The battles continued. After Xie Mei's win, the morale of the Xianshu sect disciple improved a lot, which only became better as three more individuals proceeded to the next round.
Combined with two byes, now, the Xianshu sect has six members who went to round 64 and most of the disciples were now completely relaxed as they watched the rest of the battles.
It was around noon. For better or for worse, 32 matches were already completed in the past three hours. There were only 27 matches to go and the crowd is quite less in the stands compared to the morning now that all the matches of Xianshu sect representatives were over.
Mark started to get slightly restless as he was sitting there for hours and he doesn't know when his turn will come. Not only him, but even his fellow representatives haven't battled yet.
Another reason for Mark's impatience is that he couldn't see any other worthy individuals after Lu Wan and Xie Mei that are worth recruiting. Hence, he felt like he was wasting his time and energy and wanted to leave the place and stroll around but his goal kept on reminding him to not move from the spot.
And his patience is finally rewarded with the appearance of a familiar person, although for Dong Fang, it is going to become a nightmare.
"Dong Fang of Kunlun sect vs Meng Tao of Five Lakes sect"
"Okay, wish me luck, Sister Zi." Dong Fang stood up from his seat and made his way to the battle platform. Along with him, another person rose to his feet. Mark's eyes were glued to him while remembering their meeting in the past.
They have only met once but Mark, who now has 9 points of intelligence, cannot forget anything he heard or saw in the past. With perfect recall, all he needs is a thought and he would be able to remember the exact words of a conversation with a stranger from even a decade ago.
When Mark met him for the first time in the town of Daqing, Meng Tao introduced himself as Pan Tao, a traveling peddler. He appeared like a good fellow, warning them about thieves, scammers, and the Meng clan.
But, that isn't the point.
Back then, he was not even at 1-circle. Now, within a few months, he was already eligible for the Dragon warrior tournament?
It's not like he had a system like Mark that he can cultivate at a fast pace. So, that means he was either faking it back then or he was met with a fortuitous encounter in the wild just like the coachman Dai Qiu.
And so, Mark became curious and inspected him only to find an interesting piece of information. "The Qilin, eh? I wonder whether it is the same Qilin that destroyed Lan Sect. If it is, then, I might be able to find the answers."
The battle started and Dong Fang took the opportunity to act first. With a saber in his hand, he charged forward at his maximum speed, which is actually comparable to that of an assassin of the 6-circle realm.
However, Meng Tao didn't appear to be shaken by it. He stood on his spot with a calm-looking face.
Once Dong Fang reached him, Meng Tao spun around to dodge the saber and kicked him in the back.
Dong Fang lost his balance as he moved past his opponent. As he was about to regain his footing, Meng Tao suddenly took out a peculiar weapon from his storage ring. It's a rocket launcher.
"Hmm… how did he get his hands on that thing? I don't remember selling it to him," wondered Mark as Meng Tao clicked the trigger and shot a 110mm warhead, aiming at his opponent's right foot.
It missed its target and hit the floor. The contact with an external physical object triggered the detonation and a huge explosion was seen on the battle platform, blasting away the teenager.
From the point of impact, everything around in the 30-meter radius turned to dust. In the middle of a battle platform, a large crater was formed while a heavily injured Dong Fang crashed onto the edge of the platform.
In the meantime, Meng Tao was also affected by the blast radius but he protected himself with a wall of ether energy barrier. So, only superficial injuries were left on him as he landed on the floor.
"What the hell was that skill?"
"What is that thing?"
"Who is that young man? Why I haven't heard of him before?"
"I have never seen such an artifact in my life"
"But, it appears that it is not a skill, considering he was also injured."
"That blast is quite similar to the effects of that explosive potion. But, I don't think the potion's effects are this strong"
Half of the spectators rose to their feet in shock and they started discussing majorly the weapon in Meng Tao's hand.
Meanwhile, at the VIP section, one of the Grand Elders spoke, "Grand Elder Yang, wasn't that weapon quite familiar to you?"
"Yeah, it is one of those things called firearms, right?" commented another grand elder.
Yang Bingwen meaningfully stared at Song Yue and nodded in response, the latter confirmed their suspicion, "It is called a rocket launcher, one of the most powerful firearms sold by my husband. With over 1000 gold coins of price, it has the power to launch a warhead that has the power to eradicate anyone below the 5-circle realm. By the way, that piece of warhead only costs 5 gold coins."
As the only person who knows about Mark's future plans, Song Yue took the opportunity to promote the rocket launcher to these elders even though she was prepared to do it after Mark's performance.
If these grand elders didn't have any knowledge of firearms beforehand, they might have been tempted to keep a few in their sect's storage chamber, just in case.
But, they already knew about the rocket launcher and other weapons. Hence, none of the grand elders showed any interest.
They looked like they didn't even hear her and put their attention on the battle platform, which is repaired by the proctor. The 8-circle realm expert used his earth attribute to create a large concrete slab out of thin air, making the platform look as good as new.
Since Yang Bingwen brought her to the VIP section, he took the responsibility to reply to her, commenting that it is an interesting invention.
Meanwhile, Zi Ling rushed forward into the field and picked up her friend after his injuries were healed by the healers. She hatefully glared at Meng Tao's back as he exited the arena, not intending to watch the rest of the matches.
Two more hours passed away and only 11 matches left to go. Zi Ling and Dai Qiu finished their respective matches; both of them went to the next round.
Dong Fang looked depressed as his goal of taking revenge with his own hands didn't materialize.
However, luckily for him, when Mark was called to the arena, there's another familiar person was also called. His expression changed.
"Hao Shuren of Wuji sect vs Lu Zhen of Kunlun sect"
"Lu Zhen, beat him…" Dong Fang cheered for Mark in his heart. He even wanted to cheer out loud but just as he got up from his seat, he saw Mark take out a familiar-looking destructive weapon from his storage ring. "What the…"
"It's the same thing that Meng Tao used, right?" Zi Ling shook his shoulder with a look of surprise on her face.
Neither of them had ever heard of the name Lu Zhen or the firearms for that matter. All they know is that he had powerful connections and powerful subordinates. Hence, he cannot be offended.
It was only now they realized something was wrong. Seeing the weapon in their hands and remembering that Meng Tao also belonged to Phoenix Empire, they made a connection.
And before they got out of that shock, Mark's actions shocked them once again.
"Get ready…"
As soon as the proctor blew the whistle, Mark's opponent backed away instantly, trying to be careful to not get hit with that. He saw what it could do and wouldn't want to risk his life.
Looking at the guy who was moving around in circles, Mark calmly inserted the warhead and then took out another item from his storage ring.
He pulled the pin with his teeth and threw it on the ground.
A thick amount of smoke was released into the surroundings, blocking the vision of the opponent and the spectators.
Meanwhile, Mark closed his eyes and thought, "What in his exact position, Lan Ju?"
In the next second, he opened his eyes with a smile and clicked on the trigger, aiming in his 2 o'clock direction. "Happy death day."
*Boom*