“Well, the point of this tournament is to show off our skills right?”

I nodded.

“So, I thought I should give her a chance to show everyone what she could do first before I defeated her. And this would also give me a chance to show off as well.”

I put my hands behind my back like the grandmaster that I was. “Your reasoning isn’t flawed. However, you should still aim to defeat your opponent quickly so they can’t pull off any tricks. Never underestimate your enemies because you have no idea what they’re hiding.”

His eyes turned fierce and he nodded. “Yes, Sister Lin!”

“Also, it’s good that you didn’t lose.” I smoothed his hair back. “Congratulations on winning your first tournament fight.”

He grinned and visibly relaxed. Then he pulled on my sleeve to get me to sit down next to him so we could keep watching the fights below.

Hmm. Maybe I’d gotten the kid addicted to praise… that might not be the best thing. Then again, Fairy Verdant Bamboo wasn’t the greatest of teachers so I didn’t want to repeat the bullshit she put me through.

I mean, she had taught me a fair amount of things but it was the little vicious things that got to me. Things like her not taking the extra time to watch my tournaments but holing herself up like an obsessed yandere to observe every one Bloodsword participated in. And the ones of mine that she did go to (because Bloodsword was also there), she’d critique every little mistake I made without giving me any praise at all.

Thank fuck I’d had the mind of a confident adult or she would have scarred me for life.

Well, I wasn’t exactly the best person to raise and teach a kid either, so maybe I shouldn't be too hard on her.

No, fuck that.

Just like a boss from hell, the bitch gave me some pretty serious emotional scars that almost gave me heart demons when I was younger and less wise. Of course, being the badass I was, I easily overcame them.

Respectfully, she was a fucking bitch who needed a good face slap.

And sure, I was still grateful to her for teaching me and pushing me to reach perfection. I had always treated her with deference because of it. But aside from that — and beyond being disgusted with her for marrying her student — she was not a good person to learn under. Not unless you were her favorite like my junior martial brother.

There were better ways to teach someone than focusing entirely on the student’s mistakes. Humans were not built for perfection. That was part of what made striving for it so exhilarating.

But, being looked down on for being unable to reach it immediately? And all while in the body of a child? Fuck that.

Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Sword Saint Salamander who helped me through some difficult experiences and told me exactly where I sat compared to my contemporaries — someone who took the time to encourage me and tell me where I was doing insanely well — I might have taken longer to become this awesome.

Young Master Zhang stepped onto stage 12. Resting must have really helped because he was back to looking like his usual arrogant self.

Now that I thought about it, aside from watching him get past a few arrows, I hadn’t seen much of his fighting ability. However, he and his bodyguard made me realize that I had at least two opponents to closely watch.

Even if he no longer had his special gourd, Young Master Zhang still had a spatial ring full of tricks.

I doubted that he’d use such an item on a mere sect trial, but even Immortal Ascension Stage experts had made dumber resource management mistakes before… Mostly when fighting Bloodsword.

Sometimes I thought that reprehensible cock mosquito had an aura that made people so upset with him that they turned stupid. He also had one that made most of the attractive women in the world dumb when around him. ‘Most’ being the operative word here as I was completely unaffected. Though that might be a perk of transmigration? Whatever.

Young Master Zhang took out a really lovely spear spiritual weapon.

Huh. I thought for sure that he’d be a pure internal Qi technique user.

His opponent took out a shield and a sword, also spiritual in nature.

Of course, then, that fucker, Over-Explaining announcer caught on to this fight. “Over on Stage 12, there seems to be an interesting fight. Zhang QiangQiang just took out a beautiful spiritual weapon, a spear of Heaven rank! This is the highest-ranked spiritual item we’ve seen so far! But as far as I’m aware, the Zhang Clan is not a spear-wielding clan! Can this prospective inner disciple prove himself worthy of such an advanced weapon?”

The referee called for the fight to start and both the young master and his opponent flew towards each other.

Zhang’s spear clashed against his opponent’s shield. Clang! The shield actually held up.

“Oh! Now that I take a closer look. That shield Ding Chuanli is wielding isn’t bad! Though, at only Earth rank won’t be able to hold up to his opponent’s spear.”

Ding Chuanli, grinned maliciously and aimed his sword at the brat’s side that looked like Zhang’s weakness.

Of course, that was a purposeful weakness shown to trap the guy. Zhang brought the end of his spear up to deflect the sword attack. He followed up with a second attack, striking Ding Chuanli sword hand.

The young master had used so much strength in this second attack that the sword went flying into the stands and nearly stabbed a prospective inner sect disciple.

Ding Chuanli gave up immediately. He probably realized the level disparity and decided to save his energy for other fights. Not a bad strategy… as long as he didn’t care about getting first.

“Did you see that beautiful feint and disarm from Zhang QiangQiang?”

No shit I saw it.

“That was done so skillfully for a cultivator his age that I think the spear masters on Majestic Sword Peak will want to pay careful attention to this young man.”

I mean, they could try but I bet that the sect already had a master in mind for this kid. I doubt that this would change anything unless a Grand Master Spear Cultivator took notice.

***

The next fight I took extra care to watch took place just after the Young Master’s fight.

This was McTraitorFace versus Some Guy (I wasn’t paying attention when his name was announced).

McTraitorFace pulled on the thick rope that was around her waist turning it into a long thin whip.

Some Guy stood in a battle stance that made me think that he was a hand-to-hand fighter with some training.

As soon as the referee said to go, the first thing she did was start a series of familiar hand seals using her free hand.

Meanwhile, the speedy Some Guy used a serpentine pattern of movement to close in the distance. He was obviously much better than that poor Tiger Brother.

McTraitorFace finished her seals and released a small, chubby little fire that took the rough shape of a falcon. It suddenly shot forward, aiming at Some Guy.

“What’s this? On Stage 8, Liu ChuHua just showed us a fantastic example of the Sly Fire Falcon technique!”

Goddamn it! Couldn’t this guy give it a rest for one fight I was trying to watch?

Some Guy dodged the fiery bird, but the technique she used wasn’t so simple.

“And that was a beautiful dodge by Qin Ye! But will he be able to keep dodging and counter attack?”

Some Guy kept running forward. As soon as he reached within her range, McTraitorFace flicked her whip towards his eyes.

He twisted his body, dodging the attack but killing a significant amount of the momentum he just built back up. Still this guy showed some impressive agility for his age and cultivation level. Especially when she kept attacking and he kept dodging.

“I can’t believe it! Look at how impressive Qin Ye’s dodging skills are. Liu ChuHua is going to have to show a lot more skills to get past his impressive movement techniques.”

Some Guy finally left an opening on his right side. McTraitorFace must have seen it because she aimed her next attack there… only to have her whip caught.

Some Guy smirked and started pulling.

“I can’t believe it! How strong are Qin Ye’s hands that he can catch a spiritual weapon like the rope whip Little Fairy Liu is wielding?!”

Honestly? Not all that strong. Stop with the over-reacting! Making every goddamn move sound badass when it was just a bunch of kids fighting. Fuck.

Some Guy used his superior strength to pull the whip out of McTraitorFace’s hands. Unfortunately for him, that was when the fire falcon returned.

It struck the back of his head only to be repelled by the shield formed by the shattered token, ending the fight.

“And Little Fairy Liu wins the match with a surprise return from her Sly Fire Falcon technique! I am shocked!”

Were you really though? I mean, the whole purpose of the Sly Fire Falcon technique was to act like a spiritual boomerang. Whatever.

***

The next up on that stage was Yang ShanShan (Fatty) VS Mao Fenfang. A girl with pigtails who wore clothes similar to what Little Spring and I wore when we were stuck in that seaside village.

Shocklingly, these two made it this far with no cultivation.

They were pretty fucking lucky. Or the sect wanted to pit people with similar cultivation levels against each other at first so it would seem fair.

The first thing he did was stand in an awkward fighting stance showing that he’d never been trained.

Meanwhile, Mao Fenfang glared at him and clenched her hands into fists.

The referee gave the signal.

The muscular girl ran towards the thick boy who took one look at her and ran.

A few steps in, he tripped. His body hit the stone floor and his skin scraped against the rough surface.

How the hell did this kid get this far?!

When Mao Fenfang reached him, he was just getting to his hands and knees. The girl was ruthless and kicked him in his kidneys.

Good form too!

Unfortunately for her, Yang ShanShan didn’t move an inch. Instead, he shakily stood up and spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

The girl kicked his knee out, threw him to the ground and started recklessly punching the shit out of the poor kid. It was so bad that he curled in on himself, protecting his neck with his hands.

Ooof. I almost didn’t want to watch such a one-sided beat down, except that this guy would become Little Spring’s underling—er... friend in the future.

Then, after taking a few more punches and kicks, Yang ShanShan yelled.

Face red, he got to his hands and knees, then jumped at Pigtails’ center, causing both of them to fall to the stage.

She jabbed him in the side a few times and he grunted, but used his weight against her.

Visibly breathing hard, he grabbed her protective token and bit down on it, breaking it in half.

Well, that was one way to win a fight!

And that whole time Over-Explaining Announcer was commenting on some other random fight. He probably felt this one was too low level for his analysis. Muahahaha!

***

Next to my ear, the voice of a referee called my name. Finally, it was my turn!

After thinking it over, I decided to do what Little Spring did and give these brats a chance to shine! Especially since, unlike the kid, I had less of a chance of being beaten.

I could also give my lucky opponent a few valuable pointers as their elder.

A line had formed in front of Daoist Red Bear but it went quickly. Soon he handed me a token and told me to go to stage 6.

When I reached that location, an awkward little boy wearing fine blue robes stood beside it.

“Excuse me, are you Fairy Lin. The one who defeated 888 arrows?”

I grinned. “That’s me, but don’t worry. I’ll go easy on you.”

The kid chuckled nervously.

When the fighters on number six finished their battle and cleared the area, I jumped onto the stage.

The boy followed me up, sweat beaded on his brow.

I took out my sword and smiled at him. His face paled.

“What’s this! On stage 6! According to my informant, the girl is Little Fairy Lin. She defeated 888 arrows in the rope bridge trial. This is an unheard of amount for a little cultivator at her level.

Sure, just announce everything to the crowd.

“Fairy Lin versus Xiao BaiBai!”

“Oh! And that beautiful sword she’s wielding is at least a Sky rank spiritual weapon. And her stance is absolutely perfect. I can’t believe something so beautiful is coming from such a young disciple.”

Really? He was going to compliment me on just my stance?

“Fight!”

I waited for the shivering Xiao BaiBai to run toward me... or attack me. Or do anything.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing this Little Fairy in action. Are the rumors real, or was her achievement just a fluke?”

And I waited some more. I even ignored that damn announcer and made plans on how I would help this child show off his abilities.

As his elder with advanced skills and knowledge I could do at least that much…

With a red face, Xiao BaiBai yelled, “I give up!”

Well, fuck.

Maybe I’d become too notorious for my own good. I sent a glare toward the general direction of Daoist Over.

“Ah? That was it?” He cleared his throat. “On stage number 4...”

Well I was pretty sure this would be my only opponent who would bow out without even trying. The disciples of the Indomitable Will Sect were made of heartier stuff.

“Ah…” The referee, like myself, hadn’t expected anyone to give up before even trying. “Fairy Lin Wins!”

But really, this would be the last time someone gave up before even trying to fight me... right?

***

Four rounds later…

“I give up!”

Motherfucker!

If I were in a manhua, I would have black lines running across my face.

Five times this happened! Five!