Chapter 293: Choice
Pei Qiu was the first to speak in a deep voice: “Our clan selects Pei Yuanshao.” He knew full well that Pei Yuanshao was the strongest. If he sent a second-strongest to advance directly, the Pei Clan might get two to advance. But Xiahou Ba’s rules were ironclad: non-direct advancers would definitely face Xiahou Clan disciples. How could Pei Qiu take that risk? Pei Yuanshao was the disciple he had high hopes for to reach the finals—what if Xiahou Rongguang blocked him early?
“Our clan selects Cui Baiyu.” Cui Yan had the exact same thinking as Pei Qiu: sending the strongest to randomly face the three from Xiahou Clan was simply too unwise.
Xie Xun naturally had no other choice and said: “Our clan selects Xie Mo.”
Xiahou Ba nodded and looked at Lu Shang: “Old Lu, have you decided?”
“I… our clan…” Lu Shang was extremely conflicted inside. By reason, he should also choose the strongest and let Lu Lin advance directly. But those three had also chosen their own grandsons!
‘In any case, our clan’s goal was just one Top Eight and one Top Sixteen, and we’ve already exceeded that now. Whether Lu Lin or Lu Bai advances won’t affect the big picture…’ Under Xiahou Ba’s urging, Lu Shang gradually lost his composure, and that irrepressible selfish desire took over. He comforted himself in his heart: ‘With so many fierce competitors this time, even if we send Lu Lin to the Top Eight, he absolutely won’t make the Top Four…’
As for Lu Yun, he was already out of his consideration…
“Hurry up and say it—what’s there to hesitate about?” Xie Xun impatiently urged. He wasn’t that ‘friendly’ to everyone…
“Our clan selects…” Sweat appeared on Lu Shang’s forehead. He hesitated, then said in a slightly trembling voice: “Lu Bai…”
“Uh…” The clan leaders were all quite surprised by Lu Shang’s choice. Pei Qiu barely held back from laughing out loud.
Xie Xun wasn’t so polite. He gave Lu Shang a thumbs up and said sarcastically: “Good choice!”
Lu Shang calmed down, his expression serene as he said: “Our Lu Clan’s focus has never been on the martial examination. Thanks to the Grand Tutor’s care, making the Top Eight is already more than enough—how could we be greedy for more?”
“Old Lu, your noble integrity makes us all feel ashamed.” Though he knew full well Lu Shang was just making excuses, Xiahou Ba still gave a lukewarm compliment. But he was actually displeased inside, because according to the military advisor’s scheme, out of fear of the Xiahou Clan, each clan would choose to directly advance their strongest, so the competitors in the three lottery showdown groups would absolutely not be matches for the Xiahou Clan’s three!
That way, the Xiahou Clan’s four could steadily enter the Top Eight, and the other clans would have nothing to say. Even the fairest-looking rules would always benefit the rule-makers the most—that was why everyone wanted to be the boss.
But Lu Shang’s unexpected decision created a slight flaw in Zhu Xiuyi’s perfect plan. Still, Xiahou Ba was only mildly displeased. Lu Lin wasn’t a real threat to the Xiahou Clan’s four like Pei Yuanshao or Cui Baiyu—he didn’t believe those boys would capsize in a gutter.
“Grand Tutor, which disciple from your clan are you selecting?” Only the Xiahou Clan hadn’t named theirs yet, so the crowd respectfully asked.
“Our clan selects Xiahou Rongyao.” Xiahou Ba said flatly.
Pei Qiu and Cui Yan thought to themselves upon hearing this: ‘As expected!’
The cunning old fox Xiahou Ba indeed didn’t choose to directly advance his strongest, Xiahou Rongguang, but the relatively weaker Xiahou Rongyao. If they had been even slightly arrogant and chosen to directly advance their second-strongest, their own strongest might very well be blocked by Xiahou Rongguang this round!
‘Good thing we didn’t fall for it…’ The two secretly wiped their sweat, feeling no small relief.
Now the five direct advancers were set, and the rest was choosing their opponents. The clan leaders naturally went through another round of intense horse-trading, ultimately settling on these five showdowns—no one wanted their direct advancer to face someone from the Xiahou Clan. So, unsurprisingly, all three non-direct Xiahou Clan disciples fell into the lottery’s three groups.
In other words, only these three from the Xiahou Clan had opponents truly drawn by lottery…
.
Laughably, the competing disciples from the various clans, and the clan members watching from the various clans, were still anxious over the lottery results, feeling joy, regret, melancholy, or anticipation for each drawn matchup…
Cui Ninger and Shang Luojia, sitting among the female guests, seemed to have noticed something…
Seeing a mocking smile on Shang Luojia’s lips, Cui Ninger innocently asked: “What’s wrong, Sister Luojia? Is there something wrong with the lottery?”
“Nothing wrong.” Shang Luojia smiled faintly: “I’m just sighing how the clan leaders’ grandsons all have amazingly good luck, one better than the next.”
“Isn’t that normal?” Cui Ninger said matter-of-factly: “Of course the grandsons born to clan leaders are all guys with lucky stars shining high.”
“You make so much sense…” Shang Luojia helplessly gave Cui Ninger a look. Just as she was about to say more, drumbeats rumbled—the competition was about to begin!
The afternoon competition still took place simultaneously on sixteen stages, but clearly, aside from Stage Ten with Mei Ruohua, no more eyes would be on the Loser’s Group chicken pecking each other.
All eyes were focused on the first eight fighting stages—that was where the victors would compete.
However, the crowd sizes for the eight fighting stages varied greatly.
The ones with the most spectators were naturally Stage One with Xiahou Rongguang and Stage Two with Cui Baiyu. Stage Three had the fewest viewers, less than a fifth of the first two stages, and they were almost all from the Xie Clan and Lu Clan…
Because on Stage Three, the showdown was between Xie Mo and Lu Yun. This was recognized as the round’s matchup with the widest strength gap. Though Lu Yun had many fangirls before, they were also the most fickle… They didn’t want to see a crushing defeat and add needless frustration for themselves.
The Xie Clan onlookers below the stage were even more arrogant than ever, smugly taunting the Lu Clan crowd: “What’s the point of fighting? Just concede directly!”
The Lu Clan crowd was stifling internal injuries but had no way to retort. Many quietly left Stage Three to watch Lu Bai and Lu Lin’s matches… Some even preferred watching Lu Song in the chicken pecking over staying here to suffer.
“Sigh, what a disgrace…” Lu Xiang sighed uncomfortably, no matter how Lu Xin tried to console him from the side.
“Grandfather, why do you believe everything they say?” Lu Ying pouted unhappily: “Others don’t have faith in Little Yun, but we can’t be like that too!”
“That’s true, but we have to be realistic…” Lu Xiang said with a bitter old face: “That Xie kid is the strongest of the Xie Clan’s young generation. Little Yun can’t even beat a girl—how can he fight him?”
“Hey, you Lu fellow,” At that moment, a frivolous voice rang out. Xie Tian, flashing a mouthful of white teeth, appeared at the stage edge and smirked at Lu Yun on the fighting stage, who had just finished the pre-match formalities: “Listen to your grandfather and kneel down to concede obediently…”
This bird man’s double entendre made it unclear if he meant Lu Shang or himself—he’d reached a new level of sleaziness.
The Xie Clan crowd immediately burst into laughter. Lu Ying had been holding in a bellyful of anger and finally couldn’t help snarking: “Who is it? Oh, it’s the guy my little brother beat until he was searching for his teeth on the ground.”
“Hey,” Xie Tian’s face twitched at that. He’d once had impure thoughts about Lu Ying, but after Lu Yun humiliated him badly, he saw this brother and sister as thorns in his side. “When he meets my older brother, Lu Yun won’t just be searching for his teeth— it’ll be worse!” He shouted up to Xie Mo on the stage: “Big Brother, cripple that kid for me!”
Lu Ying wasn’t one to back down and shouted to Lu Yun: “Little brother, cripple his big brother for me!”
Lu Xin was dying of embarrassment listening to this and couldn’t help coughing: “Daughter, act more ladylike…”
