The 4 Kings

The young man had short orange hair and walked with a gait that exuded pure confidence. A warm and mellow qi surrounded him, making him seem like an immortal walking amongst mortals.

This young man is one of the 4 kings of the outer court, Yang Feng, also known as the Yang Fire King.

His opponent was a little known young man who cultivates a technique of the water attribute, and though he has the elemental advantage, his expression showed nothing but fear.

Bai Hu was paying close attention to this battle as he knew that the 4 kings will be his greatest obstacles in this competition, second only to Shui Bing, the Foundation level freak.

The battle had started and Yang Feng immediately went on the offensive while his opponent was too scared to attack, therefore remaining on the defense. His eyes narrowed at the sight of bright orange flames bursting from Yang Feng's palms and rapidly evaporating the water barrier his opponent had put up.

"What an odd flame. It contains the heat of fire but is also calm and controlled. There should be something else mixed in according to his cultivation art to make it that way"

Yang Feng suddenly jumped back and made several hand seals in quick succession before shouting.

"Yangfire Eagle!"

A bright orange eagle formed at his behest and cawed. It then dived headfirst towards the young man's water barrier.

Boom!

The barrier evaporated instantly and sent the young man flying off the platform. The eagle then flew into the air, circled a few times, and cawed once more before dispersing.

"I got it!"

Bai Hu had a bout of enlightenment after pondering the intricacies of Yang Feng's flame.

"There is yang qi mixed in with the flame. Yang is hot and soft at the same time, a carrier of life, while fire is destructive. With destruction follows creation. That is the root of Yang Feng's flame"

"Eh? Did I just get smarter?"

Bai Hu felt smart after figuring out why the Yang Fire King's flame was so odd, as though it wasn't like 'Yang' is in his name, title, and cultivation art.

"002 and 378!"

Seeing the young men who went up, Bai Hu couldn't help but feel confused.

"Did the 4 kings register first?"

Yang Feng was 003 and now another young man with long gray hair has ascended the stage. This young man is Fei Yuan Wei, or the Spectral King.

Before he went up however, Bai Hu saw him shoot Yang Feng a proud smirk before going up. Yang Feng didn't reply to this and simply rolled his eyes.

Bai Hu's eyes narrowed and he involuntarily tensed up.

"They know each other?"

He frowned. If the 4 kings know each other and are not enemies, then the last stage of the competition will be quite difficult to say the least. Once there are 10 people remaining, they will be put together on the platform for one last free for all.

Naturally, there are no rules, so teaming is commonplace. If the 4 kings, all of which are at the peak of qi refinement, gang up, then even Shui Bing might have a difficult time.

Thankfully, he still has his top grade magic treasure which he could bring out when the time is right. He hasn't used it yet as it would be unwise to expose such a powerful trump card, along with his lightning and fire attributes.

The Spectral King began fighting his opponent, who is an earth attributed cultivator and specialized in long ranged combat.

The battle started and the result was one sided.

No matter what the young man did, be it earth pikes thrown or pillars of rocks dropped from the sky, all his attacks either missed or passed right through Fei Yuan Wei. Bai Hu noted that every time something neared Fei Yuan Wei, his body would turn ethereal for a split second, just enough for the attack to pass through.

After a few minutes of this, Fei Yuan Wei hurriedly made a hand seal and pointed at his opponent.

"Heart Soul Spear!"

Nothing happened when he did that. There were no lights or energy fluctuations that could be felt from Bai Hu's spot. But the opponent instantly kneeled down on the ground, screaming and clutching his head.

Fei Yuan Wei then walked over at a leisurely pace and kicked his opponent off the stage.

Bai Hu analyzed the battle, "The spiritual form must cost him a lot of energy or else he wouldn't only activate it for a split second. His face became quite pale after using that several times. That move at the end should be a spiritual attack. I might be able to resist it if I cultivate the Thousand Soulspirit Art to a further degree"

The next few battles were mundane to say the least, though the ones after it proved both useful and entertaining.

"004 and 777!"

Dong Wang, or the Gold Beast King, went up next. Just as Bai Hu figured, the 4 kings went to register together, meaning they are all acquainted.

When the battle started, Dong Wang pulled out a massive bronze hammer. The spiritual qi it emitted signified that it was a mid grade magic treasure. His opponent threw fireballs and did his best to keep himself at a distance, but Dong Wang's title as the Gold Beast King was not for show.

He brushed off the fireballs as if it were nothing but air and charged forward. His massive frame and blonde mane made for a truly terrifying image, akin to a lion charging towards its prey.

This sight intimidated his opponent the most and he quickly admitted defeat before Dong Wang could bring down his hammer.

Bai Hu shivered, "Such a powerful body! Though he most likely has very few techniques, the only way I can do damage is to bring out my Black Sky Gold Spear!"

"001 and 717!"

A dark skinned young man dressed in a black cloak jumped onto the stage. As soon as he exchanged names with his opponent, he disappeared and reappeared behind his opponent, holding a green dagger by his neck.

This is Mo Yuan Kai, the Dark Moon King who possesses a darkness attribute.

With a single move, he rendered his opponent unable to fight. The poor young man was shaking and sweating profusely, not moving an inch. It was probably for the best, as Mo Yuan Kai was holding a high grade magic treasure in the form of a dagger at his neck.

This was one of the fastest battles that happened, second only to Shui Bing's battles. She went up and the opponent would simply give up. The difference between Foundation and qi refinement is simply too large.

At the end of the day, only 50 out of the original 1000 were left.

Long Sun was quite unlucky and had to fight 2 battles, and thought they were not back to back like Bai Hu, he had lost his second match. This was already really good and he was in high spirits when he congratulated Bai Hu.

Bai Hu however, was feeling ever more urgent and quickly extracted himself and left for Thunderwind Peak.

He arrived on his mountain peak and pondered his next step. His instincts told him to prepare for the next battle, as it might be the most dangerous. There was only one method that can bring him the quickest results and the greatest increase in strength.

He flipped through his memory for a refinement method inscribed in the Thunderflame Arts.

The Thunderflame beads.

Beads that are refined using the energy of lightning and fire and merging them into the shape of a bead. The beads can then be thrown and are disposable weapons. Each equivalent to a full force strike from a qi refinement cultivator, at least, that was the best he could make at the moment with what little cultivation he has.

"So long as I refine enough of them during the course of my week long break, assuming they don't blow up in from of my face of course, I'll have dozens of these beads"

The refinement method did mention that without sufficient control, the beads will blow up during the refinement process, making it quite the dangerous one. The fire and lightning qi need to intertwine together and become one.

Though, with his Thousand Soulspirit Art, Bai Hu can obtain a divine sense even greater than normal cultivators. He would simply have to work on controlling his divine sense and practicing.

"Hm?"

A slight tremor in the restrictions informed Bai Hu of some odd energy fluctuations in the area. Zhong Xian had helped him get hooked up with the formations around the mountain and so he had no problems controlling them.

He looked east and saw 4 different colored streaks of light coming straight for his Thunderwind Peak. They stopped in the skies and Bai Hu managed to make out 4 familiar figures.

The 4 kings had stopped by Bai Hu's mountain peak.