The Endless Promise

55. A Gamble of Sorts

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Luoyin was already paired with Xu Min, so the two went off to one side while Weiyan suggested a few optimal matches.

"Xu Lian," She began, ignoring Xu Lian's scowl. "...your boundary technique will compliment Disciple Tao. Find him. Xu Wen, pair with Disciple Xue, Du Wen, pair with me, Xu Lin, pair with the Head Disciple, if he agrees..."

On it went for a few minutes, till everyone had been paired, including Zhang Cheng, who had randomly picked one of his usual cronies.

All pairs were given two wooden tokens to carry around, one for each person, and the tokens were enchanted so the Sect elders could note who made a kill during the hunt.

This would ensure there was no cheating, or attempting to steal someone else's kill.

"Now that we have been paired and matched," Elder Zhou began, "The Tournament hunting ground shall be opened!"

He snapped a finger, and a strange crystalline drop of fluid fell right in the center of the platform.

The Platform's tiles raised and fell in circular waves from the center outwards, and the arena vanished as the disciples found themselves in different parts of a forest in pairs.

The Tournament hunting grounds were an ancient sealed-off plain with mountains and forests, and it was cleared of dangerous beasts whenever the tournament approached, leaving only beasts under the Elders' control.

"These hunting grounds have beasts ranging from level one to six, spawning at random locations!" Elder Zhou's voice reached them.

"The beasts will never give chase, so if you meet one that's too powerful, simply run from it, and it will leave you alone.

"However, each kill accrues points to whichever pair deals a killing blow, and higher level beasts count for higher points, with level one giving one point, and level six, giving six points.

"So you can choose to kill numerous low-levels, or only a few high-levels! The Choice is yours!

"Good Luck to all contestants!

"Begin!!!!"

And across the vast plains of the hunting grounds, Yueyan Sect's Junior Disciples jumped into action.

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Meanwhile back in the arena, a Large Wooden board appeared and hovered in the center, displaying the disciple names in pairs, with a score slot reading '00' behind each pair.

As the crowd watched, Zhang Cheng's pair changed to '01', and then swiftly to '02', making his name shoot to the top of the board, and the numbers kept climbing so fast that there were gasps from the audience.

Lord Xu leaned forward in awe, tinged with a bit of suspicion... 'How is he moving so quickly?!'

Lord Zhang resembled the epitome of pride, Zhang Furen had a smug smile on her face, and Xu Linhua's eyes gleamed with adoration and pride.

'Hmph! My sister will regret settling for that trash!'

On the board, several other numbers were beginning to climb and rise higher. The Xu Weiyan and Du Wen pair now read '09', Xu Lian and Tao Yun had '08', and other numbers rose accordingly.

Except one...

The Xu Min and Zhang Luoyin pair still read, '00', remaining firmly at the bottom!

"Heh! What did we expect from that trash?!"

"He's so bad, he's even holding his partner back!"

Lord Xu scowled at the board with worry, as mutters and whispers abounded, all theorizing why the pair hadn't moved at all!