Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 450: Shocking Opening Ceremony
The next morning, Lin Yuan did not go to see Betty who was staying in the hotel first.

Instead, he took GAKKI's car to the Shinkage-ryu Martial Arts Hall.

Because today is April 4th, the opening day of the second largest Kendo Tournament in the world.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, when Lin Yuan and GAKKI arrived at the venue, it was already packed with reporters from all over the world.

Compared with last year's press conference, the level of reporters attending today's opening ceremony is much higher.

Lin Yuan took a quick glance and saw a series of old friends including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Asahi Shimbun, Chosun Ilbo, CN Daily, etc.

Some media outlets don't have a press bureau in Tokyo, but they still flew in from abroad, which shows how much they value the event.

These reporters will not only report on today's opening ceremony, but will also follow up and report on the entire event process.

After all, this is the first time in the world that such a large-scale armed martial arts fighting competition has been held. Coupled with the incentive of huge prize money, the attention is naturally extremely high.

With such great news value, it’s no wonder that these media outlets act like sharks smelling blood.

Lin Yuan and GAKKI-chan walked into the waiting area backstage and immediately saw a strong figure rushing towards them.

Seeing this momentum, GAKKI couldn't help but hide behind Lin Yuan.

But Lin Yuan just stood there without caring at all, not even taking any precautionary stance.

The figure rushed to two or three meters in front of Lin Yuan and stopped.

He spoke incoherently in Chinese, "Hello! I'm very happy to meet you! You are my idol, please forgive me for being so excited to see you!"

Lin Yuan smiled and shook his head, indicating that he didn't mind.

He knew that the other party was very excited. When meeting and talking to someone for the first time, how could he not introduce himself first?

The few words he said were incoherent and jumbled, which showed that he was really excited.

Lin Yuan smiled, stretched out his hand and shook hands with him.

Then he said, "Hello, nice to meet you too. I know you, you're Zhang Long. You're from Heluo City, Zhongyuan Province, and you're ranked 10th among the seeded players this time."

"You actually know me?" Zhang Long became even more excited.

Lin Yuan pointed to the list of players on the backstage work rack and said with a smile, "You are the only Chinese among the top 30 seeded players. I hope you achieve good results and win glory for our country."

Zhang Long nodded excitedly and said a lot of words to express his determination.

After a brief exchange of a few words, Lin Yuan and GAKKI said goodbye to him and left first.

"Why is he backstage?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Yesterday afternoon, the organizing committee sent invitations to all the seeded players. They don't have to participate in the knockout rounds, but if they can come to the opening ceremony, it will add a bit of atmosphere." GAKKI replied.

"Well, this is indeed a good idea." Lin Yuan said.

But obviously not all the seeded players came to the scene. At least Betty had no intention of coming, and Lin Yuan did not see her.

"What do you think of Zhang Long?" asked GAKKI.

"Looking at his muscles and steps, you can tell that he has received targeted training. I have also read his information. He is a player with very comprehensive abilities. He deserves to be ranked 10th." Lin Yuan replied.

"I bought him in the lottery," said GAKKI.

"Ah? You don't even know him, but you still want to buy him?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.

"He is Chinese just like you. If I can't buy yours, I can buy him as a way of supporting China," GAKKI replied with a smile.

"Which ticket did you buy?" Lin Yuan said.

"10 yen, bet on him to get into the top three. The odds are 1:3." GAKKI-chan blurted it out in one breath.

Lin Yuan smiled and shook his head: "It's not a big bet, but I still hope you don't lose. His chances of making it into the top three aren't very high unless he's very lucky."

"what?"

"Because there are too many strong players in this competition. The player list can only show basic parameters, but cannot evaluate the impact of actual combat experience. I have read Zhang Long's information, and it is not easy to get into the top three." Lin Yuan replied.

"Okay, then do you participate in gambling?" GAKKI asked curiously.

"Have!"

"Don't tell me the answer yet. I guess you bet on Miss Adams to win!" GAKKI said confidently.

"Why don't you guess that I bet on Fedor Emelianenko to win?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.

Most people will place heavy bets on Fedor Emelianenko, the "Fighting Tsar", because his advantages are so obvious.

As long as you have a little understanding of the contestants' resumes, you will immediately realize Fedor Emelianenko's dominant strength advantage.

GAKKI-chan shook her head and said, "You wouldn't do that. You would only bet on Miss Adams to win, for the same reason I bet on Zhang Long to win."

Hearing what GAKKI said, Lin Yuan smiled and touched her head.

She was right. Lin Yuan was just like her. He didn't want to calculate the wins and losses when placing a bet. He just wanted to express his support in this way.

"I bought Betty's championship and bet $1 with odds of 30:," said Lin Yuan.

For Lin Yuan today, one hundred thousand dollars is not a lot of money. If he loses it, he loses it. He won’t feel sad at all.

And because he directly bet on the low-probability event of Betty winning the championship, the odds were as high as 30, but even if he won, the prize money would only be 300 million US dollars, which was not enough to cover the cost of what he was going to do next.

At this time, the opening ceremony was almost over.

Lin Yuan, GAKKI-chan, and three veteran swordsmen walked to the podium and took their seats.

Fedor Emelianenko was also invited to sit on the podium as a representative of the athletes.

As soon as they saw Lin Yuan and others come out, the reporters on the scene immediately started filming frantically.

"Crack!"

"Crack!"

The constant sound of taking photos, echoed by the bright flashes of the lights, illuminated the entire rostrum in a brilliant silver light.

At this time, the middle-aged male host, dressed in a black Japanese kendo uniform, came to the microphone and said, "Welcome everyone to the opening ceremony of the World Second Kendo Tournament. On behalf of the organizing committee, I would like to welcome you all."

There was immediate applause from the audience.

Present today are not only media reporters, but also some Japanese politicians, well-known entrepreneurs, and guests of high status in other fields.

The host continued, "This is the first time such a grand swordplay tournament has been held worldwide. I believe it will provide a visual feast for martial arts enthusiasts from around the world over the next fifteen days."

"Now, I would like to share some information about the event with everyone present, so that we can witness the grandeur of this event together."

After he finished speaking, the big screen behind the podium lit up.

A line of clear text appeared on the screen:
"A total of 32767 athletes from around the world participated in this kendo tournament, setting a record for the largest number of participants in any sporting event."

Upon hearing this number, the guests present were all amazed.

Previously, the organizing committee had kept the number of registered participants strictly confidential, only releasing a broad message that the number was over 6000.

At this time, when the host said the real number, the guests on the scene naturally couldn't believe it.

Even in large-scale sporting events like the Olympics and the Asian Games, the number of participants is usually around 10,000.

Fighting sports events, due to their highly competitive nature, usually don't have too many signups.

And the number of people who signed up for the world's second-best kendo tournament organized by Lin Yuan actually reached 32767?
If there are really so many people participating, then the influence of this kendo tournament will be so strong that it can be called a super sports event.

Soon, a question flashed through the minds of the guests present: Who are the contestants?
Aren’t they all local kendo enthusiasts who were just dragged here to make up the group?

As if guessing what the guests were thinking, the host on stage continued:

"Our Kendo tournament has received registrations from Kendo practitioners from all over the world. Thank you for your continued support. Please allow me to first introduce the composition of our contestants."

After that, a bar chart and a pie chart appeared on the big screen.

Both charts show the data of the participants. The bar chart shows the number of participants, while the pie chart shows the percentage.

Japan: 9043 (27.6%)

[CIS countries: 7307 (22.3%)]

Europe: 5308 (16.2%)

North America: 3309 (10.1%)

Latin America: 2064 (6.3%)

South Korea: 1736 (5.3%)

Southeast Asia: 1245 (3.8%)

……

When the organizing committee presented the composition of the contestants to all the guests on site with real numbers.

Everyone has to admit that the previous speculation was too narrow.

How could Lin Yuan do such a thing as asking local old men and women to register to make up the numbers and pretend to be rich?

In fact, all Japanese talent accounted for 27.6% of the total number of applicants, slightly more than a quarter.

Nearly three-quarters of the remaining contestants are from all over the world.

For such a kendo event, people have traveled across the world and across the ocean to come to Tokyo, which shows how strong the appeal of this event is.

Seeing this, the guests at the scene nodded and looked at this event with even higher regard.

The reporters realized that this event was far more newsworthy than they had expected, so their eyes lit up and they became more motivated to work.

The politicians present had come to show their support for Lin Yuan and the three kendo masters. But they hadn't expected such a great political achievement to come out of nowhere.

As a result, the politicians stood up straighter.

The business representatives present expressed different emotions, some were frustrated and some were ecstatic.

As the largest sponsor of advertising for this event, Sony Corporation's president, Nobuyuki Idei, was also present. Originally, he sponsored the event reluctantly for Lin Yuan's sake, but he did not hold much hope for a return on the advertising.

Unexpectedly, Lin Yuan gave him a big surprise. At this time, Nobuyuki Izumi's mouth was grinning from ear to ear.

The president of the Mitsui Group, who was sitting next to him, had a look of regret clearly written on his face. It was such a miscalculation that such a good opportunity slipped away from him.

Lin Yuan smiled and looked at the audience below, taking in the expressions of the many guests and their thoughts.

When he first calculated the costs for this martial arts tournament, he was worried about losing money.

But now it seems that not only will there be no loss, but huge profits will be made.

During the preparation stage, when Lin Yuan learned that the number of applicants had exceeded 6000 in just ten days, he immediately made a request to the organizing committee:
That is, all advertising sponsorships, TV broadcasting agreements and other cooperation are not allowed to be signed at a fixed price.

Instead, fees are set on a sliding scale.

This kind of agreement model can only be chosen if you are fully confident in your event.

Otherwise, they would definitely choose to take the money at a fixed price.

But Lin Yuan fully believes in his event. He believes that it will achieve high commercial value and naturally hopes to earn more returns.

At this time, the guests in the audience could not help but talk about it.

"Congratulations, Brother Deji. Sony must have made a fortune by becoming the largest sponsor of the Kendo Tournament this time," said the president of the Mitsui Group.

"It was a stroke of luck for me. I originally thought I was just doing Master Lin Yuan a favor, but I didn't expect to stumble upon such a small advantage." Sony Group's president Nobuyuki Idei replied.

"A small bargain? How about you transfer some of your advertising shares to me?" asked the president of the Mitsui Group.

"Hahaha~ My words don't count in this matter. Let me go back and discuss it first." Obviously, this was an excuse from Nobuyuki Idei.

"Although there are a lot of people, the value of a sports event is not only determined by the number of participants, but also by the overall level. What do you think of the level of these players? Can they bring about an exciting event?" asked the president of the Mitsui Group uncertainly.

He is right. The value of a sports event ultimately depends on how exciting it is.

Otherwise, no matter how many people there are, it will just be a meaningless pile-up.

Only exciting competitions can attract enough audiences and gain influence.

The host on stage seemed to have anticipated this question. He smiled and said, "Our Kendo Tournament is not only a grand event in terms of the number of participants, but also a pinnacle event in terms of the quality of the contestants!"

Hearing his confident words, the guests in the audience were immediately piqued: How do you prove your confidence?

The next moment, a series of messages appeared on the big screen, the first of which was a line of text:
Among the contestants participating in this competition, the vast majority are kendo masters with superb skills.

More than 20% of them have basically mastered the basic sword moves in Lin Yuan's version of "Kendo Manual".

In addition, 35% have mastered more than half of the basic sword moves.

More than 1000 contestants have mastered at least one advanced sword move.

To those who don't understand the meaning of this information displayed on the big screen, it is difficult to see its specific value.

Many guests present were immediately amazed. At last year's press conference, Lin Yuan took out his carefully crafted "Kendo Manual" and taught it free of charge to kendo enthusiasts around the world.

There are 36 basic sword moves and 25 variations of the basic sword moves.

Although it is called basic sword moves and seems to be moves practiced by beginners, it is actually a complete set of core sword techniques that are the cornerstones.

In the ten months since this set of basic sword moves was released, kendo enthusiasts around the world have proven in actual combat that:
As long as you master these basic sword moves, you will be able to defeat those masters who have been famous for many years.

Some time ago, a piece of news on the Internet exploded the entire network:

A kendo enthusiast from Europe, who only mastered half of the basic sword moves, defeated a series of famous masters using weapons such as rapiers, two-handed swords, and scimitars.

This made Lin Yuan's "Swordsmanship Manual" once again be placed on the altar.

Everyone was surprised to find that even if they only mastered half of the basic sword moves, they would already be ridiculously strong.

Not to mention those strong men who have mastered all the basic sword moves and even comprehended advanced sword moves.

At this time, the information released showed that more than 55% of the contestants had mastered more than half of the basic sword moves?

This means that at least 18000 people have reached the master level in the traditional sense.

How could such a game not be interesting?
This means that Lin Yuan's "Swordsmanship Manual" is not only powerful, but also relatively easy to practice. It is not the kind of martial arts that requires more than ten years of hard practice to be effective.

This is too outrageous. It is fast and strong after training. How can people not be excited?

In addition, there are more than 1000 strong men who have mastered advanced sword skills.

At the last press conference, Lin Yuan showed the amazing scene of "Ship Kill" in the video, which is still fresh in the memory of many people.

Everyone was amazed and thought that such a skill would be impossible for most people to master.

But at this moment, the organizing committee actually said that more than 1000 people have learned this skill?

Based on past experience, special skills are indeed difficult to master.

If it can be mastered easily, what is the point of calling it a unique skill?

How many martial artists have practiced hard for many years only to find that they have no chance of mastering the skills they practiced.

They also don't know what to practice more suitable for them.

But with the help of Lin Yuan's quantitative indicators, the practitioners of "Swordsmanship Manual" have clear goals.

Those who don't meet the physical requirements won't touch the advanced sword techniques at all, and will only skip those exercises that they have a chance of mastering.

This greatly increases the efficiency of practice.

In addition, if you pay to sign up for the advanced training course offered by the organizing committee, you can also get an internal experience manual to master these advanced sword techniques better and faster.

Of these 1000 players, at least 300 are paying players.

After the guests at the scene read the two sets of data provided by the host, they all began to feel confident that this Kendo Conference would be wonderful.

This is Lin Yuan's way of doing things. He likes to present data and make sense, and doesn't like to fool people with empty talk.

If I tell you something is good, I will definitely provide data to prove it, instead of just empty talk to fool you.

The fact that there are so many contestants in this Kendo tournament, and their quality is so high, is entirely due to Lin Yuan’s influence and the groundbreaking “Kendo Manual” he brought out.

At this time, the guests at the scene could not help but start discussing:
"Master Lin Yuan is truly amazing. I originally thought he was just organizing a kendo tournament, but I never expected that he would single-handedly rewrite the entire kendo world."

"It's not just the kendo world. Didn't you see that news earlier? Someone who has only learned half of the basic sword techniques can defeat masters of other weapons. The entire martial arts world should be begging Master Lin Yuan to quickly optimize and improve his own techniques, otherwise the kendo world will dominate."

"Yes, we can't let the kendo world dominate the martial arts world and make people think that other weapon fighting techniques are rubbish. But if Master Lin Yuan doesn't make reforms in other weapon techniques, they will indeed be difficult."

What the audience said was exactly what Lin Yuan had planned before.

Even though Lin Yuan has filmed so many action movies, it will be difficult for him to establish his own voice if he wants to enter the martial arts world.

Because the old vested interests will definitely find ways to prevent him from entering.

Lin Yuan’s method is that I won’t force you.

I adopted a roundabout way to save the country, and first made improvements in the Japanese kendo community, where the resistance was the least.

Once something as incredible as the "Kendo Manual" is produced, other martial arts techniques will naturally be crushed by Japanese kendo if they do not evolve synchronously.

And let them evolve in a practical way on their own?
How is it possible to be at this level?
So in the end, we had no choice but to open the door and welcome Lin Yuan in.

Lin Yuan's ultimate goal, of course, is to reshape the entire martial arts world.

The reshaped martial arts world should be more practical, allowing itself to establish an immortal status through such reshaping.

Judging from the first step he has taken in the Japanese Kendo world, wouldn’t anyone who has practiced the “Kendo Manual” consider him as the founder?

When Lin Yuan's footsteps gradually expand from kendo to various fields in the future, won't he be the ancestor of the entire martial arts world?
Lin Yuan is down-to-earth and moving closer to his goal step by step.

At this time, the host on the stage said: "Dear guests, you have listened to me for so long, you must also want to hear what our Master Lin Yuan has to say."

After hearing the host's words, the guests in the audience immediately applauded.

Everyone expressed their expectations for Lin Yuan with thunderous applause.

Lin Yuan smiled and picked up the microphone in front of him and said, "This Kendo Tournament is so grand. I would like to thank all the contestants from all over the world for their support.

Although you like the swordplay I choreographed, I know you care more about the prize money!"

Hearing Lin Yuan's teasing words, the audience burst into laughter.

Lin Yuan always speaks so realistically. After all, what could be more attractive than money?
Most of the contestants are willing to practice Lin Yuan's "Kendo Manual" and travel across mountains and oceans to Tokyo, definitely for the prize money.

Perhaps a fighting fanatic like Fedor Emelianenko is just looking for the opportunity to challenge Lin Yuan.

But Kakun, Zhang Long and others represent the vast majority of ordinary people, and the attractiveness of the bonus is unquestionable.

Lin Yuan smiled and continued, "I saw some people online complaining that I was using the $1 million stunt to attract attention. But in reality, I had no sincerity in giving out the money. Anyway, since I couldn't give out the bonus, I could bid whatever I wanted. They even mocked me for not setting it at $100 billion."

Hearing this, there was another burst of laughter at the scene.

This view cannot be said to be completely wrong. Lin Yuan is indeed suspected of using the $1 million prize as a gimmick, but in addition to the $1 million, he also took out a huge amount of real money that he could definitely give away. It is wrong to say that he is insincere.

But no one knows why Lin Yuan brought up this at the opening ceremony.

Soon, Lin Yuan gave the answer.

He began, "To show my sincerity, I've decided to personally pay for this tournament and spice it up a bit. All the prize money promised for previous tournaments will be doubled!"

Upon hearing this, the scene immediately became lively.

This news is so explosive, and Lin Yuan is so generous and domineering.

All the promised bonuses do not just refer to the increase from the original $1 million to $2 million, which is something that most people dare not even think about.

But the original first place prize of 500 million US dollars will become 1000 million US dollars!
This is the highest prize money ever awarded to a one-way event champion, far exceeding any other event!

The original second and third place prizes will be changed to $600 million and $200 million respectively.

The $100,000 that the top ten received turned into $200,000.

Upon hearing the news, Kakun and Zhang Long, who were at the scene, immediately became jealous and even their breathing became heavier.

Originally they only made it into the top ten, and the prize money might not be enough to completely solve the difficulties they faced.

But with $200,000, it’s a completely different story!

Kakun and Zhang Long both secretly made up their minds: no matter how strong the enemy is, they must overcome all difficulties and get a better ranking.

Whether the fate of your life can be changed depends on this one attempt.

Lin Yuan took in all the reactions of the guests in the audience.

In fact, Lin Yuan had already prepared such a prize pool at the beginning of the event.

But he deliberately deducted half and announced it at only half the level.

That's because he knows very well that human nature is only excited about things that exceed expectations.

He initially announced a $500 million and $1000 million prize for the champion, both of which exceeded expectations.

The results won't be much different.

When he first threw out $500 million to the champion, he had already shattered the expectations of most people, making them feel extremely excited and eager to win this huge sum of money immediately.

But when everyone's expectations were anchored at the amount of 500 million US dollars, Lin Yuan came out again and personally broke the original expectations.

Everyone will fall into ecstasy again.

As for the extra money he spent, Lin Yuan believed that he had achieved the effect he wanted and it was totally worth the money.

The players' fighting spirit has soared significantly, and they are all eager to have a big fight right away. This will inevitably lead to more exciting competitions and comprehensively enhance the commercial value of the event.

The reporters got a big piece of news that was full of gimmicks and extremely eye-catching. After they returned, they would definitely work hard to create a large number of news reports to help Lin Yuan promote the kendo tournament.

Lin Yuan knew what headlines these reporters would come up with just by thinking about it:
"Spending a ton of money, Lin Yuan creates the highest prize money in history!"

《Want to change your destiny? Then why not come and join the Kendo Tournament!》

"Tell you a way to make $200 million in 15 days!"

Seeing that the atmosphere was already heated up, Lin Yuan said no more. After expressing his gratitude, he sat back in his seat and put down the microphone.

Having been dealing with the media and the public for so long, he has long understood the importance of maintaining a moderate sense of mystery.

Therefore, every time Lin Yuan appears in front of the media and the public, he will bring explosive news.

If it wasn't necessary, he would try to hide himself.

In this way, the public will look forward to seeing Lin Yuan every time.

This is a very smart media strategy.

The host continued, "Then this basically concludes the opening ceremony."

"Finally, I will announce the basic rules."

"That's the first seven days of the competition, the elimination rounds that will determine the 7 contestants who will participate in the finals."

"The 30 players who have already been seeded will advance directly to the finals without having to participate in the elimination rounds."

"The elimination tournament will be held at twenty kendo clubs in Tokyo. Everyone is welcome to watch the matches."

"Today's opening ceremony at the Shin-Yin-Ryu Gym has concluded. The elimination rounds will begin shortly. Thank you all for coming."

With the end of the opening ceremony, Lin Yuan and GAKKI walked back to the lounge.

Lin Yuan saw Fedor Emelianenko smiling and nodding not far away, but he had no intention of coming over to talk.

This surprised Lin Yuan a little, because he had heard that the Fighting Tsar had always regarded himself as his idol, and his biggest goal in participating in the Kendo Tournament was to challenge himself openly.

I didn't expect that he could restrain himself and not initiate a conversation.

This made Lin Yuan look at him with higher regard: this was a man with strong purpose, self-control, and a heart full of pride.

If nothing unexpected happens, he will definitely reach the final step and formally challenge himself.

Next, the preliminaries at the Shinkage Ryu Hall will begin soon.

Lin Yuan did not leave, but stayed with great interest, intending to watch a few games.

Soon, the Xinyinliu Gym was divided into six competition areas, which could accommodate six elimination matches at the same time.

The rules of the game are simple: win by knocking out the opponent or scoring full points in the round.

Even though he was wearing special armor and using a special competition katana, it didn't mean he wouldn't get hurt.

Armor can only ensure that you will not be seriously injured, but it is not impossible to be knocked out with one blow.

Lin Yuan looked at the game that was about to begin, and then he came to a playing field in the corner.

Each stadium is equipped with a large screen displaying the contestants' information.

【Yue Feng】VS【Park Yong-ri】

At first glance, it's a Chinese player versus a Korean player.

As far as Lin Yuan knew, there were only six Chinese players in total, and he didn't expect to meet one of them.

He must want to watch this game carefully.

Find out about the level of players from your home country.

Yue Feng, tall and strong, is the tall and strong man who came with Zhang Long.

At this time, he had already put on protective gear and stood on the field.

His game is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)