The Scum Is A ***

"Good afternoon, everyone!" the host greeted the audience as he looked around at them when he returned to the stage after the lunch break. "Our one hundred participants have finished choosing and we have completed the final lists for the solo, double and group battles for this stage!" he said.

The audience cheered and clapped.

"For the solo battle, there will be thirty participants!" the host continued. "For the double battle, there will be forty participants, comprising of twenty pairs! And for the group battles, there will be also thirty participants comprising of four three-member groups, two four-member groups, and two five-member groups!" he explained. "From the thirty participants in the solo battles, only fifteen will win! From the twenty pairs in the double battle, only ten pairs, which consist of twenty participants, will win! And from the thirty participants in the group battle, only fifteen participants will win!" he said.

"OOOH!!" the audience cheered, feeling more fired up than the participants who will be battling against each other.

"Participants of the solo battle, please remain." The host turned to the participants. "Participants of the double battle, please get off the stage be ready at any time this week. And for the participants of the group battle, please also get off the stage and wait until next week for your turn." He told them. "Now, for the participants of the solo battle, please stand in the middle of the stage." He said.

The participants of the double and group battles left after bidding good luck to their fellow disciples and friends.

"The participants of the solo battle are as follows – " the host spoke as he introduced the participants one by one. " – Xi He of the Shanliangde Sect!" he said and stopped in front of Xi He who is at the beginning of the line. "Participant Xi He, do you have something to say or do you have someone whom you wanted to fight against with?" he asked.

"Wu Tie!" Xi He answered and glared at Wu Tie who stood at the other end of the line.

Wu Tie snorted in response and rolled his eyes, clearly not taking seriously of Xi He\'s provocation. This made the audience roar in excitement since there is a strong smell of gunpowder in the air! The host chuckled at this as he moved on to the next participant.

Meanwhile, Fei Yinzi and Ling Yun coincidentally stood next to each other. "Hello." Fei Yinzi greeted.

Ling Yun was about to greet back when he remembered the last time both of them met. It was when Fei Yinzi punched him while Cheng Sheng was unconscious. "… hello." He greeted back with a strained smile.

Fei Yinzi was puzzled by his reaction and was about to speak when someone tapped his shoulder. "Li-ge! Yan-ge!" he exclaimed when he saw Tang Li and Li Yan behind him.

"Er Zi." Tang Li smiled while Li Yan waved. "Pray that you won\'t face us!" Li Yan teased.

"… I won\'t." Fei Yinzi wryly smiled. He doesn\'t want to face his friends this early yet in the competition. "Pray that both of you won\'t face each other." He told them with his eyes curved in mirth.

Tang Li and Li Yan laughed, as expected.

"… your nickname is \'Er Zi\'?" someone spoke.

Fei Yinzi turned and saw Qi Lan. "Qi-ge!" he nodded as a greeting.

Qi Lan nodded back. "So, your nickname…" he spoke.

Fei Yinzi\'s lip twitched. "… there is a long explanation behind it, and it\'s related to my master…" he helplessly smiled. "If Qi-ge wants, you can also call me \'Er Zi\'." He told him.

Qi Lan nodded.

"Hello! Can I be your friend, too?" someone said.

Fei Yinzi looked at the person beside Qi Lan. "… you are?" he asked.

The person is a rogue cultivator like Qi Lan. "Jin Yu." He answered. "I registered as a mage, and was in the canyon arena. You must not have heard." He smiled.

"… heard about what?" Tang Li curiously asked.

"I offended the three sisters of the Tuanhui Sect." Jin Yu laughed.

Tang Li, Li Yan, Fei Yinzi and Ling Yun. "…" well, you\'ve got quite some enemies… they thought, thinking about the fierce female disciples of the Tuanhui Sect.

"… please be careful not to meet them on the road." Fei Yinzi sincerely told Jin Yu.

"Thank you for your advice!" Jin Yu grinned.

He Shun, meanwhile, was situated on the other side and saw that Fei Yinzi and the others were chatting. He felt stifled because he only got Wu Tie, this arrogant bastard, on his end, along with some rogue cultivators. Aside from Wu Tie who is a disciple, he recognized someone, and it is a rogue cultivator.

This rogue cultivator was also in the same arena, the canyon arena, with him and the Shanliangde Sect. They know that Xi He and Wu Tie are fighting in a large-scale so they avoided their area. If he recalled, this rogue cultivator\'s name is \'Ho Ting\'.

He shook his head. Although he liked to make friends, but winning is more important to him! He can\'t lose!

…

"Ah." Cheng Sheng, who should also felt fired up when the solo battle finally began, yawned.

Everyone around him. "…" the fighting has begun yet you feel sleepy?! They thought with their faces covered in dark lines.

It\'s as if Cheng Sheng has read their thoughts. "Ai. Look. I want to make my disciple feel fired up even more by bringing xiao Bao with me to act as my \'new\' disciple because I am worried he will lose!" he spoke. "But look! That ungrateful brat didn\'t even have any reaction. As expected, he doesn\'t care for his master even if I would have a new disciple! Bah! He deserves to lose!" he frowned as he squeezed xiao Bao\'s plump cheeks to vent his anger.

Everyone. "…" Er Zi who cried in front of everyone because you had been ignoring him DOESN\'T care about you?! They thought as their faces darkened. Their hands suddenly itched to beat Cheng Sheng.

Cheng Sheng, this scum, dared to throw the blame to his poor disciple! He is the one who deserves a beating, this oblivious scum!

"Ai. This fight is really boring." Cheng Sheng spoke as he watched Tang Li fought against another disciple.

Although they felt that Cheng Sheng deserves a beating, but what he said is right. The first battle is boring for them because they can see the disparity between Tang Li\'s strength and his opponent\'s strength.

As expected, Tang Li won. The Huakai Sect cheered, especially Tang Teng. "Congratulations!" the others told Tang Zhe, Tang Yun, Guo Cheng and Shan Lu.

"Thank you." The four of them answered with a big smile on their faces.

"Like your sect, our sect only has one participant for the solo stage." Cheng Sheng spoke. "Now that your participant was done and won, you should have nothing to look forward to in the remaining fourteen matches, right?" Cheng Sheng asked.

"… yes." The Huakai Sect elders answered, don\'t know what Cheng Sheng is getting at.

But, definitely, it couldn\'t be good.

As expected, they saw the scum smiled. "Come. I have something to tell you. But, it should only be through a whisper!" he told them.

Tang Zhe, Tang Yun, Guo Cheng and Shan Lu. "…" this is definitely something bad… they thought.

Shan Lu who have suffered the most under Cheng Sheng\'s hands subconsciously shivered and hid behind Guo Cheng who snorted. "You… you three go find out what he wanted to say. You can tell it to me later." He told the other three. "Through a whisper." He added when he remembered what Cheng Sheng just said.

The others curiously looked at Cheng Sheng who just laughed but then went to the side with Tang Zhe, Tang Yun and Guo Cheng following behind him.

"… what could it be?" they curiously asked.

"Judging from master Cheng\'s scum personality and his devious deeds, he definitely wants to pit someone." Xiao Bao spoke before he paused as if he recalled something. "That unlucky someone is definitely going to suffer." He added.

Everyone. "…" so direct! They thought, though they couldn\'t help but agree.

As expected, they saw Tang Zhe\'s, Tang Yun\'s and Guo Cheng\'s complicated expressions, but it made their curiosity increase. What is Cheng Sheng up to now?

Cheng Sheng clapped. "Now, since you were done watching your participant\'s battle and got nothing remaining to do today, then please be on your way!" he told them as he waved his hands, shooing the poor Huakai Sect elders.

The other couldn\'t help but feel pity towards Tang Zhe, Tang Yun, Guo Cheng and Shan Lu, recalling the days when they were all still fellow disciples and these four are the unlucky ones who always got the short end of the stick. And most of their misfortunes are from Cheng Sheng\'s hands!

"Hm? What are you looking at me for?" Cheng Sheng asked as he innocently blinked his eyes, as if oblivious from the others\' suspicious gazes casting at him.