Spectacle

Bang!

The light within Bai Hu's cave abode receded, revealing the sweat drenched young man. He took another Qi Replenishment Pill and sat in meditation to recover his qi.

Despite being weary from repeatedly refining several magic treasures in a row, Bai Hu had a satisfied expression on his face. Clearly, the result exceeded his expectations.

Checking the incense on the other side of the room, he found that there was still a few hours left before noon, more than enough time for him to recover.

Soon after, he fell asleep.

…

A huge crowd gathered around a circular platform dozens of meters wide. On it was the leader of the trio that challenged Bai Hu yesterday.

The man looked up at the sky and frowned. It was almost noon and Bai Hu still hadn't shown up, much to the crowd's disappointment.

"Tsk, just a coward who doesn't dare show up"

"Who would dare go against the former Kings of the Outer Court? In my opinion, he should just kneel and beg for forgiveness"

The crowd's discontent soared with each passing second, to the point where people were outright cursing Bai Hu.

The person that was most angry was of course the man standing inside the arena. He had achieved his goal of defaming Bai Hu but not in the way he intended. How was he supposed to know he wasn't going to show up?

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew by and a tired voice spoke.

"Sorry if I'm late. I happened to have overslept and almost forgotten a few insignificant things"

Bai Hu stepped off his flying sword and yawned. Those in the crowd that were cursing Bai Hu earlier shut up while the man on stage looked as if he was about to explode in anger.

Bai Hu almost said that he was on the verge of dying from high blood pressure but managed to hold back.

He jumped up onto the stage and took out his spear, "Lets begin, I don't have much time to waste"

Finally, the man couldn't take it anymore and a fierce energy fluctuation burst out of his figure, "You'll regret every coming here, kid"

Weng!

The man took out a huge saber that was even bigger than Bai Hu's body and from its fluctuations, it was a high grade magic treasure.

"Look! It's the boss's Earth Cleaving Saber!"

The man lunged towards Bai Hu with a terrifying momentum, making him tense up for a brief moment.

It was natural, after all, a Foundation expert was still a level above a Qi Refinement cultivator.

Urging his qi to move, Bai Hu dodged to the right and stabbed the Black Sky Gold Spear forward.

Bang!

To his surprise, the bulky and seemingly slow man managed to sweep his saber to the side and block Bai Hu's spear.

Sparks flew and the man used his superior strength to push Bai Hu back several steps.

"Earth Splitting Slash!"

Bai Hu was surprised to see the man use a martial technique instead of a technique that comes with a martial art. It was well known that while techniques were a bit stronger than arts, they were much more expensive than arts and usually only contained one method.

A large amount of metal attributed qi flowed towards the man's saber, enveloping it in a shiny outer layer. Its aura immediately doubled and the air was filled with sharp fluctuations that made the spectators back up.

"Die!"

He slashed down with the empowered saber and locked down Bai Hu with his superior cultivation base.

Bai Hu replied with a set of hand seals, causing chains of lightning to shoot up from the ground.

"Insignificant tricks!"

The man swept his saber in a wide ark and scattered the lightning. To his surprise, the lightning did not disappear but instead converged once more, wrapping around his limbs.

A chill went down his spine as Bai Hu's calm voice resounded throughout the arena.

"Constrict!"

"Argh!"

The lightning was unbelievably tough and the man could not break out of it no matter what he did. When it tightened, the lightning left burn marks and a slight sizzling sound could be heard.

"You bastard!"

Boom!

A red aura burst out of the man's figure as his muscles nearly doubled in size. He had forcefully broken out of his bindings through the use of a self harming technique.

Now the man was truly depressed, for the price of activating a forbidden technique had many serious drawbacks and should only be used in a life and death situation. Even so, Bai Hu is simply too slippery and was not affected by the suppression of cultivation base at all.

Through gritted teeth, the man once again raised his saber and used a movement technique, fully utilizing the strength boost from the forbidden technique to humiliate Bai Hu.

"Dancing Crane"

"Damn it!"

Despite being much faster, Bai Hu's techniques were much more refined. Using the illusive movement of Dancing Crane, Bai Hu was able to dodge the man's clumsy attacks.

Swish! Swish!

Boom!

Bai Hu's opponent became more frantic as time went on. His attacks swung wider with every swing and his aura plummeted by the second.

"Stop dodging and fight me!"

"Very well"

Weng!

A black shield, a red scarf, and a bronze mirror appeared and revolved around Bai Hu. The qi around him warped under pressure and an indescribable light burst out from his figure, making him look like an immortal that descended.

Before the man could react, Bai Hu was already making hand seals. Dozens were formed in a few moments and the 3 magic treasures started glowing even brighter.

Swish!

Fwoom!

A river of fire flowed out of the red scarf and a concentrated beam of light shot out of the mirror. The black scale shield grew in size and simply revolved around Bai Hu.

Bang!

The man quickly raised his saber in a feeble attempt to block the oncoming attacks. His strengthened state was already over and despite still possessing more than enough qi, the side effects of the forbidden technique prevented him from circulating it.

"No!"

Boom!

"Argh!"

The man was sent flying back and out of the arena. He landed with a dull thump and turned to the side before coughing up several mouthfuls of blood.

Clang!

Bai Hu unceremoniously picked up the huge saber, admittedly with some difficulty, before storing it and stepping down from the circular platform. The crowd was still awestruck by what they saw and quickly made way for the winner.

"Woah! He actually beat a Foundation level cultivator!"

"He's so handsome!"

"I heard he once beat the 4 kings"

Bai Hu paid them no heed and simply stepped onto his flying treasure. He went right back to his cave abode.

As the stone entrance shut, Bai Hu let out a deep breath that he was holding. That fight was much more taxing than anticipated and if the man was even slightly more skilled, Bai Hu would have lost.

After waiting 2 days, Bai Hu finally left Thunderwind Peak and went to the market as he had planned.

He wanted the news of him beating someone at the Foundation realm while being at the Qi Refinement realm to spread, and more importantly, to spread to the ears of anyone under Mo Yuan Kai.

Bai Hu landed on the ground of a huge plaza containing many stalls. Previously, he had already read through the jade slips containing various information on Foundation breakthroughs and now he wanted to get some of the items listed on the jade slips.

He walked towards the formation section, drawing the gazes of many people in the process. Some were in awe, others curious, and others expressed malicious intent. It seems that news of the fight and perhaps his history of beating Mo Yuan Kai had spread far and wide.

This was the effect that Bai Hu wanted, as many that were hostile were too fearful to approach.

And with that problem out of the way, Bai Hu proceeded to browse the formations that were on sale.

According to the jade slips, some formations could help with establishing a foundation and even strengthen it to a degree. Formations like the Spirit Gathering Formation gathers an immense amount of qi which makes foundation establishment smooth sailing.

But Bai Hu wasn't looking for the conventional and mainstream formations. Although those are popular, it is only the case because they are cheap and make breakthroughs to Foundation easy. Such formations would not be used by Heavenly geniuses who want strong foundations and want to advance their cultivation bases.

Bai Hu walked along the stalls, looking at the various formations. Sometimes he would walk up to a stall and take a closer look at the items, other times he would inquire about the price of something, only to walk away shaking his head.

"None of these people can do simple math, charging absurd amounts for cheap items. Perhaps I should have gone to the Hall of Treasures instead, even if they charge a bit more than market price"

"Hm?"

His attention went to an unassuming stall in a dark corner of the plaza. Bai Hu walked over and a certain formation immediately caught his eye.

Star Sky Gathering Formation

Price: 5000 spirit stones or an item of equal value