Chapter 287: Imperial Martial Tournament – Part 6 (1/2)

As a part of the Dong Clan, Li Jue had been working as one of the referees on the other platform.

As soon as he sensed that someone had died, he flew toward the scene. Then, he saw his disciple's headless corpse.

Instead of getting angry, Li Jue was expressionless. He descended and landed next to the body, which had been transported out of the arena platform.

Li Jue stripped the dead man's spatial rings and returned to his post as if nothing had happened. Yet, he still glanced at Lu Fengxian, giving him a meaningful look.

…

The preliminary round was uneventful as all representatives from prominent families in the capital seemed like they had an agreement beforehand. All of them occupied a different arena, so they avoided clashing against each other.

Fights broke out here and there, but all combat was one-sided as the city's top young masters overwhelmed them with supreme techniques of their clans.

As for Lu Fengxian, he caused another incident.

After Lu Fengxian had killed Niu Fu, Youngsters from the Ding Clan and their friends thought that Lu Fengxian was just a lucky weakling as [Ding Bu] was well-known to be an incompetent cultivator. Thus, they climbed the platform number 21, planning to kill him and offer his head to the eldest son of Ding Yuan.

A face-slapping scene happened. Lu Fengxian ruthlessly crippled their four limbs and destroyed their cultivation base, avenging for the previous owner of his body.

Since Lu Fengxian didn't kill anyone, he didn't break any rules. However, the fate of the losers was worse than death. Arena referees glared at the protagonist with a disapproval look, but they couldn't do anything other than scolding him for being excessive.

This incident would spark a rivalry between Lu Fengxian and many clansmen in Red Sun City in the future, especially tomorrow.

The day ended, and the qualifying round was over. Sixty-one cultivators made it through the next round as Dong Zhongying had planned.

The next day, the real tournament event would begin, and outsiders could spectate the event.

…

Dong Zhongying's men guided all 61 qualified contestants to the imperial palace guesthouses, located in the same area as Miaomiao's guesthouse. Everyone got a private courtyard and a private. Also, they could roam around in this area to admire the scenery if they wanted to.

Most of the qualified young masters stayed in their rooms, cultivating and preparing their minds for the big day tomorrow. However, a few of them went out to pay respect to their rivals, who came from the stronger clan.

The Hua Clan's courtyard was popular as the eldest son of General Hua Xiong was there. Li Clan's courtyard was also crowded as the grandson of Li Wenyou, the patriarch of the Li Clan, Dong Zhongying's aide and advisor, also passed the qualifier round.

Next was the Dong Clan. A certain young lady joined this tournament and got her spot here, but she refused to entertain guests.

Then, there was Ding Tong, the eldest son of Ding Yuan. He was the elder brother of Ding Bu, the body that Lu Fengxian had been using.

Instead of welcoming guests, Ding Tong visited another courtyard of his friend. He stood in front of the greenwood gates with a large signboard.

[Jian Yi]

Jian Yi was a junior from the Jian Clan, which was one of the major clans that Poison Pavilion had been supporting. This clan also contributed a lot to the poison sect, and their status was not inferior to the Dong Clan or Ding Clan.

Jian Meng, the one who poisoned Jia Shan and crippled him, was also from this clan!

”Jian Yi, it's me.”

CREAK

The door slightly opened. Ding Tong paused for a moment before he pushed the door and entered the courtyard.

Standing behind the door was Jian Yi, who seemed to be restless as well. He peeked outside to check whether someone had followed Ding Tong or not.

Seeing that no one had followed him, Jian Yi closed the door and locked it.

”Jian Yi, your poison fails.”

Ding Tong wanted to complain that Jian Yi's poison had failed to kill Ding Bu. Now, the good-for-nothing brother suddenly got stronger and crippled his underlings, including some of his colleagues.

He needed to know how it happened!

Jian Yi's face changed. He knew what Ding Tong came here to ask him.

”That pill is my master's creation. There is no way that Ding Bu can survive that!”

”Then, who the hell is he!? How did he come back to life and joined this tournament!? Tomorrow, people from my family and the Yan Clan will be here! If Yan Jiao sees that guy again and finds out what we did, we're screwed!”

Yan Jiao was the girl that Ding Tong pursued. However, her status was a lot higher than him, so he planned to raise his value by winning the tournament first.

Unfortunately, Ding Bu showed up. Had Yan Jiao discovered him in this tournament, she might pay attention to the resurrected dead man more than him. Then, he might fail to win her heart.

Ding Tong was envious of Ding Bu's woman luck. He wanted to get rid of his love rival before tomorrow, so Yan Jiao could only see him, but not his brother.

”It's too late to kill him now,” Jian Yi gave up killing Ding Bu since he was afraid of the consequences. He also needed to perform well tomorrow to earn some respect from his clansmen and Poison Pavilion. Thus, he didn't care if Ding Bu was dead or alive.

Everything was none of his business. It was Ding Tong's fault for being incompetent.

”Can't you ask your elders to poison him again?”

Jian Yi rolled his eyes, ”Look, if you have the time to coax me, shouldn't you head out and make friends with those mysterious 4th-stage cultivators? Dong Zhongying is reserving three spots for those people, so they will definitely show up tomorrow as well. Maybe you can ask them to kill Ding Bu for you during the tournament.”

”Right… I haven't thought of that.”

Ding Tong bid Jian Yi farewell and went out to visit the unknown contestants. Because of the rush and the panic, he didn't see the disgusted look on his friend's face.

Jian Yi thought, 'This should be the right time to ditch him and make other friends. Why should I socialize with someone ready to kill his brother as a friend? If he can kill his kin, won't he backstab me in the future?'

…

A minute later, Ding Tong joined the crowd, who stood in front of the largest guesthouse in this area.

In front of the gates, a signboard was written [Siren City's Representatives].

'Siren City? Where is that?'

Ding Tong had never heard of this city before. As his knowledge and his world were limited to this city, he had never learned anything about the outside world.

He was a frog in a well.

As Ding Tong was curious about the background of the people inside the courtyard, several royal guards from the imperial palace arrived and stood in front of the closed entrance gate, blocking curious eyes from peeking inside the courtyard.

”The representatives of Siren City said that they wouldn't entertain any guest today! Please leave and return to your courtyard!”