"Li Feng, I know you have been practicing in the beast mountain range of some backwater city; do you think such methods can guarantee you victory against me? Surrender and spear me the trouble."
Kang Mu spoke to Li Feng, who was his opponent. Li Feng is from the Li family, which is not weak compared to the Kang family; although they don't have powerful elders and cultivation techniques like the Kang family, they are still ranked among the top ten in the Ju empire.
"Hahaha, Kang Mu, you may be stronger than me, but that doesn't mean I will be defeated without a fight."
Li Feng replied, he knew Kang Mu was stronger than him, but he is also from an aristocratic family, he has to maintain his family honor. He cultivated the stone fist technique from his family, and he has won many fights with it, even against stronger opponents.
Kang Mu had an annoyed face as he didn't even move but unleashed his qi of the spiritual awakening realm to suppress Li Feng; he wanted to end this fight quickly and fight Patrick, who he sees as a worthy opponent.
Li Feng countered with his qi but could not balance the qi attacks from Kang Mu but was thrown back on the stage.
"Li Feng, since you want to be beaten so bad, you leave me no choice."
Kang Mu spoke with an annoyed face as he decided to end the match at once; he raised his arm as qi gathered around it; he slashed at Li Feng.
Li Feng stood with a flip as he saw Kang Mu's attack; he crossed his arms over his head and used his stone fist technique, making his skin strong as stone and converting his body into a stone shield.
The attack reached Li Feng; although he had his stone shield, Kang Mu was still stronger than him in every way. His stone shield was destroyed and sent back from the stage; he coughed blood as the attack caused internal injuries.
"What, I knew Kang Mu was strong, but to knock out Li Feng who practices the Li family stone cultivation technique in ten seconds. No wonder he is called the number one genius."
"Don't forget that Li Feng is only in the mind accumulation realm eight-stage, while Kang Mu is in the spiritual awakening realm. It would have been a surprise if Li Feng could last a minute fighting him."
People began talking about the fight and the factors that contributed to it. The fight was normal because of the strength variation, not even lasting more than ten seconds. And also, the cultivated skills provided to Kang Mu were far better than Li Feng's.
Guards of the Li family helped Li Feng and gave him some pills to relieve the pain; he stood and looked at Kang Mu with hatred as he knew Kang Mu didn't even go easy on him when he was way stronger. This felt like utter bullying.
Kang Mu stood on the stage as he looked at Patrick, but Patrick was not in the position he once was; Kang Mu searched as he saw Patrick sitting with the two beautiful women while one fed him a drink and the other stroking his long silver hair. This ignited the anger in Kang Mu as he thought of crippling Patrick for life.
After smiling at Kang Mu, Patrick returned to his wives and drank with them while Anna stroked his hair, watching the ten seconds fight. He had his wooden slate as it rotated in his hands, floating.
On the high stands, a black shadow appeared behind a black robe man; the shadow was the member of the devil sect that was sent to get info about Patrick's group.
"Elder, there is no information about these people; according to our source, the woman with golden hair seems familiar with the granddaughter of the Shi family."
"So they are from the Shi family?"
The black robe man asked to reply to the servant's statement; he continued with his information.
"No elder, just the girl with golden hair. There is the news of the Shi family becoming stronger than the other families and that there might be a possibility that they have immortal cultivators, but it's just a probability."
"So the little girl is from the Shi family, then how about the boy and the other girl?"
"There are no records about them, elder."
The elder held his hands to his chin as if contemplating something; he also found out an envoy was sent to a lesser city to handle matters, but the family retaliated, causing the Emperor to lose face. But the interesting thing was the Emperor didn't do anything and just accepted his loss; according to the Ju emperor's arrogance and wild nature, it should be impossible for him not to react to such disrespect unless he consulted the guardians of the Ju empire. And if even after consultation, nothing was done, then it only supports the rumor that the Shi family might indeed have an immortal cultivator.
"Interesting."
The black robe man had an evil smirk on his face as he spoke. He was smart, which was one reason he was sent to the competition; the first was to scout for potential cultivators and potential threats that might affect the devil sect in the future.
"Next, Yang Chu and Lou Yan."
Yang Chu and Lou Yan went to the stage after the host spoke. Yang Chu was a boy, and like Li Feng, his' also from the top families in the Ju empire, and his family cultivated a shadow cultivation method that allowed them to use shadows to attack opponents. They can also use it to escape or travel.
On the stage, Yang Chu slanted his head to the right as he had a disappointed face; all children from aristocratic families are arrogant and hold no restraint on their behaviors. He knew that Lou Yan was younger and weaker than him, but he was disappointed that he didn't meet a strong opponent like Kang Mu or Alex, the new dark horse.
"Lou Yan, why don't we end this pointless fight? we both know you are weaker than me."
"Yang Chu, why don't we fight and see who is weaker?"
"Hahaha, haha, do you think you can win against me? Then let's find out."
The Lou family cultivated a technique from the immortal realm called the Heavenly Eyes technique, allowing them to predict their enemy's moves or attacks. It also helps increase their soul strength by multiple folds than the normal cultivators.
Although they are not the big three after the imperial family, they are respected like the big three families. Even the Emperor doesn't mess with the Lou family; their ability to predict their opponents' moves makes them the most dangerous after the Kang family.
Yang Chu attacked as he disappeared from his position, appearing behind Lou Yan instantly, but before his attacks could land at Lou Yan, who had glowing eyes, she vanished from her spot and replaced her position with Yang Chu. Yang Chu missed; he stood and watched his arm as if something was wrong with it; he looked at Lou Yan while also fumbling his arm in doubt.
"It looks like the elder from the Moonflower sect did see something in you for you to dodge my attacks; that's impressive, but maybe I should not start easy on you."
Yang Chu's legs turned dark as his shadow connected, and it multiplied into two more shadows; the shadows attacked Lou Yan from both sides as Yang Chu stood there controlling them. Lou Yan used her ability; she saw and could dodge most of the attacks, but not all; some attacks hit her as she was a little slower.
'Mother said that using the third level of the Heavenly eyes technique when not in the spiritual awakening realm will cause strain on the body, but if I don't use it, I will lose.'
Lou Yan thought to herself about her technique, but she was a stubborn girl and would rather draw than lose; she blocked some of the attacks as he decided to go all out. The cheering crowd saw the atmosphere change the next moment as everyone knew what this meant; Lou Yan was going all out on this match.
"Wait, what? Lou Yan is going all out, but if she does, she will not be able to fight the rest of the competition at her full strength."
"Lou Yan may be rude, but she is a stubborn girl, and she would rather suffer pain than lose this match, especially after Yang Chu mocked her, and don't forget, she's already a disciple of the Moonflower sect."
"Yeah, you are right; she doesn't have to win the competition; as long as she enters the top five, that's all that matters."
The crowd discussed what was happening as Lou Yan used her ultimate move fighting Yang Chu.
The next moment, the cloud gathered as everyone saw an immortal spirit coming from Lou Yan's body; the spirit was female and had glowing eyes. In the hands of the spirit, energy gathered as it formed into an arrow pointing towards Yang Chu.
On the high stands where the powerful families sat below the Emperor's stand, five seats were occupied by the Ju empire's most powerful families: Kang, Dong, Yang, Lou, and Li. They all had serious faces except one, the Lou family matriarch Lou Min; she was the matriarch of the Lou family and had power equal to the other families.
"Yang Cho, are you sure you don't want me to stop my daughter from hurting your son?"
In a mocking tone, Lou Min asked Yang Cho, who was the Patriarch of the Yang family. Everyone knew what Lou Min was doing; if Yang Cho acts, he doesn't trust his son to win, which will also prevent her daughter from using the strenuous move.
"Haha, Lou Min, don't worry about my son, he's a man, to be defeated by a woman will be a great shame to his reputation, and I don't think your daughter will be free from her pain after using this move either, you might give her a pill, but she will not be in her full strength for the coming fights."
Yang Cho, known as the most cunning man in the Ju empire, switched the topic from his son to Lou Yan. Lou Min did not react but opened her fan (Chinese fan) and fanned herself. She had a pill to relieve the pain for Lou Yan, but she might face difficulties in the coming matches.
Yang Chu saw the attack pointing at him; he unleashed fifty percent of his strength as more shadows came from him. Lou Yan's spirit attack was released as it sprinted towards Yang Chu; Yang Chu used his shadows to slow the momentum of the arrow before it reached him, causing no injuries but him falling from the stage, but he countered by sending two shadows to attach Lou Yan, also causing her to fall from the stage.
The referee saw both parties standing from the stage as he declared the match a draw.
The match continued as more winners emerged. The match continued as it was finally Patrick's turn; he watched the matches while chilling with his wives. Athena and Anna saw the matches, but they didn't enjoy it much as these were not the fights they wanted to engage in but with immortals and sages.
"Next match, Dong Pao and Alex King."
"Finally, the dark horse is fighting"
A person from the crowd spoke as that was everyone's thought. Dong Pao was the first to jump on the stage as he had an arrogant face; he received a qi message from Kang Mu telling him to hurt Patrick enough before he reached him. Dong Pao nodded as he watched Patrick kiss and leave the two beautiful women and jump on the stage.
"So you are the dark horse everyone wants to see fight, huh? Well, this is your chance to give up before I embarrass you in front of your women. After, they will....be....m."
Before Dong Pao could even finish his words, he was on the ground, breathless.
"You talk too much."