“Cultivating the immortal Dao always requires patience with the things that can happen in a different order than the one initially imagined.”

The city lord could not believe what was happening before his very eyes.

It was like a huge slap on his face.

While there was no explicit code that the surrounding village clans were under his jurisdiction, it did not mean that he was not recognized before as their governing figure.

But apparently, he would not be able to do anything to those who swore to follow the Saints Hall—lest the young lord of the mountain peak would vent his anger on his Rising Sun City.

In truth, the city lord only inherited the position several decades ago from his father who had long left the continent to look for opportunities to form the latter’s core.

Since then the city lord assumed the authority and acted as the ruler of the area.

Everything was going according to his whims and desires until Qai came and the Saints Hall sprouted like a mushroom.

Although the ‘charismatic’ young lord Qai of the mountain peak had not been directly challenging his authority, what was actually happening was that he was gradually losing his influence over the clan patriarchs.

And he was not stupid enough not to believe that Qai was scheming against him.

But what could he possibly do?

On the other hand, the patriarchs of the much bigger clans could see that the city lord seemed to be helpless.

And they could also see that slowly, Qai was building up his influence. And it wouldn't be unthinkable if one day, the Saints Hall would become an unstoppable force in that area of the continent.

If the city lord himself had no method to stop the Saints Hall’s growth, what could their measly clans do to prevent it?

Besides, in their minds, the words of Qai about the bigger war and the possibility of their area being dragged down with it held some truth.

But still, they are not willing to follow the steps of the Yang and Lin clan patriarchs.

“Young lord, fellow patriarchs, we are deviating from the reason why we are here. Let's not talk about the repercussions of the war and focus on the tournament.”

Qai did not notice who said it, but he suddenly realized that the atmosphere somewhat turned into a brewing conflict.

Meanwhile, the hunting event was already heating up.

With the implicit rule that allows stealing another’s haul, many eventually resorted to that ploy. To them, it was way easier to face fellow Qi Condensation stage participants than to hunt beast cores.

It was for the best though that Saints Hall did not allow participants to kill each other—and those who thought they could get their revenge against another by making it appear an ‘accident’ had been caught midway.

The city guards who actually helped facilitate the event was surprisingly vigilant to such schemes.

Those measures eventually were praised by the clan patriarchs.

A week later, the top 10 had finally been determined.

They were all young and had varying cultivation bases. All of whom were lined up on a dueling stage by the time the next round was up.

Surprisingly the team who got the first place was grabbed by a trio of rogue cultivators.

And from the stands, they were being cheered by a late Foundation Establishment stage stout cultivator whom everyone thought was their master.

However, when Qai saw him from the stands, his eyes went wide.

As it appeared that very plump cultivator was someone familiar to him—he was actually the former Precious Tree Sect’s Regulations Hall official.

‘Official fatty Liu!?’

Qai immediately turned his gaze back to the members of the team that ranked 1 and tried to determine if he knew them as well.

Apparently, they did not look familiar to him. But even then, Qai could tell something from their demeanor.

‘They should be Precious Tree Sect disciples as well.’

For one, they didn't look like they were from any other backwater place. Also, they had a fairly high cultivation base at such a young age for rogue cultivators.

All 3 seemed to be around 17 or 18 years old, and the one with the highest cultivation base was actually in the level 8 of Qi Condensation stage while the other 2 were level 6.

Suddenly, he felt the urge to get those young cultivators and Official fatty Liu as well, to become part of his Saints Hall.

Obviously, the mountain peak had way more Spirit Beasts than cultivators as it's members. So it was natural for him to get more people to help him and his original group to build the Saints Hall.

However, Qai did not plan to approach them just yet.

He wanted to avoid giving any impression that the team was inserted by the Saints Hall in order to keep the top prize away from others.

Instead, he secretly instructed one of his Blood Knights to discretely hand over a Jade slip to Official fatty Liu.

The Jade slip simply contained a message that he and the 3 young cultivators were invited to remain in the Saints Hall after the tournament regardless if they could win it all or not.

‘My Saints Hall has been in need of a steward. Fatty Liu, the timing of your arrival here is way too perfect.’

The following round was, as expected, a team match on the dueling stages.

The team seeded as number 1 took on the ranked number 10, and the rank number 2 battled it out against the team who placed ninth, and so on.

While on the surface, the teams on the upper half seemed poised to win, the tournament saw different results.

Eventually, spectators realized that advancing in the hunting event through stealing others’ haul did not mean that the team had the ability in a face-off the battle. That was because, on the stage, it was difficult to set up an ambush.

However, the team that ranked number 1 easily disposed of its opponents and cruised to the next round.

In the following ranking matches, the team that Official fatty Liu brought still came out on top.

The team was so good that its opponents seemed helpless against their teamwork. In fact, during the rounds, they gradually earned the title ‘three peerless warriors.’

The different clan patriarchs including the city lord scrambled to send their own people to investigate the origins of the 3 young cultivators.

However, they could not find anything that would reveal their identities.

“Are they really rogue cultivators!?”

“They must be. I don't see any reason why would they join in a tournament in such a place like ours.”

And all their efforts would point out that the late Foundation Establishment cultivator cheering for the 3 was most probably their senior or master given the fact that he openly placed a large sum of bets on their name.

‘They must have come from decimated clans because of the war. I have to recruit them. I can't lose against other clans. I’ll give that senior the position of Grand elder.’

Each patriarch had their own agenda upon being convinced that the 3 young cultivators did not belong to any sect or clan.

From then on, Official fatty Liu, saw more Jade slips come to him with different invitations.

In the final round, the ’three peerless warriors’ had a more challenging opponent from one of the bigger clans around the area but they still ended up winning the tournament.

As the host of the tournament, Saints Hall became even more popular when Teng Gui openly handed over the rewards. It only went to show that they were serious about the rewards they previously announced.

The entire event, from the opening to awarding ceremonies, lasted for almost 3 weeks with the preliminary hunting event taking the most days of the tournament.

It was evidently a momentous occasion.

In fact, details of the rounds were told and retold in every shop and pavilions and the name ‘three peerless warriors’ stamped in the minds of many spectators.

Meanwhile, in the mountain peak, Qai held a banquet with his honored guests—the Yang and Lin clan patriarchs as well as Official fatty Liu and the 3 grand winners of the tournament.