The ten stages were now filled with cries of pain as participants were being kicked out of the stage by other participants one after another. The numbers had dwindled down drastically to some 10 or 20 contestants in some stages while others had formed into pairs to attack others.

All this time Bai Hua had noted the fluctuations of spiritual powers on the stage and he could even predict the winners of all the stages. He could also see that the immortal and the fake one were also both noting the progress of all the stages.

He wanted to know more about the immortal and left his place to check out the immortal. Bai Hua could feel that the immortal was hidden among the audience very well from ordinary eyes but for him, the immortal was easy to spot. Bai Hua could feel no evil intentions on the immortal but it was the first time for him to notice an immortal in the mortal realm. Thus, he was very curious.

Bai Hua walked up to a man who seemed to be in his early 30’s. This man was wearing plain grey robes with only a wooden hairpin on his hair that was tied in a simple knot. Bai Hua went and stood near him and noticed that the man had his eyes on Xia Feng.

Xia Feng may be only 11 years old but he was doing quite well. He had knocked out contestants who were seemed stronger and were burlier than him. There were only 8 of them in his stage now. And everyone was looking warily at each other as they try to take care of the rest of the participants. Xia Feng looked the weakest and so the rest of the seven wanted to kick him out first. Bai Hua could see that the other seven had mutually agreed to take care of Xia Feng. They were all older than Xia Feng and there was even a middle-aged man among them whose spiritual powers were the strongest in among them.

“Quite an interesting kid, right?” Bai Hua spoke to the man beside him.

“Huh? Ah, yes. That kid is quite promising. I wonder where he is from,” said the man absentmindedly without even looking at Bai Hua.

Bai Hua didn’t answer but continued to look at Xia Feng’s stage.

Xia Feng was quick and nimble and he was manoeuvring in such a way that the other seven contestants’ attacks were landing on each of them instead.

Most of the audience were now looking at Xia Feng as he was the only contestant that looked the youngest. They were amazed that he was doing so well in the face of seven contestants that were all trying to kick him out of the stage. But one by one the other seven was gradually kicked out of the stage until only Xia Feng, the middle-aged guy and another youth was left. Earlier they had underestimated Xia Feng because of his age but now both of them were wary of Xia Feng. It was not easy for Xia Feng as well. He was sweating. He was right when he had told them some days ago that he may be a prodigy but he didn’t have much battle experience. But he sure was handling his position well noting the fact that he was fighting people with different styles of fighting and not the sparring partners that he usually fought against.

But everyone was thinking that Xia Feng would be eliminated as they thought that he might be exhausted and thus giving the advantage to the other two who seemed to be much stronger than him.

“Are you here to scout for talent, sir?” asked Bai Hua to the man standing beside him.

The man was shocked when he finally registered what Bai Hua was asking. But he only raised his eyebrow at Bai Hua.

“Young man, I am only here to enjoy the show as everyone else. But it’s really nice to see young ones doing so well these days. That kid’s parents must be really proud. Even though he may not win in this competition, he has proven mettle today.”

“Oh, don’t worry, he will make it,” Bai Hua said confidently.

The man gave him a weird look and continued to watch the matches on other stages.

Slowly, some matches were ending on the other stages as two contestants were left on those stages. There were only some battles left including Xia Feng’s stage.

Both the sixth prince and Xia Sheng were among the winners and they were now looking curiously at Xia Feng’s stage as well. They both knew that Xia Feng was a prodigy but even prodigies have challenges which are beyond them.

But to everyone’s surprise, Xia Feng overturned the outcome of the match as he smoothly landed an attack on the middle-aged man who wasn’t expecting the attack from Xia Feng thinking that the kid would not dare to go against a mountain when he was merely just an ant. As the attack was unexpected and the middle-aged man had already aimed an attack on the other youth both the attacks connected. The youth was cleanly knocked out of the stage just before the middle-aged man was also pushed forcefully out of the stage.

Xia Feng was the only one standing on the stage. His stage was the only one that had only one man standing and so he was declared the unanimous winner of his stage much to the shock of the audience. The middle-aged man had become furious and had stormed towards the judges regarding the result of the match.

“Well, young man, you seem to have a good foresight. You were able to predict the outcome of that battle,” the man commented to Bai Hua.

“Ah, it was just my wish. He did it all by himself.”

All matches had now come to an end. There was a little confusion as Xia Feng was the only odd one out. The judges were now rapidly discussing how to decide on the next match as they were receiving complaints from the middle-aged man and his supporters.

Bai Hua saw that the man beside the emperor who seemed to have strong spiritual powers besides him and the man standing next to him was whispering something to the emperor. The emperor nodded respectfully and then he called one of the judges on the platform where they were sitting. The judge took some orders from the emperor and went back to the other judges to relay the message from the emperor and they all nodded to whatever he was saying.

And after that, the commentator come up to the platform prepared for him and shouted with his spiritually enhanced voice,

“Everyone, please calm down. The judges have decided. Regarding the battle on stage 6, the winner is just one man. The rule might have stated that the last two standing on the stage will proceed to the next phase of the competition. But in this case, there was only one man left standing on the stage so he is declared to be the only winner of the stage. It does not matter if you were ‘accidentally knocked off’ just before the third competitor,” he said meaningfully as he stared at the group of the defeated middle-aged man, and added in an authoritative voice, “and that is final.”

He looked at the rest of the crowd with a smile and then said cheerfully, “Congratulations to all the winners who have passed the first tier of the second phase of the competition successfully. Now, regarding the second tier since we have only 19 contestants for the next competition, there will be a drawing of lots. The lots will decide your opponent and there will be one empty lot. The one who gets that empty lot will be exempted from the competition and will directly proceed to the next competition. That is all for now. The next competition will take place after a week. See you all after a week!”

The audience went straight into discussions after the declaration of the result and some were very sceptical of the result. Some people who had recognised Xia Feng as the youngest master of the Xia family began to complain that the judges had been biased towards Xia Feng because of the Xia family position in the kingdom.

Bai Hua heard everything but he didn’t care about it. Reputation or honour was a fickle thing for mortals. He knew that it was like bubbles that only sparkle or shines for some seconds and disappears with a pop.

Bai Hua bowed and left the immortal knowing that he would be seeing him again in the next match. And he had noticed that the Xia boys were searching for him. So, he made his way to where they were looking for him. He needed to congratulate them on their success as well.

While Bai Hua was leaving, the immortal had looked at him and where he was going. And when he saw that Bai Hua was walking towards Xia Feng his eyes glinted. He had felt that Bai Hua was a commoner but for some reason, he had felt perturbed being near him. Bai Hua had felt very indifferent to him. A normal human won’t have been like that. Sure, Bai Hua was watching the match engrossed but something was off about him. He thought he might have imagined it and such forgot about it. He needed to focus on the unnatural fluctuations he had felt a month ago in this mainland. He was sure he’d find out about the source but it had disappeared. The immortal was hoping to track it down and he had thought that the competition was a good place for him to find the source but he had not felt anything for a month now. Or his treasure was wrong?