386 Scheme Before The Competition

"Ladies and Gentlemen, on this joyful day, we will officially start the event that you have been waiting for, 'Willow Continent Grand Tournament!' First of all, I would like to give the biggest thanks to Honda Family from the Northern Continent for their support to hold this event. Please give a big applause to her excellency Honda Sana." The announcer was the city lord of Carageo City.

Because of the scale of the competition, it was his honor to even become the announcer of this event. He was standing in the arena, surrounded by more than ten thousand people.

The people immediately applauded as Honda Sana rose from her seat and waved her hand.

"We also can't forget the sect masters from all four big sects. It is a shame that we can't see the power of a Martial King, but we are not sad because we can see the power of the four big sects. Of course, we can't forget about the four kingdoms. So, please give another round of applause for all of them."

The four sect masters immediately rose from their seats and waved their hands. Of course, all of them had a different room as they were afraid there would be a conflict between sect masters, especially with Mount Hua Sect, Heavenly Sword Sect, and Rainbow Flower Sect.

Sadly, they could not see all the rulers from the kingdoms as they were participating in the Lord Stage Competition.

"How about we have our host, her excellency Honda Sana to give us an opening speech?"

Honda Sana nodded and stood up. She looked at the four sects and kingdoms as well as the crowd. She said with a warrior spirit, "This is a Grand Tournament. Everything that will happen inside this tournament is not related to whatever happens in the outside world.

"As long as the Grand Tournament is still not over. If any of unrelated people try to raise their hand against the participant… I will kill them even if they are the sect masters!"

The crowd was astonished when they heard she would even kill the sect masters who were Martial Kings. But they thought she could back her word up since she was a peak Martial King.

"Hoho… what a powerful speech. I am sure none of you can wait any longer. So, let us start the real competition. The first competition will be the Grandmaster Tournament. Please take a look at this token in my hand." The city lord said while presenting a golden token with 'Tournament' written on it.

"There are 25 tokens like this scattered around the Shawmar Forest. The battle will end as soon as the sun is set. So, because of the timing, we decided to make the arena a bit smaller. It will be a circle with a radius of five kilometers.

"Each influence will have their representative to draw a slot to determine their position. After that, all teams will go to their respective position. There is no rule for this competition. As long as you are not coming out of bonds, you are alright.

"You can defeat your opponents, cripple your opponents, or even kill them. As Lady Honda said, this is a competition for the right of Spirit Stone Mine. So, I am sure everyone has prepared for something like this.

"Many of you may be wondering how we can observe them if they are competing in Shawmar Forest. Fret not as we have memory crystals. There are five Memory Crystals in the sky that will be able to let us watch their fight from above. Of course, we need to give our thanks to Lady Honda for this.

"The influence that has the most tokens will win. Alright, without further ado, let us call the representative of each sect to determine their position in this match. Don't worry. This position has gone through very careful consideration. All positions are surrounded by the token, so there is no such thing as a fair or unfair position.

"The token position will be revealed as soon as the match starts. Do note that the competition will only be over when the sun is completely set. In other words, as long as there is time, you can get the token from another team. This will be a battle royal between eight teams… No, eight influences!"

The crowd was excited as they could not wait to see the fight between eight influences.

Each sect had sent their representatives. For Heavenly Sword Sect, they sent Evelyn while Rainbow Flower Sect sent Nakagawa Hiina. All of them took the paper one by one, and the last one was Buddha Sect.

All of them opened the paper and showed their position so the audience could see it.

Rainbow Flower Sect - North

Heavenly Sword Sect - South

Buddha Sect - Northwest

Mount Hua Sect - South West

Thiveapia Kingdom - East

Hazel Kingdom - Northeast

Zhou Kingdom - Southeast

Southern Kingdom - West

When Alex saw this, he cursed inwardly. He never thought Mount Hua Sect's position would be surrounded by Mount Hua Sect and the Zhou Kingdom. Even the Southern Kingdom was in the west.

He was frowning because he knew there was a high possibility that Evelyn's group would be targeted by them. It seemed giving her his Teleportation Array plate was the right to do.

The announcer continued, "We will give each team an hour to prepare their strategy."

Evelyn came back to the team as she saw a gloomy expression from her teammates. They were Florinda, Yasmin, Anwar Daher, Hanibal, Amazu Agu, Kokonoe Shigure, and Elise. All of them were 10-Star Martial Grandmasters. But even so, they could not help but gloomy as they knew about the conflict between Alex and the Mount Hua Sect as well as the Zhou Kingdom.

With their position, they would be pinched by both influences. And it would be hard for them to fight two influences at the same time. This was the reason why everyone was gloomy.

"What's wrong, everyone? We don't need to fight them directly." Florinda was the first one to say something. As the disciple of the first elder, she could not show her weakness like this, so she decided to cheer up the rest of them.

"That's right. Remember! Our Seven Stars Cut is a Heaven Tier Martial Arts. And all of us here can at least use a 6-layer Seven Stars Cut. We can fight them!" Evelyn continued, "Besides, my kingdom is in their back, specifically behind the Zhou Kingdom.

"If we immediately move to the center and don't care about the token in our way, we should be able to bypass them. I will convince my kingdom to help us after this. So, we should be able to fight them."

When they heard that, energy started coming back to their body. They thought if it was one on one battle, they should have a chance, especially with Florinda and Evelyn.

Evelyn suddenly remembered something. "If we can fight slightly in the north. I am sure we can ask Rainbow Flower Sect for help. Since there is no rule in this tournament, then we can surely ally with each other. This way, we should be able to outnumber them."

"That's right! We can do that. Who cares about the token! We can steal or search it later after we beat all of them." Florinda shouted to raise their morale.

"Oooh!"

Evelyn nodded when she saw they became energized again. She then said, "I will try to convince my kingdom for a bit."

All of them nodded. Evelyn then left to meet the team from the Thiveapia Kingdom.

When she arrived, all of them immediately kneeled down. She looked at the blonde man who was the leader of this team. "I am sure you might already guess our situation in this tournament. Most likely, Mount Hua Sect and the Zhou Kingdom will make a move against us.

"Although Heavenly Sword Sect has defeated Mount Hua Sect, it does not mean the hatred will be gone just like that. I don't know about the Zhou Kingdom, but since they are targeting big brother Alex, they might attack us together with Mount Hua Sect.

"So, my team and I will go toward the center of the arena. We will meet in the center and defeat the Zhou Kingdom and Mount Hua Sect together. I hope all of you will fight together with me."

"Yes, your highness. Your safety is our priority." The leader said.

"Yes. You must be the first son of the Milian Family, Riolet Milian, right? I am counting on you." She said with a smile to the leader, Riolet Milian.

"Yes, your highness."

"Then, I will go back to my team first." Evelyn nodded her head. She did not say anything more because she knew Milian Family as they had served them from generation to generation.

After Evelyn disappeared, all of them stood up. They immediately looked at Riolet Milian while sweating.

Riolet Milian was in a difficult position. He tried to recall the conversation 'they' had earlier.

…

A few minutes ago,

The leader of the Mount Hua Sect arrived on their team. He brought the captains from Zhou Kingdom as well as… Hazel Kingdom. When those three people suddenly arrived in front of their team, they were shocked.

Riolet immediately greeted them, "Why do three of you come here?"

"Of course, we want to talk about our cooperation for this tournament."

"!!!" Riolet immediately realized when he saw the captains from Zhou Kingdom and Hazel Kingdom follow the captain from Mount Hua Sect to this place.

"Our mission is to ensure the safety of her highness Evelyn. So, it is useless to convince us." Riolet stated.

"Of course, we have been expecting something like this, considering your kingdom suddenly stopped your invasion against Heavenly Sword Sect as soon as she was missing.

"That's why I am going to propose another thing to you. Since your team is going to protect her, then we won't attack her. Well, it will be similar to the condition with Hazel Kingdom.

"They will help us in defeating Heavenly Sword Sect. Their reason is simple. Heavenly Sword Sect is strong or might even be the strongest. So, none of us want them to get stronger by getting the right for this Spirit Stone Mine and let them get even stronger. If that happens, they will rule the continent before long.

"The second reason, Mount Hua Sect, and Zhou Kingdom have a grudge against the Heavenly Sword Sect. And we will surely kill them. Of course, Hazel Kingdom agrees to us with conditions they won't kill any of the members from Heavenly Sword Sect. As long as the Heavenly Sword Sect is out, then the conditions will be fulfilled.

"Just think about it, can both of your influences withstand the full attacks from three of us? No, I should let you choose whether you want to help Heavenly Sword Sect against three of us or join us. If you don't join us, we will kill all of you. However, If you join us, we will promise your Princess won't be touched.

"How is it? Isn't it better to have a four on one fight than a three on two fight? And you will also complete your mission to protect your princess. And If I am not wrong, the Southern Kingdom also has a grudge against them. Think about it… if they join the fray…"

Riolet gritted his teeth. It was like he said. They might somehow fight them in three on two fight and it would even be better if the disciples from Rainbow Flower Sect come to help, considering the alliance between them and Heavenly Sword Sect. However, if the Southern Kingdom also joins the fray…

So, Riolet was thinking If they joined together with Mount Hua Sect, they would be able to protect Evelyn, thus completing their mission without casualty. Even Rainbow Flower Sect wouldn't be able to save Heavenly Sword Sect.

"I will give you time to think about it." The leader of Mount Hua Sect said as he left. The other two captains also followed him.

…

Riolet opened his eyes slowly as he remembered the conversation. He looked at his teammates before clenching his fist. It seemed he had decided his course of action. "We are going to…"