Death... and me

The next round had 2048 participants...or so it was supposed to. However, a few of the previous round winners had truly grievous injuries. Once they saw who they should fight against in the next round, they understood that it would be tantamount to suicide if they went out. Because of that, 27 participants passed straight through this round without even fighting. Rean...wasn't one of them.

'Death Style, First Form, Three Claws of the Dragon!'

Well, there weren't three copies of his sword when Rean attacked his opponent. Only the arc that the blade followed was present, which was the move Rean needed at that moment.

Rean's opponent wasn't a Saint Realm cultivator this time. Nevertheless, he was in the Late Stage of the Soul Transformation Realm, one stage higher than Rean.

'Tempest of Fury!'

With both fighters using swords, several exchanges played out at very high speeds considering a battle without Divine Energy.

*Clang, clang, clang...*

Unfortunately, the image of Rean healing himself completely after the last battle still played in the mind of his opponent. Not to mention that Rean frantically attacked as if he didn't care about any possible injury at all. The only part Rean covered were the ones that could lead him to instant death.

And just like that, both Rean and his opponents began to accumulate injuries all over their bodies. The only difference was that Rean was definitely stronger than the guy, so his injuries were nothing to be worried about. That only helped everyone confirm that Rean didn't need to care about his own wounds.

*Bang!*

It didn't take long for Rean to find a flaw in the opponent's defenses before kicking his stomach. The guy was taken aback by that outcome since, in all the matches so far, Rean had never used another thing other than his sword to attack.

"You were focusing on my sword way too much," Rean said with a smile as his opponent vomited blood. However, his smile quickly disappeared as a thought appeared in his mind. 'Fuck! This was something the ice block would have said. Hey, dead man! Leave my head!'

Roan's mouth twitched outside after that. 'Fuck you! Do you think I would have smiled while saying those words? You're having too much fun, idiot.'

Sister Orb couldn't help but ask, [Does that mean Rean is turning into what a happy Roan should be?]

Rean and Roan felt a chill on their backs after hearing that. 'Let's just pretend we didn't say anything.'

Rean's opponent tried to return to the fight, but Rean was merciless with his kick, breaking quite a few bones with the attack. From there onward, it was more or less a scene of incessant bullying until Rean emerged victoriously.

"Rean Larks from Lukimira Sect wins!"

Rean was now part of the top 1024 participants. With that, he took a deep breath and quickly healed all the injuries caused by his opponent. This time, they disappeared even faster as none of them was as serious as the one on his shoulder previously. "Well, let's continue like this."

Only Roan knew that Rean could have won without getting a single scratch. He purposely selected the areas to get injured just to show that it didn't matter. Roan might not like it, but Roan had to admit that Rean's plan was very effective against his opponents. After all, if Rean could win against a Saint Realm cultivator, why would he lose to someone at the Soul Transformation Realm?

In the next round, a few battles were won without even happening again. However, they were few since no one wanted to give up at this point. Naturally, Rean had to fight once again. By now, most of the low-level cultivators had already said their goodbyes to the competition. The ones who got this far were basically the lucky ones.

Rean's opponent this time just so happened to be one of those. He was at the Middle Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, something that didn't pose any threat to Rean. As one could expect, Rean finished the battle in just a moment.

There were 1024 cultivators remaining... and quite a few sorry appearances among them. At the same time, there were others who were jubilant, having gotten this far without receiving any significant injury, if any at all. Rean was basically the only exception to the rule, having been injured badly before but still gleaming with healthiness.

"Rean Larks from Lukimira Sect wins!"

512 cultivators...

"Rean Larks from Lukimira Sect wins!"

256 cultivators...

"Rean Larks from Lukimira Sect wins!"

128 cultivators...

"Rean Larks from Lukimira Sect wins!"

64 cultivators...

"Rean Larks from Lukimira Sect wins!"

Rean began to feel something was off by the time he got to the top 32, though. 'How come I haven't fought a single Saint Realm cultivator since the first one? Could I have been really this lucky?'

Rean was right. The battles were indeed randomly chosen...but not completely. Once Ravio found the cultivators who had the highest chances of reaching the finals, he separated them during the drawings. Their opponents were still randomly chosen, but they definitely wouldn't be people like Rean or the other Saint Realm candidates.

First of all, there weren't that many Saint Realm cultivators to start with. With that being said, it wasn't so simple to get one of them as an opponent in the initial rounds. Ravio's separation only made a hard thing to happen become impossible.

However, one must remember that this first battle-related competition had more cultivators than any of the previous tests. With that said, it also had more Saint Realm participants. Now that only 32 cultivators remained, almost all of them were in the Saint Realm, except for five people. Rean, of course, was one of them.

Rean then checked where his next arena was and made his way there. Well, it was easy to imagine the expression of Rean's opponent once he saw the young white-haired man. "Shit, why does it have to be you?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders, replying, "Well, it's not like I'm choosing my opponents either. By the way, you're called Luval, right? I saw one of your fights."

Luval nodded in response. "That's me. However, don't think I'm some pushover just like your previous opponents."

Rean agreed with him, saying, "But of course! Otherwise, how could you have made this far? Anyways, let's have fun!"