In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
During this temporarily peaceful period, apart from chatting and boasting in the group, Hattori devoted most of his energy to the Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament's advancement round.
"After the preliminary screening, only 1082 contestants are qualified for the advancement round. Judging from the list, the minimum level is at least Three-Star King or above."
Hattori's Wood Clone sat on the island, analyzing softly while enjoying the sea breeze blowing towards him.
Beside him, Dong Wanzhong, Moyan, and Nightmare stood solemnly next to Hattori, vigilantly watching their surroundings.
The properties of the Soul-Summoning Gu weren't complex. For Hattori, who had undergone two life evolutions, it was easy to improve its efficacy.
Under the control of the Soul-Summoning Gu, Moyan and the other two completely obeyed Hattori's commands.
But their original combat awareness and personalities were preserved, allowing for independent thought.
"Moyan, based on the intelligence you've gathered, help me mark out the personnel on the list who pose a relatively significant threat in the advancement round."
Looking at the long list in his hand, Hattori flicked his fingertip, tossing the list towards the pale-faced Moyan.
Born into a Hunter Family, he had a better understanding of this world's foundation and behind-the-scenes forces.
Asking him about intelligence regarding the Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament was most appropriate.
"Yes."
Moyan, a man of few words, quickly made marks on the list.
Fifteen minutes later, he handed the densely written list back to Hattori, simultaneously explaining softly beside him.
"There are 19 people who can pose a threat to you. Among them, 3 are Five-Star Kings from the Esper Alliance, all former champions of alliance competitions. The superpowers they master belong to the elemental type that restrains wood-based abilities, making them quite troublesome."
"Another 7 are characters trained by Hunter Families. Although I don't know their true abilities, I've heard of their codenames. Their strength is at least on the same level as mine."
"The remaining 9 are all long-established ascetics. The oldest one has participated in 20 Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournaments, with a best result of third place. He has achieved 13 top-100 finishes and 6 top-10 finishes. His strength should not be underestimated."
After listening to Moyan's series of explanations, combined with the annotated information on the list, Hattori nodded lightly, having a general idea in his heart.
This year's Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament wasn't particularly special compared to previous years.
Only 7 descendants of Hunter Families were participating, and 8 including Moyan.
"It seems I can't become fat in one bite, directly uncovering the secrets behind this world in a short time."
"However, those 7 Hunter Family descendants and the old master who participated 20 times can be dealt with. We should be able to obtain some good intelligence."
Hattori snapped his fingers and instructed in a low voice.
The deeper his understanding of this world grew, the more he realized the importance of intelligence.
Underground hidden treasures, super-ancient civilization caves, alien ruins...
These mysterious and ancient existences were mostly controlled by people or families with special channels.
Ordinary people could travel the world and still find it hard to obtain such opportunities.
After all, things like folded space, illusion arrays, secret realms… these skillful concealment methods around great treasures, were not anything new in this world.
"Yes. If you wish to hunt these contestants, I will immediately collect their coordinates for you."
Moyan bowed slightly and said to Hattori in a low voice.
The rules of the Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament's advancement round were much simpler than the preliminary round.
The advancement round was also known as the 'Hunting War'.
It shared some similarities with the 'Hunter Families' hidden behind the scenes of the world.
The 1082 advanced contestants could each arbitrarily choose their 'hunting' targets, engaging in a massive free-for-all lasting one month.
During this month, contestants needed to hunt as many 'prey' as possible, seizing the tokens on them.
After one month, rankings would be listed based on the number of tokens.
The top 100 would enter the final round: unrestricted 1v1 arena battles!
Of course, in previous tournaments, there had been many instances of heavy casualties during the advancement round, resulting in fewer than 100 finalists.
The most terrifying tournament even saw all contestants except the champion killed during the advancement round, becoming a tournament with no finals.
That year's champion is now a high-ranking member of a certain Hunter Family, his strength hard to predict.
"No need. I can handle the coordinates myself."
Hattori shook his head, a smile curling on his lips.
Countless Anywhere TVs were launched from somewhere in the Thousand Stars Archipelago.
And this time, the coverage was…
Global.
Parallel World, Country Y, London, somewhere near Big Ben.
A man wearing a white top hat, dressed in a pure white suit, with a noble temperament and extremely handsome features, leaned lightly on the balcony of a manor.
A trace of laziness flashed in his eyes...
His name was 'Steele', one of the ten external blood descendants of the Hunter Family 'Clock'.
In the dark forest, Hunter Families couldn't clearly discern each other's details and couldn't measure each other's strength.
But Steele dared to affirm that the 'Clock' family was definitely not the weakest one.
"The family controls three super-ancient civilization ruins and possesses a bloodline capable of manipulating time and fate. Even I, who inherited only a trace of this bloodline, possess strength far surpassing so-called 'Five-Star' Kings."
A scornful smile curled on Steele's lips as he lightly tapped with his right fingertip.
Click…
The world instantly turned grayish-white.
The flapping wings of birds froze, water droplets falling on petals solidified, a baseball about to shatter glass also stopped in place the moment it touched the glass.
All people and events fell into 'stillness'.
Time Stop was Steele's ability.
Within five seconds, within five meters, he was the absolute king.
Unless they were also high-ranking blood descendants of the Clock Family, no one could move within his time domain.
For the strong, five seconds could decide too many things.
Steele himself also cultivated super-ancient civilization techniques and had taken countless gene modification and body enhancement potions.
Based on physical ability alone, even the current 'Dong Wanzhong' was far from his match.
"So, facing someone like me, where does a lowly ant like you, whose life or death is unknown, get the courage to assassinate?!"
The moment the time domain unfolded, Steele's right hand suddenly clenched into a fist and fiercely punched out.
In less than 0.1 seconds, he instantly blew apart the head of an Esper hiding beside him.
Looking at the Esper's terrified expression before death, Steele smiled elegantly.
He took a silk handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped the blood from his hands.
"Alliance Five-Star King, 'Hidden Killer' Chen Sen. Cultivated an incomplete copy of an assassination technique accidentally leaked by a certain Hunter Family, mastered the superpower 'Complete Invisibility', and coupled with an inherently cautious and prudent nature, no one has ever survived your assassinations since your debut."
Steele murmured in a low voice.
A trace of extremely hard-to-detect arrogance flashed in his eyes.
"However, your biggest mistake was exposing your abilities in the public eye."
"In the dark forest, once an assassin reveals his dagger, his fate is already decided."