Chapter 637: Martial Competition!

An Bang Ting’s seemingly sincere speech kicked off the beginning of the grand ceremony. Under the gaze of all and sundry, the three princes stepped down from the high platform according to their ages. In the schedule, there were three competitions today.

The first one, martial competition!

Starnet Continent was a place where strength ruled, which was why the four candidates selected by An Bang Ting were all puppet masters. Without enough strength, one might not even be able to protect their position. Therefore, personal strength was one of the prerequisites!

However, in order not to estrange the princes, the method decided was not to make them duel each other.

30 guards around the Martial Artist Rank marched out. On each of their turns, the princes would choose a number of guards to challenge according to their own judgment of their own strength. There was only one chance. No matter the number of guards challenged, success was success and failure was failure. In other words, one who challenged 20 and lost would have a lower score than one who challenged 2 and won.

Judging one’s own strength was also a very important ability. The failure of this ability in real life might cost one’s life, so it was reasonable that the three princes were not allowed a second chance.

An Ye was the first to take the stage with an emerald gun puppet in his hand. At present, there were three known types of gun puppets. First was the heavy type like Fang Ye’s gun puppet, which was suitable for long-range snipes. Second was the light-medium type for quick short-range combat, which relied on quantity to win.

The third was a combination of the previous two types, an example being the one An Ye was holding: having a certain range and considerable firing rate. However, as any jack-of-all-trades, this kind of gun puppet would sometimes encounter situations where its firepower was inadequate to suppress the opponent.

Therefore, many gun puppet users ranked it last on their ideal lists, but this type actually had the most users – because it was cheap…

“I challenge five!” An Ye quoted a number that stunned many people. He was only Mastery Rank, which was equal to the Martial Artist Rank on the fighter scale. Counting the fact that martial artists were slightly stronger than puppet masters of the same rank in the early stages, his choice looked no different from seeking death.

However, An Ye’s serious attitude said otherwise. At his request, five guards stepped onto the ring. They wore special protective gear over all the weak points of the body. As long as An Ye hit these parts, they would automatically be counted as defeated. This was to avoid harm to the royal guards. After all, the whole city was watching, causing deaths would be a bad idea…

The five guards surrounded An Ye. After exchanging greetings, the fight officially started!

An Ye’s energy instantly surged. The bracelet on his right wrist shone with golden light and a thick fog quickly spread from him, covering the whole stage.

A second puppet! An Ye, who was only Mastery Rank, had actually linked his second puppet!

Many people exclaimed in surprise. Zheng Gong also looked proud. It had taken him quite the effort to help his student link the second puppet.

However, Bai Xiaofei only laughed mockingly and couldn’t care less.

“What’s wrong, Brother Bai? Is something the matter?”

Although he was secretly afraid of Bai Xiaofei, Zheng Gong really couldn’t sit back without doing anything in response to his reaction.

“Nothing, I just feel that it’s a little embarrassing to only dare to challenge five while already having linked a second puppet.” Bai Xiaofei was full of smiles, his tone indifferent as if commenting on something trivial.

“Oh, then I look forward to seeing how many Prince An Yue will challenge later!” Zheng Gong coldly snorted before turning back to the duel, refusing to say more.

In the thick fog, gunshots sounded repeatedly as An Ye constantly moved around. The guards couldn’t see him, but he could see them. With this advantage, he finally won this seemingly risky play.

When the fog cleared, a sweating An Ye was revealed. He was obviously drained of energy, which was why he only challenged five people.

“Let us not forget that Prince An Ye is a Ranged Stream puppet master without any advantage in melee fights. If he were to have enough distance, even twenty Martial Artists will not be a problem. Please take this into account when you make your choice.” Zheng Gong stepped forward. Using his origin energy as an amplifier, his voice echoed through the whole square.

Many people nodded in approval as they thought what he said made sense, but Bai Xiaofei only sneered.

Zheng Gong was utterly lying. Although An Ye would have the advantage at a distance, in actual combat, no one would stupid enough let snipers hit them.

Under normal circumstances, even a top-class ranged puppet master would be only able to perform two to three perfect attacks in a one-vs-many battle. After completing such an attack, they would face circuitous encirclement from the opponents. Even if An Ye’s second puppet could give him some advantage in a melee fight, he’d at best be able to hold on for a few seconds and take down eight or nine people.

However, Bai Xiaofei didn’t expose Zheng Gong. It just wasn’t necessary.

After An Ye stepped down, An Yue eagerly stepped into the ring.

When the two brothers brushed shoulders, An Ye revealed a smug expression. He felt that if the audience really thought he could take down twenty people, he was sure to win first place. After all, with An Ming dead, no one else could do better than him.

With this thought, An Ye didn’t bother to look at An Yue, until he spoke.

“You all come up!”

When An Yue’s faint voice spoke up, An Ye nearly tripped on the way down the stairs. He couldn’t be blamed, though, because the audience’s reaction was not any better…

“Sixth Prince, you mean… you want to challenge thirty people?” The one leading the royal guards gulped in disbelief.

“Yes. It’s actually my teacher’s suggestion to prepare thirty people. Any less wouldn’t be enough for me and any more would be beyond my capability. Thirty is just right.” An Yue grinned. His tone was confident as if everything was within his calculations.

But who could be so accurate?!

“Hahaha! It seems that you have great confidence in your disciple, Brother Bai!” Zheng Gong burst out laughing after a brief shock. It was like he had already seen the moment when Bai Xiaofei made a fool of himself.

“Correction, An Yue is only my student. If it was my disciple, 30 people would really not be enough,” Bai Xiaofei said flatly, causing Zheng Gong to choke and nearly pass out.

Meanwhile, An Yue had taken his combat stance…