Extreme Almightiest Young Master

Chapter 1192 - 1190: Not According to the Rules

Before anyone realized, it was the next day. As the sun began to rise, everyone hurried to the altar, ready to start the junior division competition.

To everyone’s surprise, the individual from the Xia Family who came forth to draw lots for the competition was not a teenager but a child from the young division. This left everyone stunned, clueless about what the Xia Family meant by this!

"Old Xia, what is the meaning of this?"

"A child from the young division taking part in the junior division? What is this all about?"

"Old Xia, you must give us an explanation!"

At this moment, Gu Nantian, Kong Lifeng, and Song Wuya halted the drawing of lots. They all turned their gazes towards Xia Yuntian, asking in bewilderment, wanting to understand the rationale behind Xia Yuntian’s decision to have a child from the young division participate in the junior division competition, which was against the rules.

Similarly, everyone in the audience was also dumbfounded, unsure of why such a situation would occur. They had not yet recovered from the shock of the young division’s performance yesterday, and today they found the children intended to participate in the junior division; they wondered what the Xia Family was planning, as no one understood their arrangement.

"No special meaning, just letting the children participate in the competition. What’s wrong with that? I remember the rules for the junior division only specify an upper age limit of eighteen and do not stipulate a lower age limit. There’s no problem with the children competing," Xia Yuntian answered confidently after hearing the other three Family Heads question him. He had anticipated their reactions and had his response ready.

"This goes against tradition. The junior division is meant for teenagers, not for children from the young division. Otherwise, our three families reserve the right to disqualify the Xia Family from participating in the junior division! Have you forgotten that, according to the competition rules, any three parties can establish new regulations?" Gu Nantian said sternly, furrowing his brow the moment he heard Xia Yuntian. Indeed, the previous rules had not set a lower age limit, but that didn’t mean children from the young division were allowed to participate—it simply wasn’t appropriate!

"Old Xia, the Xia Family is breaking the rules. Hurry up and send these children down and bring the teenagers up, or don’t blame us three Prominent Families for taking united action. By then, the Xia Family won’t even have the qualification to participate in the junior division," Kong Lifeng added, visibly agitated. Allowing children from the young division to participate in the junior division was a clear insult to the three Prominent Families, and he was baffled by Xia Yuntian’s thinking.

"Old Xia, I think you should have the children step down. After all, this is a competition for the junior division, and it’s indeed not suitable for the children to join," Song Wuya spoke up with some difficulty, suggesting in a negotiating tone to Xia Yuntian. He hadn’t expected the Xia Family to make such a move, but now it was no longer the young division competition. If he were to agree with Xia Yuntian, the Song Family would face exclusion from the Gu and Kong Families. Right now, he had no choice but to proceed like this.

In fact, Song Wuya had already foreseen today’s event. To be precise, it wasn’t Song Wuya who had the foresight but the elder, Song Hong, of the Song Family. Last night, Song Hong had already instructed Song Wuya on how to handle the situation, and today Song Wuya was merely acting on his elder’s commands, not offending either side.

Xia Yuntian’s expression turned grave upon hearing the three Family Heads’ objections, as this was exactly what he had feared. Strictly speaking, the Xia Family was indeed bending the rules by exploiting a loophole. However, it was also true that according to the regulations, the other three Prominent Families had the authority to set any rules for the competition, as long as all three agreed.

These considerations had already been foreseen the night before during the discussion, but he and the Elders had pondered all night without finding a solution. Now, faced with the sharp criticism from the three Family Heads, he was at a loss for words, standing there unable to utter a single response.

Just when Xia Yuntian didn’t know how to reply, suddenly a figure appeared beside the three Family Heads and said indifferently, "Our Xia Family has no ulterior motives; we simply wanted to give the children some practice. Isn’t the competition all about training the younger generation? Besides, the previous rules didn’t set a lower age limit, so what’s wrong with our children representing the junior division?"

Lin Feng faced the three Family Heads calmly and composed. Strictly speaking, they hadn’t broken any competition rules. The other three Prominent Families simply didn’t want the children to take part, but the decision was out of their hands. He had already prepared a countermeasure.

Before the other three Family Heads could respond, Lin Feng continued, "Surely you three Prominent Families aren’t afraid that my students will outperform the junior division competitors, are you? If that’s truly the case, then my students won’t participate in the junior division competition."

With a single statement, Lin Feng silenced the three Family Heads. By throwing out that challenge, the other three Prominent Families certainly wouldn’t admit that their juniors were less capable than the children. As such, they would be cornered into agreeing. If they didn’t, they would fall into the trap set by Lin Feng’s words.

The three Family Heads were at a loss for words upon hearing what Lin Feng had said. If they forbid the children from participating in the upcoming junior division competition, wouldn’t that indicate their fear of these children? However, allowing these children to enter the competition was neither reasonable nor proper, and, most crucially, they worried whether any mishaps might occur—especially since the children’s prowess in the youth division competition had been incredibly shocking, and even now they had no idea of the children’s full capabilities.

At this moment, Xia Yuntian laughed. Lin Feng’s words had given him an excellent opportunity to extricate himself from the awkward situation. He immediately added, "Exactly, our Xia Family will send these children to compete. If your respective family’s junior division can defeat these children, that would be a testament to your strength. Our Xia Family will not utter a word against it. Moreover, you are the junior division and we are still the youth division. If our youth division competes against your junior division, what could you possibly be dissatisfied with? Or are you truly as Lin Feng suggested, afraid of our Xia Family’s youth division?"

Xia Yuntian was utterly unreserved in his exuberance as he spoke, feeling immensely pleased with himself, having effectively silenced the three old men. He was eagerly anticipating the outcome of the competition, believing that these children would not disappoint him—especially Lin Feng, who he trusted wouldn’t let the Xia Family down.

The three Family Heads, Gu Nantian included, were already frustrated to death, and now with Xia Yuntian’s comments, they were entirely at a loss for words. They exchanged glances and shook their heads. Under these circumstances, even if they didn’t want to let their children compete, they had no choice—the crowd was large, and everyone was watching. Any commotion would be an embarrassment for all.

Helplessly, the three of them exchanged a look and nodded slightly in agreement, acquiescing to let their children join the competition. They really had no choice—if there had been any, they would have never allowed these children to participate in the junior division competition.

The onlookers who were keenly observing were curious to see how the children had already joined the competition. They wondered if the children could repeat yesterday’s miraculous performance... Only one person at this moment was not preoccupied with too many thoughts, his eyes fixed on Lin Feng, finding it hard to believe that Lin Feng would appear here, and even more incredulous that the Lin Feng before him was real.

He was none other than Gu Shengwu, who had rushed back from Tianhai to the Hidden World to participate in the competition. He truly hadn’t expected to see Lin Feng here, let alone that Lin Feng would turn out to be that unreliable Mortal teacher of the Xia Family. How could it be such a coincidence, he thought, that Lin Feng was part of the Xia Family!

Remembering the events at Tianhai, recalling how he had been severely injured by Lin Feng, his complexion changed and his body couldn’t help trembling. Were it not for the fact that this was the competition venue, he would have rushed forth to settle the score with Lin Feng!

But he knew it was highly inappropriate at the moment. To deal with Lin Feng, he had to wait until after the competition ended. The competition had to do with the matter of the Gu Family heirship, and no matter how much he wanted to act, he had to restrain himself.

At this point, Gu Nantian returned to the Gu Family crowd and saw his son standing there foolishly, looking extremely angry, and asked with surprise, "Son, what’s wrong?"

Facing his son, Gu Nantian truly found it strange, wondering what his son had seen and what had happened.

"Father, when I was in Tianhai, I encountered this Lin Feng. He is the one who injured our Gu Family’s people and disrupted our plans. I must settle scores with him!" Gu Shengwu raised his head upon hearing his father’s inquiry and spoke through gritted teeth. His greatest desire was to confront Lin Feng, but he would not be reckless—an opportunity to deal with Lin Feng would come later.

"Hmm, deal with him later!" Hearing his son’s words, Gu Nantian nodded in approval, confident in his son’s judgment. If Lin Feng indeed had interfered with the Gu Family’s interests, there would eventually be an opportunity to sort out Lin Feng, no need to be hasty about this moment.

Afterward, he led his son to the back. The matter of the Xia Family’s youth division entering the junior division competition seemed suspicious to him, and he planned to discuss with the Elders for any possible countermeasures...

In the blink of an eye, the drawing of lots was completed. Unlike the previous junior division, the eliminations continued until the top sixteen were decided, making this round exceptionally brutal—one small misstep could result in disqualification from the competition.

The results of the lots were quite favorable for the Xia Family. Except for one child who faced a seeded competitor from the Kong Family, the rest did not encounter any seeded competitors from the other families. This outcome eased Xia Yuntian’s worries; he believed the children’s performances wouldn’t be too shoddy, as every Prominent Family’s seeded competitors were quite formidable.

Competitions among the other Prominent Families were intensely fierce. The Xia Family children faced opponents of varying strengths; some quickly overcame their rivals, while others required much more effort. In the second round of eliminations alone, Xia Hongde of the Xia Family encountered the Kong Family’s seeded player, Kong Yusheng!