Chapter 32

Just as the show of strength between Jacob and Timothy had ended, every youth had finally turned in their entry passes to join the tournament and received their numbers. The more confident cultivators wore their number badge for everyone around them to easily see with a naked eye, while those who were not as confident chose to hide their numbers so that they could size up their opponents first to at least have some kind of edge.

Within twenty minutes, all of the matches in the first round were placed and to Timothy's surprise, all of his opponents were indeed the weaker ones of the bunch. What he did not know, was that the papers that they put into the box were a special kind so the elder could properly choose the weakest of the contestants to face the strongest so that the later rounds would be more exciting.

Either way, Timothy was once told by his master that on the path towards immortality, there was such a thing as good and bad karma as well as luck. If one had enough luck, their future was to be very fruitful and easier, while those with bad luck would have constant tribulations on their paths.

Originally he felt that he had a large amount of good karma built up as well as luck for receiving a peerless expert as a teacher and an ability that could even be on par or better than ancient legendary weapons and treasures. However, he had been missing the mark lately on his short term goals which caused him to think that he was indeed average in these areas.

As the youths gathered onto the small field with a small row of four large structures, the remainder of the villagers who were spectating all cheered for those who they were supporting. The loud cheers caused the ground to shake as the youths were directed to their positions to also overlook the four structures where each match would take place.

Once the crowd settled down, the elder in charge of calling the matches began calling different numbers on to the stages. As the youths began to head over to the stages due to being called, were met with a village guard who would be judging their match. Those who were part of the village guard had to give up their associations with the many clans of the village to prove their loyalties to the mayor and the entirety of Boulder Village.

Because of this, many of the guards of the village were cultivators who came from small families such as Timothy's but who were not as well off, more similar to Jacob's situation. By drawing a salary from the village's tax system, these guards were able to feed their families and live good lives, mainly due to the fact that no cultivator associated with the strong clans wanted to break off due to the cost outweighing the benefits greatly.

Therefore, unlike the many elders of the strong clans within Boulder Village or more capable direct descendants, the judging of every one of these tournaments were handled by Intermediate stage cultivators. The reason was because even if a youth were to be an Elementary level eight or above cultivator who was participating, there was still a very wide gap between the Elementary stage and the Intermediate stage.

On the stages were actually the top contestants of the major clans within Boulder City and on the other was Jacob who would be considered very much a dark horse. Though they could not do it often, the major clans were at least able to give every direct descendant of their youths two lower tier pills to aid in their cultivation.

Timothy did not necessarily lose an edge because of this, because he was able to remove the impurities of the natural energy while absorbing it due to his rare physique which is all the pills were used for. The quality of the natural energy in one's body played a significant role in a cultivator's life which is why the areas around the world that lacked even a small output of nature energy, were usually barren of any signs of human civilization.

And so each judge told each youth to begin at the same time and as if a spark was ignited, all four of who were thought to be the top strongest youths within this tournament instantly showcased their energy. Normally, in all of the previous tournaments, the first four matches of the first round would have them do this to allow the spectators to see who to cheer for the most depending on cultivation level.

This did not bother Timothy at all as he frowned at the so-called show that these youths were putting on. He knew that he completely outclassed them by sheer amount of energy, and at this rate, he just wanted to size them up based on their skill levels and techniques.

As anyone else would expect, the four matches ended very quickly and all with only one normal hit being landed on the weaker contestants. Seeing this made Timothy feel rather bitter, because it seemed as if they would be saving their trump cards until the end of the tournament. However, from what he was able to see, only Jacob came up a little short compared to the other three who were all nearly equal.

It did not take long until Timothy was finally called up for his first match. He could hear his family cheering for him but looking over was somewhat surprised that Martin was not with them. After pondering about it, it was very possible that Martin was helping the village guard while the tournament was going on throughout the day. Even if he was only an Elementary stage expert, Martin still could be used due to his mercenary experience.

Unlike his biggest competitors earlier, Timothy decided to use one of the two techniques he had which was the movement technique that Master Sei had given him. He only felt the need to hide the kicking technique, because it had a hidden secret to it which he did not want to be discovered by others if he could help it.