The Tournament's Conclusion

"Li... Li Bai's opponent conceded... so... by default, he has... won his match."

The elder who announced this said it with great difficulty. This was the most precarious situation she has been in through her entire life! She felt everyone's gazes staring at her, burning her skin!

She was burning alive! Of course, this was not actually happening, the elder was daydreaming.

Almost everyone rubbed their glabellas. Do you have to be so gosh darned lucky? You might as well have located every treasure that has ever existed!

They knew that they could not blame Li Bai for winning so suddenly, instead making the elder that announced his win the scapegoat.

Even if she was an elder of the Zhou clan, in the face of the entire population of Backwater City, she could only gulp her saliva. After announcing this horrible, horrible information to the crowd, she sat down on her seat.

Thinking that there was no use to him staying, Li Bai could only get down from the stage in disappointment, shaking his head and frowning.

The crowd saw Li Bai's "disappointed" look and came to the conclusion that he was actually extremely happy inside.

"That arrogant bastard!"

.....

After this fiasco, the battles between the other participants started.

Liu Yang was as fast as light as he attacked Zhao Mei who stood still. He was sending an endless stream of punches and kicks towards her, using a variety of techniques.

Zhao Mei didn't even bother following the fast Liu Yang with her eyes. She was immediately blocking each and all of his moves swiftly with one hand!

Panicking, Liu Yang felt cold sweat drip behind his back and stopped his useless barrage of attacks. He stood on the other side of the stage, looking at Zhao Mei directly.

She had a wide grin on her face before she yawned, covering her mouth with her palm. This brief grin sent a chill towards Liu Yang's spine, literally.

Li Bai was still observing the fights, but it seems that Liu Yang's sickness was acting up. Was it due to Zhao Mei, or was it just a coincidence? If it was the former, then this girl would truly be terrifying, except to Li Bai.

The crowd was watching while the two teens were fighting each other. They had no idea what was going on! Zhao Mei and Liu Yang's movements were too fast for a non-cultivator's eyes to see.

Some Liu clan elders were able to tell a handful of the techniques that Liu Yang used, but what they couldn't understand was why he was backing down.

The crowd was also wondering why Zhao Mei was not even injured one bit after that onslaught from Liu Yang. They tried putting themselves in her place, shivering at the thought of it. They would not survive Liu Yang's assault.

As such, the more eye-catching of the two battles was Xiao Yu and Shi He's fight, since whatever was happening on the other stage was not comprehensible.

The crowd was feeling discontent over the fact that the two battles were being held simultaneously, as they only had eyes to observe one. Li Bai had this problem as well, albeit not to the extent as that of the commoners.

Even though Li Bai had a relatively low cultivation which severely limited his eyesight, his discernment has been tempered along with his soul through his many past lives. He didn't have a complaint about how this tournament was going.

Because of this, almost no one witnessed the pain that Liu Yang was about to go through.

"Cough, cough."

Liu Yang's face was flushed red, and he was panting heavily in front of his opponent. He clutched his stomach and fell down on the stage. He sat while he was trying to breathe.

Seeing this sight made Li Bai shake his head.

"Tsk tsk tsk."

At first, he was surprised at how well Liu Yang was holding up despite his severe sickness, the Frostbite Lightning Fever.

"Before the tournament, he was probably hit by the Frostbite Lightning... but what's weird is not how well Liu Yang was holding up, it was where the Frostbite Lightning came from."

The Frostbite Lightning was found in the northern part of the continent, the Ice and Snow Mountains. Although this lightning was a common occurrence in those mountains, in Backwater City, this was extremely rare, if not impossible. How in the world did this kid obtain it?

Being hit by the Frostbite Lightning gives one a sickness, called the Frostbite Lightning Fever. This makes the energy circulation inside the body abnormal, sending the Frost Energy through the spine instead of the skin where it didn't do much damage.

One would feel a literal chill through their spine when experiencing this.

Other than getting a severe sickness, there was another effect to getting struck by the lightning - it augments one's speed. This is an extremely rare occurrence which happens only once every thousand strikes of the lightning. Besides, there was a relatively easy cure for the Frostbite Lightning Fever.

This was the reason why many cultivators travel to the Ice and Snow Mountains despite knowing the danger - the benefits far outweigh the costs.

It just so happened that Liu Yang got this augmentation.

This was the source of Liu Yang's abnormal speed, which baffled everyone spectating the battles. Now that the Frostbite Lightning Fever was acting up, it was now the source of Liu Yang's pain along with the speed.

Other than being struck by the Frostbite Lightning where there was clearly no such lightning, what confused Li Bai was the method of how he suppressed the Frostbite Lightning Fever temporarily.

Of course, Li Bai knew how to suppress this simple sickness, but it required knowledge on how to do it, not to mention materials that couldn't be found in this backwater. This made him wonder, did Liu Yang get support from somewhere?

Otherwise, Li Bai simply could not think of any other reason.

Suddenly, someone stood up amongst the crowd and flashed, disappearing briefly. The flash was directed towards the stage where Liu Yang and Zhao Mei were.

Zoom!

The figure stopped at the stage in half a second before bringing Liu Yang along with him. He disappeared again.

The crowd didn't notice this wild turn of events! They were too focused on the fight between Xiao Yu and Shi He!

Being only at the Fifth Level Mark, Li Bai's eyesight was severely limited. He did get a glimpse of the face of the person who took Liu Yang away, but in the end, he decided not to remember it.

"Forget it, Liu Yang is only an above-average talent. I need talent at least on par with my sister!"

Zhao Mei, who was currently at the First Level Godly Mark, could clearly see the man that took her opponent away. She did not give chase, instead breathing a sigh of relief to continue her play.

Zhao Mei wanted to keep a low-profile throughout the whole event, to not attract attention towards herself. This was why she was acting like a shy girl even though she possessed monstrous strength amongst even her peers. Participating in the tournament was a casual whim of hers since she was passing through this city anyway.

Honestly, she didn't plan on dominating everyone in this event, intending to let herself lose in the first few rounds at first. These participants were all potential assets of the Red Dragon Kingdom, and she didn't want to hinder the progress of said kingdom.

However, she was quite enjoying herself now, especially because of the entertaining 'fights' of this child, Li Bai. There was also the fact that these opponents were much too weak to even be called opponents, and she had her pride that didn't let her lose to these peasants.

Now that her opponent has been taken away, she automatically won her battle and turned her gaze towards Xiao Yu and Shi He's fight.

Shi He and Xiao Yu were still fighting, exhilarated expressions on their faces. They were well-matched, and this was the reason why they were having so much fun!

Shi He enjoyed opponents who didn't look down on her, and this teen in front of her was the prime example of it. Xiao Yu was similar in that aspect.

They were exchanging blows swiftly, although not as fast as Liu Yang or Zhao Mei. This allowed the crowd to comprehend what was actually happening, unlike Liu Yang and Zhao Mei who were abnormally fast.

Shi He threw a punch towards Xiao Fu's face, which he dodged and retorted with a kick towards her legs with the intention of tripping her. Shi He jumped to avoid the other party's kick all the while sending another punch towards him.

As he was still in the middle of kicking, Xiao Yu could not dodge Shi He's fist, his face taking the full brunt of the attack. This made Xiao Yu retreat, but not before he sneakily snuck in an upward kick while stepping backward.

Shi He was caught off-guard with this attack of his, hitting her on her chin. They both sustained attacks, one's nose was bleeding while blood was coming out of the other's chin.

Their blows were a combined use of their strength, agility, and techniques that could be found in the public library. Because of this, many commoners barely recognized their use of the techniques.

"Hey look! Isn't that the [Quickstep] Technique?"

"No! It's the [Swiftstep] Technique, you idiot!"

"No, you're the idiot!"

Bam, boom!

A mini-tournament was held within the crowd.

Shi He and Xiao Yu, although enjoying their fight, were reaching the limits of their stamina. Their fight now devolved to a competition of stamina.

Both of the teens were panting profusely, sweating heavily as they ran towards each other. Their movement speed drastically decreased as they walked slower and slower.

Their punches were not as heavy as before, despite them putting all their strength into it. Xiao Yu stumbled as he made his way towards Shi He, who looked like she was barely holding on.

Shi He saw Xiao Yu's impending arrival, but as her legs hurt, she could not move from the spot she was on. Instead, she readied a punch while waiting for Xiao Yu to arrive.

Xiao Yu's speed accelerated as he ran towards Shi He. It was taking all of his focus to maintain the speed he was in, more so as he accelerated. Shi He made a fist with both of her hands, and threw them as soon as Xiao Yu arrived!

Bam, boom!

Both of them hit each other. In the end, they collapsed on the stage at the same time, making the winner undetermined.

An elder stood up and announced.

"Attention, everyone. Now that we are in a peculiar situation where both Shi He and Xiao Yu have run out of stamina, we discussed what to do with the clan head. We have reached a decision. Zhao Mei, the only one left, will fight with Li Bai!"

Hearing this, Li Bai's eyes widened.

"What the heck!"

.....

There were many guards in a panic outside of the arena.

Wandering around the empty streets of various clans' marketplaces, looking for someone.

"Where is Princess Zhao Mei?!"