Because the fifty people who passed the first round had mixed cultivation levels,
they could not be matched randomly. Instead, contestants of the same level drew lots to face each other.
If you got someone of a slightly higher level, you could only chalk it up to bad luck.
But geniuses always claimed they were "unbeatable at their level." If you couldn't do that, you couldn't truly be called a genius.
Your outwardly displayed cultivation aura is Golden Body Realm.
This realm has the most people—twenty-one in total.
You put on the Blazing Extinction set and walked out with a head full of stat lines, amid everyone's jeers.
Everyone thought it was luck that you even reached the second round.
A mere rogue cultivator facing heirs from deep-rooted families had no chance.
Your opponent was named Wu Zi'ang. He wore Heaven-Grade Spirit Artifacts, and before the match he gorged on combat power pills, even sticking rare human-world talismans all over his back.
Every step he took left golden array patterns on the ground. Whatever treasure he carried could continuously produce small arrays.
It was like he had "my family is super well-funded" stamped across his face.
Your gear was Earth-Grade Spirit Artifacts, which would be considered flashy anywhere in the Five Regions.
But here, compared to these geniuses backed by families, it looked shabby.
Next, you were forbidden from using any power above Golden Body.
There was Divine Sense coverage from Holy Lands elders on the scene.
They could not detect the altered aura after you applied the Playing the Pig to Eat the Tiger modification.
But if you used realm-exclusive powers above Golden Body—like the Spirit Vortex of the Spirit Sea Realm, the Divine Sense of Spirit Condensation, or the True Qi and aerial control of the Martial King Realm—they would definitely discover it,
and realize you were hiding your cultivation by special means.
At that point you would be disqualified.
But you were not worried.
So what if you only used Golden Body power?
You only needed positioning and basic attacks!
Start stacking Heartsteel!
The first layer of steel stacks easily.
You circled around Wu Zi'ang a few steps, and after hearing three "ding" sounds, you decisively threw a punch.
"Thud!!"
"Ugh!?"
The punch struck through Wu Zi'ang's armor with a hundredfold destructive force, penetrating his steel and sending a massive shock through his chest, causing excruciating pain.
"What kind of fist technique is that? Such tremendous power!"
Wu Zi'ang immediately became cautious, shifted from offense to defense, and began moving around as well.
You needed a one-minute cooldown to gain the second layer of steel from Wu Zi'ang.
So you kept moving.
The two of you circled the arena.
The atmosphere was heavy, the scene tense, as if it were a peak duel.
One minute later.
"Ding!"
"Thud!"
Another punch!
Heartsteel, second layer!
After repeating this for a few minutes,
Wu Zi'ang felt something was wrong.
You were holding a spear, yet every time you attacked you used your fist; the spear was only there to block his blows.
"You bastard! Are you messing with me?!"
Wu Zi'ang realized you seemed only capable of swinging a useless fist and nothing else, so he stopped being cautious and launched a fierce assault with his golden sword.
"Clang clang clang!"
The Blazing Extinction War Spear blocked attack after attack.
After three "ding" sounds, you delivered another "thud" punch.
"Again?!"
Wu Zi'ang snapped; he was convinced you were playing with him!
Moreover, whether it was real or not, he felt each successive punch seemed to hurt more than the last.
But your footwork was truly uncanny. On this tiny arena, you constantly blinked in and out of range, keeping him off balance.
Of course, the Heavenly-Grade, Transcendent Mastery-level footwork Seven Divine Starry Steps could toy with a Golden Body-level Wu Zi'ang as if pinching him with one hand.
"What's with this Wu Zi'ang? The Wu family had to grovel to get him all those heavenly treasures, and after fighting so long he still can't beat a rogue cultivator?"
"He's getting all the chances and still useless!"
"I heard he's the Wu family heir apparent. Is the Wu family about to decline?"
The young talents in the stands couldn't see through it.
But the Holy Lands elders had sharp eyes.
"Top-tier footwork! Some of it looks like... it comes from the Shen Family?"
"No spear yet choosing fists. His fist technique's lineage is unclear, but the power is shocking, at least Heavenly-Grade!"
"This person is probably not a rogue cultivator; he's hiding his background."
"What power in the human world would bother to put on an act before our Holy Lands?"
You cheerfully continued stacking steel while Wu Zi'ang chased his tail.
You stacked over a hundred layers.
Wu Zi'ang stared at your figure, now over three meters tall, dumbfounded.
"What... what kind of strange technique is this? He can grow bigger??"
Luckily, the Blazing Extinction set auto-adjusted to body size, or you'd have had an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction.
With the final punch, you tore straight through Wu Zi'ang's Heaven-Grade armor, forcing him to spit blood and be flung out of the arena.
Wu Zi'ang lay on the ground, still not conceding. With difficulty he raised a hand.
"I-I want—to inspect his... technique..."
The onlookers were all stunned.
"A single punch shattering a Heaven-Grade Spirit Artifact?!"
"What kind of fist technique is that?"
"What kind of hand is that?"
"Is that even a real martial art? I watched for ages and it looked like ordinary punching, no obvious martial cultivation augmentation."
"You just don't understand. True powerful martial arts return to simplicity. They look plain but hide endless profundity! This person is concealing his strength; he must be planted by some reclusive noble family to steamroll the competition!"
Afterward, you won round after round.
With just your fists, you smashed your way to first place among Golden Body contestants.
No one looked down on the "individual trainee" anymore.
Everyone speculated about your origin and what martial art you used.
Especially your body-enlarging technique, which stirred envy among the male contestants.
In the adjacent Soul Tempering division, Wang Mingbai also won.
Although he wasn't first, he barely squeezed into the third-round trial.
Wang Mingbai's victories came not from combat skill, but from money power!
He often came to you for training tips.
Every time he paid for consultations, making it hard for you to refuse.
But you honestly had no real substance to teach him.
So before the second-round trial began, you taught him a surefire winning method.
"Paying to buy an opponent to throw a match? C-can that work?"
"Everyone has a price. It's all about whether you can hit their soft spot. The Wang family's spirit crystals are countless. As long as it helps you become a Saint, the Wang family will back you.
There are only ten slots for Saint and Saintess candidates in the end.
Many people should now know their own worth. Rather than being eliminated with nothing, it’s better to offer something tangible."

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