Into the fray

Hearing the way that the preliminary round worked, Li Zhu was surprised. He had expected a more fair way of determining strength, rather than an everyone against everyone type battle, in which people could potentially team up and defeat stronger opponents.

As he was thinking this, though, the elder spoke again, "there will be elders spectating the battles, and if two people are caught working together, both will be immediately disqualified. Other than that, there are very few rules, and fights could involve many disciples at once.

'I guess that makes sense." thought Li Zhu, realizing that although the preliminary round was somewhat unfair, there were limitations set in place.

That said, all that the elder had claimed was that two people could not work together, which did not mean that someone would never have to face two people at once, occasionally. This was intentional, though, since part of the test was whether disciples had the ability to get out of tough situations or better yet, avoid them.

"The group battle will be held in an illusion world, which has always been in the center of this arena. Spectators will be able to see the fights inside, but the participants will be in a separate world, the setting of which will be a thick forest. There will be elders inside the illusion world, to monitor the fights, and prevent any serious injuries. As always, killing is prohibited, and will result in disqualification, as well as serious punishment, if killing intent is sensed. If a participant gives up or is unable to fight any longer, then they have lost and will be taken out of the illusion by the elders. The last twenty participants will move on to the next round of the tournament. that is all, now you can all enter!". The elder finished the thorough explanation not leaving the disciples much time to think about their upcoming fight.

'Again with the illusions!' thought Li Zhu, since he knew that although small, an illusion world like the one displayed in the arena could only be made by a great expert. The Flaming Saber sect apparently had deep connections with such a person, who had given them many treasures related to illusions.

In the center of the arena, a black vortex appeared, spewing out heavenly energy. All the participants with the silver token, including Li Zhu, walked up from their seats, towards the vortex.

Many of them had confused looks on their faces, since no one had known how the tournament would work this year, and a battle between fifty people at the same time seemed like quite a crude way to test strength and talent.

One pale young man, who gave Li Zhu shivers as he saw him, walked into the vortex without hesitation.

"That's Xiao Heng, the top outer sect disciple!"

"I heard Xiao Heng fought against a core consolidating disciple, and did not lose"

"What are you saying, I heard he fought ten core consolidating realm assassins at once, killing them in one strike!"

Murmurs came from the crowd, as the disciples talked about rumors they had heard, often exaggerating them to a point that they were not believable any longer.

Xiao Heng had become the top outer sect disciple by defeating the previous one, who now ranked second. Other than that one fight, though, he remained a very mysterious character, no one really knowing the extent of his powers. The one thing that was known was that he was an elemental cultivator, though no spectator, including the elders, had been able to discern what element he had used in the fight, which had lead to crazy rumors circulating about him.

'I better watch out for that man!' was Li Zhu's only thought, as the feeling of danger he had just felt gradually faded away.

In the crowd, Li Zhu also spotted Yin Jing, who was confidently prancing towards the vortex, his usual aura of frost boosted to intimidate his opponents.

Without further delay, Li Zhu also walked into the vortex, not particularly worried about the upcoming battles. Although he did intend to fight against other disciples, Li Zhu's plan was to use shadow lurk to catch people by surprise, which would be quite easy.

As he entered the vortex, Buddy followed him, and Blue was resting in his pocket. 'I really need a summoner's ring!' he thought, realizing that it would be much more convenient to use a spatial treasure than to have all his spirit beasts walking around with him.

Although he wanted the spirit beasts that he formed contracts with to be free, he did need a summoner ring, even if it was just for cases such as this, where hiding his cards was the more strategically smart option.

The moment Li Zhu stepped into the vortex, he felt his body shifting around, before his surroundings changed. He was lying on a patch of grass, surrounded by tall trees. The wind was quite cold, stinging Li Zhu as it flowed by him.

'Time to begin my plan!' he thought, quickly standing up and fusing with Buddy, entering shadow lurk. Blue needed to follow them normally, since it could not travel in shadow lurk, too. That said, it was a very small bird, and if it flew in the trees, no disciple could notice it. Since it had formed a contract with Li Zhu, the two had a connection between their souls, which allowed the bird to know Li Zhu's location, even when he was in shadow lurk.

Li Zhu, having entered the shadows, began traveling around the forest, in search of his first opponent. The illusion world was not very large, since participants were meant to meet each other at every step. Because of this, it did not take long for Li Zhu to hear the sound of a disciple moving in the forest, and immediately started moving in that direction.

The preliminary round had just begun, yet he was already about to encounter his first opponent. As he reached the sounds he had heard, Li Zhu saw a tall young man, standing on the ground, where he had been sent by the vortex.

Although he felt bad about eliminating an opponent the moment he appeared in the illusion world, Li Zhu wanted to finish the preliminary round as soon as possible, to avoid the risk of being defeated.

Because of this, he immediately charged the young man, still in shadow lurk. Li Zhu arrived just below the young man, standing in the disciple's shadow.

Without mercy, he abruptly jumped up, circulating heavenly energy into his hand, and upper cutting the young man.

It all happened so fast, and the disciple was helpless, taking the hit without even having a chance to defend. Li Zhu had used all of his strength in his punch, which resulted in the young man being knocked a few yards back, unconscious.

'this disciple's defense wasn't that strong!' thought Li Zhu, fully aware that the power of his punch was not enough to instantly knock out most ninth stage cultivators.

That said, the young disciple probably focused on strong attacks or speed, meaning his defenses lacked quite a bit.

The audience would not know that, though, as spectators outside the illusion world went wild.

"He appeared from nowhere! How can you fight someone you can't see!"

"Look at you, worried about his pesky little trick... what is surprising is that he could knock out a ninth stage cultivator with one hit... this one's a dark horse!"

Each year there were a few dark horses in the competition, surprising everyone with their strength, even though they had not been known beforehand.

As one of the first participants to eliminate another disciple, Li Zhu got a lot of attention, and the fact that he was an eighth stage expert fighting against ninth stage ones, only helped increase his popularity among the crowd.

He was not the only one to catch the attention of the crowd, though, as most spectators were watching Xiao Heng's every action, in hope of understanding the source of his strength.

Only a minute had passed since the preliminary round had begun, yet ten disciples had already been eliminated, making it hard for spectators to watch all fights as they happened.

Meanwhile, Li Zhu had already entered shadow lurk once again, roaming around to find his next opponent. The young man he had knocked out had been brought away by an elder, who had ignored Li Zhu, simply executing his job.

Li Zhu felt very much like a hunter, stalking his preys, since no one in the ninth stage could see or even sense him when he was in shadow lurk.

'One after another, I will eliminate enough disciples to finish the preliminary round as quickly as possible, since it is only one small step towards my goal! Let alone this round, I will not be happy unless I reach top ten, and enter the inner sect!' he thought, as he tracked down disciples.