"So be it!"

Rather than one of the sect elders authorised to decide on such thing like the challenges, a grand voice came from the very top of the mountain under which the entire crowd was gathered. If I wasn't wrong with the little information I found about that place, that meant that the council of the ancestors approved for the challenge of supremacy!

As soon as this voice faded out, rather than someone guiding us towards any form of the stage, the mountain itself seemed to erupt from its side in a strange way that didn't produce any debris that would fly all over the place, killing more people in one go than even I would be capable without immersing myself in my upgraded predator's instinct.

"You may now enter the stage!"

As soon as a disc formed from the stone blocks that flew out of the mountain, it turned into nothing else but a flying area around fifty meters in radius, completely surrounded by a spherical barrier, with only two openings at its both ends.

Without any hesitation, I jumped forward, not bothering to hide my strength anymore. Propelling myself up with the shockwaves, I quickly reached one of the two openings, standing firmly on this strange, rocky ground.

Compared to any of the areas I have fought on before, it was really weird. Rather than proving me and anyone who would dare to take the challenge with a perfectly flat ground with some obstacles making the fight a bit more interesting, it was riddled with small and big holes, with the ground as even as the rocks making it up were,

"Anyone who at any point touches any part of the barrier will be considered a losing party. This is the only way to lose without dying, and the only limitation you and your opponents will have, intruder!"

At any given time before, being called an intruder would cause me to instantly start wreaking havoc in an attempt to go with the brutal plan of getting my hands on the information I wanted, but since the challenge was accepted, local tradition forbidden anyone from laying their hands on me!

"So, who is going to challenge me first?"

Since I was already forced to stick through the entire challenge all the way till I would reach the absolute elder standing at the top of the ancestor's council, I tore down all the limits on my statistics, putting all my points in the required fields just in case any of my opponents turned out to be too strong to handle with just my current level of power.

"Sect elder, allow me to punish this monkey for staining the honour of our sect with this abrupt challenge!"

Ever since I issued my challenge, Monica's voice suddenly disappeared from my head, as if someone cut her off from communicating with me, or as if her voice was nothing but a silly attempt of a mentalist from a sect eyeing the chance at fighting off Penguin sect disciples.

"You may go, my dear disciple!"

Hearing those words, I had to try my hardest not to cringe and focus on my own strategy. While fighting first few, or rather, most of the challengers would pose any challenge to me, as the stronger enemies would come into a fray, all bit of my strength would be valuable.

But I couldn't simply run after them trying to smash them in one hit!

With the upgrade to my strength and resistance, my body felt like it suddenly gained a lot of mass, meaning that even the simplest of my moves would require far more energy than it used to, the energy that my body was incapable of producing by itself without investing those damned attribute points in vitality and most likely, some other statistics!

As I watched the first challenger climbing the ladder that some merciful soul managed to hook it on the other opening in the barrier, I finished formulating my plan.

"I will punish your arrogance now! No one will ever dare to find the guts to challenge the supremacy of my sect!"

Completely ignoring the words that this idiot was spewing at me, I simply awaited the opening command of the ancestor that would allow me to smack him out of the existence.

"You may begin!"

As soon as the voice from the top of the mountain resounded in the entire area… I did nothing.

I wasn't in any hurry nor I had any interest in wasting my energy to come closer to this guy. Watching his movements while holding myself back from yawning lazily, I scratched the side of my head when he stood his ground just like me.

"Hey, didn't you say that you would punish me for something and something? I'm getting kinda bored here…"

Only when there was a complete lack of response from the cultivator that was stupid enough to accept my challenge, I realised what missed my attention at first.

Turning from my natural vision to the energy vision, I could see this idiot slowly creeping towards me, as if believing that I wouldn't notice anything wrong during the time that would require him to reach me at his current pace.

But since I was aiming to save as much of my energy as I could, rather than instantly killing him, I simply stood in place, smiling towards where he left his fake body while pretending that I didn't see his stupid grin as he believed that I was unable to notice anything wrong.

Only when he finally reached the distance where I could reach him just by swinging my arm… I still waited, curious about what he would do with what he had to consider a perfect advantage of surprise.

Yet to my bewilderment, rather than executing some kind of technique or real attack, he pulled out a knife from behind his belt. Unable to stand this poor sight any longer, I raised my hand, and with the prowess of my increased strength…

I patted him on the head!