“Here is your number.”
I took the wooden plaque the Alliance martial artist held out.
I handed over the one I originally had, and he stamped the plaque.
The wooden plaque had the number seventeen written on it in clear characters.
‘Hmm.’
So it seemed they were giving numbers to every participant.
How many in total?
‘Probably a little over two hundred.’
The preliminaries had spanned three days, so I figured it was roughly around that number.
‘Meaning they gathered two hundred at the Peak level or higher….’
It was truly an absurd number.
Someone who had reached the Peak was not a person you could easily find, yet they had gathered hundreds of them.
‘I think I’ve only seen numbers like this in my previous life when I took over Sichuan.’
If not that, then perhaps when they first assembled to capture the Heavenly Demon.
That timing seemed about right.
It was when martial artists from all the orthodox sects had gathered.
‘Though they were all swept away by the Heavenly Demon’s hand.’
For that to be the only thought that came to mind in a place where martial artists had gathered, I really thought I was peculiar.
“What number are you, young master?”
“Number seventeen. What about you?”
“I’m number sixty-eight!”
“I’m number ninety-one!”
They were all different numbers.
It wasn’t simply sequential; was there a separate rule for distribution?
Or was it purely random?
If there was a rule, what intention was behind it?
All sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind.
‘Tch.’
While brooding over this, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Now I was even suspecting there might be something hidden in the numbers.
Ridiculous. Wasn’t this taking paranoia too far?
I thought I should be careful.
To erase those thoughts, I briefly surveyed my surroundings.
The surroundings were already noisy.
“W-well, I need to find a way.”
“Damn it. I can’t go back home like this after losing….”
With the tournament brackets and numbers being handed out, the surrounding noise grew louder.
Most of them were trembling with anxiety.
Those who had gotten good opponents either weren’t very nervous or didn’t show it, while those on the opposite end tended to burst out with their own reactions.
“Damn it! The Six-Joint Fist… he’s a figure said to be nearing Transcendence. How the hell am I supposed to win!”
“…My compatibility with Changsu isn’t good. Isn’t there a way…?”
“If I lose like this and go back… the family will….”
They were quite the pathetic sight.
‘They’re all going to lose.’
They already acknowledged defeat and only showed thoughts of losing.
Seven or eight out of ten looked like that.
‘The young generation these days.’
Did they think of losing before even trying?
It was an attitude I couldn’t understand.
If so, they shouldn’t have participated. Why act like that when they’ve reached the Peak?
Seeing them grow more depressed, I let out a sigh.
‘…It’s not that I don’t understand at all, though.’
With the preliminaries over, the main tournament.
There were too many people to call it the main tournament, but from now on, the words “main tournament” meant:
‘People will watch the fighting stage.’
Unlike the preliminaries held in private, spectators were allowed starting from the main tournament.
For this, they had even renovated the interior of the Murim Alliance to prepare an enormous fighting stage of massive proportions.
Sponsorship from more than ten merchant guilds.
They invested tremendous effort to stabilize the shaken position of the Alliance by putting up tremendous prizes and even reviving the Divine Dragon Squad, the Alliance’s representative sword unit that had disappeared into history.
This meant the current martial tournament held value that ranked among the highest in history.
To be eliminated from the start of the main tournament in such a competition.
Moreover, that elimination would be witnessed by countless spectators, the greatest merchant guild leaders of the Central Plains, and the Alliance’s executives.
That alone would bring tremendous pressure.
‘Hmm.’
Honestly, I could guess the reason.
But it was something I couldn’t really understand, as someone who didn’t pay much attention to others’ gazes or defeat.
‘And I have no intention of losing, either.’
I turned my gaze around.
Leaving the depressed ones behind, I focused on those who had composed themselves.
‘Hmm….’
Several accomplished Peak martial artists and a few nearing Transcendence.
There were even those who had already crossed it to begin with.
The surprising thing was:
‘They’re concealing their aura.’
That there were people hiding their true realm.
‘They look like they might be elder-level?’
Elders of prestigious sects or clans.
I could see people who seemed to hold such positions.
They say the world is wide, but had there always been this many hidden experts?
As I was curiously surveying my surroundings.
Hmm.
‘Hm?’
I felt a gaze from somewhere.
It wasn’t just one person.
I felt several people sweeping their gazes past me.
‘What is it?’
Why were so many gazes fixed on me?
Pretending not to notice, I expanded my qi sense slightly.
Then the gazes vanished instantly.
‘Would you look at that?’
They noticed me trying to expand my qi sense and withdrew their gazes.
They probably hadn’t felt it; they likely withdrew it instinctively.
‘Hmm.’
It wasn’t strange to check out others, but for so many to look at me simultaneously was peculiar.
What could it be? After thinking briefly, I recalled the reason.
‘Is it because of the preliminary match?’
I might have shown myself a bit too much during the preliminaries. I suspected that might have drawn some attention, but the problem was:
‘Didn’t they say a ban was in place so the others wouldn’t know?’
Only those who had been in the same group as me could know what I had done.
‘Hmm.’
Who was it?
Even if I tried to find out, it was difficult to pin down with this many people.
For now, it seemed enough just to recognize that someone was watching me.
‘How long will the main tournament take?’
There were so many people that, even if it wasn’t like the preliminaries, it would span two days.
I didn’t know exactly how long the martial tournament would last, but considering the martial artists’ conditions, they wouldn’t make them fight twice a day.
‘Then it should end within ten days at the latest.’
It seemed long, but it was just the right amount of time for me.
They had said the Cheonra Daeju’s side was almost ready as well.
‘I’ll need to find a suitable opportunity.’
It was a complicated plan, so I needed to find the right timing.
As I was organizing my thoughts like that:
“Participants who received numbers one through fifty, please prepare!”
A voice came from the exit.
Were they already ready?
Hearing that, I stood up.
“I’ll be back.”
“Yes! Be careful.”
“Come back!”
Two people waved their hands and saw me off.
I smirked at that and started walking.
Fifty people, including myself, moved together.
Most had despair-filled faces or were brimming with tension, as if being dragged to a slaughterhouse.
‘Good grief.’
I had to hold back laughter seeing their expressions.
‘No, the proper ones haven’t even come out yet. To look like that from the first day.’
Not to mention the disciples of the Nine Great Sects and One Union.
Most people from prestigious clans hadn’t appeared on the first day.
The Alliance side had probably classified them separately.
On the first day, they would have placed only a few eye-catching individuals as a teaser.
They needed to tantalize people like that to spark interest.
However, they probably hadn’t separately identified those hiding their realms among them.
—Thus, this time the Alliance….
As I walked, a voice came from afar.
Judging by its quality, it was a voice amplified by internal energy.
—the tremors that have struck the Central Plains… the Murim Alliance has stabilized them….
Listening closely, it was the Sword Immortal’s voice.
He seemed to be saying something to the crowd outside.
—Therefore, I beg you to welcome those who have come for this festival with great cheers.
As I reached the entrance, the sound was especially loud.
Following the Sword Immortal’s words, an Alliance martial artist pulled the great gate.
—Now! Let me introduce the main figures who will lead the orthodox faction forward!
The moment the gate opened.
—Waaaaaaaah—!!!
An enormous cheer erupted.
—Waaaaaaah—!!!
Crowds packed tightly into countless spectator seats.
Everyone within was shouting with passion.
The sound brushed past, making my skin tingle.
How long had it been since I heard cheers of this magnitude?
‘I was feeling rather lukewarm because it was the first day.’
A gathering of showpiece cannon fodder.
Honestly, I had been looking at it that way until just now, but this kind of cheering was probably something I could only experience on the first day.
If I had one question:
‘If they were going to do this, they should have called everyone.’
They should have gathered everyone together and let them feel this.
Showing this with only fifty people called first felt rather disappointing.
Furthermore.
‘Seems I haven’t fully grown up yet either.’
I stroked my arm slightly and lowered the corners of my mouth.
Cheers.
That tremendous shouting unknowingly stirred heat within me.
I had thought I wouldn’t be swayed by such things.
Absurdly enough, perhaps because it was a sensation I hadn’t heard or felt in so long, I wavered for a moment.
‘Don’t be mistaken.’
That cheering is not for me.
And I am not walking for that cheering.
I had to keep repeating that to myself.
I regulated my breathing and cooled my emotions.
‘What nonsense, with my station.’
Life must have become quite comfortable. To get intoxicated by mere fervor like this. I shouldn’t be like that.
‘Remember what you have to do.’
I must not forget.
I steeled my resolve again and again.
As I was keeping my eyes down like that, the final words flowed from ahead.
“From now, the Divine Dragon Martial Tournament shall begin.”
With the Sword Immortal’s words, cheers erupted once more.
Waaaaaaah—!!
It was the start of the damn martial tournament.