Bang!
As he swallowed the three remaining Spirit Gathering Pills at once, the energy that was released was incomparable to the energy released of a singular pill. Of course, the energy released was also incomparable to three Spirit Gathering Pills swallowed one by one. The energy of the three pills mixed together and formed a raging tsunami of energy, threatening to destroy Shi Li's body if he didn't control it well enough.
But of course, Shi Li easily quelled the raging tsunami of energy and transformed into an energy that was docile yet still packed a punch. Using his thoughts to control the energy, he willed one half of the energy to head towards his soul as it gradually enveloped his soul whole.
Not long after, he manipulated the energy into hundreds of tiny little spears that spiralled on its own axis, gradually grinding the thick iron shell on his soul, revealing the refined steel within it. Of course, it was just a metaphor as his soul wasn't really covered with iron, he instead substituted the multiple little spears as hammers that honed his soul to become tougher and become tougher it did.
From Shi Li's now clearer view thanks to him ascending to the 3rd Martial Novice stage, multiple parts of his soul were already exuding a sharp gleam of light, showing the true strength of his soul.
With this setup, Shi Li continued focusing on chipping away the iron in his soul, taking five hours to remove most of the iron on his soul's upper torso, which only the head remained iron.
Since the energy used to cultivate his soul was depleted, Shi Li opened his eyes and muttered something for a bit as he looked out the windows, gazing at the starry night sky with an intense urge to go back to cultivating.
Closing his eyes one more time, he then willed the latter half of docile yet powerful energy towards the tendons within his body. Using the same approach he used to cultivate his soul, he formed hundreds to thousands of little energy spears that spiralled along its own axis, tempering the tendons to grow stronger in toughness as they get closer and closer to achieving a toughness akin to iron.
Another five hours passed and Shi Li opened his eyes to glance at the scorching orange sun illuminate the bright azure sky as the leaves of many plants and trees sway along to the breeze. With him depleting all of the energy stored within the three pills, he stood up and went to the training space. As to why he did this, he wanted to familiarise himself with his newfound strength first before the tournament.
Of course, Shi Li woke up at this moment in time as today was the day that the tournament would start!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each punch Shi Li threw out in the air created a sonic blow, which meant that his punches already had enough force to literally knock the wind out of someone if need be. He also ran around the training space, gradually conforming to his strength before doing an exquisite set of movements that let out a strong and ferocious aura.
This set of movements wasn't obtained by Shi Li from the cultivation techniques he learned, but rather from a novel in his previous life which was somewhat based on the ancient martial arts of Earth.
With that done, he couldn't help but feel curious as to how much strength he currently had. Bending his knees perpendicular to the strength measuring pillar that he had punched multiple times already, he summoned all of the strength within his body and soul, moving all of it towards the tips of his fist as a loud explosion sound resounded after his fist and the pillar collided.
Bang! Swoop!
With a faint white light covering the pillar for a while, two digits appeared in front of the pillar after the light disappeared, making Shi Li satisfied with his current strength as he urged Moddy to come with him to the clan arena.
What was this number, you may ask?
74.
...
Shi clan, clan arena.
The clan arena was an arena that had seats surrounding the center stage, which was akin to the coliseums of the ancient times. At one of the highest seats of this arena, a middle-aged man that exuded an air of wisdom and magnanimity around him sat down on the seat as he looked down at the center stage of the arena. "I wonder which member would show exemplary results this time."
Of course, this man was none other than Shi Xingwan, the patriarch of the Shi clan.
As he continued to look at the center stage of the arena, a man running towards the insides of the arena caught his eye. The man was familiar to him which made him lightly smile.
"Let's see your current strength."
"My child."
...
"Haah..." Shi Li ran as fast as he can to the arena since he didn't really know what time the tournament was going to start. All he knew was that the tournament was going to take place this day and that was that.
Walking around, he saw that only a few people were inside the arena.
Gulp.
'Is the tournament already over?' Shi Li couldn't help but become pessimistic as he walked up to one of the clan members inside the arena and asked, "Hello. May I ask if the tournament has already ended?"
"Hm?" the clan member turned around and saw Shi Li's face, instantly knowing who he was facing. He gave a respectful bow before saying, "Shi Lishan greets Young Master Shi Li! As for the answer to your question, the tournament has not started as of yet. There is still one and a half hours before it officially starts."
Saying a few words of thanks, Shi Li then turned around and went to one side of the center stage, closing his eyes and calming his emotions. He knew that emotions would affect his power so he wanted to make sure that he had full control over it before the tournament started.
And with that, the one and a half hours easily passed as the center stage was gradually being filled with more and more clan members of the Martial Novice stage. As they entered, they noticed Shi Li who was currently in a state of meditation and made sure to not disturb him. A lot of hubbub occurred inside the center stage since they didn't know that the patriarch's son, Shi Li was fighting against them.
At this moment, a middle-aged man stood up on the only raised platform within the center stage and looked at all of the clan members, easily shutting them up. It was also at this time that Shi Li opened his eyes and stood up. He then prompted Moddy to sit on a random seat inside the arena and waited for him, which Moddy easily agreed.
With Moddy gone, Shi Li went closer to the raised platform, looking closely at the middle-aged man. The man looked similar to his father, yet was more exuberant and had a stronger aura of vitality around him. This led him to conclude that the middle-aged man in front of him was his father's brother, who was also an Elder, Shi Xingtai.
"Welcome to all of the clan members," Shi Xingtai said. "I'm Shi Xingtai, an Elder of the Shi clan and the presider of the Shi clan Novice Tournament."
"As everyone knows, the rules of the Novice Tournament changes everytime it is held so I shall tell all of you the mechanics right now."
"The first round is a test of strength. The next round after that is a test of endurance. The test after that is a test of skill mastery. And after that is a sparring session against the other clan members."
"With that said, let the tournament..."
"Begin!"