Chapter 548: Contest (2/2)
”Who is he?” Ye Chong asked the person next to him.
The noble recognized Ye Chong. He immediately replied respectfully, ”Master Ye, he is the Commander of King's Guards, one of the strongest shooters in Eastern Cloud. He reached Level 8 by the age of 25, and a man of great experience. He is said to be the shooter closest to reaching Level 9 in the past five decades.”
”I see.” Ye Chong nodded and turned away.
The noble finally had a chance to talk to Ye Chong, but Ye Chong did not give him a chance to continue the conversation. He simply closed his eyes again.
The remainder of the meeting was dull and uninteresting. Ye Chong began to feel sleepy.
Nonetheless, there was something important he had to do later – his demonstration show for the National Combat Tournament.
Ye Chong kept his word to Sun Sieha, and did his part to the letter. Sun Sieha admired this side of him.
That afternoon, the National Combat Tournament officially began.
…
Duan Qian had arrived in Su City five days ago. In these five days, he got to know the flourishing city. Duan Qian had delicate features, and an air of naivety typical of young people. However, he had a certain steadiness in him. Unlike other shooters, his gait was confident. He was here for the National Combat Tournament.
He had his eyes opened in these few days. Su City was crowded with people. There were Level 6 and 7 shooters everywhere. Half the people on the streets were shooters, and half of these shooters were at least Level 6.
Strong fighters from all over Eastern Cloud had come to gather in Su City, but no one dared to cause trouble. Duke Warren had assigned Xuan Ning, a close aide to His Majesty, to be in charge of security in Su City. Xuan Ning was a big name known to all shooters. He was the strongest of the strong, known not only for his strength that was close to Level 9, but also his ruthlessness. Thus, Su City became even safer than usual.
Duan Qian had registered for the Combat Tournament and received his schedule. He was due in the first round of the Tournament, for better or worse.
Where there was a competition, there would be a betting pool. However, no one could find any information on Duan Qian. To everyone's surprise, the Shooter Association did not have his name in their records.
Duan Qian was not a shooter.
He was born in a family with combat history. His father was a nameless combat expert, who worked as a merchant. Since he was prone to sickness when he was young, he began to learn a few moves from his father. They were not particularly powerful moves, but they kept him healthy. Later on, he was found to be talented in parapsychic control, and sent to study under a capable shooter.
He was everything people expected from him. Even though he was the youngest student of his teacher, his parapsychic energy was the strongest. His teacher hoped that he would achieve Level 6 by age 16. That would be an achievement worthy of a prodigy in the world of shooters.
Duan Qian was not interested in being a shooter, however. His interest lay in combat. Once, he channeled his parapsychic energy into a combat move without intending to, and crushed a rock with his fist. That made him even more eager to study the combination of combat and parapsychic energy.
With this objective in mind, Duan Qian trained hard. His inborn talent helped him grasp some key points in this endeavor. However, his decision to go down this path was met with strong resistance from his parents and teacher. His father, who taught him combat in the first place, was against him. They thought that a shooter who could reach Level 6 by age 16 would have a much better future than a combat expert.
Nevertheless, Duan Qian persisted. He trained even harder so that his combat skills could one day be good enough to prove them wrong.
He did not give up on parapsychic control for combat. Instead, he trained his parapsychic control just as hard. Currently, his parapsychic control was just as good as that of a Level 6 shooter. Since his parapsychic control was strong, he could quickly detect his opponent's intentions and changes in their parapsychic waves. Besides, his own parapsychic waves could interfere with other shooters effectively.
To qualify for the National Combat Tournament, he had fought his way from early local matches to Su City. His teacher and parents were shocked by his achievement.
Young people were often ambitious. Some wanted fame, others wanted money. Duan Qian wanted to let the whole world know that shooters were not the only strong fighters!
Duan Qian was now in the Tournament resting area. The Tournament would begin with a Demonstration Contest before his turn came.
The idea for a Demonstration Contest was conceptualized since long ago. It was mostly participated by long-time and well-known combatants, who would fight against each other and explain the intricacies captured within the battle. The concept was popular amongst the audience. For this national level tournament, the participants were most likely the top combatants in the country. True experts would have better insights in combat compared to amateurs – all shooters knew this. It was a rare opportunity to listen to these experts talk about their specialty.
…
(In Eastern Cloud Combat Stadium.)
The Combat Stadium could house 200 thousand people at a time. In terms of area coverage of any building structure, it was second only to Su City's landing field. The national Combat Stadium was now filled to the brim with people. Sun Sieha's arrival brought on the first wave of excitement in the stadium. The crowd cheered, and Sun Sieha felt invigorated by his people. He waved to them in greeting as his image was displayed on a huge screen for everyone in the stadium to see.
”Long live the king!” The voices from 200 thousand people thundered like a tsunami wave.
Sun Sieha's body shook a little as his emotions overcame him. No king would be unmoved by the strong passion of his people.
Mu Shen was also invited to watch the tournament. He was briefly unsettled by the thundering cheers, but quickly composed himself.
”My brave warriors, let the fighting begin!” Sun Sieha's short and powerful announcement marked the beginning of the National Combat Tournament.
Prince Desnio was tasked with hosting the Demonstration Contest and the first match by the king himself, probably because of his colorful narration of Ye Chong's match last time.
”Alright, my friends, the wildly anticipated National Combat Tournament has just begun. I know that many of you have been waiting for this. Let me just say that that is exactly the same for me.
”First up is the Demonstration Contest. The Demonstration Contest this time is the most special out of all the ones we've held. I think you can all guess which two masters will be going on stage, right? Haha!” Prince Desnio grinned slyly.
”Let me ask you all, who is the most popular person recently in Su City? Is it His Majesty? Oh, no it's not, even though it's His Majesty's birthday today.” Prince Desnio joked about Sun Sieha, but Sun Sieha did not mind his uncle's jest. He smiled in return.
”It was one man against 12 Level 6 shooters, and that man now has 20 thousand students under him. The first Master in close range combat in our country, and possibly in the whole wide world – Ye Chong! Let me tell you, Master Ye is not only a Master in Close Range Combat, but also our Chief Weaponsmith. Today, you will all get to witness a form of combat that was never seen before. I guarantee that you will be surprised. Truth is, I'm a big fan of Master Ye, not just because he's a strong fighter, but also because he'd won 10 million ao each from Legion Legate Ming Xiao and Duke Warren in a bet.” Prince Desnio added with humour.
”A Master in Close Range Combat? What kind of title is that?” Mu Shen thought to himself with disinterest.