"Don’t worry about it," Hanbi said. "I won’t mention anything so long as you act favorably. Now lead us to where we need to go. I’d like to finish this tournament and win it as soon as possible."

The woman nodded and, with another gesture, began leading Xuan and the others through the forest. He was a bit puzzled by the change in attitude, but then again, when someone threatens someone with influence, it takes a sharp turn for the better, at least in Xuan’s favor.

Heh.

It was good that Hanbi was important. Otherwise, he might just be beating everyone up right about now. Speaking of beating someone up though, after half an hour of travel, they arrived at a beach.

Was this the first time he had seen an actual beach? The one he had seen back in Europe wasn’t that great compared to this, as the shore filled to the brim with sand was especially alluring. He just wanted to go in and dig a hole or something.

Or dive into the water. That’s a manly activity too.

"So what do we do now, miss overseer?" Xuan asked, crossing his arms. "Do we do a swimming class? Yuelan, do you know how to swim?"

"Of course I do. What do you think, I’m a child?" she replied with a scoff.

Right as their banter was about to begin, Sierra chimed in with a slight cough.

"I’m afraid I don’t know how to swim."

Everyone turned toward her.

"Didn’t we swim out of the Three Eyed Angel’s dungeon?" Yuelan asked the obvious.

Though once again, Sierra coughed. "I passed out and floated to the top. Hanbi caught me when she noticed."

At those words, everyone then turned to Hanbi, who then nodded with a sigh. "She’s telling the truth. She doesn’t know how to swim properly. She can float if she tries hard enough. Or maybe because her breasts are above average size. Who knows."

Before things could get too out of hand, the overseer chimed in:

"Y-You won’t be doing any swimming. The reason you’ve all gathered here is because this is the location of a maze. You’ll need to pass that maze, and whichever sect clears it first are the winners of this tournament."

That’s it?

Xuan honestly didn’t know how to feel. On one end, this tournament was far too easy. And only three rounds? Three rounds for a tournament with this many sects? If Xuan didn’t know any better, then he’d assume this was some kind of trap.

Though, as he turned to Hanbi and paid attention to her expression, Xuan couldn’t help but feel like this was just the way things went.

And sadly, that was the harsh truth. These tournaments were meant for cooperation and communication. If one could get at least one tie during these tournaments, then that was great.

As for the rule about killing each other, it was just an add-on, since no one was actually brave enough to kill anybody. Except for Yuelan and Xuan of course.

After all, one death equaled a whole sect going after their ass. And since Yuelan’s earlier attack wiped out at least 20 people, they now had 20 sects after them.

Added to that was the Thunder Sect and Sun Sect. In short, Xuan and Yuelan now had a lot on their plate. Hanbi, on the other hand, could probably just dump all that blame off their ass, which would make it a lot easier on her sect.

Nonetheless, Xuan stopped thinking about it and decided to do some quick meditation while the overseer explained that she needed to go back and wait for 9 more sects to finish.

Of course, he had no intention to cultivate right now, as all he wanted to do was relax and sort his thoughts. In the same regard, he wanted to figure out exactly what Yuelan did earlier with Elemental Qi.

She had made a crown appear over her head that supposedly deflected a couple of attacks. It was overpowered, to say the least. He wanted to do the same with Poison Qi. But how? Imagination? Which part should he imagine and which should he control with Qi?

Right as he was about to begin, Yuelan, as the younger and less mature sister, decided to sit down with her back against his. Immediately, a pop-up appeared in front of him.

<Ding!>

<Shared Cultivation Zone - 1x1 Meters detected.>

<Description: While cultivating beside the one you are linked to, your Qi absorption rate increases by 10x and your cultivation speed is slightly enhanced. (Spirit Master)>

"You’re going to cultivate?" Xuan asked, opening his eyes.

"Nope. I’m just channeling my Qi to give the impression of cultivation, since it gives a nice bonus of Qi absorption, which might help you with whatever you’re doing right now. Elemental Qi is pretty easy once you know what you want," she said.

He let out a sigh, realizing just how mature and helpful she was sometimes. Regardless of that, he also remembered some of the bonuses that them being so close gave.

Bonus Effects when consumed together by a linked pair:

1. Mental and emotional connection is permanently deepened.

2. Fusion skills cost less Qi.

3. If one partner is wounded or dying, the other can transfer a portion of their life force to stabilize them.

4. Limited ability to circulate Qi between each other during combat or cultivation for increased synergy.

What would happen if he used the fourth one in particular? Would he be able to unlock a Qi Type for her? What if she used it instead? Moonlight Qi and Water Qi... If he could unlock those, then that’d be incredibly overpowered.

After all, for Moon Qi, all he needed to do was cultivate under the moon. As for Water Qi, drink water, maybe?

Welp.

Xuan would test that out later, as there was literally no time for any actual cultivation.

So instead, he decided to go ahead and try to form some Elemental Qi.