Competition!

Li Pingjun did not make any detours and went back to town, with the abilities that he had, he was able to sneak back into his inn room without anyone even noticing.

Li Pingjun let out a sigh of relieve as he sat down back on his bed.

"Xiao Jian, I'm glad I didn't lose you" He rubbed his face all over Xiao Jian.

Xiao Jian buzzed, as if in disgust. But the buzzing ended up becoming a comfortable feeling for Li Pingjun.

"Aaaaah.... keep doing that Xiao Jian" Xiao Jian stopped immediately.

Li Pingjun pouted, but he disregarded it. He was truly tired after the entire day's ordeal. He yawned and dozed off.

"Let's... train..." He said lastly before falling asleep.

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Li Pingjun opened his eyes, as he had expected, he was looking at an endless sky. He stood up with excitement, he wanted to learn how to use sword techniques.

"Xiao Jian!, teach me sword techni-" He looked around in search for a woman, but what he found made him dumbfounded.

Nearby, a muscular man stood with his hand crossed like a statue. His upper body was exposed to the elements, his herculean muscles was in full display. The man was bald, had a rough face and a full beard.

"..."

As soon as Li Pingjun made eye contact with the man, the man smiled widely as a sword appeared in his hands. Before Li Pingjun was able to say anything, a sword also appeared in front of him.

Although Li Pingjun was confused why that man was here, he understood what he should do. He took the sword in his hands and took a stance, the stance was something he had learned from before and was mainly focused on speed.

"Come!" The muscular man shouted.

Li Pingjun did not wait any further and lunged at the man. he moved fast and reached the man in an instant, but the man did not react. Li Pingjun was suspicious but he still swung his sword toward his neck. Only then did the man respond, he did not block but actually attacked Li Pingjun.

The man's muscle bulged as he swung his sword at Li Pingjun.

"Are you mad!?" Li Pingjun was bewildered, at this rate it would be a double knockout.

The man was only focused on slashing Li Pingjun, he did not care about his safety at all. As their swords got closer and closer to each other, Li Pingjun did not know what to do. In the end, he was the one who backed down. He jumped backward.

As soon as the man saw that, A wicked smile emerged on his face. He continued slashing at Li Pingjun without a care for his own safety. No matter what Li Pingjun did, be it a feint or a real slash at the man's vitals. None of them was able to make the man stop his mad rush. As time passed he became more and more flustered, and in the end he stumbled.

The man did not miss this chance and swung his sword with full power. Li Pingjun had no other choice than to block with his sword, but the moment their swords met, Li Pingjun was surprised by the amount of power contained within the man's sword.

"Ughh"

With his improved physique he was able to keep his sword from slipping off his hands, but in return Li Pingjun was thrown like a ragdoll. There was nothing to stop his momentum, he rolled around on the ground, unable to get a foothold.

After rolling a few times without control, he was finally able stand up again. Li Pingjun was dizzy, and his body hurt. But as soon as his dizziness was gone, his face was met with a fist.

"There's no rest in a real battlefield!" The man roared as he punched him straight in the face.

"Ack!"

"There's no rest in a real battlefield!" The man roared as he punched him straight in the face.

Li Pingjun was once again thrown like a rag doll, he realized now that there will be no rest, unlike before when the woman would stop each time he lost.

'F*ck' Li Pingjun cursed in his mind.

This time, as soon as he gained a foothold, he lifted his sword in a defensive stance. The man once again began his mad rush toward him, with no consideration for himself. But this time Li Pingjun is not able to fight back, as he was only able to block while being thrown around all over the place.

Each time Li Pingjun did not have his sword up, The man would punch or kick him. In the end, after being sent flying for the tenth time, Li Pingjun has had enough.

"I'll Show you!" A mad glint was in his eyes as he activated the bloodline and physique transformation of the white tiger.

Or at least he tried to. Li Pingjun was surprised as he found out that he could not activate his ability, the man noticed this and he grinned, a flash of ridicule in his eyes.

"Sword skills only!" he shouted as he lunged at Li Pingjun once again.

"I'm f*cked...." Li Pingjun was in despair, he could only watch the man get closer as he was plunged into the abyss.

An incense stick of time later, Li Pingjun was on the ground. He could not move a muscle, his entire body hurt like hell even though he was supposed to be in a dreamscape.

The man looked down at him.

"humph.. serves you right" The man talked unlike before.

Li Pingjun did not have the strength to reply, but he knew that was Xiao Jian.

"Do you know why you lost?" The man asked.

'Because you're stronger' Li Pingjun could only say that inside his mind, but Xiao Jian was able to hear it.

"No!, it's because you lack the will!" Xiao Jian said. the man continued

"You're hesitation was your downfall!, Remember this!, hesitation is a sword cultivator's number one enemy!"

'noted'

"Now then, it's time for you to learn more sword styles"

Li Pingjun did not get up, he could not.

"Do you want to learn sword techniques or not?!" Xiao Jian threw a bait at him.

Hearing that, Li Pingjun was filled with motivation, he remembered when his sword was cut off by Xiao Jian. He mustered what little strength he had to stand up.

"good!" The man smiled.

Suddenly Li Pingjun felt his pain disappear, he was shocked and realized that Xiao Jian could dictate what happens in this space. Xiao Jian ignored his surprise and started swinging the sword, each swing was heavy and seemed to be focused on power not speed.

Seeing this, Li Pingjun picked up his sword and tried activating the sword training ability, white lines appeared around him. It seemed Xiao Jian only blocked abilities that increases strength. With that Li Pingjun started swinging his sword, since he had experienced firsthand, how this sword style was used in battle, it was easier for him to learn the movements.

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The peak of Mount Gaoda. Hundreds of people had gathered, for the competition between the top sects. For sect disciples, the competition is a chance to prove themselves by fighting other sects disciples.

But for vagrant cultivators, it would be a chance to join one of the top sects. The sects allowed vagrant cultivators to join the competition for a fee, not only to temper their own sect disciples, but also find hidden gems within the vagrant cultivators.

Currently, ten platforms had been set up in the mountain peak. An elevated podium was on the left side of the platforms, tables and chairs had been set up. The representing elders of the sects was seated there.

Currently Chen Hua, the woman that Li Pingjun had knocked out in the forest was situated within a plot of space reserved for sect disciples. She stood at the corner with a blank face.

'Who was that person?'

She recalled the person she saw for a moment before being knocked out.

'his hair and eyes, is just like the sect master's disciple'

Her sect, Wondrous Sky sect is one of the top 3 sects. Last year her sect had a competition between sect disciples of the thousand blood sect, and she had seen the sect master's personal disciple transform just like the person she had seen in the forest.

"Are they related somehow?" Chen Hua murmured to herself.

"It's the elders!"

"It's starting!"

an uproar happened in the vagrant cultivator's place, this made Chen Hua snap out of her thoughts. She looked at the podium where the sect elder's gathered, and indeed seven elders from the seven sects attending the ceremony stood together at the front of the podium.

"Silence!" one of the elders silenced the crowd, he had long and lucsious black hair and had a goatee.

The cultivators quieted down, only then did the elder spoke.

"First of all, I thank all of the vagrant cultivators for attending this competition." He looked at the crowd of people.

"I believe that everyone here already knows the rules for this competition, but nonetheless we elders shall once again explain it" The man continued and looked at one of the elders as he stepped back.

One of the elders at the front, a woman with fiery red hair and a beautiful face stepped up.

"As per usual, there are ten platforms. Anyone may step up onto the platform and-"

The seven elders took turns to explain the rules. Basically, anybody can step up into the platforms, from then on they will need to try their best to keep their place on the platforms from other challengers. For any vagrant cultivators that wants to become a challenger, they would need to pay a fee of 1500 spirit stones.

And of course, no killing is allowed. surrender is allowed, and if you are beaten off the platforms, you will be considered disqualified. Everyone only has one chance to challenge the people on the platform and the platformers would be afforded a 10 minute time to recover after each battle.

Afterward, when nobody else is challenging the platformers, the ten remaining people on the platform will fight in a competition to determine the top ten positions. Should a vagrant cultivator be placed in the top ten spot, they would be given a chance to enter the sects should a sect is willing to take them in. For this competition only water gathering cultivators are fighting, if a vagrant cultivator was already at seed creation, they could just chose a sect to join basically.

After the elders finished explaining the rules, the elder with the goatee once again stepped up.

"Well then, since the rules had already been said, I shall not bore you any longer. Let the competition Begin!"