so the main character is a swordsman, it is a cultivation novel, and i remember a tournament arc. the tournament was set up kind of like a sportsgame, where there was an audience. The tournament starts off with an obstacle course then goes to the one vs ones. when they win they steal this resource from each other that's unique to the place the tournament is set in. and at the end they open up a portal with the things the competitors stole from eachother. also the novel is most likely chinese. i thought it was Legend of Swordsman but after checking up on the wiki and the main characters aliases i've crossed that one out. also the tournament was set up in an ancient city - but thats hardly anything unique NVM guys, found out it was Dominating Sword Immortal
i've remembered some things i think are important which should be related to this novel - main character leaves to test himself/is cast out and before going to fight in the tournament he gets involved with infighting of a clan something about purity of bloodline and i think their clan has something to do with an ancient snake. he makes a pit stop by an island to train for a while before the tournament