The martial arts tournament was held once every two years and was highly anticipated throughout the Empire. The first ten days were the points matches. Participants could choose their own arenas and freely challenge opponents, while the tournament system calculated the points of both sides. After ten days, the top ten on the points leaderboard would advance to the knockout finals, where they would draw lots to determine their opponents.
Lu Qiao and Yan Qiu had participated in this tournament together six years ago. Yan Qiu had, without a doubt, taken first place, while Lu Qiao had followed right behind Yan Qiu and taken second.
By the time the group arrived at the martial arts tournament venue, it was already eleven o’clock.
The tournament’s opening ceremony had already ended. Across the enormous competition grounds, there were a total of 180 arenas, and almost all of them had people fighting on them. The atmosphere was extremely lively.
The Director and Deputy Director went to register competition cards for the students and conveniently got one for Lu Qiao as well.
The Director lazily said, “Maybe you’ll get itchy watching them fight later. Take it.”
Seeing the familiar competition card, Lu Qiao smiled and put it away.
The Director clapped his hands and said to everyone, “All right, everyone is free to move around now. We’ll meet back here at four this afternoon. Good luck with your matches!”
The students answered in unison before scattering, beginning to search for arenas that suited them.
Chris and Ellie were still listless, seemingly having no interest in the competition at all. The Director looked at them and tentatively asked, “What’s wrong? Weren’t you two looking forward to this competition before?”
Chris said quietly, “I heard that Marshal Yan also had someone locked onto two days ago.”
The Director froze.
Lu Qiao immediately waved at the Director and said, “Then I’ll go first, too.”
The Director said, “Oh, go ahead, go ahead.”
Then he looked at Lu Qiao’s retreating back before glancing at Chris and Ellie. He cleared his throat and stared at the sky, saying, “Ah, so that’s it. If he’s locked onto someone, then he’s locked onto someone. He’s already twenty-seven. It’s not like he can’t have someone he’s secretly in love with, right?”
As soon as he said that, Ellie cried even harder.
Although the two of them came from noble families, they had never actually met Yan Qiu face-to-face. Even so, Ellie had always dreamed of becoming Yan Qiu’s wife, while Chris dreamed of becoming Yan Qiu’s brother-in-law…
In short, the two of them were genuinely heartbroken!
The Director’s lips twitched.
Chris sighed. “Director, you really don’t know Marshal Yan, do you? Didn’t you retire from the First Legion five years ago?”
“Yeah, but I happened to enter just as he left, so we never crossed paths. If I knew him, I would’ve put him on the advertisements when I opened the training center. Anyway, that’s enough, that’s enough. Since you two want to enter the military, this competition is very important. Don’t waste your time.”
Lu Qiao wandered around the competition venue alone, observing the arenas on both sides.
This kind of tournament brought together people from all over the Empire, and every time, one could see all kinds of genetic races.
There were people with long fangs and wolf claws, people as tall as trees, and even muscle-bound powerhouses.
There were quite a few people gathered around each arena. Those interested in the competitors fighting on the arena could swipe their cards on the arena system to queue up. Once the current winner emerged, they could go onto the arena and fight them themselves—of course, the current winner might also lose.
Back then, during the arena stage, Lu Qiao had wanted to chase after Yan Qiu and fight him repeatedly. Fortunately, Song Yue had stopped him. His good friend had advised him, “If you keep fighting Yan Qiu and losing, losing, and losing, will your points even get you into the top ten? You might as well accumulate some battle experience first and worry about the finals when the time comes!”
At the time, Lu Qiao had been very unconvinced.
“Why can’t I win?”
Although he had known Yan Qiu for several years, and Yan Qiu was going to enter the military the following year, Lu Qiao had never beaten him even once—not once.
Thinking about that, Lu Qiao himself felt quite resentful.
Song Yue’s expression had been indescribably complicated.
And right at that moment, Yan Qiu had passed by him, glanced at him, and calmly said, “I’ll wait for you in the finals.”
Lu Qiao: “…”
Although he had been extremely unwilling to accept it, afterward he had still slunk off to the arena next to Yan Qiu’s and started grinding points.
Even now, thinking about that incident, Lu Qiao still felt quite unwilling to give up.
Until Yan Qiu entered the military, Lu Qiao had never beaten that man even once.
And now… now there was even less hope.
Ah, when would his pair of lousy wings finally become completely stable?
Once his condition stabilized and improved, he would definitely have another spar with Yan Qiu…
Just as he was thinking this, a cry of surprise came from the arena on his left. Someone flew off the arena and crashed right in front of Lu Qiao, groaning in pain.
Lu Qiao stopped, bent down, and helped him up with one hand before turning toward the arena.
A burly man built like a small mountain was sprawled beside the arena, grinning at them.
He was from the Aquatic Race. Five octopus tentacles writhed wildly behind him.
“Wow, isn’t that Lu Qiao?” The octopus guy propped his chin up with one hand and deliberately raised his voice. “Everyone here is a student participating in the competition. What are you, a guy who’s been graduated for two years, still doing here?”
Lu Qiao narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Yu Liang, his cousin.
That’s right. Although after his grandmother’s death he had entered a public foster-care institution as an orphan, he actually still had relatives. It was just that their relationship had turned sour, and they had almost no contact with each other.
Yu Liang’s brothers were also standing around the arena. They all knew Lu Qiao, and they laughed when they heard this.
Back then, Yan Qiu had been a legend, and Lu Qiao had been a legend as well.
When he had first entered the ten-year public school system, he had been a useless weakling who couldn’t do anything. Yet he had studied incredibly hard, and his improvement had been astonishingly fast.
After meeting Yan Qiu, he had claimed that he regarded Yan Qiu as his opponent. While everyone had laughed at him, he had continued evolving at an astonishing speed. In a short period of time, he had actually surpassed everyone else and begun closing in on Yan Qiu’s back.
Before Lu Qiao graduated, how many people had been watching him?
Everyone had guessed that he would apply to the First Legion, where Yan Qiu was. It was almost certain that the moment he entered the legion, he would become a first-class officer.
The story between him and Yan Qiu would surely continue in the military, right?
But reality had completely shattered everyone’s expectations.
Lu Qiao had actually fallen ill.
He couldn’t even enter the military, much less continue competing with Yan Qiu.
There were naturally people who felt sorry for him, but there were also people who enjoyed watching him make a fool of himself.
To Yu Liang, this cousin who had been pressing down on him for years, who had once even looked down on their family and refused to let his parents raise him, had enjoyed glory for far too long.
Now that he had finally fallen from the altar, Yu Liang felt nothing but satisfaction.
Yu Liang curled his lips and said loudly in front of everyone, “Hey, Lu Qiao, your pair of wings still can’t come out? You’re only a Featherwing Race genetic type ranked in the thirties. They’re such a nuisance. Why don’t you just get genetic closure surgery?”
There were a total of 108 known genetic races in interstellar society. In terms of combat power rankings, the Featherwing Race was only ranked thirty-second.
Around the arena, quiet discussions began.
“Hasn’t it already been two years? His genetic disorder still isn’t cured?”
“Lu Qiao is completely finished, isn’t he? If he can’t enter the military again next year, he’ll have no hope at all.”
“Back then he even made a big speech about surpassing Yan Qiu. That guy is already the Empire’s First Marshal…”
Lu Qiao naturally heard their discussions.
But ever since he had fallen ill two years ago, he had heard plenty of comments like these. At first, he had been angry and hurt.
Later, he became indifferent.
So what if he was sick?
The only unstable thing was his lousy pair of wings.
Yu Liang loudly provoked him. “Lu Qiao, I’m entering the military next year. What about you? How about you work harder and become my classmate?”
—Even without those wings, beating up this annoying bastard would still be more than enough for him.
So Lu Qiao walked over and expressionlessly swiped his card across the holographic screen.
There was currently no one waiting in line for this arena. After Lu Qiao swiped his card, he and the previous winner, Yu Liang, became opponents.
The people around the arena began cheering.
Yu Liang’s smile froze for a moment. Immediately afterward, his body tensed, and he took a step backward, warily watching Lu Qiao jump onto the arena.
Lu Qiao put the card into his pocket and glanced at him with a smile.
“Nervous?”
Yu Liang stiffened and forced a smile.
“I-I have nothing to be nervous about. I’m completely different from two years ago. You’d better be careful!”
What the hell?
He had heard that Lu Qiao was currently working as an assistant instructor at a training center. How did an assistant instructor even have a competition card?
Was this guy crazy?
Although his genes had undergone an awakening and he felt that he was much stronger than before, his body still remembered what it had felt like to be beaten by this person back then.
Yu Liang swallowed hard, facing Lu Qiao as though he were facing a formidable enemy.
After the meeting ended, Luo Ye latched onto Yan Qiu and followed him to the martial arts competition venue.
When the tournament committee heard that the two of them had arrived, they immediately welcomed them into the VIP seats.
After getting himself some tea, Luo Ye smiled as he looked at the person standing by the window and gazing down at the competition grounds.
“How about it? Want me to send someone down and bring your Qiao Qiao up?”
Yan Qiu ignored him. He swept his gaze across the entire venue, and before long, his eyes locked onto one particular place.
Luo Ye shrugged and continued, “Oh, right. Since Qiao Qiao came here with the training center today, then his teacher should be here too, right?”
He turned to his personal guard.
“Go downstairs and look for him. Ask the teacher to come up and spend some time with us. It’s been many years since we’ve seen him.”
Ellie and Chris had no interest in the competition and kept following the Director around.
The Director really had no choice, so he took them wandering around the competition grounds.
Before long, a figure approached from a distance. When he saw the Director, he jogged over and gave him a slight nod.
The Director recognized him and looked up at the floor-to-ceiling window of the VIP room on the second floor.
He turned around and said to Ellie and Chris, “I’ve got something to take care of. I need to step away for a while. You two look around yourselves.”
Ellie and Chris could only answer weakly.
“Okay…”
The Director followed the guard straight through the venue, went upstairs, and arrived at the VIP room.
There, he saw the Third Prince sitting in a chair drinking tea and the Marshal standing by the window.
Luo Ye waved at him with a smile.
“Teacher, long time no see!”
Yan Qiu also turned around and nodded.
“Teacher.”
The Director scratched his head as he walked in helplessly.
“Why are you two here? You really have that much free time today?”
Luo Ye pointed at Yan Qiu.
The Director immediately understood.
“Ah, got it, got it. Why just stand around watching? Why don’t you go downstairs and find him?”
Luo Ye said, “That’d cause quite a commotion, wouldn’t it? It would interfere with the competition.”
The two exchanged a glance.
Together, they said, “Heh heh heh heh…”
The Director sat down beside Luo Ye without any ceremony. He let Luo Ye pour him a cup of tea before grinning at Yan Qiu.
“So, the person locked onto Lu Qiao is you, right? Any progress after these two days? I asked that kid, but he refuses to say anything. Everyone online says the two people who’ve been locked onto each other are secretly in love. So you aren’t secretly crushing on him alone, right?”
Yan Qiu remained silent.
Luo Ye leaned over and whispered to the Director, “Forget it. He won’t say. There definitely hasn’t been any progress.”
The Director teased him.
“With him being this tsundere, it’ll be hard to make any progress. Lu Qiao still doesn’t know that I was thrown to the hospital entrance by Ji Zhuyun back then.”
Although five years ago, the Director had left the First Legion while Yan Qiu entered it, so the two had narrowly missed each other, he had actually been Yan Qiu and Luo Ye’s private extracurricular trainer even earlier.
Ellie and Chris’s parents knew about this, which was why they had sent the two children over.
Of course, considering their fanatical admiration for Yan Qiu, everyone had unanimously agreed that the two kids could not be allowed to know about his relationship with Yan Qiu and Luo Ye.
Two years ago, the Director, who had already established his training center, suddenly received a call from Yan Qiu.
Yan Qiu had asked him to help take care of someone named Lu Qiao.
The Director had heard Lu Qiao’s name before, but he only knew that he was some youngster Yan Qiu had frequently encountered in competitions.
He was somewhat surprised because no one had ever seen Yan Qiu ask someone else for help, much less ask someone else to take care of another person.
Just what kind of person was Lu Qiao?
And what was his relationship with Yan Qiu?
Out of curiosity, the Director accepted Yan Qiu’s request.
Later, he was brought to the entrance of the hospital by Yan Qiu’s friend Ji Zhuyun.
After arriving at the ward, he met that young man.
And in that instant, he suddenly understood what was going on between Yan Qiu and this person.
It wasn’t that Lu Qiao was so beautiful that he immediately misunderstood things.
Rather, it was Lu Qiao’s temperament.
That was something extremely mysterious, but Lu Qiao’s temperament gave the Director a feeling that made him understand that Yan Qiu’s attention toward this young man named Lu Qiao was definitely not merely the mutual appreciation between opponents.
More of it…
Probably came from affection and tenderness.
That kid Yan Qiu had fallen for him, hadn’t he?
No wonder that day, at the end of the phone call, the guy had fallen silent for a second before specifically reminding him:
“Don’t tell Lu Qiao that I was the one who asked you to go.”
He had asked, “Why?”
Yan Qiu had said, “…Just don’t tell him.”
He had pressed, “Why, why? Tell me!”
The call had been hung up.
At the time, the Director had rubbed his chin, thinking that the kid actually had moments when he could get embarrassed.
With that much tsundere behavior, how was he ever going to win someone over?
But after going inside and introducing himself to Lu Qiao, he had still lied, saying that he had noticed Lu Qiao through various major competitions, that he valued talent, and that he sincerely hoped he could help Lu Qiao.
Until now—
The Director smiled.
“So? You still can’t tell Lu Qiao what you’ve done for him? Keeping this secret all this time is exhausting for your Uncle here!”
Yan Qiu frowned slightly and was just about to turn around when he suddenly noticed the commotion below.
His expression darkened!
After the Director left, Ellie and Chris silently wandered around for a while.
Suddenly, they saw Lu Qiao beating someone up on an arena.
The two of them: “…”
It really was a one-sided beating, just like how he usually beat the two of them.
His opponent was an Aquatic Race member who had a body like a small mountain and five octopus tentacles, yet he was completely incapable of fighting back against Lu Qiao.
Everyone around the arena fell silent.
So did the two of them.
Yu Liang’s octopus tentacles had even stopped moving.
Lu Qiao generally didn’t injure people when he fought. His main goal was to knock them down.
By the end, Yu Liang was completely exhausted and couldn’t even get up.
The match had only started two minutes ago, yet he had already been completely subdued by Lu Qiao.
Although he had struggled for a long time, there had been absolutely no suspense about the result.
The spectators were all stunned.
Yu Liang had awakened his racial genes and could be said to be in peak condition.
Yet Lu Qiao had genetic disorder syndrome and hadn’t even used his Featherwing Race wings!
After two years, Lu Qiao’s physical condition hadn’t declined in the slightest?!
At that moment, Lu Qiao stood up, rolled his neck and arms, and let out a breath.
He had finally gotten his body moving.
The system calculated their scores.
It was a ten-point system.
Lu Qiao received a perfect ten, while Yu Liang had only two points.
Yu Liang lay on the ground and whimpered in a low voice, crying like a child.
“Sob sob sob…”
“Sniff sniff…”
Lu Qiao turned around to leave, but Yu Liang grabbed his ankle.
Lu Qiao stopped and looked down at him from the side.
“Still want to get beaten?”
Lu Qiao and Yu Liang had never gotten along since childhood.
When they were little, they had attended the same elementary school. Yu Liang had liked snatching his toys, badmouthing him, and taking every opportunity to bully and mess with him.
Lu Qiao would beat him up.
Beat him up again.
And then beat him up again.
Honestly, Lu Qiao was already tired of beating him.
Yu Liang didn’t say anything. He just cried.
Lu Qiao didn’t want to stay on the arena any longer.
He hadn’t actually come here to participate in the competition.
If he waited any longer and someone swiped their card to get onto the arena, he would have to fight another match.
It was about time.
He needed to go to the hospital.
Lu Qiao bent down and was just about to pull Yu Liang’s hand away when Yu Liang suddenly raised his head and shot him a resentful look.
In the next instant, he and the people around the arena simultaneously shuddered.
A strange feeling surfaced in their hearts, and goosebumps rose all over their bodies.
Beside the arena, Ellie rubbed her arm and cautiously looked around.
“What does it feel like?” she whispered to her younger brother.
Chris said suspiciously, “I don’t know. It’s a little like…”
The next second—
Yu Liang let out a scream.
Ten octopus tentacles suddenly grew explosively from his back, waving wildly as they lunged toward Lu Qiao.
At the same time, an invisible force slammed into the arena.
The people around it were caught off guard and were struck by the force, tumbling to the ground one after another.
Some clutched their heads and groaned.
Others had already fainted on the ground.
Lu Qiao was struck by that force as well.
But after stumbling backward one step, he firmly steadied himself.
He stared in shock and uncertainty at Yu Liang lying on the ground.
Mental power!
The attack just now had been mental power!
The octopus tentacles came straight toward him.
Most of them attacked Lu Qiao, while the others wildly destroyed the arena.
Lu Qiao broke free of Yu Liang’s grip and flipped backward to dodge them, his face filled with astonishment.
The mental power had clearly come from Yu Liang.
But this was the ability of the Consciousness Race.
Wasn’t Yu Liang’s first-level gene the Aquatic Race?
Could it be…
That he had awakened a second-level gene during the competition?!
The Consciousness Race was the most mysterious race in history.
Mental power was an extremely dangerous ability.
Yu Liang seemed to have gone into a genetic rampage now.
If this continued, the consequences would be unimaginable!
Lu Qiao gritted his teeth, dodged the wildly thrashing tentacles, and charged straight toward Yu Liang.
Wave after wave of mental power crashed toward him.
Lu Qiao endured it head-on.
At a certain instant, he suddenly felt as though something inside his body had shot out and violently collided with Yu Liang’s mental power!
At the same time, he stepped on one octopus tentacle after another, rapidly approaching the center.
Then he jumped down, descending toward the top of Yu Liang’s head—
In the middle of the wildly flailing tentacles, Yu Liang was still crying.
“Sob sob sob…”
Lu Qiao flipped in midair and brought his hand down hard like a blade, knocking the man unconscious.
He landed steadily.
But in the next second, an octopus tentacle suddenly struck him under the force of its remaining momentum.
Lu Qiao instinctively raised both arms to block.
Yet he was still sent flying!
Ellie and Chris had been struck by the mental power.
Although they had barely managed to resist it, they still dropped to their knees.
When they saw Lu Qiao flying through the air, the two cried out in alarm.
Then a tall figure suddenly appeared and caught Lu Qiao securely!
Lu Qiao’s entire head spun from the impact.
When he finally recovered, he turned his head and saw Yan Qiu’s dark, grim face.
“Y-You… why are you here…?”
His eyes widened in utter shock.
After steadying Lu Qiao, Yan Qiu turned him around, his gaze fixed on the left side of his face.
A tiny streak of blood had appeared there.
Yan Qiu reached out and wiped away the bead of blood that had trickled down.
His expression was extremely grim.
Lu Qiao lay against his chest and swallowed hard.