Chapter 64

Chapter 64: The Beginning of Fame

The tournament had three rounds.

The first was a draw-lots elimination. Winners advanced; losers were out, until only forty remained.

The second was a ranking battle among those forty. They were first ordered by cultivation level, low to high. The lower-ranked challenged upward. If the challenger won, they took the rank, and everyone behind shifted down by one. This continued until no one challenged, fixing the top twenty.

To prevent a cruel twist of luck—two ninth-level Qi Refining disciples meeting in the first round and one eliminated too early—a third round was added. Those eliminated in the first round could challenge any of the top twenty, once. Win, and you entered. Lose, and you were done.

Rules could only offer relative fairness. Advancement still depended on one’s own methods.

The disciples were itching to fight.

Zhao Chun felt steady. As long as she didn’t run into one of the eight ninth-level disciples in the opening round, she should be safe.

For once, fortune favored her. Her first match was against a Liu-surnamed disciple at the sixth level of the Qi Refining Stage.

He looked her over and eased with relief. Same realm. Good.

But when the announcing disciple called their names and shouted “Zhao Chun,” the man’s expression changed instantly.

Zhao Chun?

The one in the rumors—the one who ranked nineteenth in the Threefold Stone Forest?

He clenched his hand, drew a breath, and forced himself calm. If she was truly as strong as the stories said, he would find out with his own eyes.

The first round ran three fights at once. By the time Zhao Chun’s group was called, several bouts had already concluded.

Zhao Chun and the Liu-surnamed cultivator took the leftmost platform. On the two platforms beside them, one match was between two seventh-level Qi Refining cultivators, and another was an eighth-level against a sixth-level. If nothing unexpected happened, the outcomes there were obvious.

The Liu-surnamed cultivator’s face tightened. He cupped his hands; Zhao Chun returned the salute.

The drums sounded.

The fight began.

Her opponent carried no weapon. Zhao Chun recognized him at once: a spell cultivator. Before he could even raise a hand to weave a technique, she was already moving.

She sprang in.

Her sword never left its sheath.

Her fist drove into his chest.

Spell cultivators did not specialize in body refinement, and close-range combat was their weakness. Against Zhao Chun—who had already forged a copper body—the result was immediate. The man flew backward and crashed off the platform.

He had heard the stories: Zhao Chun cutting through Shadow Monkeys in the stone forest as if it were nothing. But he had never imagined her could be this fast. All he felt was a gale slamming into him, then a burst of pain. By the time his mind caught up, he was on his back in the dirt, iron rising in his throat, limbs numb and useless. He couldn’t even push himself up.

The judge standing to the side stared, stunned. Only when Zhao Chun glanced over did he snap awake and shout, “Winner—Zhao Chun!”

The stands erupted.

The moment her name rang out, countless eyes swung toward her. Many spectators had come precisely for this—to see whether the rumors were real. Hearing about her was nothing compared to watching her with their own eyes.

In this set of three fights, Zhao Chun and the eighth-level disciple decided victory in the span of a breath. But the eighth-level won through sheer realm suppression. Zhao Chun won against a peer—one exchange, and her opponent was off the stage with no chance to retaliate. It carried the unmistakable air of someone who could not be matched at the same realm.

“Good!” Lian Jing shouted, and she was far from alone.

“Ah Chun won that like it was nothing,” one of the Senior Sisters said, eyes bright. “I don’t think a seventh-level disciple can do anything to her!”

The other Senior Sisters nodded hard. Nearby cultivators who overheard hesitated, suddenly unsure whether they dared argue.

Cao Wen Guan nodded, calm and certain. “That girl has the air of a young genius. Fighting above her level won’t be difficult for her.”

As an Outer Sect steward, he was already late-stage Qi Refining. Among them, Cao Wen Guan was one of the strongest—his ninth-level cultivation was solid and deep even without breaking into the Foundation Establishment Stage. If he said it, the others believed it. Cui Lan E beamed, pride shining on her face, and Cao Wen Guan felt a quiet satisfaction. He had guided Zhao Chun into the sect, and in only a few years she had grown into this.

Those on the high pavilion saw it just as clearly. Liu Xuan smiled faintly and said to Du Fan Zhi, “Junior Sister Zhao Chun is impressive. Her foundation is solid, her strikes are decisive. When she reaches the Foundation Establishment Stage, she’ll become someone to watch.”

Her tone held no doubt at all. For a dual-spirit-root cultivator, the Foundation Establishment Stage was not a question of if, but when.

Du Fan Zhi, pleased, replied, “Master’s eye is unmatched.”

Congratulatory voices rose among the seated disciples, though what they truly thought was anyone’s guess. One man, however, looked smug and leaned toward Xu Feng. “Brother Xu, see? I told you Junior Sister Zhao would have real talent. Didn’t it come true today?”

Xu Feng’s mouth twitched with restrained amusement. “Hindsight is a skill I won’t bother competing with.”

The two began bickering again.

On the platform, Zhao Chun had already returned to her place, calm and unhurried, preparing for the next match.

This time, her opponent would not be another sixth-level disciple.

It was a seventh-level body-refining cultivator named Guo Leng.

He was tall and broad, muscles knotted like cords, sitting as steady as a boulder. After Zhao Chun’s display, some seventh-level disciples looked wary. Guo Leng did not.

He had already fought once, facing a blade cultivator of the same realm. The man’s saber style had been wild and brutal—yet he still fell within ten moves. Guo Leng’s strength clearly carried a suppressing edge.

Zhao Chun had won her first bout with a punch. Seeing that she had stepped onto the path of body refinement as well, Guo Leng felt no fear at all.