Three days passed in a blur of quiet preparation.
Lu Chen spent his nights cultivating in the eastern cliff, pushing his Body Tempering Stage 6 foundation deeper into his compressed meridians without triggering any visible aura fluctuations.
He spent his days watching.
The Cloudmist Jade Pendant kept his true realm buried beneath the Stage 3 facade, and the city continued to treat him exactly the way it always had — with pity, contempt, or indifference.
The martial exchange was held in the central market square, which had been cleared of merchant stalls and surrounded by wooden spectator platforms draped in the Azure Heaven Empire’s blue banners.
Every major family in Cloudmist City had sent representatives.
The Han Family occupied the largest platform, their crimson robes vivid against the morning mist.
The Mo Family sat to their left, quieter and more reserved.
The Bai Family’s platform was decorated with medicinal herb garlands.
The Zhao Family’s platform was the smallest and the most worn, their declining martial tradition reflected in the patched cushions and faded banners.
And the Lu Family’s platform was the one nobody looked at.
Lu Chen sat on the back bench between Lu Qinghe and Elder Lu Wei, his hands folded in his lap, his expression mild.
The Cloudmist Jade Pendant pulsed steadily against his chest.
Around him, the square buzzed with the energy of six thousand cultivators and mortals packed into the spectator stands, all eager to watch the younger generation beat each other senseless for family pride.
City Lord Shen Rong opened the exchange with a brief speech that nobody listened to.
He was a thin, unremarkable man in gray robes, and his public cultivation aura sat squarely at Foundation Establishment Peak.
Lu Chen’s eyes lingered on the City Lord for a moment longer than necessary.
Something about Shen Rong’s posture bothered him.
The man stood too still for a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and his breathing was too controlled, as if he were deliberately holding back a much larger reservoir of qi.
[System scan initiated.]
[Target: Shen Rong, Cloudmist City Lord.]
[Public realm: Foundation Establishment Peak (Stage 9).]
[Anomaly detected: Qi density inconsistent with recorded realm.]
[Deep scan blocked target exceeds System 1.0 range by estimated 1+ realm.]
[Recommendation: Do not attempt forced scan.
Penalty risk high.]
Lu Chen blinked.
Shen Rong was hiding his true cultivation.
The City Lord of a remote frontier town was secretly at least Golden Core, possibly higher.
Lu Chen filed the information away and turned his attention back to the arena.
The first matches were unremarkable.
Qi Gathering juniors from the minor families traded clumsy punches and half-formed techniques, their fights decided more by raw strength than skill.
Lu Chen watched every exchange with quiet, analytical eyes.
He noted footwork patterns.
He memorized breathing rhythms.
He catalogued the telltale shoulder twitches that preceded a right-hand strike and the subtle weight shifts that betrayed a feint.
The System fed him data in thin, unobtrusive prompts at the edge of his vision.
[Fighter analysis: Mo Family junior.
Qi Gathering Stage 5.
Weakness: left knee instability from old injury.
Exploitable with low sweeping attacks.]
[Fighter analysis: Zhao Family junior.
Body Tempering Stage 8.
Strength: raw physical density.
Weakness: zero ranged capability.
Exploitable with distance control.]
[Fighter analysis: Bai Family junior.
Qi Gathering Stage 3.
Strength: alchemical qi enhancement.
Weakness: stamina depletion after 30 breaths.]
Lu Chen absorbed every detail.
He was not fighting today.
Not yet.
But he was learning.
By midday, the competition had narrowed to the senior juniors, and the quality of combat improved dramatically.
A Zhao Family body cultivator at Body Tempering Stage 9 shattered a stone pillar with a single punch and received a roar of approval from the crowd.
A Mo Family merchant heir at Qi Gathering Stage 6 demonstrated a surprisingly effective chain-whip technique that left his opponent bleeding from a dozen shallow cuts.
And then Han Yuze stepped into the arena.
The crowd erupted.
Han Yuze was the golden boy of Cloudmist City, the Han Family’s heir apparent, and the strongest young cultivator in the city at Body Tempering Stage 6.
His saber technique was clean and aggressive, and he dispatched his first opponent in four moves.
His second opponent lasted six.
His third did not bother stepping into the ring and forfeited from the platform.
Han Yuze stood in the center of the arena with his saber resting on his shoulder, his crimson robes spotless, his smile sharp and self-satisfied.
“Is there anyone else?” he called out, his voice carrying easily across the silent square.
The crowd murmured.
Nobody moved.
Han Yuze’s grin widened.
He turned slowly, scanning the family platforms one by one, his gaze sweeping past the Mo Family, the Bai Family, the Zhao Family.
Then his eyes locked on the Lu Family platform.
On Lu Chen.
I see the Lu Family sent their young master,”Han Yuze said, his voice dripping with theatrical surprise.
Lu Chen.
Body Tempering Stage 3.
He let the number hang in the air like an insult.
The crowd chuckled.
I heard your family lost Dragon Ridge last week, Han Yuze continued, pacing lazily across the arena.
I heard your cousin got beaten up by my servants.
I heard your father can’t even afford spirit stones for your cultivation.
Each sentence landed like a stone thrown into still water.
Lu Qinghe’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.
Elder Lu Wei’s face darkened.
Lu Chen did not move.
He sat on the back bench with his hands folded and his expression calm, watching Han Yuze the way a predator watches prey that does not yet know it is being hunted.
[Fighter analysis: Han Yuze.
Body Tempering Stage 6.
Strength: aggressive saber combinations, high burst speed.
Weakness: overcommits on downward strikes, leaves left flank exposed for 0.3 breaths after each combo.]
[Host realm comparison: Body Tempering Stage 6 (Suppressed).
Matchup: Even.
Advantage: Host.]
[Note: Host’s true cultivation is concealed.
Public engagement not recommended at this time.]
Lu Chen read the analysis and smiled his small, quiet smile.
Han Yuze saw the smile.
The grin vanished from his face.
He raised his saber and pointed the blade directly at Lu Chen’s chest.
The steel caught the sunlight and threw a sharp reflection across the Lu Family platform.
You’re next, cripple.
The crowd went silent.
Lu Chen looked at the saber.
Then he looked at Han Yuze.
And he stood up.
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