The first tournament soon began without any disturbance, Arthur's match was not the first so he sat back and watched the fights.

They were not that exciting yet not that boring too, in most of the matches, the participants fought each other except a few matches were a participant fought a disciple of one of the four clans.

Tenhi, the master of the Locus Clan watched from above, each time a talented or strong participant joins he would nod in satisfaction, all people knew he would recruit everyone that pleased his eyes to his clan and that was an opportunity no one would want to miss so everyone that fought tried to show off the best he can as to maybe grab Tenhi's attention.

After 13 matches, it was the bald daoist's turn to fight, Arthur waited for this match since the beginning as he wanted to see what this man was capable of, after all, he was in the Heavenly Realm and he was the only one amongst the participants to be in this Realm.

Actually, all the clan masters were in the Heavenly Realm except Anastassia, Arthur didn't why but he was sure that although she's still in the Spirit Realm, her strength was probably much stronger than that.

The bald daoist went up to the arena while rubbing his hands awkwardly, his opponent was a disciple from the Xi Clan, since each clan only put 5 disciples to participate then that only meant that each of these disciples is very strong.

The rules were simple, once the two of them entered the arena, they have 20 seconds to get ready then the battle will automatically begin whether they are ready or not.

The disciple from the Xi Clan looked at the bald daoist coldly and hastily retrieved a short cane which had a small red gem on top of it.

As for the bald man, he just walked while staggering toward the disciple, he literally looked like a beggar or a homeless person.

"Youth! This daoist is willing to spare you for some gold.. what do you say?"

The disciple furrowed his brows for a couple of seconds before he felt he was underestimated and given a 'chance' by this beggar, he was easily angered and wanted to teach this bald man a lesson.

Once the 20 seconds were finished, the disciple waved the cane in the air which resulted in 3-meter fire cyclone to spawn and charge at the bald daoist.

Although a fire cyclone was quite simple, that didn't mean it was slow or weak, the more the person has intelligence the more his attribute will deal more damage to the enemies, for example, Lucy's magma melted the Grand Elder who was considered very strong.

The bald daoist looked at the incoming fire cyclone with surprise, his face paled and he appeared frightened and scared shitless.

He jumped with what seemed to be all his strength to the right, barely dodging the cyclone, but unfortunately for him, the disciple was very adept at controlling the cyclone as it immediately follows after the bald man.

The daoist looked like a chicken as he jumped around multiple times, everytime dodging by a hair's breath, however, his ragged clothes was slightly burned in the sides.

He really appeared to be struggling and trying his best to evade.

The disciple got more irritated, with another wave of his hand several 30-inch fireballs were created and thrown at the daoist.

The bald man just landed on the ground after evading the cyclone when he saw the fireballs coming at him, so for the first time in the match, he used his magic or skill or whatever it was, a metal shield was created around his hand, he quickly raised it and prepared himself for the impact.

He, fortunately, managed to dodge 12 balls just by 'luck' like always then, also by a streak of good luck, managed to defend against the rest, each time a ball hit him he would advance little by little as if he was struggling against them.

The disciple was surprised by this but he didn't dare attack lightly anymore, he created 2 other fire cyclone and soon they rushed at the poor bald man.

Arthur looked at this while laughing inside as this bald daoist really deserved the Oscar prize for his act as there is no way in hell he is not acting, he was in the Heavenly Realm so struggling against a Mortal Realm is simply nonsense.

But he got to give it to him, he really knew how to act, his expressions and actions are precise that even he would be fooled if he didn't appraise him and see his Realm.

The daoist, seeing all 3 directions blocked by the fire cyclones, showed a terrified face and created a metal sphere around himself to protect for the fire.

In no time, the cyclone hit the metal sphere and began melting it easily, however, for some odd reason, metal was being created as the last one was melted, it was a continuous process and it lasted until the cyclone disappeared.

The disciple was satisfied by his attack but when he saw the bald man come out of the sphere with only several burns on his arms and face, his eyes widened.

The daoist was running at the disciple, who unconsciously backed away as he was weak in close combat, after all, he was a fire mage.

While backing away, he threw fireballs at the incoming enemy non-stop but they all missed as he was not concentrating enough and couldn't aim right.

The bald man was extremely smart as he slowly chased the youth until he led him to the edges of the arena then punched him weakly making him fall from the stage, as per the rules said, if one of the two people fell out from the arena then he's disqualified.

And just like that, the daoist won after a long 'struggle', as Arthur glanced at Tenhi, he too didn't appear to be able to see through the bald man which indicated how much is good at acting.

"This penniless Daoist is in need of gold... if you gave me you might have won, you are very strong after all"

After he said that, the daoist strolled out of the arena then he resumed begging the people for some gold again, he didn't seem to get tired of it.

The next few matches weren't worth watching, Arthur simply took a book and began reading leisurely, he would sometimes glance at the fights if they are a bit interesting, but except that he didn't do anything.

He already saw Lucy, Saly sitting in the back rows of the audience, Mary and Sonia were also present and sitting next to them, Saly was watching excitedly, as for Lucy, she too was observing the fights but she didn't seem much interested, she would sometimes throw some glances at Arthur.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

She knew him best and immediately recognized him even with that robe, after all, there was only a few who were covering themselves and Zodiak's robe was a bit unique and hard to miss.

As he heard the next announcement, Arthur put down his book and stared at the arena, it was not yet his turn but the mysterious bandaged guy was going to fight right now and he was curious about his abilities, he was in the Spirit Realm but he emitted a strange and somewhat suffocating aura.

His opponent was a participant from the nearby crowd, it was an old man in the Mortal Realm, he was LVL834 and had a long cane as a weapon.

Unlike last time's fight, this one ended very fast, the bandaged guy kept mumbling some incomprehensible words as he went to the arena, as for his opponent, he stayed silent and cast some barriers around him before the 20 seconds were up.

The bandaged guy slowly lifted his hand which caused his white bandage to suddenly stretch out and with lightning speed strike the old man.

Fortunately, the old man was an experienced mage and cast several barriers but they were easily broken by the fast bandage, it struck his rib cage and he was sent flying out of the arena.

He was shocked and stared with disbelief at the bandaged guy, he was unwilling to lose like this but rules were rules and he didn't dare protest, he could only angrily go out of the stage.

The bandaged guy also went back and sat at a corner by himself.

The matches resumed and after 2 more matches, Arthur name was announced, so he got up and headed for the arena, and as for his enemy, it was a disciple from the Ma Clan, he wanted to fight others but his luck was apparently rotten.

His opponent was a tall muscular man, he wore the disciple robe of the Ma Clan, Arthur obviously didn't know these disciples, him being Elder doesn't mean he had to know all disciples and just by the look of it, this muscular man appeared to be a brainless fool who relied on strength too much.

Arthur wanted to fight people like the bandaged guy or the daoist, not this one so he decided to finish fast and hope his next match would be against a better opponent.

The 20 seconds were quickly up and the muscular man activated his defensive skill and rushed at Arthur.

For someone with his build, he was quite decent but for Arthur he was slower than a turtle, he didn't want to attract much attention by a one-hit win so he clashed with the muscular man and exchanged a few hits with him, although it was called an exchange, he evaded all the attacks and weakly used simple punches and kicks to overwhelm the muscular man.

The poor man was pushed back again and again until finally, Arthur what seemed to be a strong wind wave to push the opponent out of the arena.

For the spectators he only appeared to be a good fighter who did a surprise attack to win, they didn't consider him that strong.

Arthur then returned to his previous location and retrieved his book to read.

After Arthur's match, the girl from before fought a disciple from the Yun Family, although the disciple seemed a strong girl as she attacked with ice spears and formed several thick ice barriers to defend, she was easily defeated by an elegant kick from that girl.

The crowd was just crazy over her as they were attracted by her charm, the cheers didn't stop until a couple of minutes later when the next match began.

At the 30th match, the first round of the tournament was over, and the participants were given a 30-minute pause, although they truly didn't need it, it was only a lame pretext for them to arrange the name and the opponents.

30 minutes passed in the blink of an eye as Arthur was reading the book, he could finish the book in minutes but he enjoyed slowly reading a book, it's just that he liked it more that way.

The names and opponents were arranged and this time, Arthur's name 'MoonStar' was called at the first match which surprised him a little but it made him feel a bit more excited too.

His opponent was a disciple from a clan yet again, it was a woman from the Yan Clan, and just by appraising her LVL, he guessed she is the strongest, she was LVL973, almost at the Spirit Realm and she had a small dagger on her waist.

The two of them headed for the arena and stared at each other waiting for the 20 seconds to pass.

Arthur wanted to fight her, of course not seriously but just have some fun, after all, that's what he came for right?

When the time was up, she didn't attack him but continued to stare at him arrogantly, she saw him fight earlier but wasn't that impressed, she held complete confidence in herself.

As for Arthur, he slowly walked toward her while attacking with his wind attribute, although it was not as fast as dark magic or as destructive as the godly lightning or the ancient fire, it was not weak, after all, he had it in advanced, which is the peak unless he unlocks a special kind of wind or special skills.

Invisible wind blades were attacking her from all directions, Arthur held back and didn't create strong wind blades but if he did, they would, at best, hurt someone like an Elder, and just lightly, it would not even scratch someone like Anastassia.

Sensing the incoming attacks, the woman struck the air with her hand which emitted a faint white light, and just by doing that, the wind blades vanished easily.

Arthur had already guessed that attacks of that caliber wouldn't work but he wanted to try it anyway.

While she was defending against those wind blades, he was already rushing at her with a moderate speed and in just seconds he was near her, he struck with his palm aiming at her waist but she surprisingly evaded and rotated her body while sending a kick straight at his head.

'What a ruthless woman!' Although it was only a match, a kick like that would surely kill, if he was the muscular man from earlier, for example, he would have certainly died by that kick.

With a perfect reaction time, he raised his left hand defending against the incoming kick, but once he blocked it, he saw the woman throw her dagger exactly at his heart.

She was really going for the kill, opponents can accidentally die so she didn't care but what unfortunately for her, Arthur was no ordinary opponent.

The dagger was caught by Arthur right arm, he could let it struck him and he would still receive no damage but that would bring too much attention, for a fast and piercing dagger like this one to not deal damage to him seemed rather suspicious.

As the woman was going to retract her leg which was used to kick him in his head, she was surprised to see Arthur use his left hand and tightly hold her leg, no matter what how she struggled, she couldn't free her leg, so she used her other leg to kick him again but this time, her leg emitted a strong white light followed by a tiger roar as it was directed at his abdomen.

Arthur was smirking as he saw her try to free himself which was impossible, then she used her other leg but before it could reach him, he lifted her up in the air and slammed her body into the ground, if he used all his strength, then she would literally turn into a minced meat or a blood pool, so he used minimum strength.

Despite doing that, the attack was ruthless as there was a small crater on the ground, he backed away 2 steps and watched as the woman got up from the ground with some blood leaking down from her lips.

Her clothes were dirtied by the previous impact and her slender legs had a few bruises, she couldn't help but feel a bit of fear from him as she couldn't retaliate when he slammed her down, even someone such as her, who is the best disciple in the Yan Clan younger generation, couldn't measure to his strength.

She was quick-witted and understood that he had some immense brute strength, there was still a hand sign on her leg, it was the place he gripped her from, she even felt some pain coming from it, the bones were surely cracked.

She stared intensely at Arthur, she previously thought he was not that strong after observing him in his last match but he surprisingly was a monster, he didn't show off that much so she clearly underestimated him.

The only way for her is to overcome his strength and strike him with a strong attack, she wasn't a good mage to kite him or she could only use her speed to attack him.

..

Diyun, the woman who was fighting Arthur, was now depressed as she discovered that he not only had immense strength, his speed was equal to her, she could only circle around while trying her best to evade his attacks.

After 5 minutes of continuous struggle, an opportunity finally arose so she didn't waste it as she appeared behind him and strike with her hand, which was doing a claw sign, behind that hand an illusory image of white and golden claws appeared.

What Diyun didn't know was that Arthur purposely created that opportunity for her to finish this, he had gotten bored quickly, she was not that strong, to begin with and he wanted to fight the bald daoist and not this one.

The claw attack was almost going to hit him when he half turned his body and used [Rotating punch] which was a martial art technique, it was not that strong but he didn't want to beat her with just a normal punch to not attract the attention of Tenhi, he didn't want to bother by him later on.

Just as the name indicated, [Rotating punch] was a punch which had a rotating Qi inside it and it would create something similar to a tornado wave from the punch.

The two attacks struck each other and strong winds were created from the impact, a heavy sound resulted from the clash and after just a few seconds, Diyun was sent flying out of the arena.