(Early In The Morning)

Bu Cai can be seen with a slouched back and bags under his eyes as he walks away from the counter onward to the arena.

(Bu Cai POV)

Thank God.

Right now I am the most sleep deprived that I have been in this world.

And I am not happy about it.

After the bed breaking, I decided to sort out controlling my strength right then as It would have been even messier if I hadn't.

After hours of doing that, I had finally been able to function as a normal human being and also got to realise how monstrous that herb was(Fuck you cockroach).

By then however, the sun had started to rise.

Hellbent on getting a bed for tonight's sleep, I resolutely made my way to the front desk in the early morning to pay for repairs in the room and a new bed.

I am now on my way to the Free Market, to see what it's like in the early morning.

Unsurprisingly, their were a lot less there. However the number of both buyers and sellers was still substantial.

I made my way through the market and found some items with interesting backgrounds. Sadly though, they had no use to me.

For example,

==================================

{Identify}

[Item: Diary]

[Material: Pages made of Young Minor Sage Wood, cover made of red ox fur]

[Rank: F]

[Extra Information:

A diary belonging to a man named Harold.

He was a fanatic believer of Zulu the self created god, which was in fact just his other personality that manipulated the weak willed main personality.

He wrote the book using expensive spirit squid ink and the book explored his struggles of -as he calls it- 'Getting No Fairies".

The man was someone who had no redeeming or outstanding features. and in fact had a bad reputation for being selfish and petty.

He had a weak body and was quite ugly in Xianxia standards.

All of these oracles and prophecies he wrote in this book were actually just delusions caused by his intense sexual frustration that he could not solve no matter what.

His endless fantasies as well as the records of the ever present 'Zulu' are conveyed in this notebook. ]

=====================================

...

This particular piece of extra information truly reminded me of my past life a bit.

Although I wasn't weak, nor was I ugly, and I also had quite a good personality. The fact that I didn't have a single girlfriend during the 21 years on earth is true.

However I have promised to myself that I will change that!

With my bad luck out the equation combined with my extremely good looks and boundless charisma...

How could I not bag myself a jade beauty?

Isn't that after all... a part of the Xianxia experience?

After not finding anything of value, I made my way to the arena and once again saw some early individuals.

Including Xie Xinyi, Song Ju and Long Tian.

This time though, I had went to approach Xie Xinyi as I was sort of familiar with her now.

Plus, due to the fact that i had nothing much to do and found it fun to slightly piss off Long Tian.

After she saw me, a slight smile could be seen through her cold expression.

And it made her beautiful face, even more beautiful!

We soon exchanged pleasantries and I began by talking about Calligraphy as I was sure she was interested in that. Then I subtly branched out to more common topics.

Very soon we both hit it off just like yesterday, and talked to each other happily.

And what made this better was the sour face cockroach was making, as he watched me chat with one of his collectibles.

Soon enough, the other contestants had arrived and the time had come to continue the competition.

I have already prayed to God and Buddha with the hopes of not having to run into an opponent that I'd have to reveal my new strength against.

As if I reveal such strength to people; Instead of making them think that I was talented, they would rather believe that i had some treasure as it is completely unrealistic that someone like me can defeat a genius heir of a renowned clan.

Plus having hidden strength is good too as if any dangers arise, the enemy will have underestimated me.

My main goal in this tournament is to have some reputation and leave an impact on the representatives of each force.

However being too high key could lead to unnecessary complications.

As a genius that only has potential but no power or major force to protect me, It will bring the ire of many forces that are eager to eliminate a potential threat.

Even if I choose a force (Which I Will), nothing good can be done by raising suspicions of how I acquired my power.

The main judge then arrived and once again greeted the audience as well as the esteemed guests.

He then went straight onto the draws and due to having an odd number of individuals, one person will be able to skip this round.

Soon the fights are showed,

...

Long Tian VS Bai Ru

...

Bu Cai VS Peng Han

...

Xie Xinyi VS Su Yan

...

...

No Match: Song Ju

...

Not Bad.

As long as it isn't cockroach, Song Ju or Xie Xinyi. I still have a chance.

I am curious to see how well Xie Xinyi will cope against Someone like Su Yan and see to what extent her genius can take her.

Unfortunately, although Bai Ru is definetly someone scary and may be able to just defeat pre A-Rank herb me.

Her power will be nowhere near enough to defeat the protagonist.

As the rounds begin, blood spills and many of the young geniuses become badly bruised and injured due to their stubbornness and unwillingness to lose this far in.

My opponent, Peng Han, is someone who was quite tricky with his nimble footwork and sword that felt as if it was curving during slashes.

However I eventually overwhelmed him and got used to his attack patterns and habits. After that I defeated him with power that is just enough to make them believe that it is due to talent and not raise any suspicions.

Xie Xinyi had trouble at the start against the agile archer, Su Yan.

However this trouble quickly disappeared after a short while, where Xie Xinyi changed sword style and then destroyed Su Yan.

Truly a monster.

However Long Tian's match was something completely unexpected to me.

I thought Long Tian was going to play around with him for a bit.

However Long Tian blitzed Bai Ru with no mercy...

Whose this bastard trying to impress?

Xie Xinyi had already left after her match and Song Ju instantly disappeared after seeing that she wasn't fighting.

I just couldn't understand why he would do such a thing?

As someone who is prideful and arrogant, why would he not put on a show to flaunt his talent and power?

...What changed him?

All these questions made me quite nervous, and this uncertainty left me with nothing but unease.

Why did the stupid and arrogant cockroach who I had an intricate plan to deal with... Have a sudden change in personality?

To find the answers to my questions, I used [Analyse] to see if it would show something new...

And It was bad.

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Author's Note:

Shorter chapter today, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

If you have any suggestions or reviews then feel free to comment.

It would be greatly appreciated if anyone can give feedback on the pacing, as i felt that this competition arc is lasting too long and am therefore just summarising the facts to get through this quicker.

Also plot twists and stuff i add are also just things I think up along the way, so if any plot holes are made then it would be appreciated if you point them out so that I can fix them, however I will try to ensure such a thing does not happen.

Thanks For Reading :)