Chapter 146: The Omnipotent God and the Lower Beings

After chatting briefly with Tang Wenlong and Tao Tao, the group quickly parted ways.

The former headed to the training grounds for final sprint preparations.

Meanwhile, Ye Yan continued to wander idly around the martial arts school’s large courtyard, looking like a carefree vagrant.

Though he had nothing to do, Ye Yan’s mood was quite heavy, and Tang Wenlong’s words lingered in his ears.

"Brother Han, do you think I should replace that kid Tang Qingshui... He is the sole remaining seedling of a family full of heroes. If anything happens to this single seedling, my conscience will never rest."

Ye Yan raised his head and looked at Liu Han following beside him, a trace of hesitation flickering in his eyes.

"It's hard for me to say."

Liu Han scratched his head honestly, his words coming out in stuttering fragments.

Ye Yan sighed, "There's nothing hard about it. Just tell me your thoughts directly."

Ye Yan was somewhat conflicted; he really wanted to swap Tang Qingshui off the roster.

However, this time, his identity was to represent the company in overseeing the event, making him something of a neutral party.

If he rashly interfered in the matters of both sides, it would easily lead to misunderstandings. If anyone seized upon this point, it could have a very adverse effect on his promotion to the Ten Elders...

This matter was rather tricky, and Ye Yan’s original intention was not to branch out into side issues. But Tang Qingshui's situation was indeed quite special... he was the only remaining branch of his family.

If he knew nothing of this, Ye Yan wouldn't be worried at all.

Whether anyone fought or not mattered very little in his eyes, nor would he care; keeping the peace between both sides was enough for him. But once he knew about these things, to continue turning a blind eye and playing deaf would leave his conscience unsettled.

Just as Ye Yan was agonizing over this, Liu Han suddenly spoke up from the side.

"Brother Yan, actually you are overthinking this and backing yourself into a corner. There's really no need to struggle."

"Since the company chose to let you be the person in charge, it has given you a certain degree of authority... If you really want to replace Tang Qingshui, just go ahead and do it."

"As long as you give Brother Hao a heads-up in advance, they should understand."

With that, Liu Han paused for a moment, "Besides, the roster hasn't been made public yet, so now is probably the best time to make adjustments..."

Liu Han did not speak in profound terms, but viewed from the perspective of an outsider, things were much clearer.

"That's true!"

Ye Yan smacked his lips and pondered for a moment, feeling that this reasoning made sense, so he simply stopped agonizing over it.

***

The drawing of lots ceremony was held in the afternoon, managed as usual by the two Ba brothers.

Ye Yan didn't even show his face; he merely sent Liu Han over, while he continued to play dead inside the hotel... acting like a salted fish.

Of course, not just him, but both the Tang Sect and the Fusang factions only symbolically dispatched a few people to determine the match-ups through drawing lots.

Once the matchups were finalized, Liu Han took a photo with his phone and sent it to Ye Yan.

Abe Shimaka versus Tang Zichuan.

Yagyu Aiko versus Li Lianxing.

Yamanumaru Jiro versus Tang Wenlong.

Miyamoto Isshin versus Liao Tong.

Gomi Hyoe versus Song Yuzhe.

Unsurprisingly, Tang Qingshui’s name had indeed disappeared from the roster.

At first, when Ye Yan discussed this matter with the Old Lion, the old man had been dead-set against it. He still held fast to his creed: 'Whether men or women, young or old, everyone in the Tang Sect is a warrior; once chosen, there is never a time to back down.'

Yet, under Ye Yan’s persuasion, he finally wavered and decided to replace Tang Qingshui.

He was replaced by Liao Tong, an outer disciple of considerable strength, to participate in this martial gathering.

***

The next day.

Inside the Tang Sect arena.

Martial school disciples wearing uniformly colored uniforms gathered here, converging into a vast, surging human tide.

"Brother Zichuan, come on!"

"Senior Brother Yuzhe, we're counting on you. Teach those Fusang devils a good lesson for those of us who can't participate personally, and win glory for our school!"

"Tang Wenlong, do your best!"

"..."

Before the contestants had even officially entered the arena, the disciples below could no longer contain their emotions.

Filled with righteous indignation, they shouted cheers for the disciples representing the martial school, heating up the atmosphere of the competition to a boiling point.

"Zichuan, your opponent in this match is an Onmyoji. Will you be alright?"

Beside the martial platform, Tang Zichuan, Li Lianxing, and Tang Wenlong were doing their final warm-ups.

As the vanguard contestant drawn for the opening battle, Tang Zichuan wrapped his wrists with bandages while checking the mechanisms and hidden weapons on his body.

Nearby, Li Lianxing—sporting stubble and disheveled hair, dressed in a black cloth jacket and cloth shoes, looking like a slovenly uncle—lazily questioned Tang Zichuan.

"It's hard to say for now, but a few years ago when I went to the northern frontier for training, I had some dealings with their local Chuuma immortals, so it should be fine."

With a head of messy, broken hair and sword-like eyebrows with starry eyes, Tang Zichuan’s gaze held a certain profound depth.

He didn't dare to pat his chest and make guarantees in response to Li Lianxing's question. Although he was relatively confident in his own strength, an Onmyoji from the opposing side was still a fairly unfamiliar type of opponent to him.

Moreover, the opponent's surname was Abe.

This invisibly raised the difficulty.

Sensing the pressure on Tang Zichuan, Tang Wenlong by his side offered comforting words:

"Senior Brother Zichuan, even though you were drawn for the opening lineup, you don't need to feel any pressure. Just do your best. Even if you lose, it's no big deal; after all, we still have Senior Brother Lianxing backing us up from behind."

"That's right, Senior Brother Lianxing and Senior Brother Yuzhe have both returned to compete, what am I worrying about?"

Hearing this, Tang Zichuan, whose expression had previously been solemn, couldn't help but smile, feeling much more relaxed.

Li Lianxing and Song Yuzhe.

They were the cream of the crop among the Tang Sect's outer disciples, and absolute talents. Both belonged to the same graduating class, three classes senior to Tang Wenlong and two classes senior to Tang Zichuan.

Although both were outer disciples, their strength among the younger generation was exceptionally formidable, even surpassing those of the inner disciples.

However, due to their surnames and personal personalities, both had chosen to enter the secular world.

This time, because of this duel, the two of them had purposely rushed back from the outside to participate in the competition.

With these two holding down the fort, the pressure on everyone else in the Tang Sect was significantly reduced.

At the very least, their psychological pressure wasn't so heavy.

"You bastard, you've gotten stronger again."

Song Yuzhe had a cold and aloof personality and had not participated in the group's discussion. His gaze remained fixed entirely on Li Lianxing, constantly sizing him up.

"Yuzhe, it's been several years since we graduated, why are you still taking things so seriously? It's not like I accidentally defeated you once back then, do you have to hold a grudge until now..."

Hearing Song Yuzhe's words, Li Lianxing, dressed like a slovenly uncle, couldn't help sighing with a helpless expression.

"Accidentally?"

Song Yuzhe frowned, his expression instantly turning displeased.

Li Lianxing hurriedly changed his tune: "Fine, fine... My mistake, okay? In that duel back then, you just had bad luck and lost to me by a single misplaced move, is that better?"

"What's with that pitying tone of yours?"

Though Li Lianxing had corrected himself, Song Yuzhe's expression didn't change in the slightest; instead, his face grew even colder, as if he had been insulted.

"Sigh, you really..."

Li Lianxing was driven half-mad by Song Yuzhe.

He didn't know how many times he had experienced this guy's stubborn streak—ten oxen couldn't pull him back.

Song Yuzhe didn't care what Li Lianxing was thinking. Having finally caught an opportunity, he naturally wouldn't let him off easily.

Straightening his face, he said seriously: "After the martial arts tournament ends, fight me."

"Spare me, old buddy, have some mercy and let me off. Fighting is exhausting, you know."

Li Lianxing looked listless, resembling someone who had been up all night and suffered a severe loss of vitality.

Song Yuzhe wasn't buying it: "Save it. It's rare that we actually have a chance to meet..."

"You..."

Li Lianxing sighed helplessly. But when he turned his head to look at the martial supervision platform not far away, as if thinking of something, his voice turned solemn as well:

"Yuzhe, what's the point of two losers like us bickering here? In the end, we still can't make it to the big stage... We are far, far inferior to true geniuses."

"What do you mean?"

Song Yuzhe's eyes flickered with confusion, failing to understand why Li Lianxing had suddenly said this.

Li Lianxing smiled and then said, "Look over toward the platform... Take a look at the person sitting in the middle. He's younger than both of you, but his strength and status have long since reached a level we can hardly hope to attain. That must be what a true genius looks like..."

***

On the martial supervision platform.

Ye Yan, the Ba brothers, Liu Han, Zhang Wang, and Hama Yuren sat side by side on a long bench, sipping tea and chatting idly, waiting listlessly for the match to begin.

As the supervisors of this competition, sitting here meant they served as referees on one hand, and oversaw the fairness of the match on the other.

This was to prevent any cheating.

However, barring certain specific abnormal circumstances, these individuals were not allowed to intervene in the fights.

That was one of the rules.

"Yaoyao, Yaoyao, cast a shield on me, I need healing... Quick heal, I'm going to die."

"Oh mother..."

As the screen went dark, Ye Yan's face darkened right along with it.

Looking at the 0-9 Li Bai on the screen, Ye Yan's mood was exceptionally heavy.

"Wait, Xia He, you're playing a support Yaoyao, why aren't you sticking with me during team fights?"

"Why are you following Brother Ye's Shouyue? He's practically an orphan... Just let him camp in the back and snipe, stop wandering around with him."

"Sorry, sorry, it's not like I play this hero often, I'm not very familiar with it..."

Amidst Ye Yan's complaints, Xia He's flustered voice rang out in the team chat.

Followed closely by Wang Ye:

"My god, Ye Buhui, who the hell are you calling an orphan? My Shouyue is 11-3, and in that last team fight, I didn't miss a single shot, sniping two enemies. Look at you instead...明明 You couldn't contribute to the team fight, yet you insisted on running up and handing them free kills..."

"I..."

Clutching his phone, Ye Yan opened his mouth to retort, but Zhuge Qing's voice followed close behind.

Compared to Ye Yan's complaints, Xia He's panic, and Wang Ye's dissatisfaction, he remained as languid as ever.

"Alright, alright, nothing to argue about. It's not like we got wiped, aren't I still alive?"

"Though two people died, it's no big problem. Yaoyao, come follow me, I'll carry you to save the world..."

As his voice fell, Zhuge Liang—boasting a 24-3 KDA and fully geared with six divine items—moved into action.

First, he approached Shouyue, taking over the attached Yaoyao, and then charged straight into the enemy crowd protected by thick white shields.

Under his explosive output and coquettish positioning, the disadvantageous game state caused by Ye Yan's mistaken deaths was quickly leveled...

Even when Wang Ye accurately picked off the enemy's damage dealer with two precise shots, the team fight directly reversed.

Led by Zhuge Qing, Wang Ye's Shouyue and Princess Yaoyao pushed all the way from the middle lane river straight to the enemy base... Finally, while Zhuge Qing used his flashy movement to tie down the respawning enemies, Wang Ye successfully destroyed the crystal.

The golden, oversized characters of VICTORY hung high in the center of the screen, and the thrill brought by such a comeback gave everyone a high sense of participation.

The excited voices of the group rang out in the channel one after another, discussing happily:

Wang Ye: "Gorgeous, Fox! That last wave of play was amazing, holding three enemies captive and running around their base alone... Absolutely legendary."

Xia He: "Such smooth mechanics, as expected of a disciple of the Wuhou Sect, this Zhuge Liang is played brilliantly."

Zhuge Qing: "Basic operation, basic operation!"

"..."

"Alright, you guys play, my match is about to start, I'm logging off first."

Listening to the passionate discussions of the others, Ye Yan, who had experienced zero gaming immersion from start to finish, always felt out of place with them.

"You go ahead and get busy, don't mind us idlers..."

"Stay safe."

"Got it..."

After chatting briefly with the group, Ye Yan closed his phone. Afterward, he leaned his neck back against the chair and, like a salted fish, stared blankly up at the azure sky, doubting his life choices.

As an anomaly, Ye Yan far surpassed ordinary people in both physical fitness and reaction speed, so logically speaking, he should be exceptionally good at gaming.

Yet among the four people playing together, he was precisely the worst one.

It was one thing to lag behind Wang Ye and Zhuge Qing, but now even Xia He, who had only been introduced to the game a few days ago, was faintly showing signs of surpassing him.

This left Ye Yan deeply melancholic, unable to figure out what was going on.

Clearly, he was the strongest one when it came to real-life combat... Yet switching to a video game, he became the scrub who needed to be carried.
A heavenly deity in physical combat, absolute trash in video games... That probably described him.

Ye Yan just couldn't understand it.

Just as Ye Yan was filled with melancholy, the busy Ba Shui hurried over and asked him about the timing of the match.

"Brother Yan, time is almost up. Do you think the martial arts duel should start now?"

Ye Yan turned his head: "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready."

Ba Shui answered with a heavy nod.

Ye Yan hoisted his body up from the chair, his expression turning somewhat serious: "Since everyone is ready, let's start right away..."

"Understood!"

Ba Shui quickly turned and left. Before long, the warm-up contestants down below slowly stepped onto the martial arts platform... officially opening the curtain for the competition.

Match one:

Fusang delegation's Abe Shimaka, versus Tang Sect martial school disciple Tang Zichuan...