Chapter 129 – An Unexpected Ending
(Mustang: Hey guys, this is the Ninth Regular Chapter I think….Not sure, never mind the count, enjoy the chapter.)
Bi Fan had managed to get very close to Jing Feng, and his purple feathered sword seemed to snaking like a serpent, as it continued to bite at Jing Feng.
Jing Feng was barely hanging on as he tried to repulse Bi Fan’s attacks, but his tattered clothes were narrating the story is his sorry predicament.
In this case, in the blink of an eye, Bi Fan had managed to reverse the entire situation, and had now established an upper hand.
Jing Feng, obviously, wasn’t willing to concede his defeat, and suddenly threw out his spear towards Bi Fan, but held it firmly at the end, as it was about to leave his hand.
Then, he clenched the Hegemon Pike firmly, and suddenly started to rotate his body, and along with it, the spear, as he launched another wave of attacks at Bi Fan.
Bi Fan had no way of dodging this attack, and was forced to retreat.
Bi Fan and Jing Feng’s contest was like a mountain road, full of twists and turns, as the two fighters were alternately prevailing, in this intense and gripping contest.
The spectators marveled as they saw the dazzling fight.
Bi Fan and Jing Feng’s battle was so strong and so intense, that such compet.i.tions were rarely ever witnessed.
Bi Fan and Jing Feng were both adept at their skills, and well trained with the usage of their respective weapons. They continued to attack each other on every step of the way, and their thrilling contest seemed to have no effect on their ability to fight back, after being forced to retreat for any length of time.
In a flash, Bi Fan was starting to get suppressed by Jing Feng once again, and Bi Fan could already sense that his inner energy was beginning to give in. But fortunately, his physical strength was quite strong, which was allowing him to continue fighting.
“Brother Jing Feng is really strong; it’s not easy to get close to him.” Bi Fan thought to himself.
Bi Fan had many other methods concealed in his box of tricks, but didn’t wish to use them, owing to which, he found himself running out of usable skills.
After much deliberation, Bi Fan realized that he didn’t have any good methods left, unless he decided to use the Shock Rune, or ‘The Immortal Finger’ to its full extent, or maybe even the ‘Blood Devil’ methods.
But Bi Fan wasn’t ready to expose ‘The Immortal Finger’ publicly like this, and wouldn’t even dare to use the ‘Blood Devil’ technique.
As for the Shock Rune, the effect would be very useful, but the toll that its usage would incur on his body might be too much for his body to take.
If he continued to use the Shock Rune, then his body may not be able to take the load, and he may end up causing severe damage to his body.
So naturally, Bi Fan didn’t want to overuse the Shock Rune, since he wished to continue fighting in the tournament.
“What’s to be done now? How do I win this?” Bi Fan continued to rack his brains.
Jing Feng was as helpless as Bi Fan, and moreover, was quite surprised to see that Bi Fan was able to hang on for such a long period of time.
Jing Feng was beginning to realize the Bi Fan’s strength was a lot more than he had antic.i.p.ated, and things would only get more and more difficult as the match continued to progress.
Bi Fan’s inner energy was far lesser than Jing Feng’s, but still, he was somehow able to fight for this long, and still wasn’t showing any signs of fatigue.
Jing Feng, on the other hand, could feel that his inner energy wouldn’t be able to support him for long, and was afraid that if he was forced to spend his energy at this rate, then he won’t be able to continue like this for long.
“Bi Fan’s physical strength is too strong, and I can see its advantage now. It seems that I’ll have to concentrate more on my physical strength as well.” Jing Feng secretly decided to follow Bi Fan’s approach.
As the battle progressed, both Jing Feng and Bi Fan started to slow down, and their attacks started to get weaker as well. Their cheeks were studded in sweat, while their breathing was getting heavier with each movement. But neither man was ready to back down.
“I’m afraid that neither of the two will be able to carry on for long now; it’s going to come down to ‘who’s able to hang in for longer now’…” Mo Nan antic.i.p.ated: “It appears that they both are a lot stronger than I thought; I will need to redouble my efforts from here on.”
Mo Nan wasn’t disheartened to realize his inferiority, and on the contrary, seemed even more motivated to strive harder.
Ling Xin Ya was very anxious: “Head of Sect, who do you think will win, between Jing Feng and Bi Fan, at this point, ah?”
Yu Qing Yang had a notoriously sinister vision in these matters, so it wasn’t a surprising thing that Ling Xin Ya was deferring to his superior judgment.
“I think that Jing Feng has a high chance right now. His spear is very overbearing, and powerful, while his attacks are fierce and violent.” An elder spoke.
“I agree, as they continue to consume their energies, Jing Feng will naturally find himself at an advantage, since his energy is higher than Bi Fan’s.”
As he heard the two elders’ statements, Ling Xin Ya couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Bi Fan was his direct disciple, so it was only natural that he wanted Bi Fan to emerge victorious.
The fact, that he still didn’t have much confidence in Bi Fan’s abilities was making him even more anxious, and now that two elders had spoken in Jing Feng’s favor, he simply had to agree with their statements.
“I think that Bi Fan is going to win this match.” Yu Qing Yang expressed his opinion, and his words came as a bit of surprise to all the men, who were sitting around him.
“Head of the Sect, that’s not possible now. Both the fighters are getting exhausted, so why do you think that Bi Fan will still beat Jing Feng?”
Jing Feng was a little afraid, as he knew that he wouldn’t be able to rely on his energy for much longer, and would eventually have to concede, which is why he decided to take advantage of his superior inner energy, while it was still available to him, and unleashed another fierce attack.
As for Bi Fan, he was being forced to retreat again, and had already started cutting a sorry figure.
Yu Qing Yang smiled: “It’s like I said before, Bi Fan’s physical strength is very strong. You all ought to know the benefits of physical strength.”
“A powerful physical force can be a useful tool, in fact it can be very useful, but it can’t make up for the ferocity that the inner energy can provide in combat.” An elder countered.
“Yes! Jing Feng’s energy is higher, and he’ll be able to attack Bi Fan for longer. But as long as Bi Fan is able to withstand those attacks, he’ll be able to oust Jing Feng in time.” Yu Qing Yang was firm.
Jing Feng’s attack was so fierce and violent, that it almost lingered on the verge of berserk.
His spear commanded the stage, as it continued to attack Bi Fan ferociously.
Bi Fan on the other hand, started using ‘The Dance of Mist’ again, and it appeared as if he was walking on a rope, since he was constantly twisting and turning his body in a very weird manner to dodge Jing Feng’s attacks at the last second.
It looked rather weird for a martial contest, as it appeared as if Bi Fan was almost dancing on the stage.
His footwork however, looked very elegant; weird but not ugly, as there was a hint of subtlety in his footwork, and it appeared as if he was walking on the clouds.
With the help of his weird footwork, Bi Fan was somehow managing to dodge Jing Feng’s attacks constantly.
“Jing Feng is going to lose.” Yu Qing Yang smiled.
Jing Feng had launched several waves of attacks in quick succession, and had already started panting, as his stamina finally gave in.
“I surrender!”
Jing Feng finished the sentence, and finally relaxed.
In reality, he’d been having a very hard time so far, and was barely able to hang on. He’d consumed far too much of his energy quite early in the fight, but since he didn’t want to lose, he somehow insisted on, in a desperate attempt to win.
Bi Fan was quite tired as well, but his powerful body was able to sustain his movement, which was why he was somehow able to persist for as long as he’d been able to.
“Brother Jing Feng conceded!” Bi Fan revealed a very merry smile.
Since childhood, he’d always been bullied and humiliated, but now, finally, he had reached a position where he could feel pride in his accomplishment.
Bi Fan had managed to grow his strength in such a short period of time to beat a man like Jing Feng; even Bi Fan was a little surprised that he’d actually won the contest.
“I want to be stronger! I want to be really strong! This is just the beginning….” Bi Fan’s heart shouted within.
Since there were so many people around, Bi Fan was certainly not going to shout it out loud.
But he was so happy, and so thrilled, and he couldn’t help as a proud smile creased across his face.
This contest’s ending was not what most people had been expecting it to be.
The contest had been a splendid display to spectate, but the outcome was somewhat dull. No one was injured; Jing Feng consumed too much energy, and automatically admitted his defeat, since he realized that he wouldn’t be able to continue any further.
“Bi Fan is energy is obviously lower than Jing Feng’s, then how was his energy able to support him long enough to oust Jing Feng?”
Many people were thinking the same, as they hadn’t expected this outcome. Normally, the man with a lower energy level gets exhausted first, just as Bi Fan should have.
“That’s something that you guys should have noticed. Bi Fan has been tempering his body in a very specialized manner; his physical strength is ma.s.sive, which is why he managed to win the fight in the end.”
“Brother, do you think that physical strength has that big a role to play in combat?”
“Of course, the benefits of physical strength are vast and boundless. Bi Fan demonstrated it brilliantly in the manner he beat Luo Sheng, Jing Feng and the others.” The speaker was disciple who had been focusing his practice on enhancement of his physical strength, which had slowed down the progress of his energy growth.
Because of this reason, he’d always been mocked upon in the Quinyang Sect. But finally, now that someone had show-cased the benefit of his methods, he naturally couldn’t stop himself from bragging.
“Brother, I heard that you have done a great deal of research on physical strength; can you teach us? We really want to learn.”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll help you guys out.”
Bi Fan was completely unaware, that due to his displays, many of the Quinyang Sect disciples had started nurturing the notion of improving their physical strength, which in time, would help in growing the Quinyang Sect’s strength.