Seeking Martial Dao in All Reborn Lives
Chapter 172 - 170: First Battle
With over two hundred contestants, signing death waivers and drawing lots alone took nearly an hour.
Longwu Square had only ten arenas in total, so it was impossible for everyone to compete simultaneously. Thus, the Martial Arts Association divided the competition into morning, afternoon, and evening sessions based on the drawn lot numbers.
Each session would feature three to four matches at a time, with twenty people competing per group. With so many participants, the first day of the competition was set to run continuously from morning until night.
Outside Longwu Square, a massive, movable bracket board was set up. Each competitor’s name was carved onto a wooden block. Once the lots were drawn, the blocks with the corresponding names would be placed into the bracket’s frame according to the results. This made it clear at a glance which fight was in which arena, during which session, and who the opponents were.
The surrounding teahouses had also created their own copies of the bracket board, placing them in prominent locations on every floor so that all the patrons could see the information in real-time.
Everyone was focused on the matchups for the first round of the competition, hoping that one of the Seven General Stars would face off against one of the Ten Sha from the Neon Martial Dao right from the start, setting an imposing tone for the Divine Land’s Martial Dao.
Unfortunately, by the time the draw for the first round was complete, none of the Seven General Stars had been matched against any of the Profound Ocean Society’s Ten Sha.
After all, with over two hundred people, it wasn’t a small number. The odds of them being matched in the first round were not high.
The crowd then shifted their attention, focusing on the matches that involved the fifty-plus Neon Martial Artists.
Over fifty people was a significant portion of the two hundred participants, so the number of matches involving Neon Martial Artists was not small. In fact, they were present in nearly every time slot.
At that moment, Zhao Xuanqi was also looking at the bracket board after the draw.
Eleven a.m., Arena Seven. Opponent: Ooyama Katsuhisa.
"Ooyama Katsuhisa is an inheritor of the Fluctuation Vacuum Dao. According to our intelligence, although he is not one of the Ten Sha, he is still an inheritor of the Ten Schools and Nine Paths. He’s very strong, probably even a step above the Feather Thought Style inheritor, Hua Jingcheng, whom you fought before," Shi Huai’an whispered to Zhao Xuanqi from the side.
"Not one of the Ten Sha? And he’s only a bit stronger than Hua Jingcheng?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xuanqi’s interest immediately waned. He turned to Shi Huai’an and the others beside him and asked about their own matches.
"My opponent is a visiting martial artist," Shi Huai’an said. "He probably isn’t too strong."
"My opponent is a martial artist from the Jinmen Armor Arena," Zhang Hongyun also spoke. "His strength is average. Shouldn’t be a problem for me."
It was impossible for them not to participate in such a grand event. Even with limited strength, they were determined to give it their all.
"My opponent... is probably going to be tricky," Fan Shiyan said, his expression grave.
Following his gaze, the group saw his name placed next to a Neon name on the board.
"Moriyama Ryoji?"
Zhao Xuanqi read the name aloud. He had been in seclusion for the past month or so and hadn’t paid much attention to this information.
"Moriyama Ryoji is an inheritor of the Killing God with One Heart Style. He’s one of the Ten Sha, renowned for his Sword Technique. Anyone who holds the title of Ten Sha is a master of the Five Qi Realm at the very least."
Shi Huai’an’s tone also became grave.
Although the two of them held the title of Four Saints Sect inheritors, their strength in the Jinmen Armor Arena was only considered upper-first-class, not top-tier. After all, with two Secret Transmissions missing, their sect wasn’t particularly powerful, which limited the strength of its inheritors.
After Zhao Xuanqi completed the two Secret Transmissions, Shi Huai’an and Fan Shiyan had been training day and night. But they weren’t Zhao Xuanqi; in one or two months, while their strength had improved considerably, they hadn’t yet made a qualitative leap.
Against an opponent who could contend at the Seven General Star Level, their chances of winning were slim.
"Don’t worry. I didn’t expect to get very far anyway. Besides, even if he is one of the Ten Sha, we won’t know who’s stronger until we fight."
Fan Shiyan’s expression was calm, betraying no fear. On the contrary, he was filled with a powerful will to fight.
Seeing his firm will, the others didn’t say much more. On the path of the Martial Dao, there were many hardships and obstacles that one could only overcome by oneself.
Of the four of them, Zhao Xuanqi, Shi Huai’an, and Fan Shiyan all had their matches in the morning session. Zhang Hongyun’s match was in the afternoon.
The Martial Arts Association had set up waiting areas for the competitors around the square. If participants didn’t want to wait, they didn’t have to stay, as long as they arrived at their designated arena before the time listed on the bracket.
After the draw ended, nearly half of the martial artists who didn’t have matches in the morning session left first. The remaining half either had matches in the morning or wanted to stay and observe the fights.
Although Zhang Hongyun’s match was in the afternoon session, he stayed behind to watch with the others, since Zhao Xuanqi’s group was fighting in the morning.
The first of their group to enter the arena was Shi Huai’an. His opponent was a visiting martial artist who wielded a profound Sword Technique. His strength was quite impressive, at least at the level of a Two Qi Realm Training Method, but it wasn’t enough to handle an expert like Shi Huai’an.
Shi Huai’an didn’t even have to use a Secret Technique. After twenty exchanges, his opponent, knowing he was outmatched, conceded the fight.
An hour later, the second set of matches for the morning session began. This time, it was Zhao Xuanqi’s turn to enter the arena.
Whether by coincidence or not, none of the ten arenas in the first set of matches featured a Neon fighter. In the second set, only Zhao Xuanqi’s opponent was from Neon. As a result, when his match began, his arena instantly drew the attention of countless spectators in the surrounding teahouses.
After all, in a certain sense, this could be considered the first battle between the Divine Land’s Martial Dao and the Neon Martial Dao in this competition, so it naturally received a great deal of attention.
"What’s this Ooyama Katsuhisa’s background? Does anyone know?"
"And who is this Zhao Xuanqi? How strong is he? Does he have a chance of winning?"
Spectators started asking questions to those around them. Many of Jinmen’s citizens weren’t familiar with the details of Neon Martial Dao, and many of the onlookers weren’t locals, but had been drawn here by the reputation of the ’Martial Arts Under Heaven’ competition. As such, they were also very unfamiliar with the name Zhao Xuanqi.
DONG!!
Soon, before anyone in the crowd could answer, the sound of a bronze gong drew everyone’s attention.
A man dressed like a waiter stepped onto a platform beneath the bracket board and addressed the crowd. "Esteemed patrons, I will now explain some details about the Neon Martial Dao."
This was clearly an ingenious ploy arranged by the teahouse owners to attract more business.
In preparation for the ’Martial Arts Under Heaven’ event, the surrounding teahouse owners had already formed a small alliance to share and analyze information. After all, once the Martial Arts Arenas opened, they would have more business than they could handle. There was no question of stealing business from one another, so a mutually beneficial arrangement was ideal.
"Ooyama Katsuhisa is an inheritor of the Fluctuation Vacuum Dao, one of the Ten Schools and Nine Paths of the Neon Martial Dao. Although he is not one of the Ten Sha, the very fact that he is an inheritor of the Ten Schools and Nine Paths means his strength ranks among the very top of all the participating Neon Martial Artists. His power is second only to the Ten Sha. In the Jinmen Martial Arts Arena, he would be considered at least an upper-tier, first-class Armor Arena fighter."
"As for Zhao Xuanqi, he is a recently emerged master in Jinmen. A short while ago, he entered the Jinmen Armor Arena with an undefeated record. It’s worth noting that in the process, he defeated more than one Five Qi Tongxuan master. One of them was even an inheritor of the Western Border Wu Family. However, there has been very little information about his battles since then. Based on our analysis here at the Tea House Alliance, his strength should be mid-tier in the Armor Arena, though it’s possible he could be even a step higher."
The waiter spoke fluently, introducing the two competitors to everyone present.
Although the Tea House Alliance was well-informed, a lot of the information about Zhao Xuanqi was confidential. The events at the Zhen Nan Chamber of Commerce had been kept under a strict gag order by Luo Shizun, the Neon People certainly wouldn’t advertise their own losses, and almost no one knew about his relationship with the Black Tortoise and Bai Hu Gates. As a result, the Tea House Alliance’s assessment of Zhao Xuanqi’s strength was considerably off the mark.