Absolute Choice 4

by Pear Lands In The Autumn Spring

  The God of Swords slowly lost his smile and said, "The position of the God of Swords is very unstable. I do not know how many more years I can sit in this spot. Ironical, isn’t it? In the past, I didn't care for it, but now, I think of any means to not get off it."

  One-Pun said with a wry smile, "The God of Swords are just words recognized in the hearts of people, why does Senior need to concern himself about it so much?"

  The God of Swords looked far into the distance and said softly, "It is natural you can't ignore traditions when you are concerned about a title. At least before the day those two children ween of the reliance of a sword, I will not step down from the position of the God of Swords."

  One-Pun was enlightened as he said, "So that's the reason."

  "Those two children" were naturally the Ye siblings. One-Pun never expected the "lofty" elderly God of Swords would go that far for the duo. Of course, the word "lofty" might have always been a misconception of his.

  It was still possible to find a fairy or two that did not partake in mortal pleasures, but an old man who did not partake in mortal pleasures appeared to be one of the few greatest illusions in life.

  One-Pun thought for a moment before saying, "For Senior to think so highly of them, it appears that the two children are extraordinary."

  The God of Swords' eyes brightened a few notches as his mood improved greatly. He said with a laugh, "It's far from extraordinary, they are practically a dragon and phoenix pair. I'm not bragging when I say that the two children's talent in sword arts can trash the past you. They are just slightly weaker than my past self."

  One-Pun's mouth twitched slightly. He had gotten a whole new understanding of the elderly God of Swords today.

  He remained speechless, but his eyes were filled with anticipation. To him, the more geniuses there were in the world, the more stable the human establishment would be. This was an extremely good thing because in this age of calamities, true heroes were needed. True mighty figures were needed for the unpredictable apocalypse in the future as well.

  It was as if the God of Swords had his chattering seal unsealed. Without waiting for One-Pun to respond, he continued on, "Twenty years ago, I wanted to take you in as a disciple, but you refused. It had hurt this old man's heart. Tomorrow, don't you run and take a look at the good disciples I found over the past two decades. Take a look at the future Gods of Swords."

  ...

  ...

  The next day, despite it not being the focus of all attention, the exchange battle that still received the attention of many finally proceeded as planned.

  It was made mandatory for the [Gaia] rookies to watch the battle exchange. Therefore, regardless if they were willing or not, they arrived at the competition venue early in the morning. The venue was a circular stadium that could seat at least ten thousand people. It was built for various competitions. For example, this year's Rookie King was to be born here, and any battle exchanges with other organizations were held here as well.

  The citizens of Steel City could watch such a battle exchange every other year. In fact, they did not have much anticipation for it, or it could even be said that they did not look forward to it at all. However, there were always some cheapskates who wanted to watch a free show, or others who felt the need to witness the Ye siblings' awesomeness. In addition to the news of the elderly God of Swords' attendance, this battle exchange exceeded the scale of past exchanges. It went from less than half the seats filled to nearly half-filled.

  The candidates for the battle exchange from both sides had long arrived in their respective lounges. The battle exchange was like in the past. There were a total of seven rounds for the rookies to battle it out. Although victory was decided after four battles, all seven battles had to be fought even if the seven battles all ended in defeat.

  In [Zeus]'s lounge, other than Sunless being aloof and sitting in a corner with her eyes closed, the other six rookies were chatting merrily as they surrounded Heartless. However, they were not discussing the battle exchange, but the mass selection the day after tomorrow.

  No one took the battle exchange to heart. For them, it was just a mission from the organization. They just needed to go on stage and defeat their opponent in the shortest amount of time. There was no need to deliberately ridicule their opponents since disregard was the cruelest derision.

  As for the [Gaia]'s lounge, it was in a mess because they were missing a person.

  Riko had sent a message which said: "Tu Dahei is now in a deep meditative state, so it is unlikely he will be able to make it!"

  Compared to a battle exchange that was destined to suffer an abject failure, being able to enter a rare deep meditative state was naturally a hundred times more important. No one would unreasonably say things like, "deep meditative state my ass, quickly wake him up".

  Mozzie was overjoyed instead of being worried. In the silent lounge, she cheered and said, "Shi...Lord Tu Dahei is awesome!"

  Kevin twitched his mouth and echoed Mozzie by saying, "Yea, it's a good thing."

  Mu Yuesheng was still in Cogitation with her eyes closed, but an undetectable smile appeared by the corner of her lips.

  In contrast, there were three other rookies with ashen expressions. In order to make up seven people, they had been chosen as contestants at the very last minute. They were already in a terrible mood, and now with Tu Dahei having lucked out by entering a "deep meditative state" to "dodge the calamity ahead", they felt truly jealous.

  The three could only grumble softly, but they did not dare to speak further.

  A deep meditative state was indeed something rare. No one wanted to wake Shi Xiaobai up. Even Riko, who had pleaded for Shi Xiaobai to smack faces yesterday, was delighted. She was even more overjoyed and forgot all about what had happened yesterday.

  However, [Gaia] was still short of a person.

  The upper echelons of [Gaia] decisively chose a substitute randomly from the rookies. They had made Shi Xiaobai appear last. If he could get here in time, he would be sent up to do battle. If he could not, he would be substituted by that person.

  The substitute was already cursing in his heart. The finale was bound to be one of the Ye siblings. Letting a person like him, with a power level of five, fight, wouldn't that just be courting death?

  At this moment, a person suddenly appeared in the lounge.

  The moment the person entered, he said loudly, "Me wants to participate in the battle exchange!"

  ...

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  Chapter188 Looks Competition MVP

  A person with an "extremely vicious" look stood at the lounge’s door. He was tall and burly. His short sleeve shirt exposed muscles that bulged out like fists. On first look, they looked like hard and cold stones.

  In addition to his stout build and fierce look, a circle around his short black hair was shaved off. He combed up a lock of yellow hair like a rooster's crown, and his eyes were burning with anxious and savage flames. A hideous scar went from his forehead down past his right eye. His mustache was a messy scrawl, and a prominent double chin brought out the hideousness of his face.

  When everyone in the lounge first saw this person, they were startled, especially from the anxious aura he gave off. They thought a ruffian had arrived.

  But when the person opened his mouth, it fully gave the people the understanding of what it meant to be a Voice OTL-er as they too figuratively collapsed in front of him when he opened his mouth.

  "Me wants to participate in the battle exchange!"

  The moment he opened his mouth, all that impressiveness and rousing stance he had was overwhelmed by his honest tone and expression.

  As Ye Jiaquan looked at everyone looking at him with dumbfounded expressions, he scratched his head out of habit and he said loudly once again, "Me wants to participate in the battle exchange!"

  The rookie who had been roped in to substitute Shi Xiaobai had his eyes lit up
as he immediately said, "This...brother. What's your name? What's your psionic cultivation realm? Are you a rookie of [Gaia]?"

  Without any hesitation, Ye Jiaquan replied, "Me name is Ye Jiaquan. Now, Me is at the third level of the Psionic Mortal Realm and is a rookie of the Annihilation division!"

  The rookies were taken aback. Even Mu Yuesheng opened her eyes and gave Ye Jiaquan a curious glance.

  Third level of the Psionic Mortal Realm?

  The weakest person here was at the fifth level of the Psionic Mortal Realm but even he did not have the slightest bit of confidence. Having not even crossed the first step at the third level of the Psionic Mortal Realm, wasn't it a joke to volunteer to challenge the [Zeus] delegation who were all at or around the tenth level of the Psionic Mortal Realm?

  The substitute was disappointed as he said, "Big bro, you came to the wrong place."

  The three other rookies began to mock in laughter.

  "It's commendable to have such courage at the third level of the Psionic Mortal Realm."

  "I have to comment that what you said made me relax. I was still rather nervous a moment ago."

  "Brother, nice going. If you stand there, you might scare the opponent silly, as long as you don't open your mouth."

  Ye Jiaquan scratched his head and gave a silly smile, as though he could not tell the mockery in the rookies' words.

  Mozzie frowned. The mocking attitude of the other rookies had made her a bit uncomfortable, but she could not do anything about them as they were mentioning facts.

  Mozzie looked at Ye Jiaquan and said, "Sorry about that. We can't make the decision. You can go out the door, turn left, and walk straight. Then, make a right turn to walk into another corridor. There, in the room at the end of the corridor, you can find Division Minister Minamiya."

  Ye Jiaquan was taken aback as he nodded and said, "Alright, thank you!"

  Ye Jiaquan turned around and left after saying that.

  Seeing Ye Jiaquan's back, Kevin frowned slightly. He found the name "Ye Jiaquan" familiar, but he did not know where he had heard it from.

  Mu Yuesheng slowly closed her eyes as a trace of doubt flashed in her mind that everyone else had overlook. She knew that there wouldn't be any powerful security guards outside the lounge, but there should have been security guards present to prevent the contestants from being disturbed...How did this rookie, Ye Jiaquan, come in?

  But at this moment, the other four rookies who were feeling a mountain of pressure finally found something to release the pressure, and they began chatting without any further thoughts.

  "When that big guy came in, wasn't it a bit frightening? I was wondering where the ruffian came from and nearly yelped for help. Who knew that he's a Voice OTL-er. Haha"

  "Yea, I thought so too. Before he opened his mouth, he sounded like a dominating king, but the moment he opened his mouth, he was like an idiot, the especially silly kind."

  "How do you think the Division Ministers are going to deal with this matter?"

  "I believe he will be taught a good lesson, and counseled. Although the big guy is quite silly, his courage is commendable."

  "Sigh, what a pity. If the battle exchange was a competition of looks, with the person with more threatening looks winning, he would definitely be the MVP!"

  As the four rookies chattered cheerfully, despite their words filled with derision, what they said was the irrefutable truth.

  Ten minutes later.

  With Yama Minamiya in front and Ye Jiaquan behind, the two entered the lounge.

  Yama Minamiya looked at the substitute and said, "You can go back and rest."

  Everyone was alarmed and guessed of a possibility as they looked at Ye Jiaquan in disbelief.

  Ye Jiaquan scratched his head and said honestly, "Me will work hard, please give your advice!"

  Everyone drew a cold breath.

  What was going on?

  Getting a person at the third level of the Psionic Mortal Realm to be a substitute that would appear at the end?

  Was it because they had nothing to lose?

  ...

  ...

  At ten in the morning, the battle exchange was finally about to begin.

  The half-filled stadium was meant the audience turn up was larger in scale than previous years, but most of the audience were there to watch the awesomeness of the Ye siblings. They also had the tiny hope of seeing Jian Xilai, who had held his spot as God of Swords for several decades.

  And most people did not have much of an expectation for the battle exchange. This was because based on past year's results or this year's participant lineup, there was no suspense left to this battle exchange.

  The only thing that could be barely be considered an unknown was the number of seconds the [Gaia] rookies could last.

  Very soon, a man in a suit walked slowly to the middle of the stadium. Evidently, he was the host of the battle exchange.

  "Everyone, the battle exchange is about to begin. Please warmly welcome the rookies from both sides!"

  The host's voice was amplified through the microphone in his hand throughout the entire stadium as the audience's din gradually quietened down.

  "First, let us invite a well-known organization in the country. It is ranked as one of the top three organizations in China, the internationally renowned [Zeus]. Please give your applause to welcome this year’s rookie delegation from [Zeus]!"

  The moment the host said this, the audience began to erupt into applause. It was not especially enthusiastic since this was [Gaia]'s home ground after all.

  But as the [Zeus] rookies appeared, especially when the Ye siblings walked out, the applause suddenly heated up. There were cheers undulating throughout the stadium. It was evident how popular the Ye siblings were.

  The seven [Zeus] rookies lined up to the right of the host and looked relaxed and calm. A few of them even waved to the audience, as though what followed next would be a stress-free performance.

  "Next up, let us welcome one of the world's former top ten organizations, which once managed to rank first in China's organizational rankings for six consecutive months, with a fine tradition and glorious history, [Gaia]. Please give your applause to welcome the new batch of [Gaia] rookies!"

  The suited man was no doubt a host chosen by [Gaia]. When he delivered the welcoming speech, he raised his tone by several octaves, and the contents of his speech was well prepared, with deep tones of praise.

  However, the praising appeared too obvious. The applause was sparse, and there were even some boos mixed in. It was hard to believe that this was [Gaia]'s home ground.

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  Chapter189 Take Ten Million to Feed the Pigs!

  As the host had gone overboard with his praises, there was a lot of booing when the [Gaia] rookies appeared. The situation turned extremely awkward.

  However, when Mozzie appeared, there were several shouts such as, "Wow, what a cute chick". And when Mu Yuesheng finally appeared, most of the [Gaia] rookies cheered and screamed.

  When the [Zeus] rookies realized that the cheers the [Gaia]'s rookies received were worse than theirs, they laughed at the irony as their belittlement grew in intensity. However, when they saw Mozzie appear, a few male rookies had their eyes slightly light up. After all, it was rare to see such a lovely and cute chick.

  Ye Jiaquan lined the back of the team. When he appeared, all the Annihilation rookies were taken aback. They secretly wondered over the silly big guy’s appearance.

  However, most of the audience did not know Ye Jiaquan. They could not help but stare widely as Ye Jiaquan's ruffian-like aura caught their attention.

  In Team [Zeus], there were two people who greatly changed their expressions when they saw Ye Jiaquan. Their eyes flashed with complicated looks.

  The seven [Gaia] rookies lined up to the left of the host. They were more or less nervous, forming a stark contrast from the other team.

  "T
he organizations, Gaia and Zeus, have deep ties of friendship. Every year, a rookie battle exchange is held. The goal of the battle exchange is for the rookies to participate in an exchange so that there will be common progress..."

  The host read the clichéd opening address and the battle exchange's rules. Sensing the displeasure in the audience, the host sped his speech up and finished in a few minutes.

  "Then, before we begin the intense battle exchange, let's hear what the rookies participating in this exchange have to say!"

  The host hurriedly announced the next segment, an extremely clichéd smack talk before the match. However, this segment clearly stirred up the emotions of the audience greatly. Although it was unlikely they would see any trash-talking, it was also very nice to hear the Ye sibling's voices.

  The host knew what was on the minds of the audience as he turned around to walk towards the Ye siblings.

  When the host came in front of Heartless, he gave an impassioned shout, "[Zeus] rookie, Heartless Ye. Top scholar of the Hubei province and this year's super rookie. The direct disciple of the God of Swords, Jian Xilai, and has the nickname of the Young God of Swords. Let us hear what Heartless has to say before the battle exchange begins!"

  The audience immediately broke out into a warm round of applause and cheers. Some of the audience even shouted "Heartless is the strongest". The scene seemed to have boiled over.

  Heartless' fame was not only because of his status as a super rookie and the God of Swords' disciple. The main reason why he was so well-known was because of a video.

  The video had gone viral, and it had once entered the top ranks of trending searches on Hoogle. In the video, a young Heartless had slain ten calamity fiends using a single black sword and saved three children in distress. His cool attitude and unyielding expressions were highly approbated, allowing him to attract countless of fans, and become a subject of discussion.

  The host passed a microphone to Heartless.

  Heartless still had an unyielding expression as ever, but he seemed to be in a somewhat terrible mood. His face was somewhat livid as well. After he took over the microphone, he exhaled twice as though he was trying to calm his mood.