“Now, moving on to the rules. The Southern Ice Tournament is a single elimination tournament and today, we will only be focusing on the early stage soul foundation cultivators. There are 64 participants and by the end of today, that number will fall to the top 16,” Xia Shuren continued explaining. 

“Without further ado, let us begin. Firstly we have Qian Yu from the Ice Arts Sect of the Xia Empire. His opponent from the Frigid Mountain Sect of the Jiang Empire is Meng Yu,” Xia Shuren announced. 

“Huh? I’m first?” Qian Yu muttered as he got up from his seat.

“Good luck!” Similarly, the girls were shocked too but they nonetheless cheered for him excitedly as he ran up to the stone platform.

“Go go!” “Qian Yu Qian Yu!!!” The audience cheered for him as he walked up. Yet, it was a completely different experience from what Qian Yu was used to. He had fought many times in the sect where others were watching him but now, a million pairs of eyes were set on him. 

The gazes back then had held a variety of feelings and intentions, whether good or bad. However, the energy here was unlike before. Some obviously wanted him to lose and others wanted him to win but, more so than that, everyone here had one thing they wanted. Without a doubt, they wanted a good fight.

Filled with the contagious fervor, a smile had uncontrollably appeared on Qian Yu’s face as he arrived at the platform. 

His opponent, a man around the same age as Qian Yu, had appeared as well. He had long hair with a beautifully engraved sword in his hands. Likely, he came from some noble background. 

“Best of luck to you,” Qian Yu cupped his hands.

“You too,” Meng Yu replied in a similar manner. 

The overseed nodded as he saw the two finish their pleasantries. With a wave of his hand, he shouted. “Let the fight begin!” 

The audience roared yet the two men two didn’t immediately start fighting as they slowly observed each other cautiously but also nervously. A single elimination tournament, one mistake meant it was over.

‘Frigid Mountain Sect… I’ve never heard of it,’ Qian Yu thought as he looked at his enemy. With Tian Xinyi’s problem appearing out of nowhere, he didn’t have much time to investigate the other sects in the Xia Empire or more importantly, the other three countries. 

Suddenly, Meng Yu’s sword started glowing with a light blue hue. 

*Swoosh!* Instantly, he ran forward swinging his sword. 

*Clang!* Qian Yu blocked it with his spear as he felt the attack. 

‘It’s not like a burst of damage like Sun Hong’s attack. Rather, it’s more like Zhen Yue’s Silver Claws,’ Qian Yu quickly observed as he felt the attack. 

*Clang clang!* They continued trading more blows with Qian Yu slightly on the defensive. 

‘He’s really aggressive… however, there are flaws and openings in his attack. He’s much better than the disciples I fought to qualify, but he’s still not good enough,’ Qian Yu smiled inwardly. 

‘Now!’ Suddenly, an opening presented itself as Qian Yu dodged an attack before he sent his spear forward and hacked at his abdomen. 

Yet just before his attack reached, he felt something was off.

‘A feint!?!’ In the side of his vision, he saw Meng Yu’s sword come back at him.

*Slash!* The two landed their own attacks as they back off. 

Meng Yu’s robe had been cut apart, leaving a deep gash on his abdomen. On the other hand, there was a large cut on Qian Yu’s left arm.

A confused expression appeared on Qian Yu’s face as he looked back on the last few seconds, ‘I was sure it was a direct hit where he couldn’t counter me… unless he held back initially?’

‘But even then, I suffered a minor scrape while he suffered a much larger injury, why take the risk?’ Qian Yu compared the two wounds. 

Suddenly though, Qian Yu felt something wrong with his body. 

‘My arm?’ Qian Yu looked down at his arm as he felt his arm starting to go numb.

‘I’ve underestimated him…’ Qian Yu shook his head as he looked at Meng Yu and his glowing blue sword. 

‘Looks like I was right. From the beginning, he wasn’t ever showing his true strength. The fights at the qualifiers had made me too confident in my spear skills and I fell for his trap. He wanted to trade blows, injuring me with his martial technique,’ Qian Yu’s face turned grim.

Moving his arm, he found that it was extremely stiff and while fighting one handed with a spear was possible, it would be extremely hard. More importantly however, he felt that it wasn’t his arm that was turning stiff and he felt that his body was turning more rigid. 

“Ladies and gentleman! Qian Yu has been injured with the Frigid Scripture’s 1st layer martial technique, the Cold Freezing Energy!” Throughout the battle, there was an announcer casting and explaining the battles. There were various types of martial techniques and explaining them was extremely helpful to the audience. 

“What will he do!? If it continues like this, Meng Yu will no doubt claim his victory!” the announcer continued. 

Qian Yu’s face was still grim yet inwardly, he wasn’t too worried. The sword was strong but not problematic. He couldn’t just grab the sword and disable the attack with Lightning Spasm since he would be injured by the sword. Furthermore, dissipating the qi on the sword with the abnormal negating effect of Lightning Spasm would attract too much attention anyways. With all the powerhouses and spectators here, it was always possible for them to see the connection with Sun Hong when they got the inheritances from Liu Wang in the Soba Empire.

‘I can feign to be weak as well!’ However, Qian Yu could still activate Lightning Spasm on himself to negate the freezing qi in his body. 

*Clang!* Meng Yu didn’t give him a second to spare as he launched his attack. Blocking it, Qian Yu weakly fell back. 

“Like that, Meng Yu continues his advances. It’s looking dim for Qian Yu. How much longer can he hold out? One minute? Two minutes? Let’s see!” the announcer shouted. 

“Hiyah!” Meng Yu continued attacking as the audience silently watched, anticipating the results. 

Nonetheless, a slightly annoyed countenance appeared on Meng Yu’s face as the minutes went by. He had weakened his opponent but before he could land a lethal attack, Qian Yu would just slightly be able to block it. 

A glimpse of hesitation was seen on Meng Yu’s face before he bit his lips. 

*Swish!* He attacked forward with all his might. It was a fast and strong one, leaving him with a few openings, but he didn’t believe Qian Yu could block or dodge it. 

‘Now!’ Yet it was that simple and slight look of hesitation that Qian Yu noticed. It was a change in Meng Yu’s mindset and Qian Yu immediately knew what Meng Yu was planning. 

*Whoosh!* Qian Yu was no longer sluggish as his speed returned to normal. The qi poison had long been treated and it was exactly what he was waiting for. 

“What!” Meng Yu yelled, his eyes opened wide and completely confused. 

*Slash!* His position was simply too awful with various openings. With no need to even use a martial technique, Qian Yu strongly swept his spear at Meng Yu’s chest. 

*Puat!* A large wound, a few inches deep appeared on Meng Yu’s chest as he stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. 

The roaring arena turned into a silent wasteland as everyone saw what happened. 

“Wow! Would you look at that ladies and gentlemen! What a turn around by Qian Yu! Taking Meng Yu by surprise, he landed a fatal attack!” the announcer said, still unsure of what completely had transpired. 

“Let's go! Qian Yu Qian Yu!” a few seconds later, the arena bursted out with excitement and emotions. It was an enthralling battle, full of turns and twists, with an ending that was something they had completely not expected. 

By the time Qian Yu returned to his seating, the next pair of fighters had already been called up. Seeing the four girls smiling at him, Qian Yu couldn’t help but smugly smile back. 

“Mmm, that was a good fight,” Bai Jia commented. 

“It was a good tactic but others will be more cautious towards you from now on,” Sun Hong added. Her words were humble there a beautiful smile had been plastered on her face ever since Qian Yu’s victory.

“Hehe, for now, they still don’t know what martial techniques I have at least. I’m confident I’ll make it to the top 16,” Qian Yu reassured them as he sat back down. 

The next battle was soon beginning and knowing that any of these following would fight against him, Qian Yu turned his full attention to the arena.