When he grabbed the token in front of him, Xue Wei felt a tingling sensation, and it started s.h.i.+ning. 

"The tokens will be your ident.i.ty cards throughout the compet.i.tion," Wan Qiang explained. "I have laid an inscription on them so that they react to your aura. No one other than the current owner of the token will be able to use it, so switching amongst one another is not possible."

"When you die in combat or forfeit battle, the token will become ownerless and return to me together with your permission to partic.i.p.ate in the tournament." 

"I understand that many of you are unwilling to fight against others since you will put your life at risk, so apart from the prizes I have declared, all property on the bodies of your opponent will be yours if you kill them." 

This piece of news made the contestants exchange interested looks between them. There were still a few who looked uncomfortable, while the majority eyed the weaker experts with greed. 

Before, although the tournament operated around life-and-death battles, the likelihood of killing one another was low because there was no profit in doing so. However, now the incentive had been provided for them, so killing would become a rather common occurrence in this tournament. 

However, although people were eager to kill the weaker experts, they also eyed the experts from the three great sects with a mixture of dread and greed.

Amongst the many experts in the tournament, these experts were without a doubt the richest. But killing them would undoubtedly make one enemies of their sect. When looking at the pros and cons, it was just not worth it. 

"I understand your thinking," Wan Qiang continued. "You might be able to kill people but unable to bear the retaliation from the faction behind the one you killed - well, fear not!" he grinned.

"I have already signed a contract with all major factions within the entire Skyward Empire. They will not pursue any deaths that happen within the Black Iron Fortress this time."

While the majority of the experts looked shocked, the expressions of all the cultivators from the three great sects did not change. It was clear that they had already been informed of this prior to departing from their sects. 

Still, they had faith in their own ability, and the three great sects had a collective consensus to not kill members from each other’s sides. Thus they had little to fear. Although there existed some talented independent cultivators, the majority of them had joined the great sects for the excellent treatment they could get there. 

Xue Wei was aware of it beforehand because he had been informed by the expert from the Argent Moon Sect, so he was not surprised, but he noticed that many expressions were alternating between greed and fright. 

A group of the weaker experts even hesitated to pick up the tokens that were floating in front of them. It was clear that quite a few had already decided to leave the tournament early.

It seemed that Wan Qiang was aware of this as well. "If you have not taken the token within ten seconds, then I will move you out of the arena," he said calmly, and then began his countdown. 

A few hesitantly grabbed out and took hold of their tokens, but the majority were standing still. They were still hesitating even when the countdown reached zero. 

w.a.n.g Qiang waved his hand, and a strong wind blew through the arena. Everyone who held a token in their hand felt the wind pa.s.s them, but those who had not touched the tokens in front of them were swept up by the wind and suddenly vanished over the walls of the arena. 

These experts were all Sky Warriors, so they had the most elementary ability of flight. They could not fly quickly, and they could not fly far either, but they were more than capable of softening their landing after being dumped over the tall walls. 

Xue Wei was astonished. This Wan Qiang was powerful! With a wave of his hand, he had managed to precisely single out the couple hundred experts that were resigning and sent them flying with a single move!

There had not even been any kind of energy fluctuation; it was as if he had commanded the wind itself, his hand smoothly moving to sweep them away. 

Xue Wei was astonished, but he was not alone. Even the experts from the three great sects were shocked, their expressions displaying great unease and slight admiration. 

These disciples had all been told that Wan Qiang was not an expert they could afford to insult. They had all been warned repeatedly that the sect itself would not take revenge for them should they die on their journey, but the disciples had all felt that this was just a shallow way to put pressure on them. 

The sect would say that they would not take revenge for them, and the sects had claimed that this Wan Qiang was a supreme expert they could not insult, but who were they? 

They were members of the three great sects! They were never bullied or looked down upon, and when it came to taking vengeance, they would always take revenge for every little grievance.

Were they not just saying these things for the sake of making them steel their minds? That was what they had thought so far. If they truly died, they believed the sects would get revenge for them. If they broke the rules of the tournament, then they believed they would be able to get away with it due to the backing of their sect, but now they understood that their elders had not been joking with them.

This man, Wan Qiang, was truly so strong that the branches of the three great sects within the Skyward Empire had no way of dealing with him. If he set some rules, then these rules were to be followed. 

A few of the weaker experts from the sects began sweating in worry. They hoped that their sect's name was still capable of helping them survive this compet.i.tion. Their pride did not allow for them to give up unless they won or died trying.

A few of the members from the Crimson Suns.h.i.+ne Sect felt hot and scorching gazes lock onto them, and they turned around to see from where it could come. 

Their eyes made contact with Xue Wei's and they saw him smirking as if he was a hungry tiger that had found prey. 

His glance made them s.h.i.+ver – even the middle-aged elder brother from before was uncomfortable. 

This sudden change in his members' reaction caused the leader of the Crimson Suns.h.i.+ne Sect to frown. He asked them through compressed voice transmission about what had happened. 

His frown deepened the more he heard, and he cast a long glance towards Xue Wei before snorting. This kid thought too highly of himself for a mere third layer Sky Warrior.

Wan Qiang had everything under his watchful eye. He snickered when he saw the development between Xue Wei and the members of the Crimson Suns.h.i.+ne Sect. 

"Everyone, step down from the stages," Wan Qiang ordered. "From now on, number one to ten will appear on stage one. Number eleven to twenty will appear on stage two and so on."

"Each stage has one winner. The rest needs to either be unable to continue fighting or to forfeit. The winner of these group battles will be able to advance to the next part of the tournament."

Everyone present – both audience and partic.i.p.ants – were shocked. They had expected one on one battles, not a free-for-all of 10. The faces of quite a few experts paled, and they clutched their tokens before going towards the stages with shaky steps. 

A mild chaos of movement ensued in the arena. A group of experts went towards the stages, split into ten groups heading onto the ten stages.

The partic.i.p.ating experts were quiet. They realized now that the distribution of tokens had not been randomized, but had been given out based on one's cultivation base. 

The first hundred experts were all one star Sky Warriors. They were not up against any stronger experts, and the ones who had been very dejected at the start suddenly started feeling as if they might have a chance. 

Seeing that they were up against others of the same cultivation base, Xue Wei's eyes started s.h.i.+ning. He had expected that he could be unlucky and face against a serious contender right from the get-go, but now it seemed that this was not the case.

Although some of them might be able to jump ranks in combat power, it was not something just anyone could do, so Xue Wei felt relieved. 

Although he was a third layer Sky Warrior, he was above the average in strength in the tournament, and thus he was ranked in the thousands. 

In total, there were around one thousand and five hundred experts remaining, but approximately two hundred of these had not taken their tokens, resulting in one thousand and three hundred experts partic.i.p.ating in the tournament. 

Stage one had seven partic.i.p.ants, not ten. Stage two had nine. Stage three had a full ten, and so on. The holes from absentees made it apparent that some groups had more people than others.

Wan Qiang wondered for some time and waved his hand again. The next people in line were lifted up and placed on the stages so that each stage had ten people. 

"Each stage is under the supervision of an Ordinary Knight," Wan Qiang explained. "He will be able to keep you all in control, and if someone forfeits, they will be removed from the stage at once."

"I now announce the beginning of the tournament. Start fighting!" he announced, laughing, and instantly you could hear the sounds of unsheathed weapons and all-out battles filling the stadium. 

These were b.l.o.o.d.y battles. They were all equal in strength, and it was a free for all, so some experts would engage in duels, while others tried hiding and launching sneak attacks on others in an attempt to kill as many as possible in one go or putting a stronger contender at a disadvantage. 

Xue Wei's eyes roamed about every stage, watching for any sudden developments. 

Many experts chose to forfeit after receiving severe injuries. Although these were life-and-death battles, and although they were all eager to kill one another, the fact was that they had similar strength, so landing a killing blow was in no way easy. As a result, only a single person died in the first round of battles. 

The second group went up, and these were all also first layer Sky Warriors. There was one stage where an expert managed to kill all other nine contestants. This was the first time it had happened, and the ability he showed was very outstanding. It was clear that he was able to fight above his rank. 

Although this seemingly dark horse could fight above his own rank, as Xue Wei looked at him, he felt no threat. He had his Mind Infestation, and it could make short work of him. 

"It was a little reckless of him to reveal his strength already," Xue Wei muttered to himself. "He has made a target of himself. His strength is not weak, and now he has taken the items from the experts he killed. It will be a miracle if he manages to survive this entire tournament."

Xue Wei was not the only one to think like this. Many seemed to share his sentiment, but there were also very few who took this independent cultivator seriously. Although he could jump ranks, he was still a one layer Sky Warrior. Just how many ranks could he jump over while battling? 

The stage was instantly filled with another ten experts. Xue Wei continued to observe the many stages in front of him. The scent of blood started to fill the air, and many were getting injured, but the body count was a lot less than what Xue Wei had expected.