Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-323

Chapter 323 The Defining Match

Wow!

As the battle ended, the audience burst into cheers. No one could stay calm!

They never knew that a battle pet warrior, one that would usually hide behind pets, could demonstrate such powers!

Granted, Qin Shaotian had the help of the Wind Siren. Even so, his speed had come as a shock to all!

They never knew that a human being was capable of moving at such speed!

At the staging areaAll the participants had grave expressions. They, too, had been astonished by the speed.

The Ye family gathering

Ye Longtian squinted. A glint of danger oozed out from his eyes. Before he knew it, he had clenched his fists and put on a ferocious look.

The Liu family

The Liu family disciples were still visibly shaken. For a moment, Liu Jianxin had also been stunned into stillness. Qin Shaotian didn’t summon any powerful pets and the Mu family guy had admitted defeat. Yet, the speed that Qin Shaotian had displayed gave Liu Jianxin the chills. If it were him on the stage, with Qin Shaotian catching him off guard, he was sure that he wouldn’t have been able to fend off the strike! Qin Shaotian’s speed was breathtaking!

Qin Shaotian was merely at the sixth rank. How could he speed up like that?

Liu Qingfeng was more concerned than ever. He clenched his lips shut and refrained from making a comment.

“That was fast!”

“I, I couldn’t even see him…” Both Luo Fengtian and Su Yanying were so astonished that they could not think straight.

Similar to them, Su Lingyue and Yu Weihan were staring blankly at the stage. They had never thought that this match would have ended so quickly. After all, Qin Shaotian’s opponent was from the Mu family and the latter had performed well in the previous matches. However, this time, that guy had admitted defeat after one round! “Qin Shaotian…” Su Lingyue had a worried look. She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

Yu Weihan noticed Su Lingyue’s tension. All of a sudden, Yu Weihan felt sorry for her. Su Lingyue was the one who would have to fight this monster. Just thinking about it was terrifying enough!

Qin Shaotian had left the stage. The next pair went up. Soon, it was Liu Jianxin’s turn!

As one of the candidates that were likely to win first place, Liu Jianxin was showered with cheers as soon as he came out. Before Su Lingyue’s dragon had launched the fatal strike, everyone believed that the winner in Group D would either be Qin Shaotian or Liu Jianxin.

Both had great potential.

Then, Su Lingyue came out and stunned the audience. Group D’s matches had been stuffed with uncertainties.

The audience thought that they would be able to gauge Liu Jianxin’s performance based on this match. They would decide in advance who was more likely to win the finals in Group D and secure a spot in the Top 10!

However, against everyone’s anticipation, Liu Jianxin’s opponent admitted defeat as soon as he came onto the stage.

He didn’t even summon his pets.

The reason was simple. That man was also surnamed Liu.

The expectation turned into disappointment. The audience couldn’t help but complain. Still, their unhappiness didn’t matter. You could not stop him if he decided to admit defeat, could

you?

The audience was disappointed, since they hadn’t been able to see Liu Jianxin fight. But people gradually calmed down after some complaints and curses. The matches would go on and Liu Jianxin would go up to the stage sooner or later. The audience was just unhappy that they couldn’t see him showcasing his strength earlier.

Soon, Group D welcomed its second selection round.

The winning and losing parties of the five pairs had been decided. The five winners would fight in one-on-one games to select two winners and those two would enter a defining match; that winner would secure a spot in the Top 10! The one getting a bye in this round would first challenge any losing party in this second round. After winning, he or she could challenge the one who failed in the defining battle. After a second win, he or she would get a chance to go for the top ten spots. On the other hand, if he or she lost to the one who failed in the defining battle, then the latter would gain the chance to go for the top ten spots by choosing to challenge an existing participant of the Top 10. Winning meant that said person would take a spot in the Top 10 and there would be no one else contesting this!

Fairness was guaranteed with such a rule. This would help in avoiding situations where the more powerful participants would encounter each other too early and lose a chance to win a good place. Say Liu Jianxin and Qin Shaotian met each other in this second round. The losing party could still challenge the person in the bye. After winning, the former could challenge the one who failed in the defining battle, and if it was a win, that person would make it to the Top 10. With enough strength, that person could climb even higher!

On the screen, the names and profile pictures of the five were shifting.

Everyone, including the five, were holding their breaths.

Soon, Su Lingyue saw the name of her opponent.

She was not in the bye.

She felt a bit disappointed.

At the same time, it relieved her to see that her opponent was neither Qin Shaotian nor Liu Jianxin.

Qin Shaotian’s opponent was not Liu Jianxin, either. In this second round, Liu Jianxin had gotten the bye!

That was a surprise to everyone. For the first round, Liu Jianxin’s opponent had straight off thrown the sponge. Then he had the bye for the second round! He made it to the third round without needing the slightest effort!

How unbelievable was that? Many among the audience even thought that they should draw the names again because it seemed that there was some shady deal in progress!

But, the names had been drawn by a machine and the process had been monitored by the five major families as well as the mayor. The cheater would have gained all of their approval to succeed. Therefore, the result was final.

The Liu family members looked at each other speechlessly. They had been worried that Liu Jianxing might have had to confront Qin Shaotian at this round, or Su Lingyue, who was also a cause for concern.

Before her match, they had been eager to see a match between Liu Jianxin and the girl. However, after they witnessed the dragon’s abilities, they only hoped that Qin Shaotian would fight the girl first so that the two would both suffer.

In that case, Liu Jianxin’s chance of winning would be bigger!

“Brother Jianxin, how lucky you are!”

“What a surprise. Brother Jianxin, I cannot believe this!”

“Gee, in the bye. This is fate, man!”

“That’s how it always goes for the protagonist in a novel. They only have to fight until the end, a battle that will shock the world!”

“Hey, Meng, you seem to know a lot!”

The Liu family disciples exclaimed.

Liu Jianxin finally accepted the fact. This was a relief to him as well. In the meantime, he put on a wry smile. He had not seen this coming and yes, his winning did seem like a breeze.

“Jianxin…” Liu Qingfeng turned around to him and then a long silence followed. “This… is good!”

Liu Jianxin was perplexed.

What did I do? What was good?

Now that he thought about it, Liu Jianxin noticed that he was having the best luck this day. Currently, Group D was the toughest group. Qin Shaotian was the one that the major families deemed as the most dangerous and he was also in Group D. The ridiculous girl who had claimed she was going to be the champion all of a sudden demonstrated terrifying powers. All of this had turned Group D into an abyss of fierce competition.

Both Qin Shaotian and the girl would be a threat. Whichever Liu Jianxin had to fight, he would be in bad luck and the other one would be at an advantage. But he was the one taking advantage at the moment. Even fate was helping him!

The Qin family. “Crap, that dude has gained an extra advantage.” “That is to say, Shaotian will most likely confront that girl.” “Similar to Liu Jianxin, that girl is dangerous. I don’t think the dragon has used its full strength yet. I wonder if that girl has other pets to defend her. If not, given Shaotian’s speed, he can finish her off in one second!” The Qin family disciples were trying to analyze the situation for Qin Shaotian.

Qin Shaotian leaned against his chair with a casual look on his face. When the result of the drawing came out, he darted a glance at the girl in the distance and noticed a trace of delight on her face.

Qin Shaotian smiled. Then he turned to the Liu family. His smile grew even wider as he saw how excited the Liu family people were.

The fighting order was later decided.

The second round for Group D was not an official beginning. The first up was Su Lingyue and her opponent. That young man was not from the five major families nor from a famous academy. He had graduated from an average academy and had gained experience by risking his life in the barren areas.

The judge said their names. Su Lingyue got up from her seat and went up to the stage.

She stood within the red line and summoned the Moonfrost Dragon in advance.

The audiences broke into another round of cheers, shouting her name to welcome the dragon.

Su Lingyue’s opponent hopped onto the other end of the stage.

The young man kept a straight face as if the people chanting her name meant nothing to him.

He slowly drew the blade and also summoned his pets behind the red line.

They were at the seventh-rank and both had reached their peak state. Without the Moonfrost Dragon, people would have screamed and marveled at the other two pets. However, the Moonfrost Dragon was there and the audience had seen many other battle pets with ninth-rank bloodlines. The audience merely heaved sighs of disappointment.

“Humph!”

The young man sneered. The two battle pets were merely a disguise. The ace card in his hand was the secret third pet in hiding

But first, he would have to survive the horrifying light beam discharged by the dragon. “Curving Surface…” the young man mumbled.

There was a flash of white light in the eyes of one of the pets. The light around them twisted a bit but the change was so subtle that it was almost invisible. But the judge in the air saw it. He merely cast a casual glance at the young man without saying anything. He could release skills and summon battle pets in advance as long as he didn’t step over the red line before the match started.

A fight between battle pet warriors was not a test only for the pet’s brute force, but more on the warrior’s planning and strategy. Of course, unless the pet was too formidable.

“Well? The Moonlit Beast?”

Standing on the side of the stage, Su Lingyue managed to recognize the two battle pets her opponent summoned immediately. One of the pets was of the demon family and the other the elemental family. The latter was able to use wind-related skills.

However, once in a class, her teacher mentioned by chance that the more talented Moonlit Beasts had a slight possibility of learning a light-related skill! She had always been among the best of students in the academy and she didn’t get to be No.1 in her year for nothing. He has seen what I can do. Instead of giving up, he is going to fight me. Does he have a way to survive that move? Su Lingyue thought. At the time, the judge announced that the match had just begun. As soon as the judge finished speaking, coldness flashed over Su Lingyue’s eyes. She gave orders quickly. “Dragon’s roar!”

“Perception!”

“Penetrating Lightwave!” Three different skills were to be unleashed at the same time.

Once again, the dragon’s roar filled the entire venue!

Prepared for this, the young man relied on one of his pets’ skills to close off his senses. That was a spiritual skill that his demon battle pet had picked up. Those two battle pets did not have very advanced bloodlines but both were talented. That was why he had not given them up. The young man decided to fight back now that he could ignore the dragon’s roar. However, right at that moment, a blazing light came into his eyes. The world in front of him turned into pure white!

I can do this…

He thought of the “Curved Surface” skill but he still had his heart in his mouth.

Then, he felt a sense of fatal danger.

That beam of light was aiming toward the place where he actually was!

Bang!!

The stage shook violently. The beam landed on the seal and the entire ground in the venue was trembling!! The beam landed less than 10cm away from him. The burning air reached him and the fear almost stopped his heart!

Missed its target?

The young man tried hard to turn around and saw the remaining marks on the seal left by the beam of light.

Before he had enough time to gloat over his good luck, he had heard the judge announce that he had lost!

That announcement landed on his chest like a hammer, making it difficult for him to breathe. He couldn’t help but shout, “I haven’t given up yet!”

The judge darted him a look. “You would have died if she had not shown you mercy. Do you think a seventh-rank skill could fool that dragon’s eighth-rank skill ‘Perception’?” The young man couldn’t move.

Su Lingyue was relieved after having heard she had won. This was what she had expected. Without further ado, she called the Moonfrost Dragon back and left.

Again, she finished her opponent within an instant.

And again, people shouted in joy for her.

That beam of light not only defeated her opponent but also broke the “Curved Surface” in front of the young man, revealing his and his pets’ true location. Some people thought the dragon had also missed its target as well. It turned out that the dragon was aiming at the true target!

As for that gap of 10cm… No kidding. The dragon was able to find out where you actually were from three meters away, do you suppose the dragon could not deal with the 10cm?

At the staging area. Yu Weihan wore a troubled look as she saw Su Lingyue returning. As she sat there and watched the game, Yu Weihan finally had a sense of how shocking and splendid that skill was.

She had to give up because of that skill!

Su Yanying and Luo Fengtian congratulated Su Lingyue. They knew that it was highly likely that she would win this time but neither had expected that it would be a quick battle once again.

They had seen how the young man would usually fight. He was cruel and ruthless. Obviously, he had developed his style from his time in the barren area.

However, such a style would not work when his opponent had absolute power! “Take some rest.” Su Yanying said some caring words to Su Lingyue.

She had managed to end both battles quickly. Still, she must have gotten tired. She would have to try her best to stay in her prime state. Both Luo Fengtian and Yu Weihan’s expressions changed. Su Lingyue had won. Then… next, she would have to fight the young master from the most powerful family in the Longjiang Base City!

That young man had put on a stunning show, even more outstanding than Ye Longtian’s. As far as Luo Fengtian and Yu Weihan were able to tell, that young man should be one of the three participants most likely to win the championship!

At the same time.

Qin Shaotian stood up as Su Lingyue got off the stage. When he stood up, everyone focused on him. He had become the center of attention. The audiences had just finished giving out their shouts of joy. Soon, their passionate cheers came back.

Qin Shaotian calmly left the staging area and hopped onto the stage. Everyone was looking forward to seeing him fighting for a second time. All the other participants concentrated their minds on the upcoming battle.

This time, Qin Shaotian’s battle also ended quickly. Again, he merely summoned the Wind Siren to increase his speed.

The difference was that this time, his opponent had been prepared. Before the battle officially began, the opponent had called his pet to defend him, and he used all the defensive skills he could have used.

That being said, the only benefit of doing so was to prolong the battle for a little bit of time.

Qin Shaotian held his sword in one hand and dashed around the thistles and thorns growing out on the stage in a blur. Qin Shaotian managed to clear up all the obstacles in his way and approached his opponent.

Apart from only being a handful of participants, most of them had merely seen a blur. Some people among the audience could only see Qin Shaotian’s opponent launching various strikes, all of which were rendered ineffective but could not find where Qin Shaotian was at all.

Eventually, Qin Shaotian had reached the young man who was hiding behind his shell. With one slash, Qin Shaotian had cut open the layers of defense and left a bloody mark on the young man’s chest. Naturally and smoothly, the battle ended.

Finally, the people in the audience finally returned to their senses and chanted for Qin Shaotian.

After the judge announced the result, Qin Shaotian didn’t leave the stage. He simply wiped the blood off from his sword and turned his sight to the staging area. The next match would be the defining one.

His eyes were on a girl in the staging area.

The winner of this defining match would be ranked among the Top 10!