136 Chapter 136 (2/2)
The dolls were quite merciless in their defense, they would quickly surround you delivering punches and kicks. It was quite brutal so the festival organizers had a team of medics on standby. There were numerous of those automatons around which made slipping past them hard. This wasn't all though, there were various traps placed around the area as well. They were mostly there to hinder anyone from just running past the automatons, this wasn't supposed to be just a test of evasion and speed. The participants had to dodge, block and even attack to somehow manage through.
”This should eliminate at least half of those Zhang Clan brats... maybe even more...”
The man smirked, the day of the test had arrived and it was now close to the end. He went inside the building that his companions were grading everyone. He quickly spotted someone that he was familiar with, this man would fill him in on the results of that clan that he was interested in.
”Brother, could I have a moment of your time!”
He went over, giving a standard greeting and then explained everything to the man.
”Hm... the Zhang Clan?... wait... you mean 'that' Zhang Clan?”
The man's tone changed when he was talking about that family in question, the curious man was even more intrigued
”Oh, did something happen? Don't keep me waiting brother, now you got me interested!”
The man responsible for the third test of the aforementioned 'Corridor of Puppets' recounted the events that transpired. The other junior participants were more or less doing the same, the higher-rated clan's had more passing while the lower-rated ones barely managed. Then this Zhang Clan came along, they had the most participants still in the run. Most of the others had from ten to twenty members still in it at most.
This was quite normal as even though each clan helped their junior members out, they mostly focused their resources on a small number of elites. These elite junior members would end up victorious while the lesser ones would stay behind. The Zhang Clan was different in the way, that all of their participants were well rounded. They had their top members with Zhang Tai, Xue and Liu but the rest weren't slouches either. If you compared them to the rest, they were in the elite category and they were many of them.
So, the test started with a bang. A white-haired youth just bulldozed through the corridor without letting any of the puppets even touch him once. He evaded all of the traps and probably set a new record if there was one being kept. Afterward, they continued, no one could match the youth that was first but they still did their best. The later members didn't come out unscathed, leaving with bruises and disheveled hair but all of them managed to power through this test as well. The weaker members had it rough, some of them had to be carried off for healing. Still, all of them made it through, making them have the largest group of people left for the last trial.
This was the second to last testing ground, after this one would come an area that was a mix of all the previous tests. The number of people that the Zhang Clan had put them at quite the advantage though. The last trial was a close of space, a secret ground of sorts. It was a giant maze area where everyone would be put in. It encompassed the entire city and was built right under it.
Every participant would receive a small token. This token represented his life, the purpose of this test was for the junior members to battle it out, with their tokens on the line. You needed at least three of those tokens to pass, if you managed to procure enough you would get marked. The tokens would start giving off a sort of marker aura, that would alert everyone to your location.
The people with enough tokens could then move on to the exit while trying to evade the other participants that would block their way. So even if you lost your token you could still recover everything from another person. Like with the other trials this also had a time limit. You could win by getting three tokens and waiting it out to the end. A reasonable tactic was to wait close to an exit and just steal the tokens from the person that was trying to get out.
”With so many of those Zhang Clan juniors, they have a clear advantage...”
The last test was a battle royale, but people could form groups. Due to the number of practitioners that made it through the previous tests, this clan had a strong advantage over the rest.
”Still, the other clans and sects can also form a bigger group to go against them.”
This would probably be the thing that would happen. The names of participants and to what faction they belonged to would be hung out in front of the trial ground. It would open a few days later, leaving enough time for other clans to make some deals. This was also something that was advised and approved by the people that were hosting this tournament. Being able to form alliances was also a measure of strength so it was all fine.
The curious man decided to see how it turned out, but in secret, he went to place a bet on the clan that in his opinion had quite the potential. The number of people that were left after the preliminary rounds at the end, mostly came up to about a hundred. There were close to five hundred participants left, so you'd think that about 160 of them could make it through.
That was a naive way of thinking though. Even though you only needed three tokens, most of the participants would take more than the minimum amount required. There were even times where the contestant count dropped below fifty, when some strong clans with a couple of geniuses made a pact. The next trial would be beginning soon, the ones that made it out, in the end, would be hailed as the big winners and the future elite. The rest only to be forgotten and used as stepping stones for the new wave of young masters.