Without sparing any more time on admiring the opponent, Herman began moving his own Primordial Qi in an erratic manner, hoping to cope with the following attack. Judging by the tons of Water Qi still increasing at the tip of the enemy's staff, he didn't stand a chance if he was to take that on.

"I don't have sufficient HP or Strength to brave that hit and even if I did, I would still be seriously injured. What other options do I have? Overpowering it with Fire Qi is out of the question since I don't have the Qi reserves or the quality for that matter. To use the same amount of Water Qi and offset the attack is also nothing but a pipe dream as well. If I was at the Gold Core realm I would've been able to use some Earth and Ice Qi in order to divert the blow, by creating a slanted small hill in front of me, but that's also out of the equation. F*ck! Do I really have only one option!?"

Since the start, Herman realized that there was only a single proper response to the attack, but he didn't want to do it. It was something he learned from the Autarchs, a move that Neverfire often used to show off, a move that requires high-level bodily cultivation and stupid amounts of Strength and Dexterity. Judging by the still increasing power of the attack, the moron in front of him is going to use an immortal spell with an AOE effect.

Immortal spells are categorized as Qi skills that can affect the nature around the cultivators. For example, the parlor tricks that Herman used to make that poor bastard defeat himself. Those cannot be counted as immortal spells, since a small hole in the ground or a bit of thin ice won't affect the environment. If he reached the Ensoulment realm and used them again at a larger scale, however, they would count as immortal spells for certain, since the effects would be much more terrifying. These sorts of spells were usually split into three main branches: single-target, AOE (area of effect), and support-type spells.

The single-target spells were the most used in a duel between cultivators. Blades of Air Qi striking the opponent, jets of Water Qi, flaming meteors made out of Fire and Earth Qi... etc. Well, the last one, depending on its strength can be moved to the AOE branch. The AOE immortal spells were usually used when attacking other territories or sects, as they could deal massive damage to the terrain. Let's put it like this: you are attacking a sect that is under the protection of an array. It's impossible to break this array with single-target spells unless you are at least three realms above its level. So, instead of focusing your attacks on one single point and hope for the best, you spread out the damage in order to affect a bigger area.

In doing so, the Qi supplied to the array cannot keep up with the attacks and will crack eventually, starting with locations where the Qi supply is the weakest. Finally, support-type spells are skills that one can use to buff himself or his companions. Among them, the most recognized one is the healing spell that actually requires Divine Qi. Even Herman himself wasn't aware of the Spiritual Root combinations needed in order to create that type of Qi, but from his understanding, it was something that people were born with.

Anyways, back to the AOE problem at hand, the enemy was using an Overtier spell (since the power it was showing was above what the bastard was capable of creating himself) that was based on water. That meant that it will most likely be something like an Engulfing Tsunami, the most basic AOE immortal spell available after reaching Nihility, a spell that Herman couldn't even dream to survive at his current level.

In front of him, however, was a low-tier AOE spell used by an early-Nascent Soul cultivator with a talent for Water Qi, boosted because of the equipment he has to look like an imitation of the Engulfing Tsunami. If that was the case, learning from nature, one way to survive this massive wave was to act like a sharp rock that would break it in two.

"F*ck! This is going to hurt like a motherf*cker!"

Using Air Qi and pumping it into the Thundering Sword, the blade seemed to extend by the length of an arm and it started looking more like a huge and thick lance instead of an actual sword. Herman continued to empty his Qi reserves by building a ton of Earth Qi around his body, strengthening his defenses further. Changing his position into that of a Greek Hoplite ready to impale an enemy soldier, he kept accumulating more and more Qi around his body, while moving into a defensive position.

A blue glow effect covered the enemy's staff and both opponents acted at the same time. Herman charged forward, while Bai Yunshen released his spell with a shout.

[Sea God's Wrath!](Bai Yunshen)

Herman almost stumbled when he heard the name of the spell the bastard in front of him used. There should be a limit to acting cool to fool the enemy! The Sea God's Wrath was a high-tier spell one could use only after reaching Immortal Venerable and being incredibly gifted in the manipulation of Water Qi. Who lied to this pathetic fool in such an exaggerated manner?

Steeling himself and removing the useless thoughts from his mind, Herman moved towards the huge wave of water that was reaching over five meters in height and over seven in width. With unwavering determination, while only a couple of steps away from the frightening mastodont, he pushed forward the sword/spear with a low grunt. Upon contact with the Water Qi, the tip of the sword released a small but concentrated amount of Air Qi, extending his weapon even further and splitting the waves apart for around half a meter worth.

Unfortunately, only this small gap would be open with his current strength, while some of the Water Qi would still crash into his body. So he braced himself and took it all without complaint.

The spectators were in a frenzy at this point when seeing the impressive spell used by Bai Yunshen and even more so when they saw how Herman fearlessly fought it head-on. Unfortunately, by using an AOE spell in such a small ring surrounded by an array to protect the viewers, the spectator's field of vision was restricted by the cascading water, unable to tell the result of the clash.

The System, however, couldn't be fooled by such a minor matter.

Alert!

You have received critical damage from your enemy!

A multiplier applied of 1.5!

The total damage received: 4175 points!

Alert!

You have dealt critical damage to your enemy!

A multiplier applied of 3!

The total damage dealt: 7440 points!

Winner of the eleventh round: Herman Roy!

Leaving aside the spectators and the Altar sect, even Bai Yunshen was laying on the ground in a daze, with a sword pointing at his neck and blood coming out of his right shoulder. The fact that the enemy was able to somehow move through the water wave he could understand, sure! But how was the damage he took in the process of breaking through so little!? And how high is his Dexterity, for him to cover this much ground in such a little time?

Wu Xintian, taking his new 'job' way too seriously in Herman's opinion, replayed the events leading to Bai Yunshen's defeat and explained them to the dumbfounded public. He even went as far as assuming that Herman's Strength attribute was at least twice higher than his opponent's, given how little damage the System declared.

Shaking his head at his trembling body, Herman couldn't help but swear at Neverfire. This tactic could be used only by madmen! Who the f*ck would willingly jump into a roiling inferno of fire, relying on your own body to weather it and the weapon in your hand to cut through it!? It was insane... yet he still saw the madman doing it at least three times.

Following the defeat of the Junior 'Brother' Bai Yunshen, the Chief Disciple took his place on the stage and lasted even less. Poor Wu Linyu suffered unjustly because Herman decided to take things more seriously and stop showing off. As result, after twelve battles so far, the only person that managed to deal damage to Herman was Bai Yunshen.

Herman realized that the Nascent Soul 'disciples' he fought off before as the ninth and the tenth opponents held back and relied only on their skills and techniques to last as long as they did. It was likely that they had something more hidden, but didn't want to show it. As result, they were thoroughly beaten to the ground, just like Wu Linyu was.

If Herman made fun of Bai Yunshen for being a white-face, Wu Linyu was literally covered in a white suit and carried a zither to the stage. He then proceeded to use soundwaves to attack his opponent's mind but failed miserably.

"You poor whelp that still sucks on your mom's tits! I've heard the song of the Sirens more times than you ate rice and you think such shitty skills could threaten my mental will? Tsk, tsk, tsk! I'm being grossly underestimated here... Anyway, it's time to settle an old grudge it seems."

Looking at the Main Elder Ji Beidou with a contemptuous sneer, Herman decided to do everything in his power to annoy the shit out of this old man. Maybe if he pushed the right buttons, the old man might give in because of anger and display some heretic skills. Well, it's not like these skills were different than usual ones, but they would be accompanied by a faint red cloud with a smell reminiscent of blood.

There wasn't a cultivator in the Immortal World that would fail to realize at that point that they're dealing with someone that handled human sacrifices. It wouldn't be enough to wipe out this shitty Altar sect, but it would be sufficient to get the other Basic-rank sects to snoop around.

"Anyway, it seems that I should play around with my targets a while longer since I still haven't heard back from the girls. The issue is that my Qi reserves are getting kind of low and these f*ckers don't plan on giving me time to recover. It's my fault for hurrying them in the early stages..."

As result, the fight with the old man was much longer and he toyed around with him in a humiliating manner. The old fart was so angry that his pupils widened, the color of his eyes was blood red and his breathing was very rough. Herman smiled and continued inflicting small wounds that the System recognized as minor damage between 100 and 500 points, keen on driving his opponent over the edge.

Finally, after fifteen more minutes when even Herman was starting to grow tired, the old man suddenly lashed out with his bare hand and hit the Thundering Sword square on the blade. The impact hurled Herman through the air and he even received over 1000 points of damage as result. He couldn't help but get back to his feet with a wide grin and was about to attack again, when...

[Beidou! What do you think you're doing right now!?](?)

[...Custodian Chuyu, however...](Ji Beidou)

[Don't make me repeat myself, elder Beidou!](Chuyu)

[...](Ji Beidou)

Hearing the low growl belonging to the Custodian of the Altar sect, it seemed that a bucket of cold water was thrown over elder Ji Beidou's head, instantly calming him down. Herman couldn't help but curse at the interfering old fart, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

Since this tactic wasn't going to work, he just ended the match using a Sword Dance he learned from watching one of Mio's videos in his past life. The footwork was slightly strange for a man to execute, but the impact it had was nevertheless, excellent.

Alert!

You have dealt critical damage to your enemy!

A multiplier applied of 2!

The total damage dealt: 6240 points!

Winner of the thirteenth round: Herman Roy!

Directly standing on the ground while the enemy was being carried out of the ring with a gaping hole in his abdomen, Herman focused on recovering a small amount of Primordial Qi through direct absorption. The amount wasn't great, but it should be enough to deal with the remaining two f*ckers, given that they were trying hard to conceal their involvement with human sacrifices. That means that they would be able to display only about 60-70% of their normal strength, even without taking into consideration the power they obtained through such unspeakable means.

As soon as the fourteenth match began, however...

Alert!

You have received critical damage from your enemy!

A multiplier applied of 2.5!

The total damage received: 6175 points!

Herman was slammed into the ground, face-first, after being kicked once in the abdomen and once in the back through a series of rapid movements. His failure to react in time wasn't due to the enemy's Dexterity stat being higher than his, but rather due to him underestimating his opponent. A Custodian of a sect was usually the hidden ace, the strongest fighter that had the job of protecting the sect and if necessary, give his life to cover for the retreating Sect Master and the promising youth.

After getting back to his feet and inspecting the aura of this Chuyu fellow, he was dumbfounded to discover that the old fart was in spitting distance of the Ensoulment realm. Not only that, but his bodily cultivation must've broken through the Mortal Flesh as well.

"For f*ck's sake! I died once and got sent back to the past only to underestimate my opponents!? What the f*ck is wrong with me!? If this would've been a normal fight in the wild, I would've most likely been killed already. F*ck! F*ck, f*ck, f*ck! If such a small shitty sect already took a third of my total HP before even fighting with the Sect Master, what hopes do I have for standing in front of those geniuses from the past!?"

Chuyu was preparing to attack and teach the brat a lesson again when he noticed the aura around his opponent turn dreadful. The amount of bloodlust pointed his way was so overbearing that he couldn't even breathe properly. Cold sweat began pouring down his back and was staring at the young man in front of him as if he was the grim reaper himself, coming to claim its due.

When a droplet of sweat from his brows trickled downward and forced him to blink, he noticed with horror that Herman had vanished from the field of his view. Rattled, he looked around and tried to see if the enemy was above, only to be hit with a blunt object in the back of the head, forcing him into unconsciousness.

While the System announced him as winner due to the enemy fainting, Herman walked back to his corner while brandishing his sword and stretching his legs. The spectators were once more thrilled to hear the commentator Wu Xintian's breakdown of the fight, watching the replay where Herman used a movement technique to shift in the blindspot of the Custodian. It wasn't an easy thing to do given the small and flat arena, however, the result was based on something more psychological rather than him vanishing. When he first intimidated the old man through the use of Spiritual Qi and bloodlust, his opponent was scared and focused as result on his exact position, while entering a defensive stance. Once he blinked, all his attention was still focused on the same spot, not noticing Herman move behind him.

"Before learning the Divine Wind Pieces III, I couldn't pull this off. Even the movement I did was nothing more but a replica of the Shadow Leap used by Moon Empress of the Peak alliance. Her Dexterity was so bloody high, that her opponents couldn't even see her moving, making it look as if she teleported through the shadows behind them. Even more so, I still haven't unlocked my brain's full potential yet either, so I cannot read the enemy's movement too well. Shit! I think I might've pulled a muscle as well..."

While Herman was busy massaging his right thigh, the Sect Master of the Altar of Heaven and Earth sect was livid. Even after 'borrowing' ten elites from young master Wang Fu, they were still beaten like dogs by this one single cultivator. Such a shameful result would haunt him even if he had to relocate to an area with better resources and might even form an internal demon. For the prestige of his sect to be dragged through the mud like this simply because of a whelp that tried to build his fame by stepping on his... he won't allow it!

Looking at the Wang Fu who realized his intentions, he saw the latter shrug as if he could do whatever he wanted to. Judging by this reaction, the imprisoning array must've been completed. Given how many strong cultivators were present, while they could kill some of them if they noticed the array being built to surround them, even more would escape and might even petition the administration to intervene. That would throw a wrench in their plans and the higher-ups wouldn't accept anything of sorts.

[With the imprisoning array finished though, I can finally stop on this dancing ant and take my revenge on those old fools as well. Hahaha! It's the patient man that always has the last laugh.](Li Xuanyuan)

At the same time as the sect master was preparing to show his true colors, young master Wang Fu that was done with his explanation of the previous fight was licking his lips in anticipation.

[Aren't you supposed to be a genius? I hope you won't disappoint me and be defeated by this sort of trash...](Wang Fu)

Herman himself also narrowed his eyes while seeing his next opponent motion the other executives and give them a round of orders. As result, insidious smiles appeared on their faces, while looking at Herman with a sneer. It was obvious that they were plotting something and it even looked that they might be ready to go for broke and use their real strength to attack him and the other spectators.

Frowning, he couldn't realize just what insurance these shitheads had to be this confident.

[Herman, can you hear me?](?)

"This... telepathy? Celeste?"

[Mhm! Be careful! The enemy sneakily built an intermediate-grade imprisoning array around you and they just completed it.](Celeste)

"I see. So that's why they were suddenly so confident."

[Probably. Anyway, Xue also found the Illusion array used to cover a part of the entire arena but it's also used to hide the imprisoning array. Such knowledge and skill don't exist in a Basic-rank sect.](Celeste)

"Yeah. It should be a Yellow-rank sect at the bare minimum, given how strong the Nascent Soul cultivators I fought were. Can Tianxia Xue disrupt the Illusion array for about 10 seconds?"

[Nah... She's not strong enough to pull that off just yet.](Celeste)

"*sigh* Can ask you to do that then? I'll owe you one."

[Hmm... Sure!](Celeste)

"It looks as if the Sect Master plans to attack me using his full force, so wait until that happens. If he cannot defeat me alone, he's likely to give the signal for the others to attack me as well. When that happens, disrupt the Illusion array enough for the other sect masters to realize what's happening. If they find the imprisoning array, it's likely that they will instantly go bonkers and buy me some time."

[Can you beat him?](Celeste)

"It's hard to tell, but I should be able to preserve my life. Have you noticed where the kidnapped have been moved to?"

[Right under you. There's a flight of stairs leading down which will become visible once the array is taken down. Follow it and you'll be able to find them. There are about five guards all of which at mid-Nascent Soul realm. Assume their strength to be at least on par with that Chuyu guy you fought before.](Celeste)

"Got it! Thank you, Celeste!"

[Don't thank me just yet. Wait until you hear my request.](Celeste)

Smiling bitterly at the evil laughter of the woman, he shook his head and prepared for the fight at hand. Unknowingly, he looked towards the corner of the arena where Wu Xintian was watching him up-close. He already had an inkling as of who this guy was, especially given how much respect the Altar sect was showing him, but it was not time to create another enemy just yet.

Especially since this one seemed more interested in watching the show from the sidelines.