Chapter 98: Newcomers Tournament IX - Breezing Through Round 2
With the 16th match over, the first round of the tournament was over and now there would be an hour of break for the audience watching to discuss the matches in full and for the participants to take a break and prepare.
In the elder seating area many of the elders were praising the sect master's insight at choosing her direct disciple.
"Of course, did you think I was picking blindly?" She scoffed, she full well knew that there were elders dissatisfied with her choice before, seeing them begin to warm up to her now that he had shown his potential disgusted her, but she didn't say anything more.
"Hmm I'm sure of it, that disciple of yours… you taught him the Titanic Body Scripture?" A muscular man with short grey hair frowned at he looked over at the sect master, it was Zhi Wu the Battle Division's elder.
"Is there a problem? He is MY direct disciple, no?" Rong Jia glanced sideways at the bulky older man.
"Of course not, I just never expected you to do something so reckless, I've taken a look at that thing before and the requirements for it are quite stringent and only one person can cultivate it…" He began to explain, clearly dissatisfied.
"We just think that using it on a new disciple was a bit much" Another elder chimed in.
"Is that so?" Rong Jia silently spoke as her gaze drifted over to the tent where the participants were resting "You would say that having seen nothing I had, you all full well know about the artifact required for the scripture, right?"
The elders nodded in unison.
"Gang Bo has already undergone the process of accepting it".
""WHAT?""
""THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE?!""
Multiple elders expressions dropped as they stood up from their sets, faces red and white.
Even Zhi Wu looks both surprised and conflicted "So it's been taken".
"I understand some of you desired to cultivate it, but I've told you before, if it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be".
"Even if you say that…" Another elder looked like he was having a hard time to accept it.
Rong Jia sighed "You didn't hear about his 5-element test result right? I ended up supressing them after all".
"Was that why? I thought it was because of some personal issues of the new disciples…" Someone said thoughtfully.
"Well there was that, but his compatibility is the highest we've seen in sect history".
"History?! Surely you don't mean…"
"It's Extreme Earth, a mere step away from the pinnacle".
"…" The surroundings went silent, their expressions filled with utter shock.
It was to be said, the average of this sect elements wise was Medium Earth, people that pushed into the High X levels were considered some of the elite of the sect, there were next to no disciples with compatibility in Extreme Mortal or above.
In that sense, the newest batch of disciples could be considered one of the best in past few centuries, even ignoring Gang Bo there was Bai Lian who had Extreme Mortal compatibility with Water, while others were almost equally as impressive with many High compatibilities.
"B-but even then, why was he able to cultivate the scripture? Elder Zhi's compatibility just falls short of it yet his experience in cultivation would make up for it!"
Zhi Wu wasn't too happy about being named dropped but he still looked to the sect master, curious about the answer.
"The artifact responded to his test, that's why I suppressed his results and was the reason I chose him as my disciple, someone that can inherit the scripture can't be left lying around" She explained, her eyes turning sharp as she glared at the questioning elder.
"I see, I get it." Zhi Wu sighed, he finally gave up and accepted the situation, one of his goals had been taken from before him and he couldn't do a single thing but accept the outcome.
He then looked up with a smirk "Then, sect master, since you've allowed him to enter this tournament, does that mean he can go ahead and join a division afterwards?" he asked, eagerly awaiting the answer.
She smiled back "Of course, I've already torn out and rebuild his foundation so some good old pounding will do him some good, he's still a newborn chick after all."
"Great! More fresh blood will liven the place up, that Tai Hui has been great for us, another will be even better" He laughed heartily.
…
Shu He was sat alone in the tent with his hands clasped as he stared at the floor, his mind stirring as thoughts flashed left and right.
'I don't want to admit it, but the idea of winning this tournament is a stretch'.
He was confident in his bow skills, the new tactics he had learned with his new skills would definitely come in use, but after seeing round 1 he started to feel inadequate.
The sheer force of the techniques from the last match stunned him, those 'mines' along with the flame bursts thrown about were far beyond something he could have normally handled, that last technique sent shivers down his spine.
Yet Gang Bo tanked it head on, he doesn't know what happened in these three months, but Gang Bo had gained something far more valuable than his gains, he had observed some sort of core inside of him much like a Lifeblood cultivator but slightly different, it was surrounded with flowing light that ran through his body like threads glimmering with runes.
He felt that, before that match he at least held some confidence, a chance in winning but now…
'Damnit…' He felt frustrated at how far he is behind, he understands that his opportunities were below others, that his natural talents may not be the best, but it still got to him.
He laid back and sighed.
'Once this tournament is over I need to work even harder'.
He split between so many different things he needs to put more effort in to progress, he had been making sure not to run himself ragged but right now, he really felt an itch, a need to push himself as hard as he could.
'But first, I need to see just how far I can get in this tournament'.
…
After the hour rest the second round started, and not too long after it ended at a fast pace than the first round.
All that was left this round was 7 of the new disciples and 9 of the old disciples, so a lot of the matches played out in an incredibly similar manner was round 1 with the newer disciples quickly routing the old and moving on.
Tai Hui dominated his opponent with his aggressive combat style without showing off much more than the first round, the one thing that people found weird was that he was no longer using a saber but a spear, most people would stick to one weapon and master it, yet he didn't do this.
The spectators couldn't decide whether he was just unfaithful to a certain weapon or eating more than he could fill, but those in the combat division knew the truth as they listened to the discussion with a wry smile.
Bai Lian shut down her opponent in record time with her rime domain, her opponent used water techniques so her sheer dominance over the element made their techniques useless leaving them sitting ducks.
It seems the crowd was becoming a fan of hers; the Bai clan had a grand reputation and her beautiful techniques on top of her appearance captivated more than a few.
Jin Bao's rampage continued as he crushed his opponent with vicious whipping wind blades, he had been fairly silent since his run in with the sect master, so the crowd felt he was taking it out on his opponents.
Shu He had watched with an even deeper frown, he clutched his bow heavily as he did.
Mei Ling showed off her skills even more during her second-round fight, using her Earth techniques to control the terrain while she endlessly barraged her opponents protective shields made of water, combined with a surprising attack to end it-
<<Flame Burst!>> As her fist ran short a grand flame blew into her opponent at point blank, blowing them away and ending the match and stunning the audience.
They were stunned because it was common knowledge for new disciples to focus on their most dominant element first, and that it took longer to learn techniques of other elements after learning their first one due to a difference in comprehension, so seeing her use two different elements already was a surprise.
If she was part of a main clan like Bai Lian, it wouldn't have been as much of a surprise, but she was part of a branch family in the notorious Huo clan, she didn't have access to the techniques, so she clearly learned both just after joining the sect.
It wasn't just that though, the eagle-eyed members of the audience had figured out the tricks to her air movement, the plates on her gauntlets and boots were actually made of compact earth, through expansion and contraction of the plates using her technique she can create a shockwave to shift herself in mid-air, it was fairly ingenious and earned her some recognition.
It also explained the power behind her punches, she may be a cultivator, but she was still a young girl, so her power felt off; She was using the same technique to create 'Quakes' in the target, expanding and then contracting the plates creating a secondary hit.
Some people began to murmur that maybe this was the reason a branch family member was let into the sect, though they were still unsure.
Ming Shi managed to get past the second round without too much trouble, his sword techniques and fine manoeuvres earned him cheers from the fairer part of the crowd, some of the elders began to discuss his potential as a personal disciple because of his compatibility with the sect's main element.
And finally, Gang Bo, it was needless to say that that he defeated his opponent without much trouble at all, or rather his opponent forfeited after seeing their Gang Bo tear through their binding technique without any effort.
And so the second round ended, and another short break was to be had.
In the end the tournament was down to eight disciples, and unsurprisingly to those watching most of them were the newer disciples with the exception of Jin Bao and one other.
The match ups for the third round were as follows.
Match 1: Tai Hui VS Bai Lian
Match 2: Shu He VS Jin Bao
Match 3: Mei Ling VS Sun Ming
Match 4: Gang Bo VS Ming Shi
The crowd cheered and the third round was due to begin.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
ShiroN3K0
ShiroN3K0 Gotta breeze past those uninteresting fights, i showed all of the main fights in round 1 to give you an idea of their capabilities, now the true tournament begins.
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