Chapter 40: Start of the Backwater City Tournament (II)
It was the day of the tournament. There were many attendees who wanted to watch it. In fact, there were so many, that even the enormous land the Zhou clan possessed almost got filled up by the number of people who wanted to watch!
This was the first tournament in the history of this city, so it was obvious that it would be attended by many people.
The Zhou clan anticipated a huge amount of people, but never did they think that it would be this many! They don't even know where some of these people came from, the city surely couldn't hold this huge an amount of people!
Nevertheless, the people still fitted, albeit barely.
A middle-aged man walked to the center of the crowd to quell their excitement.
"People, calm down!"
Unfortunately, this man wasn't very good at persuading people. Almost no one even heard his voice and the ones who did paid no attention to him.
This man was the clan head of the Zhou clan, Zhou Gang! But even with his position, he has no presence whatsoever. It was a wonder how he got the position of patriarch.
He only had one option left - intimidation. He used his cultivation of Second Level Heavenly Mark to stomp on the ground, making the earth shake.
The shaking eventually stopped, and by then, everyone had already turned to look at the origin, and the crowd trembled.
"It...it's the Zhou clan's patriarch!"
They felt fear. How audacious could we be to ignore this person! All of them had this same collective thought.
After a while, the whole crowd was silent. In front of a Second Level Heavenly Mark cultivator, what could they do?
Zhou Gang cleared his throat and spoke.
"Everyone, please calm down."
"..." Crowd.
The crowd was more silent than before. This time, it was not out of fear, but rather, out of confusion. What do you mean? We are already silent...
The silence continued on until Zhou Gang spoke up.
"Cough cough, thank you."
.....
The tournament was starting.
An elder from the Zhou clan shook a container that was filled with the names of the participants.
While this was happening, another elder was announcing the names of the participants.
"...Lin Feng, Yu Yin, Zhang Xuan, Xiao Yan, and finally..."
Just as the elder was about to finish reading the names, he almost spat blood.
Am... am I reading this correctly? Li... Li Bai?
The crowd was confused as well. Most of them were not paying attention to the elder speaking. They didn't care about the names of the participants.
However, the abrupt stopping of the elder startled them. As they looked, the elder had his eyebrow raised. This incited the crowd's curiosity.
The elder's mouth moved briefly as if he did not know how to speak, like a newborn. The mouth moved again, this time opening, and then closing.
The crowd was getting impatient as this elder hesitated to say the last name. Of course, they didn't say anything.
This elder was of a higher position than any of them and if they were to force him, they would probably be forced to get out of here themselves.
The elder spoke a short sound.
"L..."
He held this "L" sound for a long time before coming to a stop.
The crowd started speculating about the last name. Whose surname would be so extravagant to make this elder speak in tongues?
The crowd wondered for a moment and started thinking about surnames that had the "L" sound.
The elder suddenly continued speaking.
"Li... Bai."
He finally finished.
After the elder said the name, the crowd had the same expression as the elder when he first read it. They almost spit blood as well.
Am... am I hearing this correctly? Li... Li Bai?
As soon as the elder finished speaking, the other elder who was shaking the container finished.
Everyone's attention turned to the other elder and they almost forgot about the matter of Li Bai entering the tournament, despite the elder making a big fuss about it.
As the elder inserted his hand in the container, he explained that there was an odd number of participants and that there would be one who would get a free pass to the next round.
The one that would be picked up first would be the one to get this privilege.
Picking up a piece of paper, the elder took his hand out if the container and almost announced the name, before stumbling with his words.
"L..."
The crowd was confused yet again. This "L" sounded familiar.
"Li Bai."
The elder calmly spoke.
After the elder said the name, many from the crowd started rubbing their ears, taking out the dirt that accumulated.
"Li Bai gets the free pass."
The crowd was instantly angry. They felt like they had been cheated. Some of the ones that were rejected on the spot were particularly furious.
Injustice! How did this trash get to participate in this tournament in the first place? How bold must this trash be to even dare to join the tournament?
However, they didn't voice out their complaints. They just waited in anticipation for when Li Bai is pathetically beaten on the stage. Let's see if you even survive after one punch!
While the crowd was enraged, the elder already picked up two more names and announced them. Eventually, all names were picked up and the fights subsequently started.
Aside from Li Bai who enjoyed his terrible reputation, there were a few other people who stood out.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, most of the participants that came from a clan were beaten by a commoner. It seems that there were still very many undiscovered talents among the commoners.
One of the people that were noticed amongst the forty present was Liu Yang, who was part of the Liu clan.
He beat his opponent faster than any of the other participants and so he wasn't really noticed until one person pointed out that he was already finished while the other fights were still ongoing.
Consequently, no one knew of his battle prowess. They just knew that he was one of the strong ones.
Another one was Shi He. Despite being a female, she excessively beat up her middle-aged opponent! There were even some people sent to quell her anger.
There was also another female named Zhao Mei, who, despite being timid, managed to beat her opponent with only a few blows.
The only reason why she didn't finish it fast was because she was running away as her opponent was scary in her eyes.
But the one that stood out the most was a commoner teen named Xiao Yu. He had beaten a man five years older than him, and from a clan, at that! What's more, the clan that he belonged to was the Lu clan!
Everyone knew that the Lu clan was previously the fourth major clan, but moved down by one because of the sudden arrival of the Jin clan.
Still, this shouldn't have affected their overall power. So even though the odds were all against him, this Xiao Yu kid still won!
The twenty-year-old man that Xiao Yu fought had enjoyed popularity within his own clan since he was considered as a genius there, being at the Third Level Mark already at such a young age.
But this man was ridiculously beaten by a teen that was five years younger than him, how would he face his fellow clansmen now?
As such, Xiao Yu destroyed this man's reputation and sent it down the gutters.
.....
The first round of fights has concluded, with half of the participants already eliminated. Only twenty-one remained.
This round was considered as the quarter-final for this tournament, and everyone who got through this round would join the ones to go to Red Dragon City.
The elder filled the container with the names that made it to the quarter-final and shook it again. There was still an empty slot that allowed one to advance to the next round immediately.
The first one to get picked would be extremely lucky as they would go straight to Red Dragon City. They didn't need to fight anymore. They could just withdraw right then and there and still go to Red Dragon City.
The elder finished shaking the container and proceeded to put his hand inside it. Once he grasped a piece of paper, he retracted his hand from the container.
The paper was folded up. The elder unfolded it to read the name that was written on the paper. His eyes widened in shock.
The crowd saw the elder's reaction and suspected that the name he picked up was the worst one he could've picked up.
"L..."
As soon as the crowd heard the "L" sound, they all creased their eyebrows and pinched the bridges of their noses simultaneously. They already found out who got the free pass.
"Li Bai gets the free pass."
The elder spoke as if he didn't sleep for a whole week.
"..." Crowd.
While everyone was silent, Li Bai smiled in glee. This heightens the impact for when they find out that I am actually strong. If they delay the reveal a bit more...
The next two were picked up by the elder, announcing their names.
Xiao Yu got paired up with a person from a clan.
Liu Yang got paired up with a person from a clan as well.
Shi He got paired up with another commoner.
Zhao Mei also got paired up with a commoner.
These four were the most popular candidates to be the winner of this tournament.
Li Bai was popular because of something else, his luck. No matter how one may argue about how weak this trash was, there was no denying his luck during the name picking.
The battles concurrently started as every one of the twenty remaining participants went up to their respective stages. Li Bai stayed behind, sitting on a chair leisurely.
The crowd stared at Li Bai in disgust.
"Look at that cocky brat. He was just lucky, once the next round starts, he'll be pummeled to the end of the Earth!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SauceMaster64
SauceMaster64 During the last two weeks, I have read many things.
History's Number One Founder
Library of Heaven's Path
True Martial World
Peerless Martial God
These four I have read were long as heck.
PMG sucked, but it had some nice moments, so much so that I'm going to imitate it
WARNING: it's gonna get a LOT more "fantasy" after this chapter, due to the heavy influence of HN1F and LoHP on me.
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