
“With Jun Wu Xie’s words, Hua Yao did not have any other concerns and he was also of the same mind that if they could help the Zephyr Academy get back to its feet as well, it would be an excellent result for them as well.
The bunch of youths returned to the Immortals’ Loft under the bright moonlight, and compared to this group of calm and collected youths here, the other youths who were returning from the Crown Prince’s Residence were all highly fired up. The stronger ones were anticipating the day the Spirit Battle Tournament would begin, where they would be able to show off their skills which would ultimately gain them opportunities for endless fame and fortune!
Volume 8
Chapter 786: “Battle Begins (1)”
After a few more days of final tweaking, the Spirit Battle Tournament that had ten of thousands pairs of eyes on it were finally declared officially opened. On the first day of the Spirit Battle Tournament, the disciples from the individual academies were split up into ten different locations to carry out league battles in ten separate districts. One disciple from each academy would represent their academies to participate in each district and the final winner of each district would go on to compete in the Spirit Battle Tournament as the top ten ranked fighters!
The final ten youths would then contend for a rank in the top ten of the Grand Spirit Battle Tournament.
To many among the mass of youths, this moment was one that pushed their young hearts into new heights of fervour, where they rubbed their fists in anticipation of showing everyone all that they are capable of.
Every single academy had ten disciples split up in ten different regions and the Zephyr Academy was the only exception. As they had only registered six participants to take part in the Spirit Battle Tournament this year, the number of districts they could participate in was only six.
A situation like this was extremely rare to see in the history of the Spirit Battle Tournament.
Not a single academy among the rest of them would be willing to give up a single spot in the ten that they were given and because of that, the Zephyr Academy had already attracted everyone’s attention before the games had even begun.
Bright and early on the first day, Jun Wu Xie dressed herself up in the Zephyr Academy’s uniform, the front of her chest adorned with a jade badge indicating her allocated number for the competition, and made her way towards the battlefield hosting one of the district tournaments. She had split up with Hua Yao and the others back at the Immortals’ Loft as there were too great a number of people taking part in the Spirit Battle Tournament and none of the district battlegrounds were able to accommodate so many battles. Hence, the ten district tournaments were split up and located in ten different battlefields spread out within the Yan Country.
The district that Jun Wu Xie was in was the first district. When she got to the first district, they place was already filled with disciples from the other academies. And as all the disciples from the respective academies had been split up, once you entered your allocated battle district, all that the eyes could see would only be competing opponents. Although the entire place was a pot of raucous and noisy racket, there was however a distinct absence of the usual cliques. All the youths were dressed in different uniforms and were looking warily at each other.
In this place, there were no allies, but only opponents!
And to walk out victorious from this place, would only be just one among all of them here!
All the rest of them would finally only end up as mere stepping stones for the victor.
The tournament had yet to even begin and sparks were already flying within battleground area, with many of the contestants already raring to have a go at each other.
Jun Wu Xie was small in size and when she walked into the crowd of people, she was very soon swallowed up by the many disciples all taller in stature. She retreated quietly into a corner and observed the situation in the battleground.
Over a thousand disciples were split up across ten different battlegrounds and every single location had at least over a hundred contestants. All the over a hundred contestants would be carrying out their battles lasting over the next twenty days, till the final victor emerged.
The tournaments in each individual district would be carried out by process of elimination. Each battle would be between two single oppo
nents and the victor advances to the next round while the defeated would lose their chance to compete in the tournament any further.
The participants drew lots to determine their opponents and to some of them, the drawing of lots did not matter much but to the rest, whether they were lucky or not in their draws would decide how far they would go in this year’s Spirit Battle Tournament.
In previous years, almost all of the disciples from the various academies would secretly pray when they drew their lots to not draw anyone from the top three elite academies as their opponents, or they would be kicked out of the tournament in the very first round.
There had been instances where some contestants had been extremely fortunate. Their skills and power were obviously just average but they had drawn a lot that allowed them to only fight opponents that possessed a similar amount of power and they ended up advancing high up the charts and were only defeated in the final round. Although they still did not manage to make it into the top ten, they had however muddled through and made it into the top twenty ranks. To be able to achieve a rank within the top twenty out of over a thousand contestants, it had still won them an incredible amount of honour and fame.
Volume 8
Chapter 787: “Battle Begins (2)”
But there had been a fair share of unfortunate ones as well. Once any of them were made to face the disciples from the Dragon Slayers, War Banner, or the Zephyr Academy, almost all of the youths would choose to forfeit their matches and did not even compete!
That was the greatest display of the prodigious might and the high deterrent reputations of the top three elite academies!
But that situation that had carried on for a number of years had changed somewhat this year…..
The perceived overwhelming might of the Dragon Slayers and the War Banner remained the same, but the Zephyr Academy was looked on upon as yesterday’s news.
Many of the disciple’s gazes were subconsciously drawn to the lone one dressed in the uniform of the Zephyr Academy. The small sized little youth standing in the corner. The Zephyr Academy this year had not only reduced the number of their participants taking part in the Spirit Battle Tournament by almost half, it seemed that they had even been forced to include a pint sized brat within their contestants! That really made the contestants in the first district get incredibly excited!
No matter what anyone said, not a single one among them believed for a moment that they would lose to a puny twit like that in a match. They saw that he would at most be fourteen or fifteen years of age and it was assumed that his ring spirit should not have awakened for long. At that age, the best that he could have achieved would still merely put him at the red spirit level. In addition to his young age, the brat was skinny and frail looking and he did not look like he would be able to put up a fight. All these told them that they had one less strong opponent to compete with and they had gained another potential opportunity for them to shine out!
Although the Zephyr Academy had already fallen into decline, but their name and reputation were still widely known throughout the lands. If they were given a chance to be matched up to the puny brat from the Zephyr Academy here, they would have won themselves endless future bragging rights for having defeated an elite.
To have won out over a disciple of the Zephyr Academy in battle, would always be a badge of honour to their name no matter when it happened!
The drawing of lots had not even begun and many of the disciples were all secretly praying that they would be able to be matched up with Jun Wu Xie in the first round as they did not for a moment think that a diminutive midget like that would last to the second round. So, no matter whoever was matched up with the little brat in the first round, that person would have won himself a great advantage and that wasn’t a chance that came by every single year.
Standing silently in a corner, Jun Wu Xie was completely unaware she had been perceived to become a helpless lamb sent here for slaughter. She just remained in the corner quietly, with no one knowing what was going through her mind. All those sinister gazes with their malicious intentions had become to her, something she had gotten used to completely disregard and were non existent. But suddenly, she detected a strange gaze that was different from all the others on her but that gaze was one that did not make her feel the slightest discomfort.
Jun Wu Xie raised her head and looked into the direction of that gaze. From within the mass of people, she saw a pretty face of a young girl, adorned with a pair of almond shaped eyes.
The young girl was observing Jun Wu Xie when Jun Wu Xie suddenly raised her head, and their eyes met at that moment. It was just a brief moment and that little fair skinned face suddenly looked like it was on flame, immediately turning a full shade of scarlet. Those eyes were suddenly panic stricken and she hurriedly lowered her head, futilely trying to hide herself as she slightly shifted herself by shuffling a few tiny steps to the side.
Jun Wu Xie’s eyes were tinged with puzzlement. She recalled having seen the girl before, back at the Crown Prince’s Residence, and the girl had also been dressed in the uniform of the War Banner Academy. If she was remembering it correctly, on that day back at the Crown Prince’s Residence, she had heard Lei Chen calling out the girl’s name a few times.
[Ling Yue? Seems to be those two words. It should be right.]
Jun Wu Xie’s mind began to churn quickly. Late last night, Fei Yan had gathered all of them and forcibly crammed into all of them information about all the disciples from the War Banner Academy and the Dragon Slayers Academy who were taking part in the Spirit Battle Tournament. And one of them had been about this young girl who had peeked at her, and immediately turned a bright red when she was caught.
Qu Ling Yue, the disciple who held the first rank in the War Banner Academy’s very own Spirit Battle Tournament!
Volume 8
Chapter 788: “Battle Begins (3)”
Qu Ling Yue was pretty and highly adorable, and her build not considered to be very tall. No one would have thought that the first rank of the War Banner Academy’s Spirit Battle Tournament would be held by a little girl so sweet and delicate. Although Qu Ling Yue looked to be dainty and petite, but the background that she hailed from had made quite a number of people who harboured sinister intentions towards her to back off warily.
Qu Ling Yue’s father was the current Thousand Beast City’s Chief Chieftain and throughout the history of the Thousand Beast City, two purple spirits had emerged. Although the Thousand Beast City did not have a purple spirit among them at that time, their fame for being powerful was still highly recognised.
Jun Wu Xie had never had any interaction with Qu Ling Yue before. Even on the night of the banquet at the Crown Prince’s Residence, she had only glanced passingly at Qu Ling Yue out of the corners of her eyes. Jun Wu Xie did not know why Qu Ling Yue would stare at her like that and with a gaze different from all the other people, completely devoid of enmity and more like she was searching for something.
Jun Wu Xie turned her eyes away.
Very soon, the person in charge of the drawing of lots walked into the holding area for the contestants. Placed on top of a table at the forefront, was an almost completely sealed box, the only opening being a hole just big enough for people to put their hand in. The boisterous youths suddenly quietened down as they all stared nervously at the box. They all knew that the thing that would decide how far they would be able to go in this Spirit Battle Tournament would depend on all that was in that box.
One by one the youths walked forward, queuing up to draw a number. Every number drawn would correspond to two youths which meant that they would be each other’s opponent in the upcoming first round.
Jun Wu Xie walked over unhurriedly. She stood at the end of the queue and her appearance had attracted the attention of quite a number of people. Almost everyone wanted to be her opponent as in the eyes of all of them, no one else would be easier to defeat than the tiny brat as young as that.
When a disciple from the Dr
agon Slayers Academy stepped forward to draw his lot, many others stretched out the necks to look curiously. Those that had already drawn their numbers had when they saw the youth from the Dragon Slayers Academy show a lot depicting the number fifty all heaved a silent sigh of relief. They were all rejoicing that they had not drawn the same number as that youth.
Seeing the reactions of the others, the disciple from the Dragon Slayers Academy was feeling rather pleased with himself. He puffed up his chest and held his head up high snootily as he walked away from the table, the fearful gazes of some others fully satisfying his heart, filling it up with vanity.
Qu Ling Yue got herself number seventeen and the other youth who was to fight her was feeling mighty crushed when he saw the number in Qu Ling Yue’s hand.
No matter how sweet and adorable Qu Ling Yue looked, her first ranked title in the War Banner Academy was enough to make others feel nothing but fear. With the exception of disciples from the Dragon Slayers Academy, no one else there would think they having Qu Ling Yue as their opponent would give any advantage in the competition.
The rest of the youths drew their lots one after another and besides the other number seventeen, another number that meant certain death for them had still not been picked. As the youths were still walking away from the table with trepidation on the unfortunate number, suddenly, throughout the entire floor, they soon saw that only Jun Wu Xie alone had not drawn a number, and she was the very last one.
There would be no need to draw. Everyone knew for sure, that the last number in the box would undoubtedly be number fifty!
While they were all celebrating that they had not been matched up with the Dragon Slayers Academy, those youths were at the same time also finding it a pity of the fact that the weakest little brat would be meeting the Dragon Slayers Academy in the first round. Having one of the two strongest contestants against the weakest opponent….. there was absolutely no doubt about the result.
Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss Volume 8 Page 23