The people in the audience had underestimated Lin Mu at the start and even after finding out ht at he was representing Wu Hei they hadn't thought much of him. But now the overwhelming manner in which he had defeated his opponent made them think thrice about him.
Lin Mu looked at his opponent who was now lying unconscious on the ground and he wondered if he used too much strength by accident. Lin Mu was still learning to control his strength well and thus needed more time. But thankfully after the healers came and helped Pigu Shan, he turned out to be okay.
Lin Mu walked down from the ring and towards the seating area. The people watched him closely and could not take their eyes off him. Especially the ones from the cultivation sects. They were looking at him as if he were some prize that they needed to get.
Since Lin Mu had represented Wu Hei and was also an aristocrat in their eyes, they thought that they had the chance of recruiting him. For them, he was a potential future powerhouse, that if they obtained would increase the status of their sect.
"Nicely done, brother Mu Lin!" Wu Hei praised.
"Indeed, Lord Mu Lin is impressive with his skills." Zhen Sui added.
"HAAHAH! Brother Mu Lin is a true man who fights with his all! But even that isn't enough for a good fight if your opponent is a weak chicken." Wu Teng said in his boisterous voice that spread all around the seats.
The people that came with Pigu Shan looked at them but didn't show any wronged expression or anything. Rather, they just had wry smiles on their face as they could only sigh. But the other aristocrats seemed to be a bit agitated and were whispering amongst themselves.
Enlai Lan was doing the same and was talking with his subordinates. The only person that seemed to be the least bothered was Qing Yuan Tiu, who was simply sitting on her seat with her eyes closed in meditation. Lin Mu didn't know if she had seen him fight or not, but then pushed that to the back of his mind.
Finally, the referee began his next selection and pulled out the stick. The contestants fought and soon it was the time for the last match. Qing Yuan Tiu had still not been selected, so people were wondering if they would get to see more of her again.
"The next contestants are Pidao Wuyun and Tianjin Shu!" The referee declared.
"Oh seems like Qing Yuan Tiu gets the free pass in this round."
"Yeah, still at least we know she's good enough and it wouldn't have mattered even if she fought." One of the sect personnel said.
Lin Mu was also a bit disappointed as he wanted to see more of her moves but was now unable to. Soon the fight between Pidao Wuyun and Tianjin Shu started and people watched it. These two were some external cultivators that the aristocrats had hired and their strength was above average.
Lin Mu sensed their spirit qi fluctuations and found them to be at the late stage of the qi refining realm.
"Huh, so they were lucky having each other as opponents." Lin Mu said.
All the cultivators that were below the peak stage of the qi refining realm had already been eliminated at the first round, and thus now only peak stage ones were left. These two were the lucky ones that had met a late stage qi refining realm cultivator at the start and had passed the first round.
But now it was quite obvious that this would be the last round for both of them. One of them would be losing at this very round, while the next one will lose in the next round for sure. The fight was a bit strange this time, as both of them were being Cautious.
They mostly used probing attacks and defensive skills to avoid damage. This was quickly starting to bore the people as the fight had gone on for about 30 minutes now.
"Come on already! Finish it!" Someone from the crowd shouted.
"This is what I was talking about. Chickens that can't do much but strut out their chests and run away when they're in a fight." Wu Teng taunted.
Eventually, forty minutes had passed and now even Wu Hei and Zhen Sui were getting irritated. It was as if they were watching two kids fight, and it did not entertain the guests at all. This was meant to be an event that increased the reputation of the marriage, not lower it by frustrating the guests.
"This is enough!" Wu Teng said as he stood up.
"No! Teng do not go down." Zhen Sui warned.
Seeing that his brother was getting agitated now, Wu Hei sighed. He then turned his eyes towards the two fighters in the ring and stared at them. Lin Mu could feel the faint spirit qi fluctuations coming from his body and the spirit sense that had been released.
This spirit sense was quite strong, even stronger than his own. Lin Mu didn't know what its range would be, but just from the potency that he could feel, he estimated that it should be more than double his own range. This made Lin Mu interested, as from what he knew most early stage core condensation realm experts had a spirit sense range of hundred meters.
It was around two hundred for a mid stage core condensation realm cultivator, three hundred for the late stage and four hundred for the peak stage one. Just from this, it meant that Wu Hei was at the late stage of the core condensation realm at the very least.
Wu Hei's spirit sense reached the two fighters, and they flinched for a moment. This made one of them stumble as he was in an imbalanced position. The first of the other one hit him in the stomach, which sent him rolling on the ground.
Seeing that his opponent had taken the hit, he took advantage and easily pushed him out of the ring.
"The winner is… Tianjin Shu!"