Condemning the Heavens

Xue Wei watched the proceedings like a hawk, trying to see if he could find anyone else that was stronger than he had expected, but no one stood out.

As to whether or not they were doing it intentionally, hiding their strength that is, or if there truly were no other outstanding experts, Xue Wei did not know.

The sun's rays were shining straight down on the arena with a scorching heat.

The death count had risen to seventeen by the time the first layer Sky Warriors had finished their battles and the second layer Sky Warriors were about to move up onto the stages.

Xue Wei was patient. While it was true that the scent of blood spreading through the colosseum made him feel restless, he reined himself in and kept observing the clashing combatants on the stages.

A tingling sensation had started to course through his body, almost making him tipsy. He needed to use every ounce of focus to stay sober.

The bloodlust inside him grew to a point where he could barely discern friend from foe. He wanted to see blood. He wanted it to spray everywhere. He wanted to dye the world red.

Gritting his teeth, Xue Wei was about to lose control when he suddenly felt a cooling energy seep into his body through his back. It was the sword.

"Relax," Tianyi's disembodied voice sounded in his mind. "Your bloodlust is making you restless, and you are about to go berserk. I spent some of my soul energy to forcefully calm it down, but I don't know if I can continue doing so. It is as if you have a monster hiding within you, ready to pounce at anyone and anything!"

Tianyi's voice was filled with surprise and confusion. He had never before encountered such a thing, and he was at a loss for what to do. All he could do was use his soul energy to force that senseless, animalistic entity from within Xue Wei back down.

But Tianyi could feel that Xue Wei's mind was split into two. The other half of his being was hungry for battle, desiring nothing but bloodshed and murder.

Another part of him was cool and callous. That was the ‘usual’ Xue Wei, the one in control, whose calculative and cautious nature made him come up with a plan for everything and anything.

So the young man was both hot-blooded and deeply thoughtful. The two sides should not coexist in one person simultaneously, but they did.

And it was clear that these two sides had a constant internal struggle to take over, with the rational part leading by a slight margin.

The more Tinayi got to know Xue Wei, the more incredible and unexplainable the boy became.

Feeling the cool energy from Tianyi, Xue Wei heaved a heavy breath of relief, but he also knew that Tianyi had limited Soul Power.

"Why are so few people being killed?" Tianyi complained. Xue Wei smiled wryly. Tianyi was stealthily absorbing the soul energies of the fallen participants in the tournament.

Tianyi did not need to kill a person personally. As long as someone died right next to him, he could absorb the soul power, and he did it gladly, not feeling even the slightest bit of guilt or remorse from taking away the chance for these people to enter the circle of reincarnation again.

Xue Wei said nothing about it either. In his eyes, it was a shame, but he was benefitting from it, so he was not planning on complaining.

The sun started setting in the sky, and after the light vanished, illuminating light orbs appeared all over the arena, lighting up every single corner of the place.

It did not seem as if Wan Qiang had any intention of stopping the battles for the day. They were to continue fighting throughout the night until they were done with the qualifiers before they could continue to the next part of the tournament

The moon was almost at the highest position in the sky when it was finally Xue Wei's turn to enter the stage.

His group consisted solely of third layer Sky Warriors, and one of them was the disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect that had caused problems with him in the restaurant.

Seeing that they were both in the same group, Xue Wei smiled widely, while the other’s face was dark.

He did not know Xue Wei’s actual strength, but he knew that he was stronger than expected. He also knew he was stronger than himself.

Had he been in Xue Wei’s shoes when his senior brother attacked with full force, he would not have gotten out of it unscathed

"Maybe he is just really good at defense," the sect disciple muttered to himself. "He could have focused on defensive techniques in his training, which means he is lacking when it comes to his damage dealing techniques!"

He knew that this was a guess, but the more he thought of it, the more certain he became. Someone like Xue Wei who could jump more than two layers while fighting could not exist! Within the Sky Warrior stage, each layer was an incredibly vast gulf from the next

Xue Wei did not think about what this expert was worrying about. Instead, he was contemplating about what to do with the other nine experts as a whole.

He had to win, but if he won magnificently like the other one layer Sky Warrior, then it was likely that it would end up coming back to bite him in the posterior later.

"Battle begin!"

While Xue Wei was in deep thought, their platform’s judge announced the start of battle.

Xue Wei swept his gaze across the nine experts. There were two women and seven men. The women were prudent and stayed behind while three of the men charged into the middle of the stage, weapons held high in their hands and hacking and slashing down with their swords.

There was no flair, no techniques, just a display of sheer power in their attacks. Xue Wei sighed when he saw it.

"They are not worthy," he decided quickly. "The women are quite prudent, but I guess the strongest in this group, apart from me, would be the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect."

Mind Infestation!

Xue Wei looked at the sect disciple and launched Mind Infestation. When Xue Wei realized how smoothly he took control of him, a snicker appeared on his lips.

Of the ten people, outwardly, only three had engaged in battles, but the truth was that half of them had already begun.

Xue Wei had the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect move towards him. No one stopped him – after all, although he was their opponent, he was also a member of one of the three great sects.

No one wished to fight him if they could avoid it, and it seemed that the man in question had someone else in mind.

He went towards Xue Wei and then stopped right next to him. But unexpectedly, he did not start attacking Xue Wei. Instead, he drew his weapon and stood by his side like a guard.

"What are you doing, you dolt?!" a furious roar came from the senior brother who had lost face in front of Xue Wei before from outside the ring.

Unfortunately, the disciple had no chance of hearing him. His entire mind was already under the perfect control of Mind Infestation, and he had no way of freeing himself.

"Let us band together and get rid of the two most challenging ones first!" someone from among the remaining eight yelled out.

"The member from the Crimson Sunshine Sect should be hard to deal with one on one, but we should be able to take him down with our numbers!"

"If we do not take him down, I am sure that he will be the winner, or he will forfeit and let the other kid win!"

Out of those eight experts, four were paying attention to the fifth who wanted to set up a temporary alliance. Three of them had clashed head-on in a battle in the middle of the stage, and none of them appeared to be willing to give up their struggle, but the other five were nodding their heads in approval of the tactic.

"Let us take him down!" the one who came up with the plan said and rushed forward with all his might. The other four were a bit more hesitant, but they too rushed forward after a bit of consideration.

They feared that one of their men would end up supporting the Crimson Sunshine Sect's disciple due to his name being somewhat influential, but never had they expected that he would stay completely silent.

"Let us see how powerful you are," Xue Wei muttered to himself. The Crimson Sunshine Sect only accepted male students and focused on the element of Yang.

He commanded the puppet of a sect disciple to stimulate the yang energy within his body. His Qi consisted solely of yang properties, and it was clear that he was like a ticking time bomb once this order was set into motion.

"Oh, this is interesting," Xue Wei muttered to himself while scouring the memories and methods of this young man he had within his control.

The five experts moved swiftly, arriving in front of them shortly after. At that point, the mind-controlled expert lifted his hand and pointed his sword at them. Qi fluctuations could be felt as ring after ring of flaming Qi shot out from his sword tip, making multiple one meter thick circles on the stage ground that were constantly shrinking and expanding, making it incredibly hard to avoid them.

If they did not avoid it, then it was clear that they would be severely injured. This burning Qi was not to be taken lightly.

"That is the Ring of Fire!" a disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect exclaimed when she saw it.

"Do you think that junior brother has decided to let this brat win so that you can deal with him yourself?" another asked the senior brother who had been insulted, and suddenly they all felt the arrival of an epiphany.

They could not understand his actions initially, but if this was the case, then he was indeed an excellent junior brother!

Xue Wei was unaware of what was going on within the group of Crimson Sunshine Sect members. All he knew was that he needed to defeat all of his opponents while looking as invisible as possible.

The less they knew about him, the better it was.

The advance of the five had been slowed down drastically due to the Ring of Fire and the many rings that had appeared and were circling the stage. Unfortunately, creating as many circles of fire as he had, Xue Wei knew that his Qi could not last for a long time, and thus he changed the attacks that were used.

Then the next attack was launched. "It is the Yang Cross Cut!" someone exclaimed from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. All of them were somewhat shocked, because the ability their fellow disciple displayed this time exceeded anything they had ever seen him do before. This was because he now had Xue Wei's perception.

The Yang Cross Cut was a sword-art that depended on the fiery yang, and then it was a straight slash, but the speed and the power behind it was nothing but magnificent.

One of the experts moved too slowly, and he felt his body being ripped apart. Although he did not die, he could see how he did not have long to live if he did not receive extraordinary treatment.

"I forfeit!" the man exclaimed and was instantly taken out from the stage. His token flew into the air and vanished from him.

A group of physicians appeared almost instantly and started treating him with medicinal herbs and plants provided by the Black Iron Fortress to heal the drop outs of the tournament.

That was the first guy down. Seven more to go, Xue Wei thought to himself, but he was in no hurry.

Although he wanted to win, he wanted to seem weak, as if his victory had been no easy feat.