At dusk, the sun sank in the west, and the sunset clouds were gorgeous.
The first day of the Martial Hall Grand Tournament had temporarily come to a close.
Some martial halls had failed to defend their halls, lost their tokens, and been eliminated, leaving them with nothing but regret.
Others had won battle after battle, racking up points and celebrating wildly.
And some had neither earned points nor been eliminated, making it through the day safely.
For a time, joy and sorrow filled the city in equal measure.
When Shen Zhou and the others returned to the Flying Bird First Martial Hall, they saw the token still hanging at the entrance. They knew Tan Tong hadn't let them down.
"Brother Zhou..."
Inside the martial hall, Xi Mei was the first to hurry over when she saw Shen Zhou and the others return.
Shen Zhou rubbed Xi Mei's head, then looked at everyone else.
Tan Tong was unharmed, just a little worn out from a full day of fighting.
A Dai and Wang Xiaomao had suffered some minor injuries.
Xi Mei explained that when challengers came to their door, A Dai and Wang Xiaomao had wanted to temper themselves, so they'd volunteered to fight and gotten hurt in the process.
Fortunately, defending a hall wasn't a single-match contest. As long as the martial hall's designated strongest defender hadn't admitted defeat, the defense wasn't over.
With Tan Tong at the Coagulation Eighth Realm and at the Stone Skin Realm, the second level of the Golden Body Art, he wouldn't back down even against the martial artists of the Five Great Families. The Flying Bird First Martial Hall had held firm through the first day.
Tan Tong then asked, "How did you do today?"
San Mazi and Dongfang Pangpang immediately puffed out their chests and proudly brought out the day's spoils.
A full sixty or seventy golden tokens gleamed before everyone's eyes.
For a moment, the people of the Flying Bird First Martial Hall were dazzled.
Wang Xiaomao exclaimed, "Did you kick in the doors of every martial hall in the city? How did you get so many?"
Tan Tong even spotted tokens from the martial halls of the Four Great Families among them and pressed them, "You challenged the family martial halls? And won?"
Then he realized something and continued, "You used the Taixuan Sword, didn't you?"
Tan Tong and the others wouldn't have believed Shen Zhou could achieve such results at the Coagulation Sixth Realm without using the Taixuan Sword.
Shen Zhou didn't deny it. "Just tell me—was I impressive or not?"
Tan Tong was speechless. "But Teacher said you were supposed to temper your martial arts. This doesn't do anything to temper you."
Shen Zhou argued with conviction, "I did temper myself! I only used the Taixuan Sword after I'd tempered myself and still couldn't win."
Tan Tong: "..."
There was just no way to judge that.
San Mazi and Dongfang Pangpang then filled in the details, briefly recounting how the challenges had gone.
When Tan Tong and the others heard that all Five Great Families had been eliminated, they were speechless for a long while.
At last, Tan Tong shook his head and said with a hint of melancholy, "In past tournaments, the Five Great Families were usually the main attraction at the end. But now, it's only the first day, and you've already eliminated the Five Great Families and so many other martial halls. If word gets out, who knows what kind of chaos it'll cause?"
In fact, things outside had already descended into chaos.
There were roughly a hundred and thirty or forty martial halls throughout the city. After the first day ended, a count revealed that only around forty remained. Nearly a hundred martial halls had been eliminated.
The news sent shockwaves through the city.
Something like this had never happened in previous years.
And Shen Zhou was responsible for more than half of it.
People from many martial halls complained that they'd left home that morning just fine, only to return around noon and discover their own martial hall had been eliminated. Where could they even go to argue their case?
Others said they'd already decided which martial hall to challenge, only to arrive and find that someone else had beaten them to it.
They'd thought, That one's gone, so we'll just pick another. But the next one had been eliminated too. It was practically like seeing a ghost.
And amid all the martial halls' complaints, one name kept coming up again and again.
It was because of this person that so many martial halls had been eliminated not long after opening their doors.
That person's name was—Dugu Qiubai!
Then everyone grew curious.
"Damn it, who the hell is this Dugu Qiubai? Where'd he come from? Is he crazy, challenging so many martial halls in one day?"
"I've never heard of this guy before. Is he some martial hall's hidden trump card?"
"What's even more unbelievable is that the Five Great Families' martial halls were eliminated too. Can you believe it?"
"What? All the Five Great Families' martial halls were eliminated? Who did it, Dugu Qiubai?"
"Oh, Dugu Qiubai didn't take out the Xu Family Martial Hall. The Xu Family must've done something to anger everyone, because more than a dozen martial halls joined together to challenge them. They fought them one after another and beat the Xu Family's defender into the dirt!"
"..."
Strange things happened every year, but this year had more than its share.
That evening, the betting parlors that had set up odds for the tournament were especially lively.
In previous years, the most popular bets, and the ones with the longest odds, had been on disciples from the Five Great Families' martial halls. But this year, one name had suddenly appeared and pushed past the Five Great Families' competitors to claim the top spot on the popularity chart, with odds through the roof.
Dugu Qiubai!
When the gamblers saw the name, they all looked bewildered and started asking around.
"Who's this guy? Why are his odds longer than those of the Five Great Families?"
"You haven't heard? This guy's the dark horse of the tournament. He eliminated dozens of martial halls across the city all by himself in a single day. His strength is unfathomable, and they're calling him 'the strongest below the Transformation Yuan Realm.' Even the martial halls of the Five Great Families were eliminated by him."
"What? He's that powerful?"
For a time, the whole city was talking about Dugu Qiubai.
Like a comet, the name had risen overnight, stunning everyone in the city who was following the tournament.
That night, plenty of people from the Five Great Families looked into Dugu Qiubai. They all wanted to find out which martial hall he belonged to and how he'd dared to target their families.
The Wu Clan most of all.
Wu Chen loathed the "Dugu Qiubai" who had ruined his plans.
"That bastard had better hope I don't find out which martial hall he belongs to. Once I do, I'll make sure he doesn't live to see the next sunrise!"
Wu Chen's killing intent was palpable.
The next day.
No matter how lively the city became, the sun still rose as usual.
Inside the Flying Bird First Martial Hall.
Wang Xiaomao and the others had already heard about the commotion from the night before. They'd only just learned that Shen Zhou had used an alias, and now, whenever they looked at him, their expressions were a little odd.
"'Dugu Qiubai'?"
Wang Xiaomao circled Shen Zhou, shaking his head and clicking his tongue. "Even though I saw it with my own eyes, I still find it hard to believe that a flashy, cold name like 'Dugu Qiubai' came from Shen Zhou. And does his personality even suit 'Dugu Qiubai'?"
Dongfang Pangpang and the others all shook their heads.
If we were being honest,
anyone who heard "Dugu Qiubai" would think of a peerless expert, cold and aloof. But putting that name together with Shen Zhou's utterly unreliable manner was like trying to stir-fry eggs with potatoes.
It just felt wrong.
Shen Zhou rolled his eyes at them. "You're all just jealous, envious, and green with envy over my talent!"
Everyone: "..."
In the end, A Dai stepped forward and interrupted their fooling around. He said seriously, "Boss Zhou, since you kicked in so many martial halls yesterday, can't we take a break today?"
A Dai meant that Shen Zhou had made too much of a stir yesterday and wanted him to lie low for a while.
Besides, the preliminary round of the tournament lasted three days. At the pace of previous years, plenty of martial halls would still remain afterward. They would then be ranked by points, and the top sixteen would be selected.
But if Shen Zhou went out kicking in doors for another day, A Dai was afraid there wouldn't be any martial halls left to enter the second round.
Shen Zhou replied, "What's wrong with keeping at it? Our goal in entering the tournament was to win. If we can deal with all our opponents in the first round, that saves us a lot of trouble. We can finish early and get on with our own business."
Shen Zhou's idea left everyone speechless.
The way he said it made it sound like they were going out to farm.
He was way too casual about it!
But after calming down and thinking it over, it did seem to make some sense.
San Mazi and Dongfang Hongyu looked like they were only too happy to stir up trouble. They immediately agreed with Shen Zhou's idea and decided to finish everything in a single day, then go claim their prize tomorrow.
A Dai and Wang Xiaomao didn't know how to argue against that, so they could only accept it.
Only Tan Tong looked despondent. "I really came here to temper my martial arts. If they keep doing this... will I even have anyone left to practice against?"
At that moment, he really missed his senior brother Tang Shan and the others. He thought that if those few were here, things would be better.
Unfortunately, the tournament rules stipulated that Hall Masters couldn't remain inside their martial halls once the competition began. That was to ensure the tournament remained fair and impartial.
In the end, the plan was settled. Shen Zhou would keep taking San Mazi and Dongfang Hongyu to challenge martial halls, and they would try to finish everything in one day.
The Splendid Martial Hall.
Du Shuisheng wore twin blades at her waist, her long hair falling down her back. Dressed in a blue martial outfit, she looked neat and capable.
Early in the morning, she opened the doors of the Splendid Martial Hall, then sat in a grand armchair with the other disciples, waiting for challengers to arrive.
Unlike the day before, the Splendid Martial Hall wasn't especially strong. Du Shuisheng herself was only at the peak of the Coagulation Eighth Realm, so once the tournament had started the previous day, she'd focused on defending the hall and sent the other disciples out to attack and earn points.
Her fellow disciples had done their part, too, and had even managed to snatch two tokens.
Du Shuisheng had thought that although reaching the top sixteen would be a challenge, she was confident she could keep the martial hall from being eliminated too easily.
But after hearing what "Dugu Qiubai" had done the previous night, she'd had a feeling that sooner or later she would become his next target.
"I don't care who you are. If you want to eliminate my Splendid Martial Hall, you'll have to get past my Water-Fire Twin Blades first!"
Du Shuisheng's expression was resolute.
Just then, a figure stepped through the entrance of the Splendid Martial Hall, backlit by the light pouring through the doorway. He carried a broad iron sword on his back, and two companions followed close behind.
Du Shuisheng looked up. The newcomer was a young man with dark features and a sturdy build. His qi and blood weren't especially strong, but his eyes and brows were filled with incomparable confidence.
The people inside the Splendid Martial Hall immediately tensed, as if facing a powerful enemy.
Du Shuisheng rose from her grand chair and instinctively placed her hand on her twin blades. Then she heard her opponent announce himself.
"Dugu Qiubai, here to challenge your hall!"
Du Shuisheng shuddered, her expression turning grave.
He'd really come!
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