The first fight in the quarterfinals was between Bai Qing and a young man from the Gong clan. Usually, the youngster"s tournament would be completely dominated by the major forces of Yellow City, but this time there were two people from outside the major forces in the quarterfinals. Though in truth Bai Yun was a member of the Bai clan, no one else knew. Meng Qi had also joined a major force quite recently, so she could also be considered as an outsider. This was an embarra.s.sment to the major forces of Yellow city. The fight between Bai Qing and the young man from the Gong clan lasted for a while. But in the end Ba Qing won a resounding victory.
The second fight was between Zhang Zi and a girl from the Song clan. This was the least exciting of the quarterfinal matches. The fight ended without any unexpected factor and Zhang Zi won. Now the first of the two semi finals had been decided. It would be between Zhang Zi and Bai Qing.
The third fight was between Meng Qi and a girl from the hunters union. This fight was extremely close. These two were considered as the weakest members of the quarterfinals and the fight lasted for nearly half an hour. Finally, Meng Qi won by exhausting her opponent and made it into the semi finals.
The last fight in the quarterfinals was between Bai Yun and Luo Ting. Luo Ting was still recuperating when the fight started. He had barely returned from the medical section when he was asked to enter the fight. His face was slightly pale when he stepped into the ring. He was still a little weak from his previous fight.
Bai Yun thought that it was a shame. Due to his weakness Luo Ting was not at his best. Bai Yun had a rather good view of this dark horse. He fought rather well in the few fights he had seen.
As he walked up the stairs Bai Yun heard a loud cheer. He turned to see Song Hui waving her giant flag. Bai Yun waved back to her and climbed up the stairs. As he did so, an uneasy look appeared on his face. This was the first time his fight was the center of the attention of the entire stadium. Usually, there would be other fights happening simultaneously that would draw the audience"s attention. Bai Yun did not like the feeling of fighting in front of others. He was used to fighting with his life on the line. He did not like fighting for sport.
Once Bai Yun entered the arena with Luo Ting, he still got a familiar feeling from him. He had a feeling that he had met Luo Ting before, but he just couldn"t place him anywhere. Bai Yun continued to study Luo Ting. But up until the moment the referee said to begin the fight, Bai Yun could not recollect the person.
Bai Yun and Luo Ting ran at each other. They both swung their swords and the two swords clashed in the middle. The moment the swords crossed, Bai Yun"s eyes flew wide open. He suddenly used his full strength, along with the strength he gained from the other two cultivation paths and pushed Luo Ting. The next second the two of them flew back away from each other and landed near the edges of the ring. It wasn"t just Luo Ting, even the spectators were stunned by the sudden change.
Bai Yun just stood there staring at Luo Ting for a while before he chuckled. He finally recognized Luo Ting. It was true that fate always brings people together.
Luo Ting was Shadow One in disguise.
Bai Yun chuckled at the coincidence. But even though Bai Yun recognized shadow one, he did not recognize Bai Yun. After all, Bai Yun had used the a.s.sa.s.sin G.o.ds technique to change his ident.i.ty. So the fight was to continue.
Shadow One was stunned by the sudden push. But he didn"t dwell on it too much. Without waiting for Bai Yun to come back to his senses, Shadow One reacted and attacked once again.
Bai Yun smiled when he saw this. He simply took a few steps and slowly swung his sword to block shadow one"s sword. Shadow One then rapidly thrust his sword into Bai Yun, which he also defended against. The two of them then continued to joust against each other for a few minutes. Bai Yun was calmly defending against Shadow One"s attacks, but he also did not get any chance to strike back.
Bai Yun knew that he had to make a break in Shadow One"s defenses to win. He could probably win if they drag out the fight, but Bai Yun had no intention to do so.
Suddenly Shadow One turned and slashed at Bai Yun with increased force. Bai Yun used the increased force to slide around Shaodow One and attack him from behind. But Shadow One leaped out of the way. Bai Yun quickly caught up to him and kicked at him, only fo Shadow one to block it with his arm. But the force of the kick was too strong and he ended up flying away instead.
Bai Yun used wind motion to cover the distance. Shadow One was still on the ground. Bai Yun had not given him any time to get up.
So Shadow One kicked up at Bai Yun from the ground. He stood on his hands and kicked at Bai Yun. The kick forced Bai Yun to come to stop and defend with his sword. Shadow One got up and slashed at Bai Yun. Bai Yun swiped the attack away and stepped in, punching at Shadow One, but it was blocked. Bai Yun then stepped in forcefully and shoved him away. Shadow One flew and fell down on to the floor.
Bai Yun stepped up to Shadow One once again. Shadow One then stabbed at Bai Yun with his sword. With a shake of his body, Bai Yun allowed it to pa.s.s by him, between his arm and his chest. He then gripped Shadow One"s arm with his own, trapping him in the process. Shadow One was kneeling on the ground as Bai Yun caught his arm and twisted it, locking him in a painful posture.
"Caught you." Bai Yun said with a chuckle.
"Wrong. I caught you." Shadow One replied.
Before Bai Yun could understand what he meant, Shadow One punched up at Bai Yun with his left hand. His left fist left a crimson glow trailing on the air as it approached him. Seeing the danger, Bai Yun immediately activated false armor, the defensive technique he had taken from the Bai clan library. Unfortunately, he had not spent much time in training the technique. So by the time fist reached him, he had only partially deployed it. A small and weak blue aura covered Bai Yun"s stomach, jus as shadow one"s fist landed on him.
Ba Yun got his wind knocked out of him by the punch. He let go of Shadow One"s arm and stumbled back. Just as he stabilized himself, Bai Yun"s eyes flew wide open. He hastily got down on one knee and rapidly put his arms over his head and activated false armor. Barely had a weak blue armor covered Bai Yun"s body when Shadow One"s crimson fist landed on his head once again.
Bai Yun rolled on the floor and came to a stop. He stood up facing away from Shadow One with his eyes closed. Shadow One approached him and attempted to hit him again. But Bai Yun suddenly sank to his knees and grabbed behind him. After getting hold of Shadow One"s clothes, Bai Yun rolled forward, throwing Shadow One forward. Shadow One flew to the edge of the arena and came to a stop.
Bai Yun slowly stood up as he coldly glared at Shadow One. He wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth and stood there panting slightly. The entire stadium was cheering wildly at the fight.
"Good one." Bai Yun said.
Shadow one did not respond. He simply ran towards Bai Yun with his sword. In response, Bai Yun dropped his sword to the ground. It was time to get serious.
Shadow One stabbed at Bai Yun once again. Bai Yun blocked the sword with his arm guard and stepped in. Shadow One was forced to take a step back in order to maintain his distance. Just as Shadow One stepped back, Bai Yun kicked out at him. The kick connected with Shadow One"s knee while his other leg was still in the air. Shadow One stumbled and fell to the ground on his knees. In his haste, Shadow One struck back at Bai Yun. But it was easily negated with a combination of false armor and his arm guards.
The next moment Bai Yun tried to knee shadow one. But Shadow One used the kick as a source of strength to fly back. Bai Yun kicked at his sword on the ground, sending it flying into the air. With a single motion, he grabbed the sword. A small light slowly lit up at the edge of the sword. Bai Yun had activated a ray of moonlight.
Bai Yun then used wind motion to approach Shadow One. At the same time, he used every bit of strength he had to move as fast as he could, even using a slight amount of traceless motion in the process. He then stabbed his sword at shadow one, who desperately tried to defend.
With a woosh, Bai Yun"s sword stabbed into Shadow One. A deep gash could be seen on Shadow One"s chest, extending up to his shoulder.
Shadow One stumbled back. But he was not done.
Shadow one stabbed back at Bai Yun. Bai Yun blocked the attack. Then Shadow One gripped his sword with both hands and cleaved at Bai Yun. Bai Yun blocked the attack and used the force behind it to lean back. At the same time he leaned back, he lifted one of his legs and kicked at Shadow One. Shadow One tried to defend, but it was too late. He flew back in an instant but landed on his feet.
Then the two of them ran at each other again. This time Shadow One"s sword was giving off a red aura. He seemed to be charging up to use an attack. But Bai Yun only smiled coldly in response.
As the two of them neared each other, Shadow One suddenly thrust his sword forwards. Bai Yun gave a small smile in response. Instead of meeting Shadow One, Bai Yun suddenly ducked his head, and rolled to the side, getting out of the way. Shadow One"s eyes flew open in surprise. He hastily tried to swing his sword at Bai Yun, but as the two of them pa.s.sed by each other, Bai Yun swiped his sword at Shadow One"s calf. A thick line of blood sprayed out, as a deep cut appeared on Shadow One"s leg.
Shadow One clutched his leg and fell to the ground. Bai Yun quickly stood up and appeared behind him. Bai Yun used his full strength, drawing on all three cultivation systems, and kicked at the top of Shadow One"s back. Shadow One flew forward and fell on the floor. By now he was bleeding too much and had gotten too weak. He could no longer hold on to the sword and it flew away from his hands.
Shadow One desperately tried to stand, but he fell down immediately. Bai Yun was on top of him in an instant. He drove his knee to the small of Shadow One"s back and grabbed his hair and yanked his head back. Then he slid his sword up against Shadow One"s neck.
"This time, I really did catch you." Bai Yun said with a chuckle.
Shadow One was panting. "Good one." he replied. After a moment of silence, he finally continued. "I yield."
"Bai Yun wins." The referee shouted.
Bai Yun put away his sword into his storage ring. He then stood up and extended a hand to Shadow One. Shadow One declined, preferring to stay on the floor until the medics arrived.
And then the stadium erupted into cheers.