"Brother Qin, y-you're going up there?" Tang Xiaoman struggled to sit up from the ground, ignoring the pain in his body. "Be careful. That Wei Jun is at the Hundred Refinements Sixth Layer. He's definitely a ruthless fighter who's fought his way through life-or-death battles!"
Tang Xiaoman was genuinely worried. He might usually joke around, but his mind was as clear as a mirror. Wei Jun had knocked him flat with a single punch even after he'd used Blood Boil. Qin Jue was only at the Hundred Refinements Fourth Layer, two minor realms behind. He couldn't possibly win.
Qin Jue turned and saw the worry on Tang Xiaoman's face. He smiled.
"Don't worry. I know that guy's a tough nut to crack. You didn't lose shamefully. But I use a sword, unlike you."
Qin Jue looked toward Wei Jun, who had just stepped down from the ring. There wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes.
"Besides, the results of my hard training over the last few days need a worthy opponent to test them."
With that, Qin Jue said no more. He patted Tang Xiaoman on the shoulder, then turned and headed for Ring Five, Section D.
"Brother Qin!" Tang Xiaoman watched him go, then could only shake his head with a wry smile.
Ring Five, Section D.
Qin Jue walked up the steps without deliberately releasing his aura. Among the surrounding martial artists at the Fifth and Sixth Layers, his Hundred Refinements Fourth Layer cultivation seemed utterly unremarkable.
"Haha, no way. A little kid at the Hundred Refinements Fourth Layer?"
"Is this brat still asleep? Thinks the money here is easy to earn?"
"Hey, I bet he won't last ten breaths! Anyone want to take that bet?"
The gamblers below let loose a wave of undisguised laughter and jeers. In a place like the Hundred Battles Martial Training Ground, cultivation level meant everything. Challenging someone at a higher level wasn't unheard of, but surviving even one out of ten fights counted as good luck. Winning? That took a genius.
The One-eyed Old Man in charge of registration was leaning against a pillar nearby, dozing. At the commotion, he cracked open one eye. A flicker of disdain passed through his cloudy gaze, then he closed it again, as if he'd already seen how things would end.
Qin Jue paid no attention. He simply stood there, waiting for his opponent.
Soon, a bald brute with a bare chest and a descending tiger tattooed across it leaped up from the crowd. A regular here, he went by the title Shattered Rock and was at the peak of the Hundred Refinements Fourth Layer.
The bald brute cracked his neck, then leered at Qin Jue. "Hey, kid, grown any hair yet? Hundred Refinements Fourth Layer? You've got the nerve to come to Ring Five and get yourself killed with that level of cultivation? These hands of mine have torn apart plenty of clueless little fledglings. Get down on your knees and bow three times, call me Grandpa, and maybe I'll let you roll off the ring."
The spectators joined in, their whistles and curses rising one after another.
"Shattered Rock, quit yapping and tear him apart!"
"I've got fifty gold on you! Finish him in three moves!"
Faced with the jeers raining down on him, Qin Jue's expression didn't change.
He was regulating his breathing.
In the first layer of Myriad Forms Style, the Mind Mirror state, all the surrounding racket faded away. The bald brute's provocations looked intimidating, but to Qin Jue they were riddled with openings, like a sieve full of holes.
"If you won't say anything, then die!"
When Qin Jue ignored him, a savage glint flashed in the bald brute's eyes. He roared, and the bluestone slabs beneath his feet burst apart. He shot forward like a cannonball, his fan-sized hand tearing through the air. His fingers curled into a claw, their tips gleaming black as he lunged straight for Qin Jue's throat.
The blow was heavy and forceful. He'd clearly trained in some vicious eagle-claw-like martial art. If it landed, it would rip Qin Jue's throat apart in an instant.
The spectators' eyes flew wide. They could almost see Qin Jue's throat being torn open in a bloody spray.
However—
Just as the brute's hand was about to touch Qin Jue's throat, Qin Jue moved.
He flipped his wrist and swept the Cold Iron Sword, scabbard and all, upward. The tip of the scabbard struck the inside of the brute's wrist before his hand could reach him.
It was the first move of Cicada Wing Thousand Layers: Flap Wings!
The sword remained sheathed, but Qin Jue sent the subtle, high-frequency vibration through the scabbard and straight into the meridians in the brute's arm.
"Vmm—"
A visible ripple spread through the air.
"Argh!!"
The bald brute screamed, his face twisting. It felt as if countless steel needles had pierced his right arm. The eerie vibrations coursed up along his bones, numbing half his body and instantly scattering his gathered qi and blood.
But he was at the peak of the Hundred Refinements Fourth Layer. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he swung his left fist at Qin Jue's face.
"Too slow."
Qin Jue murmured.
Startling Swan Flash carried him half a step backward, his body drifting just beyond the punch's reach. At the same time, the scabbard in his hand swept through an arc and cracked against the back of the brute's knee.
He used the deft force of Tide Rising Sword Technique, turning four ounces into a thousand pounds.
"Thud!"
The bald brute had been surging forward with all his strength. Now he abruptly lost his balance and dropped heavily to his knees. His kneecaps struck the bluestone slabs with a series of cracking sounds.
"You..."
The brute looked up in terror. He'd barely begun to speak when a glint of cold light swelled rapidly in his pupils.
It was the tip of the scabbard.
Qin Jue flicked his wrist. The scabbard darted like a venomous snake, stopping half an inch from the brute's brow. Its cutting wind stung the skin between his eyebrows, and cold sweat instantly ran down his face.
The entire arena fell silent.
Three breaths passed before the gaunt old man serving as referee finally came to his senses. He swallowed, then cried out in a shrill voice:
"W-winner, Ghost Face!"
"Whoa—"
The crowd erupted.
"He didn't even draw his sword? And he won just like that?"
"That was Shattered Rock! He got knocked to his knees in two moves?"
"Did I see that right? What was that move? You can use a scabbard like that?"
Qin Jue drew back his scabbard without so much as a glance at the brute kneeling on the ground.
"Next."
For the spectators at Ring Five, Section D, the next half hour was a spectacular sight that turned everything they knew on its head.
If the first match had merely surprised them, the next few left them deeply shaken.
The second match was against a saber wielder at the early stage of the Hundred Refinements Fifth Layer.
The moment he stepped onto the ring, he unleashed a seamless saber technique, its snowy flashes chilling the air.
This time, Qin Jue drew his sword.
But he made only one move.
As the opponent's countless saber shadows descended over him, Qin Jue entered the Mind Mirror state. Startling Swan Flash carried him like a ghost into a blind spot in the saber light. The Cold Iron Sword let out an almost imperceptible hum—Flap Wings!
The spine of the sword struck the opponent's saber with perfect precision. High-frequency vibrations exploded on impact.
"Crack!"
The saber wielder felt a violent jolt through his palm. The finely forged steel saber in his hand shattered into three pieces! Fragments flew in every direction, and the man dropped onto his backside, his face ashen.
The third match was against a martial artist at the middle stage of the Hundred Refinements Fifth Layer, an expert in kicking techniques.
Qin Jue countered with Tide Rising Sword Technique. As the opponent's kicks came down like a storm, the sword in his hand moved like a bottomless lake, flowing without end. No matter how fierce the attacks, the flexible force of his sword deflected every one.
At last, when his opponent ran out of strength, Qin Jue changed his sword form—Tide Surging Stance!
The sword flashed out like a rising tide. Its spine slammed into the outside of the man's thigh, sweeping him straight off the ring.
The fourth match...
The fifth match...
Before you continue