The Supreme God of Martial Arts
Chapter 373 Attend The Ceremony (Part Two)

At each table, hushed whispering carried secret exchanges between theprinces and his trusted men. The warriors too understood the realpurpose behind the invitation and gauged all present vying for theOutstanding Talents Exchange Games.

But what surprised Austin was the royal family not even trying to glossover the ugly competition between the princes. It was so obvious thatthe Outstanding Talents Exchange Games seemed like a prelude to aruthless war between the brothers.

Ten princes were determined to succeed to the throne but the thronewould seat only one.

Anyhow, power and politics were hardly on any warriors mind. Rather,they were focused on one thing and one thing only—to participate inthe Outstanding Talents Exchange Games come hell or high water.

Each person was a competitor for the warrior, of and beyond theircamp. With a stony silence and nervous looks, most pierced the otherswith their stare to see how strong of will and mind his opponent was.Among the group of warriors, one was particularly large. It contained awhopping five hundred warriors that looked arrogant and conceited. Tobe a part of such a huge team, all felt mightily superior from the rest forthey belonged to, of course, the host, the grand prince.

As for the other groups, one had around three hundred people, whichwas a pretty impressive strength of show in itself. And then there wasone with around two hundred people, which too couldn't be calledweak. There were multiple groups with just a hundred people, of whichone had Austin in it. The ones who were a bundle of nerves wereformations with just a dozen of people. Among the latter, the mostconspicuous anxious formation was Prince Louis's that had just twentyWarriors.

"Oh, Louis, look at you! You have got me laughing my head off! Don'tbe too tight with your money! Recruit some warriors! You only havetwenty! Twenty! Don't you understand what it means! It means, mywarriors, my three hundred men, can drown your pitiful twenty men,with their mouth water!" said a man to the Prince Louis, as he roaredwith laughter.

"My brother, listen to me. Just go home. You have brought shame uponour family. I demand you to withdraw from the competition.”

The man looked young, wearing a ginger-colored robe. He seemedconfident about his position in the family so much so that he felt hecould bully the prince into quitting.

"Frederick, I take your criticism with respect. But I don't think thenumber of warriors can make a difference. It's a competition ofexcellence and not numbers. And all my men fight bravely with superiorskills."

Prince Louis retorted unruffled by his brother's jibes. The seventh princewas remarkable among his brothers. Sitting next to Prince Frederick,both couldn't have drawn more of a contrasting picture.

Overhearing the conversation between his two brothers, another princealso cut in, "I agree with you, Louis. Frederick, you should really trimyour slack team. Take a look at my cracking troops. Each and every ofthem is one in a thousand. I don't think your men stand any chancefighting against them.”

This alleged "one in a thousand" team had only about forty warriors, alittle more than Louis's. But yet this prince sounded more confident. Hefelt audacious enough to provoke Prince Frederick and his threehundred men.

"Ernest, I can't agree more. Frederick, if you believe in the logic that agreater number of warriors translate into a stronger team, then oureldest brother, whose team has five hundred warriors, is the strongestamong ours. But is that true? Is that true, my brothers? If that's true,why are we still here? Why don't we just lay down our arms andsurrender?” he paused, "So how about stop saying such nonsense andget down to combat? I can’t wait anymore. Who will accept mychallenge first?"

This prince was obviously quick to pick a fight.

Aroused, Prince Frederick stood up, "Well, well, well! My brothers, don'tthink you can gang up on me like that! You want to fight? So let'sfight!"

He smashed his cup on the table as he finished his sentence. And then,a hush fell over the crowd

Austin observing the sons of the emperor thought how they bickeredover trivialities. It was a meaningless argument of who triumphed overwhom.

By now, the platform was occupied by all the princes except for thegrand prince. And as the war of words intensified among the princes,the eldest brother was still nowhere to be seen.

The princes taunted each other and raked up the past to give weight totheir futile arguments. They locked horns in both open strife and veiledprotests. Not a single prince could unanimously prevail over the others.With a spark of a tinder, their fights had become a sheet of flame.

The ulterior motive was, of course, the throne. Familial conduct andmores were completely rid of. They were first enemies, then brothers.This internal discord had embittered the whole of the empire now thatthe conflict was common knowledge.

Once, all had worn off their sarcasm, they took to surly silence. Theyhad gone around in circles over this issue again and again. Who amongthem was mighty or worthy of the throne was an issue as dated as theirown lives it felt. The oppressive silence had turned into angry glares aseach and every one of them seated seethed in reproach.

The competitive spirit had infected the warriors too as they glared atthe other princes’ formation. Most were young, and ready to jump intothe battlefield. As they looked at each other, a feigned smile wasexchanged out of cordiality. And yet the eyes betrayed no emotion.Among them, a few warriors looked bloodthirsty and gnashed theirteeth at their opponents. Most were eager to exchange insults and putthem down in their place.

"Tell me... Is being stupid a profession or are you just gifted? People likeyou are the reason why we have middle fingers!" a provocative warriorbarked an insult at a young combatant.

"No need for insults, your stupid face says it all. You're so ugly thatwhen you cry, the tears roll down the back of your head, just to avoidyour stupid face. Your stupid lips are moving, but all I hear is “blah blahblah!" and the other warrior replied back with a powerful counter-blow."Wow! You have a huge pimple in between your shoulders! Oh wait,that's your stupid face!" the provocative warrior hurled an abuse back."Everyone has the right to be stupid, but you're abusing the privilege,”the other one retorted wittily.

The onlookers laughed hysterically at the crosstalk.

"Hey smart asses! Save it! Stop talking and start fighting! Deal with it inthe combat zone!" shouted someone loudly.

The situation was on the verge of breaking out. The long wait hadmade the hotheaded warriors irritable. Most were anxious and itchingto get into a fight.

Austin sat amongst them, and remained silent as ever. Though he didnot utter a word, he was watching the others with great interest. At thesame time, he kept an eye on his surroundings, specially the servants.All of a sudden, Austin saw that about thirty men in a formation werestaring at him with hostility. In a jiffy, he got goose pimples

These men were from the Flaming Sun Valley!

As he read the sign, he realized these Flaming Sun Valley warriors wereunder Prince Barry's command. This meant the Flaming Sun Valley wasbetting on him.

“The bastard I killed, isn't he the grandson of the Chief Elder of theFlaming Sun Valley sect? So now what? Now all the warriors in theValley are united in their hatred of me? How ridiculous!" thought Austin.He flashed an embarrassed smile back at the Valley warriors, who wouldobviously be his arch-enemies today.

At the other end of the square, another forty hostile warriors stared atAustin thirsty for his blood. The long coats of these warriors had afierce wolf head embroidered on them.

They were, of course, from the Blood Wolf Team!

They too were baying for blood under Prince Frederick's command.Before Austin could react to the Valley or the Blood Wolf, a man stoodup and walked towards him. He had been sitting among the warriors ofPrince Barry all this while. With a few brisk broad strides, the eagle-eyedman was right in front of him, holding a Heaven's Halberd.

As Austin glanced at what was behind the man, he saw a cloud of dusttrailing the path the man had just taken. The imposing manner of justthat man was as powerful as an army that was ready to strike anyminute.