In the early morning, just after sunrise when the morning fog had yet to dissipate, Su Mo sat cross-legged in his room with closed eyes. A strong flow of Qi was constantly moving around him.
He was trying to break through to the Lv 8 Qi Cultivation Realm.
He had reached the Peak Lv 7 Qi Cultivation Realm a couple days ago and spent the last three days trying to break through the realm bottleneck.
After a long time, Su Mo opened his eyes, which revealed a hint of frustration.
He still had not broken into a new realm.
His cultivation had increased too rapidly recently. After he devoured a large amount of Blood and Qi in Breezewind Mountain, his cultivation spiked from the Peak Lv 5 to the Peak Lv 7 Qi Cultivation Realm.
This speed made his cultivation unstable and incapable of making more breakthroughs for a while.
Though he was at the Peak Lv 7 Qi Cultivation Realm, his strength was equivalent to Lv 8.
Combined with his physical strength of eight tigers, he could even defeat martial artists at Lv 9.
He would definitely win first place in the martial arts competition today.
He left his room with Xi’er and followed the clan elders to the Mansion of the City Governor, where the competition would be held.
The mansion was located in the northern section of Sunnywood City. It looked like a small palace and was very majestic.
Its steel gate was about five meters tall, rivaling even the city gate.
A large crowd flooded into the mansion. They were all invited by the City Governor to watch the competition.
“Look, the Sus are here!”
A sudden uproar swept through the crowd.
“Look! That’s Su Tianhao, a strong contender for first place.”
“That’s Su Hai behind him. His abilities are second only to Su Tianhao.”
Everyone only discussed Su Tianhao and Su Hai, the two strongest disciples in the Su clan.
Just then, another group of people walked over.
It was the Weis.
“Haha! Su Hong, your clan will be completely defeated in this competition,” said Wei Wankong as he approached them.
“Wei Wankong, martial arts competitions are about actual ability, not chitchat!” Su Hong said mockingly, glancing at Wei Wankong.
“Humph! Let’s wait and see!” sneered Wei Wankong.
Next to Wei Wankong stood a youth in purple who looked vaguely like him.
He was the eldest son of Wei Wankong, Wei Rufeng.
Wei Rufeng’s eyes scanned the members of the Sus and landed on Su Mo.
Pat! Pat! Pat!
Wei Rufeng stormed over to Su Mo.
“What?”
Su Mo arched his brow and glanced at him.
“You small fry, you’d better pray you don’t have to go against me, or you’ll end up begging for your death.” Wei Rufeng smiled menacingly.
“How dare you! Wei Rufeng, you…” Su Hong yelled at Wei Rufeng, who was threatening his son in front of him, but Su Mo interrupted him. He narrowed his eyes and said coldly, “Wei Rufeng, I’d say the same to you!”
Wei Rufeng smiled mockingly and turned to look at Su Tianhao with strong fighting desire in his eyes.
“Su Tianhao, you’re the only person worthy of fighting me among the Sus. Don’t let me down!”
Wei Rufeng looked haughty, and his tone was incredibly proud.
“Humph! Those are bold words! Wei Rufeng, I’m curious to see the moves you’ve learned in the Scorching Sun Sect!” Su Tianhao chuckled with the same fighting desire raging in him.
Wei Rufeng was a disciple of the Scorching Sun Sect, one of the four sects of Skymoon Country. It was just as powerful as the Sky Yuan Sect.
“I’ll be waiting!”
Wei Rufeng turned around and strode toward the Mansion of the City Governor.
The Weis followed him.
“Tianhao, what do you think your chances of beating Wei Rufeng are?” asked the third Su elder.
“I have a 50-50 chance!” Su Tianhao said, “Besides, I also can’t underestimate Lin Qiong, the daughter of the city governor. They’re both my biggest competitors for first place.”
The Sus nodded. These three were the only disciples in this competition who were at the peak Lv 9 Qi Cultivation Realm.
It seemed there would be a fierce battle among them.
The Sus also entered the mansion.
Inside was a vast martial practice field that could easily hold 10,000 people.
A large square fighting arena was built in the middle of the field.
There were also spectators stands all around the arena.
The stands facing east, west, and north were already packed with members of the Mansion of the City Governor, the Weis, and the Sus. In front of each family sat 10 of their most outstanding disciples.
Spectators of lesser prestige did not have the right to sit with them, so they all stood below the spectator stand.
“Look, that beautiful girl is the daughter of the city governor, Lin Qiong,” someone said, pointing to a slender and delicate girl in blue standing in front of the north spectators stand.
“She’s so beautiful! She’s also so talented to have reached the peak Lv 9 at the age of 17.”
“Yes! The champion will undoubtedly be her, Wei Rufeng, or Su Tianhao!”
“…”
The audience chattered on for a long time.
There were only a couple of people sitting in the south spectators stand.
In the middle sat a beautiful woman with a captivating body and charming face. Her presence attracted everyone’s attention.
She was the leader of Purple Gold Pavilion, Luo Huan.
Su Mo stood on the east spectators stand and was very shocked to see her.
“It seems that Purple Gold Pavilion is so powerful that even the Mansion of City Governor dares not disrespect them!”
Perhaps sensing Su Mo’s gaze, Luo Huan turned to look at him and smiled charismatically.
Su Mo turned away from her enticing stare in a hurry.
Suddenly, the tall and stern city governor, Lin Sheng, stood up on the north spectators stand.
He scanned the crowd, smiled, and said loudly, “Welcome to the martial arts competition of the Mansion of the City Governor for Sunnywood City. I’ll stop wasting your time. Let the games begin!”
He nodded at the Sus and Weis and sat back down.
A middle-aged man next to Lin Sheng stepped into the fighting ring.
He was the manager of the Mansion of the City Governor, Lin De.
“There are 30 participants in this competition. Everyone will compete in the elimination matches. To ensure fairness, come up now to draw lots.”
Li De held a box of pegwood sticks and yelled, “These 30 sticks are numbered from 1 to 15, so whichever two people draw the same number will be fighting each other.”
All the competing disciples went into the ring to draw lots.
Su Mo went up and took a pegwood.
He drew number 15, the last number.
When everyone was done drawing lots, Lin De yelled, “Let the martial arts competition begin! The two competitors who drew number 1 should stay in the arena. Everyone else, please wait outside.”
One of the competitors was a disciple of the Weis. His name was Wei Cheng, and he had a Level Seven Qi cultivation.
Unfortunately, his competitor was Su Hai.
“I give up.” Wei Cheng dejectedly raised his hand.
Su Hai won by default.
No one looked down on Wei Cheng for doing this because his Qi cultivation was only at Lv 7, while Su Hai’s was already at Early Lv 9. Fighting Su Hai would only bring more humiliation.