The next forty-eight hours were a blur of violence and splinters.
Jiang Chen didn't sleep. He spent the days in the woodshed, attacking the Iron-Wood logs not with an axe, but with his hands.
Swish. Crack.
He practiced the [Rending Claw]. At first, activating the skill felt like shoving his hand into a furnace. The Qi burned his meridians, and his fingers cramped into useless hooks. But he kept slashing.
He shredded five hundred logs. His fingers bled, healed, and bled again. The wood didn't split cleanly anymore; it looked like it had been mauled by a bear.
By the morning of the third day, the pain was gone.
Jiang Chen sat in the pile of sawdust, his chest heaving. He looked at his hand. He flexed his fingers. They didn't look like human hands anymore—the knuckles were slightly too large, the skin too rough.
[Skill Proficiency Increased: Rending Claw (Novice -> Beginner)]
[Activation Time: 0.5 Seconds.]
"Good enough," Jiang Chen whispered.
BONG. BONG. BONG.
The sect bells rang. The Tournament had begun.
The Lower Plaza was a cauldron of noise.
Over a thousand servants were crammed into the stone square, surrounded by makeshift wooden fighting platforms. On the perimeter, Outer Disciples loitered in groups, tossing bags of Spirit Stones, placing bets on which servant would end up crippled first.
The air smelled of unwashed bodies, dust, and greed.
Jiang Chen stood in the back, leaning against a pillar. He felt cool. [Serpent's Breath] was active at a low hum, keeping his heart rate slow and his nerves dead.
He watched the first few matches. They were pathetic. Two malnourished men rolling in the dirt, pulling hair and throwing sand.
"Pathetic," Jiang Chen muttered. "Is this what I used to look like?"
[Affirmative. Host was previously ranked 989th in physical assessment.]
"You don't have to remind me."
"Next Match! Jiang Chen versus 'Ox' Li!"
The referee's voice—amplified by a Sound Array—boomed over the crowd.
A roar of excitement went up. 'Ox' Li was a local celebrity among the servants. He was the assistant to the Sect Blacksmith—a giant standing seven feet tall, with arms as thick as tree trunks and a face like a slab of granite.
"You're dead, trash!"
Ox Li climbed onto the stage. The wood creaked under his weight. He was shirtless, revealing muscles that rippled with every movement. He pointed a massive, soot-stained finger at Jiang Chen.
"I'm going to snap you in half like a dry twig!"
Jiang Chen walked up the steps slowly. He looked small compared to the giant. A child facing a bear.
[Quest Generated: The First Round]
Opponent: Ox Li (Mortal - Peak Physical Strength).
Objective: Win.
Bonus Objective: Total Dominance (Win in under 5 seconds).
Reward: +10 EV, +0.2 Strength.
Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed. Five seconds? The System is impatient.
"Begin!" the referee shouted.
Ox Li didn't waste time. He roared—a wet, guttural sound—and charged. He raised a fist the size of a sledgehammer. He didn't use technique; he didn't need to. Against a normal human, this punch would shatter the skull.
The wind from the punch blew Jiang Chen's hair back.
The crowd winced. "He's dead!"
Jiang Chen didn't dodge. He didn't use [Rending Claw]. He didn't need to reveal his trump cards for a mortal.
[Analysis: Opponent Strength approx 3.0.]
[Host Strength: 4.1.]
[Conclusion: Overpower.]
Jiang Chen raised his right hand. Open palm.
THUD.
The sound was heavy, dull, and shocking. Like a meat cleaver hitting a chopping block.
Ox Li's fist stopped dead.
Jiang Chen had caught it. He hadn't moved an inch. His feet were planted like roots in the ground.
Ox Li froze, his eyes bulging. He pushed. He grunted. He strained until the veins on his neck popped like worms. "What... how..."
"You are strong for a human," Jiang Chen said, his voice flat, bored. "But you are too slow."
Jiang Chen's fingers tightened around Ox Li's fist.
CRACK.
The sound of knuckles grinding together echoed across the stage.
"AAAAHH!" Ox Li screamed, his knees buckling as the pain shot up his arm.
Jiang Chen didn't let go. He yanked the giant forward, off-balancing him, and delivered a single, calculated kick to the chest.
BAM!
It was like a cannonball hitting a wall.
Ox Li—all three hundred pounds of him—flew backward. He sailed five meters through the air, cleared the ropes, and crashed into the dirt below with a cloud of dust.
He didn't get up.
The plaza went silent. Absolute, dead silence.
The disciples stopped betting. The servants stopped breathing. Even the referee stood there, mouth agape, forgetting to call the match.
Jiang Chen, the latrine cleaner? The boy who cried when he got a splinter? He just tossed the sect's strongest mortal like a ragdoll?
DING!
[Quest Complete: The First Round.]
[Bonus Objective Met: Time elapsed 3.8 seconds.]
[Rewards Distributed.]
[Strength Increased: 4.1 -> 4.3]
[EV Gained: +10]
Jiang Chen felt the surge of heat in his muscles. 4.3 Strength. He was getting stronger just by winning.
"Winner..." The referee coughed, shaking his head. "Winner, Jiang Chen!"
"He cheated!"
A shrill, hysterical voice pierced the silence.
Steward Ma waddled out from the crowd, his face red with rage and fear. He pointed a trembling finger at Jiang Chen. "He used a demonic technique! I saw it! No servant is that strong! He must have taken a forbidden pill!"
The crowd murmured. "Demonic technique?" "Maybe he stole a pill from the Alchemy Hall?"
Jiang Chen stood on the stage, looking down at Fatty Ma.
[Scenario Triggered: The Accusation.]
[Option A: Deny.]
[Option B: Intimidate.]
Jiang Chen remembered the whip. He remembered the years of abuse.
"Steward Ma," Jiang Chen said, his voice amplified by a tiny thread of Qi. "If you think I cheated... why don't you come up here and test me yourself?"
He took a step forward. The [Predator's Instinct] flared, projecting a faint, invisible aura of killing intent directly at the fat man.
Fatty Ma felt it. He felt like he was staring into the eyes of a starving wolf. He stumbled back, tripping over his own robe. "I... I..."
"Get lost," the Referee snapped at Ma. The Referee was an Outer Disciple; he didn't care about servant politics. He only cared about strength. He looked at Jiang Chen with a new interest. "You pass. Go wait in the winner's circle."
Jiang Chen walked down.
The crowd parted for him. Servants who used to bully him scrambled to get out of his way, their eyes wide with fear.
He found a quiet spot in the shade and sat down.
"That was too easy," Jiang Chen thought.
[Advisory: Do not get arrogant. That was a mortal. The real threat is watching you.]
"Watching me?"
Jiang Chen looked up.
On the high balcony overlooking the plaza, where the Sect Elders sat drinking tea, a man in white robes was looking down. He wasn't looking at the crowd. He was looking directly at Jiang Chen.
It was Elder Han of the Alchemy Hall. The man responsible for the "human experiments."
Elder Han smiled, stroking his white beard. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a butcher who had just found a prime cut of meat.
Jiang Chen felt a chill go cold in his bones.
[Warning: High-Level Cultivator Attention Detected.]
[Quest Update: Survive the Tournament.]
[Difficulty: Increased.]
Jiang Chen gripped his knees. Winning was dangerous. Losing was fatal.
"Fine," he whispered. "Let them look. If they try to eat me... I'll break their teeth."
[SYSTEM LOG: PRE-COMBAT DIAGNOSTIC]
Vessel: Jiang Chen
Status: Peak Condition / Predator State
Location: Tournament Grounds
[ATTRIBUTES]
Cultivation: Qi Condensation (Layer 1)
Strength: 4.3 (Peak Mortal +)
Constitution: 3.3
Agility: 2.5
EV: 14
[COMBAT SKILLS]
Serpent's Breath (Novice): Active.
Iron Skin (Passive): Active.
Rending Claw (Beginner): [HIDDEN TRUMP CARD]
End Of Chapter 8