Melodious cheers and energetic yells could be heard from the stadium right outside of the city. Guards could be seen regularly patrolling the city while the guards stationed at the entrances of the stadium were standing with their backs ramrod straight.The joyous atmosphere and the solemn one outside was a bit unsettling but no one would have the time to notice it due to their focus on the Tournament.
The Clan Tournament was one of the most popular events in the entirety of the〈Huaxia Zone〉
Everyone knew what it was and everybody aspired to one day partic.i.p.ate in the Clan Tournament.
It was, in essence, the〈Huaxia Zone〉"s Olympics counterpart. Except it was done with clans instead of countries.
But because everyone was a potential danger to the safety of the entire tournament and yet, it was only this year that security looked so serious.
Meanwhile, inside waiting rooms of the arena...
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To save s.p.a.ce, instead of having individual resting rooms. There was instead several big rooms where Clans would have their members wait in.
To prevent any kind of serious conflicts from arising, the Clans would be paired up with other Clans they amicable relations with.
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Nan Zhujiao was patiently waiting on one of the benches to the side. With the serious atmosphere, he wanted to hurl.
But he knew that if he did, he would be considered a disgrace and his face would be beaten black and blue by his father again.
The bright side was that he had already entered a Dragon"s mouth so he wouldn"t hurl that easily.
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It was the day before the tournament. When Cole was taking a nap, Na Zhujiao had wanted to visit him.
Before he could even open the door, a silver light flashed by him and cut a few strands of his hair.
*THUD*
Cold sweat dripped down Zhujiao"s back. He turned around to see what was the thing that struck him.
It turned out to be a throwing dagger but it looked way too advanced for the time period he was in.
But before he could get close to fully examine it, a shadow looked over him and a hand pulled out the knife with next to no effort.
He didn"t hear a single sound made before the action.
"So, what do you want?"
Although they were casually spoken, Zhujiao felt that those words sent shivers up his spine and he didn"t understand why.
"U-Umm... w.a.n.g Shu-gentleman, I"ve decided."
"Uh... As I thought, I really want to become your disciple!"
Zhujiao had slowly turned around and faced Cole. His eyes were a bit shaky but they had a kind of determination.
It was the same kind that he had when he was faced with a giant obstacle.
Since he had actual b.a.l.l.s to decide that he wanted to leave his place of birth and dive into completely uncharted territory for his people, Cole decided to give him a chance.
He gave the knife a little spin and pressed it right against Zhujiao"s neck. If he were to push his hand by even a little bit, it would pierce Zhujiao"s skin.
"Partic.i.p.ate in the Clan Tournament."
It would be a great help. Since that way, he could gather on how the Clan Tournament proceeded. He would also be able to have eyes and ears inside the waiting room of the Arena.
Now, it wasn"t that Cole didn"t have at least a bit of faith in the Nan"s partic.i.p.ants. It"s just that if he were to involve them, they might be a bit reluctant to help.
It would also give the risk of leaking information and Cole didn"t want that.
Seeing that Zhujiao couldn"t give an answer right away, Cole went back to his room and sat on his chair.
Seeing that even after a few moments of silence, Zhujiao still couldn"t answer.
"What? You woke me up in the middle of my power nap just to back out?"
"..."
Zhujiao bit his lip in frustration and then fiercely stomped towards Cole
"It"s just that I"m in nowhere good enough shape to compete in the Clan Tournament! Much less actually hope to win it!"
Cole scanned Nan Zhujiao from head to toe.
"Steward."
------〔Nan Zhujiao〕-----
Race: Huaxian
s.e.x: Male (Under Suspicion)
Age: 16
Rank: Martial
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Cole paused a bit at the note next to Zhujiao"s s.e.xuality
"Steward, that"s a bit rude, isn"t it?"
〔What? You"re not sure of what it is, are you?〕
"I"m pretty sure that it"s not my problem to care about what the s.e.xuality of my conversation partner is."
〔But--〕
"No buts. It"s still rude. I just want you to give me a quick a.n.a.lysis of the Qi in this guy"s Dantian or whatever. Just tell me if it"s similar to Mana or not."
〔Okay then... Oh. Looks like it"s practically the same.〕
The instant Cole got the answer from Steward, he struck Zhujiao in the abdomen with his palm. Before Zhujiao could even react, he was flung out of the room.
Although there was the initial pain that made him spit out blood, he could feel a strong current swirling in his Dantian.
It felt as if his cultivation had just soared!
But when Zhujiao realized this, he quickly became concerned. If he were to experience such a quick rise in cultivation, his Qi would become unstable and he would still be weaker than those at his new level.
However, his worries were unfounded. The current quickly settled in and it felt as it was his all along.
When Zhujiao looked at Cole again, he was sitting down on his chair and was reading a book.
"...How did you...?"
"That matters not. But now you don"t have an excuse anymore, do you?"
Although Zhujiao was still hesitant, his mind was filled with respect and grat.i.tude for Cole.
He was also happy that he decided to come and affirm his decision. And since he now had no choice, might as well give his all, right?
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But although Zhujiao had thought that to himself, he was now regretting not protesting more.
Zhujiao looked around the room.
There was a changing room where partic.i.p.ants were allowed to use and a shower room. The room was quite s.p.a.cious since multiple people from different Clans needed to stay there for a while.
The room was a calming mix of white, grey and brown and comfy maroon sofas were located at each corner of the room.
Rather than a simple waiting room, it was more like a lounge.
"I don"t care if you lose. If you win, good job then. What I need is info on the compet.i.tors."
That was one of the instructions Cole gave to Zhujiao. It was also the most important one.
Zhujiao already told Cole about the people inside his waiting room since his Clan had good relations with them.
But what Cole really wanted was the enemy"s info.
It wasn"t like they couldn"t go to other waiting rooms, it"s just that usually there was no reason since usually the only purpose was to provoke the compet.i.tion.
But that was considered foul play in the Clan Tournament rules because it would make the other compet.i.tors lose focus.
Although it was slightly the provokee"s fault since it was their bad to not being able to keep a cool head, the blame rested on the provoker for taunting them in the first place.
Well, if it was mid-game then it was totally fine. There"s nothing you can do about that.
After calming his nerves for a bit, Zhujiao finally stood up and started walking to the nearest waiting room.
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Cole was able to contact Zhujiao freely so nice he had given him a small earpiece that he could use to communicate with and it had a small camera so that it could also send visual feed.
Usually, such devices were banned but security could only detect things with Qi stored in them.
Most tools in the Huaxia Zone were made with Qi infused with them since they hadn"t developed the technology to make such items without Qi yet.
All he had Zhujiao do was to enter the other waiting rooms and ask the residents some questions.
From the few questions he"d ask, Cole would be able to get all the information he needed.
It all depended on how the person reacted and how long it took them to react. Even the smallest movement or the roll of a bead of sweat held so much information.
Cole was overlooking everyone from the edges of the stadium. It was the open-air kind which guaranteed everyone"s sadness or irritation when it rained.
There were guards stationed at the top of the stadium and they had wanted to throw Cole off. But they were ordered not to and they couldn"t.
Although they didn"t sense a single bit of Qi within the man, their battle instincts honed from their long years of battle told them to not engage.
And within that stiff atmosphere, a playful smile could be seen on Cole"s face.