Autograph

"Got shocked. Passive Points +1."

Xu Xiaoshou abruptly sprang up, looked around, and realized that he was in the waiting area. He touched his face and looked indignantly at the attendant. "Why did you hit me?"

The attendant gave him an innocent look, and then gradually started to look confused.

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the attendant's hand. "Oh, there's no pill bottles?" he thought.

"It's your turn to battle!" the attendant said coldly.

Only then did Xu Xiaoshou realize that he'd been dreaming before and embarrassedly walked out of the waiting area.

"Xu Xiaoshou, good luck!"

"Xu Xiaoshou, hang in there!"

"Xu Xiaoshou, champion!"

He was shocked by the crowd's cheers. The moment he walked out of the waiting area, he saw the entire crowd standing and cheering for him.

He froze. Of course, some people had cheered for him in the past, but a lot of people had put him down too. "Why is everyone cheering so hard for me today?" he thought.

"They didn't even sleep well…"

He didn't know that his consecutive victories over the rank-seven Wen Chong and the rank-four Zhou Tianshen, as well as his Acquired-stage Sword Will and Innate-stage physical body, had made him the favorite to win the entire competition.

"Got encouraged. Passive Points +442."

"Got cheered for. Passive Points +665."

"..."

The notification panel in his mind constantly refreshed, and Xu Xiaoshou happily waved his hands and slowly made his way into the arena.

"Passive Points: 44820."

"Passive Points: 45611."

"Passive Points: 46002."

Xu Xiaoshou was smiling so wide that his eyes had narrowed to slits. Even though the process of refining the Infernal Fire Seed last night was arduous, he'd been greatly rewarded for it in the last few hours. It had given him nearly 20000 Passive Points.

And his Passive Points were still rising.

"Xu Xiaoshou, walk faster!" Xiao Qixiu said in an unfriendly tone.

Xu Xiaoshou immediately quickened his footsteps, and when he entered the barrier, it was silent and peaceful.

He now had a good idea why a barrier was needed during the Windcloud Competition.

On the other side of the arena was a girl wearing a pale yellow dress who looked rather delicate. She had a tightly-combed head of hair, and the corners of her eyes were curved upward. She was wielding a soft bone whip and was striking it against the ground with every step she took. She looked extremely energetic.

Li Cenjing, Spiritual Cultivation Level Ten.

As usual, Xu Xiaoshou wanted to say something, but he didn't expect the young lady to interrupt him. She said mischievously, "Giving up before the battle is a great disrespect to your opponent. Running away without battling…

"Oh, what comes after that…

"Forget it."

Li Cenjing curled up her soft bone whip and tapped her head as she said, "Xu Xiaoshou, I've seen you battle. You are very impressive!

"Can I get your autograph later?"

"Got admired. Passive Points +1."

Xu Xiaoshou rubbed a hand over his head, embarrassed. He didn't expect there to be a fan amongst his opponents. He quickly swallowed the sarcastic comment that he'd been about to say and nodded in agreement.

Li Cenjing's expression immediately turned cheerful, and she chuckled.

Xiao Qixiu expressionlessly waved his hand. "Battle, start!"

Xu Xiaoshou played the gentleman and signaled for his opponent to attack him first. He didn't expect Li Cenjing to raise her hand and blink her large eyes.

"I admit defeat!"

Xu Xiaoshou's expression darkened. "You stole my line just now, and now you're going to admit defeat?" he thought. "What kind of fan are you? Don't you know what I really need is Passive Points?"

Li Cenjing saw the change in his expression and quickly explained, "Zhang Fei is still lying down in the Spiritual Medical Division and can't even fight in the placement battles. I don't want to fight you. I want to fight in the placement battles!"

Xiao Qixiu didn't even have time to finish swallowing the mouthful of water in his mouth. He hurriedly raised his hand and announced, "The battle is over. Xu Xiaoshou is the victor!"

The spectators instantly started murmuring amongst themselves. They hadn't expected someone to give up during a top-16 battle. Wasn't that the same as giving up on the rewards that were to come?

"How boring. Why didn't she fight properly? I wanted to see Xu Xiaoshou's performance!"

"I think Li Cenjing is rather wise. She's only Level Ten. She wouldn't have been able to defeat the Level Seven Xu Xiaoshou. Conserving her strength now for the placement matches later is quite smart."

"Puu, listen to the nonsense you're spouting..."

Li Cenjing, who'd just admitted defeat, scampered over to Xu Xiaoshou and handed him a spiritual pen. "Autograph!" she said excitedly.

Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.

"Huff!

"Hold it in, she's a fan!" he warned himself.

"Where do I sign?" Xu Xiaoshou's said gently.

Li Cenjing generously extended her hand with her palm facing upward. Her fingers were slender. She said, "Oh, here!"

She deviously glanced in the direction of the spectator seats. The crowd seemed to be in an uproar, but the two of them couldn't hear anything in the arena.

Outside, a girl sitting in a front-row seat was manically roaring, "Stop it right there, Li Cenjing! Xu Xiaoshou is mine!"

"Kekeke!"

Li Cenjing shot her friend an ugly look, a smug expression on her face. "Hmph, see what happens when you don't train properly?" she thought. "All you can do is stay outside and be envious of me.

Xu Xiaoshou wasn't shy. He grabbed her hand. It was soft and warm.

He finished his autograph in a few strokes and said, "Don't admit defeat when you encounter anyone else in the future. It's very disadvantageous."

"Yes, yes, it's not disadvantageous."

Even though Li Cenjing was usually rather brazen, she couldn't help but blush when Xu Xiaoshou grabbed her hand in front of all these spectators. She was, after all, only a 16 to 17-year-old teenage girl.

The numb, itchy feeling his skin gave her almost made her pull her hand back, but she fought the impulse and answered softly, "Thank you!"

The young lady turned to run after she got the autograph, as if she were escaping.

"Hey, your spiritual pen…" Xu Xiaoshou immediately called out.

The young lady didn't even look back. "You can have it!"

Xu Xiaoshou glanced at Xiao Qixiu. The middle-aged man was repeatedly shaking his head, his eyes filled with emotion as he thought back on past memories. He didn't even rush Xu Xiaoshou out of the arena.

All Xu Xiaoshou could do was put the spiritual pen in the ring hanging around his neck.

Outside, the girl sitting in the front-row seat went crazy when she saw this. She rushed toward Li Cenjing, who'd just gotten out of the arena, with red eyes. Even the attendants couldn't stop her in time.

"Li Cenjing, today is your death day!"

"Look at my otherworldly flying kick!"

"Don't. Look, are you still going to kick me?"

"Hng hng hng, I'm so envious. Chop off your hand and give it to me!"

"..." Xu Xiaoshou walked out of the barrier and glanced at the notification panel. He couldn't help but feel faint.

"Got despised. Passive Points +333."

"Got despised. Passive Points +333."

"What's going on?" he thought.

"Even though no blood was drawn, shouldn't they be praising and encouraging me for winning the battle?

"What happened to all of you? You were still cheering me on before I got into the arena, and then the next instant you dislike me?

"Heh, humans!"

Xu Xiaoshou forced a smile onto his face and waved at the crowd in an attempt to salvage the situation.

"Got despised. Passive Points +886."

Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.

In the waiting area.

Xu Xiaoshou squatted on the resting chair. The atmosphere outside was intense. He could no longer sleep.

At this point in the competition, he'd already successfully placed in the top eight.

According to the schedule, he still had one battle to fight today, and if he was victorious, he would compete for the championship tomorrow.

"Will I become champion…" he thought.

Xu Xiaoshou wasn't so sure.

He might've felt more confident of becoming champion if he hadn't encountered Zhou Tianshen yesterday. Zhou Tianshen, who was at the peak of the Acquired-stage, already had such terrifying battle capabilities, so there was no telling how strong the Innate-stage fighters would be.

Xu Xiaoshou twirled the cup in his hands, a little dazed.

The Innate Stage was a general title.

It consisted of three levels: Origin Court, Occupied Void, and Upper Spirit.

After the first ten levels of the Spiritual Cultivation process, a Spiritual Cultivator would gain an understanding of the natural laws and open up an Origin Court near where the deities resided. If successful, they would awaken their Innate Elemental Power. That was the Innate-stage.

As for what the Innate Elemental Power was exactly, there was an infinite variety of them, and they differed from person to person.

It could be one of the five basic elements, or it could be a concept. For example, the stream of ice that Zhao Qingteng conjured with his sword, or Zhou Tianshen's Blade Will…

What Xu Xiaoshou was afraid of most was this:

Even though his passive skills could be used as Innate-stage Spiritual Techniques, they had their limitations.

At the very least, he didn't have the Innate Elemental Power, which meant he didn't have a strong guarantee to win compared to the true favorites to win the competition.

Xu Xiaoshou looked at his energy reserve and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The spiritual strength in his energy reserve was pitch-black and saturated with scorching energy. This was the reward he'd gotten from fighting for his life yesterday night. However, it was still lacking compared to a real Innate Elemental Power.

"Sigh!"

Xu Xiaoshou let out a frustrated sigh. He had wanted to use his strength to achieve the top spot during this competition. Now, it looked like his dream was too unrealistic.

He looked into his mind again.

"Passive Points: 48226."