Lin Mu's interest was finally peaked after seeing that one of the two Core condensation realm contestants, Enlai Lan will be the next fighter. At least this way he hoped that he would get to see a good fight, but as soon as the opponent found out who he was fighting, his face fell.
"I forfeit!" Gen Jou declared.
"WOOHOO!" The audience shouted.
"Lord Enlai is unmatchable here, no one shall be victorious against him!" One of the people who's seemed to have come with Enlai Lan shouted.
The people did not seem disappointed by the forfeit, but were even more excited. It seemed like most of them had already expected this anyway.
"What a coward! This isn't even an actual battle, and he's still scared of doing a basic demonstration." Wu Teng uttered, feeling even more bored.
~Sigh~
A sigh escaped Wu Hei's lips as he heard his brother's words and it seemed like there weren't many supporters for him. Lin Mu himself didn't know what to think of it and just continued watching. After this match, a few more happened until it was time for the last two matches of this round.
Lin Mu perked up his ears as it was likely that he would get chosen in these two matches as only five people were left to fight now.
"What's going to happen to the person who's left at the last? Don't we have an odd number of contestants?" Lin Mu questioned Wu Hei.
"They'll just get a free pass to the next round." Wu Hei answered.
"Oh… I see." Lin Mu responded.
"The next contestant is… Qing Yuan Tiu! Who will fight… Bin Tao!" The referee announced.
The man named Bin Tao walked down from his seat and went to the ring. But Qing Yuan Tiu seemed to be nowhere.
"Qing Yuan Tiu? Qing Yuan Tiu!" The referee called out again.
Wu Hei and Zhen Sui narrowed their brows as they looked around, unable to find her here.
"Has she not arrive yet? Alright, then the win goes to Bin Tao by…" The referee was just about to announce the winner when he was interrupted.
"WAIT! I'M HERE!" A woman's voice called out.
The man Bin Tao who was getting excited over getting a free win was suddenly doused. He looked at the voice and saw that his opponent had come. But when she got closer, he saw her appearance and got a smile on his face.
"Hehe! At least this will be enjoyable," He said as Qing Yuan Tiu approached the ring.
"Alright, get into your positions and we'll begin." The referee stated.
The two of them moved into the ring, and Bin Tao had his eyes on Qing Yuan Tiu the entire time. Lin Mu and the others were also observing her from the seats and could see that she was a young woman, probably in her early twenties. She had a pleasant oval face and yet her figure could not be seen due to the large and bulky robe she was wearing.
One would think that it even hampered her beauty and she would look much better with slimmer clothes, but from the indifferent look in her eyes, one would shudder. Lin Mu found her to be interesting, as he couldn't feel any spirit qi fluctuations from her.
It was actually a bit similar to Wu Hei's condition, where he could sense it only if he was close enough. Lin Mu wanted to check her cultivation base but knew that if he probed her with his spirit sense, it would be considered as interfering in the fight.
"Watch her closely… she's not simple." Wu Hei whispered to Lin Mu.
"Oh? Finally, a worthy contestant." Wu Teng also said, as his eyes gleamed.
Hearing both brothers speaking in favor of the woman, Lin Mu couldn't help but get more interested.
"Oh greetings, I hope we'll get to have a good fight today. And please forgive me if I hurt you, fists and legs do not have eyes." Bin Tao spoke in a sleazy tone.
"Humph" Qing Yuan Tiu gave no response to his words and simply got into fighting stance.
"FIGHT!" The referee declared.
~CRACK~
As soon as the referee shouted, a loud crack was heard. Lin Mu's eyes darted to the two contestants, but he couldn't see what had happened. He had thought that someone had gotten injured, but it didn't seem like it as they were still in their places.
"Wait… what's that near her legs?" Lin Mu muttered, seeing something near the legs of Qing Yuan Tiu.
Currently, six metal rods had appeared from the clothes of Qing Yuan Tiu that were covering her legs. There were three from each of her legs and they had pierced the rock platform of the ring. The opponent Bin Tao was a bit confused seeing this and had no idea what those metal rods were.
"Did she just… fix herself to the floor?" One of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect asked.
"Seems like it… perhaps she doesn't want to be knocked out of the ring?" another one commented.
These two were junior disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect that Lin Mu had seen at the Courtyard.
"No, do you two don't know who she is?" Fa Lao, the senior brother asked.
"No Senior brother, who is she?" The two disciples questioned.
~Sigh~
"What were you two doing during the briefing?" Fa Lao asked with an apprehensive gaze.
"We… we… we were out in the city, so we missed the briefing." One of the Junior disciples spoke in a hesitating tone.
Fa Lao shook his head and said something under his breath before calming down.
"Make sure you do not miss any further briefings. She is Qing Yuan Tiu, the Core condensation realm disciple of the Autumn Valley sect." Fa Lao answerer.
"Core condensation?"
"Autumn valley sect?"
The two Junior disciples only seemed to get more confused after that. Fa Lao and the others seemed to be embarrassed by them now and simply said, "Just watch."
"Whatever tricks you're trying won't work." Bin Tao said after noticing the metal rods.
"Seems like you just trapped yourself here." Bin Tao added as he lunged forward to attack.