Chapter 369 Dragon Warrior Tournament (Quarterfinals)
The Patriarch of the Wuji sect is an advanced-stage Supreme realm expert and his strength was no less than a supreme being, well, atleast in his opinion.
He neither fears the Xianshu sect nor did he care about the authority of Emperor Qin Mo.
This was why he didn't bother to hide his animosity against Lan Ju and his companions. As for the reason, well, it can be guessed by anyone who watched Mark's battles.
In his very first match itself, Mark killed a talented individual from the Wuji sect while representing the Kunlun sect. Throughout the tournament, he also showed his overbearing attitude with everyone from participants to the elders of the sect.
Obviously, he would want to take revenge. But, he cannot act on his own as Mark also had a supreme being as backing. And it's not worth offending such a figure over a disciple who didn't have any personal relationship with him.
Hence, he can only hope for Mark's death within the competition itself.
Unfortunately for him, such a day never comes forth.
As the 8 participants were waiting in their allotted section, the Proctor greeted the Emperor and went on to announce the start of the quarterfinals.
***
"Ai Qing from the Wuji sect wins the battle and proceeds to the semifinals."
"Sui Weisheng from Mt. Hua sect wins the battle and proceeds to the semifinals."
"Xie Mei from the Xianshu sect wins the battle and proceeds to the semifinals."
"Now, for the fourth and final quarterfinal. Lu Zhen from Kunlun sect vs Ya Ya from Xianshu sect."
The cheers erupted in the arena with most of the spectators rooting for Mark's opponent. In fact, it was quite overwhelming.
"Ya Ya" "Ya Ya" "Ya Ya" "Lu Zhen" "Ya Ya" "Ya Ya"
Of course, it is not because they hate Mark or something.
It's just that more than two-thirds of the spectators belonged to the Xianshu sect and being a beauty in her 20s only made her more popular among the male disciples. The result could be seen from the wild cheers.
However, for Mark, she's nothing more than a walking piece of flesh whose only use is to contribute to the promotion of firearms.
As both of them got onto the battle platform and Mark took out the rocket launcher, Ya Ya took the initiative to converse with Mark.
"You do know that thing is useless against me, right?" She pointed her finger at the rocket launcher. "Forgetting the fact that the explosion's power won't be enough, I'm also a water/light attribute user."
Mark replied with a smile, "Then, I guess it will be quite humiliating for you to lose this battle if I use nothing but this weapon."
"You…" Ya Ya was irked by his provocative words. She was motivated to wipe off the smile from her opponent.
Hence, the moment the whistle was blown, she unleashed a powerful skill, starting the battle with a big move.
As the water dragon was slowly being formed above her head, Mark didn't wait until it was finished and attacked her right away.
However, Ya Ya didn't move from the spot and just let out a smirk as the warhead detonated at her feet and exploded.
Due to the barrier placed by the proctor to protect the battle platform, no damage was done to the flooring.
As for Ya Ya, a couple of bruises appeared on a few places like her hands, cheeks, and legs, but neither there was heavy damage inflicted on her nor did her legs move from their spot.
"Told you…" Ya Ya's smile widened and she then put her entire focus on the skill now that her theory became true.
The haters of Mark and the fans of Ya Ya gloated at the first setback faced by Mark. So far, he never reloaded the rocket launcher with a second warhead.
Just when the spectators were about to feel like Mark's winning streak is over, he surprised everyone by raising his free left arm and pointing his index finger at her.
He wasn't exactly pointing at her but was clicking on the skill displayed on the invisible holographic screen.
"I wonder if it works… let's try and see for myself."
With the system being offline, no notification was received by Mark but he could sense all of his ether energy vanished in an instant before the entire battle platform froze in ice, including the opponent and her water dragon.
"Yep, it worked." Mark let out a pleasant smile. In the past, he experienced situations where he used the skills with fewer ether points than required. The result was the skill being unleashed with less power.
Back then, the system was online. But now, it isn't.
That is why Mark wasn't sure until he tested it directly in the battle. Luckily for him, it worked perfectly and didn't force him to opt for a different route.
"An ice attribute? I thought he was a lightning attribute user." "A dual attribute user?"
"Look at that. His skill could even freeze the water dragon. Wow…"
"It looks like we have underestimated him a lot"
"Fu*k. That's a bloodline skill…" "A bloodline skill?" "Only people born with a bloodline like me could sense it. I'm sure that it is a bloodline skill"
"Ugh… this guy more trouble than I thought"
"Kyaa… Master Lu is amazing as always."
"That bast*rd… How dare he freeze our goddess?"
"Will he now start firing those exploding objects from that weapon?"
"Poor Ya Ya"
"Hey, what he is doing?"
Amid the gazes of the spectators, Mark put away the rocket launcher and started walking toward the opponent.
Ya Ya could see him but she cannot move. Adding on top of that, she was experiencing extreme cold at the moment. She felt like she was going to freeze to death.
She tried her best to deploy the ether energy to create a barrier around her skin and protect herself from the cold. At the same time, she was also looking for a way to break from this paralysis state.
Meanwhile, Mark reached her and then took out a piece of a white-colored box from his storage ring.
He placed it at her feet. He took out the second one and put it on the side. Then, he took out two more explosives and made sure that she was surrounded by them.
After placing them, Mark didn't even spare a glance at her and walked back to the original position.
Taking his time to attack, he turned his head toward the VIP box. His eyes were fixed on the person who was sitting beside Xie Zhong. Emperor Qin Mo furrowed his brows as he stared at him, almost guessing what the weapon seller is going to do next.
*Ahem*
"Ladies and Gentleman, My name is Lu Zhen, and I'm from the Phoenix Empire." Mark started introducing himself to the potential clients around him before publicizing the firearms.
"I'm sure most of you might not have heard of firearms. So, let me introduce a model that we are selling at the moment."
Pointing at Ya Ya, he continued, "The boxes you see are called C4. This is an advanced version of the explosive and each one costs over 700 gold coins. As for the blast's strength, you can say they were in the 5-circle realm. Our Ya Ya is a 6-circle realm expert and is even a water and light attribute user. Let's see how these explosives fare against her."
"What are you doing?" A dignified yet loud voice escaped from the Emperor before the Xianshu sect's Patriarch reacted to it.
Continuing to look in Qin Mo's direction, Mark replied, "Everyone has their own battle strategy, Emperor Qin. I have my own way to defeat my opponent. As the chief judge, please be neutral and don't interrupt our battle just because you found my methods strange."
He then glanced at the displeased old man sitting beside Qin Mo and added a statement, "And don't worry, she won't die."
The spectators were taken aback by how Mark dared to speak in such a tone with the ruler of the Kun Empire in public. The haters increased in number.
Mark could care less about others and just do his own thing. Taking out the pocket watch, he spoke, "The explosives will be active in about 235 seconds. Let's wait and see whether she can escape it."
For the next four minutes, the entire arena was silent. As Mark continued to stare at the pocket watch, the spectators were watching in anticipation.
Will Ya Ya escape before the time?
Were the explosives really strong enough to defeat her if they blast at the same time?
Why is Patriarch Xie not doing anything?
Why did it feel like they were sitting on execution grounds?
The spectators went through several thoughts as they watched Ya Ya in silence. Many of their heartbeats were also spiked in tension. f𝐫e𝘦𝘸e𝗯𝒏𝗼ѵe𝗹． c𝑜m
And then, finally, Mark opened his mouth again.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2…"
When he was on 2, all the ice on the platform disappeared, unfreezing Ya Ya. She lost her strength and immediately collapsed on the floor while shivering in fear.
But, Mark wasn't in the mood to pity her as the time is almost up.
"1…"
He spoke the number 1 and then, in the next second, all four C4 explosives detonated at the same time.
*Boom* Boom* Boom* Boom*
The sounds of the explosions caused tremors in the hearts of spectators while Ya Ya blasted away with second and third-degree burns on her body.
She fell to the ground and the prepared healers quickly rushed forward to heal her before covering her with a cloth to protect her dignity.
Hundreds of eyes were fixed on Mark and many of their faces were filled with bewilderment. They truly felt like they underestimated Mark and his firearms.
Letting out a smile, Mark then spoke in a loud tone, "well, the result is here…"
"A psycho…" Several of them got the same thought in their head as he calmly walked away with a smile.