Chapter 216 - Long Tian's Power

With Feng Chen and He Fen's victories, the challenges of the second round of group A ended. Now it would be the turn of group B, and the first to take the field was none other than the Imperial Prince Long Tian.

"Let's start now with the challenges of Group B. The first ones to take the field are the Imperial Prince Long Tian and Mario Rossi of the Rossi family." Song Yazhu announced.

Upon hearing the Imperial Prince's name, the eyes of the spectators, especially those in the VIP gallery, rested on the young Long Tian. Those who frequented the Sun Empire's high society knew of the internal situation of the Imperial Family.

The Yellow Dragon Faction was the weakest of the Five Factions of the Imperial Family. Long Tian should also have been the weakest of the Five Imperial Princes next in line to the Empire Throne. Yet, in the previous confrontation, Long Tian had brought out extraordinary strength, questioning the knowledge these illustrious guests had about the Sun Emperor Candidates.

"It is an honor to meet you and to be able to fight against you, Your Highness Long Tian." Mario Rossi greeted him respectfully. Even though he came from the Imperial Family's weakest faction, the other side still had an authority incomparable with that of the Rossi Family.

"Same to you." Long Tian said with a nod. His calm demeanor made him seem like he wasn't worried about the challenger in front of him.

This annoyed Mario Rossi slightly, but he knew it was an understandable reaction. After all, he was a support martial artist, while the other side was one of the Five Hereditary Imperial Princes. On paper, there should be a colossal difference.

However, Mario Rossi wasn’t willing to give up without a fight. “I came this far to demonstrate the capabilities of us support martial artists. Prince Long Tian, ​​prepare for the worst!"

"Let the fight begin!" Song Yazhu started the fight.

Therefore, Mario Rossi quickly ate two pieces of pizza, Pizza Margherita and Pizza Capricciosa, and pulled out his war hammer. Then he activated his mandolin, "Sonata del Mandolino - Crescendo!"

His musical instrument began to swing its strings by itself, producing a musical melody. It was as if someone was playing it, although it was fixed on Mario Rossi’s waist, and the latter was holding his war hammer, without therefore being able to play the musical instrument.

“An automatic boost melody? You combined music and cooking to empower yourself and be able to fight alone? By doing this, you are certainly superior in a 1 vs. 1 compared to other supporting martial artists. But from a military point of view, your value is lower than theirs. " Long Tian revealed.

"What do you mean by that?" Mario Rossi asked. Even though he had activated his buffs, he hadn't yet launched an attack. 'He should have seen my previous fight, and yet he did nothing to stop me. Is he so confident he can defeat me that he lets me empower me?'

“You said that the reason you fight is to show the skills of supporting martial masters. Many attacking martial artists and of other types indeed deride support martial artists for their inferior fighting ability. But those with good eyes and a functioning mind are well aware of the vital importance of supporting martial artists, thus recognizing their value."

"So what? Get to the point!" Mario Rossi urged with increasing nervousness. Just watching Long Tian stand up without worry as if he didn't exist made him restless.

“You are not fighting to honor the category of supporting martial artists. You are fighting instead for yourself even if you don't seem to notice or maybe you don't want to. Something must have happened in your life, or maybe they are a collection of smaller events. Anyway, at some point, you chose to change: instead of empowering others, you had to empower yourself."

Long Tian's words were like boulders on Mario Rossi's heart. What the Imperial Prince said was true. During his life, although he was considered one of the geniuses of his city as regards the speed of cultivation, he wasn’t considered in high regard in the panorama of the younger generation.

He was talented, yes, but in the end, he was just a support martial artist, and his fighting power was low. Sure, it could empower other people, and as a result, he was considered useful but never indispensable. He would never be considered a leader or a prominent figure everyone else aspired to be. He wouldn’t receive honors and glory and won the affection of beautiful girls and males' envy. He would always remain in the shadows, and his contribution would only create the legends of others.

Growing up in a family specialized in producing supporting martial artists, he was aware of this from the very beginning. And he didn't really care at first. He didn’t have a great predisposition to combat and, in any case, preferred to devote his time to the study of music, his great passion.

Yet, as he grew older, his desires for glory and to become a protagonist before the eyes of others made themselves felt more and more. Unfortunately, however ardently he dreamed of it, he failed.

The impassable wall against which other supporting martial artists crashed ended up stopping him as well. Instead of resigning, however, Mario Rossi became obsessed with changing his destiny. He puzzled over a possible solution for days and days until he came up with an answer: Why empower others when I can empower myself?

In doing so, he was able to bridge the gap dictated by his low fighting ability. He focused all his studies on ways to empower himself, devising his fighting style from scratch. At the same time, he swore that he would no longer be the shadow of someone else but would become the protagonist of his story.

“What could you possibly know… you who are one of the main characters since birth. What can you know about what an extra like me feels?!" Mario Rossi shouted.

His eyes were slightly red. Long Tian's words reopened an old wound, reawakening his anger and frustration. Since he had devised his fighting style, no one had dared to look down on him. Even now, in a major tournament like this, where the best students of his academic year were gathered, hadn't he stood out from the rest? Hadn't he made it to the stage and was performing as one of the main actors?

Yet, in front of Long Tian, ​​someone who was destined to be one of the great characters in the Sun Empire's history, Mario Rossi couldn’t help but recall the feelings of inferiority he thought he had forgotten.

"Take this! Intent of the Mandolin, Fortissimo! "

At Mario Rossi's cry, the mandolin emitted a melody with a powerful sound that made the eardrums crack. The veins of the young man's body became visible as his breathing became labored.

Fortissimo. It was a term used in music to indicate a very, very loud sound, hence the mandolin's loud noise. However, in this situation, it represented Mario Rossi's secret technique, his supreme power-up technique.

The power-ups that Fortissimo brought were superior to any of his other techniques. The problem, however, was the large load it carried on the user's body. In particular, it was the organs that suffered the most, especially the heart. It was no coincidence that it was a generally prohibited move and would only be used in extreme cases.

"Spirit King Song Yazhu, stop the fight!" shouted the head of the Rossi family. Mario Rossi was one of his family's most promising geniuses; therefore, he knew his techniques well. Never would he have thought Mario Rossi would use the Fortissimo during the tournament. If he continued like this, Mario Rossi risked serious internal damage.

"Teacher Song Yazhu, leave it to me!" Long Tian said to Song Yazhu. Without waiting for an answer, he exclaimed, “Yellow Dragon Bloodline, Activate! Concept of Authority, Earth Law, Authority of the Earth - Fist of the Yellow Dragon!"

It happened in an instant. As Mario Rossi ferociously advanced against Long Tian, ​​the latter responded using one of his secret cards. The Fist of the Yellow Dragon condensed Long Tian's spirit power into his fist, to which the ability of Attraction and Repulsion was added. Doing so would generate an insane power punch that would first attract the enemy, destabilize them, then repel them, generating even more power than would normally be produced.

Boom! Crack!

Mario Rossi was thrown for meters and meters. A single punch from Long Tian had destroyed his defensive layer of spirit power and landed on his body. Surprisingly, instead of shattering the bones and reaching the organs, the power of the fist was dispersed throughout Mario Rossi's body, stopping the arrival of musical vibrations and stopping the Fortissimo technique.

Cough!

Mario Rossi spat blood because of the blow he received and the forced cancellation of his technique. Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured as he was stopped in time. Nonetheless, he couldn't move at the moment.

Step. Step.

Footsteps echoed near Mario Rossi. Long Tian was approaching his position. The Imperial Prince's arm still shone with a yellowish light that was gradually fading.

“You asked me what I could know about what an extra feels. True, I'm in no position to know their feelings. On the contrary, my blood and my ancestry put me in the role of what can be considered in others' eyes one of the important characters of the stage that is this world. I don't deny it. But just because I'm one of the important characters, let me tell you something. To give depth to a scene are the extras, not the protagonist or other primary characters: only they complete it. Without it, one would have the feeling that something is missing.

Your choice to change your fighting style has certainly paid off in the past, but you too should be aware that you are close to a dead end. As you progress, your fighting style will become unable to bridge the gap, and eventually, that discovery will lead you to despair. No, he's already taking you there.

Your obsession is destroying you. Let it go. Focus on what you have, on what you can do best. And if you really want to become one of the protagonists, do it using your music and your recipes instead, like a true support martial artist.

In my eyes, it is certainly a more difficult and admirable achievement than dedicating your life only to yourself."

At that point, Long Tian finished his speech while Mario Rossi was stunned. Every word of the Imperial Prince lodged itself in the latter's mind as if written in stone.

"The winner is Long Tian." Song Yazhu exclaimed as he called a medical team to check Mario Rossi's condition. Although Long Tian had stopped the latter, Song Yazhu still wanted him to receive treatment just in case.

"He's really strong." Hei commented in a low voice, “The power of that punch is incredible. With the same cultivation, the normal Spider Lance would lose in a power battle. And even if I used the other variants of the Spider Lance, I'm not sure of the result."

It was the first time this had happened to him. Spider Lance was the most lethal and powerful technique left by his Bao Bei; not surprisingly, it was also his final move. Without using Elemental Laws or combining it with other Spider and Snake Styles' techniques, the normal Spider Lance already possessed incredible power. Yet, after seeing Long Tian's technique only once, Hei judged that the regular version of Spider Lance wasn’t its match.

"It's not just the power of impact that is terrifying. Its ability to transmit the energy of the punch throughout the body from the point of impact is the same. It is not just a single-layer dispersion but instead reaches the organs and the internal flow of spirit power. " Lian analyzed with a serious expression.

During their stay in the Forgotten Ocean, Lian had learned the Vibrating Fist technique, which allowed her to transfer her spirit power onto others, ignoring some of the defense provided by the defensive layer of spirit power. Since the two techniques had similar characteristics, Lian could immediately analyze the real danger behind it.

Yet, although they were similar, they were different. Lian's technique was more like the waves generated by the fall of a body into the water. Long's. Tian was more like an earthquake: devastating shocks would start and hit the whole body from the point of impact.

"Let's move on to the next match. The next two to take the field are Dae Won, one of the Imperial Prince Guards and Leon."

Seeing that the next two fighters had been announced, Hei and Lian stopped talking to each other. This was no time to analyze the Long Tian fight; they would have plenty of time when this second day's fighting was over. Besides, it was also Leon's turn. As friends and comrades, they wanted to follow his fight carefully and cheer him on.

So, the two fighters, Dae-Won and Leon, reached the fighting stage. However, before Song Yazhu could give the start, an unprecedented thing happened.

"Teacher Song Yazhu, I wish to surrender."

The speaker was Dae-Won. Initially, both Song Yazhu and the rest of the audience thought they had misunderstood. This was a tournament organized by the Southern Royal War Academy. There were also important guests from all over the Southern Region and not. An infinity of younger generation martial artists would have killed for a chance to be on that stage. Yet Dae-Won was really giving up without a fight.

"May I ask the reason for your surrender?" Song Yazhu asked. Dae-Won wasn’t the type to back out if there was a fight, especially if Long Tian's honor was at stake.

"I'm an illusionist. My illusion techniques are my main weapon, while my trident is the key to finishing off the enemy. Had he been another opponent, I would have fought, but Leon possesses more spirit power than anyone should normally possess to our cultivation, not to mention his thickness. Also, adding his armor, even if I were to make him fall into an illusion, I would have no way to break down his defenses. Hence my surrender." Dae-Won answered in a calm voice, giving valid reasons for his surrender. Indeed, everything he said in his analysis wasn’t wrong.

"Wait, Dae-Won!" Leon stepped in. Even though he was being given the victory, Leon wanted to stop Dae-Won. He had trained hard and wanted to prove the results of his training in a fair fight. He didn't want to win like that.

"Aren’t you one of the guards of Long Tian? Then why do you give up? Don't you think it's better to fight me and, even if you should be defeated, make me as tired as possible or hurt me?" Leon asked. In a way, they were similar; after all, if he had been in Dae-Won's place and Hei had been in Long Tian's place, he would do anything to make things easier for Hei.

"If it was a matter of life and death, then yes. However, this isn’t the case. Furthermore, if my boss really needed such tactics, he wouldn't be my boss to begin with. I am one of his guards, but our job is not just to protect him. Our main task is to make him reach his goal at all costs. To do so, he constantly needs greater and greater challenges. That is why I want him to fight against you when you are at your peak.

Besides, everything I said before is true. At the moment, it would be difficult for me to win against you. And even if I win, I would still have given up the next round. I could never turn my trident against Long Tian, ​​not even during a tournament of this caliber."

That said, Dae-Won began to head back to the designated area for the fighters. The audience was speechless; they never thought anyone would actually give up during the tournament. The young Imperial Guard was indifferent to all of this as he walked as if nothing had happened.

"The winner is Leon." Song Yazhu proclaimed Leon the winner. Even though it was a shame, it wasn't as if they could force Dae-Won to fight.

Hearing this, Leon shook his head in disappointment. He didn't want to win like that, but he couldn't do anything about it now, and he came back to the rest of the fighters.

"I'm sorry, boss. I hope you can forgive me." Dae-Won apologized once he found himself in front of Long Tian.

"Don't worry. I trust your judgment." Long Tian replied without reproaching his subordinate for his behavior. However, he secretly sent him a Spirit Message. 'Did you sense anything?'

‘Just a feeling. My body instinctively told me I shouldn't have to fight Leon. That's all.’ Dae-Won replied.

‘Okay. Your Concept of Destiny has never been wrong so far. If you have perceived that, there must be a reason, but we still don't know why. Furthermore, I don't mind facing Leon. It will be an interesting confrontation.' Long Tian replied, thus closing the mental connection with Dae-Won.

Concept of Destiny. It was a very peculiar Concept. It had no combat enhancements or helped with cultivation. As the name implied, the user would have sudden sensations about places, objects, and people that greatly influenced the user's destiny in the future.

In a sense, it was as if one could look into the future, although it was only sensations and not clear images. The Concept of Destiny was also why Dae-Won held the chief guard's position between the guards under Long Tian's service.