“Those Heavenly Angels are pretty interesting, don’t you think?” Gong Jun gave a small smile.

  They were the group that knocked Tang out during the second test and stole his goodies. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he held quite the little grudge against them for ganging up on him. In Jun’s mind, it was more of the fact that all of them were so strong but still ganged up on him to steal his collected treasure. He didn’t stand a chance against them, which pissed him off something terrible. The week before the final test, Tang put himself through hell against 3rd Senior, Chao.

  Little Tang’s anger didn’t fade in the slightest as the angels were knocked out one by one in unusual ways. Attacking teammates, accidentally killing their opponents, and sometimes just not even taking the match seriously enough. Jun was rather amused to see such talented peers. Perhaps if it wasn’t for this tournament, he never would’ve taken notice of them. He looked forward to getting to know them in the future. Along with knocking out Little Tang, they also knocked out his fiancée during the second test. Maybe if she saw Fu Kang’s loss against him, she might’ve run away.

“Hmph.” Tang didn’t bother humoring Jun.

  The fool was simply looking to mess with his nerves before his match. Tang disliked this tournament’s style immensely. Teamwork? Cooperation? Working with his lessers as if they were equals? All of it heavily pressed against everything Tang was taught growing up in the world and he hated the feeling. It wasn’t comfortable doing something he wasn’t used to.

  Everyone knew that talent was everything. What was the point of this strange tournament in the first place? While Tang could still show his superiority and talent in comparison to his teammates, it didn’t feel as good if he was doing it alone. It felt like he was latched on by two blood-thirsty leeches!

“Good luck Little Tang. If you’re lucky, you might face Hu Tao’s woman in the finals.” Gong Jun waved.

“Hmph. You should watch out for yourself, idiot. You’re not safe either.” Tang huffed as he walked to the ring with his leeches.

“I think I'll be a bit luckier than you, Junior Brother.” Gong Jun looked at Xiucai from a distance. ‘Fighting an apprentice of a disciple doesn’t seem that challenging. I’m interested in seeing just how far that masked disciple can push me.’

…

“Do what’s expected.” Were Tang’s only words to his two teammates.

“Yes!” They replied promptly.

  After seeing Tang Wuying’s overwhelming talent in their first match, the two of them did everything they could to support his power in the match. Leech #1 even took up the bow when he was just a humble spellmaster. Leech #2 relied on his tamed spirit beasts to provide distractions while Tang cleaned up their enemies.

  The match started and their opponents huddled up together as Tang slowly walked toward them with his giant boomerang still attached to his back. Leech #1 wrapped talisman spells on his arrows before firing them toward the stationary group. Leech #2 sent his carnivorous group of spirit beasts forward. Tang watched it all, waiting to see how his enemies would respond.

  The arrows arrived first. They cut them down as they came but soon realized that simply blocking them wasn’t a feasible strategy. After the arrows were cut, the spells still activated! Fire combusted, lightning shocked, and ice froze. The enemy trio was forced into splitting up, lest they continue to bring harm to themselves. The mixed group of man-eating spirit beasts were more than happy to see this as they chased after the lone cultivators.

“Looks like they’re finished.” An audience member commented.

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“Yep. They lost once they were overwhelmed by Tang’s teammates.”

“They lost one they were put up against Rising Dragon Tang in the first place.”

  Even the elders saw the conclusion of this match coming soon. Tang soon disappeared from the sight of most once his enemies split up. A punch here, a kick there, and a slam into the ground over there, and the match was finished! All three opponents were knocked out instantly and the referee called the match. Tang’s team won with no elders thinking otherwise.

  Then it was Gong Jun’s turn. Just like he guessed, he was facing off against Xiucai from Heaven’s Angels. He had a feeling the matches were rigged against Heavenly Angels for some reason. Well, that was no reason for him to let his guard down. If he lost before Little Tang, where was he going to put his face as his Senior Brother?

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“Learn as much as you can.” Jing shared words with the little assassin.

“...” Xiucai now felt terribly anxious about this match after hearing those words from Jing of all people.

“I’ll pray for you...” Lin Shu also realized that Xiucai’s opponent might be much for him if Jing told him that.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be here ready to fix any injuries you get!” He Wenqing clutched his fist in a show of support.

“She didn’t say he was going to lose, right?” Bing was confused.

“It’s going to be a difficult match for sure.” Lei Zhi could see the dense amount of qi within Gong Jun. “But the size of one’s qi doesn’t determine everything. Don’t forget, the focus on this tournament is teamwork and cooperation.” Zhi reminded him.

“Yes...” Xiucai nodded toward his master and headed to the ring.

  Jing wondered what her angels got up to during the second test. Unlike Tang, Gong didn’t harbor any dislike or killing intent toward them. Either they slighted Tang and not Gong or they must be the reason why she couldn’t find any sign of Fu Kang or Liu Lan in the tournament or the week before the tournament. Did they serve them up on a silver platter for him or did he just get lucky?

  Oh well, it doesn’t matter all that much. While Tang and Jun’s uses have been severely reduced ever since her 10,000 lives, Jing didn’t plan to throw them away. Being wasteful is not a trait she planned to have nor ever had. Jing's alter ego, Lucky, has them in her clutches quite tightly.

  As Xiucai is now, he can’t win against Jun. Jun has had months with the gift she gave him. Xiucai has barely a month under Lei Zhi’s tutelage. Even with the help of his spirit beast, a good showing should be all that he’s capable of. Hopefully, Jun will be a good sport. Jie’s fight against Tang will be rather interesting. She’s even more of a noble compared to Tang’s background. Her time in the group has mellowed her out quite a bit but at her roots, she was a noble for sure. Jie must be itching to show the results of the training Jing put her through before the tournament.

  So far, Jie hasn’t been pushed at all in the tournament and neither has Tang. Jing couldn’t quite guess who would win in their fight. Tang has had her refined weapon in his hands since the start of his time at the sect. Months of time training and honing his mastery of its power and how to wield it. Jie had no time to learn to comfortable use her refined weapon just some martial arts. She’ll have to put out all the stops if she wants to win this one. Tang has too many advantages over her.

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“Don’t think you’ll be able to show off this time masked kid.” Chu Hua stood over him.

“...” Xiucai didn’t look up at her but ignored her.

  She bit her bottom lip in furious hatred. This commoner dared ignore her!? She was a part of the famous Chu Clan and planned to show the talent of one with the blood of the Chu proudly flowing through her veins! He was nothing more than a doctor’s apprentice but found the nerve to treat her like air?!

“You!” Chu Hua snatched him by his collar and held him up off of the ground and stared into his eyes.

  As she was about to threaten him and go on and off about her clan, Hua suddenly found her tongue stuck in her throat as she got lost in Xiucai’s sparkling golden eyes. She didn’t notice the index finger pressed to her throat as her heart started to ramp up in speed for reasons she didn’t know. Chu Bolin did on the other hand. His spear was pressed to the back on the little assassin.

“Don’t even think about it.” Bolin threatened, killing intent harshly pressing down on Xiucai.

“Down.” Xiucai spoke to the now dazed girl holding him up.

  Chu Hua coughed as she placed him down, finally returning back to the land of reality. She fixed his outfit, patted any dust on him off, and stepped back away from him with her face a little bit red.

“I apologize for my rude actions. I’m going to make it up to you after the tournament at that new shop.” Chu Hua’s entire demeanor seems to have changed.

“...” Xiucai didn’t know what to think.

“...” Chu Bolin was suddenly reminded his Young Miss was still a young girl despite her impressive height. She could still get crushes on boys!