Exar looked at his opponent with cold eyes, as the opponent looked at Exar the same way.
However, the opponent's gaze also hid another emotion.
Disdain.
This Cultivator thought that he could fight him?
He could feel the man's Battle-Strength, but he still didn't surrender?
However, the man also didn't forget that the tournament could increase the power of many competitors.
Maybe, Exar could prove to be a challenge to him in the future.
He hoped Exar could become worthy of fighting him.
Exar readied his sword.
WHOOOOM!
However, his opponent's Will-Aura immediately suppressed Exar. Exar had expected to be suppressed, but he hadn't expected that his opponent also knew the level six Law of Suppression.
This essentially made it nearly impossible for Exar to move.
The audience looked with surprise at Exar's opponent.
This guy could easily enter a Peak Sect's Core Disciples without any kind of test or evaluation!
That was incredibly hard for a mere level one Ancestral God.
"You can't even fight me at the moment," the red-haired young man said to Exar coldly. "Killing you now would only reduce my status."
Exar didn't answer as he only looked into the young man's eyes.
"Become powerful! The next time we meet, I want a real challenge!"
"Don't disappoint me," the young man said before retrieving his Will-Aura and turning his back to Exar.
The Sect Master had allowed these words to be transmitted to the audience, and the audience felt quite impressed.
This truly was a powerful genius!
His enemy couldn't even fight him!
After some seconds, Exar looked at the Sect Master without a change in expression.
"I concede," he said.
The audience was surprised by the direct surrender, but they realized that Exar was accepting that he was weaker.
Even when his opponent had openly provoked him, he had stayed calm.
That was an admirable quality.
Someone with such a personality could go far.
The Sect Master only grinned.
SHING!
Exar and his opponent were teleported away.
"I hope everyone is excited about the tournament now!" the Sect Master shouted. "We have a lot of powerful competitors, and the four you have seen earlier are just four amongst over a hundred with similar power!"
The Sect Master had managed to truly make the audience invested in the tournament.
In one of the balconies, the Vice-Sect Master of the Lost Wind Sect only scoffed. The other Divine Gods noticed the action, but they didn't interfere.
It was public knowledge that the Lost Wind Sect and the Lightning Peak Sect were hating each other at best.
They were simply complete opposites.
The Sect Master of the Lightning Peak Sect only shot a short, smirking look at the Vice-Sect Master of the Lost Wind Sect.
He was essentially telling him that his introverted, sneaky Sect could never pull off such a grand and exciting event.
"For now, let's meet the other contestants! We have over a million contestants here, and we have a lot to go through! So, let's start right now!" the Sect Master announced.
And then, two normal contestants entered the arena to fight.
For the first few fights, the audience was still quite invested, but by the thousandth fight, they became a bit bored.
They wanted to get to the powerful Cultivators.
At the moment, the fights weren't different from normal fights between their juniors.
They wanted to see outstanding Cultivators fighting other outstanding Cultivators.
They didn't want to slog through this tedious boredom.
Luckily, Ancestral Gods were very fast, and one fight was often finished in less than five seconds.
With the time between fights, one fight took around eight seconds on average.
Because of that, the first round would only take a bit less than two months, which wasn't that long for Ancestral Gods.
While all of this was going on, a discussion had broken out amongst the members of the Peak Sects.
"I know that you're still new to this, but you can't just act like a common ruffian now," the Vice-Sect Master of the Twilight Council transmitted to the other members, but specifically to the Sect Master of the Lightning Peak Sect.
"Says who?" the Sect Master of the Lightning Peak Sect answered. "I'm near the peak like all of you, and I can decide how I want to act."
"Honey, you are a Sect Master of a Peak Sect now," the Vice-Sect Master of the Mortal Sect said. "You can act however you want inside your Sect, but please, don't make yourself appear like some loud village salesman in front of the entire Cultivation world. Do it for me, okay?" she said with a wink.
The Sect Master only smirked with disdain at her. "That's coming from you? If I look like a loud village salesman, you look like the local village whore."
"Tch," the Vice-Sect Master of the Lost Wind Sect spat with disdain. "In my opinion, his conduct is perfectly in line with the Lightning Peak Sect. Insulting others to feel better about yourself, holding a grand event just to show your power, you are simply an idiot blinded by vanity."
The Vice-Sect Master of the Mortal Sect had become quite angry at the Sect Master of the Lightning Peak Sect, but the words of Vice-Sect Master of the Lost Wind Sect had calmed her down a bit.
Right, why should she care what that guy said? He obviously had insecurities, and such an unstable person will lash out at everyone around them like a wild animal. He probably was just very bitter because he had a small penis.
"Oh my, the edgy boy from the Lost Wind Sect is talking grandly at a social event," the Sect Master of the Lightning Peak Sect ridiculed. "I know that you have no idea how to talk with others, which is why I will overlook your words. I know that you just can't help it."
The Vice-Sect Master of the Lost Wind Sect only snorted. "Is that supposed to be an insult? Way to prove my point in the most pathetic manner."
"No, it's the truth," the Sect Master answered. "How many new recruits does your Lost Wind Sect get again? Oh right, a tenth of our recruits! Your Sect is filled with people that can't even talk properly with the outside world, which is why everyone is ignoring you."
"But it could also be because you are only focusing on three Elements, not four. Man, if only you had an additional Element that fit your Sect."
The Vice-Sect Master of the Lost Wind Sect narrowed his eyes, but he wasn't the one to answer.
"So, the number of focused Elements is now a demonstration of power?" the Vice-Sect Master of the Twilight Council commented. "Then, what does that make us or the Heavenly Divine Sect?"
The Vice-Sect Master of the Lost Wind Sect only smirked quietly to himself.
The Sect Master frowned.
He had made a mistake.
The Vice-Sect Master of the Lost Wind Sect had pulled him into a trap.
'I need to be more careful,' the Sect Master of the Lightning Peak Sect thought.
"Rules for everyone might not necessarily count for the truly outstanding ones," the Sect Master said to the Vice-Sect Master of the Twilight Council. "Truly outstanding people can make a single Element triumph over all of them. Your Twilight Council knows that, and you have proven so. Please, don't interpret bad intentions into my words."
The Vice-Sect Master of the Twilight Council only let out a short hmph and looked away. The only reason why he had even spoken up was that he also disagreed with how the Sect Master conducted himself.
The Sect Master hadn't acted in a dignified manner in this tournament. He had treated it as a party he was hosting.
This wasn't only the Lightning Peak Sect's event. The other Peak Sects were also involved in this tournament, and they had also invested some capital.
This tournament was supposed to bring the hidden geniuses of the world to light.
It was supposed to be a grand battle for supremacy and recognition.
Yet, the Sect Master of the Lightning Peak Sect had degraded it to mere entertainment with his words.
The only Peak Sects that didn't mind the Sect Master's conduct were the True Life Sect and the Heavenly Divine Sect.
The True Life Sect was very relaxed, and they went along with the flow.
The Heavenly Divine Sect only cared about power, and they didn't put any relevance to how others acted.
Words were irrelevant.
Only power was important.
The Mortal Sect cared quite a bit about conduct because, like mortals, they valued their status and the perception of others.
The Lost Wind Sect obviously took every opportunity to ridicule the Lightning Peak Sect.
The Twilight Council put pride and solemnity on power, and they felt like the Sect Master was besmirching their image.
The Eternity Sect didn't really care, but the representative from them cared. He didn't like noise, and the Sect Master of the Lightning Peak Sect made a lot of noise.
The audience didn't notice the conflict between the Peak Sects, but they also wouldn't be surprised if they noticed.
It was normal for competition to occur between the most powerful Sects.
There were simply too many Peak Sects, and there had to be conflicts in philosophy.
As the leaders continued to argue, the first round finished.
Then, the second round finished.
And another one.
Another one.
Another one.
Eventually, only level one Ancestral Gods that could jump two levels were left.
That left around 400 competitors since a lot of the weaker ones had become more powerful with tempering.
And then, it was time for the actual tournament.
