CHAPTER 138: ZHU YONG

Chapter 138: Zhu Yong

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The 30 min break after the match served to give some rest both to the participants and to the audience, who during this time either took care of any matters they had, or simply started commenting on the match they had just finished watching.

Needless to say, most did the latter, and discussions ranged from how fast the fight had been to how Li Daniu had given his all, even putting on a very good performance, clearly showing the results of his mastery over his combat skills.

And from one thing to another, the public eventually shifted their focus to Zhu Rong, the second-year contestant who, against everyone’s expectations, had managed to reach the end of the tournament without ever losing and every time giving a crushing display of his abilities.

This finally silenced those who, even after all this time, had not accepted Zhu Rong’s strength, criticizing him and accusing him of using dirty tricks to win. But needless to say, such accusations only embarrassed them, since the competition was taking place under the watchful eyes of countless people, including judges, instructors, and even the head of the academy himself.

With those people out of the way, there remained those who instead praised the birth of a new talent that had been greatly underestimated until now, and those who couldn’t help but conduct further background checks on Zhu Rong, only to end up with the same identical conclusions as before.

They had absolutely no idea how this second year student with no talent had suddenly become such a remarkable talent out of nowhere.

At some point, everyone began to think it was due to some fortunate encounter, and this sparked curiosity in many, as well as greed in many others.

One of the people who thought Zhu Rong was probably just lucky enough to have had such an encounter was none other than Zhu Yong,

Zhu Rong’s cousin, and the eldest son of the heir to the current head of the Zhu family.

He, just like many others of his year, had refrained from participating in the tournament, but not because he thought he had no chance of securing a spot, on the contrary, he was certain he could easily do so.

But as the eldest son of the next family head, he had directly been granted a place from the quota reserved for the Zhu family.

Of course, his status within the family had helped him in this, but that wasn’t the only factor. His talent was another.

He was a fire element user, with a rare affinity, and his cultivation talent was also very good, so much so that he was already in the third stage and, according to him, would be able to reach the peak of the third stage by the end of the year.

He was acclaimed throughout the family as a great prodigy, and since he was also the eldest son of the next family head, his life was practically already set.

He had talent and a solid background, the perfect man both in the eyes of his family and outsiders.

Because of this, he was considered the future of the Zhu family, the very person in whom all the elders of the clan placed their trust, hoping that with his high talent he could reach ever greater heights and once again bring glory to the Zhu family

Needless to say, he greatly appreciated this, to say the least, and as long as the other family members respected or even revered him, he treated them well. But for those who disrespected him or openly contradicted him, he despised their very existence.

Unfortunately, this attitude wasn’t limited only to those he disliked, it also applied to talentless members, whom he treated all as trash, not worth even a second glance.

And, as it happened, Zhu Rong was right on that list of members.

Among the many people Zhu Yong despised, Zhu Rong was at the very top. This was because not only did he lack the talent needed to bring honor to the family, but he also showed no respect and constantly caused trouble, which in the end only stained the family’s name.

After Zhu Rong joined the academy, Zhu Yong personally went to warn him to keep his head down and not cause trouble, since doing so would also tarnish his own image.

But that warning was of no use, and soon his cousin ended up with the nickname of the Zhu family’s trash. Not that he could say the label wasn’t deserved, but it only made Zhu Yong more convinced of the image he already had of him, yet another stain on the family.

He had intended to deal with him eventually, but after the start of the second year, things seemed to take a strange turn.

In the first few months, little happened and no incidents were caused by him. But not long after, his name began to surface once more. This time, however, not because of some mess he had made, but because he had actually come first in the end of semester exam?

He thought the person in question must have been someone else, because it was impossible that his talentless cousin had truly come in first, and to top it off, even secured a spot in the Hall of Fame, a ranking many aspired to, himself included.

Then there was another period when nothing was heard of him, but not much later Zhu Yong heard that he had taken part in the tournament to win a spot for the expedition to the secret realm.

When he first heard the news, he burst out laughing, remembering how Zhu Rong hadn’t even been invited to the family meeting. The only way he could possibly have a chance to get a spot for the secret realm was by joining the tournament.

Zhu Yong himself didn’t participate, but he was more than happy to come and watch the performances of some of his year mates with higher talents than his, like Yao Jianbo and Li Duoji.

They both came from rival families, thus were his rivals as well, so learning more about them was only beneficial for him, especially since he was preparing to face them.

But after watching them give their all during today’s fights, he had to set those ideas aside for the moment. He could clearly see the gap between them was far too great, and right now, he wasn’t on their level.

This was an unexpected shock, but still acceptable.

What wasn’t acceptable, however, was seeing his cousin, whom he was almost certain had already been eliminated in the early rounds, continuing in the tournament and not only that, but crushing his opponents one after another with just a few moves.

He couldn’t believe that the trash of their family was this strong, and for a moment he even thought it was someone else.

But that idea didn’t last long, and as much as he wanted to deny the evidence, he knew very well that the person he had always looked down upon was indeed the very same person now standing on the stage.

The more Zhu Rong fought, the more restless Zhu Yong became, as he saw his cousin’s strength grow higher with every battle, so much so that he even managed to defeat Shi Gang, a third year considered on par with Zhu Yong, and he did so with absolute ease.

When he saw Shi Gang lying in a pool of his own blood, chills ran down Zhu Yong’s spine.

The sudden strength displayed by Zhu Rong was like a warning bell, and he didn’t think twice before deciding to report it to the family.

The Zhu family had always treated Zhu Rong as trash even before he joined the academy, and after that, nothing much had changed. One example was the funds given to support him at the academy, just barely enough to get by, let alone to purchase cultivation materials.

He realized that Zhu Rong could become a threat to him, and this made him feel extremely uneasy.

Zhu Rong had no idea that by winning a few battles in the tournament, he had triggered such a reaction from the other side. And even if he had, he probably wouldn’t have cared much.

At this moment, he was in the waiting room, watching the repair staff work hard to restore the arena.

Soon, the break came to an end, marking the beginning of the tournament’s final battle.

Zhu Rong stepped onto the stage with a calm and carefree attitude, and so did Li Duoji, who entered the arena with his weapon in hand.

He had watched Zhu Rong’s battles, so he had a general idea of his strength.

Although he believed he could crush him even if he had reached the third stage, he didn’t underestimate him too much and decided to use his weapon. But this didn’t seem to be the case with his opponent, who carried no weapon at all.

This confused many, and the referee, who was about to start the fight, couldn’t help but ask Zhu Rong if he wanted to choose a weapon.

Hearing this, Zhu Rong simply said:

"A weapon? I don’t need one,"