Chapter 91

The martial arts tournament is a chance for those independent cultivators to gain fortune; for the disciples of the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion, it is an opportunity to hone themselves.

When Jiang Wei, carrying a sharp sword, arrived at the tournament site, the preliminary rounds were already underway on the sixteen sub-arenas.

"Brother Tian Zhan!"

Amidst the bustling crowd, Jiang Wei's keen eyes spotted Tian Zhan, who was maintaining order. Tian Zhan was a squad leader of ghost soldiers in the Original Sin City, and he would naturally be present at such a grand event.

"Isn't this Brother Jiang?" Tian Zhan came forward. However, his face was filled with shame; after all, Jiang Wei had entrusted him to help find the members of the Ten Thousand Phenomena Sect, but he failed to find them and instead let Lu Yun take them away. Wasn't this a clear case of incompetence?

Seeing Tian Zhan's expression, Jiang Wei immediately understood his thoughts.

"Brother Tian, you really don't need to worry about that; after all, it's not your fault!" Jiang Wei consoled him. One should act with a clear conscience; Tian Zhan had worked hard to help him search, so how could he blame him for not accomplishing the task?

"I'm ashamed!" Tian Zhan waved his hand. "By the way, Brother Jiang, are you here to participate in the tournament?"

"Sure, introduce me to it!" Jiang Wei smiled.

"Sure thing!" Tian Zhan began to explain, "As you can see, there is one main arena and sixteen sub-arenas!"

Jiang Wei nodded.

"Generally, each of the sixteen sub-arenas will select two ghost cultivators; in the end, thirty-two ghost cultivators will enter the finals!" Tian Zhan continued, "Ghost cultivators who enter the finals and are not from the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion will be taught the method to reach the Soul Condensation stage; if they are disciples of the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion, they will be rewarded with treasures!"

"Treasures?" Jiang Wei wasn't particularly interested; the divine weapon "Flowing Water Sword" and the mountain of soul stones in his storage ring were probably worth more than the entire Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion.

"However..." Tian Zhan hesitated, "I feel that this year's tournament seems different from previous years!"

"Different?" Jiang Wei was puzzled.

"In fact, among the Spirit Stage disciples of the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion, there are still several who are stronger than Fang Siqi. In previous years, they wouldn't participate in the tournament, which is why Fang Siqi became the senior brother. But strangely, this year they all decided to participate!" Tian Zhan explained this unusual situation, "I'm wondering if there's something fishy about this year's tournament..."

"Hmm... Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit strange!" Jiang Wei thought for a moment, "I'll ask my master later... By the way, Brother Tian, could you take me to register?"

After Tian Zhan's introduction, Jiang Wei had a general understanding. The Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion held this tournament to give its disciples a chance to train and to develop external forces—those ghosts who received guidance from the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion and reached the Soul Condensation stage would naturally be grateful to the pavilion.

Registration was a minor matter, especially after Jiang Wei revealed his identity. The ghost soldier in charge of registration treated him with great respect and completed all the procedures for him.

"Brother Jiang, which sub-arena do you want to be assigned to?" Tian Zhan asked.

Sub-arenas were usually assigned randomly, but Jiang Wei, of course, had the privilege to choose.

"Hmm..." Jiang Wei thought for a moment, "Has Fang Siqi registered?"

The ghost soldier quickly checked, "Yes, he's in Arena Seven!"

"Oh?" Jiang Wei's eyes narrowed slightly, "Then assign me to Arena Seven as well!" The main reason Jiang Wei came to the tournament was to take advantage of the opportunity to get rid of Fang Siqi; whether it was during the preliminaries or the finals, the earlier he acted, the better!

Hearing that Fang Siqi was in Arena Seven, Jiang Wei was eager to be assigned there.

After everything was settled, Jiang Wei wandered around the various arenas, wanting to get a good look at the tournament.

As he walked, two ghosts had just stepped onto the arena nearby, so Jiang Wei stopped to watch.

"I am Luo Fan of the Mad Ghost Sect!"

"I am Zhao Jian, an independent cultivator!"

Both sides announced their identities and then began to fight fiercely.

The Mad Ghost Sect was a considerable force in the Original Sin City; of course, compared to the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion, it was like an ant—after all, the Mad Ghost Sect had never produced a Soul Condensation stage ghost.

"Ah!" Watching the two ghosts fight, Jiang Wei couldn't help but shake his head.

These two ghosts were quite mediocre, only possessing the strength of a perfected Spirit Stage. To participate in the tournament, one must be at the perfected Spirit Stage; in other words, these two perfected Spirit Stage ghosts were at the bottom of the tournament.

After watching for a while, Jiang Wei lost interest. These two ghosts were average and had no powerful secret techniques; they probably came to the tournament hoping for a stroke of luck.

Suddenly, Arena Eleven became noisy.

"Hmm?" Jiang Wei saw a familiar ghost figure on Arena Eleven.

"Lin Nianluo?"

Jiang Wei couldn't help but walk over out of curiosity.

He had only heard that Lin Nianluo was very powerful, but he didn't know exactly how powerful. The only time he saw Lin Nianluo in action was when she used an illusionary attack on Lu Yun; at that time, Jiang Wei was still weak and couldn't fully understand the subtleties, only knowing that Lu Yun inexplicably missed his strike.

Lin Nianluo's opponent was a muscular ghost cultivator with a large cleaver, bare-chested, and with a fierce look in his eyes, clearly a result of long-term combat.

"Damn, why is my opponent a woman!" The muscular ghost cultivator cursed as soon as he stepped onto the arena. Clearly, he had not participated in the tournament before; otherwise, he would have known about Lin Nianluo.

"Attack!" Lin Nianluo's expression was cold.

"Hah!" The muscular ghost cultivator laughed, "I usually disdain attacking female ghosts, but for the chance to reach the Soul Condensation stage, I'll have to offend you!"

The muscular ghost cultivator knew that although Lin Nianluo looked frail, she must have the strength of a perfected Spirit Stage. However, he had absolute confidence in his own strength and didn't take her seriously, even if she was a perfected Spirit Stage.

After all, this muscular ghost cultivator had survived dozens of life-and-death battles; his strength was unquestionable!

"Give up!" The muscular ghost cultivator charged at Lin Nianluo, his mouth telling her to surrender, but his hand raised the cleaver without hesitation.

Below the arena, many ghost cultivators knew that Lin Nianluo was strong; but seeing such a muscular ghost cultivator charging madly, they couldn't help but worry for Lin Nianluo.

Lin Nianluo stood on the arena, motionless, just glancing at the muscular ghost cultivator; then... the muscular ghost cultivator, who was charging straight at Lin Nianluo, suddenly changed direction slightly, passing by her...

And then, he jumped off the arena!

"Hmm?" Jiang Wei still couldn't see clearly how Lin Nianluo had acted; he couldn't be sure if he could withstand such a move.

In fact, who was shocked besides Jiang Wei? Many of the ghost cultivators who witnessed this scene were dumbfounded—what was going on, was it a performance?

Even the referee was stunned for a moment before announcing, "Out of bounds, Lin Nianluo wins!"