Kuang Hu"s lip curled. "Do you really think that taking off those weights will make a difference?"The guy was clearly trying to ignore the impression that my training gear had made on the ground, his eyes avoiding the scene of the smoking crater where the weights had buried themselves deeply into concrete.
I shrugged, but didn"t bother with a verbal riposte. Instead, I disappeared from the top of the ice pillar.
"!"
Kuang Hu spun around on reflex and brought his arms up, only to barely block my kick in time. He grunted as he skidded across cracking ice, and tried to counter with a slash of his Lightning Claws, only for me to vanish from sight again.
"What?!"
Wham!
My kick caught him by surprise, striking his temple and sending him tumbling into the ground in an undignified manner.
"Kuh! You…!"
I replied with a stomp that would have pulverized him if he hadn"t rolled away. He lashed out desperately with his Lightning Claws, probably hoping to sever my foot from my leg, but I had used Duo to evade and disappear.
"Where did you go?"
My answer was a kick from his back, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying. Kuang Hu demolished a few ice pillars before he slammed into the ground, fragments of frost showering him in a white fog.
"Ugh…"
He slowly rose to his feet, his eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with hatred and fury. I met his gaze evenly, not bearing any grudge. I mean, the guy was beating me up and toying with me all this while, but the moment I fought back on equal grounds, he got all p.i.s.sy and angry? How was this fair?
Not that I cared. It was time to kick this match into high gear.
Pft.
"!"
I vanished from Kuang Hu"s view. He raised his Lightning Claws defensively, looking around for me, but couldn"t follow my movements. The next thing he knew, he was kicked from the side, my foot coming from his blind spot and striking his ribs. He cried out and staggered, but had the tenacity to slash down on me, but I ducked under his swinging claws and swept his feet out from under him.
"Argh!"
Kuang Hu threw his hands out to break his fall and fluidly bounced back to his feet, even delivering a counterattack while he did so. As I thought, he was really skilled. Even then, I was no longer where he thought I was, having used my footwork to disappear long ago.
"How is this…possible?!" he spluttered, his eyes moving about as he tried to track my movements. "Just by removing those crazy weights…you"ve gotten so much faster?!"
"Like I said, they were weighing me down."
"Kuh!"
Kuang Hu just barely managed to parry another kick. He slashed at me again, but I was already gone, dashing to the other side to kick under his guard. He blocked that with his elbow, grimacing as my blow stung, and tried to retaliate.
"Too fast! I can"t catch up!"
Cursing under his breath when his counterattack failed, he tried to jump back, only for my foot to smash into his face and send him sprawling onto the ground.
"Gr…!"
Growling under his breath, he gathered lightning qi about him. Noticing the danger, I suddenly halted my attacks and used Tui to retreat instead of slamming my foot onto his spine. A good thing I did, for a pillar of silver lightning burst forth from his body, scorching the area around him and rising all the way to the ceiling.
"Thunder Crash!"
With a howl, Kuang Hu sent a blast of lighting right at me.
"…"
Even if it was lightning, it was lightning wielded by a human. As long as I could see his attacks, I could time my retreat perfectly to evade his strike. Kuang Hu"s Thunder Crash obliterated the ground where I was standing a millisecond earlier, but I had already used Tui to retreat. Diving for my swords, I s.n.a.t.c.hed them up.
Heaven and Earth Yuan Yin Frost Strike!
It was my turn to launch a ranged attack at him, a torrent of azure qi rippling toward Kuang Hu and freezing everything in its wake. Kuang Hu turned around and slashed at the incoming stream of freezing azure qi, smashing it apart before it could reach him.
"Hu…"
Exhaling, I studied my opponent. Electricity continued to crackle around him protectively as he turned to face him. He truly was from the same sect as Bai Ning Xue. And almost as formidable.
Almost.
"Guaaaah!"
With a roar, Kuang Hu swung his Lightning Claws about, trying to launch another Thunder Crash on me, but I was gone. Weaving through his array of ranged attacks, I closed the distance and swung my swords at pointblank range.
"!"
Kuang Hu barely parried my strike in time, but even when he did, ice began to expand over his Lightning Claws and arms. Bellowing, he allowed his electric qi to surge through his body, knocking me away with a shockwave and shattering the ice that encased his arm and weapons. He shook off the ice and turned toward me with a counterattack.
By then, I had used Tui to widen the distance between us. Kuang Hu then sent another Thunder Crash crashing down on me, but I neutralized it with a Yuan Yin Frost Strike, freezing the silver lightning in azure ice.
"Looks like I"ve no choice…"
Kuang Hu was muttering to himself.
"Oh really?" I smiled thinly. "You"re still holding back?"
"Not anymore." Kuang Hu had a feral grin on his face. The Mad Tiger evidently decided to go all out. "It"s just that I haven"t totally mastered this technique yet, so I"m reluctant to use it. But if I don"t, I might lose. I might as well stake everything on it."
"Go ahead." I beckoned him with one hand, which was still gripping one of my swords. "I wouldn"t want you to make any excuses if you lose."
"I"m not going to lose!"
Silver lightning flared up around Kuang Hu"s body, but this time it didn"t coalesce into an immense pillar of destruction. Instead, the silver electricity gathered around and wrapped around his body like some sort of qi armor.
"Three Thousand Lightning Movement!"
It was almost as if Kuang Hu had transformed into lightning itself. His body blurred and appeared to merge with the silver lightning and he disappeared from view.
"!"
I blocked his strike, sparks flying between us when his Lightning Claws collided with my swords. I delivered a riposte, but he ducked and slashed upward with his Lightning Claws, almost taking me by surprise. I blocked it with my other sword, and then traded a few dozen blows, our weapons clashing violently against each other.
He"s caught up to my speed!
Even as we exchanged attacks, the both of us were moving across the battlefield at a high speed. To the spectators" eyes, we were disappearing and reappearing everywhere in different places in the arena, clashing and trading furious blows with each other. Kuang Hu with his Three Thousand Lightning Movement and me with my footwork.
Even though I was using a combination of Jin, Tui, and Duo to the best of my ability, I still couldn"t fully shake off Kuang Hu. He relentlessly pressed on, slashing and striking with his Lightning Claws, closing in immediately to cut off any path of retreat.
"Take this!"
He swung his Lightning Claws to decapitate me, but I used Duo to evade and reappear behind him. I tried to counter by stabbing his back, but he spun around with unbelievable speed and knocked away my sword before it could reach it. He slashed upward with his other Lightning Claw in the hope of rupturing my jugular vein, but I blocked it with my remaining sword.
"Amazing," Tong Xue murmured, thoroughly impressed. "They"re the two fastest students in Wu Ling Academy."
"I can"t follow their movements!" Ban Zhang grumbled. "Kuang Hu is one thing, but I can"t believe Wu is keeping up with him!"
"No," Tang Qi Hong corrected, a smile on her beautiful face. "Kuang Hu is the one keeping up with Wu."
As much as I was flattered, that was slightly incorrect. Perhaps my friends would call me modest, but I was actually being pressured here. This was my fault for allowing Kuang Hu to execute his Three Thousand Lightning Movement instead of finishing him off before he could use it. Yeah, I shouldn"t have tried to be a show off.
To be fair, it was inevitable. I highly doubted I would be able to defeat Kuang Hu before he used it, though. The guy"s defense was tough and he was really tenacious. I would have been blasted apart by his Thunder Crash if I tried to attack him.
Even so, I"m not going to lose here!
Narrowing my eyes, I delivered a barrage of strikes with both swords that pushed Kuang Hu back, but my opponent – clad in silver lightning – parried and blocked every one of them, and even responded with a ferocious retaliation that forced me back instead.
"…"
I closed my eyes briefly as I allowed Kuang Hu to overwhelm me. The longer the battle went on, the more I got used to his qi, and the better I could read his movements. Even before he struck, I could tell which direction he was going to attack from, the amount of power he was putting into his attack, and the timing of his next attack.
"GUAAAAH!"
Unaware that I was reading his movements, Kuang Hu intensified his attacks and bellowed fiercely. He had gone into a somewhat berserk mode, slashing, striking and slicing with his Lightning Claws. Electricity jumped off his claws to electrocute me, but I kept it at bay with a defensive screen of azure qi.
"Just fall already!"
I opened my eyes and smirked. "No, you fall."
"Huh?!"
Slipping myself into the trajectory of his attacks, I stopped his strike before he could deliver them and disrupted his movements. Caught off guard, Kuang Hu stumbled, his high speed becoming a weakness now.
"What…?!"
I responded with a kick that knocked him off his feet and sent him sprawling on the ground. He quickly slashed at my legs before I could stomp on him, but having read his movements, I had antic.i.p.ated that and moved away. Kuang Hu quickly seized the chance to jump back to his feet, but I was already behind him.
"?!"
Hooking my foot around his leg, I tripped him up and sent him tumbling onto the ground again. To Kuang Hu"s credit, he didn"t go down easily. He countered with a kick aimed behind, but I stepped to the side and just barely avoided it.
"Gr…!"
Growling, Kuang Hu slashed back with his Lightning Claws, and I deflected them away with my swords before jumping back. Kuang Hu jumped to his feet and used his Three Thousand Lightning Movement to advance and close in, but I simultaneously appeared right where he intended to be, disrupting the flow of his attacks and halting his movement before he could finish it. Parrying his half-delivered strikes with his Lightning Claws, I sent a knee into his gut and caused him to double over, and then kicked him in the chest.
"Gah!"
Kuang Hu was sent hurtling back helplessly, crashing onto the ground and skidding a few meters away. Coughing, he slowly rose to his feet and wiped the blood from his mouth before glaring at me in a predatory manner.
"You…what the h.e.l.l was that?!"
"Oh…" I pushed my gla.s.ses up and smiled. "Whatever are you talking about?"
Inwardly, I couldn"t help but be impressed with the power of Liu. I rarely used it because it was so complex, so difficult to use, but as I expected, practical combat experience was best in helping me master it. I could hardly believe that I was using it freely now.
And it was all thanks to Kuang Hu.
"Still, thank you."
"What the f.u.c.k are you playing at?!"
Kuang Hu snapped at me furiously, and then dashed forward when he realized that any further talk was pointless. I waited before selecting the precise moment to move forward as well, disrupting his movements and stopping his attacks before he could complete them. Deflecting his Lightning Claws with my swords, I brought my elbow to his chest and sent him off balance before kicking under his guard and sending him flying again.
Liu was a really formidable technique.
Teacher Jiao was right. He said that if I mastered these footwork techniques, then no one in my generation will be able to touch me!
"Huff…huff…"
Kuang Hu seemed to have come to the same conclusion, with trepidation and hesitation filling his face. He glared at me, but this time there was some element of horror mixed with rage. Even so, he wasn"t going to give up.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With a yell, he intensified the silver lightning that ran through his body, pushing himself to extreme limits. Kicking off the ground, he disappeared and dashed right toward me at a speed even I was unable to follow or read.
Clang!
I just barely managed to parry his Lightning Claws, but he unleashed a blast of silver electricity that electrocuted me, overwhelming my inner qi defenses and numbing my body. It was my turn to stagger back, and Kuang Hu seized the chance to kick at my head. I blocked it with my arm, but the silver lightning startled me and sent me crashing onto the ground.
"Kuh…!"
This guy…he was forcibly overwriting his limiters in order to maximize his speed! While he might be able to momentarily gain unsurpa.s.sed strength, the recoil from such a risky move would be severe. Was he that desperate to win?
But I"m not going to lose here either!
Gritting my teeth, I rolled away before Kuang Hu could rip me apart with his Lightning Claws. Using Tui, I threw myself off the ground and withdrew a good distance away. As I expected, Kuang Hu followed me, his Three Thousand Lightning Movement allowing him to close the gap in no time at all.
Fortunately, I had antic.i.p.ated his next attack.
Using Liu, I succeeded in disrupting his next attack, but I still couldn"t nullify the devastating lightning that was streaming off his body. Feeling a shock of numbness, I stumbled backward, but ducked under Kuang Hu"s kick.
Locking my swords with his Lightning Claws, I delivered a knee into his abdomen, causing him to double over. Wincing when the silver lightning sent a shocking tingle through my leg, I responded with a freezing kick that encased his torso in ice.
"Argh!"
With a roar, Kuang Hu shattered the ice with his lightning, and then lunged forward again. He launched his attacks in a berserk frenzy, his eyes rolling back and glowing silver with bloodl.u.s.t. I traded blows with him evenly, my ice counteracting his lightning. The arena would be entombed in ice before the layer of frost would shatter into fragments under the destructive dance of silver electricity, only for the ground to be frozen over again.
All this while, the spectators could barely follow our movements. All they could see were blurs and the alternate creation and destruction of ice and lightning.
"Just go down already!"
Bellowing, Kuang Hu knocked me backward with a vicious strike. I would have been sent sprawling across the ground if I hadn"t disrupted his movement earlier, but I managed to duck under his slash and responded with a riposte aimed at his throat. Kuang Hu deflected my blade with his other Lightning Claw and kicked out.
However, I disappeared and slashed at his back. Kuang Hu twisted around to parry my sword with both Lightning Claws and then forced me back with brute strength.
Silver lightning whipped around him in a frenzy and he kicked off the ground to dash at me again, delivering a ferocious barrage of strikes and slashes that would have ripped me apart to shreds if I wasn"t able to read his movements.
Boom!
One of his claws sc.r.a.ped across the ground and the electric qi around it detonated, carving a crater into the concrete.
Not heeding the destruction he was wreaking, Kuang Hu continued to press on, slashing and slicing the air with his Lightning Claws and saturating the atmosphere with electricity. Being fully aware of the static charges that hung in the air, I attempted to nullify them with a blast of freezing qi that would hopefully stop my opponent in his tracks as well, but he was too fast and powerful.
"d.a.m.n…"
Even with Liu, I was being pressed into a disadvantage here. I could just barely hold out, but I knew that if I endured and survived the next exchange, it would be my victory. It was clear that Kuang Hu couldn"t hold out for next longer.
His body was at its limits. I could see how his breathing had gotten ragged, how the circulation of qi in his body was clogging up, how damage was acc.u.mulating in his body. All thanks to my Heaven and Earth qi sense.
But do I really want to win in such a manner?
No. I wanted to defeat Kuang Hu at his strongest. I wanted to win against Kuang Hu at his best. Otherwise there was no meaning to my victory.
Kuang Hu had shown his determination to win, no matter the cost. How could I belittle that? I wanted to express equal determination. I had survived the worst the world had to throw at me and prevailed.
Defeating someone my age was nothing compared to the trials I had overcome thus far. It wasn"t as if Kuang Hu was some sort of monster. No, far from it. Compared to most of the enemies I had to survive against, he was but a child.
Furthermore, it wasn"t as if I was out of cards to play.
Boom!
We sprang apart after a particularly nasty collision that sent sparks and ice flying across the coliseum. Kuang Hu staggered back and dropped to his knee, breathing heavily. The silver lightning continued to crackle around his body, but he refused to allow it to abate. He was determined to use it all the way until the very end, until either he or I went down.
I closed my eyes briefly. There was only one possible outcome to such a battle. If possible, I would like to end this before he did irreversible damage to his own body. Granted, Teacher Yi could heal him with her skills, but that didn"t mean it was all right to take such immense risks.
"Let"s finish this," I declared and dropped my swords.
"You…!"
Kuang Hu swore as he struggled to his feet. He must have thought that I was looking down on him. I merely c.o.c.ked my head to the side.
"Are you ready to go yet?"
"Don"t underestimate me!"
Bellowing, Kuang Hu lunged forward and disappeared into a bolt of silver lightning, streaking toward me. It was almost as if there were three thousand afterimages of him, all dashing toward me from different angles and directions.
This was the true Three Thousand Lightning Movement. Well, to be honest, it was no longer the Three Thousand Lightning Movement but the Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body, the next step of the Three Thousand Lightning Movement technique. In his rage, Kuang Hu had surpa.s.sed his limits and succeeded in attaining the advanced version.
However, he wasn"t the only one who had an advanced version of his technique.
"?!"
The moment my feet moved, there was suddenly five copies of myself. Kuang Hu almost halted, taken by surprise when he saw the illusion. However, he had gone too far to stop now, and all three thousand images of himself slashed at the five shadows of myself.
Ying, or "Shadow." The last and ultimate footwork technique.
All my shadows rippled and burst apart into nothingness. Kuang Hu and his afterimages burned through them, silver lightning still crackling around them, but the afterimages were slowly disappearing. His mouth nearly frothing, Kuang Hu turned around.
"Where are you?!" he screamed.
"Right here."
"?!"
Kuang Hu glanced up, only for me to plant my foot on his face.
Seismic Step.
"GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The entire coliseum rocked as a sudden crater appeared in the middle. Kuang Hu disappeared in a colossal explosion as the ground underneath him caved in and dust billowed into the air. A geyser of blood burst high into the air before being obscured from view by the immense debris.
I landed on relatively undamaged ground and twisted around on my heels to watch the destruction. Even though I couldn"t see Kuang Hu, I could still sense his qi. It had dropped to dangerously low levels.
The guy was most definitely unconscious.
Striding over to where my swords were, I picked them up and sheathed them. Then I turned to watch the crater I had carved into the face of the coliseum.
There was still no movement, but I couldn"t take anything for granted. As I thought, there was a ripple of qi…a reaction from Kuang Hu.
"Isn"t it over?"
"What is Teacher Cai waiting for?"
"There"s no way Kuang Hu could have withstood that attack, could he?"
"What"s going on?"
The spectators didn"t share my opinion and were curiously peering through the gla.s.s window, trying to see what was going on. Hey, at least the reinforced gla.s.s window wasn"t destroyed this time, having endured all the qi that was flying around the arena.
"Guh!"
As I expected, a bloodied hand – with the gauntlet of Lightning Claws still around it – reached out of the crater and grabbed the edge of the crater. With visible effort, Kuang Hu pulled himself up and dragged himself out of the hole.
"You…" he growled, gritting his teeth as he glared up at me. "What the h.e.l.l are you?"
I merely gazed down at him.
"Hmph. Don"t think this is over yet."
Kuang Hu slowly rose to his feet, but even as he stood his body continued to tremble violently. He must be suffering excrcuciating agony, but even then he refused to go down. I had to hand it to him, he was one of the most tenacious opponents I had ever faced.
There were very few who could take a Seismic Step from me and still maintain consciousness after that, never mind stand.
Silver lightning crackled around Kuang Hu"s body as he glared at me. Then he surged forward in one last attempt to finish me off, using his Three Thousand Lightning Movement one last time. His Lightning Claws slashed and cut me into shreds.
"Got you…!"
My torn body slowly turned to look at him, its physical form rippling and crumbling away like dust. Within seconds, that image of me had completely disappeared.
"I see…"
Exhausted and completely drained, Kuang Hu collapsed onto the ground, grinning defiantly. He stabbed his Lightning Claws onto the ground.
"Even until the very end, you still want to be sneaky, don"t you?"
"That"s how I"ve survived until now," I replied behind him. Kuang Hu didn"t even bother to turn back. He merely closed his eyes and leaned forward.
"I"m not going to surrender. So if you want to win, you"re gonna have to finish me off."
I would have done so, as a sign of respect. Raising my leg, I kicked him.
Right at the moment of contact, silver lightning exploded from Kuang Hu"s body and incinerated me. I screamed as the electricity streamed over me, surging through my systems and shorting out my organs.
"You"re not the only one who can be sneaky!"
Using his last burst of strength, Kuang Hu whirled around and stabbed me in the heart with his Lightning Claws.
"It"s my win!"
His eyes glowing maliciously, Kuang Hu cackled triumphantly.
I stopped screaming and stared at him. Even with the Lightning Claws embedded in my chest, I merely smiled. Kuang Hu blinked and then realized that there was no blood flowing from the wound in my chest.
"You…!"
"I expected that," my shadow replied. "Thanks to my friend, I did some research on you. So I know what kind of person you are."
"f.u.c.k you!"
With a roar, Kuang Hu decapitated my shadow, only for the image to ripple and vanish from his eyes. He spun around, swinging his Lightning Claws around crazily.
"Where are you!?"
I wasn"t an idiot to tell him this time, so I instead responded by freezing him from a distance. Kuang Hu staggered back and glanced down at the ice creeping over his body.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Stop hiding!"
Enraged, he shattered the ice that threatened to entomb him, silver lightning blasting out from his body. However, the moment the silver lighting weakened, I appeared and kicked him right in the chest. Having expected me to come from behind, Kuang Hu wasn"t able to defend himself in time.
"Gah!"
He crashed onto the ground, coughing out more blood. Gritting his teeth, he unleashed another blast of silver lightning at me when I descended upon him to finish him off.
"Like I"ll let you…!"
The silver lightning seared through my form, only for me to shimmer and vanish from view. Kuang Hu"s eyes widened for a moment, and then he chuckled bitterly in resignation.
"f.u.c.k. I just never learn, do I?"
The next thing he knew, my foot was on his head. Then the arena exploded under the force of my second Seismic Step, burying the now unconscious Kuang Hu under tons of rubble.