Against Heaven's Will

"Whoaaaa!!!" 

The whole Arena erupted with a never ending cheer and a wave of excitement. How could they not?! It was a full one hundred and fifty thousand Upgrade Fragments. It was just enough to refine one's Qi to the seventh Refining for all nine Elements. It was a feat everyone dreamed of. 

Seventh Refining, known as Qi Incarnation, allowed one to create an Avatar, body clone that looked and acted almost identical to the original. The difference between normal Qi clones is that one could control it from a long distance, even across another realm, just by inserting a part of their soul inside of it. Moreover, a normal Qi clone wouldn't be able to store a Soul for long. 

On the Main Stage, the top ten Seeds looked at each other while squinting their eyes, trying to seize everyone one more time. They naturally considered each other as ones who would most likely fight with them for the title. 

"Nice! To think that those sponsors decided to increase my reward for the Tournament. So nice of them. I will gladly take it home. Don't mind me if I do!" Xuefeng called out boldly, causing all nine to glance at him with their eyes like daggers. 

They didn't seem to like him from the start but now all of them were against him. Xuefeng wasn't scared at all. He didn't mind if they all ganged at him together as they would do it anyway. With so many experts wanting to kill him, they will definitely order the Participants to kill him first as their priority. 

He ignored them and turned to the Main Judge instead. "Sir, are there any changes to the Elimination Round?" 

"No, just the reward changes. The judge responsible for your battle will explain the rules to you before your start," Sir Liu replied before, raising his hand and crying out, "Silence!" 

The crowd just didn't want to quiet down but after his voice reverberated across the Arena, they immediately shut up. 

"With that said, all Participants, please get on the assigned stages and prepare for the battle! Let the Tournament begin!" Sir Liu called out, finally starting the event. 

The top ten Seeds glanced at each other once again before flying up and landing at their corresponding stage. Only Xuefeng and the top one Seed stood on the main stage, none of them planning on moving. 

Sir Liu was the one who had to interfere in the conflict. "Li Wei, please move to the tenth stage. The management already planned to switch you two as they want Liu Xuefeng's battle to open the Event. I'm sorry for the mistake."

Hearing the Main Judge apologizing, Li Wei immediately shook his hands, "No, no, it's alright. I don't really care about it." 

It was obvious he did though as his face couldn't lie, showing an expression full of bitterness. This young man in his twenties seemed to be glory of the Water Land and his pride suffered. A young hero, looking like someone who would jump first in the battle with a smirk on his face, was now relegated to the last stage but he could only swallow his anger.

Xuefeng made sure their voices were no longer amplified to the crowd and called out at the flying Li Wei, "It must suck to work hard for many years, finally get recognition to be considered a top seed only to have it stolen by some random God Stage who just ascended to the Heaven Realm. It's good for me though, so suck it, hehe." 

His giggle at the end finally broke Li Wei as he turned around with his sword appearing in his hand. 

"Shut up! Once we meet in battle I will crush you like a bug! I will take your Elemental Bracelet, your life and the title! I will take everything from you!" Li Wei yelled angrily, his sword brightening with Qi.

Xuefeng only smirked as he pointed at Li Wei with his thumb and gossiped with Sir Liu, "I think this guy is butt hurt. He should use more lubrication when he plays with his friends so he loosens up a bit."

"Cough, enough," Sir Liu cleared his throat, stopping the two before a fight broke out. "Li Wei, get to your stage. Don't let him provoke you." 

Li Wei was already fuming, his short black hair spiking upward, but just one reminder from the Main Judge was enough to pause his actions. 

"We will later see if your skills are as good as your trash-talking," Li Wei spat and flew away. 

Xuefeng quickly called back in laughter, "Sure! Make sure to use some healing ointment! It will help with the pain down there!" 

This time Li Wei didn't turn around and ignored him all the way, disappearing from the view. 

The Arena was spacious enough to fit a lot of them but the setup was different compared to the Qualification Test. There were nine big stages set up in a circle with one gigantic one in the center, the one Xuefeng claimed for himself. Aside from those ten, there were tens of smaller stages that would be used for less important battles. 

Seeing a disappointed gaze from Sir Liu, Xuefeng scratched his head and shrugged. "Apologies Sir, those were just some mental games. You all aren't really helping me win this Tournament so I need to use my own tactics. They are my main competition so I need to tilt them as much as I can before the fight." 

Sir Liu raised his eyebrows in confusion. "We don't help you?" 

"Does Sir think I'm dumb and think those Sponsors magically appeared? They obviously came here for my Elemental Bracelet and want to use the participants to kill me. The reward increase is just an additional enticement to kill me. Basically everyone will be against me and I'm sure Sir knows about it too, as the Main Judge." 

The curve on Sir Liu's lips confirmed Xuefeng's guess. 

"Fair enough. I will pretend I didn't hear anything," Sir Liu muttered in the end. "Good luck in the Tournament. There is a certain young lady who wishes you win it all. Don't mess it up and she might be yours." 

Huh?

Xuefeng went blank in confusion but Sir Liu didn't explain, only smiling to himself.