“Participants of the elimination round, please enter the arena.”

Following the words of the unidentifiable voice, all 32 participants walked out of the entrance of the arena. The moment they did, the whole arena was covered in the cheers of the countless spectators.

In reaction to their cheers, the participants, excluding Cyrus, Behnam and a few others who remained calm, all either their head drew back out of surprise or waved back to the spectators with a satisfied expression plastered across their faces.

When they finally arrived at the center of the arena, the voice continued, “All participants shall be divided into four groups based on the stages they were on the day before. Participants of each group will then draw lots to determine their opponents.”

As the voice spoke, a man wearing a mask came out of another entrance which the participants walked out of with a box in hand. After he had each of the participants take one ball from within the box, he quietly left the arena.

Following the departure of the man, four circular stages rose from the earth while in the air, light screens which faced the four directions showed the participants who would be fighting.

“Participants may not initiate an attack to other participants they are not fighting.

Participants who are fighting may not deliberately aim for the kill, but accidents may happen.

Participants may use any sort of weapons or treasure within their arsenal, but must not receive outside help nor use treasures of the spirit grade or above.

Participants who have stepped out of the stage, fainted, or conceded defeat may not be attacked by the opposing participant.

Participants may not make any attempt to strike the referee.

Any participant who breaks any one of these rules shall directly be disqualified.”

As those words ended, four people suddenly flashed into the arena and spread onto the four stages, seemingly the referees of the matches. Then, with hands clasped behind their backs, they called for the participants who would be fighting first.

Soon after the participants stepped onto the stages, they started fighting.

By the end of the elimination round, the sky was already dyed red and only four participants were left, with each coming from different groups.

“The elimination round has ended; the semifinals shall begin the next day. May the corresponding participants please prepare.”

Following those words, all the participants left the arena, with those who have lost wearing gloomy countenance as they left the arena while the those who passed walked all walked away with a calm expression except for one who constantly waved cheerfully towards the surrounding spectators.

As Behnam observed the other two other participants who kept their calm, he could not help but to reevaluate them stealthily. But when he looked towards the cheerful boy who was filled with vigor as he waved towards the spectators in pride, there was no ridicule in his eyes. Instead, he constantly tried to discern what secret the vigorous boy had, believing that those who could have reached this far must have held real abilities.

But even after they reached the point where they must part ways, he could not discern anything from the other participants, causing him to be slightly despondent. At that moment, a faint melodious voice entered his ear, “Brother...”

Looking towards the source of the voice, he saw Yvette who was wearing a veil slowly walking towards his direction with Daiyu following close behind her. Seeing this, he approached her with hurried steps.

Watching Behnam approaching her hurriedly, Yvette stopped in place. When he finally arrived before her, he asked with worry, “What are you doing here alone with your handmaiden?”

Hearing his question, Yvette finally realized why he seemed hurried and replied, “Everyone has already left the arena, hence mother and father asked me to bring you out directly.” Listening to her reason, Behnam felt doubtful. If it was only that, they could have simply sent a servant to call for him, yet they sent the young Yvette to him instead.

Feeling that it would be nigh impossible for his sister to lie, Behnam guessed that it was another one of his parents’ abnormal ideas.

“Brother…” Just as the thought crossed his mind, Yvette’s melodious voice once again entered his ears and brought him back.

“Alright, let us hurry and go.” Said Behnam as he walked away with Yvette and Daiyu.

But just as they were about to walk away, Yvette felt a gaze land on her, but thinking that it might just be the usual fleeting gaze, she ignored it and continued to walk away.

“Participants of the semifinals, please enter the arena.” In accordance with those words, the four participants once again entered the arena for the third time.

“Today shall be the final day of the tournament. The semifinals and finals shall be held today.”

Following those words, a circular stage which covered most of the center of the arena suddenly came out of the ground and a man which seemed to be the referee leaped to the center of the stage.

“Behnam Aasmany of Stellar City and Saba Dahae of Sepehr City, please get on the stage.”

Following the referee’s words, Behnam and Saba both leaped up the stage in a direction opposite to each other.

Examining his opponent, Behnam saw that it was the most low-key one of the four. Not only does Saba constantly wear a hooded robe, he never heard a single utterance coming from this particular person. Even though Saba is half a head shorter than him, he dared not to let down his guard.

“The moment the coin in my hand falls, the battle will start.” Suddenly hearing the words of the referee, Behnam snapped out of his thoughts and prepared himself for the upcoming fight.

Following that, the referee flicked the gold coin in his hand upwards with his thumb before quickly jumping backward, out of the stage.

As the gold coin continuously flipped as it fell, Behnam’s concentration peaked. He knew that unlike his opponents from the day before, Saba is much stronger, hence he decided to act with more caution.

The moment the gold coin hit the ground, it was as if the sound rang throughout the whole arena. At that moment, Behnam felt a gust of wind blowing wildly from his front, causing him to reflexively squint his eyes.

‘A wind cultivator?’

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he felt a fierce gust of wind rush towards him. Noticing this, he quickly reacted and jumped to the side. Unfortunately, he never had the chance nor had the desire to look into his potential opponents. It could be his pride which does not allow him to, but he still thought that fighting in such a way is also a form of training.

When he finally managed to regain his bearing, he heard the sound of a clicking tongue. Looking towards the source, he saw Saba rushing towards him once again accompanied by rushing wind.

This time, he was prepared and quickly gathered strength into his fist and smashed downwards, producing a shockwave which forced back the gust of wind and affecting Saba’s movement, seemingly causing Saba to be flustered. Finally finding a chance to retaliate, Behnam dashed forward with a lowered stance before bursting forward with his right fist thrown, aiming straight for Saba’s chest.

But when his fist was about to hit, Saba managed to put up a defense by crossing both arms while his fist seemed to have its force reduced by the surrounding wind.

Unwilling to withdraw his attack, he roared and withdrew his fist before once again punching forward with increased force, producing a shockwave and cloud of dust as it made contact with his opponent’s arms.

Then, Behnam hurriedly jumped out of the dust cloud and made some distance between them.

‘No, the force was not enough…’

As he thought of such, a burst of wind blew away the dust cloud, revealing Saba whose robes were in tatters, especially so for the top part, which included the hoody that has been hiding Saba’s face.

When Behnam saw the identity of the person under the hooded robe, his eyebrow twitched as he wryly thought.

‘A… girl?’

Under the tattered robe, what was hidden was actually a girl with shoulder-length black hair and a pair of hazel eyes. Though her figure was lacking due to her age, her round and tender face was enough to prove that Saba is without a doubt a girl. But such a face made him unsure whether the person who attacked with great fierceness the same person. Just as he thought so, he noticed the fiercely burning fighting spirit within her eyes, which deeply contrasted with her tender face.

Seeing those eyes finally cleared the last of his doubts he had about her. But after he pondered for a moment, he finally spoke.

“Do you truly wish to continue? I do not wish to be rude nor do I look down upon you, but neither do I have any desire to hurt girls.”

At first, the girl, Saba, felt furious due to his offer. But after hearing his explanation, she took a deep breath and said with eyes glaring straight at Behnam.

“I appreciate your offer, but I wish to continue. And I hope that you would not go easy on me simply because I am a girl.” Saying that, she directly rushed towards him.

“I plan on doing so.” Behnam said as his gaze sharpened.

Then, he lowered his waist, gathering strength in his leg, before launching his body forward.

Expecting such a move, Saba gathered most of her Qi into her right fist as she moved, causing it to light up with a green light. Then, she caused the Qi within her fist to rotate, attracting the surrounding wind and forming a tornado around her fist.

Seeing this, Behnam’s expression turned grave. Unwilling to take a risk by evaluating the strength of her attack, he also sent his Qi into his right fist, causing it to light up like a golden sun.

As their pair of green and gold fists met, a giant explosion surged through the whole arena producing a giant dust cloud, and causing the barrier surrounding the stage to shake.

But soon, the dust cloud was quickly swept away. Looking at the location right outside the stage, the referee from before could be seen waving his hand, showing that he was the one who swept away the dust cloud.

Meanwhile, on the stage, there are still two people atop it. But this time, one of them laid collapsed, unconscious, while the other person stood before the one who was defeated, standing straight like a spear, emitting a grand air which could not be hidden by the various small wounds and dirt covering his body.

Moments later, the referee finally jumped up onto the stage and announced.

“The winner, Behnam Aasmany of Stellar City!”

Following the announcement, the whole arena resounded with the loud cheers from the spectators.

But Behnam who was the target of all those cheering simply disregarded them and walked away unhurriedly. Though he seemed to have treated them coldly, the excited cheers of the spectators did not reduce in the slightest, instead, a few young girls within the crowd seemed to have screamed even louder, scaring the people around them.

Meanwhile, Behnam who has gone out of the sight of the spectators lost the grand air around him and stumbled.

Leaning on the wall of the arena’s corridor, Behnam’s breath turned ragged while blood trickled down from the corner of his lips. Noticing this, Behnam smiled wryly and thought back to the final attack they exchanged.

The moment the two fist hit each other, it was an exchange of the technique within their attacks. With the sheer heavy brute force contained within his vigorous Sun Yang Qi, he was able to dominate Saba.

But in exchange, he had to take on the sharp attacks of Saba’s fist which contained a small tornado of Wind Qi. Though his well-forged body was able to handle the attacks on his body, the Wind Qi was surprisingly able to penetrate into his body and attack his internal organs. And because he used up all of his Qi into that one attack, he could only watch as his internal organs receive the attacks from the Wind Qi until it died out on its own.

In the end, he managed to knock Saba unconscious while the Wind Qi continued to attack him until the referee announced his victory. At that moment, he only wanted to lie down and take a rest, but when he thought of his family which might possibly worry for him, he forced his body to stand straight as he exuded a grand air around him using the vigorous Yang Qi left within him.

And at that moment, he was no longer capable of handling the damage to his body. Just as he thought that he might have to forfeit the tournament, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from deeper into the corridor. At first, Behnam was vigilant of the incoming party, but when he saw their identity, he froze in place.

“Yvette… what are you doing here?” The ones who came from within the corridor was the pair of master and handmaiden, Yvette and Daiyu.

“I was worried.” Said Yvette curtly when she arrived before him. Though Behnam could not truly see the worry she hid deep within her gaze, he still lowered his head and apologized, “Forgive me.”

Without another word, she crouched down and examined Behnam’s wounds. But when she tried examining his internals, she frowned and glanced towards Behnam.

“Had you forfeited, the referee would have helped you.” She said with a light voice devoid of blame.

“That may be true, but I have my own pride.” Replied Behnam with a confident smile.

Seeing him like this, Yvette sighed and motioned towards Daiyu to approach. Once Daiyu arrived before her, she took out a roll of bandage and other ointments from the dimensional pouch hanging on her waist. Then, she gave a set of instructions to Daiyu and added an ointment to the bandage before starting to dress Behnam’s wounds.

The process did not take long and once she finished bandaging his wounds, Daiyu already finished the medicine which Yvette had instructed her to make and handed it over to her.

“Brother, please drink this.” Following Yvette’s words, Behnam took the wine cup filled with the medicine with no hesitation.

Moments later, he felt his stomach warming and his internal injuries slowly healing. Surprised at the effects, Behnam turned to look at Yvette with a befuddled gaze.

But before he had the chance to question Yvette, a voice resounded throughout the arena.

“The winner, Cyrus Kirmist of Crimson Capital!

Next, the finals shall begin, may Behnam Aasmany of Stellar City please come up to the stage.”

Hearing the announcement, Behnam stood up with no hesitation and put on another set of clothing which Yvette had prepared, hiding the bandages hidden underneath. Though Yvette who was looking at him held worries within her, she did not stop him and simply watched as he once again stood atop the stage.