The old man in front of me shook and was about to remove the talisman, "Ah-ah-ah!" I said as I raised my finger. "I just told you, do anything besides concede, and I'll blow your head off."
"This tournament doesn't allow deaths!" the old man said, "So I doubt you have the guts to do that," the old man said.
He does have a point, "Well, true, but now we're in a pickle aren't we." I turned to the referee and said, "Don't you think this is a problem? I mean this will just make anyone with a sword on their necks not surrender because they can't be killed by the opponent." I spoke.
The old man was about to rip the talisman as I was talking to the referee, but a single twist of my finger lit up the lines on the talisman, causing him to stop moving.
"Hmm, you're indeed right, let me get back to my colleagues." The referee flew forward and grouped together with a few other referees that began discussing if they should change the rules or not.
Leaving me all alone in front of a man who was acting like a statue, a performance worth an Oscar.
"So… this is awkward," I spoke smiling at the man who was seething in rage."
"For putting me in this situation, I'll make sure to break your bones and drink your blood, you little fiend!" the old man said.
"Sorry about that, but this is a competition, and you were lacking, just because you're not strong enough to beat me doesn't make it my fault. It's your own shortcoming that put you in this situation. And don't even try and use divine sense to dispel the talisman," I said.
Which caused a few veins to pop up on his forehead as his sneaky attempt was exposed.
Soon, the referee came back.
"The judge has agreed that if the opponent, who is in a clear disadvantageous situation refuses to give up, their opponent will not be held responsible if they were to be killed." The referee spoke.
I smiled at the old man and said, "Seems like you're out of luck. How about you give up."
The old man roared with indignation and charged me as he ripped the talisman away from his forehead. He had a surprised expression, then his face switched to a leer.
"You trickster! I knew you were full of shit! Now Die!"
'Idiot,' I mumbled and linked both fingers and released the Qi charged up in the talisman he ripped.
While he was approaching me, the talisman that he ripped and hadn't had the chance to throw away lit up and then exploded. Causing his whole body to be flung to the side like a ragdoll from within a massive pillar of flame and smoke.
With his entire left side seared to a crisp and his whole arm no longer a part of him, the old man's shock was apparent before he shuddered and fell unconscious outside the arena.
"Well, you're lucky I didn't really want to ruin the day with a death. You should be thankful to the tournament host that you lost only an arm. On any other day, I'd have you blown to pieces…" I turned and flung my robes behind me before I slowly stepped down from the arena, victory clearly mine.
It took a few moments for the audience to realize that a Core cultivator had actually beaten a Nascent Soul cultivator with so much ease that it was a miracle to see.
And then it came, the standing ovation of all of the crowd along with a massive howl and shout of praise and cheers.
I basked in the glory for a moment then went back to my old spot, on the ground and sat down meditating and waiting for my turn.
The rest of the Core Cultivators were all surprised and had their hopes raised as they realized that no such thing as impossible existed.
Though I highly doubt they have the same material as I do to beat a Nascent Soul cultivator but it doesn't matter, at least they now have some courage and will do some decent fighting.
Suddenly, my mind was assaulted with a warning, "You better give up when you're facing me otherwise I'll make you regret thinking that you're better than the lowly Core Cultivator rank that you are."
This came from the person named Lang something, the guy that almost crashed into me.
And since I didn't like people invading the privacy of my mental solitude
I looked the man in the eyes and activated my Sky Pearl's inscriptions fused with my divine sense.
Immediately, the man saw sights of himself, hanged, cut, burned to a crisp, insects crawled within his skin, his flesh skinned off his bones, nails pierced under his nails, teeth drilled through with a rusty long nail, his eyes poked out with forks, his lungs ripped out of his back and then finally skewered on a pole and that went from his anus to exit through his throat.
These sights were projected with my divine sense and poisoned his mind with vividity too much to not believe.
Immediately, I saw the man's face pale for a moment before he threw up and fell to his knees.
Causing everyone around him to panic from the sudden occurrence.
The man shook and shuddered, and gave me a look that clearly identified who of us was the lion and who was the rabbit.
And just to make matters clearer, "The next time you think you can send a Divine Sense Message to my mind like that, what you just saw, will happen to you. And you better believe it."
He opened his mouth to speak, but immediately thought against it, he was already in an awkward position and explained that he had a sickness that sometimes acts up.
I kept watch over the battles and understood a few of the opponents fighting styles. The most auspicious were the man with the Zither, who was pretty damn scary.
Because I had no idea how he fought, the moment he went to the arena, he sat calmly on the same stool he had earlier, played a few notes and the guy in front of him straight up gave up.
The second was a fist-fighter, who blew through every sword his opponent threw at him.
Surprisingly Meng Hao defeated his opponent in the first exchange. The teleport and try to throw a Core Cultivator in the sky no longer worked. As Meng Hao's body was apparently too heavy for the first stage Nascent Soul to take and teleport with him. giving Meng Hao the opportunity to grab and bust the ground with the Nascent Cultivator's face.
And finally, a man who actually used puppets to battle. He had three puppets at his disposal, one of them was a massive hulking beast that was honestly bigger than Y. Though bigger doesn't mean better. It's about the function, (pun intended).
The massive puppet stood behind him and blocked any stray attacks, while two smaller human-sized puppets charged his opponent with swords. The fight didn't last long before the opponent gave up as he didn't have the firepower to overpower the two puppets and beat the puppet master. So the battle ended with the person using the puppets not even moving.
Sadly, none of the rest of the Core Cultivators managed to win their rounds, and they all lost.
Eighteen opponents left out of the thirty-six.
Which will be slightly odd after the next elimination, as nine will remain…what will they do then?
The second round of eliminations started and It was my turn once again.
And luckily I ended up facing the person with the puppets.