Li Ao had become numb to his senior sister’s screams.

When Fan Yueyin forced her to scream in that fateful day, something happened to her psyche that no one could explain. From that day on, she would always scream when forging.

The scream itself wasn’t anything normal. As if someone gouged out her organs and eyes, her voice frightened anyone who heard it.

Some servants became too afraid of passing by when she was in the estate, calling her ‘Banshee’ behind her back...

This, however, didn’t mean the unsuspecting opponent of her was ready for it.

After a long time of screaming and working, her voice could achieve a level of power similar to sound based arts. Hence, she could suppress the other party by shouting alone.

Coupled with her strong fleshly body grown by forging from youth, not many within or a small stage above her could fight against Qing Yan.

‘It is all in good order.’

Li Ao nodded to himself and smiled at the descending Qing Yan. She gave him a stare, patted his shoulder, then sat down to meditate.

Li Ao watched the rest of the fights with faint interest, but three of them shocked him.

There were three foundation establishment cultivators among the heaven’s children!

Not only did he make a right guess, it seemed one of them was even at the second-level of Foundation Establishment.

And better yet—the ponytail girl defeated one of the foundation establishment heaven’s children within five strikes!

No one could take more than five strikes from her, not even the strong!

Elder Wu and the rest above the high seats couldn’t accept the result, let alone those in the audience who lost their bets.

It didn’t seem reasonable. It wasn’t even realistic.

Li Ao had a suspecting thought that she was either hiding her cultivation, or was some kind of a different protagonist.

The stage seemed appropriate for such a character to make their debut, right?

In the end, his turn arrived. Li Ao ascended the platform and cast a look at the young man across from him.

He was one of the better ones, with a ninth-level Qi Condensation cultivation.

Unlike his past opponents, he didn’t freeze at first sight. The boy’s eyes widened, sweat trickled down his forehead, but still preserved. Taking out a black and blue spear, he assumed a fighting pose.

‘’Chen Ping, please instruct me!’’

‘’Good!’’

Li Ao waved his hand and a fire bloomed in his palm. The heat dyed the immediate fifty meters red, boomed like thunder, then condensed into a fine spear around two meters long. With a flick of his sleeve, Li Ao put up a fighting stance.

‘’Xu Liao, please instruct me!’’

The judge said a few words of caution, then ascended in a flash.

Staring at each other for a few seconds, the duo moved.

Li Ao only employed his Physique as he moved, only using his Spiritual Qi to condense the weapon in his hands. Even then, his speed seemed to surpass Chen Ping’s.

Before Chen Ping could move a quarter of the way, Li Ao blurred past the half-way circle in the arena and stabbed at him.

His strike sailed like an arrow and pierced towards the boy’s shoulder.

Chen Ping let out a loud gasp and held his breath. Eyes focused, the boy planted one feet in and made a quick turn.

The spear flashed past his trembling eyes, then retreated again to strike.

Li Ao kept mobilizing his Qi and blood in quick, successive strikes. Chen Ping didn’t dare to receive any of them. He could feel that if any of those blows landed, he would find himself down in a pit.

Still, their exchange didn’t look any less impressive. Chen Ping’s dead-close maneuvers made people’s hearts tremble.

After twenty strikes, Li Ao felt himself becoming more familiar with his body. He knew he was well capable of ending the affair in a single strike. But he decided against it.

After all, it had been a long time since he fought. To make his body remember the experience, then get used to its new level of power, he would need to work it until the instincts returned.

After fighting another thirty rounds, Chen Ping retreated back with ragged breaths. The boy smashed the butt of his spear on the ground, raising a cloud of debris and dust.

With a hand seal, he pointed one index finger forward.

With his action, the sharp tip of the black and blue spear released a sharp intent. The glow expanded a meter wide around him, then, as if a baptism, fell all over him in a faint light.

Now, Chen Ping’s entire being seemed to emanate a threatening sharpness.

Li Ao looked surprised.

‘’Elementary Spear Intent?’’

There were also masteries over weapons, divided into three.

Elementary Intent.

Condensed Intent.

Soul of Intent.

Any level of intent could give an edge over one’s foe. It could be considered a high-level magical art, as the difficulty of mastering an intent wasn’t any lesser than learning a magical art.

For someone of his age, Chen Ping’s accomplishment at spear was indeed amazing. Even Li Ao didn’t have anything close to an intent.

Chen Ping grasped his spear and raised it. A boulder half the size of him rose with it, then turned into dust from the sharp aura around his body.

‘’Be careful!’’

As he shouted, Chen Ping shot forward.

Li Ao readied himself, then moved forward as well.

Their weapons cut through the air, whistling, and met with a boom.

The Spear Intent crashed down upon Li Ao’s fire spear and sent cracks running through it. The blue and red light clashed at each turn of their weapons, and the duo exchanged twelve moves in succession.

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Li Ao found himself being pushed back, and at the thirteenth strike the spear in his hand exploded into a storm of fire.

The flames burst like a bomb, booming, and pushed the duo away from each other. Separated by a wall of flames, Li Ao looked down at his sleeveless arms.

There were dozens of scratches and thin lines of blood running around them.

‘He is...not just good.’

Once again, Li Ao found himself a little silly.

He was largely underestimating his opponents. A genius was, no matter the world, a genius. Even if the standards were somewhat lower, that wasn’t because of the people, but because of the world.

If this Chen Ping fellow was on the Great Wei Dynasty, how high would he have reached?

Nodding, Li Ao watched Chen Ping slash apart the wall of flames. The spear intent poured as a wave of milky-white and blue light, separating the wall into two halves.

Winds whipped around as Li Ao moved forward again. Waving his hand, he revolved another fire lance, then shot forth.

Chen Ping sensed something then and moved back.

However, Li Ao’s physical superiority wouldn’t allow it.

Taking three deep steps, each leaving a pit behind him, Li Ao mobilized one fourth of his bronze aura.

At that moment, Chen Ping felt like he was being pressed upon by a large beast. His body stiffened, and his grip became loose.

Li Ao swung a single spear, a trace of bronze aura trailing its flaming tip, and slapped Chen Ping’s weapon away.

The blow gathered wind behind it and extinguished the remaining halves of the wall of flame. Then the rebound came, and a whirlwind picked up on stage, its remnants washing over the audience seats like a soft breeze.

With a cheer, people focused on Li Ao's dim fire lance.

Its tip rested on Chen Ping’s throat.

Face bright red and sweaty, Chen Ping looked down at the source of heat and trace of bronze aura under his chin.

‘’I...concede.’’

Li Ao dispersed the fire lance. The whirlwind died with it.

Cupping his hands, he smiled at Chen Ping. ‘’Good match.’’

The boy showed a weak smile.

‘’Good match!’’ Chen Ping cupped his hands.

‘’Round fifteen, winner Xu Liao!’’

After hearing the announcement, Li Ao descended the arena and approached Qing Yan. In the middle of his walk, he noticed three pair of gazes on him.

One was the familiar ponytail girl, who didn’t seem ashamed of forcibly assessing his cultivation. She did announce her name on stage, but Li Ao didn’t remember it. Putting up a faint barrier, he blocked her divine sense, then glanced at the other two.

One was a disgruntled young man, whom he identified as Sun Jian’s opponent. Every once in a while, the young man looked at the high seats as if he listened to something. To Li Ao, it seemed funny that he made no attempt to hide the fact.

Last one was one of the Foundation Establishment Heaven’s Children. He cast a curious, if not ambitious glance, then no longer looked.

Sighing, Li Ao sat down and meditated as well. After him, another match concluded, and the judge announced a fifteen minute break.

The audience left through various gates and means, though a large majority stood in their seats. There were peddlers and traders selling stuff among them, so no one went without food and drinks.

Li Ao felt two people approach then, and looking up saw Master Jiao and Riri. The duo carried strained smiles.

‘’You two old men, how did you get down?’’ Wasn’t it prohibited for others to come down to the arena?

Riri made a ‘6’ gesture.

Master Jiao slapped his head, cleared his throat, then bowed.

‘’Well, young master Xu, congratulations on moving up to the second round!’’

‘’Thank you.’’

‘’I have no doubt you will enter the semi-finals, no, the finals! Everyone in the audience was talking about your greatness just now!’’

‘’Weren’t they cursing him for losing their money?’’

‘’Were they? I just heard their praises?’’ Master Jiao stroked his beard.

Li Ao watched the duo talk to themselves for a few moments, then waved his hand.

‘’Leave before you get in trouble. As for your advertisement, I will do it in the opportune time.’’

Eyes shining, Master Jiao bowed down, then leaned close to his ear.

‘’Ahem, you know, young master Xu, I’m also of mind to bet a little. Just a little for fun, nothing amazing...but, do you perhaps have any idea who might come out on top?’’

‘’You know, there is great money, I mean fun in there...and since you are closer, perhaps you know better than us who is better than the other?’’

For a moment, Li Ao seemed dumbstruck. Then he slapped his thigh. ‘’How could I forget such a cliche trope!’’

Smiling, he took out a large pouch out of his spatial ring.

When the spiritual Qi spread from it, Master Jiao’s eyes brightened.

‘’Just bet everything you gain from this on me.’’ The pouch contained some five hundred low-grade spirit stones he hid for emergency situations. Anything else was spent on pills for his breakthrough.

The old guy seemed surprised.‘’Uh...on you?’’

‘’Just on me—I suggest you do the same with your own ‘little’ money.’’

‘’What about the others?’’

‘’Others? That ponytail girl...’’

Riri took the pouch in Master Jiao’s stead and, when the two of them were talking about other possible bets, took a deep sniff at it. Eyes bright, the old man looked to see if no one was looking, and rubbed the pouch all over his face.

‘’That should be it. But don’t forget! Bet the biggest one on my matches!’’

‘’As you wish, young master Xu!’’

After they left, Li Ao visited Sun Jian to see his situation. He seemed cheerful enough, and Fan Yueyin had sent a few pills to aid him in his healing. Still, the boy couldn’t move his legs very well for now.

The break ended around then, and Li Ao returned with a few pats to the back by Sun Jian.

The Judge flew high into the air, face still unreadable, and took out the randomizer box.

‘’Come get your order!’’

This time, Qing Yan went first. Right after pulling her lot, she ascended the stage.

‘She picked one, or two?’

Li Ao also took his stick, numbering five.

In a minute everyone received their order.

‘’Number one and two!’’

With the judge’s shout, a green halo moved in front of Qing Yan. Her expression changed, and many in the high seats, including Fan Yueyin, turned cold.

Looking at the same boy who felled Sun Jian, Li Ao frowned.

Qing Yan, up on the stage, clenched her fists. She cast a look at the high seats and found her master carrying a frightening gaze. She stood upright, neither leaning nor narrowing her eyes.

If something unwanted happened to her, something even less desired might happen up on those seats. Thinking so, Qing Yan glanced down at her feet.

Then she cast a look at Li Ao, who, in a moment of enlightenment, could understand what she wanted to do.

Li Ao looked up at Fan Yueyin, then down at his senior sister.

With a sigh, he showed a thumbs up.

By then, the judge sensed something wrong and descended near the arena.

‘’Rules are the same, no—’’

‘’I concede.’’

Qing Yan’s voice echoed before the fight even began. Once it went, then twice, and when it died a huge uproar rose from the crowd.

Baffled, the heaven’s child glared at her. ‘’Are you a coward?’’

‘’Everyone knows who is the real coward.’’ Qing Yan snorted.

The judge turned towards her as well. ‘’Are you sure?’’

Qing Yan nodded, then turned towards the high seats to bow at her master.

Yet, still clenching her fist, she descended under the incredulous gazes of the audience.

On the ground, Li Ao received her with a serious expression.

‘’Junior brother.’

Li Ao cupped his hands again. ‘’Senior sister, don’t worry.’’

‘’I will kill them in your stead.’’

‘’You just sit back and watch the show.’’

She nodded again, a little better, and went into the medical room to sit with Sun Jian.

Li Ao glanced at the stage right then and met eyes with the glaring heaven’s child. Smiling at the fellow, he sensed Fan Yueyin’s divine sense wash over him.

There was nothing needed for him to say. She did hear his declaration to Qing Yan, and she knew him well enough to understand he intended to deliver on his promise.

He felt the divine sense retreat after that. Turning back, Li Ao sat down to meditate.

‘Okay, let’s break the competition.’