"Zhao Qi, what happened to your participant?" Lu Wil asked.
"I don't know, that idiot was supposed to arrive more than two weeks ago, but he is nowhere to be seen!" Zhao Qi said angrily.
"I see, then why are you here?"
"Isn't it obvious? If I was not here, they would think I ran away. Of course, I have to be here to show that I didn't run. My name was on the line here!" Zhao Qi said annoyingly. Anger was a cloth of his eyes right now.
"It seems that the participant from Young Master Zhao Qi is nowhere to be seen, that's why I am declaring Nao Ko as the winner!"
"Once I find that bandit, I will chop him into pieces!" Zhao Qi muttered.
"The next battle involves Kang Shu from the Kang Clan and Ching Laki from the Kan clan. Participants, please appear on the stage!"
A man who seemed to be in his forties appeared on the stage with a hound. It was a Rank 4 Earth Hound.
From the other side came a woman. She had a Ling. It had a shape like a monkey but with no tail. Its face was like a bird and had a red round mark in between its eyes.
This time, Ryu Tae didn't announce their names. However, nobody said anything to him.
"Begin!" After saying this, he didn't jump down the stage.
Instead, he stood right in the middle.
Nobody said anything and the battle began.
The hound jumped down and disappeared into the ground.
The ling began jumping wildly. This ling wouldn't get tired even if it kept on jumping for an entire day.
The hound jumped out and tried to bite the ling, but it missed. The ling managed to avoid it by jumping. After that, it landed on the hound's back and tightened its arms around the hound's neck.
The hound began to move around crazily. It jumped, ran, and even tried to roll around but the ling didn't let of its neck.
After that, the ling bit and severed a piece of flesh from the hound's neck with its beak.
It barked and growled in pain.
It could disappear into the ground, but not bypass the flesh. So, the ling's arms were hindering it from entering the ground.
After a while, it began to run around wildly.
"Impressive, impressive indeed,"
Ryu Tae muttered. He seemed interested in something.
"What's happening? Did he get impressed by something so small?" Someone among the crowd muttered.
"I don't know; Ryu Tae is someone to be impressed by something so small, though."
"Yeah, anyone with a little bit of intelligence would hinder this hound's sinking ability first, just like this woman did."
The dog ran wildly, seemingly in a lot of pain. Even though the cultivator was trying to heal it with his methods, the injuries from the ling's beak kept on increasing.
"Darn, what is she doing? Can't she see what's happening?!"
Kang Shu muttered with a frown. He had red-colored eyes and a turned-up nose. His skin was black. He wore a blue-colored Shenyi and wore a purple-colored sash. His hair was curly and extended to his shoulders.
On the other hand, Ryu Tae, sensing something, opened his hand and a line appeared in his hand that was circles around it. It floated in his hand, expanding to the size of one foot.
"You fool, stop it! Make your ling release the hound!" Kang Shu shouted.
But, even though it was a very loud shout, it couldn't reach the woman. The reason was that a barrier had appeared around the stage.
Ryu Tae swung his hand and air pressure was released in a certain direction. It didn't do anything to the woman and went past her. It also avoided the crowd and bypassed the gaps before finally reaching Kang Shu.
Kang Shu was sent flying. Nothing moves except for Kang Shu, not even the chair he was sitting on, not even a single grain of dust. No wonder he stood right in the middle of the stage even after the battle began. He had extreme control over his methods.
After that, he didn't even say anything except to give Kang Shu a single look.
It's no surprise that nobody said anything loudly and mostly kept quiet.
They are called Overwatchers for a reason: Yang Zhai muttered.
The hound's beak was powerful enough to shatter even a metal blade of the same rank, making it a deadly force. Not only was it fast, but it could also bite the hound and tear away pieces of flesh eight to nine times per minute — a relentless assault. It was doing just that.
However, the woman's expression turned grave.
"Release it!" She shouted.
But, it was too late.
The hound had flipped over and was in the midst of falling, not toward the stage but beyond its edge, toward the ground below. And on its back was the ling.
The ling released its grip on the hound's neck, but it couldn't move to the side or above in time. It crashed into the ground and skidded across the surface, with the hound landing on top of it during the commotion.
"With this, Ong Ang takes the stage!" Ryu Tae announced.
Kang Shu looked at the woman with clenched fists. He was an intelligent man, so he didn't even look at Ryu Tae. Ryu Tae was an Overwatcher and could examine his every move. So, he avoided making an enemy out of an Overwatcher.
Even though he couldn't kill anyone in the Eroh Domain, Kang Shu still didn't want to. In fact, nobody would dare to kill even a mortal in the Eroh Domain, if anyone did, they wouldn't be able to leave this domain, and even if they did, they would be chased.
If they allowed anyone to kill in their domain, then nobody would fear them and would do as they pleased in this domain.
"No wonder Ryu Tae was impressed. While acting as if it was in pain and running randomly, the hound slowly moved closer to the edge and jumped out. This was a really impressive plan. Even I am impressed. Ryu Tae for sure is an Overwatcher!" A man said with a gasp.
"Next, Tzu Yu. Do you know who he is representing? You would be surprised. It's the young miss of the Eroh Domain, Yue Qing herself!"
This left everyone surprised.
…..
"What do you mean?"
Yue Qing knew Biu Le said it in some other meaning, not because Tzu Yu was just a rank 4 cultivator.
"You know what I mean. It's simple, are you sure you don't want to run to your mother's clan instead of competing in this competition?" Biu Le said.
She looked like she was around twenty-three. She wore a necklace. But… When Yang Zhai saw this, even though there was no change in his expression, he basically frowned.
Is it… the Bloody Lake Necklace?: he thought.
Biu Le noticed Yang Zhai's look and asked,
"So, you are the one Yue Qing is betting her freedom on. I wonder what she saw in you. Anyways, why don't you just stop this? Even if you win a few rounds, you will definitely lose as there would be many strong Mastery Path cultivators stronger than you."
Yang Zhai didn't say anything.
"Sigh, whatever…" She sighed and sat on a chair.
She had teal-colored hair. Around twenty percent of her hair from the ends was scarlet. Her eyes were teal as well with a tint of red in them. She had monolid eyes. Her hair flowed like a wave, upswept and reaching down to her knees, secured by a straight teal-colored hairpin.
She wore a white colored Ruqun and also wore teal and scarlet colored bangles on her right hand. She was barefoot and wore thin anklets on her feet, each having a green rhombus-colored gem at the front of both anklets.
Her skin was very fair, like snow. The necklace she wore was thin as well and had a rhombus-shaped gem in it that was about one inch.
The sleeves of her Ruqun had small transparent dot-like crystals at the edges. A thin teal-colored like could be seen circling around her sleeves.
Her beauty rivaled Yue Qing.
Yang Zhai diverted his eyes away from Biu Le's necklace to not let others get suspicious of him.
"Father, shall we begin the banquet?" She said.
!|!*****!*****!|!