Start of the Second Act

Those three days were spent in vain. No matter how hard she tried, she could not create a tornado at the same scale as she did before. The act felt so natural to her before, but now she could not even visualize it.

"Haah, at this rate, It will most likely take me a year or two to fully understand it", she thought.

Arriving at the arena, she was directed by several officials to wait in the lobby, where many of the competitors rested. She was curious about what was happening but could only wait.

15 minutes later, a young man entered the room,"Alright, everyone is present. Once your name is called out, come with me."

Following his instructions, he began to call out names one by one. Each and every one of them was lead out to the arena.

"Yu Yao Xian!"

"Jian Bai Hu!"

"Duan Kong!"

"Shao Huang!"

"Gong Chui!"

"Hua Xiong!"

Yu Yao Xian and Shao Huang, Ming Yue was already acquainted with. Jian Bai Hu was the body cultivator, Duan Kong was the black robed youngster that used poison. Gong Chui was most likely from the Gong Family, with a strong muscular body and skin tempered by heat. He wielded an iron staff, six sided and brutal looking with detailed tigers on its body. Hua Xiong was a name that surprised her. The girl was dressed in white robes, her fragile appearance was replaced by an icy glare. She did not think that Hua Xiong could changed so drastically.

Of course, she also did not know that Hua Xiong was the inheritor of the Firelight Ruins. After absorbing all of the techniques of the Light of Fury, she was sent out of the ruins where she awakened and quickly found her way back to her seniors and juniors. She quickly grew in power, making a name for herself and helped her sect, slowly alleviating the pressure they had from the other sects within their city. What she endured in those trials made her much stronger but she did not seem as gentle as before, sometimes acting without emotion. With this newfound power, she went to participate in the tournament, in order to gain recognition for her and her sect.

After several more names were called, he called out hers. She stood up from her place and followed him into the arena. There she saw all those named before her, standing in a line.

"Rank 87, Rou Ming Yue!"

She was somewhat taken aback by the cheers and applause, standing somewhat awkwardly.

"Next up, Rank 88..."

The announcer continued to call out names until the 100th one came out. Afterwards, those who weren't called were lead out into the arena facing the line.

"These are the current top 100 cultivators, these three days were spent assessing your strength based on you performance from before", she explained, "However nothing is ever set in stone! All of you have 100 battles or rather 100 chances to change that! In the next several days, you can challenge those in the top 100 for their spot. If you win, you will take their spot and if you lose, then you cannot challenge them again. As for those who are ranked, all of you can only challenge other ranked individuals, the same rules apply to you. If you lose, then you cannot challenge them again and you will stay at your rank. If you win then you will take their place."

Everyone was feeling restless, some had already set their sights on specific people. Ming Yue thought about her current situation before looking at the other ranked competitors. Yu Yao Xian was at rank 13 and Shao Huang was rank 58, the other three were spread across. As for the top three, if she remembered, rank 3 was Bing Yun Zhi, a young girl wearing purple robes. She had a elegant aura and a gentle expression, with a long braid of hair. She was from the Bing Family, well versed in hand to hand combat and known for her ice element attacks. In the fight with the ape, she had been sealing parts of his body in ice, slowing him down. She might not have the best affinity for the light element but her her medical knowledge and prowess was more than enough to make up for it. After all, those with great affinity for light are rare, at best there were mediocre talents. The one in second was Shu Zhi, a scholarly young man with gray clothes, he had a very mysterious aura to him, showing barely any emotion. Short hair and ordinary face, the only noticeable feature to him were his blue eyes. Ming Yue remembered seeing him in the back line, merely observing the fight. She did not know what made him so highly ranked but something about him made her on-edge.

As for the one in first, it was none other than the emperor's son, Qing Lei Jiang. he wields two short halberds, one in each hand and used thunder and lightning at will. Both halberds were identical with moon shaped blades on both sides and a jagged spear head. The shaft was made of an unknown material but had a dark blue color to it. He was at the front line with her, due to his element being the same as the Thunderhide Ape, he was not at his best but his physical strength was enough to contend with it.

At this time, she did not know who to target and chose to stay silent and wait. While she believed herself to be quite strong, these were all geniuses and she could not underestimate any of them.

As the announcer finished speaking with the spectators, she officially began the second part of the tournament, unsurprisingly she was already being challenged. In fact, almost everyone was challenged except for the top ten. None of them were fierce enough to challenge them. With all these challenges issued, the arena rumbled, surprising Ming Yue.

It broke into six platforms large enough for a duel.

Afterwards, referees stood on each one.

"If you want to challenge them, then take an arena!" the announcer said.

The six platforms were soon occupied and the others waited in the side lines. Of these six battles, Shao Huang stood on one. With a relaxed expression, he did not seem even the least bothered by his opponent. A young man with a whip.

"I still have not forgiven you for tricking me before!" he shouted angrily. He must have been one of the few lucky enough to survive the third trial after Shao Huang's dirty tactics.

Shao Huang only looked on lazily, "It's not my fault you were dumb enough to believe me. Let's start already, you're too boring."

With even more fury, he charged forward, swinging the whip at him. The whip itself was covered with a blue aura and a sharp blade of water flew at Shao Huang. Unfortunately the blade of water did not land and was easily broken by his bare fists. That did not stop him from attacking again, except each blade grew stronger and stronger, like the grow waves of the ocean. It kept building up more momentum before his 11th strike.

"Converging Flood Dragon Wave!"

His last attack took the form of a dragon almost 10 times as strong as his first attack. It's swift speed and power charged at Shao Huang, only this time he looked somewhat serious. Taking out his weapon, a golden short sword, he ran forward, facing the dragon head-on.

"Golden Grace!"

His sword shined before launching a sword strike, a crescent wave of golden energy formed from his attack, cutting the dragon in half before landing on his opponent. The one strike pushed him back, causing him to spit out some blood.

Shao Huang looked at the sorry sight and sighed, "Again, you're too boring. Give up. You'll never beat me in this lifetime."

"Hateful!" he looked at Shao Huang with anger. As much as he wanted to continue, he knew that anymore fighting would result in hit loss. It would be better to stop now so he could recover faster and recuperate.

"I forfeit!" he spoke begrudgingly and left the arena.

"Shao Huang has won!" the referee announced before sending him out of the arena.

"Next, Rou Ming Yue and Chu Jian!"