Chapter 945: After the Preliminaries

Read at: https://blogspot-translatedstories.blogspot.com/?m=1 

-----

"Super-tier skill! Super-tier skill! Did you see that?! Steel Sword Falcon used a Super-tier skill!"

"Ahhh! I actually forgot to take a photo!"

"Wait, is it actually possible for a General-level pet to learn a Super-tier skill?!"

"Ah! Steel Sword Falcon! Steel Sword Falcon!"

"Gosh! Qiao Sang is so cool! I'm joining her fandom! I’m defecting!"

"Why doesn't our Central Hollow Region have such a badass flying pet!"

"How on earth did it learn a Super-tier skill? Can someone tell me?"

"What procedures do I need to follow to contract an alien pet?"

"I hereby declare! Steel Sword Falcon is now my dream pet! Not only is it cool-looking, it’s a flying pet, its entire evolution chain relies on bond power so you don't spend much on resources, and it can learn a Super-tier skill like Holy Sword at the General-level! It’s simply perfect!"

"Calm down, it’s possible that only Qiao Sang's Steel Sword Falcon is this badass."

"I don't care! I'm going to Chaosu Star once the Regional Championships are over!"

The audience passionately discussed the match, not even noticing that the next group of contestants was about to take the field.

---

In the contestants and family area.

Ye Xiangting stared at the competition field, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

My daughter is a B-rank Beast Master...

Gangbao is so big...

She won with a three-pet sweep...

Gangbao used Holy Sword as a General-level pet...

Am I dreaming...

After a long while, she turned and asked, "Vice Principal, do you know when my Qiao Sang became a B-rank Beast Master?"

"You don't need to call me Vice Principal, I resigned a long time ago. Just call me by my name." Liu Yao said. 

"Lately, I've been researching Fire Fang Dog's new evolution chain. Qiao Sang contacted me recently because Yabao evolved, and she told me about becoming a B-rank Beast Master then."

He paused and added, "When she came back from Chaosu Star, half a year had already passed since the registration period for the Central Hollow Regional Championships. She was probably too busy during those six months, so she didn't tell you in time."

She completed the Regional Championship requirements in just half a year... Ye Xiangting was stunned.

Initially, she had been so shocked by her daughter's successful registration that she had momentarily forgotten that only half a year had passed. One must know that many professional Beast Masters can't even complete the qualification tasks in a full year...

Come to think of it, she felt like others knew more about her daughter's affairs than she did... For a moment, Ye Xiangting felt a wave of melancholy. More so, she felt a sense of inadequacy. She really wanted to be like other mothers, taking care of her daughter's daily life. But her daughter was progressing too fast; first Chaosu Star, then Imperial Beast University, she couldn't accompany her even if she wanted to...

In her melancholy, a woman in her fifties sitting next to her spoke up: "Hello, excuse me, you are Qiao Sang's...?"

Ye Xiangting instantly composed herself, squared her shoulders, and said with pride: "I'm her mother."

The woman's eyes lit up, her smile warm. "So you are Qiao Sang's mother! You look so young. How did you give birth to such an excellent child like Qiao Sang?"

Ye Xiangting felt a surge of satisfaction; her previous melancholy vanished as she began to recount her parenting methods: "My child has been smart since she was little..."

Liu Yao sat nearby with his ears perked up, listening silently.

---

By the time Qiao Sang returned to her seat, she saw her mother chatting with the people around her.

"Qiao Sang is here!" A middle-aged man sitting behind Ye Xiangting shouted.

Uncle, who are you... Qiao Sang sat down and asked her mother with a look.

"This is Lü Fengba's father." Ye Xiangting introduced with a smile.

Qiao Sang was taken aback and turned to greet him: "Hello, Uncle."

"Hello, hello!" Lü Fengba's father smiled brightly, as if the person who had just been swept wasn't his son. 

"You are too amazing. My son losing to you was no disgrace!"

Qiao Sang felt embarrassed by the praise. Suddenly, Lü Fengba's father took out his phone and asked, "Can I take a photo with you?"

Qiao Sang was stunned again, then nodded: "Sure."

Lü Fengba's father reached over and held up the phone. Qiao Sang cooperated with a smile.

"Take one with me too!" Said the woman in her fifties next to Ye Xiangting. 

"I'm Pan Tianma's mother. My daughter-in-law is about to give birth, I plan to show her your photos more often. That way, maybe her child will grow up to be like you!"

Being like me might not be great, shouldn't the kid look like Pan Tianma... Qiao Sang complained internally but nodded and said yes.

As the Regional Championships progress and the number of contestants decreases, they are moved to a separate area. At that stage, family members all sit together. Qiao Sang remembered how well her mother was getting along with them and didn't refuse. After taking photos with everyone nearby and writing a few autographs, she finally settled down to watch the matches.

Tickets for the Regional Championships were hard to come by, now that she was finally here, she couldn't miss it.

The matches proceeded in an orderly fashion. The audience still cheered for exciting duels, but they weren't as high-spirited as before. Having witnessed a 17-year-old B-rank Beast Master sweep a match with an alien pet and unleash the Super-tier skill Holy Sword, watching the subsequent C-rank duels felt like something was missing.

---

When all the matches ended and the audience began to leave, Little Treasure appeared, wanting to use teleportation.

Qiao Sang thought of something and said, "Mom, Vice Principal, you two go back first. I'll have Little Treasure send you. I have something to do and will leave a bit later."

"What is it? I can wait for you." Ye Xiangting said.

Qiao Sang told her the truth: "I'm going to accept an interview. It might take some time."

Gangbao wanted to make a name for her species. She had already completed a brilliant sweep, if Qiao Sang added an interview to the mix, the publicity would be even more effective.

Ye Xiangting was surprised. "Did a TV station ask to interview you?"

Qiao Sang shook her head. "No."

Ye Xiangting: ...

"I'll go with you." Ye Xiangting decided.

"I'll come too." Liu Yao said.

Qiao Sang looked at her mother and the Vice Principal and smiled. "Okay."

She then formed hand seals and summoned Gangbao. When she had returned to the backstage after the match, she had already summoned Lubao to treat Gangbao.

"Mom, why do you seem not at all surprised that I became a B-rank Beast Master?"

"I am surprised."

"Then why didn't you ask me?"

"Ask what?"

"Ask when I became a B-rank Beast Master."

"Does it even need asking? It must have been within these six months... You've worked hard this half-year."

"...It wasn't that hard."

In their casual conversation, and with a nearly 100% head-turning rate, the three of them walked toward the exit of the stadium.

Just as Qiao Sang was looking for where the reporters might be, a crowd of reporters with microphones and pets carrying cameras rushed over from the crowd, pushing past Ye Xiangting and Liu Yao to ask questions passionately:

"Contestant Qiao Sang, I'm a reporter from the Central Hollow Tournament Channel. Why did you choose to participate in the Central Hollow Regional Championships?"

"You became a B-rank Beast Master at 17. At what age did you begin your voluntary awakening?"

"Contestant Qiao Sang, why did you contract a pet from Chaosu Star?"

"This is your first time in the Regional Championships. Have you thought about what rank you might ultimately achieve?"

"Steel Sword Falcon unleashed the Super-tier skill Holy Sword at the General-level. Did you teach it? What method did you use to make it learn it?"

Qiao Sang looked at the reporter who asked the last question and said: "I didn't teach it. It awakened spontaneously after evolving into a General-level pet."

All the reporters turned their gaze toward Gangbao.

"Gang Zhan."

Gangbao puffed out her chest, trying to strike her best pose.

---

Early that morning, in a private room at a restaurant.

Normally, restaurants would be closed by this time. But now was the time of the annual Regional Championships, peak tourist season, so many restaurants had started 24-hour operations.

Ye Xiangting, Liu Yao, and Mikayla ate late-night snacks while chatting, sharing stories about Qiao Sang. Qiao Sang, the center of the conversation, was looking at the trending topics on her phone.

#Qiao Sang, 17 years old, B-rank Beast Master# was at the top of the trending list.

Following closely were #Steel Sword Falcon, Holy Sword#, #Qiao Sang sweep#, #Steel Sword Falcon#, #Biggest dark horse in Regional Championship history#, and #Steel Sword Falcon, spontaneous awakening of Super-tier skill#.

Seeing the high level of discussion surrounding Gangbao, Qiao Sang exited the trending list with satisfaction, put away her phone, and started eating. With so many trending topics about Gangbao online, she was one step closer to fulfilling Gangbao's wish.

Mikayla said, "There's a week until the next match. You need to prepare well during this time."

With so many contestants, it would take a week for the preliminaries to finish.

"I watched all of today's matches." Mikayla continued. 

"Almost every contestant uses combo moves. Your pets' proficiency in various skills might be higher than theirs, but the combos they unleash can be stronger than even high-proficiency individual skills."

"You should put some effort into combo moves over the next few days."

"Understood." Qiao Sang nodded.

"Actually, it was unwise to reveal all of Steel Sword Falcon's cards tonight." Mikayla shared her opinion. 

"Doing so exposes all of its strength, and everyone will remember you. They will all develop specific tactics against you, and it will only get harder for Steel Sword Falcon from here."

Qiao Sang looked up and said calmly, "Even if Gangbao hadn't used Holy Sword tonight, everyone would still remember me."

Ye Xiangting: ...

Liu Yao: ...

Qiao Sang continued with a serious face: "I'm not afraid of being targeted or feared. Being targeted will only make me realize my own problems faster and make me stronger."

Ye Xiangting looked at Qiao Sang blankly, for a moment unable to believe such serious words were coming from her daughter.

Mikayla showed a look of appreciation and smiled. "You're right. Improving through battle and growing stronger quickly, that is exactly why I wanted you to participate in this competition."

In the positive atmosphere of the conversation, Ye Xiangting and Liu Yao thought back to the times when Qiao Sang used to get zeros on tests and almost accidentally ate pet food. They felt that time had flown by and everything had undergone a world-shaking change.

---

After dropping her mother at the hotel, Qiao Sang returned to the Beast Center.

As soon as she entered the lobby, she saw several staff members on the night shift. Their eyes lit up, and they began whispering: "That's her, right?"

"Looks like it!"

"Why is she staying at the Beast Center?"

"She's young; maybe she doesn't have much experience since it's her first Regional Championship."

"Should we go up and ask for a photo?"

"You go."

"No, you go."

Qiao Sang listened to their conversation while walking toward the accommodation area. It turned out they were just talking; no one actually came up to ask for a photo.

On the way back to her room, whenever she ran into someone, they would turn to look at her, and some even took candid photos with their phones.

The saying that almost everyone watches the Regional Championships is really no joke. The preliminaries just started, and it feels like the attention is much higher than when it was announced that Yabao was a new form and I won the National Campus Beast Taming League... Qiao Sang thought as she opened her room door.

After a quick wash, she lay down to sleep.

"Xun xun..."

Little Treasure looked at his Beast Master, pulled a laptop out of his ring, and beckoned to Yabao and the others with his short toes. Yabao, Lubao, Gangbao, and Qingbao all walked over and gathered around the computer.

Little Treasure skillfully opened a video app, searched for the Regional Championships, accurately found the video of the match between Qiao Sang and Lü Fengba, specifically lowered the volume, and started playing it.

"Yap yap..."

"Xun xun..."

"Lu Di..."

"Qing qing..."

Yabao and the others watched intently. Although they had seen it once through the Beast Codex, the perspective was different, and so was the feeling.

When they saw the final round where Gangbao ended the match with Holy Sword, completed the sweep, and won, Little Treasure excitedly let out a "Xun" before remembering his Beast Master was sleeping and quickly covered his mouth with his paws.

"Yap yap." Yabao patted Gangbao's shoulder and let out a low bark, indicating she did a good job.

"Lu Di..." Lubao recalled Gangbao's injured appearance when she saw her that evening.

"Qing qing?" Qingbao looked at Gangbao with a worried expression. Are you okay now?

"Gang Zhan." Feeling her partners' emotions, a warm current rose in Gangbao's heart. She let out a cry, indicating she was fine and already healed.

"Xun xun~" Little Treasure patted Gangbao's shoulder like Yabao did, letting out a cry to say she did well and didn't embarrass her Big Boss.

Gangbao: ...

Just then, Yabao yawned. After watching the match, his sleepiness kicked in. After the experiences in the secret realm, he could stay up a bit later, but he still couldn't pull an all-nighter. Soon, Yabao lay on the bed and fell asleep. Lubao and Qingbao followed suit.

Just as Gangbao was about to sleep, she found she couldn't move her claw. She looked down and saw a shadow wrapped around it. Gangbao looked up at Little Treasure.

"Xun xun~" Little Treasure whispered, indicating she shouldn't sleep yet and that they should look at the trending topics online. He had seen his Beast Master's phone while eating late-night snacks, and many of the topics were about her.

Gangbao was stunned for a moment, then came over to Little Treasure's side and looked at the computer.

"Xun xun~" Little Treasure called out while opening the trending topics. If there's anything you don't understand, tell me, and I'll read it to you.

"Gang Zhan." Gangbao nodded.

"Xun xun~" Little Treasure whispered. But since the Beast Master and Big Boss Yabao are sleeping, he'll have to read very quietly.

"Gang Zhan."

I'm not asleep yet... Qiao Sang, lying on her side, slowly opened her eyes. Looking at the backs of Little Treasure and Gangbao staring at the computer, she closed her eyes again, pretending she had been asleep the whole time.

-----

Previous Chapter_Next Chapter

-----