The second round had no room for weaklings.
One by one, the standouts stepped onto the stage.
The first was Han Xun, the young brute from the Iron Wall Sect. His entrance was met with silence — not for lack of recognition, but because of the sheer weight of his presence. His Dou Qi erupted like a rolling tide of steel, plating his body in shimmering armor. His opponent darted forward, striking at joints and weak points, but the blows bounced off with nothing more than a hollow clang. Han Xun did not flinch. He stepped in, drew back a single fist, and swung. The impact split the platform's stone and sent his opponent cartwheeling into the arena wall.
Before the dust even settled, another name was called.
Mu Qing, the shadow-summoner. She appeared soundlessly, wrapped in a black veil that hid her face. The moment her Dou Qi unfurled, the arena dimmed. Whispers — faint, unintelligible, like distant screams — seeped into the minds of the crowd. Her opponent tried to circle her, but their shadow betrayed them. From that darkness, tendrils erupted, twisting around their limbs, pinning them in place. She raised a single hand, and the tendrils flung them off the stage like a discarded puppet.
Gasps had barely faded when Fang Ming returned. This time, he didn't hold back. Fire roared from his Dou Qi as it manifested into a coiling serpent of pure flame, its hiss like a furnace breathing. His opponent barely had time to raise a guard before the serpent lunged, swallowing them in an inferno. When the smoke cleared, the challenger lay unconscious at the platform's edge, their clothes charred, the match already decided.
The crowd erupted with cheers and chatter, but the true cultivators — those who could read Dou Qi — sat in tense silence. They had seen enough to know these weren't simply brash youths. These were killers in the making.
In the waiting grounds, Xiao Chen remained still, cloaked, his blackened eyes following each fight. He studied their Dou Qi flow, memorized their tells, and measured the weight of their strength.
And then the announcer's voice rang out again.
"Next!"