Chapter 342: Super s.p.a.ce Hive
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
The four young disciples didn"t seem to pay attention to the stares that surrounded them, as they continued sauntering towards the ID booth nonchalantly. Although the Templar"s Court distanced themselves from the conflicts between major factions, they had not withdrawn from the world altogether. It was evident that the four inner court disciples were excited about the fight, and were confident in their ability.
The four didn"t even spare a glance at the students from S-Cla.s.s Academies. However, they all cast a sidelong glance at Li Ruoer. The relations.h.i.+p between House of Li and the Templar could be traced back to the age of General Li Feng. So far, the Templar still lacked tactics that could out-rival that of the five dominant houses.
"The Inner Court." Hu Yangxuan gasped and then heaved a sigh.
"What about them?"
"Majority of the Templar"s disciples, such as me, only received training in building up soul energy. Only the inner court disciples were worthy of learning the secret tactics of the Templars. "
When Hu Yangxuan had first attended the Templar"s Court, he had lived a different life and dreamt different dreams. His life goal at that time was to take over the family business and therefore, becoming a Templar"s disciple was only the icing on the cake. Never once he had thought that he would be so invested in becoming a fighter. At the hindsight, Hu Yangxuan found his former goals childish and laughable.
Among the four inner court disciples, one was Hu Yangxuan"s old friend.
In addition to the three big players—Capth, Yalen, and the Templar"s Court—there were many other renowned fighters at the town square. Representing their districts, these fighters meant business here. Although they were not from S cla.s.s Academies, they had brought with them potent tactics and techniques that they had inherited from their family.
Based on recent statistics about the makeup of the contestants, the combats would bring over half of the current renowned private tactics—ones that were not taught by academies— into the tournament. It was apparent that all contestants wanted to use the tournament to spread the influence of the tactics they practiced.
Once a tactics had reached enough influence, it would earn the recognition of the Confederation, and all pract.i.tioners would receive a tag with the name of the tactics on it. w.a.n.g Tong watched as many cultivators wearing such badges greeted each other perfunctorily. The act was laughable to w.a.n.g Tong, as he knew that many of these people had never met each other, and they were merely faking their friendliness.
"Ah-Ha! Isn"t it Brother Hu? Long time no see!" Ye Kai, the Gentlemen Sword, walked towards Hu Yangxuan as he spoke.
Hu Yangxuan had been avoiding eye contact with Ye Kai. However, he was spotted by his old friend after all. Hu Yangxuan forced a smile and then replied, "Oh Hi, Brother Ye!"
"Nice to see you here brother, and hi everyone, my name is Ye Kai." Although Ye Kai seemed very friendly, everyone could still feel that Hu Yangxuan was somehow embarra.s.sed by this encounter.
"Allow me to introduce… This is...my court brother Ye Kai. He was one of the chosen disciples to enter the inner court. He is a master of swordplay, there"s no doubt about that." Hu Yangxuan announced.
Before Hu Yangxuan had time to introduce his friends in Ayrlarng, Ye Kai saw the other three had already finished their identification processes and were calling him over. Ye Kai nodded to his teammates and then turned to Hu Yangxuan. "My court brothers are calling me; I need to go. I hope I get the chance to fight with you, brother Hu!" Ye Kai bowed at everyone and then started back to his teammates.
"How old is this kid? "Brother" this and ‘brother’ that, he sounded like an old man... Haha." Kyaero jested.
"Fifteen." Hu Yangxuan heaved a sigh. The conversation with Ye Kai had taken the wind out of his sail.
"What? The Templar had chosen a kid to do their biddings?" Sayni laughed.
"He seemed very... polite and educated. No wonder they call him the gentleman." Sisi announced. She was impressed by Ye Kai"s courtesy, since as an inner court disciple, Ye Kai ought to be much stronger than Hu Yangxuan.
Hu Yangxuan grimaced and then rolled up his right sleeve, revealing a scar. "He did this to me."
Everyone stared at the long and ugly scar incredulously, unable to draw a connection between the refined young man and his savage act.
As if Hu Yangxuan had sensed everyone"s disbelief, he went on and elaborated on the details, "He is a Mr. Nice only when he is out of combat. When he is on a battlefield, he could turn into a monster faster you can blink. I had been unfortunate enough to be his examiner for his entrance exam, and that was when he did this to me. He had injured a lot of teachers during training as well. Simply put, nine out of ten inner court disciples are insane, if not outright monsters."
Hu Yangxuan shook his head again. The flashback made Hu Yangxuan doubt if he were ready to stand up to the challenge ahead.
"Nine out of ten? Haha, so there was at least one warden in that insane asylum after all!" Sun Fang joked.
"Wrong. He was no warden, he was the craziest of them all. But, he was more methodical than the others, which made him even scarier. I can say that among all of our friends, only w.a.n.g Tong could stand up against him."
"You are talking about Zhang Buyu, the so-called White Water Blade?" w.a.n.g Tong asked.
"How did you know that?" Hu Yangxuan asked in disbelief. Zhang Buyu"s real power had always been a secret even among the outer court disciples.
"Among all the four disciples, his energy flow was the strongest and the steadiest." w.a.n.g Tong replied.
"Uh?... What"s energy flow?" Jiang Xiu was confused by w.a.n.g Tong"s jargon.
"Haha, don"t even bother yourself trying to figure it out. He says that gibberish all the time" Kyaero announced with a broad smile.
w.a.n.g Tong scanned the clamorous mob at the town square; he could feel their swelling enthusiasm and vibrating vigor. All of them had been waiting for this day for too long.
Suddenly, a presence of a strong force drew away w.a.n.g Tong"s attention. As w.a.n.g Tong sought the source of the power, the din of the world around him seemed to have disappeared altogether. w.a.n.g Tong was not the only one who had felt the sudden insurgence of the powerful presence, as Zhang Buyu had also felt the power hijack his senses. He paused and started to scan his surroundings.
"What"s up, Brother Zhang?" Yao Bai asked.
Zhang Buyu"s face remained stoic, "Someone is watching us. Not Li s.h.i.+ming though, it is someone perhaps even stronger than Li s.h.i.+ming."
"Master had warned us about potential tough opponents hidden among the people. Maybe this it?" Ye Kai speculated.
"Don"t take master"s words literally. He was just warning us not to overlook any opponent."
"I have probed all the fighters here who were on the same level as us, but I still couldn"t locate the source of the energy I am getting." Zhang Buyue announced.
"Bahh! It"s difficult… Too many people here. Anyhow, you two stay low… Remember what master had said."
"Roger that!"
Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Tong was elated by the powerful presence; it was just another lab rat for him to test his new techniques.
"Well, since we are here at Yalen, we might as well enjoy the S-Cla.s.s environment. "
"Agreed!"
Except for w.a.n.g Tong and Hu Yangxuan, none of the Ayrlarng"s students had high hopes for the outcome of their matches. Being able to join the playoff matches on the moon would be their greatest achievements.
w.a.n.g Tong wasn"t bothered by Li Ruoer"s presence, since he had long since forgiven her for helping Ma Xiaoru. Based on his experience of fighting against Li Ruoer, w.a.n.g Tong was confident that she would do well in this year"s tournament.
After team Ayrlarng had loitered in the Yalen"s campus for a while, everyone received a message containing the details of the planet-wide qualification matches.
To minimize unnecessary injuries, the qualification match would take place in the virtual s.p.a.ce in three days. The email didn"t reveal any details, but everyone wagered that it would be a combination of combats and survival tests.
Meanwhile, in the outer s.p.a.ce, a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p from the Andromeda Galaxy had entered warp s.p.a.ce. Aboard the s.h.i.+p were METAL figures, who were on their way to the tournament.
"Captain, two more hours till we reach the solar system."
"Slow it down."
"Yes, captain."
The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p glided slowly across a backdrop of countless stars. The s.h.i.+p seemed like a grain of sand in the desert.
As the s.h.i.+p was about to exit the hyperspeed, a dark shadow loomed in front of it. The alarm on the s.h.i.+p went off, warning the pa.s.sengers of the encroaching danger. The s.h.i.+p had nothing to defend itself, and was soon engulfed by the dark shadow.
Slowly, the shadow exited the hyper speed and emerged from the warp s.p.a.ce; it was an enormous creature that was half machine and half flesh.
A s.p.a.ce Hive!
No one had seen a Zerg s.p.a.ce Hive so hideous in its design and so vast in its size. It hovered in the dark s.p.a.ce, as a green light glowed from inside its half translucent substance. After a while, the belly of the s.p.a.ce hive convulsed, and from its rear end, the s.h.i.+p was pushed out like a newborn infant.
The s.p.a.ce hive convulsed more violently and opened up a portal in front of it. The glowing s.p.a.ce hive quickly went through the gaping hole before the portable closed itself.
Such was the power of the Zerg"s continuous evolution… It had defied all human knowledge, and made s.p.a.ce travel possible for carbon-based living organisms.
The human s.h.i.+p went on its journey as if nothing had happened.
Three days later, the qualification test had officially started at Yalen.