Chapter 35 - Newcomer Tournament

The newcomer tournament was a big thing for many disciples in the Flying Sword Sect and attracted some of the older disciples as well. Many of them came because they wanted to see how the new disciples were doing.

Most didn't have time to come watch the entrance examination after all, so the newcomer tournament helped in that regard and allowed them to see how the new disciples were doing.

Some came to watch the entire tournament, while some would just stop by and watch a few matches before moving on.

Qing Yi stood in the participants waiting area and looked around nervously at the other participants. The other participants were the same people who had competed in the entrance examination together with her.

Luckily, the number of participants were only around one hundred, nowhere near the amount at the entrance examination. Qing Yi even managed to spot Wen Lu, the one who managed to rank number one in the entrance examination.

Currently he was surrounded by people on all sides as he smiled cheekily at the other contestants. Clearly not putting them in his eyes.

Qing Yi decided that ignoring such an individual would be the best option and so she did just that. Making sure to take a distance between herself and the so-called number one among the new disciples.

Time slowly passed and soon the place was packed with people, a few elders were sent out in the venue to maintain order and make sure the disciples didn't enter the place where the contestants would be competing.

Xuan Hao himself was surprised at the amount of people that showed up just to watch the newcomer tournament and turned to look at Wang Hu questioningly.

"Hm? Ah, this is normal… Most of the disciples have nothing much going on at the moment, as most of their lectures are cancelled for the newcomer tournament, so they tend to come over here to take a look.

Though it is mostly because most of the elders tend to wait until the newcomer tournament until they choose a new disciple, so as to allow the disciples to familiarise themselves with the sect and see how much they can learn and improve within one weeks' time. The same reason why I'm here, Haha!" Smiling broadly, Wang Hu explained the reason why the number of people was so high at the newcomer tournament.

"I bet most of those brats down there is on the lookout for who they will be competing over resources of the sect with." Added Wang Hu as he narrowed his eyes and looked at the excited crowd surrounding the tournament venue.

As the people slowly settled down, the contestants slowly made their way into the venue. Xuan Hao managed to spot Qing Yi towards the end, as she was one of the last people to enter the venue.

The focus of most of the disciples from the sect were on Wen Lu, as he was the one with the highest talent among the new disciples and he even managed to get accepted as a disciple of a quite famous inner elder before even entering the Flying Sword Sect.

This had caused the other inner sect disciples of the Flying Sword Sect to feel cautious towards their new junior, as he would most likely take some of the resources of the sect that would have been used by them beforehand.

"I will be announcing the rules of the tournament, so everybody quiet down!" A loud voice echoed through the entire venue as all the disciples quickly shut up and looked towards the centre of the venue where an elderly man was now standing.

"Good! The rules will be simple! Each contestant will come up on the stage and draw a number from 1 to 100. Number 1 will fight number 100 and number 2 will fight number 99 and so on. Fighting will be conducted within the designated zones on the avenue and stepping out of bounds disqualifies you.

The objective is to either knock your opponent out of bounds, have them surrender or knock them out. No lethal method is allowed and will result in instant disqualification! That is all, will the first contestant step up?" Relaying the rules for all to hear, the old man motioned towards the contestants, as they quickly moved into a fine line and made their way up to the old man and drew out a number.

"Ah, I got number 87, what about you?"

"Mine is 46, looks like we are not going to fight each other!"

"Yeah, looks like luck is on our side in that regard at least, haha!"

Qing Yi made her way up to the elder and looked at the contestant, some were happy as they looked at their number, while others were dispirited.

"Damn, I got number 99… Looks like I'm going up against that Wen Lu… Wish me luck friends!"

"We feel for you! At least go down like a man and fight it out, No surrendering!"

"Haha, you got it! At least I will get to see why that Wen Lu was ranked number one in the entrance examination!"

The most curious one was the one that got to go up against Wen Lu, the boy looked a bit dispirited at first but later got his fighting spirit back upon hearing the encouragement from the other contestants.

Qing Yi had no idea what to make of this and just decided to give a silent prayer for the boy like most of the other contestants had done.

"Qing Yi? Draw a number and recite it."

Coming to a stop in front of the elder, Qing Yi slowly lifted her hand and entered the pouch that the elder was holding in his hand.

"Number 26!"

Reciting the number written on it, Qing Yi looked up at the elder and waited for him.

"Hmm… Number 26, you will be going against number 75. Go back and wait until your number is called."

Signalling for Qing Yi to return to where the rest of the contestants were waiting, the elder quickly announced her number before moving on to the next contestant.

"Number 100 and 1, go towards stage 1. Number 99 and 2 go towards stage 2-…."

Soon, all the contestants got a number and the elder started calling for the different contestants to move towards their stage.

With this, the newcomer tournament officially started.