Jiang Yun watched the bustling street, where crowds of people were hurrying toward the venue.
Not long ago, Bu Chen had suddenly dragged Jiang Yun out, saying they should go watch some kind of Saibaman battle.
Jiang Yun had been baffled. He knew what Saibamen were, but what the heck was a Saibaman battle?
After Bu Chen explained, Jiang Yun understood and couldn't help marveling at how creative aliens could be.
Watching people head toward the tournament in twos and threes, Jiang Yun found himself growing a little curious about this so-called Saibaman battle. After cultivating for so long, it was nice to go out and look around once in a while. A balance between work and rest was important, after all.
By the time they arrived at the Saibaman battle venue, it was already packed. The crowd's cheers reminded Jiang Yun of the fan frenzy he'd seen in his previous life—this was even more extreme.
"Sir, need any tickets? I've got some good seats near the front!"
A man discreetly winked at Jiang Yun. Seeing how cautiously he was acting, Jiang Yun caught on.
So even other planets had scalpers.
The man was clearly hoping to make a killing off the Saibaman battle, but Jiang Yun didn't mind spending a little extra. He paid without hesitation. The tickets were a bit more expensive than the ones available in the line, but they saved him the wait and got him better seats. Why wouldn't he?
The scalper didn't wonder why Jiang Yun was buying over a hundred tickets. He'd observed the group and could tell they were all together, so he'd deliberately targeted them.
There'd be no point selling them one at a time, after all.
After selling the tickets to Jiang Yun, the scalper moved on to ask other people.
Jiang Yun and the others entered the venue with their tickets. It was an enormous structure—one that would surely be considered a wonder on Earth.
But on Qiu Long Planet, it was nothing out of the ordinary. The planet's technology was far more advanced than Earth's.
As a result, many buildings that couldn't be constructed on Earth could be made with ease here.
The entire venue was enclosed by a semicircular structure that stood ten thousand meters tall.
It was a stunning display of technology, and the metal was clearly some kind of unfamiliar alloy.
They soon spotted Xiuka, who had come to compete, but he didn't see them. There were simply too many people participating in the tournament.
What surprised them was that they also spotted members of the Rose Mercenary Group at the venue!
The Rose Mercenary Group had come to compete too?
Well, well!
This was turning out to be quite a spectacle!
They'd heard that the Rose Mercenary Group and the Lone Wolf Mercenary Group were enemies. It looked like there'd be a fierce clash between them.
From the reports his subordinates had sent him, Jiang Yun knew that the Rose Mercenary Group and the Lone Wolf Mercenary Group had a deep-seated grudge.
He didn't know the details, but everyone knew the two mercenary groups were at odds.
There were a little over a hundred people competing, divided among five rings. The rules were similar to those of the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Because of the way the matchups were arranged, some contestants would get a bye.
The tournament soon began, and the competitors showed off their skills. Saibamen just like the ones Jiang Yun remembered took the stage one after another.
The crowd was soon cheering with excitement. Jiang Yun had expected the matches to be dull, but he found himself engrossed.
It wasn't quite like what Jiang Yun had seen in his previous life—or rather, the basic idea was similar, but many competitors had brought specially cultivated soil with them.
The prize money for the tournament was actually quite substantial: ten thousand gold coins.
That was roughly equivalent to, well, ten apartments at Tomson Riviera.
That was no small sum, but to someone who controlled half of West City, money was just money. As long as you had enough, that was all that mattered!
Ever since becoming Capsule Corp's second-largest shareholder, Jiang Yun had come to think of money as little more than a string of numbers.
Still, he was short on gold, which was also a universal currency throughout the universe.
Before long, the matches in the arena had reached a fever pitch.
"Xiuka, you're not much to look at! How can a man be so weak and limp?"
A victorious member of the Rose Mercenary Group taunted Xiuka.
The speaker was one of the Rose Mercenary Group's commanders, Lan Peiling. She was second only to the group's leader, Black Rose.
"Don't get cocky, woman! You'd better hope you don't run into me! Otherwise, I'll leave you cowering like a beaten dog!"
Xiuka stared at Lan Peiling with open hostility and replied in a harsh tone.
"Oh, how amusing! Then I'll look forward to it. Just make sure you last long enough to meet me!"
Without giving Xiuka a chance to respond, she turned and walked away.
Xiuka watched Lan Peiling leave, his eyes glinting with malice and fury.
Time passed quickly, and soon only five contestants remained in the tournament.
Suddenly, the five rings began to shift, moving slowly.
They were movable rings, and before long, they had joined together to form one enormous arena.
The Announcer took up a microphone and called out loudly, "Congratulations to the competitors still in the arena!"
Clap, clap, clap!
A wave of enthusiastic applause erupted, accompanied by cheers from the crowd.
"Now, let's introduce our competitors!"
"First, we have Xiuka, deputy leader of the Poison Wolf Mercenary Group. Beside him is Kasha, a competitor from the Whirlwind Mercenary Group!"
"Next, we have the Rose Mercenary Group's most popular contestant, Miss Lan Peiling!"
At that, the crowd erupted into a wave of excited cheers. Clearly, the Rose Mercenary Group's competitor was extremely popular.
"Next, we have Jessica and Jedons from the Giant Rock Mercenary Group! We hear these two competitors are brothers. Let's look forward to an exciting match!"
The Announcer's voice was lively and rousing, easily whipping the crowd into a frenzy!
"Let the matches begin! We look forward to seeing what all our competitors can do. Now, the arena is yours!"
Cheers thundered from every direction, deafening everyone!
The first to take the stage were Kasha of the Whirlwind Mercenary Group and Jessica of the Giant Rock Mercenary Group!
The two competitors stood facing each other in silence, then began planting their Saibamen in their own soil.
They kept the soil in small pots shaped like flowerpots. It was easy to tell that the soil inside was high quality and had been carefully prepared.
The Saibamen sprouted from the soil and grew at astonishing speed.
Watching the two face off, Jiang Yun felt as if he were watching Pokémon.
The fight itself wasn't especially exciting, but the process was quite entertaining.
You had to raise them yourself, which made it a sort of unusual training game.
The Saibamen soon began fighting. The two sides were evenly matched, but as time passed,
the small details began to make a difference. Perhaps the girl had simply been a little more attentive.
Kasha's Saibaman narrowly defeated Jessica's. The match had been so tense it made everyone's hearts pound, and when Kasha won, the tension released all at once like a roller coaster coming to a stop.
Kasha advanced!
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