Lin Shu left with his first payment, his mind already turning.
"I guess I'll have to fight for him for the next three years. He'll probably force me into reaching the gold rank since that's where he'll make the most money out of me," he thought. "But I don't have a problem with that… since that's where I'll be making the most money as well."
His expression remained cold as he walked the street, already planning.
"I'll need ten wins before I can challenge someone in the silver rank and take his place. The maximum matches I can take in a month is six, the minimum is four. So… either there isn't enough space for more, or they simply want to make the most out of every fight by riling up the audience. If they keep them waiting, the crowd will fantasize about the match, long for it, and by the time it happens, their anticipation will peak. Maybe that's what they're aiming for."
Lin Shu returned to his rented place. He sat down, his hand brushing against the small pouch of glowing shards.
"With these aether shards, I can hasten my cultivation. With ten shards, I'm sure I can reach the high stage within a year instead of four or five. To do that, I'll need many pills. Once I feel the waste of the pills hardening, I'll ask Chi Yanqi for a high-rank Crimson Flow Pill."
He leaned back, his gaze sharp.
"With a large-sized clan renowned for their mighty power behind me, I can achieve many things. All I have to do is shine, always make them wealth, and they'll keep investing in me. But I must hide the fact that I'm only a Rank 1 talent. If they learn that, they'll become stingier with their rewards and investments, since my peak would only be at the peak stage. To push a Rank 1 talent to Rank 2 costs more than it's worth. Without pills and aether shards, it could take me decades to reach Rank 2. That's why I must outshine everyone."
His hand clenched into a fist.
"Chi Yanqi said he's new, and it's only him and his disciple there. That means this is my chance to secure my spot before someone else comes. Because sooner or later, the Chi Clan will bring in someone stronger than me. It's only a matter of time."
Chi Yanqi and Chi Aoyan sat within the private chamber granted to them by the arena. Aoyan was seated cross-legged, her breath steady as she cultivated, while her master as always reclined lazily, wine flask in hand. The silence lingered for a time before Yanqi exhaled deeply, his eyes narrowing.
"Aoyan, what do you think of Li?" he asked at last.
Aoyan opened her eyes slowly, as if she had been waiting for him to ask that very question. "I don't trust him," she said coldly. "And I don't understand why you want him with us. We could recruit others—it would be safer, wiser. Why choose him?"
A faint smile curved Yanqi's lips. "And who else would be better? A peak-stage cultivator, perhaps? Even if Li stands only at the mid-stage, his strength is already on par with those at the peak. That isn't something you come across every day. Not even you can claim such power without your artifact and your ascendant weapon. Tell me—doesn't that make him valuable?"
Aoyan's gaze tightened, but she said nothing.
Yanqi leaned forward, his tone sharpening. "His fame will skyrocket soon enough. A boy that age with that cultivation, with that brutality—it will draw eyes. Whether his talent is monstrous or merely hidden by a late start, it matters little. What matters is that people will watch him, speak of him, bet on him. Fame brings wealth, and wealth brings matches. That alone makes him an asset."
His voice dropped, carrying the weight of the clan's shadow. "And don't forget—we are not here as the Chi Clan. What I told him was not for the clan's sake, but for our own survival. We are here to compete against the other heirs, just as the patriarch ordered. This stage—this arena—will become the battlefield for that struggle some heirs might go to other places to prove themselves to the patriarch but i am sure that most will come here since it's the best way to gain fast and great fame and feats. Every heir with ambition will come, and most will try to forge their own teams."
He straightened, his smile turning cold. "Wealthier heirs can buy loyalty with treasures and weapons. They will bribe, tempt, and snatch away any strong cultivator they can find, all for the right to stand as main heir. Do you think we can match them coin for coin?"
Aoyan's hands clenched over her knees.
"That is why we must move first," Yanqi continued. "That is why we came here before the others. And that is why I will not let Li slip away. With him, we have a blade more attracting than theirs. Without him…" He let the words hang, then drank from his flask with a satisfied smirk.
"Without him, we'll already have lost a very valuable asset."
Chi Aoyan understood her master's words, yet her heart still wavered. To her, Lin Shu seemed far too ruthless—his presence was heavy, almost demonic. But maybe that was her inexperience speaking. Maybe she had simply never seen the true face of the world outside her sheltered perspective.
She reminded herself of her master's teachings: "Never assume you are right just because your feelings say so."
"So we should go and get more people into our team then," she finally said.
Her master nodded, his tone carrying a mix of authority and calculation.
"Yes. And I also want you to make sure you don't fall behind Lin Shu in match victories. That boy will most likely reach the silver rank within five months. With twenty matches in five months, he'll need 20 wins to earn the right to challenge a silver rank fighter unless he loses a match then he'll need need more then five months. After that, special matches will become a must for him. He'll need to win three of them to fulfill the first condition for gold rank."
Her eyes widened slightly. "Gold rank so soon?"
Her master's smile was faint, but there was no doubt in his voice.
"Yes. And once he gets there the other condition must be fullfiled and the real test begins. He'll need 50 normal victories, but that's not the real challenge. Special matches can replace them, depending on difficulty. One may count as two, three, or even five normal matches. If he takes that path, his rise will be frighteningly fast."
Chi Yanqi drank again as he then said, "I think he'll be able to reach the gold rank quickly, after a year and a half depending on whether he wins all four matches a month. But he'll be in his real domain in the gold rank. There he will have to fight to stay there, since I can assure you he'll lose just as much as he wins. Even if his strength, speed, and defense are comparable to a peak stage cultivator, the special matches there are extremely difficult—some even involving a Rank 2 cultivator.
"And the ruling will change. He will be forced into taking more special matches than normal ones, since those are what bring the most wealth to the arena in fact the normal matches there will be a way for example for rivals or enemies to fight really in fact he'll most likely have a rival and so will and the other agents will make sure of that after what's better then having two people always fight and their matches are always so close since they're almost equals you can say i have my own rival here as well but she's an annoying old hag."chi yanqi drank more on the thought of her and then continued"anyways He'll also have to fight a death match just to even reach the gold stage. In that one, he'll either die or win, if it happens. Of course, if his opponent is a coward, he can just step down for him, but that person will be demoted by a rank. Still, I guess that's a hundred times better than dying—especially if your opponent is a monster when compared to you."
Chi Aoyan then asked, "Do you think he will reach the gold rank in a year and a half?"
Her master thought for a while before replying, "I think he'll be able to reach it in two to three years since he's bound to lose a lot of matches due to inexperience and not power. I don't believe there are many that can stop him in a head-to-head fight in the silver rank. But to be honest, I don't think the arena master would like to see him win all the time. After all, if you keep watching someone win over and over, it eventually bores you, and the arena never wants its audience bored."
He took another drink before continuing, "So I believe after he wins a little too much, they'll probably force him into joining some special matches. In those, he'll likely lose more than he wins since the conditions are so different—sometimes even breaking your opponent's skull won't make you the winner. But don't get me wrong, the arena isn't personally against him winning. It's just bad business if someone keeps crushing everyone in the lower ranks. So they'll show the audience that he can lose by making him enter those special matches. The crowd doesn't want the obvious—they don't want to know who wins before the match even starts. What they love are surprises. They love underdogs who crawl to victory even when all odds are against them, not someone who outshines everyone forever."