Clan Tournament Begins! Round 1! (1)

"Round 1 first match!" One of the elders of the Li clan called out. "Li Yu Tian versus Li Gang!"

Li Chang and Li Cheung shared a look of confusion. They had rigged the tournament system prior so that Yu Tian would face the weakest children first, before meeting Hao Ran in the finals.

Why was he in the first round and against Li Gang, one of the children who also awakened a high grade martial spirit like Li Hao Ran? Even though it was only the base tier, a blue aura martial spirit was still more than enough to dominate spirits of the lowest grade, such as the one Yu Tian had.

If Yu Tian loses in the first round, all of their planning and preparations would've been for nought.

Li You Zi chuckled. He saw the list of the children being matched up and thought Yu Tian was getting a much too easy path to the finals.

Hence, he changed the list and paired Yu Tian up against the strongest children of the clan to see how well the Divine War Physique performed. Li You Zi didn't know his actions have thrown a big wrench into his cousins' plans.

"Patriarch..." Li Chang reluctantly spoke up. "I saw the list yesterday. This match seems different than what was on the list."

"What do you mean?" Li You Zi turned and raised an eyebrow. "Oh. I changed the list myself to make it more interesting."

"Changed the list? Interesting?" Both Li Chang and Li Cheung were stunned to hear Li You Zi's words. They gave each other complicated gazes.

"Perhaps this matchup seems a bit... Unfair." Li Cheung also spoke up. "Maybe we should stick with the original list, patriarch."

Li You Zi found it extremely weird and suspicious that both of the grand elders were helping Yu Tian. They had no reason to, and he knew that they held negative opinions of his daughter and grandson.

He growled. "Nonsense. I want to stick with this list. Am I the patriarch of the Li family or am I not?"

Bowing their heads, Li Chang and Li Cheung stopped trying to convince the stubborn Li You Zi. Now their entire plan was left for fate to decide.

...

Stepping on the stage, Yu Tian casually observed his opponent, who also did the same back. Li Gang, like his name suggests, was quite large and stocky for a 9 year old, being a head taller than Yu Tian.

However, there was barely any fat and most of it was muscle. Li Gang's head was also shaved with only a tied up ponytail behind his head.

Yu Tian remembered that Li Gang had awakened a blue aura martial spirit during the annual aptitude test, which was a spirit of high grade. He didn't know what level the other child was at until they began to fight, but the former god wasn't worried.

Li Gang snickered and cracked his knuckles, feeling happy about his luck. Everyone in the clan knew that Yu Tian awoke the lowest grade of martial spirit without an aura. The young boy was confident in dealing with his opponent.

"Ready?" The elder called out. Both Yu Tian and Li Gang nodded simultaneously. "Fight!"

"Hah!" Roaring, Li Gang charged at Yu Tian, who stood casually. Winding his arm back, the other boy launched an open palm strike that was surrounded by red energy.

"Fire Qi?" Yu Tian recognized the colour and took a step back to dodge the blow, using peculiar footwork. He also noticed that Li Gang was already at Level 7 of the Qi Novice stage.

Once a person condensed their Qi, it will naturally convert to an element best suited to them, know as their natural element. However, it was also possible for someone to practice converting their Qi to other elements, if they chose to.

Since it required a lot of time investment and didn't benefit one's cultivation rank, most cultivators just chose to stick with their natural element and focused on breakthroughs to higher ranks. In some uncommon cases, those lucky enough would have more than one natural element.

Li Gang's tiny eyes widened when his attack missed its target, whooshing past just beside Yu Tian's head. He swore his palm was about to land, but his opponent somehow dodged aside at the last second. "Huh?"

"Big and stupid." Yu Tian taunted.

Li Gang was one of the children who enjoyed provoking him as he grew up, but he mostly ignored their childish antics until they brought up his mother. Whenever they did, Yu Tian was able to beat them up easily as they had not awakened their Qi. He was unaffected by the punishments that came after.

This caused them to shut up until the aptitude test.

After they awakened their Qi, they began to grow bold again with their provocations. Since Yu Tian didn't want to get in anymore trouble after breaking the awakening stone, he could only bide his anger.

Yu Tian already decided to toy with Li Gang before giving him a crushing defeat to shatter his confidence. He planned to do the same for the other children in this tournament that joined in on insulting Li Mei Ling.

He could never forget the people that treated or talked about his mother poorly.

Roaring again, Li Gang continued to launch a barrage of fists and strikes. Yu Tian easily dodged and ducked with smooth movements, showing off incredible flexibility while his opponent was unable to land a single hit on him.

His opponent then tried to kick him, but Yu Tian grabbed his foot with one hand and retaliated with a kick of his own, sending Li Gang sliding across the stage.

Gasping for air, Li Gang was winded by the blow to his gut.

...

The elders and members of the Li family watched with mouths agape.

Wasn't Yu Tian supposed to have a trash martial spirit and in turn had no talent in cultivation? Why was he beating around Li Gang like a cat toying with a mouse?

The ones who were most shocked were the elders from the other families, seeing how a level 5 Qi Novice was winning so easily against someone at a higher level. Only Li You Zi seemed to be pleased with watching the current match, nodding and laughing in satisfaction.

Shan Dong Hai gave a weird glance to his old friend. The Li and Shan clan have been on good terms since their fathers had known one another, and they grew up to be friends.

He was also confused as to why the Li clan all viewed him as trash and whatnot, although he know they speak of him negatively due to his parents' relationship. Li You Zi also never brought up or mentioned Li Yu Tian in their talks, and Shan Dong Hai didn't feel polite to pry.

Even if Yu Tian's martial spirit was of the lowest grade, the way he's fighting right now showed the boy had massive talent in martial techniques. All of the elders present could blatantly see that Li Gang had the advantage in cultivation, yet he was still losing in his exchanges with Yu Tian.

Observing the boy's calm demeanour, and noticing the disdain in his eyes while waiting for Li Gang to get up from the ground, Shan Dong Hai immediately felt that Yu Tian was not simple at all.

...

"You trash!" Li Gang finally picked himself up, now wearing an ugly look on his face.

Yu Tian yawned lazily, ignoring him. This enraged Li Gang further as he finally summoned out his martial spirit. "Come out!"

"Roar!" Sounding similar to its owner, a brown bear cub materialized beside his opponent, with its size slightly bigger than Li Gang. Instead of an expected fluffy tail, it was a small burning fire, and there was also a mane of dark red fur around its neck.

Like with all high grade martial spirits, there was a blue aura surrounding its body.

"An ember bear!" Yu Tian heard one of the elders sitting beside Li You Zi exclaim.

The former god had read about this martial spirit. At birth, this spirit was already very strong, but as it grew older its potential ceiling gets beaten out by many other martial spirits of the same grade.

Even if Li Hao Ran's pyro serpent, a peak high grade martial spirit, was to currently fight the ember bear head-on, it would most likely lose if there were no external factors present.

Li Gang laughed triumphantly. "How do you like this now, Trash? The trash with trash martial spirit will always be trash!"

"Shut up." Yu Tian was getting annoyed at his opponent for saying the word trash so much.

He didn't think he can block the ember bear's strikes at all with his current body, so his only option was to dodge. The martial spirit's strength appeared to be stronger than what Yu Tian's current body could sustain.

Unfortunately, as the stage was an open area without any obstacles, he couldn't use the environment to his advantage.

Sneering, Li Gang willed his ember bear to charge. The martial spirit lifted its arms and lunged into the air with surprising speed, slamming it down onto the ground where Yu Tian was a second ago.

The stage's floor cracked, and a few of the flying debris flew past his face. Yu Tian grimaced when a stray projectile slashed open a cut on his cheek. "Ugh."

"Yu Tian!" Li Mei Ling immediately stood up when she saw the bleeding.

However, she sat back down when Yu Tian gave her a confident smile and a thumbs up back. As much as her heart hurt to see him get injured, Li Mei Ling chose to believe in her son.

"Hahaha!" Li Gang continued to laugh violently while watching his ember bear continue to chase the seemingly helpless Yu Tian around, the strength of its strikes strong enough to damage the stage.

...

Shan Dong Hai frowned. Now that Li Gang summoned out his martial spirit, Yu Tian seemed to be struggling now. He was curious as to why Yu Tian didn't summon out his own spirit.

He looked to Li You Zi, who continued to watch calmly with a smile. Shan Dong Hai wondered if his friend knew something for him to still be so confident in his grandson.

Meanwhile, Li Chang and Li Cheung began to feel sick. They were very pleased and relieved to see Yu Tian coming out ahead in the initial exchanges, but after Li Gang summoned out his ember bear, that confidence was shattered again when their target lost his advantage.

"Please don't lose." They prayed for Yu Tian's victory, as ironic as it was.

...

Yu Tian frowned, now unsure of his path to victory. As of the moment he was now forced on the defensive, unable to find a chance to attack against 2 opponents.

His cultivation was lower, and Yu Tian didn't think he could directly withstand the ember bear's attacks with his current body. At this rate, his only option is to stall the battle out long enough for his opponent to tire out.

Li Gang seemed to still be full of energy though, so Yu Tian didn't feel that it was too feasible for him to rely on this to win.

"Mew." A familiar sound resonated in his mind.

"Qiu Xue?" Yu Tian didn't want to summon her out because she might get hurt, but his martial spirit materialized out by herself and climbed onto his shoulder. "Go back, I can handle this."

"Meow." Rolling her sapphire eyes, the kitten wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling him. Hiding away from the eyes of the spectators, her pupils began to glow.

Suddenly, Yu Tian's vision began to change. His eyes widened at the familiar feeling. "This is..."