166 Second Round (1/2)

The wild current of Qi continued to slam against the bottleneck. Xue Wei was not impatient and allowed it to slowly press against the bottleneck on its own. He knew that if he tried to force it, it would cause a backlash instead.

Slowly time ticked by. After ten hours, the bottleneck crumbled beneath the constant pressure, propelling Xue Wei into the fourth layer of the Sky Warrior rank.

He released a breath of foul air before opening his eyes, adjusting his vision for a second. When he looked around, he saw Hei Gou sitting beside him. Hei Gou was still cultivating, having absorbed more than one spiritual fruit up until now, and was sitting with a dense fog of heaven-and-earth essence swirling around him, which strangely attracted the natural energy around him like a magnet.

Xue Wei looked at the herbs and spiritual fruits in front of him and picked up a fruit that was known as the Sky Reaching Fruit. It was a fruit that was especially effective for experts at the Sky Warrior rank.

While its effects could not be considered the worth of a year's duration of cultivation, it was still able to have the same potency as a few months of cultivation added together. When Xue Wei took a bite, he could feel a pulse of energy coursing through his body.

A second bite and even more energy flooded his meridians. After finishing the fruit fully, not even leaving the pith as he knew that this was filled with energy as well, Xue Wei sat down and started processing the energy within his body.

Although he had just broken through to the fourth layer of the Sky Warrior rank, he had great expectation of what the fruit could provide him with in terms of energy.

He did not expect that this fruit would instantly let him step into the fifth layer, but he did know it could help him stabilize his current cultivation base.

And right he was. After a few hours, Xue Wei could feel how his cultivation base had become stable and flowed naturally. It was as if he had a base Qi that was as stable as a mountain.

Looking at the remaining spiritual fruits, Xue Wei opted not to consume them right now. If he ate too much in one go, he would end up with a body that could no longer absorb the energy within the herbs, spiritual fruits, and pills.

Xue Wei was not in a rush. He was quite pleased with how fast his cultivation base had progressed. Already being at the fourth layer of the Sky Warrior rank was indeed not a bad feat.

With his recent improvements, he felt much more confident in his own ability. And while he had faith in his chances of getting first place, he was not complacent about it. He knew that his challengers, the ones from the three great sects, were not to be trifled with.

All of them could jump ranks to defeat stronger experts if they were against ordinary cultivators, it was not only Xue Wei who could do this.

Having reached the rank of a fourth layer Sky Warrior, Xue Wei spent the rest of his time practicing the Windwolf Sword Slash and his other martial arts techniques.

When it was time for the next part of the tournament, Xue Wei and Hei Gou went to the arena.

Hei Gou had a ticket and went to the arena's seated areas, while Xue Wei continued into the colosseum's many stages in the middle, where the rest of the contestants were slowly gathering.

Xue Wei observed everyone present. The first round of the tournament consisted of fair fights for all of them, as they had been grouped depending on cultivation rank alone.

As the last few participants made their way into the arena, Wan Qiang appeared in the air once more. ”Welcome to the second round of the tournament! This time, things will be slightly different. We are going to have people fight against one another based on random draws.”

”It is the same as before; you can kill your opponent and take their items if you have the strength to do so. No one will be blamed for the deaths happening in this tournament.”

Many of the experts were uncomfortable hearing this. These people were supposed to be brothers in arms against the beasts, yet now they were being pitted against one another, unable to hold back even if they wanted to, as holding back meant they might die.

Xue Wei did not care too much about killing people. It was not his first time, and he knew it would not be his last time either. However, he wondered what thoughts led Wan Qiang to host this kind of merciless tournament.

Wan Qiang was a Primordial Beast Hunter. He was renowned for killing Primordial Beasts here in the Skyward Empire, and also hailed as the most influential expert in their nation.

He should be eager to see them work together, grow up, and become outstanding Primordial Beast Hunters like himself, but instead he had set up a tournament that was going to kill quite a few talented geniuses.

While Xue Wei was in deep thought, the drawing of numbers had already begun.

There were ten stages in the arena, and these ten stages meant that twenty people could fight at once in single combat.

Xue Wei was not chosen as one of the first to climb the stage and fight for his life, so he deferred to instead observe his peers that were onstage.

The leader of the Cerulean Starlight Sect – Lin Yuelong – was fighting against a much weaker expert. But although he could kill his foe in a heartbeat, he showed mercy and just wounded the other, winning his fight gracefully.