Xie Qingyi went to assist Fang Yuan with the experimental project of the Mega Evolution Stone Detector, and the date had reached July 8th.
This day wasn't any special occasion; it was merely the day the fifth Fang Yuan Tournament, hosted by Fang Yuan, was set to take place.
The venue for the competition was located behind the Fang Yuan Institute.
At this point, all the contestants had put their best into ten days of intense training and had tuned their condition to its peak.
Eevee hopped onto a rock, surveying the environment, then grew anxious, fearing that the ultimate combination skill it was about to showcase would level the place.
The Self-detonating Magnetic Monster floated in the sky, nodding calmly to the cheers and support of two Gear children. Recognizing their own lack of strength, the Gears chose not to participate this time and instead served as cheerleaders for the Self-detonating Magnetic Monster from the stands of the audience.
Similarly, there was Ditto. Despite possibly being the strongest in the junior group, it couldn't even outdo the weakest team member, Venusaur. Competing seemed rather pointless, and it would likely get more enjoyment watching Brother Monkey's heroic stance from the spectator seats.
Of course, the arrogant Monferno, although thrilled that Ditto was willing to shout and cheer for it, still admonished Ditto to keep a low profile. After all, victory wasn't achieved by shouting but by proving oneself through results.
Bang!
Monferno clashed its fists together, eyes sweeping over every opponent. Although the first round was a performance contest, not a battle, it was destined not to be peaceful...
The confrontation between the harmony of combination skills was undoubtedly an unseen battle.
"Koje!!"
Elsewhere, Glutton sat on the ground, gobbling food up more ferociously as the competition drew near, as if afraid it wouldn't have the strength to perform later. At this moment, Glutton really was nervous, with the tournament not allowing Mega Evolution, its advantage seemed to have vanished.
Dragonite and Milotic were also conserving their strength. Worth mentioning is that these past few days Dragonite suffered happily because the Super Qixi Blue Bird had seemingly become besties with Milotic. As for Dragonite itself, often being the sparring partner of the Qixi Blue Bird, it found itself in a dilemma, unsure whether to hold back or go all out during their bouts.
Dragonite could only lament that being a male was tiresome and wished it could become a carefree Magikarp.
For this Fang Yuan Tournament, there were a total of seven participating Pokemon.
As the seventh main player, Venusaur naturally signed up for the competition. At the moment, it basked in the sun, meditating with its eyes closed, its body exuding a sharp aura.
Finally having broken away from the junior group, it did not aspire for advancement but hoped to rank in the top six during the preliminaries. It aimed simply not to be last.
For this, it had specially prepared a Great Move...
Eevee, Self-detonating Magnetic Monster, Monferno, Gengar, Milotic, Dragonite, and Venusaur, these were the Pokemon contestants in this edition of the Fang Yuan Tournament.
...
Where there were contestants, naturally, there would be a panel of judges.
Three individuals were responsible for judging.
Darkrai, the Nightmare God, a smartphone Rotom, and Fang Yuan.
The three judges represented three categories: Pokemon, technology, and humans.
Darkrai judged from the perspective of Pokemon, and with its power, assessing the merits of the Pokemon's combination skills wasn't too difficult.
Originally, Fang Yuan wanted to ask Ninetales Luo Ke or Gengar to be judges, but upon comparison, Darkrai was more suitable since it was strong enough.
Although the smartphone Rotom wasn't very powerful, its theoretical knowledge and horizons were solid—something Darkrai couldn't match. It would score the Pokemon contestants' combination skills from a relatively fair and professional standpoint.
As for Fang Yuan, naturally, he would judge the performances from the standpoint of human aesthetics as well as that of a Trainer and Breeder. This judging panel format was also what Fang Yuan hoped could be promoted in the Grand Spectacle.
In global contests, there are visits by Phantom Elves, so why couldn't Grand Spectacles have Pokemon judges?
Pokemon, intelligent technology, and humans, having these three entities comprise the judging panel was the format Fang Yuan wished to see in future Grand Spectacles.
All the Pokemon were warming up when Darkrai and Luo Ke arrived. Darkrai and Luo Ke are actually quite similar; one uses "Dreamland" to train Fossil Spirits, the other uses dreamland to train Rock Puppy, which are some of their few pleasures.
Luo Ke was fine as he only needed to train Rock Puppy recently, but Darkrai was busier. After acquiring the Fossil Spirits, it completely forgot about Fang Yuan, not visiting the Fang Yuan Institute for days and staying in the Fossil Reserve with the Fossil Spirits, making Fang Yuan internally curse it as a "jerk."
"It seems like they have become much stronger."
After arriving, Darkrai observed Pokemon like Eevee, Self-detonating Magnetic Monster, Glutton, and Venusaur and immediately said.
"Indeed," Fang Yuan smiled and said, "They have been working quite hard during this period."
"It looks like the rewards for this competition are quite good," Luo Ke said pointedly.
"That's only one of the reasons. Soon after, there's an even bigger challenge waiting for me, and they are mostly preparing for that challenge."
Fang Yuan spoke, so in fact, the purpose of this competition included letting Eevee and the others develop new one-hit kill techniques.
After all, their trump cards had almost all been revealed in the World Tournament, and Eevee and the others urgently needed new ones.
With their current strength, developing new trump cards was as simple as finding an opportunity, and that opportunity was the grand Fang Yuan competition in the style of a splendid contest.
Fang Yuan never engaged in meaningless endeavors; by holding the Fang Yuan competition, he was preparing for another matter.
"Challenge? Do you need my help?" asked Darkrai.
"No thanks, I want to try relying on our own strength," Fang Yuan said.
"Is there another competition?" Luo Ke inquired curiously.
What competition could there be, worth Fang Yuan preparing for it like this, after the World Tournament?
The King's Tournament? Impossible.
"The president of the Trainer Association invited me to become one of the Twelve Branches," Fang Yuan said. "The Twelve Branches are the peak representatives from various domains in Hua Nation, including battle, breeding, research, and more."
"If I become one of the Twelve Branches as a Researcher, I suppose it wouldn't be difficult, and I'd likely pass the General Headquarters Staff evaluation with ease."
"But rather than becoming one of the Twelve Branches that way, I want to try if I can become one based on battling ability. Of course, with my current strength, I imagine it's going to be challenging, but even if I don't make it, I'll still get to know how far I am from a true member of the Twelve Branches and take the opportunity to hone my skills."
The Road of Champions!
To become one of the Twelve Branches based on battling ability, the most basic requirement is to pass the Road of Champions.
The Road of Champions refers to the location originally used for the World Tournament reserve selection. There is a rugged mountain range that gathers ten well-known masters whose strength ranks in the top 50 in the nation, every time the Twelve Branches examination begins. Each one probably has strength not inferior to that of Ye Hui or Master Jiang Liu.
That is to say, each Gatekeeper has at least one Pokemon raised to the pinnacle of its species' potential.
Challengers need to defeat ten people consecutively, going through checkpoints, to reach the peak of the mountain to qualify as one of the Twelve Branches.
As far as Fang Yuan knows, this is a rule that has only appeared in the past decade or so, and since its implementation, no new Trainer who became one of the Twelve Branches through battle prowess has emerged.
Battle God Fu Hei is known as such because he's the first Trainer to conquer the Road of Champions in recent years, and as a result, he is a candidate for the Twelve Branches.
Even the existing member of the Twelve Branches, Three-Star Grandmaster, has to acknowledge his strength.
It can be said that attempting to become one of the Twelve Branches with battling prowess, meets a primary requirement that could stump countless people.
Of course, becoming one of the Twelve Branches through research ability has equally stringent conditions. A normal person striving to achieve what Fang Yuan has in research might find it more difficult than breeding a Guardian God level spirit.
Fang Yuan himself isn't confident in being able to pass ten consecutive challenges, and even passing one would be highly difficult, but regardless of the motive, the challenge is worth attempting.
Perhaps, through the act of challenging, the Mysterious elf egg may even hatch.