The way the Outer Sect competition was organized was quite simple. It consisted of two phases. The first phase was the preliminary round, which was compulsory for all disciples who wanted to enter the inner sect, with the exception of the top 3 of the Outer Sect.

Including them in the preliminary would have appeared like bullying, so they were exempt.

Since the participants were determined by drawing lots, everyone had two chances. Even if they lost once, they could try again, but most of the time, their injuries prevented them from doing so. Especially since everyone had to fight and win three matches to advance to the next phase.

The second phase was the challenge phase. Every disciple who passed the preliminaries had the ability to challenge the rankers of the outer sect. Just like the preliminary round, they had two chances to challenge someone. With this system, even if they were overwhelmingly defeated, they could still take the spot of someone ranking lower than them by winning against them.

So, in essence, the winner would replace the losers, and the final top thirteen rankers would be promoted to the inner sect.

Ning was getting bored since his name was not being called. At this time, Wei Fa was called once again. He seemed to have taken a pill to recover his strength as he fought against another, much weaker disciple. Throughout the whole match, the one cheering him on the most was undoubtedly Ning. Fighting an opponent he had already planned for and knew about was always better than fighting an unknown opponent. Thankfully, he won, so his plans were not going to waste.

Just as Ning was contemplating cultivating to relieve his boredom, the elder cleared his throat and shouted.

"Disciple Ji Ning!!"

Finally, it was his turn.

"Do your best!" Fatty Li encouraged his new friend as Ning smiled and walked toward the arena.

Ning looked at his opponent. He was someone that Ning didn't recognize and was only at the second stage of Qi condensation.

Meanwhile, his opponent was staring at him with fierce determination as if it would be a hard fight.

"Ready? Fight!" The moment Ning heard that word or even a second before that, he had already vanished and sent a punch toward his opponent.

Ning could see that his opponent was surprised due to this tactic as he tried to defend himself, but he was too late. With his higher cultivation and Shadow steps, he swiftly put an end to the battle. With a single punch, he knocked out his opponent, who fell down like a rag doll.

The match lasted only a few seconds. There was no talk, nothing. It was a straight-up decimation.

Seeing the scene, the crowd was silent for a while before they became noisy again.

"Who was that guy? I think he is in the third stage!"

"He seems to be one of the new disciples. It seems we have a new candidate to compete in the inner sect." Ning smiled upon hearing the comments as he cupped his fists and walked away.

The disciples were indeed surprised, but not by a large margin. The minimum requirement for the disciples to compete for a place in the inner sect was to be in the third stage. It was an unspoken rule, and everyone in the rankings was at least at that stage.

Ning wasn't worried that his progress would attract unsavory attention because he knew that his talent was middle to upper tier in the sect.

Anyone with a mid-grade spiritual root was destined to enter the inner sect sooner or later as long as they didn't slack off. The only oddity was Xiao Fan, who was advancing at an absurd pace compared to his talent and crushing people stages above him.

"Why doesn't anyone suspect that Xiao Fan might have a treasure?" Ning really wanted to know, but he did not want to get involved in that issue anytime soon.

"I didn't know you were so fast," Fatty Li commented, his small eyes shining brightly. He didn't think his new friend was quite strong as well.

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"I need at least that much strength to enter the inner sect," Ning answered with a smile as he watched the following progressions.

Fatty Li nodded and started to take out some apples to eat. His space pouch seemed to contain a lot of food as he was eating something the whole competition. First, it was jerky, now apples, this guy was a bottomless pit.

The first one to clear the three matches and qualify was none other than Xiao Fan, which surprised everyone except Ning. Similarly, Wei Fa also pushed through and qualified in the end, showing that his fifth rank was not just for show.

Ning also fought two more matches. The first match was nothing to write home about; the girl's cultivation was lower than his, and he simply speedblitzed her.

The real challenge was his third opponent. Ning glanced at the tall man before him, whose cultivation was roughly about the same as his, around the small circle of the third stage.

"You must be a new disciple, aren't you?" Shuang Fei unexpectedly started a conversation even after the fight had officially started.

"Yes, brother Fei." Ning didn't remain cold-faced and answered the question while observing the man before him.

[Shuang Fei: Unknown, third stage cultivation, used a kicking technique in the last match. Seems the talkative type, slightly arrogant.]

Shuang Fei was one of the unknown outer disciples who seemed to have reached the third stage. Since Ning mostly collected information about the top rankers, there were bound to be a few he missed in his information gathering.

But that didn't mean he would lose this match. Ning narrowed his eyes slightly.

Shuang Fei continued to speak, "You must be quite talented to reach this stage in just a few months."

"I was just lucky," Ning seemed humble about this.

"Well, your luck seems to have run out since you met me," Shuang Fei said with a touch of arrogance.

"Is that so? That must mean Brother Fei is quite strong." Ning asked aloud.

"That's right." Shuang Fei nodded as if it was natural. Well, most of the disciples were arrogant in some way or another in this sect, so this was nothing new to Ning. Plus, this attitude can be used.

"If Brother is so strong, then I don't need to worry. At first, I was not going to use this technique since I have not mastered it and it might cause unexpected harm, but since Brother is so strong, then I need not worry." Ning audibly sighed in relief.

Listening to that, Shuang Fei felt slightly worried, but since he had already talked so big, he could only commit to it.

"Give me your best shot."

"As expected, Brother is truly magnanimous. So, please pay careful attention to this technique," Ning suddenly paused, his face twisting as if observing a horrifying monster.

"What's that?!" Ning pointed behind Shuang Fei.

Shuang Fei, who was hyperfocused due to Ning's words, instinctively turned towards the pointed direction, seeing Ning panic. But, nothing.

He found nothing.

"There's not—" Shuang Fei spoke, turning his head and pausing, seeing a fist just a few inches before him.

[What's that technique: Distraction + Bone Forging Fist + Full Cultivation Punch + Shadow Steps]

*Bam*

Drawing a beautiful arc, Shuang Fei flew away.

After that, there was no response.

There was no dramatic turnaround, no last-minute stand. Shuang Fei fainted.

All that talk for the match to end in a single punch. Seeing this, Ning sighed, "Even though I warned him..."

"Winner: Ji Ning." The elder declared the winner, his face slightly weird having observed what had transpired. It was the first time he had seen the match being ended in such a way in all his years of being a referee.

Especially, seeing this kid sigh in lament, his lips couldn't help but twitch slightly. Well, the psychological tactic was also fair play, and this kid could also be considered a talent in a way. Fooling others using his words and demeanor, this kid...was quite interesting.

The supervising elder couldn't help but raise his evaluation of this kid. Gentle-looking but unexpectedly devious. Quite interesting, indeed.

Ning, unaware of the inner thoughts of the elder, returned to his seat, his thoughts turning.

"Damn! The 'point behind the opponent in shock' trick really worked." Ning himself was shocked by the 'might' of this technique, even though he was the one to execute it.

In a way, Ning was just experimenting with how cliché this world can actually be using the fable "look away" technique, and the result did not disappoint him. While using such a technique to win may seem like a joke, it really worked in this world.

It seems this world is as cliché as they come, really akin to a badly written wish-fulfillment novel.

Well, Ning wasn't going to complain since his goal was accomplished. His goal for the first round was to win without any injury, preferably ending the fight in one punch. Since he still needed to challenge the rankers, getting injured before that was a big no-no.

So, he simply used these plans to win quickly. After all, what better way to win than by distracting the enemy, throwing them off balance, and beating the shit out of them without any chance for a counterattack? Rather, Shuang Fei should consider himself lucky that Ning didn't go full bully Maguire by throwing some dirt in his eyes.

Soon, the preliminaries came to an end, as the elder in charge once again cleared his throat and announced, "Those who want to challenge others can now do so. You all have only two chances to challenge someone, so use them wisely."

Ning wasn't in a hurry to challenge Wei Fa, who had successfully passed the preliminaries. He had an idea of what was about to happen. Almost confirming his suspicions, something happened the very next moment.

Xiao Fan stood up and shouted, "I want to challenge Hu Duyi!"

Hu Duyi was the second-ranked disciple in the outer sect, so this matter was quite a big deal. Ning was sure that after beating the crap out of this guy, he would challenge the first place soon.