"Stop! How dare you beat him to such a state! The match has already ended!" Says Chief Lin.
Xie Mo smiles. "Do you have a problem with what I did? This is the law of the Murim, the strong devour the weak."
Chief Lin clicks his tongue. "This is an official tournament, not a barbaric battlefield. Get lost! This is your first and final warning!"
Xie Mo scowls at him defiantly. He clicks his tongue before leaving the arena. Some doctors enter the arena to treat the injured man and cultivators fix the platform.
...
That Chief Lin... He is in the Golden Core realm, yet he isn't fast enough to stop Xie Mo?
...
I look around. The only spectators unfazed by this are the VIPs and in particular, a fat person there is smiling. I notice Mu Kai standing beside an old, slim man with a long beard. He nods when we exchange glances.
"There were vague rumours of Xie Mo's cruelty. Guess it was true. That guy is from the Mu Xue family, the third young master. I heard him and his younger brother, the fourth young master, planned to rape Jia Mei but Xie Mo stopped them." Says Xu Lou.
"Are you trying to imply that Xie Mo is righteous?" I ask
"Of course not... There is no such thing as righteousness in the Murim. Even the Murim alliance is..."
...
Xu Lou refuses to continue his sentence.
"With the death of the first master in the Ghost Valley competition, it's safe to say the next heir of the family will be the second young master." Xu Lou tries to change the topic.
A few matches pass before I was chosen again. This time, it was against Li Xing.
...
I sigh and pass my wealth to Li Ruo. "Bet everything on me." She nods and runs to the betting counter. I jump into the arena.
Li Xing glares at me as she grips her sword tightly. Searing Qi exerts from her ambience, leaving behind scorches at every step she takes.
She points a sword at me.
1st stage of Foundation Establishment and 3rd stage of Sword intent. I don't get her confidence.
I throw a glance at Chief Lin. He is fidgeting and constantly peeking at the VIPs.
No, he is looking at the fat person.
...
Li Xing charges at me with her sword.
I dodge to the side as she swings her sword, each swing created a burst of fire Qi. She follows up with another slash trying to not give a chance for a counterattack. Barrage after barrage of continuous haphazardly slashes rains on me as I constantly glance at Chief Lin.
"You! Are you taking this fight seriously?!" Says Li Xing.
I don't need to bother paying attention to her.
"Fuck!" Li Xing screams as she throws a slash at my neck. The sword explodes once it touches just like what happened with Jia Mei.
However, after the smoke clears up, the platform is charred but I stay unfazed.
!!
"W-What?!" Li Xing's eyes widen. Her hands start to tremble as the cold blade shakes on my neck.
...
Li Xing narrows her brows as she jumps back. This time, an orange aura engulfs her body as the sword glows. She leaps and attempts to slash from above, behind her is an image of a giant dragon diving.
...
*BOOOOOM!*
"Huff... Huff..."
She jumps out of the dust cloud created.
"W-With this... You should be..." Li Xing struggles to speak.
An area of the arena is cracked and ripped apart from her attack.
Yet, a silhouette appears and I walk out of the dust.
!!!!!!!!!!
I brush the dirt off my robe. Although my robe is slightly tattered, not a single scratch can be seen.
I smile. "Anything else?" I ask.
"H-How... No... This..."
Dumb.
If it was me one month ago at the Ghost Valley, she might win. But did she forget the fact that people can grow as well?
I am at the third stage of Foundation Establishment, 5th stage of Muscle refinement, and cultivated the first part of supreme skin. A mere chickling's strongest attack is nothing.
I draw Azrim.
!!
Li Xing moves back as she immediately goes into a defensive stance.
Not even moving my feet, I do a simple horizontal slash. The slash blows away every particle in its wave motion, causing Li Xing's sword to snap as she was propelled off the arena, crashing into the mountains. For the same of embarrassing her, I did not hold back.
"ARGH!"
She falls to the ground as the spectators move away.
"Uck! Uck!" Coughing blood while grasping her chest, Jia Mei goes to her and helps her up.
"How dare you hurt her to this extent!? She is the lady of the Heavenly Divine Dragon sect!" Jia Mei exclaims.
"Heh... That isn't my problem."
And I leave the arena.
Everyone stares at me when they know that my true sword intent is at the ninth stage.
"I-Incredible!"
"A once in a million years talent! Will we be seeing an ascension to the upper realms in this century?!"
(A young cultivator from the upper realms can reach the 10th Stage of Sword Intent at the age of 17. Your strength is lacking.)
We will talk about it if we get into the upper realms.
Xie Mo finally glares at me. I take a look at the loot I gained as Li Ruo takes a leather bag to me. 20 gold coins. Not bad.
Jia Mei was matched with Hong Kai, Which she almost lost to. Xie Mo was constantly picked to fight against somewhat stronger cultivators and was soon chosen to fight Jie Mei, which she immediately forfeits.
...
I...might have an idea of what is going on. Xie Mo wins every match but he is visibly tired.
I bite into a normal dumpling as I collect about 1 gold coin from betting on Xie Mo. The earnings are decreasing as the odds even out.
And the finale finally comes, I, who have not had any match for the past few hours, being placed against Xie Mo. He had rested approximately 15 minutes before he was pulled back into the arena. Both of us should easily be in the top 10 now.
I sigh. Anyone with enough luck can get into the top 10 when the tournament algorithm is built based on drawing lots.
Xie Mo wipes off his sweat. He realised that Chief Lin is solely targeting him and clicked his tongue.
"Xie Mo... Don't overpush yourself." Says the third beauty behind him.
"Brother! You must surrender if you can't win okay? I don't want you to be hurt." Say the young girl.
Xie Mo smirks. "There's absolutely no way I can lose. If I fall to a mere junior cultivation tournament, I have no right to be a supreme king."
"Yes yes..." Says Jia Mei. His companions don't seem to believe what he said but went with it.
Xie Mo jumps into the arena when I do.
"It's you..." Says Xie Mo. "I have no idea how you managed to do this, but I applaud you, maybe I can become a bit serious?"
"You will regret not going all out."
"There's no use taunting me. I know you are a mortal. There are no such techniques that can conceal a meridian and dantian in the upper realms."
I sigh. "We never know."
...
I draw Azrim.
Xie Mo draws his sword, a long sword that gives out blue Qi from the edge despite its ordinary appearance.
"His sword!"
"He drew it..."
Xie Mo has never drawn his sword in the past matches.
Xie Mo takes a deep breath and places one foot forward. One blink and he is in front with his sword up high.
!
I block his attack and that forced me to kneel.
"Hehe..."
I deflect his sword away and strike him with my elbow. He push my arm to change my trajectory before a follow up with a palm attack, I saw it and materialize a sword qi that soars to Xie Mo's arm.
!!!
Xie Mo attempts to stop his momentum but to no avail, I was hurled away by his attack and the sword qi pierces Xie Mo's arm.
!!!!!!!!!!!
"H-Huh?"
...
Blood drips onto the platform.
"W-Why is the sword of reign? How? I shouldn't have any successors to my martial arts...?" Says Xie Mo.