Chapter 158: The Fangs, Leis, Xus, and Lis: The Nepotistic Web of Jiangcheng

Actually, calling them just the Twelve Elites is quite an understatement.

It was much like the Twenty-Four Heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai Tower, or those trendy Heaven, Earth, and Human Rankings popularized on the internet—though with a more modern iteration, something akin to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

For instance, above the Twelve Elites, there was a group of promising young and middle-aged talents known as the "Twelve Stars," consisting of those "Under Twenty-Nine Five-Stars"—a tier that Guan Junyuan had always failed to reach.

Then there was the elite squad of middle-aged powerhouses known as the "Twelve Generals of Yunzhou," featuring those "Under Thirty-Five Six-Stars," a level Guan Junyuan still had a microscopic chance of challenging.

As for the Seven-Stars tier, it was considered virtually equivalent to achieving sainthood in the flesh. Out of respect for those exalted figures, no one dared to openly coin such a comical moniker anymore, though rumors of it persisted in private.

Alpha Ji was rolling around and pounding the floor in fits of laughter, yet not a single person in Jiangcheng—or rather, in this era—found it out of place.

After all, with martial arts web novels and the like having gone through a brutal survival of the fittest where not even one in a million survived, these cliché titles had long since lost any sense of aesthetic fatigue.

They were still so stylish! So fashionable! So trendy!

On the giant screen, the past resumes of the Twelve Elites began to refresh in neat succession.

Achievements like ranking first in middle school year after year, placing in the top ten of the entire city for the College Entrance Examination, serving as a Model Class Cadre and Outstanding Graduate... and so on.

Such titles might seem insignificant and useless when you are young and disdain them, but as you grow older, you realize that most formidable individuals possessed such glorious resumes in their youth.

Perhaps not every child who won awards until their hands grew numb turned out successful, but the vast majority of powerhouses were once those "neighbor’s kids" who collected trophies effortlessly back in their school days.

Amidst the anchor’s enthusiastic introductions, the Twelve Stars also took the stage one after another, announcing the challenges they had devised.

"The rules for this round of testing are..."

"The shopping mall behind us has three floors, with four entrances on each floor. The twelve of us will guard one entrance each."

"Starting from the first floor, you may choose any entrance to attempt a breakthrough. As long as you reach the third floor, you pass the trial successfully!"

"However, as a condition for keeping the hostages safe from being dropped, your challenge must strictly follow the rules we have set. Otherwise, your rescue operation will be deemed a failure and you will be disqualified. That is all!"

The young man speaking from the center had an extraordinarily booming voice that made the entire hall ring.

Though standing under one hundred and fifty centimeters tall, bald, dark-skinned, unremarkable in appearance, and resembling a balding demonic flying squirrel—with a name that somehow reduced Alpha Ji to unstoppable fits of giggles: Lei Hong—not a single person dared to underestimate him.

In terms of status, he was the second young master of the Military Elder’s family, and the biological second older brother of True Immortal Lei.

In terms of strength, he had already reached the peak of the Four-Star tier, separated from the Five-Star tier by nothing more than a thin layer of window paper!

Though he was the oldest among the Twelve Elites at a full twenty-three years of age—meaning he would have to retire from the rankings once his birthday passed—unlike True Immortal Lei, who had bonded with a Fire-Seed weapon, he practiced his family’s traditional body-refinement arts, making him a pure body-refinement practitioner!

For a pure body-refinement practitioner to reach the Four-Star tier at age twenty-three was already astonishingly brilliant, let alone standing at the peak of the Four-Star tier with a breakthrough to the Five-Star tier possible at any moment!

Among the Twelve Elites, he was unquestionably the strongest, and no one disputed it!

After thundering through the rules, Lei Hong swept his gaze across the crowd, instantly locking onto True Immortal Lei, who was trying to shrink back, and pronounced every word with deliberate emphasis: "True Immortal, you’d better not try entering through my door. You won't make it through!"

They say comparison is the thief of joy.

True Immortal Lei stood under one hundred and sixty centimeters, thin, frail, and pitch-black. Yet compared to Lei Hong, he suddenly looked tall, upright, fair-skinned, and handsome...

Who knows what kind of hidden drama lay between these two brothers, but the moment True Immortal Lei heard those words, his face turned deathly pale—more effective than any beauty filter or Photoshop sorcery.

Compared to Lei Hong, the rest of the Twelve Elites appeared much more approachable and friendly.

For instance, the second eldest daughter of the Xu family, who looked clean, neat, and scholarly, waved cordially at the fourth young master of the Xu family: "Tiange, go find your third brother. With me guarding this gate, you're still a bit lacking."

Xu Tianye: "..."

The second child of the Xu family, Xu Tianjiao, was twenty-two years old and a veteran member of the Twelve Elites.

The third child, Xu Tianye, was twenty years old and a newly inducted member of the Twelve Elites.

Oh, and by the way, their eldest sibling, Xu Tianmeng, was twenty-five. He was still one of the Twelve Elites the year before last, but had just been promoted to the Twelve Stars of West County this year...

As the most crucial offensive and defensive stronghold on the western front of Yunzhou, the weight of the Twelve Stars of West County far exceeded that of the Yunzhou Twelve Stars.

Well, Yunzhou didn't even have a full Twelve Stars because they couldn't gather enough numbers, settling meagerly for eight...

Then came the fifth child, Xu Tianyang, sixteen years old, currently dominating the freshman year at the Third High School; the sixth child, Xu Tiance, fourteen, still terrorizing middle school; and the seventh sister, Xu Tianjing, eleven years old, who was already the supreme boss of her elementary school...

In short, this entire family was filled with handsome men and gorgeous women who knew how to thrive and reproduce. You simply had to surrender to their excellence!

Even if... their appearances no longer strictly aligned with mainstream aesthetic standards—Zhu Shimao would still be considered a handsome man today, and Chow Yun-fat could easily pass as a fresh-faced idol actor in the current era.

Aesthetics change, but true beauty never turns into ugliness; it merely falls out of fashion.

What constantly shifts back and forth is merely the line between looking slightly unconventional and looking slightly pleasing to the eye.

I digress. Let's return to the main topic.

Since everyone was busy pulling strings and leaning on nepotism, the eldest son of the Fang family, Fang Zhongcheng, felt no need to hold back either. He called out to his own kin... offering a greeting: "Shangcheng, come through my entrance! I guarantee you'll pass!"

Even if he originally intended to let him pass easily, saying it out loud meant he definitely couldn't do so anymore.

Speaking of which, Chief Elder Fang Nian’s talent for naming his children was truly peerless; you just had to tip your hat to it.

Following that, the fifth young lady of the Li family, Li Xiaotong, casually chimed in to greet her sixth younger brother, Li Zhishui.

Snickering and chuckles rippled endlessly through the audience.

Well...

That was basically how it went. The Jiangcheng Twelve Elites were nearly half-monopolized by the four major families of Fang, Lei, Xu, and Li, leaving only seven seats for outsiders. Even among those outsiders, quite a few hailed from the families of executive members, commissioners, and various high-ranking officials.

Looking back at the landscape of past years, and forecasting the landscape of years to come, new faces would enter and old ones would exit, but the overarching picture remained largely unchanged.

At first glance, it looked like a massive web of nepotism!

Yet upon closer reflection, there was not a single flaw in it.

Because this was an era where the strong rose and the weak fell.

Once your strength reached a certain level, you naturally received promotions and pay raises, becoming a part of the upper-echelon families. If your strength fell short, there was simply no place for you anywhere, let alone any opportunity to step into the spotlight on an occasion like this.

As for why the Xu family could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the three giants of Jiangcheng on equal footing—

And why their momentum even faintly surpassed the Li family, led by General Affairs Elder Li Jing’ao?

It was because... although Xu Tiange’s mother was merely an ordinary inner-city executive member, Xu Tiange’s father—who might possibly become Ye Chao’s future father-in-law—was a powerhouse in the Yunzhou Alliance Inspection Corps, a genuine Six-Star powerhouse.

It was just that he traveled frequently on official business and spent very little time in Jiangcheng, which made his presence feel somewhat faint.

Yet absolutely no one dared to underestimate him.

With the greetings concluded, eight of the Twelve Elites withdrew while four remained stationed at the four southeast, northwest entrances on the first floor. The second half of the second stage of the mixed martial arts tournament officially began!