“The winner, Zhao Tiehe from Three Mountains City!”

The referee’s announcement finally landed, and almost simultaneously, Zhao Tiehe’s figure, having exerted all his strength to throw a punch, collapsed to the ground.

His injuries were actually much more severe than Lin Zhengli’s, and his stamina had long been exhausted. He had thrown that final punch purely on willpower.

Now, he lay limp, flat on his back.

Lin Zhengli, on the other hand, had been almost hammered into the ground by his fist and had already lost consciousness.

The arena was a scene of devastation: shattered rocks, broken vines, huge craters, splashes of water, bloodstains… utter ruin.

And the applause from the sidelines only erupted at this moment.

At first, it was sparse, because neither of the combatants were local. But soon, it exploded with a roar.

This battle was too spectacular, and it made everyone recognize the tenacity of the Three Mountains City cultivators.

They admired Zhao Tiehe, and by extension, changed their view of the region he represented. Perhaps this was what they wanted to prove most, fighting to the death.

They were born in a barren land, in mountainous regions teeming with ferocious beasts, but they were not barbarians. They had their own loves and hates, their own pursuits, their own… honor.

“It’s not easy.” Ling He clapped until his hands were red. He was perhaps the only one among them who had never referred to the Three Mountains City cultivators as mountain bumpkins.

Because he understood the feeling of being looked down upon, he never looked down on others.

Zhao Rucheng, however, was only focused on another issue: “With those two beat up like that, Third Brother gets to win without even fighting!”

Huang Azhan next to him was already calculating: “Ten Dao merits for winning a round, and he wins these two without even fighting. First place in the one-year Three Cities Tournament, double Dao merit rewards. That adds up to… fifty Dao merits. Half a Opening Meridian Pill! He’s gotta treat!”

If it weren’t for Jiang Anan’s presence, he probably would have already mentioned the Third Fragrance Tower.

“What are Dao merits? Are they worth a lot?” Jiang Anan asked curiously.

“Yeah.” Zhao Rucheng already knew the story of Jiang Anan earning money to “pay off her debt,” and teased her, “One Dao merit is worth more than that whole box of treasures you earned!”

Jiang Anan counted on her fingers, very seriously, and then stretched her arms out wide, drawing a large circle, “Really, so much!”

……

After the first round of the tournament, there was only a short recovery time. This was unfair to Zhao Tiehe, who had just gone through a hard fight, but that was the rule.

After repeated inquiries from the referee, Zhao Tiehe still wobbled to his feet. He still wanted to fight.

Jiang Wang stood opposite him, hand on his sword, his gaze deep.

“Come down,” Sun Xiaoman said.

She looked like a little girl, and her voice was that of a little girl, but Zhao Tiehe couldn’t ignore what she said.

He turned his head and looked at Sun Xiaoman: “I still have one life to fight with.”

His tone wasn’t intense, but rather calm, because he was stating a fact.

Jiang Wang was no weakling, having defeated Yang Xingyong head-on, and he was in perfect condition.

At this moment, he really didn’t have anything left to fight with, except his life.

“Your life is important. Three Mountains City needs you,” Sun Xiaoman said very seriously, “We allowed you to fight to the death before because you still had a chance. We don’t allow it now because the chance is gone. You have a lot of resources invested in you. Your life can’t be wasted.”

It was unclear which sentence persuaded him. Zhao Tiehe turned around and staggered off the field.

It was hard to tell if it was just a trick of the light, but at the moment he turned, Jiang Wang seemed to see a flash of tears in his eyes.

A man like that would actually cry?

Jiang Wang couldn’t understand the near-obsessive concern for victory and defeat of these Three Mountains City cultivators.

He had already done his best, so why would he be sad that he couldn’t fight to the death?

With these questions in mind, Jiang Wang welcomed the third round of the tournament—Lin Zhengli hadn’t even woken up yet, and Lin Zhengren conceded defeat on his behalf again.

Jiang Wang thus became the first-year champion of the Three Cities Tournament. Because his opponents were both injured, it didn’t seem very convincing, but…

“Who cares! Dao merits in hand are the real deal,” Zhao Rucheng said.

At this point, Jiang Wang had already withdrawn from the arena and joined Ling He and others as a spectator.

The Maple Forest City people were very generous to the cultivator who had brought them honor, and even cleared a space for Jiang Wang to sit down and rest.

Jiang Anan and that arrogant little girl were sitting in the very front, while Jiang Wang and the others sat behind them, chatting casually.

The only thing that surprised Jiang Wang was that the cloud mat they were sitting on wasn’t provided by Zhao Rucheng, but was brought by the old man who had escorted the little girl Qingzhi.

This cloud mat was extremely light and soft to the touch, an object that ordinary people couldn’t afford to enjoy. Yet Qingzhi’s family had taken out such a large piece to sit on the ground.

Jiang Wang could only lament that the world of the rich was truly a never-ending competition.

Thinking of his own upbringing, his family had land and shops, and he never had to worry about food and drink. But since he met Zhao Rucheng, he often felt like a beggar.

The hunchbacked old man looked Jiang Wang up and down, and suddenly said, “I didn’t expect you to return that box of treasures. Little friend Jiang, you taught your sister very well.”

The old man’s voice was very kind, but it was unconvincing given his lecherous appearance.

Jiang Wang, after all, wasn’t one to judge by appearances, and replied respectfully, “It was the right thing to do. It was just a childish joke, how could we take it seriously?”

“Confucius said: ‘Wealth and rank attained through unrighteousness are to me as fleeting clouds.’ Little friend Jiang’s words have a Confucian flair.”

Discussing Confucian values with a Daoist disciple in Zhuang Country, this hunchbacked old man probably had his brain damaged by all his quoting.

Jiang Wang gave a casual laugh and said, “The match has started.”

……

The Three Cities Tournament had one-year, three-year, and five-year levels, but the rules of the competition were generally the same.

Li Jianqiu and Wang Changxiang appeared at the same time, and three matches were held simultaneously.

Jiang Wang was fully focused, watching the overall situation.

Li Jianqiu’s opponent was from Three Mountains City. This match was still very exciting. Both sides displayed extremely exquisite Daoist spell manipulation, attacking back and forth, locked in a long battle. Finally, Li Jianqiu defeated his opponent with fire element Daoist spells.

The battle between Wang Changxiang and the Wangjiang City cultivator was relatively simple. After the battle began, he first summoned a mist with Daoist spells to obscure his opponent’s vision. Then, he calmly made a hand seal and used a “Breath of Wind Dragon Twister,” blowing his opponent into the sky.

Spells like the “Breath of Wind Dragon Twister” were almost invincible in battles at this level. Jiang Wang remembered that in Small Forest Town, one “Breath of Wind Dragon Twister” could drain Wang Changxiang dry, and he wondered if he would forfeit the subsequent battles.

But after the battle ended, Wang Changxiang immediately took out a Dao Origin Stone and began to absorb it…

It was evident that the Wang family had made a huge investment, determined to win the three-year championship.

But what the Maple Forest City people were most concerned about was the match of the mysterious black-clothed man from Three Mountains City.

When the black robe was removed, revealing a little fatty with a very comical appearance, the spectators of Maple Forest City all sighed with regret.

In their imagination, the black robe should have concealed a big demon king with a scarred face, or at the very least, someone with a fierce appearance. It shouldn’t be a soft fatty who looked easy to bully.

But what didn’t completely disappoint them was that this little fatty was very strong!

At the start of the match, perhaps because his teammates had successively lost, the three-year cultivator from Wangjiang City went all out.

He used five Water Cones as a vanguard, and insidiously buried Wind Blades between the Water Cones.

Then came Earth Spikes, and finally, he prepared a Raging Wave.

Wind, water, and earth element Daoist spells were mixed together, a series of connections that were dazzling.

But the Three Mountains City little fatty only did one thing from beginning to end—charge.

He charged forward mindlessly, almost enduring the overwhelming Daoist spells.

Charging in front of his opponent.

Then, he raised his fist and slammed it down.

The battle was over.

The clothes on the little fatty’s body were riddled with holes, but the exposed fat was still white and rosy.

And his opponent had already fallen.

Everyone around was stunned.

“His physical defense is too strong!” Ling He exclaimed.

“Is he a pure martial artist?”

“No, that last punch was the Stone-Breaking Fist. He used Daoist spells.”

“There’s no sign of Stone Skin or anything like that, so why is his defense so strong?”

These young people had limited experience and couldn’t figure it out after discussing for a long time.

“It’s the Earth Skin Drum, a permanently solidified Daoist spell,” the hunchbacked old man, who had been listening for a long time, suddenly said quietly.

But he refused to say anything more about the specific details of this Daoist spell.