After registering Rex was taken by Qin into an empty room which was completely carved out of rock and had no furniture beside a big wooden stool. On the wall were hanged several weapons like sword's, spears , staff's, daggers, hooks and other weapons that you could use to kill or hurt your opponent.

Rex was somewhat intrigued by the weapons so he went towards the wall and took a narrow double-edged sword from it and begun to inspect it. He did several sloppy splashes and  thrusts with it, as be played with it in general because hadn't really used a sword before, but he had tended to some of the lower quality weapons of the Millennium Forest Sect so he knew that these were normal but well crafted sword's.

"Hmm...." mumbled Rex under his breath as he saw his reflection on the sword ' I'm not an expert, but going by the weight, shape and the flexibility the sword is of good quality, but this is useless.' Rex put the sword in it's place and begun to inspect the other weapons. As he inspected them he found out they were all normal weapons, and beside their above average quality they were all blunt, seemingly not to be meant for battle which made Rex a little confused.

' What's the point of leaving these useless weapons if they can't be used to fight?  Are they just for decoration?' thought Rex as he put the spear he was holding in it's place and just sat in the stool with a sigh. He rummaged inside his clothes for something and somewhat calmed down.

'Hah, even though I know that I can't easily die if I fight someone of my caliber , I still don't feel reassured.' though Rex as he felt light on his feet,  breathing deeply through his mouth. ' I've carefully chosen the barehanded category which means that neither I or my opponent can use anything besides our bodies which is good for completing my ' Golden Gong's' first stage..... but I still can't calm down.... shit! This is more nerve-wracking than I anticipated.'

.............

Twenty minutes passed and the still nervous Rex was called forward by one of the employees of the place, and Rex followed him, but not before he put on a plain wooden mask that only had space for the eyes and was covered by a thin layer of gold giving it the impression it was completely golden. And so, Rex once again passed through some tunnel and when he went out he found himself amidst the stages.

" Shiii...

 He was overwhelmed by their view and also by the crowds cheering on the fighters. The loud cheering made his ears hurt and the stench of sweat made his nose scrunch up , making him raise his head to see crystal dragon silently roaring down at him. This made him stop fro a moment as he understood that he may have not thought this through, but the desire to complete the first level of the ' Golden State ' cultivation manual and becoming a Meridian stage cultivator was greater.

' Sigh, being a cultivator is so tiring, but who can I complain to? I'm the one who chose it .'

Rex pushed those thoughts on the back of his mind as he passed through the crowd's and to one of the outermost stage's. There he found that several people were still cleaning and fixing some of the stage from the previous fight, while others below the stage were discussing about their wins, losses and the previous fight.

"Hey, did you see how quickly the fight ended? It was just a disgrace to call it a fight between cultivators."

"Yeah, I saw it, but what can we do? In the outermost stage's there are the Cultivators of the Qi Gathering stage which is the lowest stage a cultivator could be and most of the fighters are just beginners or failed cultivators looking for quick money. I can't blame them."

"Can't blame them?! Sure as hell I can blame them as long as I'm betting on them! If I don't do that, how can I release all this pent up anger?"

"Well....

Rex wanted to listen more on their conversation, but he was nudged on by the man that had guided him.

"Sir, I know this is your first fight here, but because of the quick ending of the previous flights I can't continue to explain the rules for as long as I need. But don't worry, I'll quickly go through the most important ones, agreed?"

Rex nodded although he felt like it was a little unfair, but he had been used to it and making a scene right now wouldn't be good bat all .

"Thank you for your understanding.

First you need to know that the fight will last until one of the fighters is incapacitated, killed or surrenders, but if the fight ends if one of the fighters surrenders the one who did so will receive nothing.  If you win you will receive the normal reward corresponding to your cultivation realm and 1% of the winning from the bets wagered on the fight."

"And if I lose, do I get anything?"

"Well, if you loose you will get half the normal reward, but I think that you will definitely win." said the man as if cheering Rex on, but Rex just tried to hold on his laughter as he headed to refute the man.He then ascended the five steps leading into the stage and just stopped to stare at it. It's white tiles somewhat stained red , the number of tiles, their size etc : he thought about anything beside his fight , until his opponent came to the stage that is.

"What the....

Rex was surprised at his opponent who had just come on the stage from the opposite side and froze for a moment. The one who had come into the stage was a bulky woman who seemed to be about 40 years old who had short black hair, black eyes and a strict and serious face that seemed to not move. She also had two long golden earrings and wore a brown tight fitting robe.

"........

"Heh, little boy you seem to be surprised. You didn't expect fighting a female in your first match?" said the woman as she noticed Rex's gaze through his mask.

"Well, I guess you're right , I didn't expect it, but here you are. "

"Hahahaha....." laughed the woman out loud " Here you are he says. Kid, you sure are funny. It almost makes me feel bad for beating you up."

"Don't be sorry" smiled Rex behind his mask" Let us enjoy this fight."

 Those words made the woman furrow her brows.' What's up with this one? He doesn't seem to be that worried about the fight, or is it the opposite and he's trying to sound confident? Either way I'll be careful at first and just probe him  to see what is really going on, and when/if I find something fishy I'll surrender. 

Still, what's with that completely indifferent stance? It's like he is just going for a walk.'

The woman noticed a translucent barrier form around the stage and realized the fight was about to begin so she took a low and wide stance with one hand slightly extended and the other one beside her waist. Rex also took a stance of his own as he saw the woman , but his was different. If the woman was taking a neutral stance , Rex's one seemed to focus on defense as he completely blocked his view by putting him arms in front of him face and lowering his head.It was like he was luring her in and the woman became even more worried, but she didn't have any more time to contemplate as the fight beginning with a shout.

"BEGIN!"

As soon as the match started the woman gathered her Qi in her palm and hit the ground.

' Earthquake Palm '

A wave of Qi quickly travelled towards Rex who had his vision obstructed, and shook the ground beneath him, giving him a fright.

 "What the....

*Bam*

He didn't have to figure out what just happened as the woman cut the distance between them in a second and hit Rex with a heavy kick to the left side making him almost tumble over , but he managed to keep standing.

"Tch.... you sure know how to stay on your feet, but how long do you expect to last?" said the woman with disdain as she used the same move and hit Rex once again with a kick to the other side. Rex once again managed to stay standing as she then repeated the same attack several more times, hitting different parts of his body , but Rex still didn't show any signs of opening up his defense making the woman worried.

' This.... what is happening? Why isn't he attacking and just defending? Is he waiting for me to make a wrong move? Tch, such a troublesome opponent.' thought the woman who saw the standing figure of Rex ' Fine then, I'll see if you can stand getting hit by my ' Earthquake Palm ' directly.'

*Bam Bam*

The woman this time didn't disturb Rex's stance and just rushed him  unleashed a barrage of palm strikes trying to break his defenses. The palm strikes weren't that powerful on their own, but with each hit Rex could feel the bones on his arms ache, his organs shift, and his head spin, but just continued to take them without retaliating.

 ' Yes, yes this is what I'm looking for! I can feel the ' Golden Gong ' advancing rapidly.' excitedly thought Rex as he gritted his teeth in pain from the strikes.  Fortunately the adrenaline coursing through his veins made him not feel the full brunt of the damage so he continued to take the attacks for two more minutes, and he suddenly  surrendered to the surprise of everyone who had been seeing the match. The barrier meant to keep them in and protect the spectators was lifted and Rex was about to leave the stage when he was stoped by an angry voice.

“YOU...what is the meaning of this?!" grunted the woman toward Rex who could barely keep his hand up at the moment ” Is this a trick I don’t know about, or maybe a joke? Answer me!"

“A trick?" repeated Rex as he felt the pain caused by his opponent, and just shook his head ”There is no trick, you were just more powerful and skilful than me, that's all."

"........

With that Rex descended the stage and amidst the booing and insults of the crowd he went back to the room he had been, leaving the woman fuming on the stage. 

This scene was clearly seen by the cousin of the woman who registered Rex at the beginning who had a calm, but cold expression on his face as he tracked Rex with his eye all the way.