Chapter Twenty-Four

Seeing that no one objected, Su Heng breathed a quiet sigh of relief and continued, "After I got the news, I immediately looked into it for you—your first-round opponents have already been set."

"What do you mean, you've already set our opponents?"

Knowing they probably wouldn't take it well, Su Heng was about to explain when A Xu, sitting beside him, slammed his chopsticks down and yelled, "Conspiracy, this is totally a conspiracy! Bro Haozi, Bro Jing Yuan, you gotta believe me! How could this happen? They must have rigged this ages ago."

At A Xu's outburst, everyone's gaze toward Su Heng turned wary. Feeling utterly wronged, Su Heng quickly explained, "No, no, it's absolutely nothing like what A Xu said. We really dropped the ball on this one, and it's on us. We forgot that you guys aren't from the Nine Prefectures. This competition is the Jiuzhou Competition. Everyone who enters gets a Spirit Tablet at birth. This tablet records all the major good and evil deeds in their lives, and their cultivation levels are also inscribed on it."

"That magical?" Little Wu, who hadn't read much xianxia, was stunned by the concept. A Xu and a few of the other guys, however, just scoffed.

"Uh, yeah, so since you guys don't have these Spirit Tablets, there's no way to gauge your cultivation ability. That's why you need to have individual matches first—to prove you're qualified to compete—and then you can move on to the rest of the tournament."

Xu Haoyue looked thoughtful and asked, "So, does that mean our opponents won't be very strong?" Su Heng hesitated and scratched his head. "Not exactly... you could say they each have their own special traits. Anyway, I've already made some notes for you here—let me introduce them."

Jing Yuan glanced at Xu Haoyue, then nodded at Su Heng. "Alright, give us the rundown so we can prepare."

Su Heng cleared his throat and swept his gaze over everyone again, making sure they weren't too mad before continuing. "Over there in the back row, from Jizhou Prefecture, the woman in white sitting in the middle—her name is Jia Fengluo. She'll be Xiao Ai's opponent tomorrow; she's skilled with a long whip. Youyou's opponent is Yue Xian from Yanzhou. They say she can use moonlight to merge into shadows, grab someone's shadow, and kill them by destroying it."

Jia Fengluo was big and burly, so everyone just glanced at her and lost interest. But when they got to Yue Xian, they saw her delicate, pretty figure dressed in a moon-white gown. Even Jing Yuan couldn't help but let out an admiring exclamation, earning a very displeased nudge from Xu Haoyue.

A Xu and the fat guy even started fighting over who got to switch opponents with Youyou. Su Heng barely managed to get their attention back. "Um, I'm not done yet. A Xu, your opponent is that sword expert from Xuzhou, Chang Yu. That long sword of his... the sword aura is terrifying—kills without a trace. You've gotta be careful."

The group followed Su Heng's pointing finger to a middle-aged man carrying a long sword on his back. He looked utterly ordinary and unremarkable. Xiao Ai and Youyou both said, "Next, skip him."

"And Xu, your opponent is Yi Xuan from Yangzhou. His weapon is an ancient zither. Uh, Xu, you might need to..." Su Heng didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Oh my god, Su Heng! Why didn't you tell us sooner there's such an incredibly handsome guy!" Xiao Ai got so excited she stood up, nearly rushing over to Yi Xuan to ask for a photo.

"Xiao Ai, chill, chill." Youyou pulled Xiao Ai back down and started brainwashing her. "Think about your ice cream, and your Zhang Yixing, and Xiao Nai. It's just a handsome guy—not that big a deal."

But right now, Xiao Ai's head was full of the idol dramas she was imagining, so how could she possibly listen? Xu Haoyue and the others couldn't do anything with her, so they just ignored her and signaled Su Heng to continue.

Seeing this, Su Heng naturally launched into another detailed explanation. "This Yi Xuan, don't be fooled by his appearance. Just because he looks like a frail scholar doesn't mean he's actually weak. In reality, he's a decisive and lethal person. Especially that ancient zither in his hands—it can sever a person's head in an instant."

"And Brother A Jing, your opponent is a Yiren from Jingzhou, named Songzi Yiren."

"It's not that guy whose hair looks like a pine cone, is it?!" Jing Yuan asked with utter distaste.

Su Heng nodded with a troubled expression. "Yes, it's him. His true form is a pine tree. Don't be fooled just because he carries nothing and has no weapon. His pine cones are his weapons, and he can produce as many as he wants. Moreover, it's impossible to guess where those pine cones will come from, so Brother A Jing, you must be very careful not to fall for an ambush."

Jing Yuan nodded with great disdain and asked, "Then what about Little Wu and Fatty's opponents?"

"Brother Fatty's opponent is A De from Liangzhou. Look, that's him over there to the right—the tallest and biggest guy."

Fatty looked up. The man was nearly two meters tall. He was so scared he almost choked. A Xu hurriedly patted his back, Xiao Ai handed him water, and no one panicked.

"As for Little Wu, he'll be facing that Snake Person I told you about earlier. Oh, and the Snake People are from Yuzhou, in case you didn't know."

Little Wu slumped into his chair, face pale, and stared at Su Heng, muttering, "How were we supposed to know if you never told us?"

The group shot sympathetic looks at Little Wu and Fatty, secretly glad their own matchups weren't so weird. Only Xiao Ai still clung to the idea of swapping opponents with Xu Haoyue, stubbornly wrapped around his arm. Jing Yuan would peel her off, only for her to latch right back on. After a few rounds of this, a thoroughly exasperated Jing Yuan finally let Xiao Ai cling to him instead, while he held onto Xu Haoyue. This, of course, made Xu Haoyue unhappy. The three of them, tangled together, drifted farther and farther away.

As for Fatty, he tried several times to swap opponents, but everyone else bolted too fast. Only a deeply conflicted Little Wu remained, sitting there in hesitation. The two of them went back and forth for ages but couldn't decide whether to trade or not.