First Time in the Open Hall

Qing Shan jammed the butt of his spear into the ground and stood up straight. Although the entire Outer Ring was blankly staring at him, he did not care. Well, after looking around, Qing Shan felt as though everyone but Long Wan was not there. At least the man did not have to feel bad about his win any more.

Qing Shan hopped off of the stage and headed toward the venue of today's training, the Open Hall.

Qing Shan stood at the base of the huge, nine-story pagoda and watched as people flooded in and out of it. In the Open Hall, there were no limitations at all, so anyone could fight anyone. It was the only area where there were no rules against who can fight who. Each floor was the size of the arena stage, so there was really no lack of room. Qing Shan walked inside. If he could find people stronger than he was, then he would not have a problem growing in strength.

Qing Shan entered the Open Hall, the place that would cause his explosive growth in the Fallen Sky sect.

As Qing Shan entered the building, he noticed that there was a flood of people going in and out of the building at all times. Given the huge size and population of the Fallen Sky sect, it was likely that over fifty percent of the sect members where in the Open Hall at any given time.

Once Qing Shan was inside the Open Hall, he saw a sight that matched with his expectations. There were not many people on the first floor, as it was generally only those weaker than Peak Formation Soul that stayed on this floor. However, the people on the floor were doing exactly what Qing Shan had expected. While there were a few people who were silently training, the floor mostly contained people sparring with each other, or just beating each other up.

Qing Shan could tell right away. For the weak, this place was hell, no matter how you view it. The weak would either fall under the feet of the strong, or they would grow stronger after overcoming hellish trials. The latter was exactly what Qing Shan was looking for.

An grin slipped across Qing Shan's face, his eyes as emotionless as they had been recently. This was not a smile that came out do to any sort of emotion. It was just Qing Shan's way of expressing that he had finally found a suitable training ground.

In the first floor, Qing Shan learned that the pressure was actually minimal. There was an energy contained in the room, and it was equally beneficial as it was harmful. The beneficial part was the density of the energy that made for easier cultivation and the harmful part was the strain of the energy on the body. Due to Qing Shan's Primal Pocket Dimension and the huge volume of accessible Qi, he felt that things were a bit different.

Qing Shan had to face the pressure on each floor, while the only thing that was beneficial to him were the increasingly powerful 'Comprehension' and 'Focus' runes on each floor. On the first floor, Qing Shan could barely even feel the effects.

'Hmm. On the first floor it is a weaker effect than in the individual training halls… I guess I have no choice but to go upwards straight away.'

Qing Shan walked straight across the first floor, before standing at the bottom of the stairs at the other end. The stairs went along the side of the building, on the inside, and Qing Shan knew that the stairs were a way of testing whether or not it is safe to move to the next floor.

There were seven steps, each of them three meters tall.

Qing Shan jumped up onto the first step. As someone with his physical ability, it was no problem to jump up to a space that is higher than your head. As soon as both of Qing Shan's feet touched onto the first step, he suddenly felt the pressure that he had barely been able to feel earlier. Fortunately, it seemed as though it was only twice as strong.

'That doesn't mean… Nah, it couldn't be.'

Qing Shan jumped up to the next step easily enough. Although it was harder than jumping up to the first step, Qing Shan did not feel much of a difference. However, Qing Shan's complexion darkened after feeling the pressure around him double once more.

'Ah… Shit.'

Qing Shan suddenly felt an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. He did not know what it was, but it may have been his instincts telling him that this was not a good idea.

Qing Shan clenched his teeth and quickly jumped up two steps in a row, stumbling when he felt the pressure quadruple.

'Just three more.'

Suddenly Qing Shan realized something. This whole time, he had not used his Qi enhancements. He had just gone up four three-meter steps with multiplying pressure with his physical body only!

Qing Shan dropped his head into his hand, showing a rare sign of frustration. He then enhanced his legs with his Second Meridian, and leapt up the last three steps. With the enhancement from his Qi, which was basically ten times stronger than he was without it, due to him being at the tenth cultivation level, Qing Shan did not have any difficulty landing on the second floor.

His Qi had only been circulating normally, and he had somehow forgotten to use his Qi loops. Qing Shan undeniably felt like an idiot after such a stupid mistake. This just went to show that the basics should never be forgotten.

The second floor was much like the first floor, except that there were far more people. Additionally, every single one of them was close to Qing Shan's level. While the first floor contained the weak Peak Formations Soul cultivators and below, this floor was filled with only the Peak Formation Soul cultivators on the cusp of the origin Soul level. It was amazing how large the gap between the first and second floor was.

Qing Shan's form blinked, and he was suddenly holding his spear.

The people who had seen him come up all rubbed their eyes, and an Elder leaning against the wall opened one of his eyes, which had stayed closed.

Qing Shan held out his arm with his palm toward the sky, and folded his fingers at the knuckles; this was the universal taunt symbol.

"Well. I wonder how strong the people up here are… Why don't you… Come at me!"

Qing Shan stood in a battle-ready stance, but he had his left arm out taunting people while he held his spear straight across his arm and back.

The elder on the wall left his eye upon on seeing this.

"This could be interesting."

The man muttered under his breath, which would have been shocking to people if they heard him. None of the sect members, and only a few Elders, had ever heard him speak.

Unfortunately for them, They were all staring at Qing Shan, bloodlust in their eyes. Everyone here wanted to get stronger, and nothing was better than combat experience.

Qing Shan against about eighty or ninety people. The atmosphere was tense, and both sides were waiting for someone to make the first move.

Suddenly, a female figure moved to the front of the crowd.

"What, last time wasn't enough?"

It was Shen Yi!

"You know it wasn't. I have come back for some more."

"Pfft!"

Shen Yi tried to hold back a laugh as she took out her rapier. Suddenly, all traces of laughter were gone from her face, and she darted forward.

'Ah, that's the speed I remember. You are still so damn slow!'

Qing Shan was not only referring to Shen Yi, but to himself. He could see every single instance of every fight, yet in some cases his body was too slow to avoid attacks and he did not have anything to block them with. In the arena, Qing Shan did not have a weapon, and could not counterattack or block. Now it was different.

As Shen Yi launched nine consecutive attacks at Qing Shan in just one second, just as she did before, Qing Shan flung his arm across his chest, and started blocking with the spear in his backhand. He used all of the muscles in his arm, along with the long length of the spear to block every single one of the thrusts. It was amazing how the slightest twitch of a finger or tensing of a muscle could rotate an object more than ninety degrees in a fraction of a second.

Because he had way over a second in between each attack in his mind's eye, he was able to block each strike perfectly. He managed to always place his spear so that the attacks struck right in the center of the shaft and did not slide down the shaft. This was only possible because of his perception of time, and the 'Concentration' rune on the second floor only made it easier.

Unfortunately, he was not the only one effected by the rune. Shen Yi was able to do ten attacks, rather than the nine in one second. Fortunately, Qing Shan saw the attack coming, and managed to block it, before taking advantage of Shen Yi backing off after her failed skill. Qing Shan planted his spear into the ground and used his upper body to launch himself upward, kicking Shen Yi in the jaw on his way up. He then smacked her in the temple with his spear.

The fight against Shen Yi, which had been an overwhelming defeat for him before, ended in two seconds.

Qing Shan darted into the crowd like a demon, and left unconscious bodies in his wake. He used the length of his weapon to sometimes hit multiple enemies at once, and was able to neutralize attacks from every side of his body. He got hit repeatedly from people going above and below his guard, but it was not long before he had ninety unconscious bodies scattered around the room. This time, he made sure not to forget about his Qi enhancements.

'I guess I'm better with a spear than I thought. It really isn't that much different than a staff, but for some reason it is much easier to use. Maybe it just matches better with my fighting style?'

*Sight*

Qing Shan whirled around, his spear at the ready.

"You really overdid it, young man."

Qing Shan lowered his spear upon seeing the Elder leaning against the wall. At least, Qing Shan assumed he was an Elder. He had a bamboo weave hat over his head, and Qing Shan could not see his face. The man just gave off the air of someone wise and strong. Although it was much lesser, it was sort of like the feeling that Master Liu gave off when he was not using his Qi abilities.

Qing Shan looked around, seemingly noticing the aftermath of his fight for the first time.

"Well, they are alive…"

"Haha. Young man you do have a point!"

"Well, if that's all, I'll be off."

Qing Shan started walking towards the stairs to the third floor, When he suddenly felt a large aura descend on him. His knees almost buckled, but he managed to stay on his feet. Qing Shan then felt a huge hand grab his head.

"Oh no you don't. I am NOT bringing all these bodies to the infirmary on my own."

Now it was Qing Shan's turn to sigh.

"But it was just getting fun…"

"Oh stop pouting and help me!"