91 Chapter 90: The tournament begins (1/2)
And just like that, two weeks flew past.
I wouldn't say that the past two weeks had been entirely uneventful. Some major things happened while I was staying in the Wu Ling Academy dormitory, but I was too impatient to rush into the long-awaited tournament arc that I was going to skip through them. What, don't worry. If necessary, I'll just insert them back in through a flashback later on.
If they were important to the main story, of course. I doubted they were that important, at least not for the moment anyway, so I was going to fastforward straight to the tournament arc before the existences beyond the fourth wall could complain.
”Um, okay…”
I glanced at the tablet as I walked out of my dorm room. I was pleased that I managed to get back the dorm room I had been assigned to for the last three years in middle school. It seemed that nothing had changed. I owned few things and many books, as usual. Furthermore, with digital uploads, eBooks and e-readers, more people were choosing to read electronically over actual, physical books. Having experienced the convenience of a Kindle back in my previous timeline I was half relieved that I didn't need to worry about space or lugging around a whole load of books wherever I went. If I needed to read something, I could access them from my tablet.
A pity the same couldn't be said for martial arts manuals. Unlike digital uploads or physical paperback copies, martial arts scriptures were spirit artifacts in their own right. The teachings and techniques inscribed into them were a form of Spirit Engraving. They emanated a mystical sort of power that wouldn't be present in any book.
But at the moment I don't need new martial arts techniques…even if it's for the tournament.
To be a competent martial artist, I had to master my own techniques to their utmost extremes. It was quality over quantity. There was no point learning as many techniques as I could if I wasn't even good at one of them. In fact, learning so many different techniques would only serve to confuse me and disrupt my focus. I would rather master one technique to its extreme than to devour as many different technqiues as I could.
That wasn't to say it was bad to learn multiple martial arts. I was aware of many students who chose to go down the path of the many. While not extreme as…say, Li Fu Chen, who supposedly mastered over a hundred sword techniques just to achieve Sword Intent and come up with his own technique (that was just ridiculous, and the bloody smug bastard was for all intents and purposes a Mary Sue taken past the limits of good writing), I had several schoolmates who learned four or five different techniques, and perhaps combined them to come up with their own mixed martial arts fighting style. Even I wasn't that different, having learned about three different martial arts. Shadow Steps (which probably included the footwork techniques that Teacher Jiao taught me), Heaven and Earth Formula, and Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship. And that wasn't even counting the self-learned skills that I incorporated from my experiences with the Lunar Rabbit and Ghost Bear, which allowed me to come up with a form of my Lunar Rabbit Kicks and Ghost Shadow Sword. Of course, I wasn't arrogant enough to consider those actual skills.
Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship in the first place.
”Hey, what are you strolling around for? Hurry up!”
Having seen me just emerge from my room, Feng Tian Yong showed up and slapped me on my back. Hard. I almost doubled over and fell flat on my face, but fortunately my footwork and balance had always been stable.
”What's going on?”
”Oi. Don't tell me you forgot what day it is today?”
I sighed and scratched my head. ”The day of the tournament, right? They're assigning us to our sixteen groups today?”
”If you know that, then why are you idling around here for? Hurry up!”
Feng Tian Yong almost disappeared in a blur, sprinting off in the direction of the main campus. I sighed again as I rubbed the back of my neck.
”Even if we hurry, it's not like it'll change our group assignments or something.”
Closing my eyes, I muttered grumpily under my breath and then followed after Feng Tian Yong. Stepping into the courtyard, I caught sight of the Phoenix Express landing in the carpark not far away. As I expected, Tong Xue and Lian Rou alighted from the bus. This time, they were accompanied by Tang Qi Hong.
Oh, Tang Qi Hong had finally come out of seclusion, huh? I wondered if she had finally managed to succeed in mastering the Spirit Engraving and forging process necessary to craft a spatial storage device. Knowing her, there shouldn't be any problems.
With a smile, I headed toward them and waved. The trio saw me and stepped to the side, making way for the other Nine-Tailed Fox Sect disciples who also attended Wu Ling Academy as students. I joined them a few seconds later, ignoring the looks from the fellow disciples who didn't know me that well other than that I was ”Tang Qi Hong's assistant.”
”How have you guys been?”
”All right. What about you?” Tong Xue grinned. ”I heard there was a major incident in Wu Ling Academy about a week ago.”
”Nothing much,” I stifled a yawn. ”The principal asked me to help out, but by the time I arrived, there wasn't much for me to do.”
Tong Xue frowned. ”That's not what I heard…”
”More importantly, the groupings are out. Feng Tian Yong was telling me to hurry up earlier. Let's go.”
”Ah, that's right!” Lian Rou nodded. ”The tournament is today! We shouldn't be late!”
The four of us immediately headed toward the main plaza. As we made our way there, weaving through the throngs of students, I leaned over to ask Tang Qi Hong.
”How was training?”
”It was good.” Qi Hong looked smug. ”I've learned how to forge a spatial storage device. I'll teach you when we return to Tushan after the tournament.”
”I'll be relying on you then.”
”Over here!”
While the four of us walked, Ban Zhang suddenly appeared and waved at us. Grateful that the class president (he was still class chairman even after three years) saved some space for us, we moved in his direction. He was located somewhere near the front, currently separated from us by a sea of excitedly chatting students.
”Wouldn't the groups be emailed to every student anyway?” I wondered out loud, even as we jostled against the crowd.
”Certainly, but it's more fun this way.” Lian Rou giggled. Tong Xue seized her hand tightly to make sure she didn't get carried away by the crowd.
”That's right!” he agreed. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. Apparently, Tong Xue was pleased at the chance to hold his girlfriend's hand.
”Whoa…”
Tang Qi Hong grabbed hold of my shoulder and hung on as we wove through the crowd to fight our way toward Ban Zhang's position.
”Glad you made it,” he told us when we finally joined him near the front of the gigantic holographic bulletin board.
”Where's Zhu Jiao?” I asked, noticing that one member of our group was conspicuously missing. Ban Zhang shrugged.
”Late, as usual.”
It figured. The protagonist Zhu Jiao was always late. If everything went according to the usual clichés, he would rush in at the final moment, possibly drawing the whole school's attention, and fall over right in front of the bulletin board. Then he would find out that he had been drawn into the Group of Death, filled with the most powerful candidates.
Typical.
”Hmm, which group am I in?”
”Oh boy…Feng Tian Yong is in my group…” Tong Xue groaned. ”Looks like I'm not going to make it to the round of 16, after all.”
”You don't say,” Lian Rou muttered. ”I have Bai Ning Xue in my group.”
Everyone turned to look at her sympathetically, but Lian Rou merely smiled.
”It's okay. I told you, I don't expect to progress far in this tournament. I'll do my best, but I'll be happy with a good ranking.”
”Do your best!” Tong Xue encouraged her. ”I'll do my best too!”
Apparently the rankings within the sixteen groups also mattered. Lose all your matches and you would be placed at the bottom of the school. Second and third places would mean you were within the top fifty, and there would be other rounds where the second-placed fighters would fight against the other second-placed rankings in the other groups for another fifteen matches to decide their standings. So it wasn't as if only first place was the only goal to look forward to.
Naturally, the higher your ranking in the academy, the more resources you would receive, whether it was in the form of money, spirit pills, artificial qi, martial arts techniques, etc. There was intense competition over these limited resources.
Not to mention the prestige this would bring to their respective sects…that was why the various sects were so invested in enhancing the abilities of their disciples, to ensure that they bring home trophies and glory to the sect.
I doubted the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect held much faith in me, but if I earned a respectable ranking, perhaps somewhere among the top hundred among the four hundred or so students in Wu Ling Academy, they would consider my application for the Blood Blades. Obviously if I ranked poorly, like amongst the two or three hundreds, they would throw out my application faster than spoiled pizza.
”Ugh, I have Kuang Hu in my group,” Ban Zhang groaned. We all glanced at him, with only Tong Xue and Tang Qi Hong's eyes lighting up in recognition.
”Who?” I blurted out.
”Kuang Hu…he's a new student who joined Wu Ling Academy during the first year of high school. He's one of the most promising students in the White Tiger Sect…his talent is on par with Qi Fu Ren's, but he's more…focused and hardworking.” As usual, Tong Xue had all the information. He glared at me. ”He's one of those I told you to watch out for.”
”Oh, right.” I pretended that I remembered what he was talking about. Fortunately, Lian Rou was on hand to ask in my place.
”Is he strong?”
Tong Xue's annoyed gaze melted instantly. Oi, your attitude toward Lian Rou and your attitude toward me are totally different! Isn't this double standards!?
”Very strong. He's more powerful than Qi Fu Ren would have been if the latter kept up his flippant attitude toward training. But…he's ruthless and merciless. He's known as the Mad Tiger, Kuang Hu. He won't stop until he rips his opponent apart…sometimes literally. But there will be teachers refereeing the match, so they will step in to stop him if his opponent surrenders.”
”That sounds scary.”
”I would rather not fight him if necessary,” Ban Zhang agreed with a shudder. ”They say he's among the fastest martial artist in the academy.”
”Oh?” that caught my attention. ”Interesting.”
”Don't force yourself. Surrender if you have to.” Lian Rou, as ever, was practical, and did not prize victory over health. Ban Zhang smiled bitterly.
”If I'm in danger, I'll surrender immediately. But I'm not going to give up before I even fight. Not against that bastard.”
”This guy sounds like a new Qi Fu Ren,” I observed. Tong Xue chuckled.
”He's not that bad. He's just…pretty ruthless in battle, but he doesn't bully other people like Qi Fu Ren.”
”That's good to hear.”