Chapter 98 : Chapter 98

Chapter 98: The Elite Tournament’s Strange Rankings

Li Mu’s D-grade talent instantly became the center of discussion throughout the entire arena.

Almost everyone was talking about the change in Li Mu’s talent.

And among everyone present, the ones most shocked of all

were the Li Family members who had come to watch Li Xiaohao compete.

At this point, nearly all the adult men of the Li Family were in prison. Aside from Li Xiaohao and a few nephews who had no business dealings with the family, only around a dozen female relatives remained.

Old Madam Ma had grown far too haggard.

She had gone from vigorous old age straight into the twilight of her life.

Now, seeing that Li Mu had actually developed into a D-grade talent,

Old Madam Ma’s feelings were indescribably complicated.

“So this is actually a Growth-Type Talent?”

“And what if it is? It’s only D-grade.”

Li Xiaohao’s mother, Feng Lan, said sourly.

Ever since Li Mu had deliberately targeted Feng Lan last time, Old Madam Ma had given her a vicious scolding as well.

Now, everyone in the family found Feng Lan unpleasant to look at.

Of course, they all knew that Li Mu had been deliberately sowing discord.

But the fact that Feng Lan had a foul mouth was equally true.

If the Li Family had not already been left with no road out and only Li Xiaohao as their sole remaining hope,

Old Madam Ma would have wanted to kill her.

Feng Lan no longer dared to speak carelessly these days, but some habits were impossible to hold back.

Old Madam Ma shot her a fierce glare.

“Only D-grade? Do you even know how rare a Growth-Type Talent is? And I’ve never even heard of one that jumped two whole grades!”

“And all those abilities people outside keep spreading rumors about, the ones Li Mu can’t explain?”

“They may very well have evolved from that Talent Mutation!!”

The Li Family had been keeping a close watch on Li Mu all along.

So when it came to news about him, they were naturally far better informed than the ordinary public.

They had long since heard about Li Mu’s Immobilization Art, Duplication Technique, Transformation Technique, Safe-Haven Method, and the other astonishing mystical abilities he possessed.

They had even been among the first to learn that Li Mu had been promoted to Wolf Guard.

Before this, they had never been able to understand how Li Mu, with an F-grade talent, could possibly be so powerful.

But now, Li Mu’s F-grade talent had jumped two ranks and become D-grade!

As long as one used even a little common sense, a Growth-Type Talent mutating and producing abilities beyond its current grade

was the only reasonable explanation!

After Old Madam Ma finished speaking,

Feng Lan instinctively shrank her neck for a moment, but rage quickly surged up in her again.

Why the hell are you yelling at me, you old hag?

Wasn’t swapping talents your decision?

If anyone should be angry, it should be me. My son clearly can’t bring out the full strength of this S-grade talent, and that’s obviously because the talent doesn’t match him properly.

If my son hadn’t switched talents,

then this Growth-Type Talent would have been his!

As the saying went, a mother and son were of one heart.

At this very moment,

Li Xiaohao was thinking exactly the same thing as his mother.

Listening to the people around him discussing Li Mu,

saying that it was no wonder Li Mu had so many powerful mystical abilities, since his talent turned out to be a Growth-Type Talent,

and that since it had jumped two full grades in one go, was it possible that it could rise even higher?

The moment Li Xiaohao thought of those miraculous abilities Li Mu possessed,

Immobilization Art, Duplication Technique, Transformation Technique...

These were heaven-defying methods that he had never even dared imagine.

Compared to those, Nine Heavens Thunderclap suddenly no longer seemed so impressive!

Li Xiaohao’s eyes turned red!

Damn it!

If the talents had never been switched, then this Growth-Type Talent would have been his.

Those methods, those achievements,

all of them would have been his!

And now that the talent had been switched, he could not even bring out the full strength of this S-grade talent.

That was entirely because this talent was not his to begin with, so it was not sufficiently compatible with his body!

The fire of jealousy instantly swallowed Li Xiaohao whole.

At that moment,

a host appeared on the arena stage.

Holding a microphone, he spoke in a passionate, ringing voice.

“Welcome, everyone, to the Ironhand City Four-District Elite Tournament!”

“Next, let me explain the competition format.”

“The giant screen you are currently looking at shows the initial rankings, which were arranged according to the points from the Abyss First Battle.”

“Our format is a challenge match format.”

“Lower-ranked participants may challenge higher-ranked participants.”

“If the challenger wins, the two sides will swap rankings!”

“Everyone is allowed only two failed challenges. After accumulating two failed challenges, that participant loses the right to challenge again.”

“Everyone must accept at least three challenges. After those three, the challenged participant may decide for themselves whether to accept any further challenges.”

“If the ranking gap is greater than fifty places, the challenged participant may choose to refuse the challenge!”

“In addition, our four district champions each have one special privilege.”

“That is, the district runner-up serves as the champion’s defender. Anyone who wishes to challenge the district champion must first defeat the defender.”

“As for the defender, they may directly challenge the champion. If they succeed, the two sides exchange defender status.”

The format was explained very quickly.

This Elite Tournament was a competition watched by countless people.

It had extremely strong commercial value, and the entire city was paying attention to it.

Trying to play clever little tricks was meaningless. It would only turn someone into a laughingstock cursed by tens of thousands.

From the perspective of the format,

if a lower-ranked person wanted to climb upward, they had to choose their opponent carefully.

As long as they kept winning, and as long as they still had True Qi, they could keep climbing.

But they were only allowed to lose twice.

And at the same time, they had to stay ready for others to challenge them at any moment.

It had to be remembered that among the top one thousand in Ironhand City, aside from the rewards given by the tournament itself,

every few ranks one climbed could potentially bring recruitment offers from major groups and powerful factions. That was something directly tied to one’s personal value.

As for the higher-ranked participants, they had to consider how to deal with at least three challengers as quickly as possible,

so they could conserve their True Qi and use it to challenge those ranked above them.

As for the special privilege granted to the four district champions, most people could just look at it and move on. There were not many blind fools who would go challenge a champion.

“The arenas are divided into seven stages!”

“Any challenge involving the top twenty rankings will take place on the Central Main Arena!”

“All other matches will take place on the six arenas below!”

“Now, all participants, please select your challenge targets. The system will determine match order by lottery!”

“I hereby declare that the Four-District Elite Arena Tournament now begins!!”

As the host shouted those words,

the entire arena erupted.

The cheers shook the heavens and the earth.

Meanwhile, the event staff moved in a circle through the preparation seating and handed an electronic device to every competitor.

After logging in, each participant could use it to select a challenge target, record challenge results, and receive notices when challenged.

Li Mu, Zhang Zhiwei, and Lu Chenfeng all chose not to challenge anyone for the time being.

All of their rankings were within the top ten.

Forget the top ten. Even among the top hundred, very few people were in a hurry to challenge upward.

Because the higher one went, the stronger the opponents became.

If you challenged them,

whether you won or lost, you would most likely consume a great amount of True Qi.

And even if you succeeded, someone else could simply challenge you while still fresh and take your newly won position.

It would only be making wedding clothes for someone else.

So most participants chose to first accept their three mandatory defenses.

Once they reached the limit on being challenged, they could then focus wholeheartedly on climbing upward with full strength.

That way, even if they failed, they would not lose the ranking they currently held.

So during the early stage of the tournament, the central arena was not used at all.

Those six smaller arenas, on the other hand, filled up instantly.

Pairs of opponents began battling at once.

Anyone who had made it into the top one thousand of the First Battle was at minimum at the peak of the Second Grade.

Even those were in the minority. The majority were in the early or middle Third Grade.

By the Third Grade, the techniques and fighting already had an astonishing level of force.

The radiance of True Qi was dazzling, and every clash of weapons sent power flying in all directions.

Around the edge of each arena was a barrier, protecting the audience outside. At the same time, the barrier could also generate an instant gravity field inside the arena to forcibly pause a match.

This was meant, as much as possible, to prevent fatalities.

The speed at which the tournament progressed far exceeded what many had imagined.

Fighting monsters and fighting martial artists were completely different in intensity.

Although monsters were usually stronger than ordinary martial artists, many people had earned their points in the rankings by hunting monsters in teams.

And when working in teams, it was possible to slack off.

Not to mention that monsters generally were not especially intelligent, while martial artists were completely different.

In arena matches, the only thing you could rely on was your own strength.

This Elite Tournament was like a strict filtering process, instantly exposing all those whose true personal strength was lacking.

Only an hour into the tournament, the rankings underwent a complete reshuffle.

Li Xiaohao had originally ranked thirty-first in the Eastern District and one hundred twenty-second in all of Ironhand City.

But unexpectedly, three people challenged him.

And Li Xiaohao actually held them all off, including two who were in the early Third Grade.

As Li Xiaohao’s strength increased, the traits of Nine Heavens Thunderclap had indeed begun to reveal themselves more and more.

Ordinary opponents simply could not withstand his attacks.

Li Xiaohao had somehow learned a defensive cultivation art from who knew where, and he really had become somewhat troublesome to deal with.

At the very least, he counted as a somewhat notable figure, so he drew a certain amount of attention.

But in Li Mu’s eyes, Li Xiaohao was still just a clown.

As long as he managed to win twice in a row and climb high enough to challenge him,

Li Mu would flatten him into a folded shape with a single cudgel strike.

But Li Mu himself remained unmoving the entire time.

He was the Eastern District champion, and Zhang Zhiwei was his defender.

Anyone who wanted to challenge Li Mu had to defeat Zhang Zhiwei first.

Only Zhang Zhiwei could directly challenge Li Mu, but he had no such intention.

As time passed, the competitors within the top two hundred all gradually finished their three defensive matches.

After adjusting their True Qi, they began launching attacks on higher rankings.

At last, the main arena was finally put into use.

The matches there were far more exciting. Brilliant moments appeared one after another, and the atmosphere among the audience quickly reached its peak.

And as the tournament continued,

an interesting change appeared on the ranking board.

Lu Chenfeng was the first to speak.

“This is interesting. Looks like this Golden Scale High School wants to sweep the rankings. They’re pretty arrogant.”

“The next one they’ll definitely challenge is Li One-Cudgel!”