The Devil Sword Swordsman
Ch. 108 - Tournament of Young Swordsmen III
Furthermore Qin Gaozu explained that the 4th and 5th hope champions would each obtain five thousand gold pieces but in order to obtain a position in the Imperial Pillar they would still have to undergo a strict selection. This made the representatives of the middle sects at least still have hope in their students.
With a few closing words Qin Gaozu can finally sit back in his place, he looks relieved and immediately tend his back as comfortable as possible.
Meanwhile Li Yong was still on guard even though ten minutes had passed, he gulped. I don't know why his premonition was so bad today, but after that Li Yong didn't feel the murderous aura at all anymore.
'May it be just my hunch, I hope so...' Li Yong was deep in heart. He traced his surroundings and found nothing strange other than the number of middle-class warriors who were busy betting on the winner of this match.
The name Xiu Juan who was famous for her beauty and sadism became the most mentioned figure, besides that some people confused Yu Yuwen as the main champion. From the names he heard, Li Yong did not hear a single name from his sect mentioned.
Smiling bitterly, Li Yong was at least aware that the strength of their sect was still at the intermediate level. The young warriors from the big sects would usually be more popular compared to them.
But in the surrounding crowd, Li Yong did not expect that there was one person who mentioned Xin Fai's name in the seats of the nobles.
Li Yong raised his face hurriedly and looked at a brown-haired man who was now sitting with his little daughter, he never felt he had known the man with that friendly smile but he could confirm that the person was from the Lian family.
The Lian family itself occupied a strong political position, the man's good relationship with Qin Gaozu made the Lian noble family have the ease of being one of the strongest noble families in the Shang Empire.
Li Yong had never expected the name of his sect representative to be mentioned by one of the important people in this Empire, he shook his head in disbelief. Xin Fai was indeed a brat full of surprises, that nickname was apt considering that the child could even have a relationship with this famously wise head of the Lian family.
Of course the conversation between Lian Sheng and Qin Gaozu who were discussing the next Imperial Pillar candidate was listened to by many people, they could not believe it was a very foreign name that was now coming out of Lian Sheng's mouth.
Qin Gaozu furrowed his brows.
"Who is that young swordsman you mean, Brother Lian?"
"Ahahahah, he is my adopted son... Even though he doesn't think of me as his foster father," said Lian Sheng scratching the back of his head slightly embarrassed.
Li Yong of course could hear the conversation using his keen sense of hearing, let alone the crowd stopping listening to the conversation of the two people.
"Your adopted son? Why don't I know that? All I know is that Princess Kaili is your only child." Qin Gaozu gave a small smile to Lian Kaili, her son laughing in a very cute baby voice.
"I think the whole Lian family already knew her name, even though they never saw her face. Yet this Xin Fai is the young man who has saved my daughter's life twice. The first one was in the Cursed Forest and the next one was when Kaili was kidnapped by an assassin."
"Hm... I'm really curious about this young man named Xin Fai, he really makes me interested." Qin Gaozu stroked his beard increasingly impatiently waiting for the match.
Li Yong who heard it even forgot to catch his breath, he did not expect that Xin Fai was a child who was rumored to have killed the rat demon king. Xin Fai had said it before, but Li Yong was not very trusting.
Afterwards Yang Guifei returned to the stage.
"Alright, with this the Young Swordsman Tournament is declared to be about to begin."
The sound of trumpets and gongs was rousing with a rowdy atmosphere breaking out, the spectators greeted him very excitedly.
Today the tournament will be held with a preliminary round, each participant will fight at least three opponents in a row and whoever makes it through will enter the main round. This tight selection is expected to present the best Imperial Pillar candidates in the future.
Yang Guifei said that he would act as a referee in the match, he would also mediate when things started to get out of hand.
Seeing that the referee was from the White Fog Valley sect of course many people objected, it was possible that the woman acted unfairly during the match. But for those who had known Yang Guifei, they had already realized that she had a stone head and had never been picky even with those closest to her.
It could be said that the match this time would be fair because Yang Guifei was the referee.
After introducing himself as a referee, Yang Guifei immediately followed the order of the next tournament event.
"Alright, without much more time with this I declare the match to begin immediately. Participants with number one and two are welcome to take the stage."
Two young men whose age was only one year at odds advanced in an orderly manner from the participant seats that had been provided. Li Yong stared at his three students sitting far apart in dismay. His gaze fell on Huang Kun, the young man was like an undead who was forcing himself to follow the match.
The pale face of his passion instantly made Shen Xuemei frown, he was actually hoping that the number two genius disciple in the Lotus Temple sect alone should attend this tournament, he was hoping for the best, but unfortunately the person was on his way outside the sect and could not participate in the tournament.
The fight on stage has become very boring for some people, although the fight was quite fierce but because these two participants were not so famous then only a handful of people were watching while the others were busy with their own chat.
The match was declared over when one of the younger participants bounced out of the arena, the participant tightened his fist did not accept because he became the first knockout participant.
After all no one noticed his defeat other than his own sect, the two young men returned to the participant seats. The other was relieved, and the other one put on an annoyed look.
Afterwards the gazes of the audience were locked at one point when it saw a young man of ordinary strength would fight against one of the stronger participants than him.
Xin Fai looked at Huang Kun a little desperately let alone this opponent was the one who had insulted them while in the waiting room. He realized that the strength of the young man was fairly decent, and this time it was certain that the person who would suffer the next defeat in this tournament was Huang Kun.
***