Chapter 137 : Commentary Is All About Hyping Up the Atmosphere

Chapter 137: Commentary Is All About Hyping Up the Atmosphere

Laughter rose and fell across the Martial Arena, and even the various guests seated in the VIP section could not help but chuckle.

Seeing that the situation was going in the wrong direction, Long Tao quickly cleared his throat and explained into the Speech Pivot Pearl,

“Uh… well… the Sect Master usually exhausted himself for the sect and had labored for a hundred years. Occasionally going fishing with old friends was perfectly normal. It was just one time without a catch—who had never come up empty while fishing?”

Fang Wuqi reacted quickly as well and hurriedly added,

“Exactly, exactly. Fishing was just a pastime for the Sect Master. What talk of winning or losing, crying and making a fuss? Junior Brother, you must have seen it wrong. Let’s have the Sect Master ring the bell quickly.”

However, listening to the uproarious laughter in the venue and seeing the people around him struggling to suppress their amusement, Sect Master Zhuge regretted it.

How had he agreed to the requests of those two little brats and set up this commentary platform? The event had not even begun, and they were already making fun of him, the Sect Master.

Still, he was the Sect Master.

He could not throw a tantrum in front of so many people.

With a bitter expression, he struck the bell.

The crowd, giving him face, quieted down considerably, and it signified that the Grand Competition had officially begun.

The moment he returned to his main seat, several old friends at the Golden Core Realm—including the two who had fished with him yesterday—flew over, their eyes brimming with teasing smiles.

An elder wearing a Daoist robe patterned with stars was the first to laugh.

“You three old fellows went fishing without calling us. Jingde, that’s not very honorable of you.”

Next, a Golden Core cultivator from the Tai Cang Chen Clan chimed in,

“Jingde, at your age, still letting that child Manyu take care of you all day—how improper. Why not resign as Sect Master? Then you could go fishing every day.”

Meanwhile, Xu Jijiu of Mirror Sea Academy put on a mock-sympathetic expression and said,

“Sigh… Jingde, if I’d known you cared so much about yesterday’s win or loss, I could’ve let you have a few fish. Why go back and cry and make a scene?”

The Sect Master’s face darkened again from their ridicule, and he shot back,

“I did not cry and make a scene! And… and yesterday I caught one—it just broke free and ran away. How could that count as empty?”

As he said this, his beard trembled with anger.

He pointed at Xu Jijiu.

“And Old Xu! Stop showing off. You only caught one big fish yesterday, and then you pretended not to recognize the way, carrying that big fish around the sect and telling everyone it was ‘just something you caught casually’!”

“What do you mean? Every time we come to your Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect, something changes. I genuinely forgot the way for a moment.”

Xu Jijiu’s grin refused to fade.

Smugly, he took a jade casket from his sleeve.

After opening it, it transformed into a glazed glass fish tank, inside which a large silver fish swam back and forth.

“Whoa! That’s truly big. Jingde, you didn’t lose unfairly.”

“Let me take a look…”

“Jingde probably never caught one that big in his life.”

…

On the opposite side, Long Tao and Fang Wuqi watched the group of Golden Core old fogies with speechless expressions.

But for them, this Grand Competition had always been a chance for everyone to connect and strengthen relationships, so there was nothing much to say.

They still had proper business to attend to.

Long Tao turned his head again, cleared his throat, and spoke into the “microphone”:

“Considering that there must be new friends attending for the first time, while the contestants are still making preparations, I’ll briefly explain the basic rules of the Grand Competition.”

His voice spread across the entire venue through the formation, drawing everyone’s attention back.

“Our sect’s Grand Competition follows the traditional ‘death match’ format,” Long Tao said calmly.

“Unlike ordinary arena bouts, there is no concept of stepping out of bounds. Both sides must determine victory or defeat on the field and may not stall. Each match is limited to the time of one incense stick. If no winner is decided when time expires, both sides will be eliminated simultaneously.”

Most people already knew these rules, but there were indeed some disciples from other sects attending for the first time, and they listened with curiosity.

Many sect competitions adopted arena formats with out-of-bounds rules.

“At the same time, while the Grand Competition is meant for mutual exchange, when fellow disciples compete, they inevitably hold back and cannot go all out. Therefore, before each contestant enters the field, a Golden Core elder will place True Essence Protective Barriers at the head, heart, and dantian. If any one of these three barriers is broken by the opponent to a certain degree, that contestant will be declared defeated.”

This rule sparked discussion throughout the venue again.

Sects such as Burial Sword Cliff, which did not care much about disciple casualties, found this to represent weakness and scoffed at it.

But most factions nodded in approval.

In this way, the disciples’ safety could be ensured while they fought without restraint.

After all, it was impossible for a Foundation Establishment disciple to shatter a True Essence Protective Barrier set by a Golden Core cultivator in a single blow.

“Additionally,” Long Tao continued, shifting his tone, “magical artifacts are not permitted in the Grand Competition, including artificial magical artifacts. The types and quantities of spirit artifacts and talismans must be inspected by the elders. Our sect is not a Beast-Taming Sect, so spirit beasts may not be brought onto the field. However, mechanism puppets are considered spirit artifacts and are not subject to this restriction. They must remain stored at the start of the match and may only be deployed after it begins.”

Most people understood this rule as well.

Each sect had its own specialties and cultivation paths.

The Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect was not incapable of beast-taming, but it leaned more toward traditional Qi cultivation, body tempering, and Mechanism Arts.

Naturally, the Grand Competition would emphasize those areas.

Moreover, spirit beasts were difficult to regulate fairly.

Even sects that specialized in beast-taming often imposed restrictions on disciples’ spirit beasts during their competitions.

“Finally, a total of one hundred and twenty-eight participants are competing in this Grand Competition.

They are either representatives selected by each peak or those who advanced through the preliminary elimination rounds in the Martial Arena.

It can be said that they are all the elite among the sect’s Foundation Establishment disciples.

I believe their performances will not disappoint us!”

Having covered the main rules, Long Tao let out a quiet breath.

His performance so far was passable—at least he had not been so nervous that he could not speak.

“The first round consists of sixty-four matches. For time considerations, they will be held over two days, thirty-two matches per day.”

Long Tao opened his notes and the competition bracket and continued loudly,

“Without further delay, let us invite the two contestants for today’s first match—Li Jue of Cuiran Peak, and Guo Si of Blade-Tempering Peak!”

Upon hearing their names announced, the two Foundation Establishment disciples simultaneously flew into the arena on flying swords from their respective seats.

With tacit understanding, they pointed their swords at one another, clearly old acquaintances.

“Oh! What an extraordinary opening match—it is actually a duel between two sword cultivators. As everyone knows, although our Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect is not a pure sword-cultivator sect, due to True Person Zhiying, we have always been regarded as formidable rivals by the major sword sects. For example, our fellow Daoists from Burial Sword Cliff and Starfall Sword Sect who have come to observe today.”

Listening to Long Tao speak at length, Fang Wuqi could no longer hold himself back and added,

“Senior Brother Li Jue and Junior Brother Guo Si are both outstanding among the sect’s Foundation Establishment sword cultivators. In the Grand Competition six years ago when I took the championship, I encountered Senior Brother Li Jue in the second round and fell into a fierce battle. That fight remains unforgettable to this day. And three years ago, Junior Brother Guo Si fought bitterly for a long time before losing to that year’s champion, Senior Sister Jian Xuan.”

“Wow! So both senior brothers previously lost to the eventual champions? Is the quality of this very first match already so high?”

This exchange successfully whetted the audience’s appetite.

Guests from various sects who had not paid much attention to the first round now straightened in their seats.

The disciples of Burial Sword Cliff and Starfall Sword Sect even sat upright.

What had originally been meant as a warm-up match to build atmosphere now sounded, through their commentary, like a semifinal-level showdown.

The spectator stands grew noticeably more animated.