“Strategies and tactics are always part of one’s abilities.”

A quick burst of commotion exploded.

All the eyes of the disciples were suddenly wide in shock.

Even the inner disciples were taken aback with the number of rich rewards—had they known, perhaps they could have suppressed their breakthrough and joined the ranking competition.

“And for the outer disciple who would make it to the top, he will receive 3000 Contribution Points, a Foundation Establishment Pill, a week worth of stay in the ‘2nd floor’ of the Treasury Hall, a month worth of stay in the Pagoda and a flying sword personally refined by me.”

The disciples’ jaws dropped in astonishment.

The rewards were not only bountiful, they were also what a peak Qi Condensation disciple would truly wish for.

Some enviously looked at stage number 1 where the seeded Bai Chen stood whose chin was already high up as if the rewards were specifically designed for him.

“Alright, for the elimination round, the rules are simple. It’s a free-for-all combat. The only limit is to not kill your fellow disciples. You can just either knock them out or force them to surrender. Only one shall be declared winner, and that winner will move to the ranking matches.”

When Qai heard the rules, he instantly understood that the elimination round was just some sort of formality to give the competition some color of fairness to the rest of the qualified participants.

To him, the mere fact that the previous ranked outer disciples were distributed on separate stages clearly revealed that the sect was more inclined to favor them to win.

So putting the top disciples in the same stage may result in an unknown weaker disciple squeezing in the rankings by luck—and that might cause some complaints. Especially so since some of the ranked disciples came from big clans.

“Alright, the competition begins now.”

After the elder yelled those words, cheers from the stands reverberated in the air.

Almost instantaneously, spectators began shouting the names of their favorites in the competition.

Apparently, most eyes were focused on the stage numbers 1 and 2.

Meanwhile, in stage number 3, Qai simply chose to edge himself in one corner of the stage.

In his mind, he must see to it that no cultivator would sneak from his rear.

“Go, brother Qai!”

Qai was stunned.

There was a sudden distinct cheer he heard from the stands.

He was confused as to who in the sect would cheer for him.

And when he extended his Spiritual Sense, he found Ji Wuheng screaming his name.

Also, he found in one of the more distinguished stands, few familiar inner disciples he met in Kamaria Island grinning at him.

Qai sighed.

For some reason, he felt embarrassed at what just happened.

While he wanted the rewards, he didn't want to stand out too much.

He knew that the sect was full of unreasonable individuals who would feel offended just by someone else’s accomplishments.

The seeded outer disciple on his stage was someone named Nie Jian, a 19-year old level 9 Qi Condensation stage cultivator.

Surprisingly, none from among the other disciples on the stage had the nerve to attack Nie Jian.

Qai wanted to slap them hard at how stupid those disciples were. If they wanted a crack to enter the ranking, they had to gang up the seeded disciple first.

But what was happening was the complete opposite. Almost all decided to pick their opponents leaving him and Nie Jian alone in their spots.

As this happened, Nie Jian grinned and stared at Qai with a sudden burst of spiritual Qi energy from his body.

The seeded disciple rushed towards him and began to pull a small sphere-like treasure.

He performed an incantation and the sphere flew to cover his arm and transformed into a huge gauntlet-shaped Metal attribute spiritual Qi energy.

‘Thousand Fist!’

When Qai saw this, he sneered in his thoughts and quickly glided his way using his shadow movement technique. With the addition of the effects of his dark brown Cloak, his speed instantly doubled.

It was as if he blinked from space as Nie Jian’s attack suddenly missed.

Baam.

Qai then appeared from the right side of Nie Jian and quickly threw a fist without any infused spiritual Qi energy—it was purely a physical attack.

Boom!

Everyone was shocked.

Even the 8 others in the stage stopped from their fights as the body of Nie Jian flew outside of the arena.

“Body refinement!”

“Where did this disciple come from!?”

Apparently, Nie Jian laid unconscious on the ground after he sprayed a mouthful of blood.

Right after that, Qai walked back into his spot and stood silently with eyes closed as if he was waiting for the others to finish.

There was a mysterious flare that emanated from him.

To few disciples, such an attitude wasn’t pleasing especially to Ao Tian who had been watching him from the start.

Others saw an air of brilliance however.

There were even a few female disciples who blushed upon looking at Qai’s noble-like posture.

‘You’re courting death!’

Ao Tian gritted his teeth as he watched how profound Qai appeared on the stage.

“Looks like we have a dark horse in this competition.”

Nobody paid attention as to who said it, but everyone felt from those words that the ranking competition suddenly turned into one that had a tinge of unpredictability.

As a result, the spectators became all the more excited.

“Who wants to bet with me, I’m putting all my Spirit Stones that my brother Qai there would win on that stage!”

Ji Wuheng who had been earlier cheering was also shocked by Qai’s abilities.

He never expected the latter to be strong. And it was just a spur of the moment that he thought of starting a bet.

When the rest of the participants on stage 3 heard his words, they felt deeply humiliated and started to look at Qai maliciously.

Even without conspiring with one another, they somehow had an understanding to eliminate Qai first.

It was actually what Qai was hoping for earlier—but it was supposed to be against Nie Jian and not him.

“Hahaha, brother Ji, I’m betting a hundred Spirit Stones that that friend of yours will not advance the next round!”

“Count me in! I’ll place 200 Spirit Stones in favor of that Qai losing this round.”

Seeing how 8 outer disciples wanting to gang up on Qai, Ji Wuheng’s face fell.

He sat down and kept his mouth shut as he nervously watched on.

Qai sneered seeing how 8 disciples started to close in on him.

He quickly unleashed his ‘Cornelia Sphere Shield’ and waited for them to charge.

Elder Li, as well as some other elders, who were watching from the floating platform, was surprised at Qai’s skill.

‘Soulflame!’

Qai’s plan was to make use of a Turtle battle tactic against his opponents.

With his strong defensive ability, he would try to exhaust his opponents and take advantage when the latter let their guard down.

It was a knight army strategy that he learned from books back when he was still a young noble.

Qai also pulled out his Guandao and braced for the disciples’ barrage.

On the other hand, when the 8 outer disciples saw that Qai wouldn’t attack and simply hid from his shell, they immediately pulled out their treasures and began their attack.

“Come, let’s finish this scumbag first!”

Baam. Baam.

Boooom.

Wabaaaam.

‘Shameless!’

Streaks of spiritual Qi energy exploded like fireworks on the stage as the spectators held their breath.

“He’s finished!”

“Even an inner disciple wouldn’t be able to hold himself against such attacks.”

However, Qai’s defensive ability was on full display.

But the relentless charge went on. And the disciples went closer to him—intending to break open his defense.

‘I have to hold on for few more breaths.

Qai’s mouth started to drop some fresh blood.

When the opponents saw this, they started to relax—but this was actually what Qai had been waiting for.

He was patiently waiting for that one gap in their attack. And when he found that moment, he immediately retracted his ‘Cornelia Sphere Shield’ and leaped from his spot.

As he went down, he hacked his Guandao down towards his opponents who were positioned close to each other.

‘Dance of Death!’