Chapter 368 Dragon Warrior Tournament (Part-5)

For a while, Meng Tao didn't speak anything and consulted the Qilin's spirit for advice.

The Qilin slightly hesitated at first but then, it thought that there isn't much to lose in answering some questions and agreed to the deal, which was heavily leaning on its host's side.

After the wager was finalized between the two of them, they waited for the signal.

Soon, the waiting time is over and the proctor blew the whistle.

Meng Tao clicked the trigger to shoot the warhead at his opponent and leaped in a backward direction to increase the distance as soon as the match started.

Mark quickly raised the elevated angle of the machine gun and shot 100 rounds of ether bullets in just a fraction of a second.

As soon as a bunch of bullets simultaneously struck the incoming warhead, it triggered detonation. A large explosion occurred in mid-air, taking Meng Tao by surprise and throwing him off his balance. He crashed onto the floor.

"Boy, I'm taking over you..." A voice was then heard in Meng Tao's head and he lost consciousness with Qilin possessing him.

A translucent aura erupted from the young adult as he made a quick backflip and stared at Mark, who quietly watched him. Meanwhile, the silhouette of a chimera appeared behind his back.

"What the…"

The grand elders rose to their feet in surprise as they witnessed the possession. Xie Zhong spoke out with widened eyes, "An aura warrior."

"Aura Warrior?" Song Yue and her father looked at the old man for an answer.

Noticing their stares, Xie Zhong explained, "Aura Warriors are those who were born with the aura of a spirit beast emperor when they were born. Usually, the chance of this occurrence in Spirit Warriors is as low as 1 out of 10000."

One of the grand elders then commented, "Fortunately, Mr. Lu is in the 6-circle realm. He will be okay, I guess."

"Oh" "is that so?" Lan Ju and Yang Bingwen reacted at the same time, using a sarcastic tone.

"Eh?" As the remaining two grand elders slightly frowned at their reaction, especially from their own comrade, Song Yue let out a beautiful smile as she pointed at the field, "my husband is a lot stronger than you possibly imagine."

Xie Zhong glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, wondering whether she is being confident or just trying to boast in the heat of the moment.

But, in the next second, his facial expression changed. Even Qilin in Meng Tao's body sweated involuntarily as its eyes fell on the lightning clone that appeared beside Mark.

"Throw him out." Mark passed the order.

And in just a fraction of a second, Meng Tao's collar was grabbed by the clone and he crashed onto the ground with just a casual throw.

The lightning clone disappeared quickly after its job is done but Meng Tao didn't get up and left for a while. Continuing to lie on the ground, the Qilin stared into the sky with a dazed expression and thought, "What in the hell was that? It's fu*king faster than I would ever be in my prime. That Lu Zhen could only be a friend, not a foe. Forget about 3, I will answer 30 if I have to…"

Meanwhile, the murmurings once again flew around.

"What was that skill? One second, it was there beside Lu Zhen, and in the next second, the match is over?"

"That's a fu*king attribute clone skill." "The long lost ancient technique?"

"Was he of lightning attribute?"

"Hey, did it teleport?"

"Kya… Master Lu is just too strong and too handsome" "Hmpf, he is nothing compared to the fourth prince" "Nah, Master Lu is more handsome" "he is already married. On the other hand, the fourth prince is still single. Not to mention, he has a stronger background"

"Say, senior brother, can we recruit that Meng Tao? He appeared to be talented." "Of course, he is an aura warrior, junior sister. Do you think his sect would allow him to leave? Only top-tier sects might have the chance to snatch him."

"I wonder what that weapon used by Lu Zhen. It appeared to be some sort of ether weapon in contrast to Meng Tao's."

"Its firing speed was awesome. I didn't know that owner Lu possessed this type of ether weapon." "Yeah, in the auction, he only sold a copper-grade ether weapon. This one appeared to be atleast in silver grade."

"Forget about the handsome guy for a second. The other fellow, earlier, there was some strange power erupted from him, right?" "Hmm, yeah, I too saw it."

***

The round-32 battles ended around 3:40 in the afternoon and Patriarch Xie called for the day.

Holding up the end of his deal, Meng Tao quietly followed Mark as the latter climbed down the mountain while the rest of his companions apart from the manticore returned to the residence allotted to Mark and everyone on the White peak.

For nearly 30 minutes, neither of them spoke anything. Maybe, it is because he is too nervous or maybe, it is because of the presence of a legendary-realm beast king, Meng Tao showed a great deal of patience as he waited for Mark to open up on the matter.

Once Mark found a remote location on the mountain, he stopped walking and asked without looking at the 19-year-old, "Earlier, you were possessed by Qilin. Can you talk to its spirit?"

"Yes…" Meng Tao admitted it.

"Then, ask the Qilin whether it is the same creature that caused the destruction of Lan Sect." Mark put forth his first question.

Meng Tao went into silence for a while before he slowly opened his mouth, "Yes."

"I see…" Mark calmly nodded and then asked his second question. "Ask who trapped it in the dungeon, which led to a dungeon break."

Taking a deep breath and controlling his emotions, Meng Tao answered after half a minute, "He said that the one behind its capture and the dungeon break is someone named Lan Xu, an immortal realm dungeon creator (11-circle)."

"Lan Xu?" Mark furrowed his brows. He didn't know who it was, but seeing his surname, he almost could confirm that it should be some grand elder from the Ancient Lan Sect and is related to his late grandfather, Lan Gengxin. "Well, it will become clear once I talk to Lan Jing later."

Mark emptied his mind once again to clear off unnecessary thoughts as he finally turned around to look at the nineteen-year-old, "My final question is for you, Meng Tao. If I offer you the needed backing, and an endless supply of free ammunition along with different types of firearms and vehicles, will you become my subordinate and swear your loyalty to me?"

"Eh?" Meng Tao took a step back in shock. "Why?"

"That's not an answer, Mr. Meng," replied Mark, expecting a direct answer.

For the next few seconds, Meng Tao's head hurt like hell as the Qilin was screaming at him. "What are you hesitating, kid? Accept his offer. Pledge your loyalty to him. You won't get such another opportunity to achieve greatness in a shortcut. Do it. Don't think and follow my advice…"

"Argh… alright… don't yell."

***

The next day, after round 16, the battles for the 9th and 10th rankings were held among the losers of round 16.

Mark continued his winning streak and made it quarterfinals.

He was termed to be lucky, according to the majority of the spectators, for not facing a 6-circle realm Spirit Warrior as an opponent so far. Of course, it goes without saying that the popularity of Mark and his firearms began increasing exponentially.

And not everyone is happy with that.

Some people were dissatisfied with the matchups and complained that the Xianshu sect is not being impartial. However, as the grand elders firmly said that the matchups were completely random from round 32, the haters couldn't do anything but hope that he will face humiliation in the quarterfinals where all of the participants were in the 6-circle realm.

***

It was the final day of the tournament and VIP guests started arriving one after another.

Earlier, the VIP section was only filled with the elders, the grand elders, the Patriarch of the Xianshu sect, and Mark's companions.

But, right now, it was filled with more than thirty VIP guests.

There were respective grand elders of the sects that made it to the final day, including the Patriarch of the Wuji sect.

There were wealthy individuals.

There were some powerful nobles from the empire along with their Emperor and three princes (eldest, fourth, and seventh).

Then, there were a couple of representatives from the organizers, the ever-powerful Void Temple.

And lastly, one cannot forget Lan Ju and others who were sitting there for the past couple of days.

Because of Lan Ju's strength as a supreme being and the fact that he has defeated Xie Zhong with ease, he and the others naturally received a warm reception from the other guests too, well, except for one.