Chapter 71: First Fight

John arrived at his arena shortly and jumped onto the platform, at which point he noticed his opponent was already standing there.

The boy appeared to be around fifteen years old, and had a more powerful looking build than most at the tournament. He wore a dark red robe, while a smug, arrogant smile hung on the boy's face and his arms were crossed over his chest as he looked at John as if he were an ant waiting to be crushed.

John only shook his head at the boys actions and walked towards the center of the platform.

"You know kid, your luck is pretty bad to have run into me on the first round. Based on what you said earlier, my sect told me to use my full force to half cripple you. How about this, if you get down on your knees, beg for forgiveness, and surrender, I'll consider letting you off."

John looked towards the boy and started chuckling slightly but said nothing.

"What are you laughing at?" asked the boy, ire audible in his voice. He wanted John to cower, but instead was laughed at.

"Oh nothing, I just remembered those sect members of yours I tied naked to the trees. Maybe I'll do the same to you" John responded with a slight smile on his face.

"Courting death!" The boy was truly angry, and was about to attack John when the Varis Clan referee suddenly appeared in between them and re explained the rules.

"Are there any questions? No? Good, then you may begin."

"Although I can't kill or cripple you, I can still make you wish for death." The Crimson Valley Sect boy charged towards John without a care. Although he was in the bottom forty, his score on the Qi test had been almost five hundred, much higher than John. Not only that, but John was at the middle Mist Creation realm. In the boys eyes, John was a meal to be devoured in any way he saw fit. The Crimson Valley boy had no concerns that John would be able to fight back, and only hoped to crush him instantly.

John watched with a nonchalant look as the boy rapidly approached him. He didn't even take his weapon out yet, due to the disregard he held for his opponent.

'He's leaving absolutely nothing back for defense. He wants to end it all with a single move and embarrass me as much as possible it seems.'

John calmly started channeling his body Qi to be explosively released as quickly and powerfully as possible.

"It's over for you!" yelled the boy as he approached John.

The Crimson Valley Sect boy raised his sword over his head and began to swing it down towards John as hard as he could. Powerful Qi covered his sword as he used his most powerful move right from the get go, with the intention of ending the fight in a single move.

John watched as the sword started traveling towards him and scoffed before he quickly dashed forward under the boys raised arms and raised his own hand.

Slap!

A resounding slap sounded out as John's hand connected with the boy's face, which sent him flying sideways dozens of yards as he tumbled head over heels before eventually coming to a stop just before the edge of the platform.

'Idiot, did he expect me to just wait for his long and easily readable technique to land on me? He clearly has never fought a life and death battle before.'

The boy had raised his sword high above his head, and his attack had taken a while to fully channel as he dashed towards John. John had all the time in the world to close the distance and give the boy a powerful slap. With his powerful body cultivation and the boy holding back nothing for defense, the slap had been quite effective.

John quickly used his movement technique to dash towards the boy who lay on the ground. Although he wasn't knocked unconscious, the Crimson Valley boy was still quite dazed from the blow to his head. Blood dripped out of his mouth, and a few teeth were missing as well. A large red handprint was visible on his cheek as he slowly and groggily began to stand up.

Bang!

John's full powered kick connected with the boys ribs, and the boy was sent flying backwards like a bullet off the stage and into the stands dozens of yards away. Dust and stone was kicked up as the boy crashed into the stone stands, and the sounds of bones breaking was clearly audible to the entire crowd. The Crimson Valley boy immediately passed out from the pain of John's attacks.

The entire crowd was silent, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The fight had just barely started, and most of the crowd had expected John to lose almost instantly, but the exact opposite had happened.

After a few seconds of silence, a loud and ecstatic shout from the stands echoed throughout the tournament grounds, while some Crimson Valley Elders quickly dashed towards the injured boy.

"Hahaha, good job John. You were right, that was even more refreshing than before. Keeping showing those Crimson Valley Assholes what you're capable of."

The dumbstruck crowd turned towards the source of the voice, and saw Miko Varis standing up and cheering wildly. Miko kept cheering until a Varis Clan elder forcibly seated and silenced him.

A few seconds later, the crowd finally came to their senses, and a wild eruption of various emotions exploded out.

"What the hell just happened? How did that Fenix Clan boy win?"

"Isn't he supposed to be the weakest one here?"

"Maybe his opponent went easy on him and the boy took advantage of that?"

"Took advantage of that? Really? I'd like to see you beat someone at a higher cultivation level like that in any situation. Something else is happening here."

Various discussions erupted throughout the crowd at the shocking results of the battle. Warren Gildar and the rest of the Crimson Valley Sect crowd looked like they had swallowed a frog, while the Fenix Clan crowd started cheering wildly after gathering their wits.

A dumbstruck look was evident on Cade's, Orren's and Rodi's faces as they looked from John towards Barden.

"Is this the good show you were talking of?" Orenn asked his brother Barden in complete shock.

"Hahaha, you know it. Do you really think I would allow my son to enter this tournament if he couldn't handle it?" Barden was quite pleased by John's performance. Even though he had expected John to win, he hadn't expected him to win this fast.

"What technique did he just use to beat that boy that fast? The fight was over before I could even look at it properly." Orenn was truly shocked at the results of the fight, and was unable to comprehend how John had exploded with that much power. None of them had noticed any powerful essence Qi fluctuations emanating from John, and so they were quite confused as to how John had accomplished such a burst of power.

"Keep watching. The answers to your questions will be revealed soon enough," Barden replied with a smile on his face.

The Varis Clan referee had been dumbstruck this entire time at the results, and had finally managed to gather his wits. He coughed a few times, before loudly announcing the results of the fight.

"The winner of this fight, John Fenix."