Comparing oneself to another will lead to nothing. A truth everyone knew but rarely followed. And Fan Jia wasn't the exception.

Her talent wasn't low, the opposite, but she had nearly no prowess to show. The reason? Her lack of skills and techniques, especially ones that could interact with the strengths of her cultivation method.

Being kicked from the martial academy as a mere 1st level Sage, it wasn't strange for her to have such low preparation. And as a rogue cultivator turned bandit, she had no way to improve that either.

Meeting Bai Qi, with him and her being peak Sages at that moment, Fan Jia saw how genuine prowess and talent looked. After all, Bai Qi was about her age and yet downed cultivators, levels even realms, above himself!

By seeing Bai Qi in action, Fan Jia's feeling of superiority, generated by having only a lone comparison - Ye Su, disappeared.

But with Chun Hua's addition, a 2nd level Warrior Lord like herself, Fan Jia's competitiveness had reared its head again. And she expected to show herself off in the arena, even if the usually silent and somewhat meek demeanor of hers did not show such.

Still, after seeing how Chun Hua dealt with an opponent equal to her in cultivation in a single exchange, she felt it nearly impossible.

With Huo Ya turning out as someone who could pose a threat to her, Fan Jia had even slightly despaired. Thankfully, her willpower was anything but weak. And after she managed to discover the reason behind Huo Ya's strength, Fan Jia's resolve to show herself as a worthy member of Bai Qi's entourage returned.

While she knew about her disadvantage in skills and techniques, Fan Jia had successfully traveled the plane as a Sage. All thanks to a talent she did not show openly, a nearly innate mastery over illusionary techniques. This latter the reason she managed to survive, escape all the predicaments she met, and even win most of her battles. And while illusions were hardly the skill that would allow her to trod the martial path for long, it had served her well. And now, against the body-cultivator Huo Ya, it would do so again.

"...the stage is now mine!" Fan Jia half-grinned as Huo Ya fell into the illusion.

The base of illusions lies in confounding the opponent's senses, so against a similar strength and training opponent, they would rarely be successful. But as luck may have it, Fan Jia's opponent was one of the cases where illusions would have an enormous chance. After all, a body cultivator concentrated all of their qi and training on the physical aspect of cultivation. Their aura, consciousness, mind-power, and as part of that senses, nothing but secondary to their path.

Fan Jia wasn't mistaken when she declared that the stage was hers. As soon as Huo Ya's fist entered the illusionary form, and it took her several breaths to understand what happened, the result was clear.

From outside the stage, only a few people saw what happened, how Fan Jia skillfully attacked from several angles, breaking Huo Ya's defense, and what strength was required to break the latter's reinforced skin. As for the others, the general public saw how Huo Ya jerked several times, not defending against Fan Jia's attacks for some reason, and then fell to the ground with several cuts.

And it wasn't as if Huo Ya did not try to defend herself, even using a couple of water-element blade-like skills, the latter circling around her in an attempt to hit the unseen enemy. Regretfully, it wasn't enough.

***

Breath after breath passed, and the other three stages, combats, finished. The only one still ongoing, on the fourth stage, was now the only one on which the eyes of all the spectators were.

But the average thought about that combat was - And frankly speaking, the spectators weren't in the wrong.

Teng Bao took the initiative from the start, starting a wild series of slashes with his short axes, as the newcomer, Bai Qi, concentrated on defense, allowing his opponent to attack.

By this moment, the Butcher's son had executed over a thousand attacks, several flashy movements, and used over half of his reserves. Still, his opponent remained rooted on the spot, unmoved, unwounded, and without having done anything but using his sabers to block every attempt of Teng Bao.

"Fight me!" Aware that he could not continue like that for long, as he would only tire himself entirely, Teng Bao half-roared, stepping back from the silent, unresponsive, and nearly passive opponent.

Bai Qi's thoughts could appear arrogant, but only to people who did not know just how much he was holding himself back. Still, such people didn't exist, as even He Delan and the Bai sisters could never believe that Bai Qi had directly not fought.

Granted, he was moving his arms, and the gold-colored sabers drew elaborate figures while blocking the hatchet-like axes, the waves of concentrated aura, the destructive and deadly [Rabid Wolf Fang] skills, and other Teng Bao's methods. And yet, Bai Qi had not fought, at least not as a cultivator should. His circulation remained undisturbed, flowing as if he wasn't in a fight, with an aura cover reduced to the bare minimum.

And as most of his consciousness was directed into himself, examining and confirming all of his pathways, meridians, and spiritual components of circulation and cultivation, Bai Qi was not even mindful of the ongoing fight.

The reason for such a state came from a feeling when he crossed blades for the first time, A thought followed by another one. The one which led to him concentrating on himself and not on the fight,

Bai Qi rarely showed such arrogance as to ignore an opponent before himself, but since Teng Bao had not posed any threat, Bai Qi allowed himself such conduct.

"Hmm? Is that all?" Bai Qi asked in feigned surprise, with a vile smile on his face and a shrug that showed how much he cared about Teng Bao's words.

Not expecting such behavior from someone who had only blocked his attacks until now, Teng Bao paled, reddened, and only growled out a single word, "You!"

"Me what? I was waiting to see if someone who deserves a special mention about his lineage would be able to break my defenses, but it seems I was mistaken." Bai Qi continued in the same manner, waving his sabers and opening himself.

Teng Bao turned out easy to provoke. Far easier than Bai Qi expected, with just a couple of phrases enough to send him into a frenzy.

"I will rip your tongue out!" Roaring, Teng Bao vaulted upwards. And pulling all stoppers, he infused nearly half of his remaining qi and aura into the hatchets, which started glowing in ominous crimson hues.

Bai Qi inwardly smirked while quickening his circulation, strengthening both body and weapons.

"Rending Claws of the Rabid Wolf!" Teng Bao even shouted the name of his martial skill, one that was his pride and trump card.

*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*

Airborne, he slashed several times, and each of the ax slashes created a foot-long, inch-wide, slightly curved blade of crimson-colored qi.

"Rip him apart!" As Teng Bao shouted, he commanded the ten blades, sending them against Bai Qi.

*Woosh*

But as before, Bai Qi remained rooted on the spot, and only his sabers restarted the previously stopped dance. The only difference was that this time they were covered in qi and glowed themselves.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

With his objective to not reveal too much, Bai Qi showed that each wind blade he blocked wasn't easy for him. He even slightly moved, doing so for the first time during this battle.

Bai Qi thought, and his left saber failed to completely block the last wind blade, allowing the latter to scrape his aura cover.

Seeing that Bai Qi was distracted by the missed attack, Teng Bao thought and started descending, planning to land right on top of his opponent, intending to take the chance to finish the combat.

"You know, you aren't the only one who knows how to send blades of qi." Bai Qi suddenly muttered, his eyes looking straight into Teng Bao's ones.

The thought, while obvious was accurate. Still, it came just a bit too late.

*Slash*

Bai Qi's right saber moved upwards, releasing all the qi he had gathered in it, and with the addition of his aura, a slash nearly twice the size of Teng Bao's flew towards the latter.

*Clang*

Teng Bao reacted in time and blocked the slash first with one ax, but finding it stronger than expected, he used the second one as well, using all of his ability to either shatter or deflect Bai Qi's unnamed slash.

At this moment, with his opponent occupied and distracted and having dealt with all of the wind blades, Bai Qi raised his sabers, and two slashes, like the one that Teng Bao was still dealing with, were released.

*Slash* *Slash* *Shatter* *Clang* *Clang*

By luck or skill, at least it would appear like that, the truth being that Bai Qi controlled them like that, Teng Bao managed to intercept both of the slashes in the nick of time, having just broken the first one.

Even though Teng Bao looked as if he had not yet lost, the truth was that he did. The distance was too short for him to react to Bai Qi's sudden lunge, and as saber blades added to the two aura and qi slashes he had yet to shatter, Teng Bao's defense was overwhelmed.

*Tap* *Crash*

Two breaths later, Bai Qi landed with ease as Teng Bao impacted against the stones of the stage. The former, slightly pale and panting but unharmed.

*Step* *Step*

After taking a couple of steps, Bai Qi's arm moved, and his saber touched the still laying Teng Bao's neck.

"Winner, Bai Qi!" And as soon as he did, the announcement resounded.

"Third Stage, Bai Qi versus Fu Guo"

Fu Guo promised to be interesting. Such was Bai Qi's first thought. At a peak 3rd level, the same as Bai Qi, he also felt above average. But it was not his cultivation or his exotic looks, as Fu Guo was not human, at least not entirely, the reasons for Bai Qi's interest. No, his interest stemmed from what he could feel in Fu Guo's aura, sword intent.

Bai Qi was on the crossing between the 3rd and 4th step since his duel with the swordmaster in the desert. And now, feeling someone just above himself roused interest indeed. But also the desire to win and prove himself.

Bai Qi did not consider that the Path of the Sword would become his main path or that he would follow it until the day he died. Still, when such a chance arose, how could he not take it?

"Bai Qi, 3rd level Warrior Lord, no points, newcomer;

Fu Guo the [Unseeable Edge], 3rd level Warrior Lord, 5 points, undefeated since his arrival, win streak of thirty-two;

5 to 1."

Bai Qi did not care about the odds themselves, especially as it had been his objective to remain a dark horse. But he was, indeed, surprised to hear such a difference, not to mention Fu Guo's win streak.

Only three or four arena masters would preside over the arena at a time, so in Bai Qi's mind, that could be the only reason.

In any case, it was neither his intention nor desire to think and find more about Fu Guo's causes and logic. After all, he was an opponent, and Bai Qi did not plan to lose. Interested or not, prideful or not, it did not matter. Bai Qi aimed for victory from the start, and if the opponent in front merited him to reveal some more cards before challenging the Masters, so be it!