"I understand your thinking," Wan Qiang continued. "You might be able to kill people but unable to bear the retaliation from the faction behind the one you killed - well, fear not!" he grinned.

  "I have already signed a contract with all major factions within the entire Skyward Empire. They will not pursue any deaths that happen within the Black Iron Fortress this time."

  While the majority of the experts looked shocked, the expressions of all the cultivators from the three great sects did not change. It was clear that they had already been informed of this prior to departing from their sects.

  Still, they had faith in their own ability, and the three great sects had a collective consensus to not kill members from each other’s sides. Thus they had little to fear. Although there existed some talented independent cultivators, the majority of them had joined the great sects for the excellent treatment they could get there.

  Xue Wei was aware of it beforehand because he had been informed by the expert from the Argent Moon Sect, so he was not surprised, but he noticed that many expressions were alternating between greed and fright.

  A group of the weaker experts even hesitated to pick up the tokens that were floating in front of them. It was clear that quite a few had already decided to leave the tournament early.

  It seemed that Wan Qiang was aware of this as well. "If you have not taken the token within ten seconds, then I will move you out of the arena," he said calmly, and then began his countdown.

  A few hesitantly grabbed out and took hold of their tokens, but the majority were standing still. They were still hesitating even when the countdown reached zero.

  Wang Qiang waved his hand, and a strong wind blew through the arena. Everyone who held a token in their hand felt the wind pass them, but those who had not touched the tokens in front of them were swept up by the wind and suddenly vanished over the walls of the arena.

  These experts were all Sky Warriors, so they had the most elementary ability of flight. They could not fly quickly, and they could not fly far either, but they were more than capable of softening their landing after being dumped over the tall walls.

  Xue Wei was astonished. This Wan Qiang was powerful! With a wave of his hand, he had managed to precisely single out the couple hundred experts that were resigning and sent them flying with a single move!

  There had not even been any kind of energy fluctuation; it was as if he had commanded the wind itself, his hand smoothly moving to sweep them away.

  Xue Wei was astonished, but he was not alone. Even the experts from the three great sects were shocked, their expressions displaying great unease and slight admiration.

  These disciples had all been told that Wan Qiang was not an expert they could afford to insult. They had all been warned repeatedly that the sect itself would not take revenge for them should they die on their journey, but the disciples had all felt that this was just a shallow way to put pressure on them.

  The sect would say that they would not take revenge for them, and the sects had claimed that this Wan Qiang was a supreme expert they could not insult, but who were they?

  They were members of the three great sects! They were never bullied or looked down upon, and when it came to taking vengeance, they would always take revenge for every little grievance.

  Were they not just saying these things for the sake of making them steel their minds? That was what they had thought so far. If they truly died, they believed the sects would get revenge for them. If they broke the rules of the tournament, then they believed they would be able to get away with it due to the backing of their sect, but now they understood that their elders had not been joking with them.

  This man, Wan Qiang, was truly so strong that the branches of the three great sects within the Skyward Empire had no way of dealing with him. If he set some rules, then these rules were to be followed.

  A few of the weaker experts from the sects began sweating in worry. They hoped that their sect's name was still capable of helping them survive this competition. Their pride did not allow for them to give up unless they won or died trying.

  A few of the members from the Crimson Sunshine Sect felt hot and scorching gazes lock onto them, and they turned around to see from where it could come.

  Their eyes made contact with Xue Wei's and they saw him smirking as if he was a hungry tiger that had found prey.

  His glance made them shiver – even the middle-aged elder brother from before was uncomfortable.

  This sudden change in his members' reaction caused the leader of the Crimson Sunshine Sect to frown. He asked them through compressed voice transmission about what had happened.

  His frown deepened the more he heard, and he cast a long glance towards Xue Wei before snorting. This kid thought too highly of himself for a mere third layer Sky Warrior.

  Wan Qiang had everything under his watchful eye. He snickered when he saw the development between Xue Wei and the members of the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

  "Everyone, step down from the stages," Wan Qiang ordered. "From now on, number one to ten will appear on stage one. Number eleven to twenty will appear on stage two and so on."

  "Each stage has one winner. The rest needs to either be unable to continue fighting or to forfeit. The winner of these group battles will be able to advance to the next part of the tournament."

  Everyone present – both audience and participants – were shocked. They had expected one on one battles, not a free-for-all of 10. The faces of quite a few experts paled, and they clutched their tokens before going towards the stages with shaky steps.

  A mild chaos of movement ensued in the arena. A group of experts went towards the stages, split into ten groups heading onto the ten stages.

  The participating experts were quiet. They realized now that the distribution of tokens had not been randomized, but had been given out based on one's cultivation base.

  The first hundred experts were all one star Sky Warriors. They were not up against any stronger experts, and the ones who had been very dejected at the start suddenly started feeling as if they might have a chance.

  Seeing that they were up against others of the same cultivation base, Xue Wei's eyes started shining. He had expected that he could be unlucky and face against a serious contender right from the get-go, but now it seemed that this was not the case.

  Although some of them might be able to jump ranks in combat power, it was not something just anyone could do, so Xue Wei felt relieved.

  Although he was a third layer Sky Warrior, he was above the average in strength in the tournament, and thus he was ranked in the thousands.

  In total, there were around one thousand and five hundred experts remaining, but approximately two hundred of these had not taken their tokens, resulting in one thousand and three hundred experts participating in the tournament.

  Stage one had seven participants, not ten. Stage two had nine. Stage three had a full ten, and so on. The holes from absentees made it apparent that some groups had more people than others.

  Wan Qiang wondered for some time and waved his hand again. The next people in line were lifted up and placed on the stages so that each stage had ten people.

  "Each stage is under the supervision of an Ordinary Knight," Wan Qiang explained. "He will be able to keep you all in control, and if someone forfeits, they will be removed from the stage at once."

  "I now announce the beginning of the tournament. Start fighting!" he announced, laughing, and instantly you could hear the sounds of unsheathed weapons and all-out battles filling the stadium.

  These were bloody battles. They were all equal in strength, and it was a free for all, so some experts would engage in duels, while others tried hiding and launching sneak attacks on others in an attempt to kill as many as possible in one go or putting a stronger contender at a disadvantage.

  Xue Wei's eyes roamed about every stage, watching for any sudden developments.

  Many experts chose to forfeit after receiving severe injuries. Although these were life-and-death battles, and although they were all eager to kill one another, the fact was that they had similar strength, so landing a killing blow was in no way easy. As a result, only a single person died in the first round of battles.

  The second group went up, and these were all also first layer Sky Warriors. There was one stage where an expert managed to kill all other nine contestants. This was the first time it had happened, and the ability he showed was very outstanding. It was clear that he was able to fight above his rank.

  Although this seemingly dark horse could fight above his own rank, as Xue Wei looked at him, he felt no threat. He had his Mind Infestation, and it could make short work of him.

  "It was a little reckless of him to reveal his strength already," Xue Wei muttered to himself. "He has made a target of himself. His strength is not weak, and now he has taken the items from the experts he killed. It will be a miracle if he manages to survive this entire tournament."

  Xue Wei was not the only one to think like this. Many seemed to share his sentiment, but there were also very few who took this independent cultivator seriously. Although he could jump ranks, he was still a one layer Sky Warrior. Just how many ranks could he jump over while battling?

  The stage was instantly filled with another ten experts. Xue Wei continued to observe the many stages in front of him. The scent of blood started to fill the air, and many were getting injured, but the body count was a lot less than what Xue Wei had expected.

  Chapter 11 - My Turn

  Xue Wei watched the proceedings like a hawk, trying to see if he could find anyone else that was stronger than he had expected, but no one stood out.

  As to whether or not they were doing it intentionally, hiding their strength that is, or if there truly were no other outstanding experts, Xue Wei did not know.

  The sun's rays were shining straight down on the arena with a scorching heat.

  The death count had risen to seventeen by the time the first layer Sky Warriors had finished their battles and the second layer Sky Warriors were about to move up onto the stages.

  Xue Wei was patient. While it was true that the scent of blood spreading through the colosseum made him feel restless, he reined himself in and kept observing the clashing combatants on the stages.

  A tingling sensation had started to course through his body, almost making him tipsy. He needed to use every ounce of focus to stay sober.

  The bloodlust inside him grew to a point where he could barely discern friend from foe. He wanted to see blood. He wanted it to spray everywhere. He wanted to dye the world red.

  Gritting his teeth, Xue Wei was about to lose control when he suddenly felt a cooling energy seep into his body through his back. It was the sword.

  "Relax," Tianyi's disembodied voice sounded in his mind. "Your bloodlust is making you restless, and you are about to go berserk. I spent some of my soul energy to forcefully calm it down, but I don't know if I can continue doing so. It is as if you have a monster hiding within you, ready to pounce at anyone and anything!"

  Tianyi's voice was filled with surprise and confusion. He had never before encountered such a thing, and he was at a loss for what to do. All he could do was use his soul energy to force that senseless, animalistic entity from within Xue Wei back down.

  But Tianyi could feel that Xue Wei's mind was split into two. The other half of his being was hungry for battle, desiring nothing but bloodshed and murder.

  Another part of him was cool and callous. That was the ‘usual’ Xue Wei, the one in control, whose calculative and cautious nature made him come up with a plan for everything and anything.

  So the young man was both hot-blooded and deeply thoughtful. The two sides should not coexist in one person simultaneously, but they did.

  And it was clear that these two sides had a constant internal struggle to take over, with the rational part leading by a slight margin.

  The more Tinayi got to know Xue Wei, the more incredible and unexplainable the boy became.

  Feeling the cool energy from Tianyi, Xue Wei heaved a heavy breath of relief, but he also knew that Tianyi had limited Soul Power.

  "Why are so few people being killed?" Tianyi complained. Xue Wei smiled wryly. Tianyi was stealthily absorbing the soul energies of the fallen participants in the tournament.

  Tianyi did not need to kill a person personally. As long as someone died right next to him, he could absorb the soul power, and he did it gladly, not feeling even the slightest bit of guilt or remorse from taking away the chance for these people to enter the circle of reincarnation again.

  Xue Wei said nothing about it either. In his eyes, it was a shame, but he was benefitting from it, so he was not planning on complaining.

  The sun started setting in the sky, and after the light vanished, illuminating light orbs appeared all over the arena, lighting up every single corner of the place.

  It did not seem as if Wan Qiang had any intention of stopping the battles for the day. They were to continue fighting throughout the night until they were done with the qualifiers before they could continue to the next part of the tournament

  The moon was almost at the highest position in the sky when it was finally Xue Wei's turn to enter the stage.

  His group consisted solely of third layer Sky Warriors, and one of them was the disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect that had caused problems with him in the restaurant.

  Seeing that they were both in the same group, Xue Wei smiled widely, while the other’s face was dark.

  He did not know Xue Wei’s actual strength, but he knew that he was stronger than expected. He also knew he was stronger than himself.

  Had he been in Xue Wei’s shoes when his senior brother attacked with full force, he would not have gotten out of it unscathed

  "Maybe he is just really good at defense," the sect disciple muttered to himself. "He could have focused on defensive techniques in his training, which means he is lacking when it comes to his damage dealing techniques!"

  He knew that this was a guess, but the more he thought of it, the more certain he became. Someone like Xue Wei who could jump more than two layers while fighting could not exist! Within the Sky Warrior stage, each layer was an incredibly vast gulf from the next

  Xue Wei did not think about what this expert was worrying about. Instead, he was contemplating about what to do with the other nine experts as a whole.

  He had to win, but if he won magnificently like the other one layer Sky Warrior, then it was likely that it would end up coming back to bite him in the posterior later.

  "Battle begin!"

  While Xue Wei was in deep thought, their platform’s judge announced the start of battle.

  Xue Wei swept his gaze across the nine experts. There were two women and seven men. The women were prudent and stayed behind while three of the men charged into the middle of the stage, weapons held high in their hands and hacking and slashing down with their swords.

  There was no flair, no techniques, just a display of sheer power in their attacks. Xue Wei sighed when he saw it.

  "They are not worthy," he decided quickly. "The women are quite prudent, but I guess the strongest in this group, apart from me, would be the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect."

  Mind Infestation!

  Xue Wei looked at the sect disciple and launched Mind Infestation. When Xue Wei realized how smoothly he took control of him, a snicker appeared on his lips.

  Of the ten people, outwardly, only three had engaged in battles, but the truth was that half of them had already begun.

  Xue Wei had the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect move towards him. No one stopped him – after all, although he was their opponent, he was also a member of one of the three great sects.

  No one wished to fight him if they could avoid it, and it seemed that the man in question had someone else in mind.

  He went towards Xue Wei and then stopped right next to him. But unexpectedly, he did not start attacking Xue Wei. Instead, he drew his weapon and stood by his side like a guard.

  "What are you doing, you dolt?!" a furious roar came from the senior brother who had lost face in front of Xue Wei before from outside the ring.

  Unfortunately, the disciple had no chance of hearing him. His entire mind was already under the perfect control of Mind Infestation, and he had no way of freeing himself.

  "Let us band together and get rid of the two most challenging ones first!" someone from among the remaining eight yelled out.

  "The member from the Crimson Sunshine Sect should be hard to deal with one on one, but we should be able to take him down with our numbers!"

 

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