After mentally calming himself, our hero agreed to the offer. As it turned out, the tournament would take place during the night and would consist of Fang Hu welcoming all challengers. Wo-Kong had even offered to give Fang Hu a map and a cultivation method if our hero won enough rounds. Wo-Kong was confused, why a man who had cultivated so well, so young, would want to change their cultivation method was beyond him, but he was happy to oblige.

As Fang Hu was waiting, he busied himself by reading the statuses of the people most likely to be joining in to fight against himself. Chieftain Wo-Kong had told him that almost anyone under the age of 30 would be willing to fight against him. Anyone older than that would most likely be saving themselves for guard duty and hunting tomorrow. Though for the life of him, Fang Hu couldn't tell what game they would be hunting in this desolate place. He had walked for days without seeing hide nor hair of an animal in this temperate hellhole. He was also sure these people weren't bandits or demonic cultivators or something like that. They certainly didn't look the part, besides there would certainly be something about that in their statuses.

'Shit, I really feel anxious about this. I know I compared myself to a martial arts master and whatnot, but even they can die if some dude stabbed them with a sword right? I have to hope this system granted technique is somewhat good. I can feel it in my mind and body, it is as if I had practiced these moves for years on end. Focus Hu, continue to scan their statuses.'

As Fang Hu continued to read statuses, he noted the average statuses for each age group and set that to his new normal for this area. They each went something like this.

~~~

Xue Ping

18 yrs old

Roots: Fire 7.12%

Cultivation: Qi Gathering 2/13 68.14%

Body Cultivation: Qi Gathering 0/13

Techniques: Ritualistic Fire Cultivation

Powers: N/A

Background: A young disciple of the Pheasant's Tail Tribe. Shows much potential.

Potential: Mid-Low

Cheng

20 yrs old

Roots: N/A

Cultivation: 0/13

Body Cultivation: Qi gathering 3/13 12.00%

Techniques: Inner Body Cultivation

Way of the Smashing Fist

Powers: N/A

Background: A young disciple of the Pheasant's Tail Tribe. Very Eager.

Potential: Low-High

Long Dong

27 yrs old

Roots: Wind 35.56%

Cultivation: 3/13 99.99%

Body Cultivation: 1/13 15.65%

Techniques: Shamanistic Wind Cultivation

[Spell] Wind Slicer

[Spell] Wind Buffer

[Spell] Wind Boost

[Spell] Wind Augment Weapons

[Spell] Wind Illusion

Basic Staff Reinforcement

Powers: N/A

Background: An accomplished shaman of the Pheasant's Tail Tribe. He has been stuck at a cultivation bottleneck for several years, and has been able to gain some body cultivation using basic pill concoctions. He also ha- Hey! Stop laughing! They're gonna think your weird if you keep giggling to yourself while staring at their shaman! Sigh, whatever...

Potential: Mid-Mid

~~~

After Fang Hu stopped laughing to himself, he started to sort through the information he had obtained. After scanning over half the tribe, he had learned quite a bit. Only around 10% of the tribe were cultivators at all. Which means that it takes much of the tribes resources to raise any type of cultivator at all. Also, people like Wang over there are rare, in this tribe, if you don't have at least low-high potential, you probably won't become a cultivator.

'I guess it was true to call this place the 'Wonton Fields' after all. They didn't seem to like it when I called the place that, but I guess I'll keep calling it that after all. Anyway, that decided it. They obviously don't have anything to do around here. I want to go to a city, they'll probably have all sorts of entertainment there. I miss going to the library... to be entirely honest, I'd like to go gambling and drinking too... they'd only have that in a city.'

So as our hero deliberated his life choices, the time for the tourney had finally arrived. Emboldened by the fact that he should be able to fight well enough to secure more than a few victories, Fang Hu stepped into a large ring of sand next the wall of the basin. The ring was illuminated by torchlight and surrounded by stone bleachers, like a primitive amphitheater. As Hu walked into the ring, he heard the booming voice of the Pheasant's Tail Tribe's chieftain.

"Brothers and sisters, tonight we have a challenger for our great tribe! The wandering scholar, Fang Hu has agreed to face all comers! Will he be able to hold off against our warriors!? I assure you, despite his youthful appearance, he has reached the first bottleneck of the Qi Gathering stage!"

As Hu watched his first opponent bask in the cheers of the crowd, he thought to himself, 'Tournament? This sounds more like a WWE match!'