"Ahem!"

Just as the two were raring to go, the sect master coughed.

"I forgot to say something," he said. "I must be getting senile, haha..."

"Normally, I'd go over the prizes of the tournament, but since our two contestants are already raring to go, I'll just pass a pamphlet to everyone."

A moment later, slips of paper detailing the prizes popped up in the hands of every disciple. Mei was speechless.

"Now... let the fight begin!" the sect master said.

Zhang Yun and Wang Wei stared at each other awkwardly.

"You first?" the tall man asked.

"Sure?"

Wang Wei brandished his sword tentatively, as if to confirm if it was fine. Met with a nod from the man, he swiped his other hand over the blade, bathing it in flames.

In response, Zhang Yun slammed his staff to the ground, cracking the dirt beneath it. The ground began to rumble, 2 hands of earth rising out of the ground.

Wang Wei looked a bit taken aback, but he swung towards one of the earthen hands. The padded blade, to Mei's surprise, sliced the arm in half.

"Hah!"

With a shout, Zhang Yun ran towards Wang Wei, swinging his staff at full force. Meanwhile, 4 earthen hands all rose around Wang Wei, reaching out to grab him.

Wang Wei jumped out of the encirclement and deflected the staff. At the same time, he raised his free hand, shooting a burst of white-hot flames at the man.

Feeling the heated air, Zhang Yun widened his eyes in panic. He hit the ground with his staff, willing a wall of earth to rise out of the ground. Unfortunately for him, it was too late. The flames washed over his entire figure.

"AHHH!" he shouted.

But as the flame died down he was revealed to be unscathed. He didn't seem to be in pain either; evidently, his cry had been out of surprise.

"Wang Wei has won the match." Li Jie said, a bored look on his face. "Congrats."

"Wait," Mei started. "That's it?"

"That's way too fast!" Liu Qiang said. "What the hell?"

The other disciples must have felt the same way, as booing and complaints filled the arena.

"How is the fight over? He can still fight!"

"That's right!"

"We demand a rematch!"

"Shut up!" Li Jie yelled.

The shout echoed through the hall, temporarily quietening the boos.

"If this were the real world, Zhang Yun would have been covered in serious burns. Any skin in direct contact with the flames would have been burnt to a crisp, blisters would cover his entire body in a few moments and his eyes would be permanently blinded."

Zhang Yun, who looked rather dissatisfied just seconds ago, started sweating nervously.

Mei felt a bit uneasy too, realising how dangerous Wang Wei was. She thought to herself about how she needed to be more careful around cultivators in the future...

"I highly doubt he would have been able to fight with such intense pain wracking him." Li Jie finished.

"Li Jie, can you not scare the disciples?" the sect master sighed. "I'm pretty sure you're exaggerating too, he wouldn't be burnt that badly."

"Fights are often over in an instant. Get used to it." Li Jie said, ignoring the old man. "Now, those who have drawn the number 2, please move up. Let's not waste any time."

Fire was way too strong... Mei hoped she wouldn't face anyone using it later.

Wang Wei made his way up the stairs and sat beside them.

"Did I disappoint you?" he said to Liu Qiang, holding back a smug grin.

"Hmph. You disappointed me with how fast the fight was." Liu Qiang harrumphed before turning away.

Wang Wei laughed, looking very pleased with himself.

Slowly, fight by fight went by. Well, she found it slow, but most of the fights weren't actually all that long. It didn't take long before she stopped paying that much attention to them, especially since her friends weren't participating.

Honestly, even Wang Wei's swift fight was more interesting than most of them. At least the two combatants knew what they were doing. Meanwhile, most of the fights in the tournament were just disciples fumbling around.

Maybe she should have expected that, honestly. Sure, the elders had trained them, but even so, how skilled could they have gotten in a month? It wasn't even like they were trained daily.

As such, Mei began reading the list of rewards instead of watching. Which she should have started doing right after Wang Wei's fight.

1st place: 10 Foundational Pills, 1000 Jade

2nd-3rd place: 6 Foundational Pills, 500 Jade

4th-10th place: 4 Foundational Pills, 200 Jade

Participation Award: 50 Jade

...

These prizes were so lazy.

Well, Mei wasn't complaining though. She was really struggling to get to the Foundational stage, so the pills would be a godsend. Plus, she needed Jade to pay off her debt anyway.

Chatting idly with her friends, her turn soon came.

"Those who have drawn 15, move up."

Mei felt rather nervous as she went down the stairs and onto the arena with Su Qing.

At the very least, she only saw one person using fire in the last 13 fights, which was reassuring. Plus, that disciple was nowhere as strong as Wang Wei, his opponent even 'surviving' a few burns. In the end, the disciple tripped and was hit in the head until Li Jie declared his loss.

"Fighting... scary..." Su Qing whimpered.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"Hnnn..."

Just as Mei was encouraging her spirit. a thin young man strided into the arena, confidence brimming as he twirled his padded spear in hand. The look on his face was exceptionally smug, making her dislike him immediately.

"Sorry little missy, but you had the bad luck to go against me, Junwei!" he laughed. "You only have your bad luck to blame, losing so soon!"

Tsk. Just her luck to meet such an annoying person. She patted Su Qing on the back one last time before brandishing her padded axe.

"Start!"

Immediately, Mei activated both Harmonic Strength and Might of Trees, running towards him and swinging her axe wildly.

"Hah! Bring it on!" Junwei smirked.

He rushed towards her as well, swiping his spear through the air. Lightning surged through his weapon, making it spark and crackle menacingly.

But seeing that, Mei merely grinned. Junwei widened his eyes as an axe shot towards him with incredible speed.

Thuck!

It struck his forehead violently, knocking him to the ground.

"Mei Xiu has won the match." Li Jie announced.

Junwei froze for a moment, processing what just happened.

"Unfair!" he complained. "She played dirty!"

Mei laughed heartily as she sauntered over to pick up her axe.

Earlier after watching the fights, she had come up with this plan after seeing how fast fights could end. If she ended her fights immediately, she wouldn't need to fear what her opponents had up their sleeves! She was a bit hesitant at first, but after getting annoyed by him, she didn't have any reservations.

"Remember me! I'll get you next time!" he shouted as she headed up the stairs.