A Martial God's Bloodline

"Good boy!"

Xiao Qing appeared to have caught wind about what happened back at the Li home. He gave Li Ye a fist-bump and a thumbs up as soon as the latter returned. "I was a little worried, but from the looks of it, I don't have to do anything this time around!"

It was evident that Xiao Qing came to Wu Prefecture City because of Li Ye. Driving those actions from behind was Li Yating, who had a close relationship with Li Ye.

However, Li Yating—a member of the Dark Heaven Sect—had yet to return to Wu Prefecture City. According to the information Li Ye received from Xiao Qing, she should arrive on the last day of the year-end clan gathering.

That day also happened to be the last day of the clan tournament—the knockout round! It was the most intense final segment of the entire tournament.

Li Ye worked very hard for the Li clan's yearly assessment of their descendants. Having immersed himself in a deeper understanding of the assessment, he learned that there were a total of three rounds!

"I passed the first round smoothly! The second round is coming up tomorrow!"

More than ninety percent of people were eliminated in the first round. In other words, only those with Martial Spirit Level Three and above could enter the second round. The first round was the simplest in that it did not require any sparring. All that was required was to leave a palm print or a fist print on the obsidian. However, that level was the most difficult, as it accounted for ninety percent of the eliminations every single year!

"The second round is tomorrow!"

Having passed the first round successfully, fierce battles awaited Li Ye the next day. He would have to engage in intense sparring with hundreds of clan descendants who passed the first round.

The mere thought of the momentous occasion awaiting him made Li Ye thoroughly insomniac that night. At the same time, he discovered that the mastery of his power had undergone a change after leaving the palm print that day.

Pow!

A casual box in the air was like an invisible shadow in the dark of night. The speed of his punch was extremely fast.

"This kind of speed is even faster than that of Martial Spirit Level Six!" 

A vampire's body was different from ordinary people. The recuperative powers of his body—unseen to the naked eye—was far enhanced in every aspect. What surprised Li Ye most was that vampires had a unique advantage in terms of speed! For example, his earlier mid-air punch was not even thirty percent of his normal strength, but his unbeatable punching speed resulted in a blow that was stronger than a normal punch at full strength!

"Speed beats every martial skill in the world!"

Recalling that sentence from those Wuxia novels he read on Earth, perhaps there was a grain of truth in that saying! 

Li Ye left the house early the next morning without waking anyone up.

From afar, he was nearing the gate of the Li clan's huge mansion.

On that occasion, no one dared to stop him. The ruckus present during the first round seemed to have spread throughout the entire Li clan mansion. Everyone knew that the garbage Third Young Master returned, even passing the first round of tests with excellent results!

"Look, isn't that the trash! I heard that he was with Sixth Master yesterday and used some unknown method to pass the first round!"

"Impossible. Look at how thin and cowardly he is. How could he be a powerful martial cultivator! Perhaps Sixth Master went easy on him as a sign of respect to his father."

There was endless finger-pointing along the way, but Li Ye simply ignored all that!

He was confident that those jeers and doubts would soon disappear!

In comparison with the previous day, the second round of the clan tournament was conducted in a relatively small stage but with a much better environment. Some viewing platforms could be surrounding the stage; those were seats reserved for the higher-ranked clan members. They would be present on that day to evaluate the performance of clan descendants that managed to enter that round.

Li Ye was not the first to arrive. When he came, he saw that a lot of people were already present. Many of them were the same people he met during the first round of testing yesterday.

Li Ye's presence elicited some dissatisfaction and contempt in the eyes of those people. Many were clearly worried about what happened the previous day—after all, Li Ye grabbed everyone's attention and became a well-deserved number one.

"Hmph! I didn't expect the trash to come today. Did he think that yesterday's trick would still be useful today?"

A rather rude tone, complete with sharp sarcasm, was picked up by Li Ye's ear. Looking in the direction of the voice, it was one of the distant descendants who passed the first round and had quite a high cultivation.

The person was at peak Level Six, an achievement quite outstanding even in the main clan! The only drawback was older age, since he was about to exceed the upper limit of eighteen-years-old. Even so, it had long been guessed that he would reach the top fifty descendants in that year's clan tournament! It was possible that he could go much higher than that!

Tricks? Li Ye froze slightly, but he reacted relatively quickly and sneered to himself.

"These people must've thought that I used some cheap trick like putting stone-dissolving powder on my hands yesterday."

Stone-dissolving powder was a substance that can quickly dissolve and soften hard stones. It was effective even on obsidian. The price however, was very expensive, and a small package could easily cost hundreds of gold coins. Ordinary people could never afford it.

Li Ye had absolutely no intention of defending himself from such speculation by others.

Upon seeing that Li Ye turned a deaf ear, the person was evidently rather disappointed. Eventually, he could not resist pouring scorn, "I thought things had changed. Seems to me you're oversensitive, but still a coward nonetheless!"

Glancing at the person who appeared, Li Ye instinctively took a deep breath! He lamented that the Li clan is truly one of the Three Great Clans of Wu Prefecture City, perhaps even the most powerful one of all.

At that time, people came one after another in continuous succession and all of them were under the age of eighteen. The more inferior ones were on Martial Spirit Level Three, while most of them were Level Four and above!

Among them, sixty percent were Level Four! They were the majority! Martial Spirit Level Five occupied a smaller number, with less than twenty percent. The remainder were mostly the lower-ranking Level Threes, considered only to be looky-loos in the event.

He also noticed a significant number of people who had achieved Level Six! Among Wu Prefecture City's smaller families, it was known that some of their strongest members were only able to reach that level! The Li clan's strength was evident!

On the surface, Li Ye—who was only at peak Level Four—was obviously unable to attract any attention amidst the other more distinguished people.

Of course, that was not including some of them who met him the day before. Still, they did not take him seriously because after all, everyone believed that Li Ye used some underhanded methods. They believed he went through by cheating!

Hundreds of people were there, all of which were the crème de la crème of the Li clan's younger generation. On that occasion, they were all there for one purpose and one purpose only!

"I heard that if you rank within the top hundred this time, you're allowed to become an outer disciple and remain in the clan to cultivate! Those who have reached the top thirty will directly be made inner disciples, enjoying the same level of cultivation resources as the young masters and young madams!"

Some of the surrounding conversations were picked up by Li Ye's ear. He had known for a long time that the incentive system was not unique to the Li clan. Almost all other clans adopted it in order to inject fresh blood within the clan and compete to discover more outstanding talent. It played a vital role for a clan's development.

"Your news is outdated. This time, it's more than that. According to gossip, anyone who can reach the top ten this time will directly enjoy the treatment accorded to clan stewards. If they're in the top three, they'll immediately be granted the position of Elder! The person in first place will get three days of personal tutoring from the Chief Supreme Elder!"

Amazing! A number of people turned around instantly. That piece of news was so significant that even Li Ye felt quite surprised.

The so-called outer disciples, were in fact, those selected by the clan to stay within the family and cultivate. It was not unusual. From the perspective of the main family's descendants, the status of an outer disciple was like a servant—someone to be bossed around. Be that as it may, many extended descendants still coveted the position.

However, the treatment was very different once they became inner disciples. First and foremost, they were on an equal level with the disciples of the main family. If it emerged that their talents surpassed others, they might even receive the same treatment as those young masters and young madams. Unfortunately, all those who were able to become inner disciples had always been from the main family. A long time had passed since the last distant descendant managed to enter the ranks.

That was the level of disparity between them! It was not only with respect to one's bloodline, since it also affected one's resources for cultivation.

However, inner disciples were still disciples, and their status within the hierarchy was limited. Clan stewards, however, were different! The next strongest after an elder was a steward! Any random steward was at least peak Level Five or above. Many were even at Level Six! They may not be very powerful, but they had authority! Even those from the main family were courteous whenever they met a steward.

"I didn't expect the clan to give out such good conditions this time! Seems like it's all for Miss Yating's return!"

All of a sudden, someone's words made Li Ye pay attention.

As it turned out, Li Yating—who joined the Dark Heaven Sect a few years ago—was going to return home that year. For that reason, the Li clan attached great importance to it, even at the expense of increasing the rewards for the tournament. A lot of thought was clearly put into it.

"Quiet!"

A sudden loud shout made the entire venue fall silent.

Next, a few Li clan Stewards appeared solemnly onstage. The vigor exhibited by those people made many who were present tremble.

"Peak Level Five." A mere glance was enough for Li Ye to determine the level of cultivation within those people. It was not very high, but it is sufficed to deter the rest of the youngsters who were mostly below Level Five.

At the same time, Li Ye noticed that some figures appeared on the viewing platform on both sides. Among them were Li Huangran and Li Xuanji, two senior clan members! In addition, there were several Elders, the youngest of which were about fifty to sixty years-old. The vigor emanating from the bodies were incredibly icy, and at the very least, they were Level Eight and above!

A biting cold gaze was directed toward Li Ye. He knew who it was without even needing to look. As expected, Li Huangran's eyes narrowed slightly as he stood in the stands. His cold gaze had undoubtedly spotted Li Ye.

Appearing on his face was a sneer, albeit a fleeting one.

Concurrent to that, the second round of the clan tournament officially began. Hundreds of people were split up and divided into ten groups, with each group having a small arena to themselves.

Here the author actually wrote 小青峰, which can be translated as Little Green Peak, but because小青 is similar to萧青, we believe that this may be the author's typo. Since the error is rather obvious, we have chosen to rectify it in the text of the story for better flow, whilst at the same time adding this note to inform readers of the error.外门 and 内门 are translated as 'outer' disciple and 'inner' disciple, respectively, to denote their hierarchy within the clan.