Second round (1)

Once everyone gets transported in a ring, the announcer's voice rings out. 

''One more thing, when the last fight ends, a countdown of one hour will start. This is your rest time, the earliest you end your match, the more time you have to rest. Okay, good luck now.''

They both looked ahead to see who they were dealing with; they were two men at the 5th realm. They both looked as if they came out of a bodybuilder competition. They were bulky, strong and looked extremely agitated, as if they couldn't wait to punch them.

They seemed to be well known, some people were cheering for them, stages were big enough allow people to watch, as if it was a stadium. 

Before everyone knew, a sound resonated throughout the place. signaling the start of this fight. 

''You both look appetizing; I'm going to devour you whole.'' One of the two said, showing a ferocious gaze.

''Hey, you're forgetting about me again. You know damn well I want a piece of them too.'' the other one, clearly annoyed at him.

''You will get some when it's your turn. now let me deal with them.''

''You said that last time! I want a piece now!'' 

They both kept on bickering, Han not wasting any more time, got an arrow ready, waiting for the perfect time to shoot. Meanwhile, Jiang is heading closer to them. They don't seem to notice him.

It kept on escalating until one of them finally conceded, letting the other one win. After turning around, they find out that they did not wait for them to end it. Jiang sent a sword strike directly on the opponent's knee, trying to remove him from the fight completely.

His teammate wanted to help him but as soon as he got close, he had to dodge because Han kept shooting arrows at him. The man getting shot at, as if possessed, threw punches at the arrows.

Some of them managed to make him bleed but most of them were either deflected or broken on the spot. 

Jiang was in a tough fight, when he attacked, the man completely gave up on defending. As if he knew he wouldn't have time to block. Instead, he threw himself forward in an attempt to remove the distance that was separating them.

He had to deviate his sword to go upward but the fist of the men was already there to stop the sword. 

*CLANG*

That's when he realized they weren't only bear fist, they had metal plates on their hands. He managed to get close enough to grab him by his neck.

''So, you want to play dirty? I like that a lot.'' He says while licking his lips with a wide grin.

Before he can do anything to Jiang, he manages to see an arrow flying at him. He didn't have a lot of time. He tried dodging the arrow but right before he could move he got stopped. Perplexed he looked down to see Jiang holding him tightly.

''I guess you won't be able to enjoy your food.'' Jiang says with a smile saying '''Got you.''

He tried to block it with his arms but Jiang let him go all of a sudden. The sudden force made him take a step back. Thinking he was free he went to dodge but a sword was waiting for him. 

Jiang thought he had finally managed to win over his opponent, but he forgot there was another one. Even though Han tried to keep him occupied shooting at him. It wasn't enough, the punch came flying at him a lot faster than he could block.

Seeing no other solution, he decides to hold on and accept the punch to trade with the removal of an opponent. *BANG*

Jiang got hit right on his head, falling to the ground. He barely managed to regain his composure before another hit gets sent at him. He could barely defend with his sword. 

The man thinking he had the advantage, decided to try and take out Jiang, forgetting Han since he didn't have any arrows for a while. 

Unfortunately, he forgot that an archer had more at his disposable than a simple bow. While Jiang kept getting hit, Han crept closer slowly. Once he was at striking distance, he sneak attacked him with his dagger. 

The man barely managed to hear him and block with his hand. He looked happy to have blocked him. Jiang, on the floor, took the small gap in the other's punches to finally land a clean stab at him. Finally ending the fight. 

They both sat on the ground, Jiang gasping for air. After a while, he started looking around, He realized there were still a lot of matches going on. Knowing he had more time to rest now he was relieved.

He started to recuperate since he got hurt pretty bad. They weren't dangerous injuries but they could restrict his movements slightly. While Han focused on recovering his energy, he had expanded to keep shooting at the same strength since the start.

After about 15 minutes an announcement was made.

''One hour Countdown officially begins.'' Everyone that had just finished the fight sat down in a meditative pose. The ones that hadn't spent a lot of energy focused on cultivating. 

After about 15 minutes, Han starts cultivating. He hadn't suffered any real damage, only used a lot of energy. After 45 minutes, Jiang managed to heal most of his body. The Gem he brought back was really useful.

He decided to use the rest of the time to accumulate as much Qi he could. He wanted to try those moves about Qi strikes further.

Once the countdown reached zero, everyone got teleported to a new stage. In front of them were a man and a woman. The man was using a dagger while the woman had a rapier. 

Their weapons were most likely their treasure. He hadn't seen what the other duo had. Once the fight started, it was apparent they both weren't the most experienced.

Even though Jiang didn't have a lot more experience in actual fights, he had a lot of training when he was younger. It allowed him to have an advantage. 

The duo didn't seem to have an elaborate tactic, the woman came charging at Jiang while the man circled towards Han. Before the fight started, he had hidden his bow to create an illusion he was only using a dagger too.

It had fooled the duo completely. Once they went forward, He took out his bow and shot it at the woman, she hadn't expected that and barely managed to hit it with her weapon. Leaving her open to a strike from Jiang, swiftly removing her from the stage.

It didn't take long for both of them to deal with the man. They both looked around and realized they were in the first ones to end their fight. They saw a duo of men who were also looking around, once their eyes met, sparks seemed to fly in the air. 

Shortly after, they stopped looking at each other and sat down to cultivate, this fight hadn't taken a lot of time. They had additional time, after 15 minutes the announcement sounded again and the countdown started. 

When the time was almost up, Jiang managed to open another meridian, finally having 13. He hadn't realized but the arena was filled with more Qi than when he was in that world, effectively doubling his gains while halving his effort. 

He was finally at the great circle. He only needed to accumulate enough Qi to ''Breakthrough'' to ''Bone conditioning.'' 

They called it a breakthrough, but it wasn't really as such. What you needed to do was bring your Qi to saturation in your meridians and dantian. Once this step was made you had to bring it outside of your meridians.

It was complicated because you needed to be careful not to hurt your mana veins or meridians. Once you managed to bring it out of them you could officially begin to condition your bones. 

Conditioning meant to strengthen and desensitize, to allow for better protection and to prepare for the next realm. This step was very tough on the mind, each time you would begin cultivating, it would put you through pain. As if metal rods were scraping against that particular bone. 

Since he didn't have enough time to accumulate, he got ready to fight his third match.