"You actually won against Wu Hei Gui?!"Tong Xue was staring at me in disbelief. I shrugged and gestured at his tablet, feeling a twinge of annoyance.
"You can watch the replay if you don"t believe me."
"It"s not that I don"t believe you, but…wow. Just wow."
Tong Xue was shaking his head, thoroughly impressed. I shrugged and stared back at him, trying to maintain my calm façade. Honestly, I was screaming in joy inside, scarcely able to believe that I had managed to break Wu Hei Gui"s impenetrable defenses.
"What? You won?"
Lian Rou showed up, fresh from her match, and her jaw dropped. Tong Xue waved her over to our position and nodded.
"Yup, he did."
"Congratulations."
Ban Zhang showed up out of nowhere and spoke behind me, almost shocking us with his appearance. If I hadn"t sensed his presence and qi a few seconds ago, I might have jumped out of my chair.
"Thanks. What about you?"
"I won."
"Me too."
"Uh…"
Lian Rou was the only one who didn"t seem eager to share the results of her match. No one inquired her further.
"Now, all that"s left are…Qi Hong and Zhu Jiao. Where are they?"
"Oh, Qi Hong?" Lian Rou brightened up when I switched the topic. "She won her match half an hour ago. She went back to the dorm to shower."
"…"
We all glanced at each other, at a loss for words. As expected, Tang Qi Hong won her match almost immediately. She really was one of the more powerful students in school, what with her Four Star Const.i.tution potential and all that.
"What about Zhu Jiao? Shouldn"t he already have finished his match?"
"Well, about that…" Tong Xue looked a little troubled. "He"s fighting against Yu Wen Tian. It"s a tough match for him."
"Let"s go cheer him on," I suggested. No wonder we didn"t see Zhu Jiao earlier this morning. He had to make a lot of preparations for his match against one of Snow Valley Sect"s prodigies, Yu Wen Tian. I briefly wondered if Yu Wen Tian was closed to Yin Jing Jing. The two of them might know each other, being rated very highly among the sect and all.
"Good idea!" Lian Rou beamed.
"I"m down with that," Ban Zhang agreed.
"Let"s go! I know where his match is taking place." Tong Xue offered to guide us there. As none of us bothered to read up on the other matches, we had to rely on him.
The moment we reached there, we just barely managed to catch a glimpse of a powerful, blinding explosion that seared our eyes through the transparent window. Apparently, Zhu Jiao had just delivered a punch with his golden gauntlets and forced Yu Wen Tian to parry his strike. Yu Wen Tian had swung his sword down to unleash a dominating blade qi that gave off the impression of piercing the sky, a move that he had used earlier to defeat his previous opponents.
The resulting clash culminated in a terrifying shockwave that battered the reinforced walls of the training room.
"Whoa!"
I couldn"t help but gape at the incredible sight. A small tornado had whipped up from the collision, spinning around violently and blowing up their hair and uniform sleeves. Neither of them backed off, the both of them not even taking a single step backward as they confronted each other with determined expressions.
"Impressive…" Tong Xue murmured, awestruck.
"Both of them are worthy enough to enter the finals," Ban Zhang mused.
"Hu…"
Yu Wen Tian took a deep breath as he freed his sword from Zhu Jiao"s clutches. The two of them traded blows – Zhu Jiao delivering vicious punches and Yu Wen Tian slashing mercilessly – before they were each thrown back a few steps.
"Let"s try this then!"
Narrowing his eyes, Yu Wen Tian thrust his sword forward. It wasn"t a simple thrust, however. He was twirling and twisting the sword in his hand, and the azure qi wreathing his blade took the shape of a snake.
"Snow Serpent Strike!"
Really? Did you really have to shout out the name of your technique?
Nonetheless, the power of his sword style couldn"t be underestimated. Even as Zhu Jiao parried Yu Wen Tian"s strike with his gauntlets, the latter switched his pattern of attack, almost slipping through Zhu Jiao"s defenses.
The Snow Serpent Sword Style was known for its many variations, yet maintained a brutal precision that aimed directly for the opponent"s vulnerabilities. Furthermore, even from this distance and separated by a thick, transparent barrier, I could still sense the domineering aura that the azure serpent exuded.
"If I"m not mistaken, the Snow Serpent Sword Style is cla.s.sed as one of the more complex techniques in the Snow Valley Sect," Tong Xue whispered. "It might not be among their strongest, but it"s definitely still a high quality, above average sword style."
That might sound contradictory – so why bother learning a technique that wasn"t one of the most powerful? The answer was that the Snow Serpent Sword Style was most likely a prerequisite to elarning a stronger, more advanced technique further down the line. But for now, it was more than enough for Yu Wen Tian to domninate opponents of his generation.
That was what he had been doing all along, during this tournament.
…until now.
"!"
A golden aura of fiery yang qi burst from Zhu Jiao"s body, expanding into a ma.s.sive sphere that incinerated the azure serpent coiled around Yu Wen Tian"s blade in an instant.
"What?!"
Yu Wen Tian withdrew in reflex, before Zhu Jiao"s fist could hammer past his blade and into his face. Breathing heavily, he glared at Zhu Jiao.
"What the h.e.l.l is that technique?"
"What, Golden Kirin Sacred Creature Arts?" Zhu Jiao shrugged. "I"m pretty sure you should know about my techniques by now…especially if you bothered to do some research on me."
"You…!" Yu Wen Tian spluttered, but he couldn"t deny that. He took a deep breath to calm himself down before he switched his sword stance.
It was clear from his expression what he was thinking. Even though Yu Wen Tian did do some research on Zhu Jiao"s abilities, he didn"t expect Zhu Jiao"s technique to be this strong. The firepower of the Golden Kirin Sacred Creature Arts had exceeded his imagination.
Of course, Zhu Jiao had kept the secret of his ghostly master. No one knew that the specter of Qi Lin had been the one teaching him the Golden Kirin Sacred Creature Arts all this while. They had a.s.sumed that Zhu Jiao had succeeded in restoring the lost Golden Kirin Sacred Creature Arts through his own natural ability and the school"s resources. Zhu Jiao had allowed the misunderstanding to propagate – encouraged it even – and thus the existence of Qi Lin continued to be concealed. I was still the only one who knew about it.
However, neither Zhu Jiao nor Qi Lin was aware that I knew their secret. And I intended to keep it that way.
"I see. I don"t have a choice then."
A burst of powerful qi surged from within Yu Wen Tian.
"That"s the Mystical Thunderbolt Body technique, level 8!" Tong Xue gasped. I stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"How do you know it is level 8?"
"I can estimate it from the amount of qi that he"s emanating," Tong Xue explained. I frowned skeptically, but decided not to press for details. I would just be wasting my time.
"What technique is that?" Lian Rou asked, puzzled. Tong Xue jumped at the chance to show off his knowledge.
"The Mystical Thunderbolt Body technique. It"s a kind of advancement technique to help you with your cultivation, rather than just give you combat techniques or fighting styles. It"s…to help you increase your cultivation level and amount of innate qi."
Ah…so that was what Heaven and Earth Formula was. rather than a combat technique, Heaven and Earth Formula was just an advancement technique that exponentially increased the amount of qi I had in my body and allowed me methods of increasing it further through qi absorption techniques or drawing natural qi from my surroundings, or even purifying the impure qi in my body to create a more powerful effect.
Well, I knew that already. No, honestly! I"m not lying!
In any case, that was why I needed to learn more combat techniques such as Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship or Shadow Steps for actual fighting moves. Otherwise I would just have plenty of qi but no way of putting it into practical use.
By executing the Mystical Thunderbolt Body technique, Yu Wen Tian"s physical strength multiplied severalfold. Lightning crackled around his body, the golden currents of qi mixing with the azure snowy qi that was already curling around his sword.
Even though there wasn"t much of a visible change, other than the potency and color of his qi, instinctively I could feel the potent dominant presence of his qi swirling outward to grasp and suffocate me. From the reactions of my friends as they gasped and paled, I could tell that they could feel the intangible effects too.
"Accept your defeat!"
Bellowing ferociously, Yu Wen Tian lunged forward as the golden qi expanded rapidly over his sword, interweaving with the azure qi, and he swung his weapon at Zhu Jiao.
It was clear that he intended to finish the duel with this single move, putting all of his strength in this final strike.
"Hmph. Just what I was waiting for."
At the exact same moment when Yu Wen Tian cleaved toward Zhu Jiao, he also executed his mystical advancement technique, the Golden Kirin Sacred Body Const.i.tution. In just a millisecond, his presence surged up forcibly, almost like a hurricane.
Don"t ask me what level it was, I have no freaking idea. It could be level seven, eight or nine, or even one, and I wouldn"t have a clue.
Anyway, Zhu Jiao stepped forward and raised both his armored arms, meeting Yu Wen Tian"s powerful strike.
BOOM!
Another enormous explosion rippled across the training room, sending powerful tremors across the facility. Lian Rou swayed unsteadily, and Tong Xue quickly grabbed hold of her before she could fall over. Ban Zhang grabbed the railing below the window while I shifted my feet quickly as I instinctively activated my footwork.
Inside the room, I could see lightning and ice clashing with golden flames and earthly qi. As the collision of the two potent qi died down, I could see Zhu Jiao and Yu Wen Tian skidding away from each other, their weapons smoldering.
"Whoa…amazing…"
"Impressive."
"I don"t believe this!"
It wasn"t just my friends. A huge crowd had gathered to watch the intense battle, mesmerized by the sheer power and display of ferocity from both sides.
It wasn"t just the students. Even a few of the teachers were present, their eyes glowing as they spectated.
"Excellent. Excellent!"
An elderly teacher, Teacher Lao, was clapping his hands gleefully. From the perspective of the academy staff, the more talented students we had, the better. It would increase the prestige of the academy, especially as the ex-graduates gained fame and power, which would in turn increase enrollment and donations.
"I knew you were strong," Yu Wen Tian admitted grudgingly as he lowered his fuming sword. "But your power has surpa.s.sed my imagination."
"I could say the same for you," Zhu Jiao replied as he shook his smoking gauntlets, wincing from the slight pain.
"Hmph." Yu Wen Tian drew a shaky breath, and then he lunged forward, thrusting with his sword. Zhu Jiao just barely managed to deflect the powerful strike away, and metal screamed against metal in a shower of sparks.
Bang! Wham!
The two exchanged furious blows, their arms disappearing into blurs as their speed and power rapidly increased. We could feel the vibrations even outside the room as the two clashed violently against each other, much like a pair of dragons fighting to the death. Or a vicious duel between a dragon and a tiger.
Only one of them would be getting out of this alive. Well, that was an exaggeration. The academy would do its best to ensure both survived.
Each blow found its mark, a sword cleaving at armor, or a fist banging against blade. More sparks flew as the two terrible oceans of qi clashed and collided, trying to engulf the other. Their blows were getting more violent, more…desperate.
Clang!
The two of them sprang apart in a shower of sparks, breathing heavily. It was a miracle that they had kept up their frenzied brawl for this long without losing any stamina, but it appeared their ferocious exchange was finally taking its toll.
"Amazing…I"ve to hand it to you."
Yu Wen Tian huffed as he wiped the perspiration from his forehead.
"You"re the strongest opponent I"ve ever faced."
"Hmph."
Despite breathing as heavily as Yu Wen Tian, Zhu Jiao smirked as he mopped his face with a hand.
"I could say the same about you. Unfortunately, I can"t stop here. Not if I want to compete at the very top and…face Ning Xue in the finals."
"Bai Ning Xue?" Yu Wen Tian scowled. "Surely you don"t think you"ll be able to stand against her in combat, do you?"
"Can"t hurt to try." Zhu Jiao"s smile widened. "But first I"ll have to defeat you and everybody in this group so that I can advance to the last 16."
"Dream on!"
Scowling, Yu Wen Tian shot forward like a bullet and slashed at Zhu Jiao, who met him squarely like a rock. Though seemingly immobile, Zhu Jiao was the very pillar of calm, standing very still as he met Yu Wen Tian blow with blow.
Crunch! Crack!
Even the reinforced walls of the training room were beginning to crack from the impact, the ground beneath their feet shattering with each heavy blow. As the room crumbled, debris began to scatter all over the place, hurled into the air by the sheer force of the two combatants" qi.
"You"ve got to be kidding me…"
"Are those two even human?"
"I"ve never seen a battle like this…"
"Monsters…they"re both monsters!"
The spectators watched with bated breath as they waited for the battle to reach its climax. Unable to tear their eyes away from the amazing scene, they seemed almost too afraid to blink. The two were trading blows in movements so fast that even a single blink would cause us to miss a lot.
"Thunderbolt Kick!"
Again, with the shouting of his techniques. I couldn"t help but shake my head when Yu Wen Tian yelled out the name of his technique while delivering a kick. However, Yu Wen Tian did have an edge in the number of martial arts he learned, which surpa.s.sed that of Zhu Jiao, who only learned a small handful of styles. The latter was forced to dodge as the former left a ma.s.sive crater in the ground, rolling away before bringing his armored arms up to defend.
"Kirin Flash."
The golden aura surrounding Zhu Jiao"s body amplified and he unleashed a surge of qi that knocked Yu Wen Tian off his feet and sent the latter rolling away to safety. Cursing under his breath, Yu Wen Tian jumped up again.
"I"ll defeat you, no matter what!"
Hardening his resolve, Yu Wen Tian lunged at Zhu Jiao and thrust his sword forward. Golden qi wreathed his blade, transforming into a blizzard of swords sharp enough to slice even the rocky debris that was floating all over the air.
Against this, Zhu Jiao elected to harden his defense. Steeling himself, he solidified his golden qi and met Yu Wen Tian head-on with a roar.
Clang!
Sword met gauntlets. Once again, an enormous explosion erupted as the two tremendous forces of qi collided, ripping apart the training room and causing the walls to break as golden and azure qi ripped each other apart like demonic beasts.
The rocky debris that had been hovering momentarily in the air, defying gravity because of the saturated atmosphere of qi, were all instantly obliterated by the sheer force, crushed into fine powder no longer visible to the naked eye.
"Holy…"
"Heavens, just how powerful are their qi?!"
"Monsters! They"re definitely monsters!"
The students were crying out, stupefied by the display of utter ferocity and power. Many of them were trembling, paling as they watched the violent explosions tear apart the training room from within, the two duelists no longer visible in the midst of the qi inferno.
"It"s time to settle this."
"Agreed."
The two duelists were running out of stamina and qi. After excuting such ma.s.sive moves that consumed so much qi, neither of them could hold on for much longer. After all, they weren"t Mary Sues like Li Fu Chen, who could go on and display thousands of moves yet not feel tired at all, and still utterly dominate his opponent.
An azure-golden glow enveloped Yu Wen Tian"s sword as he held it tightly with both hands. Acc.u.mulating as much qi as he could, he stepped forward with a bellow and swung his sword, unleashing a devastating arc of energy.
In contrast, Zhu Jiao merely stood still. I could see the figure of a golden Kirin settling over his body, almost as if he was turning it into armor. The Kirin seemed to roar thunderously as it reared forward to meet the incoming arc of energy. As if responding to its will, Zhu Jiao c.o.c.ked his right arm back and threw a powerful punch.
BOOM!
A golden beam of energy surged from Zhu Jiao"s fist and smashed apart the gigantic arc of destruction that was barreling toward him.
"What?!"
Yu Wen Tian froze, then raised his sword in reflex to defend himself.
It was useless.
The golden blast of energy knocked the sword out of Yu Wen Tian"s hands and engulfed him in a golden explosion that sent tremors across the entire training facility. The wall caved in and actually collapsed, sending Yu Wen Tian sprawling into the locker room just behind. A golden Kirin seemed to materialize above him, devouring Yu Wen Tian"s p.r.o.ne form with its gigantic jaws and then erupted in a devastating explosion that caused everyone to shield their eyes.
"Holy s…"
"You"ve got to be kidding me…"
"And this isn"t even the finals yet…"
A murmur ran through the crowd as they tried to squint past their fingers and hands, unable to believe what had just transpired. In a single hit, Zhu Jiao obliterated Yu Wen Tian"s ultimate attack and laid him low.
He even destroyed the reinforced wall of the training room and sent his opponent flying into the next room!
"That guy is insane," I muttered under my breath. Well, what else could I expect from someone who was obviously the protagonist of a xianxia story? Of course he would completely dominate all his opponents like a certain Mary Sue with so-called demonic perception despite having "only" a normal bone frame.
"Zhu Jiao won!" Tong Xue gasped and pumped a fist into the air. "Great job!"
"Yeah, he completely exceeded everyone"s expectations." Ban Zhang shook his head. "Group of Death…that"s not going to stop him from making it to the finals."
"What terrifying power," Lian Rou sighed as she shuddered. "It seems only Bai Ning Xue is a match for him now."
"That would be one h.e.l.l of a final," I agreed, watching Zhu Jiao"s triumphant figure as he raised his hand to the air, looking exhausted but overjoyed.
*
The next few days pa.s.sed by in a blur. I managed to sc.r.a.pe through my group, winning narrowly over my opponents. There were a few close calls and narrow shaves, but I managed to sc.r.a.pe a sc.r.a.ppy victory over them, either through luck or sheer plot armor…I mean tenacity.
Unlike Zhu Jiao, I didn"t have to worry about facing a lot of powerful opponents. I had already defeated the troublesome ones such as Wu Hei Gui and even Tu Zi Yi. That left Wu Xing, the Five Elements prodigy from the Kun Lun Sect.
As it was, it turned out that our match was arranged on the last day. Wu Xing had just defeated Wu Hei Gui in an extremely close battle. I suspected Wu Xing only won because he could manipulate all five elements and chose the elements that Wu Hei Gui was weak against. In other words, wood and earth with the latter especially being a counter to water.
"Hmm, room 479."
I stopped in front of the designated room, while still replaying the events of Wu Xing"s match against Wu Hei Gui the other day. Make no mistake. Wu Xing was a formidable enemy, and I had to do my research on him if I wanted to stand even a chance of not embarra.s.sing myself, never mind winning.
Furthermore, I had somehow managed to win all my matches so far. All I needed was a victory over Wu Xing and I would emerge the top in our group and make my way to the last sixteen. Everything was riding on this match.
Unfortunately, the same could be said for Wu Xing.
"…"
"Oh, you"re finally here, eh?"
For the first time, I wasn"t the one who came to the room first. Wu Xing was already inside, waiting for me. Even though I came early, he still beat me to it.
This was not a good sign.
"Are you ready for the last battle of the preliminary round?" Wu Xing asked as he cracked his knuckles. I watched him for a second and then nodded.
"Yeah."
"Good." Wu Xing watched me carefully. "You are aware that whoever wins this match will make it to the finals, right?"
"Yeah."
No doubt the guy was going to say something along the lines of he was going to win this battle and advance to the last 16. I had heard it all before.
"Although I have no doubt who would win this match…"
See? I knew it. Sighing, I shook my head and turned away, but that did not discourage Wu Xing from continuing.
"Your progress has surprised me. I didn"t think you would be able to beat Tu Zi Yi and Wu Hei Gui. Especially the latter. To think you could even defeat a disciple from one of the eight major sects…oh! That"s right!"
He struck his palm with his fist.
"You are also from one of the eight major sects, if I recall. The Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, right?"
"Uh huh…"
I was wondering if there was any point to this conversation.
"But even so, the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is known for blacksmithing and Spirit Engraving. Unless you"re not one of their famous Blood Blades…"
"I"m not," I a.s.sured him. I also didn"t tell him that I was aiming to get into the Blood Blades eventually. Deliberately withholding information was a form of strategy.
"Heh…impressive. Well, it doesn"t matter. You"re unlucky that your final opponent is me." Wu Xing shook his head mockingly. "To have the tiny hope of advancing to the last 16…"
He then clenched his fist, as if crushing something. The tiny hope he was talking about, I bet.
"…only to have it destroyed when I show up as your final opponent."
"Stop being dramatic." I sighed. "Let"s not waste any time and begin right away."
"Straight to the point. I like that!" Wu Xing grinned, and then turned up to the speaker and security camera at the top of the training room. "Teacher Cai, we"re ready."
"Okay. Then you can begin."
"Wu Xing of Kun Lun, the Five Elements prodigy of the Kun Lun Sect. my specialization is…all five elements! The esoteric Five Elements Principle of Kun Lun. Not to mention, I am the smartest and brightest among my sect…"
I listened to him ramble on and on, not bothering to remember the rest of his introduction, then briefly gave my name. Since Wu Xing didn"t seem interested in my skills, I merely mentioned that I was from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and didn"t provide any more details than that. Wu Xing also didn"t inquire, unlike Tu Zi Yi.
His arrogance was going to be his undoing. That I was certain of.
"Then let"s begin!"
Smiling broadly, Wu Xing kicked off the ground and lunged forward to deliver a devastating punch that would blow a hole through my chest if I didn"t dodge.