The Attack of the Wastrel

On her second visit to the Town of the Brave, Gu Lingzhi was slightly nervous as she went to register herself as a competitor.

The person in charge of the register was a middle-aged man aged around 50 years old. His eyes were filled with wisdom accumulated over the years. He smartly decided not to ask any questions when he saw Gu Lingzhi arrive wearing a mask.

“What is your name, child?”

She would need a makeshift name to compete in the Town of the Brave.

“Black Thorn,” Gu Lingzhi reported the name that she had thought of on her way here.

This name was very suitable as she was wearing a black mask and had escaped from her previous life that was full of thorns.

Nodding his head, he wrote “Black Thorn” on her identity card. He then retrieved a stone from under the table that was used to test for cultivation levels.

“Level Five Martial Student? At your level of cultivation, you are sure to lose out,” the registrar persuaded her kindly, “Dear child, I advise you to raise your cultivation levels before coming back to compete. There are not many who come to compete with your cultivation level.”

He was being very polite when he said this. There were almost no one who was of Gu Lingzhi’s standard. Most who came to compete in the Town of the Brave were at least Level Seven or Eight.

This was also why there was an unspoken rule of participants in the Martial Student arena being at least a Level Six Martial Student. After all, those that were not able to qualify for the Royal School were even less likely to try to compete.

“Thank you for your advice, but increasing one’s cultivation is meant to be hard. By fighting against people stronger than me, I would be able to improve even faster and I want to try.”

Gu Lingzhi replied sincerely as the registrar glanced at her, making sure that she did not hesitate at all when saying this. Seeing her determination, he gave up trying to persuade her. He wrote her name using a special black ink on a small plain wooden tablet and handed it over to her.

“This is your identity card, keep it well. You have to show this to confirm your identity every time you compete. If you win 100 consecutive battles, you will be able to win the Emblem of the Brave. If you win 1000 consecutive battles, you will be able to get the highest award of a Gold Emblem and become an honorary guest of the Mercenary Alliance. You will be able to get a 70 percent discount on any training materials you need from the Mercenary Guild or the Town of the Brave in the entire Tianyuan Continent.” Seemingly satisfied with Gu Lingzhi’s determination, the tone at which the registrar spoke was very gentle.

“That’s right.” the registrar grinned, “It may seem demanding, but you must remember that the benefit it brings is way more than the effort you would put in to obtain it. As your cultivation increases, the training materials you would need would become more expensive. If you can get everything you need at 70 percent off, everyone in the continent would envy you.”

Although it was true, it was extremely difficult to win 1000 battles. From what others said, it was difficult to win even a hundred battles.

“Why, are you scared?” The registrar stated, “The road to improving one’s cultivation is extremely tough. What we provide here at the Town of the Brave is already the fastest and most convenient way to become an expert!”

“That is not what I meant.” Sensing the slight displeasure from the registrar, Gu Lingzhi defended herself, “I am just curious how anyone could win 1000 consecutive battles?”

“Why not?” The registrar started to reminisce, “Twenty years ago, there was a talented young lady that managed to win 1000 battles over the span of three years, becoming the first person to obtain the Gold Emblem in over a hundred years.”

“20 years ago? She must be a Martial Sage by now, right?” Gu Lingzhi’s voice was filled with astonishment.

“No.” To her surprise, the registrar shook his head, “She passed away fifteen years ago.”

“Passed away?” Gu Lingzhi was taken aback, “How can someone so talented die so early?”

“It can only be said that nature likes to make a fool of people,” the registrar shook his head not intending to continue on this topic.

“Alright, child, if you wish to compete tomorrow, you need to go register at the Martial Student arena. I have to help the next person with the registration process.”

“Oh, okay.” Gu Lingzhi left somewhat awkwardly.

Holding her identity card, Gu Lingzhi did not hesitate at all as she headed to the Martial Student arena to register.

The area to sign up was located behind the battle arena. Handing her identity card to the guy in charge, Gu Lingzhi obtained a piece of paper with the number 762. After asking around, she found out that the first number of the paper represented the arena that her battle was going to be held on and the two other numbers represented the order of her battle.

Her number meant that she was the 62th person to compete on Arena Seven the following day. However, if she was unlucky and her number was not called by the end of the day, she would have to sign up once again.

Keeping her slip of paper in her Storage Ring, Gu Lingzhi went to watch a few battles as she had nothing to do. This way, she could learn about her opponents too.

The young lady’s weapon was a length of red silk and her red silk danced elegantly as she attacked and defended. On the other hand, the young man’s attacking style was bigger and wider where he welded a long and wide sword in a majestic way. The two different styles made the battle extremely interesting to watch.

From the way the young man moved, Gu Lingzhi could easily identify him as a student from the Royal School.

The young lady had yet to show signs of defeat after a long time and it seemed like they were matched in abilities.

In Arena Four, the battle was not so much a pleasing sight as the one Gu Lingzhi had been watching.

Gu Lingzhi spent the entire day watching valiant battles fought by powerful people, like the red silk young lady and the young man she was fighting at the beginning…

Like the rumors she heard, there were many students from the Royal School that liked to fight at the Town of the Brave. From the numerous fights she watched, Gu Lingzhi could identify quite a number of students from the Royal School.

All of a sudden, there was a commotion.

Gu Lingzhi’s ears picked up on a familiar name – Xi Hongru.