Hearing Tie Ta, Jian Chen couldn't help but ask, "Tie Ta, you say you have a great amount of strength, but how heavy of an object can you lift?"
"When I was back at home, I could lift a 200 kilogram rock." He said quite arrogantly with a face full of pride.
Jian Chen's face went blank as he heard that answer. This was a monster of a student; a 200 kilogram rock was impossible to lift for the average adult. But for a young boy like Tie Ta to be able to lift such a titanic rock, Jian Chen could only feel awe from this fact.
"Tie Ta, how old are you?" Jian Chen had started to look at Tie Ta in a different light now.
"16 years old." Tie Ta said as he munched on his food, his chewing caused his words to be almost inaudible.
Jian Chen's impression of him grew even more as he said, "Tie Ta, did you have this strength since you were a kid?"
"That's right, my strength was always stronger than most but then so was my appetite. Because I couldn't always eat until I was full in my home, I usually went up to the mountains and hunted for my own food." Tie Ta said flatly.
Taking in a deep breath, Jian Chen mentally confirmed that Tie Ta's strength was definitely a god given power. Otherwise, a young boy like him would never have been able to lift such a heavy rock. But what surprised Jian Chen even more was that Tie Ta would frequently hunt by himself in the mountains. For someone who was barely 16 to be able to hunt with ease in the mountains, this made Jian Chen's respect for him grow by an extreme amount. After all, not only did wild beasts appear in the mountains, magical beasts would occasionally appear as well and the latter's strengths were incomparable to those of regular wild beasts.
Tie Ta rubbed at his stomach and stood up from his stool with a laugh, "Changyang Xiang Tian, I've eaten my fill so I'll be returning to my dorm to sleep. Tomorrow is another day of the competition after all."
Jian Chen nodded his head, "I hope that you will make it into the top 3 in tomorrow's contest."
Tie Ta fiercely nodded and a resolute look could be seen in his eyes, "I will definitely work hard and strive for the top 3. A single Class 1 Monster Core can be sold for at least 10 Amethyst coins!"
Not long after Tie Ta had left, Jian Chen quickly ate his own food and returned to his room. Right as he closed the door behind him, a knock could be heard on it.
"Fourth brother, are you here?" Asked Changyang Hu in a strong voice.
Hearing the voice, Jian Chen was surprised. It had been two full days since he had last seen any trace of his brother. Quickly opening the door, he invited Changyang Hu inside his room.
"Fourth brother, I'm sorry but I haven't been keeping track with your progress in the competition." He hurriedly said before Jian Chen could open his mouth to ask a question.
Jian Chen nodded his head and said, "I've already advanced onto the top 8; tomorrow will be the final day of the matches."
As he listened to Jian Chen, Changyang Hu suddenly grew happy for his younger brother's success. Excitedly, he said, "Fourth brother, you are truly amazing! It's no wonder you came here before second sister and third brother." Fishing a thumb sized crystal out of his pockets, Changyang Hu placed it within Jian Chen's hands, "Fourth brother, this is a Class 1 Monster Core. Two days ago, a few friends and I went to the forest behind the academy and killed a Class 1 Magical Beast together. This is the monster core I fought to get for you, so take it. It's already getting late, so your big brother won't disturb your rest anymore. Tomorrow is the final day of the competition, so you must work hard and earn the number one title!" Changyang Hu then exited from the room, after slowly closing the door shut.
The moment before Changyang Hu could close the door, Jian Chen caught a glimpse of a 3 inch long claw mark that ran down Changyang Hu's arm.
Silently looking at the Class 1 Monster Core in his hands, Jian Chen felt a wave of warmth that lingered. For a while, Jian Chen's heart was actually unable to calm down.
Although it was only a Class 1 Monster Core, Jian Chen could feel Changyang Hu's concern radiating from it. Thinking back to the wound on Changyang Hu's arm, Jian Chen knew that the wound came from hunting a magical beast. Whenever Jian Chen thought about the gift, he couldn't help but feel warm inside, another emotion that he had never experienced in his previous life.
After standing in the center of his room with a stunned expression for a while, Jian Chen finally took a deep breath, gradually forcing himself into a state of calm. Then, he got onto his bed to start cultivating once more. Although he had the monster core now, he did not want to use it just yet, so he stored it away in his Space Belt. With the competition in mind, Jian Chen fully believed that he could take the number one spot. After all, in his previous world, he was a unique expert that stood at the peak of the world. And although he had lost a great amount of his power after reincarnating, he still had the knowledge of every type of swordplay, as well as understanding the deep profound sword laws, so much that they were ingrained into his soul. He had not lost his understanding of the ways of the sword, and so this is how Jian Chen would advance through the continent in the future.
The next morning, Jian Chen finished his breakfast quickly before arriving at the competition. Perhaps it was because today was the final day of the competition, but a lot more people came today than the two previous days combined. Many of these newcomers were older students.
The fighting grounds had been fully fixed last night, and the original five arenas had been changed to four. However, the four arenas were now larger than before; the arenas from yesterday were on a completely different level that couldn't be compared with the new sizes.
At this moment, Jian Chen felt something behind him. Turning around, he saw his older brother Changyang Hu forging his way forward of the crowd, trying to reach him.
Taking note of Jian Chen's stare, Changyang Hu smiled widely. Quickly detaching himself from the crowd, he ran up to Jian Chen's side and slapped him on the shoulder. "Fourth Brother, today is the day you must work hard. Your big brother won't demand of you to get the number one spot; getting into the top 3 is good enough!" To Changyang Hu, getting a monster core was only a minor reward, the most important thing was getting a good rank. Although the price of a monster core was not easily ignored, it was not something that the eldest son of the Changyang Clan deeply desired.
Jian Chen laughed and said, "Big brother, you don't have to worry. I definitely will not let you down."
The time of the competition came quickly. This time, the top 8 would fight it out in the semi finals. After drawing lots to decide their opponents, Jian Chen immediately walked onto the arena. Not long after, Jian Chen's opponent slowly came up into the arena, but to Jian Chen's surprise, his opponent was a girl. More precisely, his opponent was the girl from last time– Ka Di Qiuli.
Ka Di Qiuli was wearing a dark red style of clothing, and although she was only 16 or 17 years old, her body was developing nicely. What should be sticking out was sticking out, and what should be thin was thin. Her skin tight uniform sketched her out to be a true example of a beautiful woman with delicate white skin, along with her naturally beautiful face with tender white skin. At this point, she had already enraptured the attention of all the boys in the crowd and, without a doubt, Ka Di Qiuli was definitely beautiful enough to cause cities to fight over her. However, as true as it was for most people born into a prestigious clan, she carried around with her an arrogant air.
Jian Chen stood empty handed on top of the arena. The reason why he was empty handed was because of the academy rules. They believed that the best way to judge a person's strength was by empty handed combat, and so bladed weapons were not allowed. And since it was not possible to form a Saint Weapon without being a Saint, all of the freshmen were forced to fight without weapons.
Ka Di Qiuli looked at Jian Chen with a haughty look, "You really didn't let us down. For your arrogance in the dining hall the other day, I'll be sure to teach you a lesson today." Ka Di Qiuli's voice carried a sharp but clear sounding tone.
Hearing this Jian Chen's face revealed a grin of disdain. Within the people who were born within prestigious clans, many of them truly did not know how vast the heavens and earth were.
"Boom!"
A loud sound rung throughout the arena, signalling the start of the match.
Because all four of the arenas were in the same place, the moment the gong was heard, all 8 participants simultaneously started to move and began to fight.
Ka Di Qiuli quickly strode towards Jian Chen, but when she was within 3 meters from him, she suddenly jumped up into the air to deliver a flying jump kick towards his face. Although Ka Di Qiuli was young, she was fairly strong since she was already at the 9th Saint Force layer.
Jian Chen stood in place without moving a single step. As Ka Di Qiuli's foot got closer to his face, he tilted his neck sideways, allowing the kick to merely graze past the side of his head.
Ka Di Qiuli's reaction speed was fairly fast, the moment she realized her kick didn't connect, she swung out at his nose with a Saint Force enhanced fist. Not only was her fist coming in at rapid speeds, but with a huge amount of energy stored within her fist, any normal person would come out with serious injuries after being hit by that. As far as Jian Chen was concerned, she would not hold back. No matter if she ended up defeating Jian Chen and moving on into the top 4, or if she was just teaching Jian Chen a lesson, she would definitely not allow herself to hold back.
Jian Chen dealt with Ka Di Qiuli's attack with ease, and although his opponent was one layer higher than him, Jian Chen was not like an average child. His battle experiences from his past world were abundant, so if he wanted to continue this match without fighting back, then Ka Di Qiuli wouldn't even be able to touch his clothes, much less beat him within five rounds.
After Ka Di Qiuli had tried to attack him a few dozen times without even being able to even touch Jian Chen's clothes, she grew extremely annoyed and stopped her barrage of blows. Panting slightly, she stuck both her hands by her waists and glared at Jian Chen, "Hey, are you going to actually fight or not? If you're not going to fight, then get off the arena instead of jumping around all over the place."
Jian Chen laughed as he looked at the fuming Ka Di Qiuli and said, "The person that'll be leaving the arena will be you, not me. How do you plan to beat me if you can't even touch my clothes?"
"Y-you…" Ka Di Qiuli's naturally beautiful face grew red with anger as she pointed at him with her finger, and she was momentarily unable to speak. But then she grew calm and she rolled her eyes, sneering, "So what if I can't touch you? You can't even stand to fight me head on, and can only dodge my blows like a little coward."
"Eh, is that right?" Jian Chen's face revealed a hint of a smile as he looked at her with a strange expression.
Ka Di Qiuli looked on haughtily, speaking with complete conviction, "Of course. If you aren't a coward, then you'd better try actually fighting me."
Jian Chen glanced over at the other 3 rings and saw that the other matches were beginning to wrap up. Turning his head back to look at Ka Di Qiuli again, he laughed, "If you really want to fight me head on, then fine, I'll grant you your wish."