As more and more time passed, Bai Qi's surroundings were filled with more and more people, their numbers accompanied by shouts, cursing, and challenges, all stemming from the fact that there were only so many herbs for so many participants.

Between the hunger, weariness, wounds they had no way to treat, and, most importantly, the inability to use even a single bit of qi - many participants were close to their breaking point. But for genuine martial path cultivators, their breaking point rarely would be to lay down and whimper but to seek combat as in a frenzy. To go down in flames or solve whatever situation with their fighting prowess.

Still, to Bai Qi's surprise, a fair amount of people refused to break down and continued to scour the shrinking space to get at least a couple more herbs before the time ran up. Not that this calmer group could avoid attracting attention from the former groups, sometimes being randomly challenged, other times having to push people from their paths, the latter unresponding to anything happening around.

Bai Qi, on the other hand, had neither of these problems. Exhausted he may be, his sheer willpower was enough to move his body and allow his mind to concentrate only on avoiding people and taking whatever herb he could.

In all truth, he could have stopped hunting for points since dawn, as he was already far above anyone else taking part in the event, at least if the voice that reached him was to be trusted, but Bai Qi continued nonetheless. He neither trusted nor mistrusted the received information, Having such an enormous trove of treasures in front, and even on him, Bai Qi's reasoning turned to the basics of cultivation, [Greed].

When Bai Qi couldn't avoid encountering other participants, he ignored them and left as he came, without a single word. His bloodied clothes and exhausted looks attracted not only sympathy or curiosity but also an interest of the wrong kind, the same for the 8 [Holding Pouches] on his belt.

Yet, while the gazes full of [Greed] did follow him, there were no provocations or attempts to goad him into a challenge. After all, as attractive as the prize looked, the fact that Bai Qi had eight pouches on himself could only mean one thing - He was strong. And he had won 7 battles by that moment!

Once or twice there would be an attempt to approach him, though. In those cases, Bai Qi merely glared at whoever was so dumb as to think of himself as a hunter and released some of his usually held-back killing intent. And it worked as a spell, making even the ones blinded by greed recoil and try to make more distance from the black and white haired young man.

While the basic, infused with nothing, killing intent was known to everyone, and nearly any somewhat successful cultivator could exude at least a wisp of it, it was rare for it to be strong, induce much fear, or act as a deterrence to anyone. After all, different from mental pressure or the qi pressure of the aura, killing intent is weightless as its harmless. Or at least, it is explained like that in the myriads of wise texts that touch on the topic.

Regretfully for the authors, they were dead wrong, or they had never faced someone who truly was able to invoke the threat of death just with a single glare of his. In Bai Qi's case, he had. Furthermore, the being with the strongest - he had encountered during both lives - dark aura of that style surrounding their body now fused as a part of his soul, the demon, Kui Mulang.

By releasing just a small amount of the danger that Kui Mulang represented to anyone he didn't like, Bai Qi had reached a point in which his simple glare was enough to freeze cultivators who weren't weaker than him by any means. And while he did not need to use it during a duel, or even a fight, where he had all of his strength at his disposal, right now, he only cared to be not disturbed.

Yet, as it would turn out, not every one of them, blinded by their greed, participants were wise enough to avoid danger, and just an hour before the event ended, Bai Qi ended up challenged to another duel. A challenge that suddenly complicated right after, as two of the ones who did back out from Bai Qi suddenly rushed while shouting their own challenges and accusing him of everything they could think of, so he couldn't refuse without appearing weak, dishonest, cowardly, or something equally despicable.

***

Bai Qi cared nothing about the names or the words of whoever challenged him. He could have even overlooked the entire incident and walked away. Yet, doing so, it would go against his own pride. Thus, he accepted the first and then the two that quickly piled over.

With a tired mind, body, and nearly depleted weapon intent, it wasn't the wisest movement to fight, and yet, Bai Qi still felt himself pretty sure. After all, the first one to challenge him did look slightly in a better shape, but it was such a slight difference that he, himself, would hardly notice it if not for the woman standing in front. As for the two sidekicks, or whoever they were, who quickly followed, they looked even worse than Bai Qi.

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Assured of himself as he may be, Bai Qi was also aware that he had no stamina left for long fights, no matter how weak or tired his opponents were. Thus, since he stepped on the [Petal Stage], he immediately moved to the combination of the glyphs for [Sword] and [Jian], summoning a simple-looking iron sword.

Perfectly balanced as it may be for him, it looked anything but impressive, the edge looking more blunt than sharp. Yet, by that moment, he had already understood that the grading of the weapons on the stages was anything like outside, where majestic equaled powerful.

With a decent range and a powerful thrust, it was suitable for different strategies, but Bai Qi cared nothing about them. Neither did he care about his opponent's choice, a [Dagger-Axe] fashioned to look like a bird's claw.

Overbearing, such would be the only thought that everyone observing the short, nearly instantaneous duel, including the few elders following Bai Qi's actions, had in their mind. And indeed, what else could they think of a duel that ended in a single exchange?

One during Bai Qi allowed his opponent to attack first, then used his free hand, covered with just a bit of [Sword] intent, to slap the polearm away, and then thrust his weapon, once again covered in the barest amount of [Sword] intent, into his opponent's opened shoulder, provoking enough damage for the [Life-Saving] formation to activate, but without spending any energy, and nearly no intent?!

In their defense, the two men who had followed after the woman didn't shy away from the challenge, probably goaded by Bai Qi's panting, even after using such a small amount of strength. Or maybe their plan to impress the woman, as what else could explain their sudden change of mind, weighted in their mind enough, along with the possible prize, for them to ignore everything.

Regretfully, both the duel against the cultivator who chose to use a long saber, as well as the one again the one who went a mace as his weapon of choice, they ended in the same way. Bai Qi used a bit of intent to block their weapons, though with a different angle each time, and then attacked the first opening he saw with a thrust imbued with just enough force to generate a wound that would force the formation to activate.

Even more exhausted than before, Bai Qi didn't allow his mind to concentrate only on his movements but examined his latest loot as he jumped down from the stage.

***

His duels may have been short, and there were far more [Petal Stages] close than before, but the action still had attracted some onlookers. And among them, a man of enormous stature, who easily towered a whole head among even the tallest, Bai Qi included.

His name, as Bai Qi would find out from the encouraging shouts from the few onlookers, was Lo Dai. A renowned genius from a local 3rd-tier power, the [Pingheng Gong] or [Palace of Balance], he was the only one, except for Bai Qi, to carry more than a single pouch. Still, the ones on his belt could be counted with the fingers of one hand, numbering four, while Bai Qi's belt was nearly invisible now, with 11 [Holding Pouches] covering it entirely.

Over seven feet tall and muscular enough to be considered nearly as wide as he was tall, Lo Dai was impressive enough. Coupled with a handsome face, shoulder-length hair of nearly black color, and clothes, that, while non-enchanted because of the event, were no less majestic as the robes of a lord, Lo Dai towered over everyone, including Bai Qi. The latter was even more notable because while everyone present was, to some degree, wounded or tired, weariness on both body and face - Lo Dai looked as if the event had just started, with no sign of fatigue or even a speck of dirt on his clothes.

"If I have to say anything, these two last duels of yours were impressive, brother..?" Another notable difference was that as he approached Bai Qi, his face nor eyes denoted any greed or hostility but were full of admiration, his tone also being far more friendly than anything else.

"Bai Qi." Whatever the intentions of the newly arrived trouble, and Bai Qi was inwardly sure of such - he couldn't care less. Yet, he responded with a small salute, aware that while the previous opponents had been easy even in his state, fighting someone as Lo Dai would be the epitome of stupidity.

Lo Dai would then introduce himself and praise Bai Qi even more before revealing that he was nothing but trouble, "Such a heated fight made my own blood boil! And while I feel it dishonest to challenge you right now, in such a state that most of the participants are, I can't help myself! I challenge you, brother Bai Qi, to a duel on the [Petal Stage]!"

While Bai Qi's evolution, thanks to his cultivation path, had brought him a lot of benefits, it also had a side effect that wouldn't be even noticeable, not with Bai Qi's own manner to be, if not for such moments. If before, he could have just avoided the trouble. He now felt as if he had to face his opponent - only to prove himself worthy of the title of [Ruler]!

Thus, in place of ignoring, swearing, or brushing Lo Dai away, Bai Qi accepted the challenge, even smiling as he did.

If having lived for a long time during his original life served for something except for the accumulated experience, it was that Bai Qi was perfectly aware and accepted every situation as it was without deluding himself with illusions of being the most powerful, as a lot of youngsters in his shoes would.

Yet, while Bai Qi himself never believed in the [Heavens] helping anyone, doubting it even as his gamble with the [Master of Everything, Ruler of Nothing] set paid out in such unexpected ways as it did, it seemed that the [Heavens] indeed had taken some liking to him. After all, if not for that, what could explain that, exactly as he and Lo Dai ascended on the [Petal Stage], the gong signaling the event's ending resounded before they even selected their weapons!