Scarface raised his hand.All four men moved at once.The two on the left went straight for Zhao Peng. Smart — four spiritual roots announced itself in the way Zhao Peng moved, and they were right to treat him as the bigger threat. They had their hands full immediately, Zhao Peng drawing on his cultivation and meeting them with controlled, precise techniques.That left Scarface and the shorter man for Wei Liang.The shorter man came first. He was fast — not Scarface's slow, deliberate, completely-certain-of-itself speed, but something quicker and sharper, the speed of someone who liked getting to the point. He came in low, a sweeping wind-element kick aimed right at Wei Liang's ankles, the kind of move designed to take your feet out from under you and bring you to the ground before anything else can happen.He's expecting me to jump over it or jump back, Wei Liang thought, watching the angle coming at him. He has a follow-up ready for both. Don't give him either.He used Void Step. Mo

The capital city of Goldspire was enormous.Wei Liang had told himself he wasn't going to be overwhelmed by it. He had read descriptions. He had formed a picture in his head. He was completely prepared.He pressed his face against the carriage window and was completely overwhelmed by it.Not just the size — though it was bigger than anything he had ever seen, towers climbing upward until they disappeared into the morning sky, buildings stacked on buildings, bridges connecting them at heights that made him feel slightly dizzy just looking. Not just the crowds — though the streets were so full of people moving in every direction that it looked less like a city and more like a living thing, something breathing and constantly moving.It was the spiritual energy.Cultivators everywhere. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe. And the power they were constantly putting out — just from existing, from walking around, from practising, from living — layered over each other in the air like music fro

Wei Liang stood at his door.He didn't know what she wanted. He didn't know what she knew. He didn't know if she was trustworthy or what she would do with what she had already seen.He knew she was observant. He knew she could read his cultivation level. He knew she had come to his door specifically to give him information.People who give information usually want something in return.He went inside and trained until midnight and thought about her the whole time.Be careful around her, the System said.I know, Wei Liang said. I'm being careful around everyone.The third thing was the opening ceremony itself.He was walking through the main entrance corridor — hundreds of cultivators funneling through the same gates — when a shoulder hit his. Hard. Deliberate.He turned.Reth Cao.Wide. Solid. Stonewall Sect colours — dark blue and silver — pressed and perfect. He had the look of someone who had been building up to this moment and had it planned exactly the way he wanted."Watch where

"Iron Soul," Dren Voss said. Not announcing to the crowd this time. Just to Wei Liang. "The real technique. I've never shown this in an official match. Never needed to." He looked at Wei Liang with something that had moved past arrogance into genuine focus. "Now your little touch trick has nothing to land on. Iron Soul has no surface. It's in my bones. Try to disrupt it and you'll find there's nothing there to grip."He moved.The first Iron Soul strike caught Wei Liang on the left shoulder.The impact was completely different from the surface Iron Body strikes. Not just force — the reinforcement went through every point of contact, the strike compounded by an internal cultivation that had been running for fourteen months and had turned Dren Voss's entire body into one connected system.Wei Liang flew sideways. Three feet. Hit the arena wall and bounced off it.Landed on his feet. Left arm numb from shoulder to wrist.The crowd made noise. Loud, surprised noise.Dren Voss walked towar

People from further sections leaning over to see what was happening. The particular energy of a large audience that has settled in for something short and comfortable.Wei Liang looked at Dren Voss.He thought about the Tribune box. About Shen Yue reading his cultivation level by looking. About every person in this city watching and recording and filing things away.Minimum, he thought. Win with the minimum. Show as little as possible."I'm ready when you are," Wei Liang said.That was all.Dren Voss stared at him. The pity shifted. Something else came in under it — sharper, more focused. A door closing. He had offered mercy and it had been declined. "Alright," he said, quieter now. Just for Wei Liang. "Don't say I didn't warn you."The official raised the flag.Dren Voss moved like a wall that had decided to walk.Not quick — heavy. Each step landing with the full weight of Iron Body cultivation behind it, the arena floor resonating slightly. He came in a straight line because straig