"Are you here to ask about the things I used in the match today?"

Gong Sunling asked the Referee, walking towards him.

"Indeed I am. That was really something interesting. I didn't think there was a way to utilise those things."

The amphitheatre was completely empty. Except for Gong Sunling who was still lying with his back to the ground and the referee who had approached him.

"Those were like a weird form of the mature knobs in the Atlas forest. I found three of them last time I went exploring a little deep.

They were very weird since unlike the typical knobs which burst into action upon contact, they maintained their stability.

After I tried for some time, I could finally make one of them work. I thought they would make for a killer trick so I saved them as a trump card."

"Is that so? The research on those things have been stagnant for a long time. If you had just contacted the city, we would've bought it out of your hands happily."

The referee glared as if trying to look into his soul,

"I will ask you one more time. Do you have any more of those? This is a very important matter, those things have a lot of potential."

"You won't be satisfied by just my words right? Here, take it."

Gong Sunling tossed his two space pouches to the Referee.

"You can verify it yourself. I really don't have anymore of those. I am somewhat new to the area, If I knew they were so important I would've happily sold them to the city."

The referee extended his divine sense and checked the space pouches. However, the only things he found were loads of throwing knives, axes and other weapons. There were also a lot of chemicals and poisons.

"I hope you know that using poisons in the tournament is forbidden. If you use any of these, you'll be disqualified.

Since you don't have any more of those, it's alright. However, you will have to lead us to the place where you found them after you join the city guards."

Saying this, the referee left Gong Sunling alone.

After some time, another man climbed to the stage and approached Gong Sunling.

Hearing the footsteps, Gong Sunling sat up and turned his head. The man approaching him opened his mouth to speak.

"Gong Sunling, you lost miserably today. Will you be able to reach the top five in the end?", The man had just stated the truth, he wasn't trying to demean Gong Sunling in any way.

"I won't. I was about to approach you to notify this. Since I can't keep my end of the deal, we'll have to call it off."

Gong Sunling was not a stupid man. He had already researched his opponents before participating in the tournament. He knew all who he could compete with and also the ones who could defeat him.

After his research, he was sure he would reach atleast the 5th position even if he lost the fights that were going to be close. This was the reason why he had agreed to the deal.

However, this prediction obviously couldn't include all the variables. And now, a variable known as Yun Fei had jeopardized his predictions. He had also lost the close fight.

If he had to be objective, there was no surety that he would reach the top 5, it was much more probable for him to rank 6th.

"What? You're calling it off even before you complete the tournament?

Do you think you can withdraw so easily?"

Gao Jian exerted his 6th layer cultivation over the injured Gong Sunling as he glared menacingly.

"This was one of the possibilities, I already took an oath when I was told the conditions. You don't have to worry about me talking about anything. Your boss should've told you about it.

Even then. I thought you were more sensible than your partner. Do you think I am such a soft persimmon to pinch?"

Gong Sunling said as he fiddled with something in his hand. Tossing it upwards and catching it back into his hand, he continued.

"Do you want to feel what my opponent felt when covered by the flesh today?"

Gao Jian narrowed his eyes.

"Why didn't you use it in the fight?"

"Using three at a time? These things aren't so cheap for me to just throw around without care. However, I do have enough to make you regret making a move on me."

'Fighting at this place will not be sensible. Besides, I was just asked to give him some information.

Since the deal is off, the higher ups will decide what to do.'

Gao Jian took one last look at Gong Sunling and then walked out of the amphitheatre. Leaving Gong Sunling to lay on his back as he watched the stars.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

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"Damn, it's completely packed today. Good thing we came a little early."

Uncle said to the others. They were sitting in the exact same place as yesterday.

"Well, the competition is going to end today and it's also a Sunday. Anybody who has time on their hands has come to watch.", Replied Scholar.

"The tournament this time is probably much more interesting to the general town's folk since the city lord's daughter is participating too."

Said Ren as Rapper Daoist nodded to each of their remarks.

Normal people and even cultivators. All were hyped before the start of the second day. There were still a lot of the prominent matchups left, which further increased their fervor.

It was finally the time to begin the tournament. The matchups for the round were already displayed.

"Master, looks like you get to fight first this time.", Said Devanshu as he looked over the matchups.

"Yeah. And it is someone I've fought before. He'll definitely try to beat me up for revenge."

"You've fought before? Where did you even meet Xuan Wu before the tournament?"

"It was not before. He was one of the stupid guys I robbed for that mountain examination. It's such a shame that he didn't have the gauntlets on him back then, or I would've robbed them too."

"Ohh..", Devanshu voiced as he wondered how Yun Fei even managed to rob such a violent guy.

It was as Yun Fei had predicted, as soon as he climbed to the platform. Xuan Wu suddenly blurted out while pointing at him.

"You!!!! You are the bastard who robbed everything from me in the first part of the exam!!"

His loud shout pulled every audience member's attention. Afterall, fights with some backstory were more interesting than the ones without. Even the Referee allowed this since it lead to greater excitement.

"Hey, how can you lie like this? I was kind enough to leave some things for you."

"Kind!! You call yourself kind? The only things you left me were a searching talisman and a day's worth of food.

You took all my spirit stones, gold and every other thing I carried.

Do you know how much hardships I faced after that? After I finally won a token from another contestant, it was stolen right after without me even noticing.

I thought I would lose just like that. But thankfully, I survived."

The spectators felt that the outrage of Xuan Wu was justified. They felt that the poor guy had a hard time because of Yun Fei.

"Don't make it out as if I did something illegal. I did everything fairly. Taking the tokens from each other was the goal of the exam.

Me or the guy who stole your token both didn't do anything wrong. It was your mistake for not paying attention to your surroundings.

Before your case, I didn't even think it was possible for someone to lose their token without noticing. I'm sure the only reason you lost it was your own stupidity."

'Yeah, Exactly!', Su Libai supported Yun Fei inside his thoughts.

People were swayed again. 'Oh, so everything was just a competition. This Xuan Wu might just be a sore loser.', they thought. But Xuan Wu's next statement swayed them again.

"Fair? You call shooting me in the ass when I was pissing fair? You even used a paralysing poison on the arrow heads so I couldn't retaliate. And that other bastard, whoever it was, stole it when I was asleep."

'Looks like this Yun Fei is the treacherous bastard afterall. He didn't even have any trouble beating the cute young miss too.', everybody thought.

"I didn't do anything against the rules, alright. I was just teaching you the importance of taking cover. Shouldn't you have to pay a price for having your butt open to attacks?

You should thank me for giving you a taste of reality. In a true battle, people won't always attack from the front or wait for you to get ready, you must remember that.

And even if I didn't use the arrows or the poison, the outcome wouldn't change."

The audience cheered as Yun Fei made such a bold claim. Although a lot of people still hated him because he beat their beloved Young Miss. He had started receiving fame since he was one of the only five people not to lose a match for the whole of first day.

"So you think you're so strong that you can win against me without using underhanded means?

If you're so strong, then you shouldn't have any problems in taking a punch from me.

I challenge you to withstand a single punch from me without dodging. If you are still standing after my move, I will immediately surrender.

Tell me, Do you dare!?"

Yun Fei looked towards the giant with the massive gauntlets in front of him. This challenge seemed much more interesting to him. And, he didn't think he would lose.

"There's nothing in this world this Yun doesn't dare to do. Forget about me standing after your move, if you're able to move me out of this circle, then it will be considered my loss.", Yun Fei said as he pointed out a circle with a radius of two metered around him.

Massive cheers errupted with earth shaking force.

The mood of the amphitheatre transfomed into a wild frenzy. This was the first time they had seen a fight like this. The fighters both made wild claims which heated the atmosphere.

People couldn't wait to see what would happen. Will Xuan Wu be made to eat his words and surrender or will Yun Fei have to pay for his wild words.

"Damn, I thought this Xuan Wu was just a muscle head good at battles but he's not as simple as he seems.", Said Daoist Ren.

"Yeah, uncle should learn from him. That guy looks like an idiot but can still scheme in the dark.", Scholar also agreed.

"What do you guys mean? I don't get anything.", Uncle said confusedly.

"The thing is, this Yun Fei guy is a mystery. People are kind of glossing over it but his cultivation is just at the 4th level of Qi Condensation.

Even with that inferior cultivation. He beat someone like He Xianru in a single punch and remained undefeated for the first day.

Actually, after we went back yesterday. I tried to ask around in the city to learn about him but nobody had any answers. The most I could find was a guy saying he saw him entering the city some time before the competition started.

I couldn't even understand how he defeated He Xianru. It didn't even seem like he used any techniques. This kind of guy with so many unknowns is not easy to confront.

Xuan Wu isn't necessarily better than He Xianru. Now, what do you think would his best strategy to win be?

It would be to compete in something that he had complete superiority across the whole tournament and finish the battle. And this is what he had done. He took advantage of Yun Fei's confidence and had him agree to such an unfair competition." Explained Scholar.

"That's true. Xuan Wu has a high level of body cultivation. Combined with the techniques from the inheritance he recieved, he should have the most lethal attacks amongst the contestants. Ha Ken's attack are also lethal but because of the skill and not the sheer strength.

Just remember about Lin Dong, Gong Sunling and the others who succumbed to just 1-2 of his clean blows and lost.", Daoist Ren continued.

"So, is this Yun Fei guy going to lose?", Uncle asked.

"Most probably."