Return Of The Demon

Bai Yun slowly walked up the steps of the arena. He could hear the cheers of the crowd. He could feel the cool air of the night. By now the sun had set and the moon had started to rise.

Bai Yun stood opposite Bai Yun and took a deep breath. He stared at Bai Qing. This fight was bound to be the hardest fight he has had in a long time.

Sparks flew as Bai Yun and Bai Qing stared at each other. If the two of them were at the same cultivation realm, or if Bai Yun could see, this fight would have been short. But under the circ.u.mstances, the result was uncertain.

"Was it you in the youngster"s tournament." Bai Qing suddenly asked.

For a moment Bai Yun was confused. Then he understood. Bai Qing must have recognized his mystic steps.

"Yes." Bai Yun replied.

"I was quite disappointed that I didn"t get to fight you during the youngster"s tournament." Bai Qing said. "At least that regret can be made up for now."

"You might not be happy with the outcome." Bai Yun said with a chuckle.

"If we were at the same cultivation state, I would not be confident of a victory." Bai Qing continued. "But ever since I saw your strength at Bai Tian"s party I have been preparing for a fight with you. I have trained just to face you. And I also prepared to face the mysterious Long Tian, by studying his movement technique and finding a counter to it. Now I am glad I did."

The next movent Bai Qing"s aura started to fluctuate. Bai Qing"s breathing changed and his posture also became weird.

"So this is your response." Bai Yun said. "It is true that disrupting your breathing can indeed make it more difficult to predict your moves. But my mystic steps focuses on a person"s rhythm. Unless you can change your heartbeat and your instinctive responses, you will not be able to escape its clutches."

Bai Qing"s face changed. But he didn"t change his weird posture. "Perhaps." Bai Qing said. "But without your eyes, I want to know how good your mystic steps will be."

Seeing that the two of them had gotten ready, the referee waited for a moment longer. After seeing that neither of them spoke again, he raised his hand and shouted "Begin."

The moment the fight started, the two of them ran at each other. Bai Yun send out his four soul tendrils and they wrapped around Bai Qing"s body.

When the two of them neared each other. Bai Qing swung his sword at Bai Yun. Bai Yun thrust his sword forward and stopped it before it could gain momentum. One after the other, the two of them exchanged strikes. But Bai Yun was able to easily defuse Bai Qing"s strikes. He had studied Bai Qing"s fighting style during the youngster"s tournament. Along with his experience now, Bai Yun was able to understand Bai Qing"s rhythm and was able to fight back easily.

Of course, another factor was that Ba Qing was not as strong as Bai Mo, who he had fought earlier. Bai Mo was a strength based cultivator and Bai Yun did not dare to cross weapons with him. But Bai Qing was not as strong and Bai Yun was able to easily diffuse Bai Qing"s attacks.

Of course, even though Bai Qing was weaker than Bai Mo, he was stronger in other aspects, especially speed. But since Bai Yun was predicting Bai Qing"s moves, it did not matter much to him.

Bai Qing then struck out with his sword. Bai Yun slightly swayed and struck back at the fastest speed. Bai Qing was prepared for it and quickly defended. One after another, the two of them quickly exchanged blows.

In the middle of the fight, Bai Yun quietly activated mystic steps. But due to his blindness and the fact that Bai Qing had changed his breathing, Bai Yun was unable to do it perfectly. Even though he was able to force Bai Qing to make a few mistakes, Bai Yun"s movements were not as smooth nor as elegant as when he fought Zhang Zi.

This situation continued for a while. Bai Yun frowned when he felt this. His cultivation wasn"t as high as Bai Qing"s and he would tire out first if this continued. He also needed to conserve some strength for the finals.

Bai Yun suddenly jumped back and drew away from Bai Qing. Bai Qing followed after Bai Yun closely. Bai Yun then stopped and swept his sword at Bai Qing"s legs, forced him to jump.

Bai Qing leapt up and charged at Bai Yun. Suddenly Bai Yun smiled. He activated one of his soul tendrils that was wrapped around Bai Qing"s right arm. Just as Bai Qing was about to bring down his arm, Bai Yun"s soul tendril caught hold of Bai Qing"s wrist and pulled back hard.

A shocked look appeared on Bai Qing"s eyes as he suddenly felt the strange power restrict his movements. But the power of a single soul tendril was too small. It was only able to delay Bai Qing"s arm for a fraction of a second.

But that delay was enough for Bai Yun. He rapidly thrust his sword at Bai Qing"s throat. At the same time, Bai Qing"s sword came down on Bai Yun"s shoulder. But due to the short delay caused by the soul tendril, Bai Qing was a beat too late. If this continued, Bai Yun"s sword would penetrate Bai Qing"s throat before his sword could cut Bai Yun"s shoulder or head.

But the referee would not let anything happen to these two. So he would intervene and stop the weapons. But since Bai Yun was faster, the final decision would probably leave Bai Yun as the winner.

Realizing this, Bai Qing changed his attack. He rapidly brought down his sword and defended against Bai Yun"s attack. But the moment the two swords crossed, Bai Qing felt that something was wrong. There was no power behind Bai Yun"s sword. The next moment Bai Yun"s sword vibrated in a weird manner, and Bai Qing"s sword somehow seemed to pa.s.s through the body of Bai Yun"s sword. The next second a horrifying force was transmitted into Bai Qing"s sword, blowing both it and Bai Qing"s hand to the side.

The next second Bai Yun swung his sword back at Bai Qing. Since his hand was blown away and they were too close, Bai Qing had to lean back to dodge the attack. At the same time, Bai Qing kicked out with his right leg at Bai Yun.

But the moment he kicked out, Bai Qing saw that Bai Yun and let go of his sword. The next second, Bai Yun caught Bai Qing"s leg with both arms, twisted his body, and threw Bai Qing with full force to the ground.

Bai Qing reacted quickly, sending a powerful blow to the ground in order to stop himself. But it wasn"t enough and he crashed into the ground in full force. Bai Qing found himself disoriented by the blow and tried to quickly get back to normal. Almost instinctively, he kicked out with his leg, trying to shake Bai Yun off.

But Bai Qing felt that something was wrong when he realized that Bai Yun had already let go of his leg. Waking himself up, Bai Qing tried to get up from the ground. But just as he was about to get up, Bai Qing saw a fist emerging in front of his eyes.

With a loud bang, Bai Yun"s fist smashed into Bai Qing"s face, blowing him away. A shaken Bai Qing tried to gather his strength, but before he could do so, he felt a sharp hit land on his temple, disorienting him once again.

Bai Qing shook his head and came to very quickly. But he felt a strong force on his arms. Before Bai Qing could reinforce his arms with qi, Bai Yun dislocated them with a twist.

With a scream, Bai Qing leapt back. He knew that the important thing was to retreat so he did so while forcibly putting his arm back in place. But when he looked up afterward Bai Qing realized that Bai Yun had disappeared from his vision.

Suddenly a whooshing sound sounded out in Bai Qing"s ears. Before he could identify it, he felt a force land on his leg. Since he was backing away to get away from Bai Yun at the time, Bai Qing lost his balance and fell back.

As Bai QIng fell back, Bai Yun quickly got from behind him and kicked him in the chest. Bai Qing flew away from the force of the kick.

Bai Qing quickly tried to get up, but before he could do so, Bai Yun punched him in the stomach. Just as Bai Qing doubled over from the punch, Bai Yun elbowed him in the throat. As Bai Qing straightened up, clutching his throat, Bai Yun kneed him in the chest, sending him to the floor again.

As Bai Qing fell down, he coughed up a bit of blood. He then tried to get up, only to freeze when he felt a pressure on his chest. Sometime during the struggle, Bai Yun had taken Bai Qings sword. Bai Qing looked up to see a slightly panting Bai Yun holding Bai Qing"s sword to his heart.

Bai Qing coughed a couple of times. "The last ten seconds were intense." Bai Qing said in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

"Sorry about that." Bai Yun replied with a chuckle. "You are not someone I can take it easy on and win in my current condition."

"Winner Bai Yun." The referee announced after a moment. He was slightly stunned by Bai Yun"s ferociousness. Not just him, but even the other members of the clan were staring at Bai Yun in shock. The only one not surprised was Bai Mu. He had seen enough of this in the last two days.

Bai Yun then handed the sword back to Bai Qing and helped him get up.

Good luck in the finals." Bai Qing said as he was leaving.

"Thanks but I don"t need it." Bai Yun replied.

Bai Qing looked at Bai Yun for a moment and then chuckled. He then went down the arena.

Bai Yun then picked up his sword and went down the arena and sat down and started to recover. There was a lot of cheering as he stepped down. All the fights from the quarterfinals onwards took place in the central arena and thus he did not have to move anywhere else for the finals.

After Bai Yun and Bai Qing"s fight, the other semi final fight happened. This fight was between Bai Mo, the one Bai Yun ran into when he registered for the clan meeting, and another member of the clan.

Bai Mo had suppressed his cultivation for too long before he broke through. So he had directly reached the peak of the initial stage of the foundation establishment realm. As a result, his cultivation was higher than anyone else here. Bai Mo thus won the semi finals comfortably and secured his position in the finals opposite Bai Yun.

After this there was the third place fight, which Bai Qing won comfortably. Bai Yun had not hurt Bai Qing much, but Bai Mo"s opponent in the semifinals was ruthlessly hurt by Bai Mo. Even otherwise he would not have been a match for Bai Qing, but with this, the fight ended quickly.

After this there was a short break for an hour so that Bai Mo and Bai Yun could rest and reocver.

Once it was done, it was time for the finals.