701 - 711

"Bro Ritian! Seeing you coming here to fight with your opponent, does that mean you are assigned to fight in this Arena Three?" asked Wu Jiechao in a cautious manner.

"What? You and I are given the number, three? Don't worry! I promise you that I will never beat you to death!" said Zhao Ritian in a mocking manner.

"No…No… No… Bro Ritian. You have misunderstood me! I'm too weak to join in this competition! Bro Bei is the one that is assigned to Area Three!" said Wu Jiechao while shaking his head.

"Motherf*cker! What do you mean by that?! You just called me Bro Ritian! Now you are calling that son of a bitch your Bro Bei?! Are you trying to call me a bitch?!" shouted Zhao Ritian in fury.

"This… Bro Ritian! Listen to me! Bro Bei is really powerful! Both of you are my bros!" said Wu Jiechao, frustrated.

"Him? Look at him! He's still a freaking teenager! There's no way that he is more powerful than me! I can defeat with only half my skill once he steps onto the fighting arena!"

"Bro Ritian! Calm down! You must calm down! It's best not to talk about killing someone here. When it comes to the martial arts competition, there are certain lines one should never cross!"

"Hmph! Don't you worry! I'm a man of reason! I will not kill him as long as he kneels down in front of me and yields!"

"About this…"

Wu Jiechao gulped and he did not dare to say another word anymore.

"Okay. I will remember your advice!" said Chen Xiaobei with a smile.

"Not bad! Better be smart! I want you to know that you will not end well if you insist to go against me!"

"Don't act so cocky first! I think you misunderstood me! I mean I will remember to give you a chance to kneel down in front of me and beg for your life! I don't want to cripple you the moment you step into the fighting arena!"

"What?! You son of a bitch! How dare you say that you are going to beat me up later?! Do you believe that I will cripple you right here right now?!"

"Shut the f*ck up already! Save your strength to fight on the stage later! To those who disrupt the peace of the martial art competition, I will personally destroy their cultivation and kick them out of Mount Xuanjian!"

Suddenly, a young man strode toward them. Judging from his attire, one could see that he was from Xuanjian Faction.

"Damn! Shixiong Zheng! Why are you here?! Are you assigned to Arena Three as well? If that's the case, I think you will be crowned as the winner before the fighting begins!"

Seconds ago, Zhao Ritian was acting like a total arrogant bastard. The moment he saw Shixiong Zheng, he turned into a boot-licking asshole. With that being said, one could expect that Shixiong Zheng was way more powerful than Zhao Ritian.

"Greeting Shixiong Zheng!" said Wu Jiechao in a polite manner.

"I'm going to tell you guys honestly that Area Three is almost known as the Death Group! Other than me, there are a lot of powerful elites being assigned to this group too!" said Shixiong Zheng.

He did not even both to look at Chen Xiaobei and Wu Jiechao while talking.

"Thank you Shixiong Zheng for the warning. I did not register to participate in this martial arts competition!" said Wu Jiechao while gulping.

After that, Shixiong Zheng turned around and looked at Chen Xiaobei. However, Chen Xiaobei could not bother to look at him anymore. He was completely ignored by Chen Xiaobei. One should know that Chen Xiaobei was the kind of person that be amenable to friendly persuasion but not to compulsion. If Shixiong Zheng spoke to Chen Xiaobei from the very beginning, he would definitely treat him with respect – vice-versa.

"Eh?"

Immediately, Shixiong Zheng's face darkened. He was glaring at Chen Xiaobei like a viper glared at its preys.

"Shixiong Zheng! This kid really loves to act tough! Before you come, this kid claimed that he wanted all the contestants from Arena Three to kneel down and beg for his mercy! If not, he will cripple those who refuse to yield to him!"

Seeing that this was an opportunity to bring trouble to Chen Xiaobei, Zhao Ritian went and angered Shixiong Zheng.

"What?! Son of a bitch! Do you even know what place is this?! Acting tough in Xuanjian Faction is no different from killing yourself!"

"No! Shixiong Zheng, it's just a misunderstanding! Bro Bei did not mean that! Bro Ritian is trying to…"

Initially, Wu Jiechao wanted to explain everything to Shixiong Zheng. However, he was forced to swallow back the words when he saw Zhao Ritian was glaring at him. Amongst them, Wu Jiechao was the weakest. That was why he could not muster enough courage to help Chen Xiaobei.

"Everyone! Be quiet!"

Just when Shixiong Zheng wanted to throw a tantrum, one of the elders of Xuanjian Faction made an announcement.

"The martial arts competition will officially begin now! The first battle will begin between Zheng Zaigao and Chen Yishi!"

"Yes!"

Immediately, Shixiong Zheng responded to the call. Though he was not happy with Chen Xiaobei, he knew that he had to go and fight with his first opponent for now! Before he left, he did a throat-slitting gesture to Chen Xiaobei.

"Hehe… Son of a bitch! Pray now! Shixiong Zheng hates you now! He will definitely cripple you when he faces you on the stage later!" said Zhao Ritian with a vicious smile.

"Is he really that good?" asked Chen Xiaobei.

He did not even bother to use his Netherspirit Battlescouter to check on him. Since the eight seeded fighters were chosen, Chen Xiaobei knew that the rest of the contestants were not even at True Nirvana cultivation. To Chen Xiaobei, Zhao Ritian and Zheng Zaigao were just two piles of dead meat.

"You are like a frog that lives under a well! Shixiong Zheng is the fourth most powerful person in this martial arts competition! He is an elite with Halfstep True Nirvana cultivation! Ignorance is bliss!" said Zhao Ritian while rolling his eyes at him.

"How about you? What's your ranking?"

"I'm the seventh most powerful person here! An elite with Halfstep True Nirvana cultivation! It's not too late for you to surrender!"

"Sorry! I don't know how to surrender! Maybe you should show me how one surrenders!"

"You have a death wish with you…"

Plop!

Suddenly, a person fell from the fighting arena. The person coughed out a mouthful of blood and became unconscious.

"Zheng Zaigao is the winner for the first battle!" shouted the judge.

"That was so fast! He defeated him with only a single blow! Shixiong Zheng is definitely more powerful compared to the previous year!" shouted Wu Jiechao.

"Kid! Did you see the power of Shixiong Zheng? Still dare to act tough?! Be afraid! Ahaha…"

At the same time, the judge continued to announce.

"The second battle! Chen Xiaobei versus Cao Zhenyang!"

"Hahaha! Kid! You are so unlucky! It seems like you are going to face an opponent that is more powerful than you during your first battle! Last year, Cao Zhenyang was an elite with 20,000 combat power! I believe he has achieved Halfstep True Nirvana stage this year! Please! Show me the way to act tough in front of elite like him!" said Zhao Ritian with a laugh.

"Shit! Bro Bei… Your opponent is Cao Zhenyang! He is really a powerful opponent! You will surely be beaten up if you insist to go against him!" said Wu Jiechao, nervous.

"Hmph! First match will be so damn easy! I can defeat my opponent with only one single hit! I think Cao Zhenyang is going to defeat this son of a bitch with one single hit as well! This is so boring!" said Zheng Zaigao.

"Heh… There's nothing worth bragging about here! The best way to win the round is to wait for your opponent to yield to you before the fight begins!"

"What? What do you mean by that? Do you know you are about to face a powerful opponent?! This is not the time for you to act tough! I'm going to make sure that I open my eyes wide to see how the hell you are going to defeat Cao Zhenyang!"

"Shixiong Zheng, you don't have to get on the same level with that idiot! I, Zhao Ritian will run to the bathroom to eat shit if this kid can defeat Cao Zhenyang!" said Zhao Ritian in an arrogant manner.

"Bro Bei… You really shouldn't act tough here…" said Wu Jiechao, worried.

However, Chen Xiaobei was still acting really calm. All he did was smile and not say a single word. Suddenly, the judge that was responsible for Arena Three made a shocking announcement.

"Huh???"

Upon hearing that, Zheng Zaigao, Zhao Ritian, and Wu Jiechao were completely taken aback—standing there like idiots. All three of them were rendered speechless. Earlier, they thought that Cao Zhenyang would surely defeat Chen Xiaobei. To their surprise, Cao Zhenyang just told the judge that he wanted to yield to Chen Xiaobei. They did not expect the thing that Chen Xiaobei mentioned to them earlier just came true!

"Zheng Zaigao! Do you still think that this is boring?" asked Chen Xiaobei with an ear-to-ear grin.

Feeling embarrassed, Zheng Zaigao was being slapped by Chen Xiaobei after bragging about defeating his enemies with only a single hit.

"Zhao Ritian! It's time to head to the bathroom to eat shit! I don't see a lot of people heading to the bathroom now. Better to go now than later. I'm afraid that your stomach can't handle so much shit!"

"I…"

Zhang Ritian's face was slowly turning red. It was as if he just being slapped for multiple times. The unexpected result had just put him to real shame. It there was a hole on the ground now, he would definitely not hesitate to hide inside it.

"Now, Zhao Ritian and Wang Taidi are going to fight with each other in the third match!"

The moment Zhao Ritian head the announcement from the judge, he rushed to the stage without any second thought. At least, he did not need to go to the bathroom to eat shit anymore.

"Bro… Bro Bei… What is going on? Why did Cao Zhenyang yield to you?" asked Wu Jiechao, shocked.

"I'm not too sure about it as well! Maybe I'm just too damn handsome! That is why he felt shy to be on the same stage as me!"

Zheng Zaigao could not help but roll his eyes after hearing Chen Xiaobei praising himself.

"I have never come across such a narcissistic person! I'm pretty sure Cao Zhenyang has other matters that require his attention! If not, you can prepare yourself to be killed by him!"

Ignored him, Chen Xiaobei took out his cellphone and saw a text sent by Cao Zhenyang.

[Damn it! What an unlucky moment! I can't believe that I have to fight you during the first round! There's nothing I can do about it except for surrendering to you! The reason why I didn't come to you is because I don't want you to be targeted by possible threat. I'm looking forward to your upcoming fight.]

Smiled, Chen Xiaobei realized that Cao Zhenyang was an understanding man. He knew when to make an approach and when to take a step back. Not like some of the jokers that failed to realize Chen Xiaobei's true strength. Not too long after that, Zhao Ritian managed to acquire another victory.

Then, another twelve rounds of fighting were done. And fifteen out of thirty contestants were being eliminated. Other than that, three people suffered a great deal of injuries even though they won in their rounds. In the end, they were forced to step down from the competition.

After the first round of elimination, there were twelve contestants left in Arena Three.

The second round elimination was about to begin.

"Among the twelve contestants, eleven of them are powerful elites! Someone must be thinking of yielding right now?!" Zheng Zaigao glared at Chen Xiaobei and asked.

"That someone is just lucky that Cao Zhenyang yielded to him just now! If this happens again, then the person is really a dumbass!"

Feeling unashamed, Zhao Ritian had completely forgotten that he promised Chen Xiaobei that he was going to go to the bathroom and eat shit. Immediately, he started to mock Chen Xiaobei again. Though they did not mention the name, even an idiot would know that they were talking about Chen Xiaobei.

Looking worried, Wu Jiechao still feared for Chen Xiaobei.

"I'm going to announce the next battle round! Chen Xiaobei is going to face Zhuang Bifan in the next battle!"

Due to time constraints, the judge announced the next fight right after he received the arrangement.

"Haha! It's Zhuang Bifan! Bastard! You are so dead!"

"Zhuang Bifan is famous for his ruthless fighting method! You are either going to be killed by him or crippled by him! I will respect you as a real man if you choose not to surrender to him!" said Zhao Ritian and Zheng Zaigao joyfully.

"I yield! I don't think I can do anything in this round!"

Suddenly, Zhuang Bifan made a shocking announcement. Before waiting for the judge to announce it, Zhuang Bifan left the arena quickly.

"What… What the hell is going on?"

The happy look on Zheng Zaigao and Zhao Ritian were completely frozen. They then looked at each other dumbfounded.

"Bro.. Bro Bei… Why did Zhuang Bifan surrender to you as well?"

Even Wu Jiechao was shocked to his core. He then pinched himself in the face because he thought that he was just dreaming.

"Hehe… I really think that I'm too handsome! That's why Zhuang Bifan felt ashamed of fighting with me! I thought I can rely on my true strength to win in this competition! To my surprise, I can't believe that I'm using my handsome face to defeat my opponent! Damn… I feel so lonely for being invincible!"

"Ugh…"

Rendered speechless, Zheng Zaigao, Zhao Ritian, and Wu Jiechao were completely stunned by Chen Xiaobei's speech. Seconds ago, Zhang Zaigao and Zhao Ritian were still mocking Chen Xiaobei. Now, they were being slapped by Chen Xiaobei once again. The two of them started to doubt that this was actually just a dream.

The match went on.

With his good luck, Zhao Ritian managed to defeat another opponent. At the same time, someone was watching Zhao Ritian from far. The person took out his cellphone and snatched two Red Envelopes that were sent to him.

In the corner.

The person had a black cape draped on him. And his big hat managed to block his face completely. No one knew him and no one even noticed his existence.

Dong!

[Congratulations! You have snatched a Red Envelope from Shen Gongpao! You have received a Deity Capturing Twine (Replica). It has been stored inside your treasure chest!]

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have snatched a Red Envelope from Shen Gongpao! You have received a Treasure Pot (There are 10,000 Spiritual Stones inside it!) It has been stored inside your treasure chest!]

There were two notifications that popped up on the mysterious man's cellphone. An ordinary human being would have treated this kind of messages as advertisement or notifications from a mobile game. If Chen Xiaobei saw it, he would know that an evil plan was in the works.

Shen Gongpao was the one that took Jiang Ziya's place to work for the Primordial Lord of Heaven! The rule in heaven mentioned that no one was allowed to send Red Envelope to human beings on the earthly realm except for special occasion or festivals!

If the deity wanted to send a Red Envelope to the person, it was compulsory for the person to pay a reasonable amount of merit points to the sender. This was to prevent breaking the balance between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm. Previously, Jiang Ziya was banished to the earthly realm because he broke this particular rule!

That was why it was impossible for Shen Gongpao to make the same mistake. If Shen Gongpao was not making a mistake—that would mean his act was actually approved by the Primordial Lord of Heaven! And this mysterious man was definitely part of the plan of the Primordial Lord of Heaven as well! Clearly, an evil was about to surface during this martial arts competition!

Ding!

The mysterious person's cellphone rang again.

Shen Gongpao: Six Ears! All the things that you requested from me are done!

Shen Gongpao: I looked for a loophole in the rule and manage to let you reincarnate as who you are now! Other than that, I just gave you an ability called "Demonic Mirror Obsidian Shadow"! Now, I just send you the Deity Capturing Twine and Spiritual Stones!

Shen Gongpao: I'm not going to say anything more! There's only one thing that is important to me! You have to complete the thing that you promised me!

Six Ears Macaque: Of course! I have only been taken advantage of by the Buddha since I was born! My target is only a mere human! You have nothing to worry about.

After receiving the message, the mysterious person named Six Ears Macaque on the internet kept his cell phone. His pair of eyes were hiding in his hoody and staring at the arena. If an ordinary human being saw that this mysterious person was talking to Shen Gongpao, the person would definitely laugh at him and ignored him. However, if Chen Xiaobei saw it, he would have known that this mysterious person was the legendary Six Ears Macaque!

A long time ago, Six Ears Macaque was known as the imposter of the Monkey King!

Guanyin could not tell which one was the real Monkey King.

The Tuning Divine Beast failed to differentiate the fake Monkey King as well.

Even when Sanzang chanted the Crown-Tightening Spell, the suffering look on their faces was not different as well.

Other than physical look, the power and strength possessed by Six Ears Macaque were completely similar with Monkey King as well. When it fought with the real Monkey King, they traveled to heaven and back to hell. They even disrupted the land and the sea. Still, neither of them had been victorious. In the end, Buddha had to intervene to stop the battle. Using the Golden Alms Bowl, Buddha managed to capture the Six Ears Macaque and forced him to show his true form. In the end, he was killed by Monkey King with a single hit from the Jingu Bang!

From here, one could see that Six Ears Macaque was actually extremely powerful! The moment Shen Gongpao came up with all the effort and strength to send Six Ears Macaque to the earthly realm, one could see that the evil plan that they were planning were extremely huge! But, Chen Xioabei still did not know about it.

Fortunately, Six Ears Macaque was dead once. He was now brought back from the dead and sent to the earthly realm by Shen Gongpao. The Ancestral Daoist, Hong Jun had banned any deities and humans from performing resurrection. Though the Primordial Lord of Heaven managed to find a loophole to revive Six Ears Macaque, he did not manage to carry over any of his power. However, he did manage to bring over his natural talent, Demonic Mirror Obsidian Shadow! It would require a tremendous amount of Spiritual Stones to activate it every time!

As for the replica item, Deity Capturing Twine, Six Ears Macaque would have to spend a good amount of Spiritual Stone on it before using it. Without his Dao Path and power, there was still hope for Chen Xiaobei to defeat him even if he did not know his existence. If Six Ears Macaque descended from heaven to earth in his prime form—that would be the end of the world.

...

As time passed by, the second round of elimination in Arena Three had finally ended.

Six out of twelve people were defeated. Amongst the six winners, there were three of them who suffered great injuries. And they were forced to go home because of that. In the end, the only person left in the arena were Chen Xiaobei, Zhao Ritian, and Zheng Zaigao.

"We are now going to use the drawing method to pick two people to fight with each other first! After that, the winner will have to battle with the last person!" said the judge.

"Sir, I'm going to save you the trouble! Give me a few minutes to make that bastard yield to me!"

Zhao Ritian glared at Chen Xiabei in disdain and said. On the other hand, the judge nodded to indicate that he agreed with Zhao Ritian's method.

"Kid! Better think carefully! It's not too late to yield to me! If not, I might accidentally cripple you later! And please don't blame me for that!"

The moment he turned around, Zhao Ritian started to threaten Chen Xiaobei.

"You better think carefully as well! I will not make your life difficult if you yield to me right now! You will have to kneel down and beg for my mercy to let you go once we get into the fighting arena!" said Chen Xiaobei while shrugging.

"Bastard! You are obviously making the wrong choice here! The reason why you are standing here is because Cao Zhenyang and Zhuang Bifan surrendered to you for no reason! Let me tell you that Ritian and I will never yield to you no matter what! You will be killed by either one of us here if you still insist to fight us!"

"Hehe… I thought there are lines that we are not supposed to cross? Technically speaking, I shouldn't be killed while fighting them!" asked Chen Xiaobei with a smile while looking at the judge.

"Accidents happen sometimes! As a weakling, you fail to realize that you will be killed by either one of them eventually! There's no one to blame but yourself if you are killed in the battle later!" said the judge.

"That's right! Accidents are bound to happen when an ultra-powerful elite fights with a weakling! If you don't want to be killed by us, just get the hell out from here right now!" said Zhao Ritian.

"Kid! Just get lost! Don't waste our time!" said Zheng Zaigao.

"Okay. I don't want to waste everyone's time as well!" said Chen Xioabei, nodded.

"Hehe… Finally, you made a smart decision! Get lost now!"

Immediately, Zheng Zaigao, Zhao Ritian, and the judge put on a mocking smile on their faces. Seconds later, the thing that Chen Xiaobei announced almost made them bit their own tongues.

"In order to save time, I think it's better for the two of you to fight me at the same time!"

Chen Xiaobei used his fingers to point at Zhao Ritian and Zheng Zaigao, taunting them.

"What?! You want to fight the both of us at the same time?! Did you leave your brain at home today?! This is suicidal!"

All three of them stared at Chen Xiaobei with their eyes wide opened, they could not believe the thing that Chen Xiaobei just said.

"Using one of my hands is enough to defeat both of you!" said Chen Xioabei while shrugging.

"What? You want to hit us both with one hand?"

Zheng Zaigao and Zhao Ritian's eyes widen in disbelief. They were both being humiliated.

"F*ck! I've met a lot of dickheads but I've never met one as cocky as you!"

Zhao Ritian then shouted impatiently, "Judge! Since this kid is begging to be tortured, let's fulfill his wish!"

 "This stubborn and ignorant fool deserves a lesson! He thinks that we're afraid of him? Make him suffer!" said Zheng Zaigao.

"Alright! Since you are all in agreement, I'll take a backseat." 

The judge shrugged and left the stage. He signaled to them and said, "Whenever you're ready!"

After a short while, the crowd stirred restlessly.

"Look! Look over at that arena! They are doing two versus one!"

"What the hell! That kid looks like he's only about twenty! Is he fighting against Shixiong Zheng and Bro Ritian? Is he insane?"

 "He's not just insane, he's exchanging his life for the sake of gloating? Knowing Bro Ritian, he will definitely torture that kid to death!"

"Shixiong Zheng was the third runner up of last term's competition. He would never ever forgive that kid for taunting him like that!"

"This is going to be good!" 

 ...

The crowd went wild, hollering and cheering. They looked at Chen Xiaobei like he had lost his mind, anticipating his persecution.

"Shit… We're in deep shit… Bro Bei shouldn't get himself in trouble again... I better go look for a doctor first…" Wu Jiechao fretted, certain that Chen Xiaobei would lose.

 In the arena.

Zheng Zaigao smirked and said, "Hey kid! Didn't you say that you can beat us with one hand? Come on, let me show you a move or two first!"

"Alright. Since you're so generous then I won't be shy!"

Chen Xiaobei shrugged and walked over.

 "Oh?" Zhao Ritian snapped, "What do you think you're doing? You come unarmed and it seems like you are not going to use any skill against me as well! By the way, there's no True Qi being channeled to your body too! You are obviously insulting our intelligence! Only a buffoon will believe that you would win…"

Smack!

Before Zhao Ritian could continue, a sharp noise stopped him mid-sentence.

"I… F*ck!"

 Zhao Ritian startled, his eyeballs nearly fell out their sockets.

In a blink of an eye, last season's third runner up who possessed Halfstep True Nirvana cultivation, the one Zheng Zaigao worshipped, actually flew off the arena's platform!

 "Bleurgh…" 

Zheng Zaigao bent over and hurled, smearing the floor with blood and teeth. His pupils rolled to the back of his head and he passed out.

On his face was a red swollen handprint. 

He was kicked off the arena with one slap! 

"Oh God… Shi… Shixiong Zheng is defeated… Just like that? What in the world did the kid do?"

"I didn't see it clearly! He was standing about three steps away from Shixiong Zheng. It happened too fast. We couldn't see what he was doing then suddenly Shixiong Zheng flew down…"

"Need you ask? Just look at the impression on Shixiong Zheng's face, and put that together with that thunderous clap—that kid hit him!"

 "What the! All of that happened in one slap? That kid… I mean, that young man must be really strong!"

 "I don't know how strong he is but he is definitely stronger than us! He might be a hidden elite!"

 "This is the epitome of the saying 'There will always be someone better'."

 ...

 The crowd was thrown off their seats. Now, they looked at Chen Xiabei in a completely different light. There was not an ounce of disdain as before but it was replaced with a deep sense of respect!

"My goodness…" 

 Likewise, Zhao Ritian was staggered by the way Chen Xiaobei defeated Zheng Zaigao.

 "Judge! Judge! I surr…" Zhao Ritian shouted in terror. But he was stopped midway.

Chen Xiaobei raised his palm, looking like he was about to burst out laughing.

"Say one more word and I make sure that you fly higher and further than Zheng Zaigao!"

Hiss… 

Zhao Ritian sucked in his breath like a strangled old duck.

He understood that he was not as strong as Zheng Zaigao; if he were to be hit by Chen Xiaobei, not only would he be thrown higher and further, he would even suffer worse injuries!

At the thought of this, Zhao Ritian stared dolefully at the judge, hoping that the old man could get him out of the pit.

Unfortunately, that old man looked away, pretending not to see. He had no intention of helping Zhao Ritian; in fact, he did not have the courage!

Even though the old man was the elder of Xuanjian Faction, his cultivation was not much better than Zheng Zaigao's.

 To put it bluntly, the old man was deeply terrified. He did not dare to offend Chen Xiaobei.

"Jiechao! Jiechao! Help me put in a good word… We are brothers…"

Zhao Ritian looked anxiously to Wu Jiechao; he was on the verge of wetting his pant.

 Wu Jiechao ignored him. He was stuck to the ground like a puppet, eyes wide opened and mouth agape, too shaken to respond.

 He did not believe that Chen Xiaobei would win. He was even ready to call the doctor for him.

Fortunately, not only did he win, he won without suffering from any injuries—a flawless victory!

He used only a single slap to cripple Zheng Zaigao. If Wu Jie Chao was in his shoes, he would be instantly defeated by Chen Xiaobei's finger!

"Mr. Chen… Big Brother Chen… You said that you would give me a chance to beg for mercy. Have you forgotten about that?"

Zhao Ritian had no way out. He could only plead with Chen Xiaobei.

 "Of course, I didn't forget."

 Chen Xiaobei shrugged and said, "But do you remember how to beg?"

 "I…"

Zhao Ritian felt dismayed.

He had reached a point of no return. 

Bam!

Zhao Ritian's legs trembled and he fell on his knees. He knelt before Chen Xiaobei in front of thousands of people, pleading, "Mr. Chen! I'm weaker than you! Please forgive me this one time! Please don't stoop to my level!"

Immediately, the crowd landed their attention on them.

Even the big shots were shaken. They had their eyes glued on the both of them as well.

 "Oh?"

The faction leader of Mount Hua Faction, Yue Changkong narrowed his eyes and he said solemnly, "I would never have thought that other than the eight seed players, there's a hidden gem over there!"

The grand elder of Green Town Faction, Su Dongruo nodded and said, "That young man is rather interesting. Please don't fight with me later. After the competition ends, I will approach and try to recruit him to my faction!"

"People like us always love to have talented people joining our faction! Grand Elder Su, feel free to go and approach him later! Whether it's Green Town Faction or Mount Hua Faction, he is blessed to join either one of it."

On the other hand, Liu Xiyuan, Zhuang Bihuang, and Situ Hengfeng had the exact same thought in their heart—Mount Hua Faction and Green Town Faction are not worthy to carry shoes for Chen Xiaobei!

"Alright. You may get out of my sight!" said Chen Xiaobei, looking at Zhao Ritian impatiently.

"Yes, yes, yes…"

Zhao Ritian rushed down the arena and disappeared into thin air.

"I would like to announce that the winner is Chen Xiaobei! As the winner of Arena Three, he is officially qualified for the semi-finals!" The judge declared and then quickly turned toward Chen Xiaobei and began backscratching, "Mr. Chen, congratulations! Soon, you will be able to join the hidden faction! I can see that you will have a bright future ahead of you!"

Chen Xiaobei turned his back on the old man and left the arena.

Before the fight began, the old man had told Chen Xiaobei condescendingly that those who were weak must admit that they are weak. He even said that Chen Xiaobei could only count himself unlucky when he was killed in the match. 

The old man's face burned a fiery red as if he had just been slapped on the face. Even so, he did not dare make any comment. He merely bowed submissively as shivers ran down his spine for fear of being at the receiving end of Chen Xiaobei's retribution.

"Who the hell is this kid? He's so damn arrogant!" Su Dongruo squinted and said, "It seems like controlling him is not going to be as easy as we thought it would be!"

"Hehe. Taming wild horses is my hobby!" Yue Changkong said, his eyes chock-full with confidence, "The wilder and more arrogant he is, the more I desire to subdue him!"

Upon hearing that, the grand elder of Mount Hua Faction, Zhuang Bihuang could not help but start to shake unconsciously. To him, Chen Xiao was a demigod that one should not mess with.

Afraid that they might anger Chen Xiaobei, Zhuang Bihuang quickly changed the topic.

"I think there are quite a number of talented fighters as well! The Chen kid is not the only talented fighter here! It's not compulsory for us to pick him!"

"That's right! What Grand Elder Zhuang said is right!" Liu Xiyuan added, "Look at the Phantom Rain at Arena One! He's pretty good! Though he is wearing a mask, one can see that he's actually very talented and powerful!"

Evidently, Liu Xiyuan wanted them to change their target as well.

The Liu Family and Green Town Faction were on good terms. If Su Dongruo upsets Chen Xiaobei, that would mean the Liu Family would have to suffer with them!

When Su Dongruo heard this, he laughed and said, "Hehe, Brother Liu, are you really that thick or are you playing a fool? Don't tell me that you still haven't yet figured out who Phantom Rain is!"

"That… No… I haven't."

 Liu Xiyuan looked blanked.

"Do you really believe that Faction Leader Yue would actually give out 5,000 Spiritual Stones as a reward? Su Dongruo asked rhetorically.

 "That Phantom Rain, is he… Yue Junmo?"

Liu Xiyuan was not slow in putting the two and two together.

It went without saying that Yue Changkong had Phantom Rain who was guaranteed to win in his pocket as insurance so that he could avoid losing the 3,000 Spiritual Stones!

Yue Changkong trusted only his son, Yue Junmo.

Yue Changkong narrowed his eyes and said "Grand Elder Su, aren't Qi Feng and Jun Lin in Arena Four and Five your ranked fifth and sixth heroes at Green Town Faction? If they win, then the overall prize would naturally be won by our own people!"

"Hehe, I know them. They are definitely second and third place material! But I'm afraid that only one person—the Chang Qing in arena 7—can get first place!"

Su Dongruo half-smiled and asked, "Am I right, Elder Situ?"

"Huh?"

Situ Hengfeng flashed him an embarrassed smile and confessed, "I don't know who that Chang Qing is…"

Su Dongruo then flashed a smile. "Heh, I forgot that Elder Situ does not possess any real power at Mount Shu Faction! I don't think you know about it yet. That Chang Qing is the Xu Changqing from your faction!"

 "What? That man is Xu Changqing? I really didn't know…"

Situ Hengfeng was very surprised.

At the same time, Liu Xiyuan was just as shocked. 

They had thought that the three disciples among the eight seeded players that Mount Hua Faction had handpicked was Yue Changkong's master plan!

They had not thought that all the three most powerful hidden factions had their eyes on the top three prize, 5,000 Spiritual Stones!

Mount Hua Faction wanted the Spiritual Stones.

Green Town Faction and Mount Shu Faction wanted to take advantage of other's misfortune.

 Therefore, Phantom Rain, Qi Feng, Jun Lin, and Chang Qing all used an alias, put on a mask and signed up for the competition covertly.

It was only now that Situ Hengfeng and Liu Xiyuan became aware of the three most powerful ancient factions' master plan!

Seemingly, the evil plans that they had in minds were getting more and more vicious.

But in Liu Xiyuan and Situ Hengfeng's eyes, these three ancient factions' plan was self-sabotaging!

One should know that God Chen wanted to participate in the semi-finals as well!

The leaders of the three most powerful ancient factions thought themselves smart by sending their disciples to join the competition. But when faced with Chen Xiaobei, it would be a classic 'to go for wool and come back shorn' situation.

Liu Xiyuan, Situ Hengfeng, and Zhuang Bihuang all knew that that was how it would end.

But they did not say a word about it. 

Before the tournament began, Liu Chunyi had informed the others that Chen Xiaobei did not wish to reveal his identity.

Because of that, they would not, even if they were to have the balls of three hundred men, blab and displease Chen Xiaobei. The consequences would be fatal!

 They could only silently pray that their own disciples would not have to fight against Chen Xiaobei.

 ...

On the other side. 

Having embarrassed himself on stage, Zhao Ritian left the mountain.

Most of the audience were still staying at the mountain waiting eagerly to witness the semi-finals. That was why the path to travel down the mountain was exceptionally quiet. 

"Bro Ritian! Please stay!"

Just then, a mysterious man in a black cloak walked out from among the trees in the forest and block Zhapo Ritian from moving forward.

"Who are you? I'm not in a good mood! If you don't want to die then f*ck off!"

Zhao Ritian shouted furiously.

"I'm Six Ears! I don't want to die!"

The mysterious man took out his phone fiddled with it for a bit, and then a delicate small bowl set with gold and studded with jade and jewels appeared on his hand. It was not just an ordinary item.

"Oh? What is this gem? Are you paying your respects to me? Do you want me to do something for you?"

Zhao Ritian's eyes shone as he stared fixedly at the little bowl.

"This is a Treasure Gathering Bowl! But it's not for you!"

The mysterious man then used telepathy to place enlarge the bowl to the size of a small pot. You could even see the pieces of crystal-clear gems!

"What the f*ck! Spiritual Stones! How is it that you have so many of them?"

Zhao Ritian's eyes twinkled as greed was reflected from them. He immediately dove toward the man. "Give them to me! That's a lot of Spiritual Stones! I'm rich! Hahaha…"

Sniff…

The mystery man took a deep breath of 500 Spiritual Stones were released from the Treasure Gathering Bowl.

The mystery man laughed. "Let's play a game! Demonic Mirror! Shadow!"

Buzz

Suddenly, a barrier that looked like mirror appeared in front of the mysterious person.

"Damn! What the f*ck… What is going on right now?"

Immediately, he could see his reflection from the mirror. Upon witnessing this terrifying scene, Zhao Ritian was left in shock. All greed in his mind was replaced by deep fear. Seconds later, something unexplainable happened.

Plop

A ripple started to form on the surface of the mirror and Zhao Ritian's reflection was materialized and started to walk out from the mirror. At the same time, the mysterious person was nowhere to be found when the mirror disappeared in front of him.

"Damn! Damn! Damn!"

Zhao Ritian was so shocked by it that he looked like a frog that was being stepped by a cow. It was as if his eyes were going to fall off and his mouth was enough to fit a fist in. No matter what, there was no way that Zhao Ritian could figure out what just happened to him.

"What do you think? My game is pretty darn interesting, right?" said the fake Zhao Ritian.

"Who… Who the hell are you? Why do you look like me?" said Zhao Ritian with fear flooding in his mind.

His entire forehead was filled with cold sweat.

"I'm Zhao Ritian!"

"Shut the f*ck up! I'm Zhao Ritian! You are just a fake! What are you trying to do here?! Transform back to your pervious image! Do it now!"

He would have thought that he was seeing a ghost if it was not daylight.

"I just spent 500 Spiritual Stones to turn into your image! Why would I transform back to my previous image?"

"No freaking way! You have to do it regardless! There's only one Zhao Ritian in this world! What should I do if you insist to walk in my skin?!"

"Yes! You are absolutely right! There should be only one Zhao Ritian in this world! Then, you should die since I have decided to walk in your image!"

"What?! Erk…"

Before Zhao Ritian could finish his words, his throat was grabbed by the fake Zhao Ritian.

"How… How is this even possible… Your strength…It's the same as mine… Mer… Mercy please… Please spare my life…"

Zhao Ritian kept on struggling for his life but his movement was restricted the moment Six Ears Macaque grabbed his throat. The more he struggled the more he suffered.

"Don't blame me for killing you! Blame yourself for not being a good person! You like to bully those that are weaker than you! You have a very toxic personality as well! Killing you will actually earn me a good amount of merit points! I, Six Ears Macaque is now revived! Other than completing the task given by Shen Gongpao, I have to earn more merit points for myself as well! That means I will have to recruit tons of disciples! During the upcoming calamity, I need to fight for a better future for myself!"

After that, Six Ears Macaque tossed Zhao Ritian into a ravine and returned to the arena as Zhao Ritian.

.....

At the arena.

The eight winners from the elimination round and eight seeded fighters were gathered together.

"In order to maintain the fairness of the competition, we are going to draw lots for the upcoming quarterfinal elimination round!"

The grand elder of Mount Hua Faction, Zhuang Bihuang had just made an announcement personally. Right after he finished talking, a box with a hole on top was delivered to the opponents. They could reach into the box to draw their lots.

"There are a total of sixteen balls inside this box. They come in red, orange, yellow, green, dark green, blue, purple, and white! Two balls per color! Those that got the same color will fight against each other later!"

"Are there any questions? If not, we shall start the lot drawing process!" said Zhuang Bihuang.

"Let me start to draw first!"

Immediately, Wu Aofeng marched forward and put his hand into the box. He then managed to draw a dark green ball.

"What a joker! Why did you rush to draw the lot? I need time do work out my plan!"

Chen Xiaobei could not help but begin to sweat when he saw Wu Aofeng went and volunteer himself to draw the lot. Earlier, he just used his Netherspirit Battlescouter to check everyone one. He found out that the two persons that wore mask possessed 40,000 combat power each! Even he knew that it was extremely difficult for him to defeat them. In order to make sure that the first three places would go to his allies, Chen Xiaobei had to do something to the box.

"Let me draw the next lot!" 

The person named Phantom Rain went and drew his lot. He was the most powerful opponent amongst all the sixteen contestants. He had a whopping 45,000 combat power! Immediately, Chen Xiaobei activated his Netherspirit Battlescouter once again to look inside the box. He saw that Phantom Rain just drew a white ball.

"Luckily…Wu Aofeng is not his opponent!" said Chen Xiaobei with a relieved sigh.

"But… How can I let Chang Qing draw a white ball as well?"

Chang Qing was the second most powerful contestant amongst them. He possessed a total of 44,000 combat power! If he somehow managed to make Chang Qing draw the white ball, a good show would be unveiled before them. In the end, Chen Xioabei would be able to keep all the rewards for himself!

It was easy to think about it but it was hard to execute it. Before Chen Xiaobei could figure out something, his desired outcome had fallen. The unlucky Liu Chunyi just drew a white ball from the box. With that being said, Liu Chunyi was going against Phantom Rain later.

"Shit… Since I can't make Phantom Rain fight with Chang Qing later, I will have to try my best to keep all my allies survive during the first round of elimination!"

Without wasting any time, Chen Xiaobei came up with a new goal in his mind. The best way to protect his allies was to let them fight with someone that was weaker than them. Suddenly, a random contestant went and drew the lot.

"No choice! I know it's a waste but it's more important to save their lives!"

The weakest contestants amongst all sixteen of them were the three contestants that came with no background. Without any hesitation, Chen Xiaobei took out a Monkey Fur of Prosperity.

"Turn that ball into dark green!"

The moment the monkey fur flew away from Chen Xiaobei's palm, it turned the ball dark green. In other words, this random contestant had now become Wu Aofeng's opponent. And Wu Aofeng would be able to proceed to the semi-finals with ease. After that, Chen Xiaobei did the same to the rest of his allies. As long as he could get his hands on all 5,000 Spiritual Stones, it was all worth it.

After using three Monkey Furs of Prosperity, Wu Aofeng, Tai Yitan, and Huo Yuanba were going to fight with the three weakest opponents in the team. No doubt, they could definitely defeat them easily.

Phantom Rain would fight against Liu Chunyi later. On the other hand, three masked contestants, Chang Qing, Qi Feng, and Jun Lin were arranged by Chen Xiaobei to fight with three disciples that came from Mount Hua Faction.

"I don't think it's necessary for the eighth team to draw lots since the previous seven teams are already set in stone! Everyone! Please put the balls back into the box and prepare to face your opponents at your respective arena!" announced Zhuang Bihuang.

"The eighth team? Shit! I have forgotten about myself!"

Taken aback, Chen Xiaobei realized that he had not drawn the colored ball from the box. That would mean his opponent would be Luo Puti!

'Shit! This is going to be awkward!'

Chen Xiaobei then gave Luo Puti a sheepish grin. She responded by glaring at him. Not too long after that, all eighth teams had gone into their respective arenas.

"Now, I'm going to announce that the quarterfinal elimination round has officially begun!"

Right after Zhuang Bihuang made the announcement, all the contestants started to fight against each other. However, the contestants at Arena Eight had not started their fight yet.

"Honey…"

With a smile on his face, Chen Xiaobei strode toward Luo Puti and whispered.

"Psst! I thought you promise that you will never call me your honey before you help me to locate my parents?"

"Alright! Alright! Alright! I'm going to stop calling you my honey! We are now husband and wife. Let's not fight against each other. I think it's better for you to step down from this arena…"

"Why should I go down? You should be the one that should step down from this arena!"

"I'm more powerful than you! Have you forgotten about that? Haha…"

While they were chit-chatting, Zhuang Bihuang made another announcement.

"The first winner of the quarterfinal elimination round is Phantom Rain!"

At the first battle arena, Liu Chunyi was defeated by Phantom Rain with only a single skill. He was lying there, unconscious.

"The second winner is Chang Qing!"

Same things happened to Chang Qing as well.

"Look at that! They are the true elites! There's no way that you can compare to them! I don't mean to look down on you! I'm just worried that you might get hurt badly if you fight with them!" said Luo Puti, looking grim.

"Don't worry! I will be fine! This time, I have put in a lot of effort to give you a huge surprise!"

"I'm just worried that you are going to give me a shock of my life instead of a pleasant surprise! I haven't been feeling at ease recently. My sixth sense tells me that something bad is about to happen really soon! Please listen to me! Give up and leave this place right now!"

"Pumpkin, you have always been a calm person. Why are you acting so superstitious today? Even if bad things are going to happen later, I don't think it will happen to me." said Chen Xiaobei in an aloof manner.

"I'm just telling you the truth! I'm will continue to convince you to leave this place even if you hate me for doing it! This martial arts competition is not as simple as you think it is! I believe there is something horrifying that might happen without our knowledge! I will never feel peace if you insist on staying here!"

"I think your sixth sense is right about it! However, I will never leave this place after hearing your concern! The bad thing that is about to happen is like a tumor! It will continue to grow under my skin if I continue to ignore it! We have to eliminate it once it grows from the skin! That is what I call true recovery! If we continue to wait for it to spread the toxin to my entire body, I will be dead by then!"

"But…"

"No more buts!"

The moment Chen Xiaobei's face darkened, the Qi field around him had changed completely. One could feel that there was domineering aura exuding out from him.

"Running away from it is not the way to solve the problem! Backing away from it constantly is like consuming poison that can kill me bits by bits! In my dictionary, the word—backing down has never existed!"

Taken aback, Luo Puti was stunned by Chen Xiaobei's sudden change of personality. To her, Chen Xiaobei had always been a playful boy. Right now, Chen Xiaobei acted like a completely different person. At that moment, Luo Puti finally realized that she actually did not know Chen Xiaobei that well.

Determined!

Dominant!

Wild!

Courageous!

There were the traits that Luo Puti just discovered from Chen Xiaobei.

'Maybe it's because he always let me take advantage of him, that's why I felt that he is weaker than me!' she thought.

"Alright. I'm going to stop trying to talk you out from it! I will be by your side if something bad really happens to you!" said Luo Puti, sighing lightly.

"I will protect you even if the sky comes crumbling down on us!" said Chen Xiaobei in a determined manner.

"Okay…"

Luo Puti nodded her head and walked to the judge. This time, she had decided to yield to Chen Xiaobei voluntarily. She wanted to step back and get to know Chen Xiaobei once again.

"Don't worry! Just wait for my pleasant surprise!"

Chen Xiaobei stared at Luo Puti's back and he was determined that he would not disappoint Luo Puti.

"Luo Puti has yielded to Chen Xiaobei! In other words, Chen Xiaobei is the third winner!"

"What the hell? Who the hell is this Chen Xiaobei?! Everyone else except him is pouring their strength to claim the victory! I can't believe that all his opponents just yielded to him!"

"Cao Zhenyang yielded! Zhuang Bifan yielded! Zhao Ritian knelt down in front of him and begged for his life! Now, even the seeded fighter concedes to him! This is unreal!"

"From the beginning till the end, all he did was slap his opponent in the face. After that, everyone just yielded to him for no reason!"

...

Suddenly, everyone was talking about Chen Xiaobei in the audience section. Even the big shots that watched him from the observation deck could not help but start to comment about him.

"This is strange… Initially, I wanted to know that if Luo Puti could test the true strength of that kid. I never expect that Luo Puti would yield to Chen Xiaobei," said Yue Changkong, narrowing his eyes.

"Yea… I want to know the true strength of that kid as well! In the next round, all of the contestants are elites with True Nirvana stage. I don't think anyone in their right minds would surrender again!" said Su Dongruo.

Upon hearing that, Liu Xiyuan and Situ Hengfeng were worried that bad things might happen to them soon. Those who refuse to yield at him would definitely end up being killed by Chen Xiaobei. And Chen Xiaobei would never showcase his true strength to them that easy.

As expected, Tai Yitan, Huo Yuanba, Wu Aofeng managed to take down their opponents easily. Other than that, there were two final groups of contestants were still fighting against each other. They were Qi Feng and Jun Lin fighting against the two disciples from Mount Hua Faction.

Needless to ask, Yue Changkong and Su Dongruo were paying their full attention to them. The winning one would directly affect the first three places of this martial arts competition.

Qi Feng and Jun Lin were both ranked five and six from the Seven Heroes of Green Town Faction. And their opponents were two Mount Hua Faction's disciples. People like Yue Changkong and Su Dongruo had never felt that Chen Xiaobei, Tai Yitan, Huo Yuanba, and Wu Aofeng were a threat to them. They knew that the winners of these two fights could definitely take down the first three places. Even if they failed to claim the first place, they could at least claim the second and third place.

In other words, 2,000 Spiritual Stones were at stake here. One should know that 2,000 Spiritual Stones was an astronomical amount of Spiritual Stones to those ordinary ancient factions. Even the mid-tier ancient factions like Green Town Faction and Mount Hua Faction would pay full attention to it.

"The seventh winner is Qi Feng! And the eighth winner is Jun Lin!"

Suddenly, Zhuang Bihuang announced the result of the two final matches.

Rumble

The audience was in an uproar right after they heard the result.

"They are so damn powerful! Who are Qi Feng and Jun Lin? I can't believe that they just defeated the disciples from Mount Hua Faction! This is truly incredible!"

"Now I know that there are many powerful hidden elites in China! It's not an easy task to defeat two disciples from a powerful ancient faction!"

"Qi Feng and Jun Lin are really powerful! No doubt about that! Thought they did suffer light injuries from the fight, I have to say that I'm truly impressed by them!"

"The upcoming fights are definitely going to be more exciting! Phantom Rain, Chang Qing, Qi Feng, and Jun Lin are going to fight for the first three places! This is going to be so intense!"

...…..

Crack!

After knowing the result and the comments from the crowd, Yue Changkong squeezed and broke the cup in his hand unconsciously. His face was completely darkened. Up until now, all three disciples from Mount Hua Factions had been eliminated from this martial arts competition. Even if Phantom Rain, Yue Changkong managed to claim the first place, Mount Hua Faction would still have to suffer a loss of 2,000 Spiritual Stones! That was definitely more painful than asking him to slice off a piece of his flesh.

"Hahaha… Faction Leader Yue, calm down! If Qi Feng and Jun Lin manage to claim the rewards later, I will definitely make them come here to show their gratitude to you!" said Su Dongruo with a smirk.

"You…"

Yue Changkong almost coughed out a mouthful of blood after hearing the thing that Su Dongruo just said. The reason why Mount Hua Faction was willing to bring out 5,000 Spiritual Stones as a reward was to recruit more powerful elites from Jianghu to their faction. With that being said, they were not supposed to take back all the Spiritual Stones from the winners once they joined their faction.

In totally, Mount Hua Faction had lost 2,000 Spiritual Stones and it was not possible for them to recruit Qi Feng and Lin Jun since the both of them were from Green Town Faction. Knowing that they could not recruit them and lost the reward, it was only logical for Yue Changkong to feel frustrated.

"Faction Leader Yue! You don't look too good! Look at your face! You are so angry after knowing that you just lost 2,000 Spiritual Stones! I'm afraid if Chang Qing manages to defeat Phantom Rain, you will die from getting too angry!" said Su Dongruo in a mocking manner.

"Su Dongruo! It's too early for you to celebrate your victory! Your people might be eliminated from this martial arts competition in the next round!"

"Other than Phantom Rain and Chang Qing, who else can eliminate Qi Feng and Jun Lin?"

"We are going to draw lots for the next elimination round! We will see! Maybe they will face each other in the next round!"

Taken aback, Su Dongruo's face fell. Anything could happen during the lots drawing process. That was why Su Dongruo did not dare to act in such an arrogant manner anymore.

"The second round of elimination will officially begin now! Tai Yitan will face Qi Feng in the first round! And Huo Yuanba will face Jun Lin in the second round!"

Zhuang Bihuang announced the result immediately once the four of them drew their lots.

"Great! This is just great! Easy fights! Lucky draws! Hahaha… Though Tai Yitan and Wu Aofeng were two rare prodigies, their combat power is around 33,000 combat power only! Clearly, Qi Feng and Jun Lin can definitely defeat the two of them easily!"

Rendered speechless, Yue Changkong's face turned dark. Seemingly, he too agreed that Tai Yitan and Huo Yuanba were the weaker ones. No doubt, they would surely be defeated by Qi Feng and Jun Lin. Looking at Su Dongruo's cocky face, Yue Changkong was so furious that he wished he could slap him in front of everyone. Out of public image, he had to stop himself from doing it in the end.

After that, Zhuang Bihuang announced the pairing of the two remaining matches.

"Wahahahaha! Phantom Rain is going against my Chang Qing! I can't believe it would end up like this! God is looking after my faction! Either Chang Qing or Phantom Rain is being eliminated later, Qi Feng and Jun Lin will be able to claim the second and third place! And if both Phantom Rain and Chang Qing suffers a great deal of injuries during their fight, Qi Feng and Jun Lin will be able to claim the first and second place! 4,500 Spiritual Stones will drop right into my pockets! This is going to be so damn awesome! Hahaha!"

"This…"

Shaking involuntarily, Yue Changkong almost passed out due to extreme anger. Initially, his idea was not to not spend a single Spiritual Stones to achieve his goal. Now, he might not be able to get back a single Spiritual Stones and failed to achieve his goal as well! Upon thinking about that, Yue Changkong was so frustrated by it that he might even be killed by his own frustration.

However!

They would have never guessed that Chen Xiaobei was actually the one that controlled the lot-drawing process! From the very beginning until now, Chen Xiaobei had appointed himself to become the director of this martial arts competition! Everything was not under his control—that included the contestant that could claim the rewards later!

"The first round! Tai Yitan versus Qi Feng! Begin!"

After hearing Zhuang Bihuang's announcement, Tai Yitan and Qi Feng stepped on the stage.

Boom!

Boom!

The two of them then put their hands together. Immediately, the lightning attribute True Kang was channeled to Tai Yitan's body. At the same time, the earth attribute True Kang was channeled to Qi Feng's body as well!

Knowing that the two of their opponents were powerful elites, none of them dared to make a single mistake.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Immediately, both of them started to fight with skillful attacks and dazzling True Kang. Their fight was definitely interesting enough to make the crowd go wild over it. Soon, the crowd noticed a big problem.

"Qi Feng is obviously more powerful than Tai Yitan. It seems like Tai Yitan will be defeated really soon! Though he can still hang on to it for a little while longer, I believe he will lose in this battle any time from now!"

"Clearly, Qi Feng is going to win in this round!" said Su Dongruo in a confident manner.

"Eh? What… What is going on? Tai Yitan… He…"

Suddenly, Yue Changkong was shocked by something that he noticed on Tai Yitan.

"Kid! What the hell are you doing? Why did you deactivate your True Kang? Are you going to surrender to me?! The wise one will know when to lower himself down! Get down the stage! I promise that I will not make your life difficult!" said Qi Feng while laughing.

On the stage, he was staring at Tai Yitan with his eyes squinted.

"I think you have misunderstood me! My Sifu told me that I shall not be defeated during the martial arts competition! I'm afraid that I'm not brave enough to do the opposite!" said Tai Yitan while shaking his head.

"What did you just say?! You know that you are going to lose in this competition really soon, right? Do you know that you will be killed by me if you still refuse to surrender to me?!" said Qi Feng with a frown.

"Lightning Strike!"

Tai Yitan then lifted his left arm. Not only was he equipped with lightning attribute True Kang but he also knew a lot about using lighting to attack his enemies.

*Boom!*

Along with the loud noise, a lightning snake was summoned on Tai Yitan's left arm. His left arm was transformed into the head of the lightning snake—making him look really cool.

"Are you out of your mind? Your combat power is obviously lower than mine! It's pointless even if you go all out against me!"

Immediately, Qi Feng focused and the earth True Kang around him was strengthened.

"It seems like you really want to die here!"

"Of course I don't want to die here! I still have an ultimate skill with me and its name is Absolute Zero Zone! Bro Qi Feng, please surrender to me!"

Suddenly, Tai Yitan's turned deep.

*Swoosh*

In an instant, the temperature around the arena dropped to freezing point. Everything in the area was covered with a layer of ice. Looking at the surroundings, it was as if time was frozen as well.

"What… What the hell is going on?"

Taken aback, Qi Feng's eyes were wide open. Though he had True Kang protecting his body and the extreme coldness would never be able to penetrate his True Kang. Still, he was shocked by what he just saw.

"Oh my god! What the hell is happening on stage? What did Tai Yitan do?"

The audience was in an uproar. They had never seen something like this in their life before.

"Could it be the tide is shifting? Xiaobei… Who do you think will win this round?" asked Luo Puti.

"Of course it's Tai Yitan!" said Chen Xiaobei with a smile.

"But his combat power is lower than Qi Feng's! Do you really think he can defeat him with the weird skill that he is using?!"

Chen Xiaobei then responded with a smile.

*Boom!*

At the same time, Tai Yitan started to launch his attack on Qi Feng. The moment he swung his left arm, a lightning snake was sent charging at Qi Feng at full speed.

"F*cking retard! Knowing that your combat power is no threat to me, you still want me to surrender to you?! Dream on!" shouted Qi Feng, furiously.

He then fortified his True Kang armor with another layer of True Kang. Seeing the brownish yellow True Kang stacked together, Qi Feng now looked like he was being protected by a small mountain. Clearly, his defense was extremely tough.

*Rumble!*

*Boom!*

The lightning snake landed on the small mountain.

"How… How is this even possible?"

Qi Feng sounded fearful. It was true that Tai Yitan's combat power was weaker than Qi Feng's. The lightning snake that Tai Yitan had sent charging at Qi Feng was made up of all his combat power and the training result that he accumulated since he was a kid. The hit that Tai Yitan landed on Qi Feng had used up all his Spiritual Qi that was stored in his Dantian.

To be honest, Qi Feng did not expect Tai Yitan's attack could be so destructive.

*Crack*

*Crack*

Cracks started to appear on Qi Feng's True Kang protective shield. It seemed like it would crumble any time from now!

"I will not let it shatter! I must persevere!"

Qi Feng was after all more powerful than Tai Yitan. That would mean he had more Spiritual Qi stored inside his Dantian as compared to Tai Yitan. Immediately, he started to channel all his Spiritual Qi to repair the crack on his protective shield to avoid it from crumbling.

It was a right move but he forgot something really important.

*Siii…*

Before Qi Feng could fix his protective shield, the extreme cold managed to make way to Qi Feng through the crack. Immediately, the protective shield turned into a giant fridge that prevented the cold air inside it from escaping. The moment, Qi Feng felt the coldness invading his body, he felt like he was being placed inside a frozen hell. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not channel his True Qi to do something about it. That was mainly because of his blood veins and Qi veins were frozen.

"What… What the hell is going on? I demand an explanation!"

In utter shock, Qi Feng started to scream his lungs out.

"Bro Qi Feng! Please surrender!"

At that moment, Tai Yitan was already standing in front of Qi Feng. All he did was stood there and looked at him.

"I… Cold… It's so damn cold! I yield! I will surrender to you!!!"

Without True Kang protecting his body, Qi Feng knew that he would be frozen completely really soon.

"I… I announce that Tai Yitan has won in this battle!"

Feeling shocked, Zhuang Bihuang hesitated when he announced the result. He found it hard to believe that it was real!

"Damn! Tai Yitan just won this battle! How did he do it?!"

"This is unbelievable! Qi Feng defeated the disciple from Mount Hua Faction and Tai Yitan defeated him! This proves that there will always be people that are more powerful than you!"

"You are right! Nobody would have expected that Tai Yitan could defeat Qi Feng!"

To their surprise, none of the audience could guess that Tai Yitan would acquire the victory in such creative way.

"I can't believe you guess it right!"

Luo Puti pursed her lips and stared at Chen Xiaobei with a complicated gaze.

"This is not a difficult guess!"

Chen Xiaobei then shrugged and smiled.

"But, have you thought about what if your opponent is Tai Yitan? What are you going to do about it?" asked Luo Puti, worried.

"Whatever!" said Chen Xiaobei with a smile.

"You…"

Luo Puti frowned and wanted to scold Chen Xiaobei for acting tough. But she decided not to do it in the end. Since she had already decided to get to know Chen Xiaobei again, she would have to believe in Chen Xiaobei no matter what.

At the observation deck.

The look on Su Dongruo had completely changed. Feeling frustrated, it was as if he just ate a pile of dog shit.

"How is that even possible? It's not possible that Qi Feng just lost in this battle!"

"Hehe! You never know what will happen next! I know that you had this perfect plan in your head that everything is going to work out just like what you expected! In the end, it's just an illusion!" said Yue Changkong.

"I think it's early for you to say something like this! Have you forgotten about Jun Lin? As long as Phantom Rain and Chang Qing suffer a great deal of injuries during the battle, Green Town Faction will still be able to pocket all 3,000 Spiritual Stones!"

"Hmph! What if Jun Lin loses to Huo Yuanba later? I want to see you cry your heart out when that happens! In the end, all I need to do is recruit Tai Yitan and Huo Yuanba to Mount Hua Faction and all the Spiritual Stones will eventually return to my faction! Hahaha…"

"It begins! The second battle begins now!"

The crowd was cheering for them. In this combat round, Huo Yuanba would go against Jun Lin.

"I know Huo Yuanba is known as the almighty king of Eastern Europe! Why did he come to China to act like a son of a bitch?! It's totally pointless!" said Jun Lin with a cold smile on his face.

Clearly, Jun Lin was mocking Huo Yuanba for being a weakling since he could only be called king in Eastern Europe but never at other places. The moment he returned to his motherland, he was bound to be pressured by elites that were more powerful than him. After hearing Jun Lin mock Huo Yuanba, the crowd started to murmur.

"The person called Jun Lin is so damn arrogant! He just mocked Huo Yuanba the moment he stepped on the stage."

"Only powerful people have the right to mock people that are weaker than them! Look at that Huo Yuanba! He is taller and more buff than Jun Lin! He looks exactly like a metal tower! However, he did not even dare to defend himself when Jun Lin mocked him!"

"It seems like Jun Lin is going to defeat him easily really soon!"

...…..

After hearing the comments from the crowd, Jun Lin got even cockier. He then shouted at Huo Yuanba.

"Oi! Huo Yuanba! Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me talking to you?!"

Huo Yuanba could not care less about the random noise that was constantly ringing in his ears. All he did was stand his ground like a mountain, unshaken.

"Huo Yuanba! It seems like you are purposely acting like you are a deaf man! Initially, I wanted to give you a chance to yield! It seems like you do not want it anymore!"

Jun Lin was extremely furious after seeing Huo Yuanba ignoring him. Originally, he wanted to show off in front of the crowd by making Huo Yuanba yield to him. Unfortunately, not only did Huo Yuanba refuse to cooperate with him but also ignore him. And this made him felt extremely embarrassed of himself—like a clown talking to himself on the stage.

*Swoosh!!*

Suddenly, the wind started to rise around the stage. The crowd could see that Jun Lin's body was covered in wood attribute green True Kang. There were leaves formed by his True Kang around him. They might look nice but they were actually lethal.

Every single leaf was sharper than a dagger.

Every single branch was sharper than an arrow.

"So powerful! I heard that Jun Lin has a whopping 35,000 combat power! How is it possible for him to become so powerful at such a young age?"

"You are right! With his combat power, he can easily become the core disciple of an ancient faction!"

"It seems like Huo Yuanba's combat power is only 33,000. It's basically not possible for him to defeat Jun Lin!"

.....

The crowd started to cheer again when they saw the beautiful wood attribute True Kang.

"What the hell is Huo Yuanba trying to do? It's pretty obvious that his combat power is lower than Jun Lin's but he still went ahead and angered Jun Lin! This is just strange…" said Luo Puti while frowning.

"Acting in an angry manner is actually a useless move! Judging from his weak state of mind, I guess he is going to lose in this battle pretty soon!" said Chen Xiaobei.

"How is that even possible?"

At that moment, no one amongst the crowd expected that Huo Yuanba was going to win in this battle. Chen Xiaobei was the only one that had a completely different viewpoint.

"Let's watch and see," said Chen Xiaobei while shrugging. Just like what he mentioned earlier, the true winner would be able to stay calm no matter what. Getting angry was going to cost Jun Lin's chance of defeating Huo Yuanba.

"Huo Yuanba! Let me ask you one last time! Are you going to continue acting deaf in front of me?!"

This was the last warning given by Jun Lin to Huo Yuanba. Just like before, Huo Yuanba stood his ground and continued to ignore him.

"Motherf*cker! Prepare to die!"

With his patience running out, Huo Yuanba let out a loud roar and started to shoot all his True Kang formed leaves and branches at Huo Yuanba.

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

Not too long after that, Huo Yuanba's body was torn into pieces by the leaves and branches.

"No way! Huo Yuanba is dead?"

"He didn't even channel his True Kang to protect his body while Jun Lin's attack landed on him just now! It seems like he really wanted to kill himself!"

"What an awful way to die!"

The crowd was stumped when they saw Huo Yuanba was killed.

Some of them were excited.

Some of them were disappointed.

The one common thought amongst them was they thought Huo Yuanba was killed!

"Idiot! Nobody asks you to act like a deaf man in front of me! This is what you get from ignoring me! Hahaha…"

Jun Lin then started to smile in an arrogant manner.

"Grand Elder Zhuang! It's time to announce the result! I have won this round!"

"No! You didn't win this round! Instead, you are now stuck in a life and death situation!"

"What?! I'm in a life and death situation?! How is that even possible?"

Taken aback, Jun Lin had no idea that how was it possible for him to lose this round since he had already killed Huo Yuanba.

"Jun Lin! Be careful! Defend yourself now! Come up with all your strength to defend yourself!"

At the same time, Su Dongruo stood up and shouted loudly.

"What is going on?"

Just like Jun Lin, everyone could not figure out what was going to happen in the arena. To their knowledge, Huo Yuanba was dead. That was why they were baffled when they saw Zhuang Bihuang and Su Dongruo tell Jun Lin that he was in grave danger.

"Seemingly, the Dark Obsidian Shadow failed to fool the big shots with Celestial cultivation!" mumbled Chen Xiaobei.

Amongst all the people, Su Dongruo, Zhuang Bihuang, and Yue Changkong were the only one that knew what was actually going on the stage.

"The reason why I didn't want to talk to you is not that I'm deaf! It's because I couldn't care less about you!"

Suddenly, the voice of Huo Yuanba could be heard. Immediately, there were a dozen images of Huo Yuanba that appeared in the arena. None of them could tell which one was the real Huo Yuanba.

"What… What the hell is going on?"

Fear started to flood Jun Lin's mind. It was as if he just saw a bunch of ghosts appearing in front of him.

"Shadow! Shatter!"

Huo Yuanba did not even bother to explain the whole thing to him. Without saying a word, all his split images attacked Jun Lin at the same time.

"Oh my god! What is going on right now?"

Feeling afraid, Jun Lin's heart almost jumped out from his chest. All these things happened when Jun Lin was still indulging in his happiness. The reason why he could not defend himself was because he let down his guard completely when he thought he had defeated Huo Yuanba.

Of course, it was actually useless even if he could defend himself right now.

*Crack*

The sound of something cracking could be heard.

And the sound came from Huo Yuanba tossed his fist at Jun Lin like cannonball. Immediately, the green True Kang that surrounded Jun Lin started to crack.

"How… How is that even possible? My True Kang!!!"

Taken aback, Jun Lin's pupils shrank and his back was drenched with sweat. He had never thought he would meet such a miserable end.

*Pow!!*

Without any True Kang armor protecting him, Jun Lin was sent flying by Huo Yuanba's force. He then landed at around ten meters away from the arena. Blood was coming out from his mouth and he fainted seconds later. Upon witnessing that, everyone felt extremely shocked. 

"Jun Lin!!!"

Su Dongruo shook, and he almost fell off from his chair. Before the previous two fights, he assumed that Qi Feng and Jun Lin would have the opportunity to claim the first and second place. To his surprise, his perfect plan had now turned into just a dream that could never be achieved. Qi Feng and Jun Lin both lost to their opponents. In other words, Green Town Faction had been completely eliminated.

"Hahaha! Jun Lin is defeated by only a single hit from Huo Yuanba! Awesome! Beautiful! Perfect! Grand Elder Su, did you see that? You will never know what happens next! Though you have a perfect plan in your head, it's a shame that you can never see it come true!" said Yue Changkong with a laugh.

"I…"

Feeling frustrated, Su Dongruo almost coughed out a mouthful of warm blood.

"Tai Yitan and Huo Yuanba will be recruited to become the disciples of Mount Hua Faction! By that time, all Phantom Rain needs to do is claim the first place and 5,000 Spiritual Stones will be returned to Mount Hua Faction once again! Hahaha! This is awesome!"

Rendered speechless, Su Dongruo's face darkened.

Outside the fighting arena.

"Huo Yuanba just defeat Jun Lin… Xiaobei's guess was right…"

Taken aback, Luo Puti felt like everything that she once knew had completely changed. She started to think that maybe it was true that she had underestimated Chen Xiaobei all these while. At the same time, Chen Xiaobei was now going up the stage.

Feeling relieved, Luo Puti was less worried about Chen Xiaobei this time. That was because his opponent was Wu Aofeng. Some time ago, when Luo Puti and Chen Xiaobei faced Yue Junmo, Wu Aofeng was the one that tossed two gas tanks at Yue Junmo to save them. Other than then Chen Xiaobei, Luo Puti, and Wu Aofeng, no one else knew about it.

"The third round is about to begin! This time we can finally see Chen Xiaobei's true strength!"

"That's right! His opponent is Wu Aofeng! He is known for his aggressive personality and he is given a title called Face Slapping Little Tornado! I can guarantee that he will never surrender to Chen Xiaobei!"

"The mysterious Chen Xiaobei versus the aggressive Wu Aofeng! This is going to be interesting! Hahaha!"

...…

The crowd could not help but start to murmur. Filled with anticipation, all of them knew that the fight between them was going to be intense!

At the observation deck.

"Chen Xiaobei and Wu Aofeng are both talented fighters! Though they might not be able to get into first, second or third place, I will still recruit them to Mount Hua Faction!" said Yue Changkong.

"Hmph! I think it's too early to feel happy about it! Earlier, Chen Xiaobei won the preliminary rounds because his opponents kept on yielding to him! I think that he is not as powerful as we thought!"

"Hehe… I thought earlier you told me that you were going to convince Chen Xiaobei to join Green Town Faction? You change your mind faster than flipping pages of a book!"

"I didn't change my mind! I'm worried that Wu Aofeng might cripple Chen Xiaobei later! No one is going to take him in if he is crippled for life!"

"This…"

Taken aback, Yue Changkong started to doubt that Chen Xiaobei was actually not that powerful. He was after all too young. He would need more time to make him become more powerful even if he was a talented young man. And Wu Aofeng was famous for his aggressive personality. The last contestant scolded him and proceeded to beat him up and break his arms!

"It seems like Chen Xiaobei is not going to end well this time…"

Letting out a long sigh, Yue Changkong was preparing to give up on Chen Xiaobei.

"I, Wu Aofeng surrender to Chen Xiaobei!"

A firm decision was made by Wu Aofeng while he went up the stage.

"What??!!!"

Yue Changkong was stunned!

Su Dongtuo was stunned!

Everyone else was stunned!

"Again… Surrender to Chen Xioabei again? What the hell is going on right now?"

"How is that even possible? Even the Face Slapping Little Tornado surrenders to Chen Xiaobei! I don't believe in love anymore!"

"Is Chen Xiaobei using some kind of cheat tool? Why did all the opponents yield to him?!"

"I want to buy this kind of cheat tool! I want a dozen of it! No! I want a cart full of it! He didn't even do anything and he is now ranked fourth! This is truly unbelievable!"

....

The entire audience was shocked by how Chen Xioabei acquired his victory. Other than feeling shocked, most of them actually felt jealous and impressed by him.

"This… May I know what is going on right now?"

At the observation deck, Yue Changkong and Su Dongruo were embarrassed by what they just said earlier. All they could do right now was look into each other eyes. Earlier, the two of them thought that Chen Xiaobei would surely be crippled by Wu Aofeng. To their surprise, the entire thing ended differently.

"What do you think? Your hubby just got into top four!" asked Chen Xiaobei with a grin.

"It's no big deal! Wu Aofeng and you are friends. I have expected that Wu Aofeng was going to surrender to you! But, your opponents are going to get stronger after this preliminary round! It's going to be really difficult for you to win again!"

"Hehe… Let's wait and see!"

Looking at the other arena, Phantom Rain and Chang Qing had already started to fight with each other. Chen Xiaobei was the one that arranged this fight. As long as the two of them were hurt badly during their fight, the result of this martial arts competition was basically set in stone.

Chen Xiaobei, Huo Yuanba, and Tai Yitan would be able to claim the first three places without doing anything.

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

The moment Phantom Rain and Chang Qing came into contact with each other, their powerful True Kang unleashed rays that were bright enough to engulf the entire arena. Phantom Rain's silver True Kang transformed into a silver sword and started to launch its attack on Chang Qing. On the other hand, Chang Qing blue True Kang turned into a folding fan and it looked like a butterfly when it flew in the sky. Just as expected, it managed to block all the attacks from Phantom Rain.

The two of them moved so fast that they had come into contact with each after within a minute.

"Xu Changqing! You know that I'm more powerful than you! There's no way for you to defeat if you continue to drag this battle any longer!"

Seemingly, Phantom Rain was acting really calm. Knowing that he had the upper hand here, he was confident enough that he could defeat Xu Changqing.

"It's true that you are more powerful than me! I think it's not necessary for both of us to waste each other's time!"

Chang Qing then swung his arm and a blue dagger appeared in his hand. The length of the dagger was seven inches and it was extremely sharp. At the side of it, there was fuller and at the back of it, there was a barb. It was crafted by an unknown metal. One could see that it was surrounded by a blue aura and it was definitely not an ordinary item.

"Water Shattering Dagger! This Spiritual Item was lost for a very long time! How did it end up with you?!"

"Heh… It's none of your business!"

Immediately, Xu Changqing smiled and channeled all his strength to wield the dagger.

"Water!"

*Swoosh*

Xu Changqing's True Kang was transferred to the dagger and his combat power was boosted tremendously. A ten meters tall giant wave was formed and it was about to land on Yue Junmo. However, Yue Junmo was not afraid at all. Instead, a wicked glint could be seen in his eyes.