"CHEN! CHEN, WHERE ARE YOU?!" The overweight Hu was sweating rivers as if he had already had a battle. Things were not going the way he planned at all! The Frey clan ants were one thing, but he could not touch those 2 beings from the super sects. Why were those people here?!
"Master?" The slim form of Chen appeared out of a shadow and bowed to the panicking fool he served. His network of men already painted things into a bad corner in several ways. The revelation of the 3rd Princess seemed minor compared to the existence of the 2 experts from the super sects. The bloodshot eyes looked at him in rage.
"What am I paying you for?! Get rid of those people right now!!" Hu's request was beyond idiotic. Even if Chen had some trump card to play, only a brain dead fool would even think of interfering in whatever business brought the 2 representatives here. Further, Chen had confirmed at least 1 World Realm each in the audience watching over them. There was no move he could conceive to fulfill this order. Thankfully, he did not need to.
"I cannot do anything to them, my Lord. I can, however, alter the final round a bit. There will be no clues leading back to us but suspicion will be rife. Is that acceptable?" Chen was holding to his oath. He had already taken further steps as the tournament unfolded to protect his subordinates. There was nothing he could do to protect the fat fool in front of him. Hu had dug both their graves today.
"Fine! Fine, just do it already!" Hu was clearly not thinking clearly anymore. Chen did not care as he faded into the shadows once again. The slim man had only been gone a moment before an official came around the corner.
"My Lord Hu, it is time to enter the ring. The final 10 will begin shortly." Hu was unstable but he still had his goals in mind for this tournament. Chen would resolve the issue as he had done so many times before. A few pills were popped into Hu's mouth to stabilize his cultivation. His foundation was so shaky that mid-grade 2 pills did not seem to help much anymore. He would have to get his father to buy higher tier pills from the Emperor. It never occurred to him that even grade 3 pills would not be able to resolve his shoddy cultivation.
The shadows moved in the background once more in the tournament.
****
"What is this?!" The 3rd Princess shattered the chair she was sitting in with her aura. It was never designed to withstand an Iron tier World Realm. Even though she was in the middle of the tier, it was more than enough to crush the VIP materials of the Southern District. The officials here would never expect a World Realm above Stone Tier to visit this backwater place.
Silvia shared her ward's rage. The final 10 had been displayed via a formation but the layout was clearly lopsided. It remained single elimination but it was not straight duels. Instead, it was weighted were the first duel would decide last place and the winner would progress to the next round. This was clearly exciting but a massive disadvantage for the first pair. One of which was the young 3rd Tier, Lind.
"I do not expect to win this way, highness, and we both know why this is. Look at the next to last name." Both looked and saw Hu was in the next to last round. The Young Mistress of Gu Clan was the last to fight. His plan became clear. The coward was afraid of the super sects!
The first pair was Lind and Solon. Assuming that fight unfolded the way everyone expected, Solon would go on to fight Shoti immediately. Regardless, one of them would be eliminated and the remaining one would have to fight through the best of this tournament before reaching Hu. If there was any doubt that rigging was going on, even the dullest person should be aware of it now.
Even so, no one could oppose the son of the Overseer. The final fate of the current Overseer was sealed as of this moment as the 3rd Princess was shaking in rage. The wards of the VIP room were straining to contain her aura. Silvian put her pale hand on the Princess' back and the aura slowly retracted.
"I want every avenue of escape sealed off. I want any underling of this bastard secured before the tournament ends. Go now!" Rage laced words sent Silvia on her way. She knew staying to watch this farce was no longer worth either of their time but the Princess would stay hidden until it was too late for any fools to run.
Leaving the Princess to cool off, Silvia sent up a prayer to the spirits to watch over the promising 6 elemental. Hopefully, the overt cheating would let people see his worth despite his likely short destiny as a cultivator.
****
Powder flew as Garnt and the Grand Master shattered the railing in front of them. No one even glanced as booing and rage was possessing the crowd. This was not what the tournament was about. While seeing Shoti and Solon fight was inevitable, a large swath of the crowd was cheering for the underdog. They had come to love Lind as the tournament moved forward. He had become their avatar in this tournament.
"Grand Master, I may need to leave the clan after I kill that bastard!" Garnt felt rage like he had never known he was capable. It was his belief that this was merely an attempt to satisfy Lind's ego, but the blatant cheating had gone too far! Did this bastard have no honor at all? How could an Overseer that had seemed quite competent raise such a useless son?!
"Get in line, Garnt. I suspect if little Mira or Yue learn of this, we would be in a race to get to Hu." No one in their vicinity responded to the threats to the Overseer's son. The administrators were flush with shame but it was already done. They could not back out now.
The ring had been opened up back to a single space with 3 judges spaced equally apart. However, they made a concession looking at the first competitors. Solon was ready to go, but Lind was clearly still recovering from his last battle.
"There will be a break until competitor Lind is at peak condition. Please take this time to get food or place additional bets." This mollified the crowd somewhat as Lind resumed meditating and consumed another pill to speed up his recovery. The other 8 competitors that had battled through the tournament looked with respect at the boy.
None who had witnessed his battles doubted he was giving it his all. He was not making declarations of arrogance nor simply trying to prove himself the best. He was clearly driven by something crucial and this farce of a tournament should not be the venue to announce himself to the world.
The boos of the crowd surged as a rotund man finally took his place in the waiting sands outside the ring. He was strangely smirking as if he had already bagged the tournament before the finals concluded. The many battles had been swift to get to the semifinals, but even the most easily defeated competitor had put forth their effort and blood.
The arena shook with the displeasure of the crowd, yet the source of it all simply stood in his seeded place and smirked at all around him. It was as if the fat man could not conceive of any consequences for his actions that were not in his total control.
The pressure near Lind suddenly changed subtly. He had simply been recovering before but a surge of Qi suddenly rose around him as he broke through. It was smooth and without flaw to the eyes of the powerful experts. It was no longer a recovery but a breath through to the next tier!
A strange emerald glow flared for a moment that only the sharp eyed could see before the influx of Qi calmed and fetid breath was exhaled by Lind. His dark green eyes snapped open and looked around at the arena. It was clear he had been focused on his cultivation in those moments.
The crowd began to roar in encouragement as Lind moved up to the ring and waited for his first opponent. As Solon ascended from the competitor holding area, Lind saw Hu for the first time. His dark green eyes flashed with rage that were full of killing intent.
It was only a glance, but Hu felt a shiver in his spine but could not place where it came from. The rotund body began to sweat again as he pulled another pill out to calm his nerves. Most cultivators would use pills sparingly, but Hu had forced all of his cultivation by pills so he could indulge his vices even more.
Lind steadied his heart before looking at Solon with a solemn look. Before he could reach his target, he had to overcome the high wall of his next 2 opponents. Even if that was accomplished, he was unsure if he could get through the ones after that.
A cheater had set the world against him, but Lind would not stop. He had made a vow and only death or crippling would stop him.