In the pitch dark room, lonely rays of sunlight trespassed, carrying word of the break of day.

Yun Fei opened his eyes, his pupils glinting purple. He had had a good rest in the night and his condition was at its peak.

It was just some 7-8 days ago that his jaw was almost completely obliterated and he had to use a very risky move which also disabled one of his hands. But now, he felt completely revived and much stronger than before.

Even his Cultivation had progressed since then. Back then, he had half a foot into the 4th stage of Qi Condensation. But now, he could be considered to be more closer to the 5th stage than the 4th.

'Hmph! if that bastard fought with me right now he wouldn't be able to leave alive.'

With confidence in his strength and an optimistic view point, Yun Fei opened the door of his room, running into the servant who was just about to knock.

----------------------------------------

The sun had just risen in Sungon city but a lot of people were already up and about. Even with so much movement, a lot of the shops were closed. The destination of these people weren't their jobs.

It wasn't just the normal people. Even the cultivators were moving in groups, all heading into the same direction. It was an amphitheatre.

"We came at a good time, the people are just starting to roll in. Let's get a good seat." said Daoist Ren to the two cultivators with him.

"I've heard that most of the important fights are usually held at platform number 3. Let's go sit there."

"Uncle, you fool! The matchups are going to be decided by draws. Each platform has an equal 1/3rd chance of having a good fight."

While Scholar said this, their steps still moved towards platform number 3. Since it didn't matter where they sat if all had equal chances.

Just as they sat down, with Ren in the middle. A voice from behind them broke up their conversation.

"Hey Ren, How've you Been?

Didn't think I'd see you here,

You still owe me for that beer."

All three of them turned their heads in sync. They were surprised by what they saw. It was a tall dark man with very short hair. He was wearing lavish clothes.

There were various rings on his hands made out of precious metals. He also had a thick golden chain around his neck. What stood out the most was a black covering on his eyes which reflected the sunlight.

All in all, he didn't even look like a cultivator. His fashion was completely different. In fact, he didn't even look like he was from the region.

Just as Uncle and Scholar were trying to make sense of the appearance of the man and the rhyme he had blurted out in a weird tone, Daoist Ren replied.

"Rapper Daoist! Did you move your business to Sungon City? I never expected to see you here."

Rapper Daoist paused for a second as he was thinking and then immediately replied in a rhythm.

"I don't pimp whores,

Not anymore.

Didn't have a stable life, before,

So, joined the city guards. It had what I asked for."

Daoist Ren sighed,

"It's sad that you quit. You were one of the best in the business."

While Uncle and Scholar tried to decipher the meaning from the conversation, Rapper Daoist suddenly raised his hand and pointed behind them.

"Those tits are nice,

This your hood, help us break the Ice."

Their heads once again turned in a sync to look directly behind them. Unfortunately, all they could see was the empty stage. There were no tits behind them.

Daoist Ren remembered something as he turned back in disappointment and said,

"I forgot just what length you can go to rhyme your sentences. You still haven't changed.

Oi, stop with that smug face you lunatic. I'm not praising you here."

Daoist Ren was already familiar with his antics. So he just gave up on trying to knock some sense into him. He decided to introduce him first.

"This here is, Rapper Daoist, he's not from around here."

"We guessed," chorused the two.

"Don't ask me where he's from. Even I don't know that. His place of origin would be the last thing you'd be curious about considering how he acts."

"Shouldn't it be the first one? Since the place where he's from could explain the reason for all this." Said Scholar butting in as he pointed towards Rapper Daoist.

"Hey! That's crude, very rude.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

I'm standing right here, dude."

"Anyway, he never mentions his place of origin. As you should've already noticed, this guy likes rhyming. He likes it so much that you won't hear a normal sentence from his mouth.

He can do almost anything to ensure that his words are rhyming.

Don't underestimate his resolve. I remember that he didn't speak for a month once, when he couldn't think of a rhyme."

"But why?", Uncle just couldn't understand why anybody would go that far.

"I don't know. He just kept saying 'It's my way, I'm not gay, today is a good day.' whenever I asked him this.

From the first time I met him, he was already like this. I don't know if he has any mental problems or anything but he isn't a bad guy."

Although Uncle and Scholar had some apprehensions, they still came around and didn't think too much.

"Well, I still don't understand him properly but since he is Daoist Ren's friend then he's our friend too.

I am Tan Chang. Let's go to a restaurant after the tournament, it will be fun." Said Uncle, He was a simple man. A friend's friend was his friend too.

Right after Uncle said this, Scholar also introduced himself.

"Even though he might be a little different. I think having eccentricity in one's life can make it more enjoyable.

I am Su Shirong. You can call me Scholar. Everybody calls me this, since I was about to become a scholar but became a cultivator by mistake.

Oh, And you can call this old guy here Uncle. He keeps saying he's 25 but do you think he looks 25? No, right? That's why he's Uncle."

"You peeps seem cool,

You may be fools.

Let's hang together,

Fools of a feather.

I'm a city ranger,

Ever the danger,

Don't be a stranger."

The impressed uncle started dumbfounded.

Since they had broken the ice. They once again started talking as Rapper Daoist sometimes presented his opinions via weird rhymes. The amphitheatre was filled and the tournament was about to begin.

----------------------------------------

Yun Fei reached the venue of the tournament. All the contenders were now present on the center most stage. What surrounded them were shouts by the enthusiastic denizens of the city. They had come to see the new heroes that would soon join the guards.

He could count a total of eighteen people that were going to participate in the tournament. The number wouldn't be so small if not for the incident during the examination.

A well dressed officer addressed all the participants and declared the rules and the flow of the tournament. It was going to be a round robin style tournament.

In each round, everyone had to fight once. The rest of the people would watch them while recuperating. As there were three platforms, three battles were going to happen simultaneously.

As soon as one of them ended, the people who had the next one had to go up on the platform. Since a lot of battles had to be conducted, no delay was allowed.

Intentional blows to kill or cripple people were not allowed. However, to ensure that none of the participants suffered serious injuries, people in foundation establishment were going to act as referees.

Using external materials, such as talismans was not allowed. To defeat someone; you could push them out of bounds, make them lose consciousness or have them admit defeat themselves.

After he finished, the officer waved his hand and summoned a black wooden ballot box. One by one, the eighteen went and drew their slips as the officer called them out.

The crowd's reaction to each name made their expectations clear. When the average fighter went forth, murmurs from a few groups rose up, encouragement from well wishers and sometimes a few jeers.

In contrast, a few famous people received support from a lot of the audience members. The most prominent example would be He Xianru, as soon as she went to draw her lot, the crowd cheered crazily.

She was the young miss of the whole city. Adored by the people of the city since her birth. There was no one in Sungon city who didn't like her.

Comparatively, when Yun Fei went to draw his lot, he was treated like an average warrior. Nobody knew who he was. Well, except for one person who was cheering like wild as soon as Yun Fei stepped to draw his lot.

It was Devanshu.

On his face was relief. He was constantly worried when he had heard of the incident. Now that he saw that Yun Fei was fine, he let loose and cheered with joy.

The lots for the first round were all drawn. The people who were participating in the first three battles prepared themselves. Their names were displayed on the respective obelisks.

As soon as He Xianru's name appeared on the obelisk of the center most platform, the crowd riled up once again.

Amongst the cheers of the crowd, He Xianru climbed up the stairs of the stage. She waved and winked towards the audience, acting like everybody had come to see her.

She wasn't wrong though, a lot of people had indeed come to see her. The cheers had improved her mood and the droves of people shouting 'Young Miss' in unison had pulled up her fighting spirit.

However, just as she climbed the stage and looked towards the person standing in front of her. All her enthusiasm melted away like snow under the spring sun.

Her smile vanished and she muttered towards the referee in a small voice.

"I concede."

As soon as she said this, the crowd went silent.

Her opponent was Ha Ken. She had already fought him numerous times before. Even though they had similar cultivation strength, she was never able to win.

And now, Ha Ken had exceeded her cultivation too. There was no way she would be able to win. And spending her energy on a fight with a set outcome would just prove detrimental to the upcoming fights.

"I've already battled with you a lot of times and I know that I won't be able to win this time.

However, I will defeat you someday."

"I look forward to that day. But don't think you will be able to match me easily."

Xianru's growth brought a smile to her father's face. If it was her previous self, she would try to battle it out and then suffer for that in the latter fights. He was happy that Ha Ken's company had a positive effect on her.

The crowd cheered once again. The mindless citizens cared about nothing else than heroic declarations by the cute young lady.

Yun Fei found it hard to understand.

'Why do they keep cheering? Come on, she just accepted her loss. People are trying their hardest on the other stages, why don't they cheer for them?'

Not bothering to think any more, Yun Fei moved towards one of the front rows. He decided to catch up with Devanshu while watching the others fight. His own turn was towards the end of the round.

"Master, I always knew that you would survive. I knew, You'd never be crushed into paste, or swallowed by the monster."

"Boy, your imagination is too vivid for someone who thought I would survive. Don't worry, I am not that easy to kill."

Both of them turned their eyes towards the three stages as they made some small talk. All three platforms had battles underway.

Yun Fei peeled his eyes and concentrated on each and every move by the participants. Afterall, his time in the cultivation world had been far too short. There were still many things that he wasn't aware of.

Cultivation methods, techniques and weapons were some of them. Watching others battle it out would go a long way to increase his awareness about these. This would in turn help him in his own battles.