Chapter 22: Second Round Begins

What greeted me when I teleported was the same crowd but definitely quite some people were missing.

"It's him."

"The first ranker."

"Yeah. I heard he worked all alone too."

When they say me, everyone automatically turned their head in curiosity. Within seconds, thousands of people gathered around me, some congratulated me, some gave a piercing glare, and some had competitive eyes.

"The first round has finished and 1,000 participants have been qualified for the next round. Now I will announce the name of top three ranked contestants." The old man again suddenly appeared in air and started speaking in loud voice.

"Third Rank: Fen Moping, 1637 Points."

"Second Rank: Jiufang Yu, 2521 Points."

"First Rank... Xiao Bai, 4789 Points."

When everyone heard my points, they couldn't help but suck in a deep breath of cold air. It was almost twice than that of second placed.

"Humph, I just didn't encountered with more breasts." Jiufang Yu snorted while giving me a look of displeasure.

"The rest who didn't qualify should leave this place, but you still appear next year if your strength is in Body Refinement Realm. As for the qualified, you have twelve hours before the second rounds starts." And the old man disappeared.

Being goggled at like a monkey in a zoo wasn't my hobby either, so I promptly left the arena.

...

Twelve hours later.

While experiencing the horrendous nausea, I was thrown inside the second rounds' venue.

Although, encompassing me again were trees, it wasn't as dense. After a quick survey, I found out that mountain ranges start at hundred miles east, but rest directions were still teeming with greenery.

Since I was had high value points associated with me, laxness wasn't an option, and I kept my senses keen. Yet surprisingly, even after an hour of stroll, not a soul appeared in front of me.

As I was getting ready to relive myself, I felt the presence of few people. Begrudgingly holding the spring, I began walking away from them, who still kept themselves hidden.

After taking two steps, a dagger raced towards my back. I simply turned my body, evading the dagger by a couple inches mark. A quick glance to dagger revealed it was smeared in black substance, probably poison.

"Tsk. Looks like he knew about us," said a man with short black hair who had just jumped out from the shadows of the trees.

"He wouldn't be worth so much if he was a weakling." A girl, too average for a complete description tittered, hugging another man's arm who held daggers in both of his hands.

The three were at 3rd Level of Qi Assimilation. They must have thought they could defeat a 7th Level of Qi Assimilation cultivator if they have numbers on their side, or they were simply ignoramus.

Seeing me not responding, her eyes gleamed of shrewdness. Getting off the man, she walked towards me in skittish manner with arms under her breast, emphasising their heftiness. "By the looks of it, you are alone. Don't you think it would be better if you had some teammates who can look after your back? How about it? If you join us three, we won't kill you and even help you gain—"

Slash!

With an upward slash, I cut her in two equal parts. Her dumbfounded eyes stayed still, either side felt on ground, and revealing the two enraged men on the back.

"Bastard!"

The man this thot was previously clinging to gave a livid roar. Together with his kin, he sprinted towards me. The daggers in his hands flew towards me, waving in an unpredictable manner. But to me, it seemed awfully slow, with a simple angling of the sword, daggers clanged against it and fell on the ground.

Another guy with black hair was using some sort of power amplifying techniques. His hands had bulged with veins popping out of them.

"Humph." I snorted and consequently cleaved down against the bared handed punch.

"Aaah!"

Without any resistance, the sword dug into his hands. He gave a miserable cry of pain and rolled on the ground but noticing me dash at him, he promptly yelled desperately.

"Wait! I am from Thousand Ranges Realm, you don't—" I clutched his hair and plunged the sword in the neck, cutting his begging/boasting short.

At the same time, dagger guy was already behind me, weapon aimed at my back. I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes.

"Now you will pay for killing them!" With a wretched expression, he forged ahead, only to find his dagger passing through the body with no signs of blood.

[Phantom Shift]

Few casual drives of sword sundered him from behind. The mutilated body created an irony smell, the bloody guts still twitching sporadically. Maybe this scene would have elicited a puke out me three months back, but now the coldness in my eyes didn't decrease a bit, nor did I felt any pity.

"3970 Points." Clearly they were top rankers from one of the arenas, a pity they decided to attack me. Nevertheless, their fate was already sealed, even if they didn't desired a conflict.

Here, since there's no one monitoring them, you can do whatever you want. It was done for contestants with weaker backing, so that they wouldn't cower in the threat of giant powers and will exhibit their finest capabilities without any worry.

Just as I was about to walk away, I heard the echos of swords clashing. Curiosity came over me and I sprinted towards the direction the echo came from.

Climbing up the trees, I watched the scene from some distance. There were about a dozen men surrounding a women dressed in blue robes. Her lustrous blue-berry coloured hair flowed graciously in the air like she was adored the by wind itself. Even after being surrounded by this many men with obvious ill intensions, she stood there unflinchingly as if nothing could faze her, like a proud swan. I instantly recognised who she was.

Lu Qinlian.