Finals

'Man how long is he gonna continue speaking for?' Zhang Wuji grumbled inwardly after suppressing his yawn for the nth time. Everytime he did that, his face looked unnatural and he was afraid he would be caught. His jaws were starting to bother him now. But there was nothing he could do. After all it was outer sect Elder Man Chong personally delivering the speech. All Elder level characters were atleast in the late stage of foundation establishment realm. It really puzzled him as to why such a big figure would even come to attend such an event much less give a speech.

He looked around to see half the spectator stands filled. That would mean every outer sect disciple was in attendance.

'Sigh, I wanted to enjoy watching this competition. Way to go old man. You fucking ruined the whole competition.' Zhang Wuji was really annoyed. The presence of such a high level character would mean no hooting, no booing, no whistles nothing. His arrival squeezed half the fun out of the games.

"...and finally, the winner would be taken in as the personal disciple of one of the Elders of the sect."

The whole stadium was stunned to silence, but since it was already silent it was just Zhang Wuji feeling as such. This was a golden opportunity that was usually only provided to those outer disciples with fifth grade root combined with great talent in other aspects. Now everyone had a shot at it.

"Personal disciple of the Elders?!"

"Unbelievable!! That's close to unlimited resources, the best guidance and basically a guarantee to the foundation building realm. Maybe even core formation."

"Damn! This is awesome!"

"Wait, WTF, why did they not announce it before?"

"Scoff, even if you knew beforehand, you would still remain a spectator."

"What do you know? Fuck! What a loss."

The whole stadium erupted with increasingly louder whispers before the sound of cursing at the missed opportunity by the majority dominated all other sounds.

"Silence!!" The Elder gave out an overwhelming aura that made it difficult to breathe for the disciples.

He gave them a stern look "There are other Elders watching the competition, so behave."

"Let the competition begin!"

The stadium was square with spectator stands surrounding a huge arena. The Elder, deacons and a few inner sect disciples were seated on a raised platform on the north side of the seats. At the east, closest to the arena were the ten seeds. There were no changes. They were the same top ten as before. On the west and south sides were the rest of the top 50. Only those ranked eleven to twenty were allowed to challenge the top ten. The rest had to climb step by step before they reached twenty. More accurately they had to climb ten ranks at a time till they reached the ranks from eleven to twenty and then go on to challenge the top ten.

The format was similar to what Pan Mu said but with a slight difference. Also the challenger could lose only two times before they lose their rights to challenge. Despite the dampening effect the Elder brought Zhang Wuji was still excited about the fights. Especially with the enticing reward the competition would be even more brutal.

The competition started with rank 50 challenging 33. Rank 50 was a familiar face. Mu Peipei had managed to beat some other guy and successfully entered top 50. Rank 33 was a burly young man that used a great saber. It was a weight forward balanced heavy weapon which allowed it to deal great damage when slashing. It adds great momentum which when properly carried through a combo of attacks multiplies it's damage several times.

But Mu Peipei's ribbon swords allowed her to play around with her opponent using that very weight to virtually cripple him of his strength. The burly young man finally lost with his robes in tatters and dyed red with blood.

The competition continued just like this with every challenger choosing an opponent they have an advantage over sometimes jumping more than twenty ranks.

"This is so boooring." Zhang Wuji did an exaggerated gesture and exclaimed. He finally couldn't hold it in.

"Where's the excitement? They are soo fucking careful with everything. It's not like they can jump into top ten like that." He got more and more animated as he spoke.

"Oye oye brother Wuji. Don't forget the Elder's here. Although he might not care about a little body refinement realm cultivator it is better to be careful anyway. You are lucky there's such a big crowd otherwise you would've been noticed." Lin Yingjie hurried to stop him from continuing.

"Yi! I totally forgot about him. Thanks brother for reminding me otherwise who knows what trouble my mouth would've brought me." He sat up straight.

"As long as you know. There isn't usually this big a crowd. The rankers also race through this part. The real competition only started after the top ten were decided. The Elder's presence changed everything. We can't have disciples doing their own things when the Elder himself is attending the competition. Also the lower ranked ones aren't really contending for top ten. They just want to show off or atleast be serious and not be disrespectful infront of the Elder."

"Brother Zhang, you really whine a lot. Look at brother Pan and learn from him." Wan Lin pointed at Pan Mu with his chin who was sleeping peacefully.

"How could he sleep like that?"

"He can sleep anywhere anytime. Do not underestimate him. He once slept through a whole class with his eyes wide open and back straight. Even we couldn't figure out when he slept."

"Right I'll try that too. Wake me up when the good part comes."

"It's too late for that. Eleven to twenty have been almost decided. This is the second last fight. After these two the top ten would be challenged. Wake brother Pan too."

The two fights were over soon. Starting from now, they no longer had to jump ten levels.

"Finally the number one would fight." Zhang Wuji was excited to see the battle power of number one.

"You'll be disappointed. Senior brother Han Dongfang might not be fighting today. Infact none of the top four might fight. All the fire would be concentrated on the bottom six. They have a similar combat level. But the top four are in a whole another level."

"How could there be such a difference in body refinement realm? Do they have a special body constitution or something?"

"No. Brother Zhang special constitutions are very rare. I don't think we have one in the sect. Atleast in the outer sect I'm sure there is none. Wang Chong, Xie Jingwen and Song Jia had reached grand completion in their martial arts long back. The three of them sparred with tens of outer disciples and even challenged inner disciples so their combat experience is impeccable. Especially Wang Chong, the only third grade spirit root in top ten. With the amount of time he had, he fought with hundreds of outer disciples and it is said that on his Sundays he goes out to hunt nearby bandits or beasts for combat experience in a real fight to death. Now that he is second ranked, he couldn't find a worthy opponent. With qi condensation realm cultivators, the weaker ones wield grade one weapons and other means to ensure they don't lose to him and the stronger ones are way out of his league. So he took a pill, got himself intoxicated and in that state fought with lower level disciples. He slowly increased the levels of intoxication and his opponents till he could even beat fifth ranked Ma Jun when intoxicated. He's crazy!"

"Wow that's amazing. But what about rank one? Don't tell me he could even beat level one qi condensation disciples?" Wang Chong's intro only got him excited about number one Han Dongfang.

"That fellow, he is a monster." Lin Yingjie shook his head and sighed.

"Yeah," Wan Lin looked down and sighed.

"Brother Zhang, senior brother Han is thirteen this year. In less than one year, he reached the peak of body refinement. This shocked everyone. You should know he has only a fourth grade spirit root. It should've taken him more than two years. But still double the speed wouldn't make him a monster that even Wang Chong avoids, just more talented than the average fourth grader."

"Oh then?"

"He trains in Golden Fist Art. It is a relatively difficult technique but popular within the sect as even it's higher levels are available in the sect. It was a Heaven tier martial art at its highest that could be practiced by even core formation realm cultivators. In less than half a year he managed to reach perfection in it. Perfection! It requires one to participate in real fights. Even then perfection is difficult to achieve. Senior brother Wong fought battles outside the sect for so many years but still hasn't reached perfection. He might be the greatest martial art genius the sect has ever seen. I even think that the special reward was introduced in this competition solely for senior brother Han."

Zhang Wuji couldn't help but be jealous. Had he transmigrated into his body that would've been awesome. But then he remembered there would be greater geniuses he would meet later in the story and got even more frustrated. Especially when he remembered that his system trails yielded no positive results yet.

"Life is so unfair." he looked towards the sky and said.

"Yeah it is"

"Yeah"

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.

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Lin Yingjie, Wan Lin, Pan Mu and others around that heard the whole thing looked towards the sky and sighed.

"Sigh brother Zhang it doesn't end there. The main reason Wang Chong stays away from hem is his combat style. You'll understand when you see it. Even imagining it makes me uncomfortable." Lin Yingjie said with an unnatural look on his face.

Zhang Wuji shook the depression out of his head and looked towards the arena. A tall burly young man with a stoic look on his fearsome face wielding a great sword with a two palm width blade at its widest and 1.5m in length was fighting a short young man with two daggers. The contrast helped lift his mood a little.

The short man was agile, jumping all around the tall one looking for an opportunity to close in and land a blow. The tall man rarely moved. But everytime he did, he sent the short one running with his tail between his legs. If he were to be hit by the great sword, a serious injury would be an obvious.

"That's senior brother Lei Feng. He is known for his steady moves. He stands like a mountain and his every move is packed with the weight of one. He is the oldest in top ten other than Wang Chong, at sixteen. He and Xiao Zhimei are the only ones not first class in the top ten. Xiao Zhimei has her family providing her with resources so her cultivation speed more or less matches first class disciples."

"Wait Wang Chong is a first class disciple?"

"Yes. He beat the battle tower."

"Battle Tower is a joke. One will have to have reached grand completion and have ample combat experience before reaching high stage to beat it. Once you step into high stage you will have to fight qi condensation realm cultivators at the fifth level. Maybe only a monster like senior brother Han can beat it at that stage." Pan Mu grumbled. He had reached completion long back but was sure he could not reach grand completion before seventh level. If he purposefully delayed cultivation for that, he would be kicked out when he reached twenty.

"When did he reach grand completion?"

"Within an year. He was only level four back then."

'I reached completion in four months. It is possible that I could beat the tower and become first class myself.' Zhang Wuji was excited thinking about his bright future.

On the arena, the short man eventually got tired with running around under the pressure of the mountain and did a mistake. If the deacon refereeing the fight hadn't intervened in the last moment he would've been cleaved into two.

'Damn that was dangerous.' Zhang Wuji was covered with cold sweat looking at the disciple almost get sliced in two.

"Brother Lin do people die in this competition?" he was filled with trepidation at the thought of it.

"That's very rare. Last time that happened was five years back. It only happened because the killer had intended to kill. It might look like senior Lei would've killed him, but in reality he intentionally slowed down a little so that the referee could intervene. Usually deaths happened only when the fighters are equally matched. The referee is not given the time to react. But that only applies for those outside top ten. When top ten contend, high stage qi condensation realm deacons would act as referees."

"What happened to the killer?"

"He argued that he wasn't sure if the blow would land and overestimated the opponent. The kill was done at the right timing and nobody could prove that he intentionally killed. Everyone knows he killed as the victim was an enemy of his but no one could prove that so it was written off as an unfortunate accident and he was given only a light punishment."

"Then couldn't everyone orchestrate such kills?"

"As long as you are a first class disciple and the victim isn't you could. Otherwise you'll have to hire someone unrelated to do the deed. As long as the kill looks accidental one wouldn't be punished. But if you are enemies and you kill, it wouldn't matter even if it really was an accident, you would be killed or crippled."

"But this time since a foundation building realm cultivator is overseeing the things, no one would dare stage an accident. At foundation building one gains spirit sense and is able to get precise details of everything one senses."

'It would be better to stay away from such competitions in the future unless I'm absolutely sure I could dominate every other participant.'

Lei Feng just fought and couldn't be challenged for a while. The challenger, an ordinary looking young man wielding a staff, challenged Xiao Zhimei ranked seventh, who also wielded a staff.

"Senior sister Xiao I would like to see how my staff art compares to your family's art."

She did not reply and calmly got into her fighting pose. The referee gave the signal and the fight began.

The challenger wielded the staff more like a club. He practiced a martial art which uses a heavy staff to beat the opponent to a pulp. It came with all kinds of tricks to use the ground to add strength to the rod and various holding techniques to handle the recoil and send it back to the opponent. The art Earth Moving Staff was a Phantom tier martial art suitable for qi condensation realm cultivators. What he was using was a simplified Mortal tier version of that. It had a variety of strike, smash and poke moves. There were blocks too but it concentrated more on attacks.

Xiao Zhimei used her family's martial art known for its versatility. Apart from the attacks and blocks, it had spins and techniques to disperse and divert attacks. Unlike the Earth Moving Staff, it required a flexible and light staff in comparision.

She used the weight behind his staff to bring his balance forward and thrash him to the ground. He rolled away quick to escape the barrage of attacks that followed. After a while of thrashing and escaping, she used a feint downward smash followed by a one handed side spin to transition to a poke to his heart to stun him, stepped to his side and landed a blow to his throat and finally disarmed him.

He fell to his knees clutching his throat and coughing miserably. His saliva extended down his lip as the referee declared the winner. He breathed heavily before cleaning his drool, standing up and cupping his fists towards Xiao Zhimei and leaving. She did not return his gesture and watched him leave.

'No 'your art doesn't deserve to be spoken in the same line as my family's' or something?! Maybe in the presence of the Elder there wouldn't be such dialogues.

'Its all so quiet. Sigh, still the fight was fun.'

In the following matches the ten challengers fought with the fifth to tenth rankers. Each of them fought atleast once. All in the top ten had different weapons and combat styles. But all of them were mainstream weapons like the staff, sword, spear and saber. The only exotic weapon in the fights was an iron fan.

Zhang Wuji really wanted to see how practical fan as a weapon would be.

Zheng Xie ranked fifteen was a handsome young man with fair skin and long hair some of it held in a top knot with an intricately carved gold accessory and a dragon pin. His whole body was covered with gold accessories and he wielded an iron fan with gold borders. The fan had a scenary painted on one side and a tiger with sabertooth like teeth on the other.

"Is he trying to win by blinding his opponents?" Zhang Wuji had a stupefied look as he saw this spectacle.

"Well, he does sometimes use that tactic." Lin Yingjie replied with a wry smile.

"Really?! How rich is he?"

"He is the grandson of an Elder. He is usually taught by his own grandfather and comes to the outer sect to flirt or participate in the competition."

"Why is he like that? Is his grandfather also so flashy?"

"Brother Zhang, that's an Elder you are talking about. Elder Zheng Shaoqiu is a core formation realm cultivator and also a respectable alchemist. How brother Zheng turned out like that is a mystery."

"You know him?"

"Yeah he is quite friendly. I'll introduce you later."

Zheng Xie challenged He Jifeng.

"Brother He, you hit quite the jackpot. Congratulations"

"Thank you brother Zheng."

"So when's the wedding? Am I invited? Did you speak to senior brother Yue Fei after that?"

"I.."

"Ahem. could you start the fight? Don't keep the Elder waiting." The referee cleared his throat and reminded.

"It's no problem. Uncle Man wouldn't mind. Right uncle Man" Zheng Xie wanted to continue the conversation. It was an interesting topic after all. Elder Man Chong gave a wry smile and didn't hurry them.

Zheng Xie was about to continue but it looked like he heard something and stopped. He pouted. "Whatever let's fight." He snapped open his fan and got into fighting pose.

The referee gave the signal and He Jifeng closed the distance to slash down with his willow leaf saber. Zheng Xie closed the fan a bit, stepped to the left and forward, deflected the blade a little to the right and swiftly opened the fan and aimed to cut He Jifeng's throat.

He Jifeng pushed the fan wielding wrist away with the free hand while turning his body to his right and slashed at his now extended arm.

Zheng Xie spun on the spot and aimed for the left side of the throat. He Jifeng turned and was about to parry when it happened. A bright golden light shone in his eyes and he involuntarily closed them. He quickly brought his saber in defensive position and retreated.

He opened his eyes to slits. The view was still unclear. All of a sudden his heart started to pound and he fell backwards to the ground.

"Aiyya that was my killing move. Didn't expect you to dodge that. Alright then. I accept my defeat. Don't forget to invite me to the wedding. See ya." He got out the arena and left the stadium. He Jifeng was still on the ground sweating buckets. He looked back to the stadium wall behind him. There was a small pin size hole there and smoke still coming out. He did not see it and did not know what he was but he knew he would've been dead had he reacted a second later.

"Why did he leave? It was just getting started and he even got the upper hand." Zhang Wuji asked Lin Yingjie.

"He Jifeng saw his trick and would be careful next time. It would no longer work. The fight would then be a long slow battle where He Jifeng would make sure there are no surprises before striking ending with Zheng Xie's defeat as he would be the first to empty his energy reserves as an eight level body refinement realm cultivator. This is what brother Zheng does. Tries to use some trick to defeat stronger opponents. If he fails, he immediately accepts defeat and does not waste energy."

The battles continued and by five in the evening, the eleventh ranker was also done with his challenge. There were no changes in the top ten. The competition would continue and the finals will be held the next day. The Elder said some words and everyone went their way.