The Arena

The next morning rolled around. The sun peeked over the horizon, and Li Zian forced himself out of the comfort of his bed, outside into the freezing air of the dull winter morning.

His black robes blew in the wind, and he carried his flying sword in his storage ring. He swept his eyes over the outer sect below him, unsure what to do.

'Should I continue cultivating?' He wondered.

His stomach grumbled, and he pulled an item out of his storage ring.

It was a small bottle which he quickly opened. He held the end to his palm.

A small pill the size of a marble rolled out, grey in colour.

This was a hunger pill. It was made from several common spiritual herbs that would provide the nutrients of an entire day's worth of meals in a single pill.

When he first entered his mountain abode, there were three bottles of these pills by the side of his bed, each bottle containing fifteen pills.

He assumed he would be given more once he used them all up.

Li Zian popped the hunger pill into his mouth and swallowed, feeling the energies contained inside spread across his body.

His hunger was quickly satiated, and he smiled. 'The cultivation world is truly miraculous. I've stopped questioning many things, as I simply can't find the answers yet. But I've learnt the basics about the cultivation world by now.'

Back in the Li family villa, his parents gave him many books detailing about the workings of the cultivation world, and from them he studied the basics.

Thanks to that, he knew how things like pills and artefacts were made.

Pills were made by alchemists. However, such a profession was quite rare as the requirements to become an alchemist were so difficult to match.

A person had to have the willpower, concentration and skill to be able to control an Earth Fire- special flames that have existed for supposedly millions of years.

Once a person has spent countless years attempting to master a type of Earth Fire, they must then spend many more years learning countless formulas, rules, processes and techniques to carefully refine the correct pills.

And finally, it all brews down to natural talent. Most people simply don't have the capability to become an alchemist.

Of those that do possess such a talent, very few of them ever become successful.

The Skyward Sect has three alchemists- one of them is hired from outside the sect, and the other two are specialized elders who were once disciples.

It seemed that hunger pills were extremely easy to create, as every disciple was given them for free. Other types of pills had to be bought with sect tokens.

Li Zian sighed and pondered what to do. Then a sight caught his eye- a large, round building like a colosseum from his past life.

He could often hear cheers come from it, and there were letters carved onto the front of the building- 'ARENA' it read.

Li Zian hadn't explored the Arena yet, as he had little time to explore the sect with everything that had been going on.

It had been an exciting past few days.

He decided to check out the arena and made his way down the mountain to the massive building.

Eventually he arrived at the enormous, round arena and entered through the tall and wide front doors, discovering sets of stairs on his left and right.

Cheering came from the arena, and far ahead he could see two young men battling. He thought he recognised one of them.

He walked up to the seats and glanced around. There were maybe just over a hundred people in the arena now, as it was early, and most disciples were busy.

Those that were there were betting with their sect tokens and seemed to be quite experienced in such business.

He focused on the two young men fighting in the arena.

Well, you would assume it would be two young men, but he was surprised to find that there was a large age difference.

One was indeed a young man, maybe eighteen years old, with short black hair and sweat drenching his body. He fought with his fists, and green qi burst from his body.

The other one was a child, ten or so years old, with long brown hair, wearing black and silver robes. He wielded a sword and was completely focused on his battle.

Li Zian recognised him as one of the three children who had passed the exam.

'I think his name was… Qi Lei? I think that was it. His restriction technique was quite unique.'

Li Zian watched a bit longer but noticed that Qi Lei wasn't using his special technique.

'He seems quite calm… In fact, he doesn't seem to be worried at all.'

He focused on their auras and discovered that the man Qi Lei was fighting was at the seventh layer of Qi Condensing Realm, just like Qi Lei.

'He's so much older than him, yet they're at the same realm and layer? This guy has such poor talent, I pity him…'

The battle continued, and something strange was happening.

Li Zian noticed that Qi Lei's qi was becoming thinner- but not because he was running out, but because he was restricting his use of it.

'Don't tell me…' Li Zian didn't know if Qi Lei was stupid or smart.

'He's using his opponent, who is an experienced fighter, to hone his swordsmanship. He's even restricting his qi to make it more difficult on himself.'

Of course, his opponent realised this as well, and became enraged quickly.

Green qi burst from his body, twisting and transforming into the image of a snake coiling around his right arm.

He pulled back his arm, clenched his fist and twisted his entire body, releasing all his power in a single punch.

The snake sprung forwards, the air split, and cracks appeared on the stone floor of the arena.

Li Zian was quite impressed by this technique, and nodded his head, but such a technique was nothing when faced with restriction.

The snake suddenly dwindled in size, and the qi died down.

The man's face became panicked, and he attempted to move but found his movements slow and sluggish, as if the world was in slow-motion.

His senses became dull, and he could barely react to the sword that waved across his body, creating a deep gash in his chest.

The restriction lifted, and he was sent flying. He crashed into the edge of the arena, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

"That kid actually won. It seems our sect has picked up some great talents!" A disciple commented.

There were several cheers as disciples won tokens from their bets.

Li Zian nodded his head and wondered if he could beat Qi Lei. Although he lacked in fighting techniques, his restriction technique was so powerful that it could make up for it.

He wondered if his restriction technique worked on those of a higher realm than him.

Li Zian shook his head- he would find out one day. He turned to leave, when suddenly Qi Lei looked up and pointed at him.

"You," he said.

Li Zian looked behind him, and then back at Qi Lei.

"Me?"

"Yes, you! I want to fight you!" He said in a childish and excited manner.

Li Zian sighed, not wanting to fight. It was too troublesome, and he was still unsure about the limitations of Qi Lei's technique.

But then he heard the disciples who were betting.

"This kid… He seems quite weak. Look at him…"

"Yeah, Qi Lei could easily beat him up."

"I'm betting all my sect tokens on Qi Lei!"

Li Zian's face scrunched up, and he clenched his fist. "These people… Fine, I accept."

He realised that since coming to this world, he was becoming quite easily provoked.

Hastily, he leapt down to the arena and withdrew his sword from his storage ring.

Qi Lei grinned and entered a battle-ready position.

"Why do you want to battle me?" Li Zian asked, unsure of his intentions.

"It's the first time I've seen you since the entrance exam. I want to get to know you!" He said with a big smile.

'Seriously, is this how you get to know people in this world?'

Li Zian cursed silently.

"The first move is yours," he told Qi Lei.

The ten-year-old boy grinned, and sprung forwards into battle.