Chapter 66 - Fearless
*TL Note: ‘Sky Gate’ and ‘Gate of Heaven’ have previously been used interchangeably. We will be sticking with ‘Gate of Heaven’ from now on.
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It was now the fourth day of the martial competition.
This day, all the warriors who came to participate were fiercely fighting for the top three places.
Every rank’s first three places would have a certain Martial Skill, secret treasure, or cultivation material as prizes. As long as you can place in the first three, there’s no way you would go home empty-handed.
The five families were never stingy in giving prizes. They had prepared many Profound level Martial Skills and secret treasures as well as pills and cultivation materials that enhanced one’s Profound Qi.
On the morning of the fourth day, these lavish prizes were displayed on a round table in the middle of the arena, watched by specialized staff.
The warriors were ecstatic upon seeing the prizes being displayed and were in full vigor to fight in the upcoming battles.
By noon time, there were already two Nascent Realm warriors killed in the arena, and one at the Human Realm was crippled.
According to the rules of the Martial Competition, when one side surrenders, the opposing party cannot continue the fight.
Which was why as long as one wasn’t too greedy, took what could be managed, and give up when the situation wasn’t favourable, one would definitely live.
The few warriors who were heavily injured or killed were all thinking that they could still keep fighting. They tried to turn the situation around when they were obviously at a disadvantage, that was why they had such miserable outcomes.
On the Shi family’s stone tower.
There was a smile at the corner of Shi Jian’s lips as he looked down on the arenas from high above, occasionally glancing at the Mo family’s tower. Every time he would see Mo Tuo with a dark expression, like his son died or something.
In the past three days, many important figures in the Mo family had all mysteriously disappeared one by one.
Mo Tuo was full of anger, but due to the critical time of Martial Competition, he couldn’t act arbitrarily. He knew exactly who’s been doing this, but there was nothing he could do.
The experts of the Mo family could only secretly try to find traces of Mu Xun’s group, but unfortunately, they couldn’t even find Mu Xun’s shadow. And Mu Xun didn’t send messengers either, so there was no way to negotiate.
“Kid, tomorrow is the Martial Competition for the five families. After watching for four days have you gained anything?” Shi Jian was in a great mood. He peered at Shi Yan, who was at his side, and spoke casually.
“Gains?” Shi Yan looked indifferent and nodded, “I definitely gained some things, but I’m only watching, so there’s only a little to actually gain. Instead I would like to go on the battlefield myself and fight to the death. Only the things you comprehend on the verge of death can be considered the greatest riches.”
Shi Jian was dazed. He stared at Shi Yan, and after quite a while he finally asked in astonishment, “You little brat! You cultivated to the Nascent Realm in such a short time, shouldn’t you be lacking in battle experience? Why do I feel that you’re already highly experienced? The insights on the verge of death are surely precious, but if you get killed, then all those insights would’ve been useless.”
Shi Yan grinned, but did not explain his words.
“Oh?”
Shi Jian suddenly exclaimed, his expression strange. He looked at the far away tower of the Mo family.
Two hundred meters away, in the tower of the Mo family.
Someone quietly whispered into Mo Tuo’s ear, his face suddenly darkened to the extreme. Shockingly he walked down the stone tower of the Mo family and walked straight towards the Shi family.
On the Beiming family’s stone tower, Beiming Shang also shortly received the news. He moaned, and then also walked down his stone tower and came towards the Shi family.
In the arena, the warriors were still intensely battling. Many bystanders were confused by Beiming Shang and Mo Tuo, who were walking towards the stone tower of the Shi family, wondering why these two were heading over to the Shi family’s tower.
In a short moment, the angry-looking Mo Tuo got to the Shi family’s tower first.
Right after he climbed up the tower, Mo Tuo immediately sprung up and screamed: “Shi Jian! Where is Mu Xun?”
Shi Jian’s expression darkened, and he sneered: “How would I know where Mu Xun is? Mo Tuo, you are asking the wrong person.”
“Don’t even try to pretend!”
Mo Tuo’s expression was of resentment, “Mu Xun is an outsider. Unless you and the Shi family secretly provided help, how could it be that our Mo family is unable to track him? Mu Xun is probably hiding in some manor of the Shi family. You better tell me exactly where he’s hiding!”
“Mo Tuo, our family’s business has nothing to do with you!” Shi Jian snorted rudely.
“My son Chaoge disappeared last night, and hasn’t been seen since. It has to be Mu Xun! If it’s someone else I might let it pass, but if Mu Xun dares to take Chaoge, I won’t take it easy!” Mo Tuo shouted in rage.
After hearing that, everyone on the stone tower had a weird expression on their faces. They finally knew why Mo Tuo was so furious.
Mo Chaoge was the strongest figure in the second generation of the Mo family. Not only did he have extraordinary capabilities, he was also very intelligent. Most of the machinations that the Mo family came up with were from this mastermind.
The Shi family also had many people who suffered losses because of him.
Mo Chaoge could be described as the most capable person in the second generation of the Mo family. Now that such an important figure had also gone missing, Mo Tuo couldn’t sit still anymore. He finally came to start the fight.
Mu Xun was really ruthless! Shi Yan’s heart skipped a beat. He knew now that Mo Tuo was not going to let this go.
“I don’t know where Mu Xun is, go spend some time and find him yourself. You’re not welcome here.” Shi Jian said indifferently. He was secretly happy inside, but he didn’t stop insisting.
“Head of the Beiming family!” Shi Tie exclaimed.
Right at this moment, Beiming Shang slowly walked up the Shi family’s stone tower. With furrowed brows he came to the side of Shi Jian and Mo Tuo. Beiming Shang glanced at the two, then casually said, “The Marital Competition is held by us five families. I hope everyone can keep calm, and not make trouble during the Martial Competition. Others will ridicule us.”
“My son Chaoge is gone!” Mo Tuo yelled.
Beiming Shang’s expression froze for a second, then he said to Shi Jian, “Master Shi, that Mu Xun is, after all, an outsider. Although we should treat him well on his visit to the Merchant Union, there is a limit. His approach of taking away Mo Chaoge is truly too extreme. Master Shi, on this matter you should restrain yourself a little, don’t go overboard.”
Shi Jian’s lips curled into a sneer, and his eyes coldly locked on Beiming Shang. He knew that the reason why Beiming Shang verbally spoke out for the Mo family was because the Mo family and Beiming Shang secretly had an agreement, with the common motive of exploring the ‘Gate of Heaven’.
It looked like Beiming Shang stepped out to be the peacemaker, but he was actually supporting the Mo family.
“It’s the same as I told you before, I don’t know where Mu Xun is at!” Shi Jian was sure tough, he scowled and kept denying any knowledge of Mu Xun.
Beiming Shang’s brows slowly furrowed. He nodded and intervened no more. He said nonchalantly, “Anyway, what I wish is for you to stay kind to each other during the Martial Competition so you won’t make the Merchant Union look bad. You two, take care!”
“Shi Jian, by tonight, if you still don’t send someone to tell me where Mu Xun is, in tomorrow’s Martial Competition, don’t blame us for taking offense! Hmph!” Mo Tuo’s shouted and viciously scanned across the room at all three generations of Shi family descendents, including Shi Tianke and Shi Tianyun, as if saying ‘watch out for the lives of your sons and grandsons’.
“Mo Tuo, are you threatening me?” Shi Jian’s expression changed and he sneered, “If you screw around with things at tomorrow’s Martial Competition, you too should not blame me for being ruthless!”
“I don’t care what you think! If I can’t find Mu Xun, then just wait and watch what happens tomorrow.” Mu Tuo took a deep breath in, stopped talking, and walked downstairs.
“Master Shi, you need to look at the big picture here.” Beiming Shang said apathetically, as he shook his head and followed Mo Tuo down the stairs.
“Boom!”
Shi Jian punched the balcony of the stone tower, the rigid Green Iron receiving a huge fist-shaped imprint from his punch. Even the whole stone tower, which was several meters tall, was shaking violently from the impact.
Everyone from the Shi family who was standing on the tower clearly felt his rage.
“They’re going too far!” Shi Jian growled. No one knew if he’s talking about Mo Tuo or Beiming Shang.
Because of this little episode, Shi Jian’s face was scary the whole day. At the end of that day of the Martial Competition, when he had to present the gifts to the winners, his expression was still ugly.
That night.
In the secret room, Han Feng bowed towards Shi Jian, and said, “Master, Mo Tuo and Beiming Shang are both giving us pressure now, what should we do?”
“Don’t worry about them.” Shi Jian continued scowling.
“Master, we can let Mo Tuo slide, but Beiming Shang…” Han Feng said hesitantly.
“Chi Xiao is still in the city, if Beiming Shang dares to mess with us, I’d go ahead and shamelessly ask Chi Xiao to help me. I do not think Beiming Shang would launch an attack on our family for that shitty Mo family.” Shi Jian snorted.
“Understood.”