Chapter 47: Before the Tournament
The two brothers chatted long into the night while eating
the restaurant’s food. Every time Jia Yuan ordered a new dish, however, Dou Di’s
eyes grew bigger. After all, the food was extremely expensive, thousands of
times more expensive than the congee that the two had grown up on.
Watching Jia Yuan pull large fire shards one after another
out of his sleeve made Dou Di feel extremely curious. What exactly had Jia Yuan
done in the last two years to be so rich? Even the vibe Jia Yuan was giving off
was far different from what he remembered of his little brother.
“Hey, little bro. Tell me what went on with you these two
years. How come you’re so rich?”
“Ah...” Jia Yuan hesitated, then said, “A wealthy noble came
by the village and decided to take me as his disciple!”
“Wahhh, so lucky! How strong are you now?”
Jia Yuan leaned close to Dou Di. “If I said I was at the 5th
level of Absorption, would you believe me?”
Dou Di snickered and responded. “If you had such a rich guy
as your teacher, I would’ve been disappointed if you didn’t progress that much.
As for me, I’ve reached the 4th level of Absorption. Hehe, it looks
like us two brothers are rather talented. We both have a fairly good chance to
qualify for the Burning Legion.”
They continued to chat and eat through the evening, only
making their way to an inn at midnight. Dou Di had been prepared to head back to the barracks, which were jam
packed with “Burning Legion Candidates” who like him had been slaves bought by
the Army for the Burning Legion. However, with Jia Yuan’s fortune, renting a
room at the inn for the two brothers was very simple and much more comfortable.
The two of them would spend the days before the tournament
in a leisurely manner, playing around. On the last day before the tournament,
Dou Di suddenly suggested that the two of them spar like they had back at Fire
Hill Village.
“How? I don’t want to show others any of our skills before
the tournament.” Said Jia Yuan. He didn’t really care, as he was completely
confident in being accepted by the Burning Legion, but while Dou Di’s strength
should be good enough to make it into the Burning Legion, it was still not a
guarantee.
“Hmm…” Dou Di thought of a solution. “You’re rich, right? We
can rent a private sparring arena. They have some here so that people can practice
in secret until the tournament starts.”
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“Sure, let’s head over to where they are, and we can see if
we can rent one for an hour or so.”
The two headed over to the area Dou Di had remembered the
private sparring arenas to be, and quickly rented one out. It seemed that most
people were planning to rest in preparation for the start of the tournament tomorrow.
The two brothers each picked up a wooden sword provided in
the arena and rushed toward each other. The two began a complicated dance with
their swords and bodies, flames flying all around the arena. Fortunately, the
walls of the arena were protected by some special means, so they remained
undamaged.
Although Dou Di was fighting with all of his ability, Jia
Yuan actually had to hold himself back a great deal, to the 2nd
level of Absorption.
However, Jia Yuan quickly realized that his calculations of
Dou Di’s strengths were incorrect!
“Big brother, you actually don’t have a low level Song!” Jia
Yuan was happily surprised.
“Haha, that’s right! They said that my talent was rather
superb so they actually granted me one of the five medium level scrolls they
had.” Dou Di proudly bragged.
“Hmph, so what?” Jia Yuan felt his competitiveness grow and
increased his strength to the 3rd level of Absorption, and for the
first time since the two boys had begun sparring, Jia Yuan had a clear
advantage.
“What???” Dou Di was extremely surprised. “How are you
overpowering me so easily? Do you have a medium or high level Song?”
“Hehe. Your little brother is more impressive than you
thought, hm?” Jia Yuan avoided telling Dou Di about his Song, choosing to gloat
instead. Since this was in line with how Jia Yuan used to behave, Dou Di didn’t
feel any suspicions toward it.
Soon after, Jia Yuan easily overpowered Dou Di and took the
victory in the match.
“Ahhh… looks like after these two years of being apart, you
really have surpassed me. Time sure flies huh.”
“Yeah…”
“Alright, we should rest in preparation for the tournament
tomorrow. Let’s head back to that inn.”
The two brothers headed back toward the inn and rested. Dou
Di slept on the bed, while Jia Yuan spent his time meditating.
After meditating for a few hours, Jia Yuan’s mind and body
were in harmony. He opened his eyes, and his gaze was filled with
determination.
The next step to
becoming the strongest in the world starts tomorrow!