The entire crowd immediately focused on the stage that Dylan was fighting on. Being the highest rated fighter in the tournament, most people were expecting him to win. This was his first fight, and everyone was curious as to how powerful he really was.
His opponent was a boy from the Fenix Clan whose ranking was dead last out of the sixty four competitors. He looked towards Dylan with trepidation, but still held his sword firmly in his hand. The referee commenced the start of the fight, and Dylan casually spoke to his opponent.
"Give up, or don't blame me for being merciless."
"No. I know I have no chance of winning, but I will still fight nonetheless," the boy responded. He knew he would lose, but he wanted to lose with dignity instead of giving up before even fighting.
"Hmph, fight? There won't be a fight." Dylan quickly raised his sword and slashed it down before his opponent could even react. An incredibly powerful beam of blood red sword Qi traveled towards the Fenix Clan boy, and arrived before he could even react.
"So fast!" The crowd could hardly believe the speed at which Dylan had attacked. Not only was the attack incredibly quick, but it was also powerful.
The boy hastily raised his own sword to block, and the powerful beam of Qi collided against his sword.
"Gah!"
The boy was violently sent flying backwards, and the sound of his arm bones breaking was audible. The boy landed hard on the stage and tumbled over several times, blood trailing behind him. Before his body could even come to a stop, Dylan arrived next to the boy and kicked out with all his might. Qi covered his entire leg as he used a crude but powerful imitation of John's kick to send his opponent flying off the arena and into the stands.
Boom!
The boy collided against the stone stands, and bones could once again be heard breaking. The entire crowd was immediately silenced as they had no idea how to react to what they just witnessed. Dylan's strength was completely overwhelming, and he had won with just a single move.
Some Fenix Clan Elders immediately reacted and ran over to the boy, and their eyes immediately hardened as they inspected the boy.
"Quickly, take him back to the carriages and administer aid. Give him a Golden Mist Healing Pill." An elder barked out orders, and the boy was immediately carted off. Cade Fenix used his divine sense to inspect the boy's body as he was carried away, and became instantly enraged at what he saw.
"Warren, what the hell is the meaning of this?" Cade couldn't help but yell out in anger. He knew that Warren had most likely given Dylan instructions to hurt any Fenix Clan member, but this was going over the line.
"What do you mean? Dylan just did exactly what your boy did in his first fight?" Warren shrugged and nonchalantly answered, but a slight smile betrayed his otherwise calm demeanor.
"Exactly the same my ass. Your boy will heal just fine within a week or two, but Dylan just nearly killed our junior. If he's lucky, he'll fully recover in half a year, if not more. I'm warning you, do not go too far, or don't blame me for being impolite." Cade Fenix angrily warned.
Although the Fenix Clan boy was gravely injured, his dantian was not crippled and he was not dead. It would take a long time for him to heal, but he would eventually recover and be able to cultivate again. Since this was the case, he had no case to try to get Dylan disqualified, so the only thing he could do was personally warn Warren from going too far.
"Like I said before, if you want to fight, let's fight. Otherwise, don't threaten me with these petty words." Warren responded bluntly.
Cade Fenix wanted to rebuke, but he knew arguing too much was beneath his status as a clan leader. The only thing he could do was make anyone in his clan surrender if they got matched up against Dylan, to avoid something like this from happening again.
Dylan started walking off the stage, and he made sure to look directly at John as he did so. John's provocation of the Crimson Valley Sect ignited his ire, and his revealing of having an Innate Variant Body ignited that ire even further. Dylan was used to being the number one genius, and would do anything to make sure it stayed that way.
John stared straight back at Dylan with anger in his eyes. Although he wasn't close friends with the boy who was injured, he still knew him quite well. They had spared many times while growing up, and John thought well of the boy. Seeing him injured in such a manner just to send John a message was going too far.
"Goddamnit, this Dylan pisses me off just as much as Jason." Miko was also enraged by the actions of Dylan. "He acts like he's so amazing, yet I would wipe the floor with his corpse if I wanted to. What's so amazing about him?"
Miko made sure to speak loudly so that the crowd and Dylan himself heard his comments. Dylan's face contorted in rage and was about to respond when a voice suddenly spoke up from the stands.
"That's tough talk from someone who didn't even make the finals of the Qi Condensation tournament. Last I remember, I kicked your ass in the tournament, so why are you acting so tough?"
Miko and the rest of the crowd instantly looked over to the source of the voice, and found Jason from the Crimson Valley Sect lazily leaning back in the stands with an arrogant look on his face. He had found Miko's comments all throughout the tournament annoying to listen to, and so he wanted to silence Miko here and now.
"Motherfucker, you want to fight right now? I had only just advanced the day before the tournament and I still almost beat you. Not only that, but you're three years older than me and you still have the gall to mouth off? If I was you, I would just kill myself out of embarrassment."
Miko immediately responded to Jason in anger.
"What did you say?" Jason's face immediately darkened as his urge to kill Miko exploded outwards. Miko looked unflinchingly at Jason and was about to respond when Waylon cut both of them off.
"That's enough, it's time for the next round."
The sixth round had ended and the remaining fights of the seventh and last round were about to start. Both Dalton and Joy, who were the second highest placements after Dylan fought in this stage. They both showed amazing combat prowess, and easily won their fights.
"The round of sixty four has now concluded. From here on out, the matchups will be random, and the matchups for the next round of thirty two have been posted. Please look at your matchups and proceed to your respective arenas." Waylon once more instructed the group of participants.
John spotted Ryan walking over to the matchup board and walked up to him with a smile. "So how did it go?"
"Quite well, surprisingly." Ryan responded but added nothing further. Both of them were here for the tournament, so matters of the heart could wait for later.
The next round fights were carried out, and John, Ryan, Ella, Dylan, Dalton and Joy all won their fights relatively easily. John once again used the power of his body cultivation to overwhelm his opponent with pure force, which shocked the crowd once more, despite them knowing about his Innate Variant Body.
When the round of sixteen matches were posted, both John and Ryan immediately walked over to look at their matchups.
A depressed look instantly appeared on Ryan's face as John reached out and consoled him with some back pats.
"Tough luck buddy, but since you're matched up against me, this is where your tournament ends."