The last light vanished with the sunset and the world dimmed as night took over. The midnight blue sky dotted with countless stars.

Du Shaofu returned to his courtyard and had just taken a bath when he saw the backyard steward came, saying that the Patriarch and Second Master asked him over.

“Eldest Uncle, Second Uncle, you were looking for me?”

When Du Shaofu entered Eldest Uncle’s study, both Du Zhenwu and Du Zhixiong were already sitting in the room, discussing something in low voices and somber faces.

Seeing Du Shaofu, Du Zhixiong indicated him to sit down and spoke, asking “Shaofu, these days it seemed very hard to find you, we can’t even see your shadow. Were you busy practicing, your flesh and bone structure look more solid and compact.”

Du Shaofu took the seat next to Du Zhixiong, he nodded lightly and said, “There’s nothing else for me to do anyways, so I stayed and practiced at the back mountain. Do Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle have matters with me?”

“Don’t tell me you have forgotten, that three days later is the Five Families Junior Competition!” A trace of laughter appeared on Du Zhenwu’s somber face; he asked lightly as he looked at Du Shaofu, “How is your preparation coming along?”

“Only three days later…”

The truth was, Du Shaofu really did forgotten it; he had been immersed in practice to the extent of forgetting to sleep and eat. Thus, the Stone City Five Families’ Junior Competition was thrown to the back of his mind. A faint smile flashed across his face as Du Shaofu said, “I’ve been preparing.”

Du Zhenwu looked at Du Shaofu and in his deep eyes he couldn’t detect any nervousness or tension, instead, there was a trace of excitement, raising doubts in his heart; could this kid have absolute certainty of victory.

Feeling slightly surprised, Du Zhenwu explained, “An Family’s An Hu, Bai Family’s Bai Tianming, and Qin Family’s Qin Xiaolu, these three weren’t your opponent. I know your strength isn’t weak but there were some changes in this round of competition; you need to pay attention and be careful.”

Hearing this, Du Shaofu asked, “Did some special circumstances appear?”

Du Zhixiong joined the conversation, “Something did happen, this time, Du Clan only have one participant, only you will be representing the Du Clan.”

“Why am I the only one?”

Du Shaofu was instantly baffled at the news. From the previous competitions, each family adheres to a limit of fifteen participants, not one more and not one less.

Every competition year, all five families would fill the fifteen quotas. Even if the hope of being the champion was very slim, but it was considered as an experience, an opportunity that could bring great benefits to their cultivation.

Du Zhenwu gave Du Shaofu a helpless look and smiled bitterly, “You dare to ask, Du Hao, Du Yan, Du Chong and the rest were injured by you. Till now, they have recovered no more than half of their strength, how can they go up the stage and fight?”

“Du Yu and Du Xue have great potential, but if they participate in this round’s competition, then they cannot participate in the next competition. As you know, everyone can only participate once; the two of them are the Du Clan’s hope of winning first place in the next competition. It is a loss to have them participate this time.”

“Because of this, I and your Second Uncle had discussed it and decided to let you be the sole participant of our Du Clan. It will greatly increase the pressure on you since you have offended the Bai Family, An Family, and Qin Family. Judging from the situation, there is a high chance that they will besiege you.”

Du Shaofu contemplated on his Eldest Uncle’s words. He knew a little about the competition rules, taking lives and using power or method that doesn’t belong to the younger generation were banned, there weren't many rules to say. Basically, it was an all-out melee; the last person to remain on the stage was the winner and the person that could enter the Lightning Pool.

Under these rules, the teamwork between the juniors from the same family is crucial, like they say two fists can’t fight against four hands, the wine fragrance fears the deep abyss. As strong as a person was, once one was being besieged misfortune will follow.

“Not confident? If you really can’t handle it by yourself, let Du Yu, Du Xue, and the rest go along, at least they can reduce the pressure on you a little.” Du Zhixiong said, looking at Du Shaofu’s contemplative expression he thought that his nephew had no grasp of the competition. He was aware, that once he’s surrounded the consequences can be imagined.

“No need, me alone is fine. I’m more comfortable that way.”

Du Shaofu raised his head, a smile hung on his face as if there wasn’t anything worth losing sleep over.

“Shaofu, this is no joking matter. Even if the Ye Family helps you to block some of the families, but in my opinion, the rest of them would gang up on you as well.” Du Zhenwu reminded Du Shaofu.

“Eldest Uncle, I will do my best. It depends on whether they have the ability to gang up on me.” Du Shaofu smiled indifferently.

“Okay, since you have the confidence, as your Eldest Uncle, I will believe in you.”

Du Zhenwu glanced at the sharp, clear eyes and nodded; and then continued to say to Du Shaofu, “In addition, you must pay attention to the Qin Family’s Cao Qitai. This Cao Qitai could be your strongest opponent.”

“Since when was there a someone surnamed Cao in the Qin Family?” Du Shaofu felt puzzled.

“This Cao Qitai is Qin Xiaolu’s fiancé, he is considered as part of the Qin Family. His age is within the set limit of the competition and is eligible to participate. Not only you need to pay attention to this person’s strength, you also need to pay attention to his identity.”

Du Zhixiong who was next to Du Shaofu added, “According to the message we received, Cao Qitai may be young but he is strong for his age. Other than that, he is also Liuyun County’s Lord, Cao Tianmang’s son.”

“Liuyun County,” Du Shaofu’s eyes narrowed a little. Liuyun County consisted of nineteen cities that were larger than Stone City.

Above a city was a county.

In Du Shaofu’s knowledge, Stone City had always held a strange existence. It was said, from the founding of the empire, although Stone City was a border town far away, it has never been under the jurisdiction of a county or higher. As time passed, nobody knew the reason why; even though it was part of the empire but it was looked after by the five families.

‘The empire we are in is called Shilong Empire. Liuyun County is close to Stone City and had always wanted to close up Stone City into their jurisdiction. However, they feared the Demonic Lightning Lion residing within the Ye Family. This time, Liuyun County’s interference with the Five Families’ Junior Competition, and working together with the Qin Family, I suspect that all of these brings a different purpose. If something happens to the Demonic Lightning Lion, not only will the other families make their move, even the outside forces wouldn’t be able to keep still. Ai ……..” Du Zhenwu couldn’t help but sigh speaking of these.

Du Shaofu left the study after he chatted with his Eldest and Second Uncle for a while. When he got back to his courtyard, unexpectedly, he saw his drunkard Dad back; just like always, passed out drunk, holding the same wine jug, snoring in the wicker chair.

Du Shaofu brought out a thin blanket from the room and covered his Dad, and then used a warm towel to wipe his face. He then went back to his room after he had finished all these.

Note:

Shilong Di Guo - Stone Dragon Empire