"I really never imagined I'd lose just like that. Still, I had it coming. One moment of carelessness, and I let you seize the initiative."
Feng Bao shook his head repeatedly, looking rather dejected, but he could only honor the wager and accept his defeat. He signed and placed his mark on the match record, then left.
Fang Qianyuan smiled without saying anything more.
Several more matches followed. Whenever his turn came, his opponents were thoroughly unremarkable senior disciples.
Although their cultivation ranged from the fourth to the sixth transformation, most had yet to master any powerful combat arts, and their strength was nothing impressive.
Fang Qianyuan won one match after another without any suspense. Afterward, he encountered Zhou Pengfei and others who had entered the Training Institute alongside him, as well as fellow disciples admitted through other Summer Examinations and Spring Examinations that year.
Most of these disciples were still between the first and second transformations and had only come to experience the atmosphere of the selection trials. Upon seeing Fang Qianyuan, they simply conceded.
In fact, many of the selection matches ended in walkovers because these people, who had no hope of qualifying, had come to join the excitement, only to lose their nerve when their matches were about to begin.
Fang Qianyuan marched onward with victory songs ringing, winning more than ten matches in a row, though fewer than half involved actual fighting. And so the first day ended.
On the second day, things changed considerably, and worthy opponents finally began to appear.
But Fang Qianyuan was already surpassing the level of ordinary disciples, and his cultivation was advancing toward the fifth transformation of the human rank. At best, these opponents were ordinary disciples who had trained for two or three years, and they were nowhere near his match.
Fang Qianyuan remained undefeated, once again shocking quite a few people.
"Junior Brother Fang is still undefeated?"
"When did he become so strong?"
Ding Long basked in the reflected glory. Hearing people discussing it, he declared smugly, "Don't underestimate him. He's a true genius."
"Oh, get lost. It has nothing to do with you. What are you so pleased about?" someone who could not stand Ding Long's smug expression retorted indignantly.
"Keep a lower profile. Don't make trouble for Junior Brother Fang," Wei Wen and the others said, hastily restraining Ding Long.
"All right, all right. Low profile," Ding Long said sheepishly.
But an awl placed in a sack was bound to pierce through it. No one had noticed Fang Qianyuan earlier because the selection trials had only just begun, and everyone was busy with their own affairs, with no time to spare for anyone else.
After two days passed, some people suffered their fourth defeat and were eliminated, losing their eligibility. With time on their hands to watch others, they suddenly discovered that, apart from a handful of renowned elite disciples, Fang Qianyuan, who had only joined that year, was also undefeated.
"That can't be right. Did someone knock my eyes out of whack?"
"In the selection trials, people with similar win rates are matched together. If he won all his first few matches, then his opponents must have been undefeated too."
"Could he just be lucky? Let me check his match record... What? Even Senior Sister Qingyun lost? And Senior Brother Ma, Senior Brother Wen..."
"This... this is really..."
Everyone who learned of this was deeply shaken. The news then spread like wildfire, and most of those participating in the selection trials soon knew about it.
Fang Qianyuan himself, however, remained completely unaware. He paid no attention to the commotion outside and remained immersed in his cultivation and progress.
My strength really has improved through all these sparring matches.
But so far, all I've gained are little refinements in experience. I still haven't encountered a truly formidable opponent.
Through these matches, Fang Qianyuan gradually came to understand that the Training Institute's disciples fell into different tiers according to their innate gifts, cultivation, spirit creatures, inscribed talismans, and other factors.
The weakest were the newly admitted disciples who had not trained for long, or dull-witted disciples who, despite having joined some time ago, had such poor aptitude that they could never amount to much.
Next came ordinary disciples who had trained for three to five years and barely attained cultivation between the fourth and sixth transformations.
These were all mediocre people whose strength was hardly worth mentioning.
Then came those who, because of their family backgrounds or other reasons, possessed more spirit creatures of better quality than others, along with better inscribed talismans and secret cultivation methods.
They were stronger and could be called elite disciples.
Wei Wen and the others fell somewhere between ordinary and elite disciples. They possessed one or two of these advantages but could not put them to full use.
Fang Qianyuan considered himself a genius disciple, a cut above even the elites. His innate gifts were exceptionally powerful, his spirit creature was no worse than anyone else's, and he now had a suitable inscribed talisman. His only weakness was probably that he had joined recently and had not cultivated for long enough.
Yet his innate gifts were so powerful that they had actually made up for this weakness as well.
Beyond these concrete factors, there remained intangibles such as each person's talent for combat and strength of will. These were difficult to assess, so Fang Qianyuan did not dwell on them, though he remained confident that he would lose to no one.
I can't raise my cultivation any further for now. That isn't something I can change overnight. But by fighting repeatedly, honing my skills, and trying to develop my physical gifts, I can grow stronger quickly.
Fang Qianyuan vaguely sensed that the mysterious Treasure Pill was still strengthening him continuously. This was a path to rapid improvement.
Still, he felt some regret. Unfortunately, I know nothing about this Treasure Pill's origins or its true effects. For now, I can only rely on the crude method I guessed at-constantly tempering myself and training hard to stimulate its remaining medicinal power.
Soon, the third day of the selection trials passed, and Fang Qianyuan continued winning every match.
By then, however, he could clearly feel that his opponents were a tier stronger than before.
Most of them surpassed Wei Wen and the others, reaching the level of true elites.
Most had trained for more than four years and were over twenty years old. Beside them, Fang Qianyuan, who had joined only three months ago and was just sixteen, stood out like a beacon.
"Number thirty-two, Fang Qianyuan versus Lan Mei!"
Another match soon began. Fang Qianyuan, who had been regulating his breathing with his eyes closed beside the arena, suddenly opened them.
My opponent is actually him?
On the other side, Lan Mei also rose from her seat, looking slightly surprised.
"Senior Sister Lan, don't underestimate Junior Brother Fang. He's made it this far without losing a single match. He's the kind of genius the Training Institute only sees once every several years," Ma Wenhua said beside her, looking somewhat worried. "And his spirit creature is a high-grade gale berserker wolf, a tier above the blue-eyed gray wolf you primarily cultivate. He might even have mastered a spell."
Lan Mei said helplessly, "I'm not an idiot. At this stage, how could I still dare underestimate him? But he hasn't been here long, after all. I should still have a chance."
As an elite disciple, Lan Mei possessed profound cultivation and highly refined skills. Otherwise, she would not have been selected to teach techniques to the newly admitted disciples.
But she had come from humble origins, after all, and had never encountered any great opportunity or stroke of fortune. Even now, the spirit creature she primarily cultivated was still a mid-grade blue-eyed gray wolf.
This was a weakness that could hardly be called a flaw. No matter how thoroughly she refined this spirit creature, there was a limit to the power she could draw from it.