While the other fighters fidgeted around nervously, Bai Jingshen could finally feel his blood boiling. He directly followed Phill out of the room, only throwing a short smile at Bennet, Dahlia and Sam wishing him luck. Seeing Bai Jingshen calmly leave, the other three also gathered their courage and the five young men soon stood together on Phill's hovering platform.
They slowly watched as the hatch opened, letting everyone feel the law's pressure again. Looking around, Bai Jingshen could see participants emerging from a few more metal cubes. From the exertion written on most of their faces, Bai Jingshen realized that the law's suppression was already a part of the competition. Whoever couldn't adapt fast enough, would start their fight with a disadvantage.
Bai Jingshen felt a bit embarrassed at at not having to deal with this problem, as he basically would have an advantage against his juniors. However, he couldn't do much about it, so he only put on a slightly inconvenienced expression while inwardly apologizing.
Phill slowly steered their platform down towards the biggest cubes. One by one, he dropped Thobar's contestants off, as they finally met their opponents. Bai Jingshen was the last one to arrive at his destination, so the young woman was already waiting for him. Both opponents suspiciously eyed each other.
Bai Jingshen quickly understood, what Dahlia meant as she said each member of Celestial Jade was decked in jewelry. Bai Jingshen counted at least four hairpins adorning her long, amber brown hair, three necklaces draped around her fair neck without conflicting at the slightest, and multiple smaller brooches all over her tight, pink uniform.
The experienced fighter however noticed that all of those seemed to work as a distraction. From the look in his opponents watery eyes, Bai Jingshen could see the calmness of a seasoned fighter, something that the young member's in the RSS lacked. If you judge the young woman by her looks, taking her for a flower vase or even a model, you would have already lost this fight before it even started.
After every contestant fighting in the first round arrived above one of the 20 metal cubes, multiple hatches finally opened. The competitors entered the cubes and found themselves in separate, small rooms. To their side, a weapon rack emerged, and Bai Jingshen could see all sorts of weapons, which Bennet provided for him. Most competitors would only bring their favorite weapon to the competition, so the organizers were surprised, when Bennet registered so many different weapons. Suddenly a voice could be heard in Bai Jingshen's small room:
"Attention competitors. You have one minute of preparation time. If something is wrong with your weapons, now us the time to let us know. Otherwise, the fight starts, as soon as the door opens."
Bai Jingshen took a look at the weapon rack and decided to go with what he knew best for now. He took a heavy spear in his hands, put a sword on his belt and hid two knifes in his sleeves. He didn't have to wait long for the fight to start, as the voice began counting down:
"Five, four, three, two, one…"
Suddenly all doors opened, officially beginning the newcomer competition.
Bennet nervously sat next to Dahlia. All of Thobar's fighters were shown on the screen, as everyone carefully stepped on the fighting stage. The competition's organizer decided to go with just a plane without any obstacles for the first round, very much to all gun users complaint. However, everyone knew, that the fighting stages would change later on.
The instructor held Dahlias hand in an iron grip. Luckily the latter also reached the Foundation Establishment Realm or her fair hand might have a few bones broken. Bennet watched with bated breath as the first to make a move was actually Bai Jingshen.
Julia Ceres had always been a prideful individual. As a young elite trained by Celestial Jade, she was one of the favorites to win the newcomer competition. Even under the assumption, that noble heirs from the capital arrived in New Haven City, she wouldn't lose her confidence. Before the competition she memorized a few profiles of her strongest opponents and trained hard as always. She quickly made out her strongest competitor, which turned out to be one of her most annoying suitors: Lehno of Ellshire.
Nevertheless, Julia would surely show her amazing talent in this competition, finally gaining recognition within Celestial Jade. Therefore, when she met her first opponent, Julia was filled with confidence. However, she was all the more surprised as she realized her opponent didn't seem nervous at all. Julia was prideful, yes, but she was not overconfident. Her instincts quickly told her, that her unknown opponent might actually be a skilled fighter.
Julia even grew suspicious, if her competitor never heard about her or Celestial jade, as he ran at her with a serious look as soon as the battle started.
Bai Jingshen naturally didn't know about Julia. He barely learned about Celestial Jade a few minutes back after all. However, the former emperor missed having a good fight. He was secretly elated as she seemed to have a strong opponent right in the first round. Therefore, he didn't want to delay anymore. He started running towards Julia, gaining speed with each step.
Bai Jingshen quickly arrived in front of Julia, stabbing out with his spear. Julia blocked with her left arm, which was instantaneously covered in some yellow Mana, originating from one of her wristbands. She rapidly brought her other arm up, firing three fast shots at Bai Jingshen. The experienced fighter however already reacted to her arm movement, pushing Julia away with his spear, leading to those shots going wide.
Bennet frowned while observing Julia's use of Mana. However, Bai Jingshen wasn't unsettled in the slightest, as he saw how Julia's body was burdened by her Mana usage. His conjecture proved to be right. Julia quickly had to deactivate her wristbands, or her arms might take serious damage. She came to the conclusion that catching such an experienced opponent off guard would prove to be hard, so Julia quickly took out two fans as her weapons.
Bai Jingshen was surprised by Julia's choice of weapons, but nothing could be seen on his face as he ran at Julia already. The former emperor drew nearer to his opponent and swung his spear in wide circles, making use of his weapon's range. Julia anticipate her opponents reaction, so she smartly used the Jade Movement Technique to dive under Bai Jingshen's spear and quickly closing the distance. By doing so she already revealed one of her trump cards, but this seemed to be her best shot.
Julia gracefully neared Bai Jingshen's body, using a beautiful posture to swipe her fan at Bai Jingshen from below. The young man however showed no appreciation for the fairer sex. He quickly proved to everyone, that his hard training over the last weeks had paid off. Quickly flicking his wrist, Bai Jingshen reverted the spears momentum, causing it to turn and it's handle to hit Julia's elbow. The beautiful woman only managed to wound Bai Jingshen's leg, before taking a heavy hit and gliding back over the floor.
The black-haired fighter relentlessly chased after her and quickly caught up, bringing his spear down on her stomach. Julia had no choice, but to use another of her trump cards. She hurriedly touched a jade hanging on her necklace. Suddenly it set off an impulse, throwing Bai Jingshen through the air and even ripping the spear from his hands.
Both fighters stood up from the ground and turned towards each other. Each of them detected the fighting spirit in each other's eyes. Bai Jingshen smiled slightly before taking out two knives from his sleeves. Julia realized that a high-speed, close-range fight would surely ensure.
Since a few fights were already over, more and more people tuned into Bai Jingshen's fight. As Julia was a known elite of the younger generation, her opponent suddenly became known, as those two went toe to toe with each other.
In one of the highest cubes a young man solemnly watched their fight. Just now he was still enjoying the lightly dressed young woman dancing for him, as his two 'friends' told him something interesting. The young man, whom they met the day before, actually fought a close battle against his Julia. He didn't pay any attention to this Bai Jingshen until his friends described what happen when they tried to find a way to make Spike drop out of the competition. The noble Lehno didn't find anything wrong in using such methods. Getting rid of competitors was a normal occurrence in the noble circle, but this time it seemed he even gained one.
In the only cube higher than Lehno's, Titus Gaian also watched Bai Jingshen closely. The mighty cultivator only came to this newcomer competition, because it was good for his mental state to bring things to a close. Who would have thought that he would find such a talent. He most likely was the only one in the venue feeling how Bai Jingshen still had to hold himself back. The ruthlessness of an experienced fighter was especially observable in that last spear strike of his. For a split second Bai Jingshen clearly wanted to hit Julia with the spear tip, but chose not to, leading to him getting injured on his leg. Titus was happy, that his New Haven City could produce such a gem. He would commit this name to memory for now. Maybe he could help this young talent out in the New World.