“That old man used to be nothing back in the day...” A voice floated through Runt’s mind. “I could kick his ass while sleeping with or without his spirit beasts.” The voice chuckled in amusement. “But then he started to learn about the human body. Out of everyone besides my babe, the old man is probably the most dangerous to fight.”

  Runt leaped into the air and swiped his leg horizontally to kick Lei across the face. His small leg harmlessly whisked through the air but Runt wasn’t done yet. He threw out multiple kicks with his legs at surprising speed. All of the kicks were thrown with all of his strength. Lei Zhi had his regular polite smile on his face as he dodged the attacks with relative ease.

“Right now, the old man is too much for a weakling like you. He’s been with the Princess and Fat Ass from the beginning. Fat Ass is stronger than Princess but he doesn’t have the fire the Princess has to keep improving. But both of them would still kick your ass without trying. The Old Man and Bing won’t accidentally kill ya while holding back. Princess might break all of your bones though.”

  Runt already knew from the beginning that he had no chance of winning against Lei Zhi in a one-on-one fight. These exchanges were nothing more than a way for Lei to teach him some more. Just like in the Endless Plains of Yin, the old guy loved teaching for some reason. It was annoying but also had its benefits as well.

  After missing his initial attacks, Runt muttered something to himself and dropped to all fours. From his shadow, two red clones of himself crawled out from within and hopped on stage next to Runt. A blackish-red aura grew around his body along with a wolf-like tail swaying back and forth. “Universal Spirit Void Technique.” Runt muttered. A black purple dome instantly swallowed up Runt and Lei, blocking everything that was happening in the ring.

“With that bullshit bloodline of yours, a martial art like this would be the shit for you.” The Boss’s words flowed through his head.

  Runt and his two clones stared at Lei Zhi before vanishing together. Each Runt split off into a different direction as they rushed toward him like hunting wolves. As they got closer, they began to mutter something at the same time. At the same moment, the dome began to change in shape and form from the inside and outside.

  Lei Zhi suddenly dodged as the field of qi he was entrapped within suddenly changed. A blackish-purple spike somehow formed from the side of him and nearly impaled him. Then a wolf in the form of that same qi appeared leaping toward his throat. Lei used the force of the animal to his advantage. By blocking the wolf’s bite with his fishing rod, he slid backward to give himself some distance. After sliding away, he tossed his fishing rod while also realizing that he was kind of surrounded.

“Haha... Looks like my worries were unneeded.” A giant bear was swiping down from above him while the three Runts were attacking him at the same time from below and all around him. “You aren’t lacking in martial arts at all.” Lei smiled.

  Just like a hallucination in a fog, Lei Zhi’s body started to turn hazy and blurry. The wolf, bear, spikes, and three Runts all phased right through the place where Lei Zhi used to be. In the exact moment after, Runt heard the cheer of the crowd and realized that Lei Zhi was no longer within the range of his technique. He dropped it and saw that Lei Zhi threw himself out of the ring completely injured somehow.

“The Old Man also won’t give you a hard time as long as you don’t give him any reason to. He’s a real soft bastard for kids.” It looks like the Boss was right again...

  Runt dropped his techniques and dropped to his knees. The massive drain of his qi from using them all in combination nearly sucked him dry. If their battle went on for a single minute longer, he doubted he would’ve been able to continue fighting. The Old Man really was as strong as he thought... He didn’t even need to use his needles to defeat him. Just him and that fishing rod were enough to deal with someone like Runt.

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  To the cheer of the crowd who seemed to be mostly women from the pitch of their screaming, Runt looked over to Lei Zhi to see him smiling right at him. Runt clicked his tongue as a small blush crept upon his face. Annoying Old Man is too nice for own damn good... If he wasn’t careful, he’ll get stabbed in the back by someone he trusts.

  Although many couldn’t see what took place within the black dome, that didn’t mean that everyone was blind to what went down inside. Those that could see didn’t understand why Lei Zhi threw the match but it wasn’t as if they could say anything either. What was it their business if the old guy wanted to lose to the kid? The elders also couldn’t say anything because it wasn’t against the rules to do so! They never would’ve thought that someone would willingly give the win to someone else during the Grand Tournament! However, they would make sure to take note of this in the future. Those in Heaven’s Angels are willing to sacrifice immediate benefits for companionship. It would be more difficult to try and corrupt them or turn them into traitors if any of the rest were like the old guy.

  After that first exciting semi-final round, the crowd was amped up to see any more prodigies and geniuses that were still Qi Gatherers. Runt was the only Qi Gatherer remaining from Heaven’s Angels still in the tournament. He went on with Jue and Shi Lina all the way to the finals! After Shi Lina’s one-sided loss to Lei Zhi, she was more receptive to Runt’s suggestions. Her being willing to listen more is the only reason why Runt made it to the finals for the Qi Gatherer division.

  And it was the only reason his team won. With the combination of Jue and Shi Lina’s absurd strength, it didn’t take much for Runt to support them to victory with his ocarina and bloodline. Speaking of his bloodline, Runt had to ask Lei Zhi after their fight why his bloodline didn’t work on him. His response made him speechless.

“I made myself deaf during our fight.” Lei casually laughed.

“... How did you hear what I was saying in the fight?”

“I read your lips.”

“Crazy Old Man...” Runt could only shake his head in disbelief. Who the hell would intentionally make themselves deaf just to test someone?! ‘I guess it didn’t even matter since he’s a doctor and could fix what he did to make himself not deaf anymore.’

  Runt told the Boss about what happened and he only laughed while sitting on his throne. He laughed so hard that he could barely breathe. Runt really wished he knew what was so funny about it, he only thought it was crazy as hell! It wasn’t like it was a life-or-death battle or something. What if he went permanently deaf from it?! Did the Old Man even care? Just how far is he willing to go to change the world...?

“In this world, there are people willing to go to any lengths for their dreams and there are losers to chicken shit too. Our people are part of the first group. Don’t forget that, Runt.” Hu Tao shared.

“What if I don’t have a dream?” Runt questioned.

“Find one, idiot. Weren’t you just a stinky street rat? Didn’t you ever dream of becoming rich or powerful? Choose one of those two.”

“I’ll try.” Runt thought about his current skills.

“Some of those upper-class bastards really like music. If you sell your talent, you might get some nice cash and make connections. Ask my babe more about that stuff though. She’s the only one with any sense for business.”

“Thank you, Boss!” Runt bowed in gratitude.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don’t forget to be here by the morning for our spar.” Hu Tao yawned.

“Should I try and convince the others to free you from Meili?” Runt asked.

“Forget about it. Me and Blackie are learning a bunch of cool shit together I never would’ve known if I wasn’t stuck here. Whatever bloodline my babe put into me, the more I question just where the hell did she appear from.” Hu Tao shrugged off Runt’s attempt to help.

  He could get stronger here in a different way. Inside his pocket dimension, his physical strength and cultivation may not rise much but there are more things to try and improve here as well. In a realm that he had total and complete control of! What kind of training could he not make once he fully makes this realm his own with the help of Blackie!?

“I’ll be back in the morning, Boss.” Runt respectfully bowed his head as fell through a black puddle on the floor.

  Opening his eyes again, appearing back at the Grand Tournament, Jue was staring directly at him.

“Why are you staring at me while I'm sleeping...?” Runt asked with an irritated look.

“You just look so handsome sleeping, I couldn’t help myself from staring. But why do you sleep with this thing covering your body?” Jue innocently asked.

  The black sludge that listened to Runt’s command removed itself from Runt’s body and went back to hiding somewhere on his person.

“It’s relaxing.” Was Runt’s only response.