Only a while later did Ken and his group erge from their tents, when all the brackets for the 20-29 age group were done. They thought they still had ti until the 5v5 of their age group, but it seed Layla had other plans.
"Disciple Ken, do you think you and your group will be fatigued after one bracket?" She asked, "Or will it be as easy for you as the previous ti you participated?"
"Maybe not as easy, but it shouldn't be a challenge either. What did you have in mind, Elder Layla?" Ken bowed respectfully. She beckoned the four of them out, allowing George to continue sleeping off the previous night's indulgence, clearly recognizing his auxiliary role.
"I thought to extend my offer. Our sect took great losses in the other brackets without having soone like you tilting the scales in our favor. I'd like to offer you and your group to participate in all four brackets, unleashing a massacre on their top disciples."
She scrutinized the team for a mont, impressed by the high spot they managed to get on the mountain among the peak sixth-stage disciples. "Of course, I'm talking to Ken as the team leader, but each one of you has the right to accept or decline the offer for themselves," she eventually added and her eyes lingered on Henry for a mont due to his higher stage.
"Amitabha. This monk thinks our enemies have relinquished their humanity with their cruelty," Henry remarked, as he often degraded his adversaries into animals. The fact that Henry did not have a shred of bloodlust never ceased to amaze Ken. If monks and demons were Tiara's nesis, hypocrites like Henry were Ken's.
"What about the rest of you?" She asked them all, "The rewards will be the sa as I promised to Ken, or you can ask for other rewards if you are not on his team."
"We will support our team leader, we don't abandon each other," Alaric said righteously, including everyone else in his speech. "We also don't need other rewards, we will go with what Team Leader says."
"Ah, yes," Tiara said hesitantly, her body paused for a mont before she agreed. Henry kept a stoic expression as always and confird with a nod.
"Good. What are the teams going to be for the 3v3 and the 2v2?" Layla could see they were going to pay a great number of Immortal Qi Stones, but the safety of their future pillars was more important.
"In the 2v2 bracket, I will go with Tiara again. In the 3v3 bracket, I will stay out," Ken decided the order for the team. He knew it would be most efficient if he and Henry were on separate teams since they were the strongest of their group, and as for the 3v3 bracket, he preferred to use this ti to train.
"I will stay out of the 1v1 bracket, I feel like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough in my cultivation," Tiara added. Ken said nothing; he planned to force his companions into labor when needed, but not when it didn't matter much.
"Fine, I will register you to all the 30-39 age group brackets, be prepared. The first one, which is the 1v1 bracket, starts soon. I cannot change the registration for this age group after tonight, so you cannot have second thoughts."
Layla gave them the last instruction and disappeared, returning to her temporary residence at the peak of the mountain.
Ti flew, and soon the three team mbers stood on the very platform where Ken had once stood alongside Tiara.
"Good luck everyone, are we competing for the most kills?" Alaric asked enthusiastically, moving restlessly. His excitent was easy to read given the twitches in his fingers. He had a doctrine against betraying friends, but he never had anything against killing enemies. If anything, those people were targeting his sect mbers, and he was doing the holy job of protecting friends.
"One should never aim to kill others. Inner peace is gained when you understand others," Henry said, denying the competition.
"Get to work as soon as we are teleported inside. See if you can surpass Tiara's kill count from the previous round," Ken ordered before giving them so sort of a plan.
"It'd be optimal if we could each settle in a different quarter. We will fight wherever we start, but keep moving in a certain direction. I will head to the pond, Alaric can go to the forest, and Henry to the stone plain. We will just leave the Icy plain alone since it doesn't fit any of us." Ken received a nod of agreent from both of them.
"Ladies and Gentlen, welco back to the next phase of our Martial Arts Summit! As always, we will begin with a fierce battle royale to cull down the numbers, let the carnage begin!"
Steve delivered a short hyping introduction to the audience and the participants found themselves inside before he finished speaking, letting his final words signal the beginning of the round.
"What are we seeing here? Are those people brave, confident, or just plain stupid? They are jumping to the sky without any fear!" Steve shouted when three n, or more precisely, two n and a teenager, leaped to the sky without hesitation and looked around them to find their way.
"Wait, wait, wait! A mask, red eyes, and this body build, is it possible that Ken Sue is here, fighting cultivators three tis his age?!" Steve scread into the microphone, pulling the crowd's attention instantly to a projection that zood in on the teenager. By his side were the projections of the other two, one masked and the other blindfolded.
"It's him! The instant dash and the swift beheading, it's him! He slaughters the fifth-stage cultivators as if they are no different from his previous fourth-stage opponents! Can we expect another bloodbath?!"
Steve was a neutral cultivator who didn't belong to any sect, and he prioritized exciting the audience over anything else as long as it was not offending the top sects or their elders directly.
"OOOHH!" The audience groaned in collective expectance when they heard one mber of the Deadly Couple was fighting.
"Where is Kara?!" So shouted, "Show us Kara!" They demanded to see the one they even considered as a goddess walking on the continent. The veil hiding her face only made her beauty mysterious and attractive.
"KILL! KILL! KILL!" Many began to chant, showcasing the bloodlust of a crowd.
"Kara is not here everyone, but with so many capable and beautiful ladies, you cannot be dissatisfied!" Steve said with a dry chuckle.
While Ken was busy dashing out of the forest while beheading every disciple belonging to a sect that targeted his, Henry and Alaric had their own fights.
Henry walked peacefully toward the stone area with stable steps, his calmness almost annoying. He would often raise his palm and bring it back down, and an ethereal hand would form in the air and drop to crush enemies from afar. Every ti such a palm landed, soone got killed.
Alaric, with a smug smile on his face, chose a comfortable-looking branch on a thick tree nearby and sat on it. He brought out a fancy guqin, its wooden body intricated with beautiful signs and could be easily discerned as top tier.
*Ring*
The first note reverberated throughout the forest, and the next one was not too late to co. lodious music was played, pulling all cultivators nearby. They seed dizzy and unfocused as if they were following a dream. They all walked hypnotized and gathered around Alaric's tree.
As the music spread far and wide, more and more people converged around the musician, all of them lifting their eyes to the man who was lying on a branch, his back leaning against the trunk and one of his legs dangling in the air.
'Symphonie of Peace,' Alaric mused to himself while his fingers danced on the strings of his guqin, producing the hypnotizing effect with the slow, calming lody.
'I think I've gathered enough of them,' he decided. His fingers suddenly moved fast, the relaxed notes turning into loud music with a fast beat. Before the participants' eyes could regain clarity, lightning started falling from the sky, leaving charred corpses behind them.
'Symphonie of Tribulation,' Alaric whispered while the bolts of lightning butchered the helpless, drowsy enemies. They could not fight back against Alaric's robust cultivation base and foundations.
Flashes of lightning descended from the sky and exploded, awakening the entranced n and won assembled. Confusion crept into their eyes while they looked around them in fear, seeing dozens of bodies scattered on the ground. Those were the luckiest ones, those who were among the last people to be attacked.
However, they did not know who the perpetrator behind the attack was, and they looked at each other in suspicion before they took any action. However, the lightning never stopped crushing down, and they soon shared the sa fate as the less lucky cultivators.
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