Heroes' Prison

Chapter 504 - 494: The Identity of Sharp Sword

"Miyamoto Musashi seems to have realized this point, and has now focused on the final show of the team competition. Today, Miyamoto Musashi made it public that for the benefit of the Japanese nation, he will generously open the team doors, calling all top Japanese experts to form the Japanese National Team, to compete against the Heroes’ Guild for supremacy! Up to now, most of Japan’s experts, including the Heavenly Emperor, Ninja, Sakura, Meiji, Black Warrior, and others, have expressed their willingness to join."

"In contrast, the prospects for God of Slaughter’s team are not so optimistic. None of China’s super leaders can join his team. Dao Feng has been retired for a long time and is unlikely to appear; Sharp Sword is too mysterious and basically remains out of sight; Dragon Emperor prefers to act alone and keeps a low profile; while Thunder God is the sworn enemy of God of Slaughter and will not join the Heroes’ Guild. God of Slaughter struggles alone and will find it difficult to contend with Miyamoto Musashi’s Japanese National Team. There is a good chance that the team battle will be lost..."

After reading this post, Huang Yi felt even heavier in his heart. Miyamoto Musashi’s team was equivalent to assembling all of Japan’s experts, whereas his own Heroes’ Guild was far from optimistic, with only Dugu Lengcang’s group as external aids, vastly inferior to the Martial Way.

In the individual competition, it was even more difficult since he essentially had no instant-kill potions left. If Miyamoto Musashi used the Protection of the God of Life, then Huang Yi would have no chance at all.

...

Gradually, night fell.

Today is Saturday, and everyone has the day off. The online rate is very high. The streets are teeming with people, all waiting for the awards ceremony that will take place shortly. During this ceremony, the executives of the Era Corporation will present awards to those ranked eighth to third, and they will also unveil the attributes of the Martial Emperor and Martial Saint titles, which are expected to be watched by tens of billions of people.

At eight o’clock Beijing Time, the ceremony officially began.

Players from all over the world, in all time zones, simultaneously received a System Prompt, teleporting them to a space in the Second Dimension, sitting in their respective places, beginning to watch the ceremony.

At this time, Huang Yi, Xiao Chunzi, and Qin Shiyu were sitting together, waiting for the host to take the stage.

Looking around, the place was packed with people, endless and diverse in skin color and race, almost the entire human population gathered here. The thunderous noise, though attenuated by the system, was still vast.

Countless reporters were interspersed among them, bustling about, creating a tense but lively atmosphere. This grand event attracted synchronous live broadcasts from major television stations around the world, including Xinhua News Agency, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, and NHK, with professional commentary in various languages, and the viewership ratings were off the charts!

Finally, after a short wait, the figures of a man and a woman, both hosts, appeared on stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening..." The two hosts looked around at the densely packed audience of ten billion and began hosting the ceremony in both Chinese and English.

"There will be three rounds of award ceremonies during this martial arts competition: tonight is the first round; the second round will take place after the individual finals; the third round will follow the team finals. The third round will also serve as the closing ceremony of the martial arts competition, where both individual and team champions will give speeches, and the executives of the Era Corporation will provide a summary. We welcome everyone to watch on time..."

"Currently, the ranking from eighth to third has been arranged by the system. What order could it be? I’m sure everyone has been eagerly anticipating this moment, and we are about to reveal it to you..." After the hosts’ opening remarks, the ceremony moved directly to the core part and began announcing the names from eighth to third!

At this moment, the entire world’s audience held their breath, especially concerning who would be third. The rewards for third and fourth place are vastly different!

For example, in the individual competition, the first three places consecutively receive three, two, and one pieces of Legendary Equipment, but the fourth place gets none. The same applies to the award levels, where the first three places are promoted by 3 levels, 2 levels, and 1 level respectively, but the fourth place doesn’t get this either. The reward for the fourth place is exactly the same as that for the eighth place—there’s no difference at all! The real point of interest in this award ceremony is the third place.

What Huang Yi cared about was whether Thunder God and the Sun Team could secure third place. They had made it to the top four, so it was either third or fourth.

"The names for third to eighth place in the individual competition are as follows!" At that moment, the male host spoke, and the large screen on the stage suddenly displayed the ranking—

Third place: Sharp Sword

Fourth place: Thunder God

Fifth place: T.N.T

Sixth place: Heavenly Emperor

Seventh place: Pope

Eighth place: Giant Bear

"The names for third to eighth place in the team competition are as follows!" Then, the female host announced the third to eighth places for the team competition—

Third place: Heavenly Group

Fourth place: Sun Team

Fifth place: Yanhuang Legion

Sixth place: Divine Nation

Seventh place: Angel Legion

Eighth Place: Giant Bear Team

Seeing this ranking, Huang Yi sighed in his heart. Thunder God was still a bit unlucky, finishing fourth in both the individual and team competitions, and there was no difference in rewards between fourth place and eighth.

"That concludes the third to eighth places. Now, we’re down to the champions and runners-up. So, will it be God of Slaughter who prevails, or will Miyamoto Musashi outwit them? Let’s wait and see!" the host said, as the large screen at the center of the stage instantly displayed two viewers, none other than Huang Yi and Miyamoto Musashi.

Both of them were sitting in their seats at the moment, Huang Yi with a calm expression and silent, while Miyamoto Musashi was having a lively conversation with someone next to him, seeming in very good spirits.

This scene was broadcast to every viewer around the world in an instant, and the venue erupted with thunderous cheers for the two of them.

Huang Yi nodded to the camera, acknowledging viewers all over the world; Miyamoto Musashi stretched out his hand and waved to the camera with a smile, showing a leader-like charisma.

"Next, may I invite the six winners of the individual competition to the stage! Please welcome Mr. Huang Huapeng, CEO of Era Corporation, to present their awards!" the host finished, gesturing forward with his hand.

Suddenly, the figures of the top six individuals in the competition appeared on stage—they had been teleported there.

Following that, a man in his thirties, dressed in a suit, wearing glasses, and with a somewhat refined air about him also teleported in, none other than Mr. Huang Huapeng, CEO of Era Corporation.

Afterward, Mr. Huang Huapeng began to present the awards one by one, starting with the eighth place Giant Bear, then seventh place, all the way to fourth place, with each reward being 10 D-Class Energy Stones.

Finally, it came to third place, Sharp Sword!

When Huang Huapeng reached him, he suddenly patted him on the shoulder, showing an approving smile.

This action immediately surprised the audience! During the previous presentations, Mr. Huang Huapeng was polite, simply shaking hands with the victors, but he patted Sharp Sword’s shoulder!

Who exactly was Sharp Sword? He had always been shrouded in mystery, with no one knowing his true identity, but it seemed like he was special.

Then, Mr. Huang Huapeng presented Sharp Sword with 10 C-Class Energy Stones and handed over a box containing a piece of Legendary Equipment.

Huang Huapeng waved his hand, and a burst of light flew from his hand onto Sharp Sword, instantly raising his level by one.

"Next, we invite Mr. Sharp Sword, the individual competition’s third-place winner, to say a few words!" the host said, reaching out his hand toward Sharp Sword in an inviting gesture.

Sharp Sword, holding the box containing the Legendary Equipment, stepped forward and swept his piercing gaze across the audience of ten billion viewers!

At this moment, all ten billion viewers were fixed on him, anticipating his first public address!

The next moment, Sharp Sword spoke. He said just one sentence—

"God of Slaughter, I would very much like to have a match with you, without using any potions!"

Afterward, Sharp Sword turned and left the stage.

His words, however, continued to echo in the ears of the ten billion viewers worldwide, stunning countless people.

They thought Sharp Sword would deliver an acceptance speech, but no one expected his first public statement to be just that one sentence.

Yet that sentence was laden with meaning.

First, it indicated that he viewed Huang Yi as his most significant adversary. On stage were five people, all super-first masters like him, not to mention Dragon Spike, Pharaoh, Kid, and others like Dao Feng who had already retired, yet he mentioned only Huang Yi by name.

Second, it meant that neither he nor Huang Yi had fought to their full potential in the Group A round-robin matches. In the battle for the top four spots to advance from Group A, Huang Yi and Sharp Sword had already faced off once. Yet at that time, the whole world was adhering to the Hero’s Covenant, and they had only sparred briefly without showing their full strength. Hence, Sharp Sword was now challenging Huang Yi to a real show of strength, a fight without constraints.

Third, his attitude toward potions was not friendly. The reason he did not make it to the finals and only achieved third place was due to losing to Miyamoto Musashi’s S-Class potion. Potions, being external aids, are not a part of a player’s own abilities; he somewhat disdained such methods.

With a simple sentence, Sharp Sword made his intentions clear in a straightforward way that matched his character—clean and decisive.

Just then, in sync with Sharp Sword’s recent remarks, the giant screen on stage gave Huang Yi a close-up, showcasing him once again to all viewers in the auditorium.

But this time, Huang Yi had a peculiar expression in the camera’s frame! He was staring in a certain direction, his gaze unfocused, absentmindedly stroking his chin, as if he had fallen into deep contemplation and was oblivious to Sharp Sword calling out his name.

He was actually distracted, and this scene was amplified on the screen for the entire world’s ten billion viewers to see!