The day of the annual battle competition of clans is coming nearer and nearer by the day, this bring about the busy atmosphere in the Lan clan because they are the one hosting the battle arena this time around, which push the younger generation to practice so not to lose face, even if they were to lose the competition they should not lose so badly. And this increase the daily activity of the lan clan both young and old and even the villages under them has to do the most of the labor in setting up the battle arena.
The huge battle arena was composed of many fighting stages. On each of the fighting stages, eight silhouettes could be seen. The Lan Clan was set higher than the others and its participants were standing on the highest stage in the middle of all the others. They looked like warlords looking down with supremacy. The other participants surrounded them on their own fighting stage like the stars surrounded the moon in the night sky. There were also the major clans such as the Zhen clan, the Lin Clan, the Wen Clan. Bei Kun had played a big role in the organization of the smaller clans even if she is strong she believe that the development of smaller clans is inevitable. At that moment, along with the Lan Clan members, there was an old man sitting next to Lan Ging who stood up. He was staring at the fighting stages.
"Today is our yearly tournament. The purpose of this tournament is to test the strength of the most outstanding young cultivators of surrounding mountain. Therefore, nobody should show mercy. Those who are defeated are allowed to surrender and in case someone gives up, the fight will immediately be terminated. If nobody surrenders the fight then the fight will continue unceasingly until someone collapses, or even dies."
When the old man finished talking and the crowd burst into uproar… the fights could go on until someone died if nobody gave up… how cruel! There were some extremely proud and arrogant cultivators who attached a lot of importance to their face and prestige. Losing a battle by giving up was especially humiliating for them. Therefore, very few people were going to willingly surrender a battle. Even if they knew that they had no chance of winning, they would continue to fight to protect their honor and dignity. But that sentence made the crowd think carefully. There were no restrictions and battles could be fought to the death. If there had been restrictions, two opponents of an equal strength who refused to give up, could be fighting endlessly which could end up in a deep and bitter hatred for the opponent.
"How wise, how brilliant!" said many people supporting the old man's words. The old man had obviously done this as a ploy to increase the hatred between the other clans, by forcing them to watch as their talented clan members would rather die than surrender. He had done this to stop the hatred between the younger generations, but increase the hatred of the older generations. That way, those who didn't agree wouldn't criticize the Lan Clan. After all, they were the clan who was hosting the tournament and had made a perfectly reasonable rule. However, it also meant that Lan Clan members could be killed within the arena. The crowd knew they were going to see some people die and that the different clans of surrounding mountains would once again sow the seeds of hatred for one another. Lan Ging wanted to see the other clans hate each other. Even though the three other clans knew what Lan Ging had in mind, they had no choice but to agree.
Since they didn't want to lose face and as they were considered as the best clans in the surrounding mountain range, all they could do was tell their young disciples to strive for victory with all their strength. Besides, the old man had also said that those who wished could give up and the battle would immediately end. Therefore, that rule was double-edged and couldn't be really contradicted as the choice was given… But who would accept having their own clan regarded as inferior to the others?
"I finished writing down the names of all those who are participating in this year's tournament. I have also finished organizing the battles. I don't know if anyone has any objections to my work." Said the old man while looking at the members of the three other powerful clans.
"Hehe, everything was organized by the Lan Clan… I, of course, agree." Said the head of the Zhen clan even though it seemed like he didn't really care.
"The previous tournaments were organized by the Lan Clan and were managed by them as well, this time is obviously going to be the same."
"I have no objection either." said Lin Juan who was obviously not going to oppose the Lan Clan.
"I represent the Lan Clan and I would like to thank all the clan heads for their cooperation." said the old man while looking at the members of the three other clans and then declared: "The rules are as such and are applied from the very first battle: being defeated leads to elimination, winning allows you to continue."