Unlike the three first in the deadlock, Venerable Mianhua and Elder Shou were experts at internal styles because the former specialised in it, and the latter was too old to be trading with younger pugilists. Fighting the way Yu Feiyuan, Lie Shang and Young Master Ling did was impossible for them.
Although Venerable Mianhua and Elder Shou didn’t create abrupt, drastic changes in speed, the more internal energy they added, the more the other three had resist. As such, the gushing true qi grew easier and easier to stabilise.
To put it into perspective, the trio were filling up a pool with water, and said pool had a limit that would inexorably be exceeded. Venerable Mianhua, focusing on stability, and Elder Shou, focusing on balance, spawned a vortex in the pool of still water.
Huofeng and company could feel their feet sliding toward the centre of the vortex, let alone Zha Pi. Xiao Huangquan grabbed Zha Pi and face palmed himself: “I knew it. Now that those two have crashed the party, no living organism not eager to test their mortality would try approaching.”
“What shall we do, Elder?” queried Huofeng.
“Mm… Don’t fret yet. Despite the force of the tornado, it’s stationary. That’s not a ticket for you to carelessly move, though. None of them has what it takes to control the ball of energy at this point. If we poke it thoughtlessly, thus moving it, then we can only say our prayers.”
Su Xiao swiped his nose upon feeling a tickle: “I think it’s raining.”
“Oh… no…”
The amicable sky suddenly grumbled and poured down as though it wanted to sink the island – though it was unable to invade the pool of energy revolving at breakneck speed.
“The worst has come! The worst has come!” exclaimed Xiao Huangquan.
The five in the deadlock were too focused to know or care for any rain.
The tornado didn’t discriminate against them – or anyone else.
***
On the east end of Dragonroot Island, Jia Tiankui, Nine Heavens’ Solo Challenger, released his coarse hands on an escort he slept: “Escort? Keeping track of our location to inform other escorts, you’re just worried we won’t decide the winners in three days, aren’t you? You want us to slave away for Luo Clan?”
Dozens of Beggars Sect disciples came out from hiding in the bushes and genuflected before one of Beggars Sect’s elders, White Tiger Elder. “We are at your service, Elder Jia.”
“You’re all here?”
“There are fifty-three of us here. Another twenty comrades are on scouting missions.”
“Good. Luo Ming wants us to kill each other, but he fears our numbers, so he came up with this idea to handicap us. He must on something if he thinks our thousands upon thousands of members can’t do anything about him.
“We are here to find Young Master, not to tussle with Luo Ming. If you encounter people from Luo Sword Manor, do your best to not engage them. If we hurt them, it’ll be tough to bargain for our captured brothers. As for Luo Ming, he’s gone and made an enemy out of so many people that someone will serve him his penance on our behalf.”
When Four Seasons Formation fell, Jia Tiankui smuggled in five hundred Beggars Sect disciples and ordered them to hide out on the various islands. A number of them were detained; however, plenty slipped away. Evading Luo Clan on Dragonroot Island was even simpler as there were no formations on the island.
“Yes, Elder.”
“Let’s wait for our scouts, then…” Jia Tiankui felt a qi tornado coming from the direction their scouts were in tickle his skin. Some leaves lost their grip on their branches. “What the heck is that?”
***
“Hehehe, our plan is flawless. We escort them to each other as ‘Luo Clan’s escorts’, and then we finish them after they’re tired.”
“They’re all imbeciles. How can they not tell? How stupid do you need to be to not see that the bamboo hat escorts are the most volatile role in the early stages of the competition? Luo Ming’s idea is so easy to leverage to our advantage. Stupid orthodox sects, hohoho. Calling us unorthodox sects doesn’t do our genius justice.”
The men gathered on Flying Fish Island, dressed identically to Luo Clan’s escorts, suddenly felt a wild wind blow them off balance.
“Wh-what’s with this wind?”
“Oi, oi, look up!”
A ten metre tall, revolving column was edging their way.
“What the hell is that?!
***
After slitting the throats of three men without scruple, the leader of the masked group on Flying Swallow Island used a hand code to deliver news of their victory to the escort nearby.
“There is irrefutable proof that Cloud Black Sword Sect attempted to escape. They have been executed.”
The team attired in black and hiding their faces was Luo Clan’s extermination squad that was sent in to eliminate anyone trying to sabotage the event.
“Captain, Miss warned us against killing Mount Daluo’s team and to protect them if they are in danger. Do you…”
Luo Wunan, one of Luo Clan’s elites known of his buff physique and Luo Mingzhu’s uncle, replied. “In that case, we’ll lend a hand if the opportunity presents itself.”
The team felt a weight lifted off their shoulders when they saw their captain crack a smile. It was a good thing for being too tense only slows one down.
“Wait…”
“What is it, Captain?”
“There’s a big fight taking place nearby between one, two… five, six… seven… When did such a big fight break out? Why was there no report?”
“W-wait, Captain, wh-what is that up there?”
***
“Young Master! Young Master!”
Already irate over being grounded, Luo Siming yanked his door and erupted. “Where are your manners, slamming on the door?! I’m grounded. I can’t leave for the next three days! Are you disregarding Patriarch?!
The typically decorous man from the swordplay department elucidated, “I apologise, Young Master, but… but we have trouble. We cannot reach Patriarch at the moment because he has secluded himself, so we have no choice but to consult you. Refining Divine…”
“Refining Divine? … Okay, tell me what happened. Is there not enough fighting?”
“N-no, there are a lot of physical altercations.”
“What are you panicking for, then?”
“Acc-according to our people on the island, there are only half of the one hundred and eight sects remaining for some reason.”
“Only half? It’s only been a day.” Luo Siming kneaded his forehead then instructed, “There must’ve been an accident. Send our team out. If anything is out of the ordinary, have them quell the disturbance.”
The man bit down on his lips, but there was nothing he could do about his shaking body. “W-we have lost contact with all of our teams… They may already…”
***
“Wh-what is that?” Moyan Xiuluo stopped his feet when he heard trees creaking and dust whipping up into a ten metre column twisting – every soul be damned.
