Hei Gou quickly agreed to go eat. He could feel that if Xue Wei were left alone, then he would succumb to depression for an indeterminable amount of time, and that would be detrimental to preparing him for the tournament.

When they left their room, they found that the inn was packed with people. The inn was very standard: all the rooms for guests were on the first, second, and third floor, while the ground floor consisted of the entrance and a restaurant. The basement was where the kitchen was located.

When they left their rooms on the third floor, they found that even the hallway was filled with people, and the staircase had experts rushing both up and down.

When they came down to the restaurant, they saw that it was filled to the brim, every chair was occupied.

"The Black Iron Fortress pays the food, so buy whatever you want, eat the most delicious meals, and order any delicacies you desire! Black Iron Fortress promised to pay it all!" someone yelled to his comrades as they headed past Xue Wei and Hei Gou, throwing themselves into the restaurant and hoping to snatch a table somewhere.

"I think we should look somewhere else," Xue Wei said, a bit aghast. He was shocked to see the frenzy these experts were in to get a table. Although he knew that both he and Hei Gou could snatch a table with their strength, he was not willing to cause such a ruckus.

Hei Gou nodded his head. He had no real reason to object, and he was not overly hungry. He only wished to interrupt Xue Wei's train of disturbed thoughts.

Together, the two men pushed their way out of the inn. The roads outside were also bustling with life. Young experts were everywhere to be seen. New faces still arrived, and there was still a long queue of people signing up to the contest at the empty marketplace that Xue Wei and Hei Gou walked past on the way towards a restaurant.

The many inns were all busy and bustling with life. Every inn had a built-in restaurant, and they were filled with clamoring young experts.

But they were not the only restaurants that were in the fort. There were also independent restaurants. Many of these places had now changed their usual rules - where everyone was usually welcome, only Sky Warriors and above were invited in now. This was because the food in these restaurants was more extravagant and much more expensive. If everyone was invited, then the cost of hosting the many youths would be too much for the Black Iron Fortress.

But neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou had any issues entering these restaurants, and they picked a random one that looked rather magnificent from the outside. It was a four stories building, with the kitchen located in the basement, and the ground floor and second floor had tables placed in one large room, while the third and fourth floor had private rooms and chambers.

Xue Wei was only a first layer Sky Warrior, so he was not allowed a private room, but because he was together with Hei Gou who seemingly had strength equivalent to a fifth layered Sky Warrior was allowed a private room, he too was given permission to enter the upper floors.

Once again, Xue Wei was treated as Hei Gous lackey, but he did not mind. On the contrary, he was rather happy that they were allowed to enter a private room because of Hei Gou, so his mood was rather good.

Xue Wei and Hei Gou were being led by a young woman towards the upper floors of the restaurant. When they walked through the first and second floor, many looked at them with envying gazes, and hesitation. These experts were the geniuses of many small families and sects, and although they had made it into the restaurants, they did not have the qualifications to sit in a private room. This was a true blow to their self-esteem and views on their strength.

The young woman opened the door to a room and gestured for Hei Gou to enter. It was as if Xue Wei was invisible in her eyes.

Shrugging his shoulders, Xue Wei did not care and entered the room together with Hei Gou. After this, the woman spoke for the first time since she had received them at the entrance of the restaurant.

"Young Master, we will provide a set of dishes of our finest quality. The food in this restaurant is made from the finest Fierce Beast meat, medicinal herbs, and plants."

"All of it is cooked in spiritual spring water from our very own spiritual spring well, and made to ensure that the consumer gets not only the most appetizing meal but also something that can nourish and strengthen the cultivator's base strength."

The young woman bowed towards Hei Gou and backed out of the room. Seeing her behavior, Hei Gou was getting annoyed. Although Xue Wei did not mind that he was being ignored, Hei Gou did.

They were good friends and shared their glory and downfall. If one was insulted, one had insulted both; if one was ignored, it was actually a slap to both their faces.

"Leave it," Xue Wei laughed when he saw Hei Gou's blackened expression. "I am benefitting from this. The more I am being underestimated, the better it is. Even I am not confident in this contest," he smiled.

"The three great sects have even sent eighteen youths each. These youths have gone through ten years of training in the army; they are likely to be fierce and quite strong as well. Defeating all of them will be troublesome."

Hei Gou just smiled when he heard Xue Wei's words. "You will win," he said with certainty. "You have a lot of tricks up your sleeve, not to mention your soul skill can make you dominate even normal fifth layer Sky Warriors. As long as you do not reach someone who has strengthened their soul, you are fine."

"The ones from the three great sects are quite likely to have strengthened their souls," Xue Wei said with a wry smile. "They are from the great sects, after all. They cannot be compared to normal cultivators."

"Well, you won't know until you try." Hei Gou had endless faith in Xue Wei, who smirked when he heard Hei Gou's words.

"I am going to give it my all. Let us see how powerful those real geniuses of the strongest sects are!"

Xue Wei and Hei Gou smiled at one another, noticing the fighting spirit in each other's eyes.

It was indeed a shame that Hei Gou could not participate in the battles. He did not have enough innate abilities yet, and his Swallowing the Moon required him to be in his original shape.

Although he could depend on his physical strength and his claws, it would be difficult to explain why he had such a physical power, and even harder to explain why he was not using any martial arts at all.

Since it would be hard to explain things, it was better to avoid it. Hei Gou did not worry about them not ranking high enough. After