Chapter 604: Once is a coincidence, twice is rigged
*Bing-Bong*
We are now going back to normal language indicators.
Please note that this: <{""}> is to represent the usage of three different languages at once.
<> for Tide Tongue.
{} for Featheroi, the language of Soaring Gryphon.
“” for Hoof Speech.
That is all.
We now return to your regularly scheduled chapter.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
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“HAHA! Looks like our kids are moving on to the next round!”
“That’s the way Xiao Feng! Show them how we do it in Stampeding Bison!”
“When did they learn those moves though?”
Up in the skybox, the branch clan elders were having a small celebration of their own seeing their children passing through the qualifier rounds with flying colors.
They were initially worried that they would get horribly defeated and mutilated, due to being clearly outnumbered five to one, but immediately lost those concerns after they saw just how quickly they managed to defeat their respective opponents.
Well, quickly relative to when they drew lots that is.
However, while the elders themselves were celebrating their good fortune, the patriarch of these elders was a touch more ambivalent about the whole thing for a fairly good reason.
‘Well…if I wasn’t sure if they were going to rig this competition against my kin, I’m fairly certain about it now,’ Zhen Shi thought to himself as he couldn’t help but notice how coincidental it was that all seven of his grandkids drew the exact same thing almost at the exact same time.
Zhen Shi knew damn well that his reputation with his fellow kinsmen was…sketchy, at best.
The fact that he rolled up to the main clan estate and participated(by coercion) in the family competition with his descendants wasn’t doing him any favors either. Therefore, he understood and partially expected that the high elders, and lesser elders of the clan would probably do all they could in their power to try and sabotage his grandchildren any chance they got.
The only question now though, was how were they going to try and sabotage them now, now that their best and most obvious chance had just bit the dust, hard.
‘The most obvious answer is probably poison…,’ Zhen Shi thought to himself.
(Un)surprisingly, Zhen Shi wasn’t the only one who thought this competition was a bit hinky, even the main clan matriarch thought so, although for a different reason than outright rigging.
“Well…isn’t that interesting…,” Zhen Xun Tian muttered to herself as she saw the format for the next round being announced.
‘I suppose they decided to do a last minute change to the format without consulting me…how strange…’
While the Zhen Clan and their famed competition had a reputation of changing the format every year in order to avoid anyone getting an unfair advantage, they did at least make sure to plan out at least a general outline of events as to prevent themselves getting blindsided.
The lottery round at the very beginning of the tournament was planned, regardless of the number of participants.
The round robin grouping thing however was news to her.
Last she had checked, the high elders and her had agreed on doing a single elimination bracket in the event that there were people still standing at the end of the lottery round.
It was quick, easy and brutal, but it was also the most memorable way to host a tournament after all.
But now that it was a round robin…things got complicated, especially since Zhen Xun Tian noticed something a bit funny about how these blocks were divided.
‘Eight groups of eight, and the branch clan scions have all been sent to participate in separate blocks from one another…interesting…and each will now be facing a direct disciple of the clan or talented outer disciple we took under our wing…hmmm…’
A part of Zhen Xun Tian was obviously pissed at this sudden change in the itinerary, since it meant that her subordinates, the high elders, had gone behind her back in order to do so.
On the other hand…she couldn’t help but find this whole situation incredibly entertaining.
‘Seven of our brightest disciples against the seven clansmen born and raised on foreign soil? The descendant of one of our most infamous crimes of passion no less? Oh I already know that this is going to be fun.’
A smile of pure amusement appeared on Zhen Xun Tian’s face as she thought about how incredible this scenario was.
A bit forced to be sure, but sometimes in life, one must force the world to be exciting…right?
‘Although…I should probably go and see if there were any other reasons for this change in format…wonder if I will have to exact punishment or nip a problem in the bud…’
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=Well, seeing how our lord and his cousins got divided into their own neat little blocks so that they have no way of clashing with one another, but that each of those blocks happen to have at least one to two other people with the “Zhen” name, I am inclined to believe that this situation is an inside job type of situation. A miffed elder or three can have that kind of sway.=
=The ones that were radiating off some of the contestants? Yeah, and they’re also the reason why I think there might be some outside influences on this thing as well.=
=Probably not. We got our own things to worry about, and our lord will probably get shanghaied into whatever that is by complete accident…again. That or our lord’s goal for earning familial redemption will probably intersect with these guys, whoever they are.=
=Absolutely.=
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<{"We will now be taking a short intermission in order to prepare the arenas for our young combatants to compete in. Feel free to take this time to make use of the restroom, to go and get refreshments and/or place bets,"}> the Wisdom Elder Zhen Lung announced with an aether enhanced voice.
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Soon after Zhen Lung made his announcement, many audience members proceeded to do as the elder suggested in order to stretch their legs a bit.
It may have been engaging to watch all of these talents and would-be heroes clash with one another in the spirit of friendly(?) competition, doing so while sitting on a stone bench wasn’t exactly comfortable.
Some members of the audience, however, happened to be either friends, family or factions related to some of the contestants. Hence, several members of the crowd took this opportunity to go and see how their loved ones were holding up and provide the ever important morale support.
Of course, sometimes the supportive family members also happened to be a bit more knowledgeable about the other contestants, more so than what would be considered polite…
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Despite being given the go-ahead to just take a break from the action, a majority of the contestants didn’t go much further than the rest lounge that was attached to the arena.
Part of the reason for this was due to laziness and not wanting to accidentally be late to one’s own match, the other other part was due to paranoia.
The Zhen Clan’s competition was normally considered an honorable affair, but there were still multiple cases in the past where contestants would try to screw each other via cheating.
As such, the Zhen Clan had made it so that the lounge areas were the most secure parts of the arena, aside from the arena themselves.
If anyone tried to do anything underhanded while in these areas, they would get dealt with immediately.
It was actually for this exact reason that the branch clan scions decided to just chill in the lounge area instead of trying to go elsewhere.
They knew people looked at them with disdain, they didn’t want to give them an easy target.
Granted, it didn’t help that some of the people who visited the lounge and some of the contestants who stuck around decided to gossip about them anyways.
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“You know…on the one hand, I am a tiny bit miffed that our own parents and younger siblings can’t come down here to support us,” Zhen Hai told his cousins, “on the other…”
“You don’t want to subject them to the whispering gossip and stares?,” Zhen Feng finished.
“Yup.”
The branch clan scions did their best to ignore all of the whispers and sideway glances from the predominantly Roaring Tiders that were in the room, but it still bothered them a bit.
So much so in fact that one of them decided enough was enough…mostly.
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Of course, Zhen Liu had plans other than just using the restroom, but nobody else needed to know about that.
‘Wonder if the area the zako is locked is near here…’
