"That was dirty..." Wang Wei mumbled.

Somehow, he seemed rather upset about it. Mei wasn't sure what to say in response.

"I thought it was pretty funny." Liu Qing laughed. "Good one, Mei Xiu!"

"Uh, thanks?" Mei said.

Honestly, she was pretty proud of herself for that one, though on the way up the stairs, she was a bit worried about how her friends would receive it. She turned to Xiuying, who looked a bit conflicted. Yingyi had his usual blank face.

Well, at least Liu Qiang was supportive.

Meanwhile, the two disciples that had drawn 16 moved onto the "stage", one a short girl and the other a lanky boy. Watching them half-heartedly, Mei suddenly had a realisation as she stared at how they were holding their padded swords, making her perk right up. It couldn't be, could it? She started to get excited.

"Start!"

Immediately, the two disciples flung their swords at each other. Spinning through the air, the boy's sword flew over her head as she ducked. Granted, it wouldn't have hit her if she didn't manage to duck in time, given her height. As for her sword... she didn't throw it hard enough to reach her target.

Seeing that, Liu Qiang and Yingyi roared with laughter. Mei could even hear laughter from the crowd of disciples. She grinned, wondering how many disciples would copy her dumb strategy.

The boy quickly ran over, and picked up her sword, readying his throwing posture again.

"Wait wait wait wait!" the girl squeaked, waving her hands.

The sword flew through the air... and missed again, this time a few metres to her right. Apparently, swords were not the best for long-distance throwing.

"Hah!" the girl laughed.

She ran over to the sword and picked it up, then threw it again.

Mei was speechless. Was this just going to turn into a game of catch?

The boy scrambled to dodge, but unfortunately, he tripped over in his hurry. The sword bonked his head unceremoniously.

"Jing Fei has won the match."

Liu Qiang had drawn 45, so it was a while before his turn came.

His opponent was amazingly, another "fatty". Fate was truly mysterious...

"Let's have a fair fight!" the other disciple said. "No stupid sword throwing, okay?"

Liu Qiang took out his padded war hammer with a grin.

"No throwing other weapons either!" the other fatty said hurriedly.

"I won't, I was just messing with you." Liu Qiang laughed. "What's your name? I'm Liu Qiang."

The disciple heaved a sigh of relief. Even though not everyone had decided to throw their weapons, there were quite a few matches that ended prematurely because of that tactic.

"I'm Zhang Ming!" he smiled.

Zhang Ming thought the sect master would put a stop to it with a new rule, but unexpectedly, the old man even turned to that troublemaking girl who started it all, giving her a thumbs up. What the heck?

After seeing that, he had an inkling the tournament was more for the sect master's amusement than to assess which disciples were best at fighting...

"Start!"

Liu Qiang walked slowly towards the disciple, who readied his axe and shield.

A shield user... Mei watched from the side in interest. Surprisingly, he was only the 3rd disciple in the last 44 matches to have used a shield. Honestly, she wasn't sure why he was scared of weapons being thrown since he could just block them.

She looked to Liu Qiang next, wondering how he would fight. After all, he was the 2nd in her group to reach the 9th level of Qi Gathering, and in the first week of joining the sect at that.

"Hah!" Liu Qing shouted as he charged, closing in.

A stream of qi washed over his body, giving his skin a metallic lustre.

Ah, so he was going the route of Metal! Fitting for an aspiring blacksmith, Mei supposed.

He slammed his war hammer with full force at Zhang Ming, who blocked it with his shield. With the loud sound of wood being crushed, a massive dent was imprinted on the wood. From the sheer force of it, Zhang Ming was knocked to the ground, panic in his eyes.

He dropped his ruined shield and rolled away, slashing his axe at Liu Qiang. Unfortunately, it bounced off the metallic skin harmlessly. He wasn't done however, focusing a ball of pale blue qi with his free hand before tossing it at his opponent.

"Eek!"

Liu Qiang's movements stiffened and he began to shiver, ice forming on his clothes.

"Unfair..." he panted as the metallic lustre disappeared from his skin.

"Sorry bud!" Zhang Ming said.

He rushed over and hit Liu Qiang, who was too cold to dodge his axe.

"Zhang Ming has won."

"No hard feelings?"

"None." Liu Qiang sighed.

He trudged up the stairs and back to his seat, looking quite despondent.

Mei felt a little bad for him. Given his strength, he could probably beat most of the disciples here if not for the bad matchup. Maybe even her.

Xiuying patted him on the back reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I will give a few Foundation pills to you when I win!" Wang Wei said, patting him on the back too.

Liu Qiang glared at him.

Yingyi's match was the 67th, though it ended quickly and eventfully. After charging in with his halberd, he managed to hit his opponent's head right away. The poor guy was using a dagger for some reason, so he was helpless against the superior range.

Several matches later, it was Xiuying's turn. To Mei's surprise, she was using a cleaver. And very skillfully at that. Apparently, her mastery with it was good enough that she decided to use it instead of a proper weapon. To add insult to injury, Xiuying was quite proficient with flames too. Her opponent was swiftly defeated by the barrage of attacks.

"Dammit... I'm the only one who lost..." Liu Qiang said, looking on the verge of tears.

Feeling bad, Wang Wei decided to help in the only way he could think of.

"It's fine! I'll give you 5 pills when I win!"

Liu Qiang: ...