Chapter 155 – The Yin Yang Sword
(Mustang: Hey guys, this is another regular Chapter.)
The Quinyang Sect delegation left the Arena, and Lou Xiao Tian led them back to the hotel.
The contest was scheduled to be conducted over several successive days, so it was important for the partic.i.p.ants to be fully energized at all times, and they decided against any more sightseeing for the time being.
As soon as they returned to the hotel, Bi Fan started becoming very impatient, since he wanted to go back to his room.
“Don’t call me for dinner; I want to take some rest.”
Then, Bi Fan’s silhouette quickly disappeared between the stairs.
Jing Feng called after him loudly: “Brother Bi Fan, what on earth are you so anxious about?”
Bi Fan didn’t even answer him; as he was too busy trying to reach the fourth floor as quickly as possible.
“Brother Bi Fan is so devoted to his practice that he doesn’t even care about food and sleep; it’s no surprise that he’s progressing so fast.” Mo Nan praised.
Ling Xin Ya was also smiling.
Luo Xiao Tian and his two grandsons were wearing a very gloomy look on their faces since Luo Sheng had been eliminated in the first round itself, while their eyes continued to flicker from one point to the other, as they were trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.
As soon as he reached his room, Bi Fan started replaying the fights in his mind.
All those fights were being replayed in his mind like a movie.
It was important for him to replay the memories to make them establish a deeper impression on his mind; otherwise they were likely to fade away in time.
Since Bi Fan didn’t have enough time to figure out all the moves right now, he decided to concentrate on the martial skills of the strongest fighters, and started playing them over and over again in the hope of finding their flaws.
Li Qian Xun’s ‘Ba Gua universe blade’, especially, was so powerful and fast, that it wouldn’t be easy for Bi Fan to face him in battle without prior preparation.
On top of that, Li Qian Xun also had a fair amount of physical strength of his own, which would only add to his overall threat.
Bi Fan played Li Qian Xun’s moves over and over again, since he was trying to slowly break each movement down, in the hope of finding its weaknesses.
No skill is perfect, and as long as one is persistence, and has an eye for detail, it’s possible to find flaws in anything.
Once this task was finished, Bi Fan started his practice.
The contest was going to be conducted over several days in succession, so it was very important for him to keep his body in shape at all times.
The night pa.s.sed quickly, and the morning sun marked the dawn of a new day.
Bi Fan quickly finished his exercises, and quickly went downstairs.
Jing Feng smiled: “Brother Bi Fan, don’t be too hard on yourself, you mustn’t skip dinner like that ah.”
“There was something that needed urgent attention, and I just couldn’t delay it. I won’t die if I don’t eat my meal one day.” Bi Fan stated.
Bi Fan had picked up a lot of new things during the day, and it was very important for him to replay them all in his head once, otherwise he’d forget them over time, which is why he didn’t have an option, but to skip his meals and deprive himself of sleep.
Bi Fan’s memory was extraordinary, yet he didn’t want anyone to know about it.
Bi Fan was already quite unpopular with Luo Xiao Tian and his grandsons, and if they found out that Bi Fan also had such a talent, then they were quite unlikely to rest in peace.
The key to becoming a success has a lot to do with the transition timing between a low-key and high-key profile.
A lot more people had showed up to watch the second day of the tournament, owing to the spectacular start of the tournament.
But, the contest arena wasn’t big enough to accommodate so many people at once, which is why many people were refused entry into the arena, and were asked to try again the next day.
By the time the Quinyang Sect arrived at the venue, all the spectators had already taken their seats, while the ones who hadn’t been able to purchase the tickets were departing disheartened.
The City Sect’s arena hosted all the three lists of the Jiu Yu City, and the revenue received from the ticket sales were theirs to keep. The City Sect made a lot of money from the ticket sales during these tournaments.
The Wu Ji Sect has been trying to remove the royalty from its position, since they are the supporting power behind the City Sect, but they aren’t powerful enough to do so, and their attempts have been largely unsuccessful thus far.
“How much money does the City Sect make in one day from these ticket sales?” Jing Feng asked out of curiosity, since the stadium was jam-packed for today’s tournament.
Ling Xin Ya smiled: “It isn’t much I think, but I’d say about one million a day.”
“One million spars!” mouths were hanging open in shock.
One million a day, for over a month, amounts to around thirty million in a month, which meant that these tournaments were simply a money making machine for the City Sect.
The ticket sales, however, were only a very small part of the total revenue, and the real money comes from the boom that these tournaments bring to the local businesses.
The royalty manages the entire Jiu Yu City, and gets to charge a tax from the all the shops and businesses in the area. The revenue increase of the local economy during the time of the contest ends up making a fortune for them.
The Wu Ji Sect wanted to remove the City’s royalty from its power since they wished to acquire the rights to collect these taxes.
If the Wu Ji Sect was allowed to collect these taxes, then they would become a major power in the world of martial arts in a very short period of time.
On the other hand, the City Sect and the city’s royalty were doing everything within their power to maintain their position.
By the time they reached their seating area, the fruits and the tea were already in place for their leisure.
Since there was still some time till the start of the contest, the disciples started forming small groups and started chatting.
“Brother Bi Fan, today you will face Wu Ji Sect’s Xuan Liu Ge, and you must beat him for the prestige of the Quinyang Sect.” Mo Nan said in an excited manner.
“Of course, I will not allow a Wu Ji Sect disciple to use me as a stepping stone.” Bi Fan clenched his fists.
Jing Feng laughed: “Brother Bi Fan is our Sect’s trump card, and when the time comes, the whole city will know that the real genius of the tournament belongs to the Quinyang Sect.”
“If we continue to work as one, then we’ll send those wild wolves back to their caves.” Bi Fan stated.
“Good! Let’s send them packing!” Someone echoed Bi Fan’s statement, and everyone burst into laughter.
Yan Yu Si could see that Bi Fan was slowly gaining popularity in the Sect, and her heart was at a relative ease now, and she was beginning to look at Bi Fan in a warmer and gentler manner.
The contest began soon, and today’s fights were to be contested amongst the winners of yesterday’s bouts, so naturally the contest was turning out to be a very exciting one.
Bi Fan had no time for distractions and was focused on learning new skills.
Bi Fan didn’t care about the result of these fights, and was focusing his attention solely on the skills in play.
By the time it was his chance to play the round, he was already ready, and left the seating area fully prepared for the fight.
In this round, Bi Fan was scheduled to face Wu Ji Sect’s Xuan Liu Ge, who was an intermediate ‘transformation’ layer martial artist.
The Wu Ji Sect was trying to help to the Ba Gua Sect, so naturally they would do their best to suppress the Quinyang Sect.
The Jiu Yu Lists provided an excellent opportunity for them to do just that, and the Wu Ji Sect disciples had strict orders to defeat any Quinyang Sect disciples that they might face in the tournament.
Even though Bi Fan hadn’t yet reached the ‘transformation’ layer, Xuan Liu Ge was still taking him very seriously.
“Boy, yesterday I told you something, and you offended me with your reply, so today I’m going to send you crawling outside this ring.” Xuan Liu Ge threatened in a cold manner.
“Oh, you’re right about one of us crawling out of the ring today, but I’m not so sure if it’s going to be me.” Bi Fan laughed.
Bi Fan’s perky reply was enough to infuriate the man further, since he felt quite disgraced by it.
“Boy, now you’re courting your death!”
As soon as the referee announced the start of the fight, Xuan Liu Ge stormed towards Bi Fan in an outraged state of mind.
“Yin Yang Sword!” Xuan Liu Ge cast out another trade mark technique of the Wu Ji Sect.
The Wu Ji Sect disciples had two major skills in their a.r.s.enal, and were asked to pay a lot of attention to these two skills. The first one was the ‘Tai Chi Sword’, and the second was the ‘Yin Yang Sword’. The former was for defense, while the latter was used mainly to attack.
Both styles were very good, and owing to the amount of importance their disciples attached to the practice of these skills, the power outputs were quite formidable as well.
Bi Fan had never seen this skill before, so he was obviously quite happy.
Initially, Bi Fan was intending on finishing this fight quickly, but now he decided to change his tactic, and began concentrating on defending.
This was a rare opportunity and Bi Fan obviously wanted to get a glimpse of the full set of moves of the skill set.
The ‘Yin Yang sword’ was a very fast and powerful attack, and had its own range of pros and cons.
Bi Fan was constantly dodging the attacks, and it appeared as if we barely able to avoid his opponent’s blade, and most people were beginning to think that he was having a tough time.
“What’s going on? How is Brother Bi Fan being suppressed this easily?” Mo Nan was completely puzzled.
The Quinyang Sect disciples had seen Bi Fan in action in the disciple’s tournament, and knew that he was far stronger than his opponent, which is why they simply couldn’t imagine him having a difficult time in this situation.
But at the moment, Bi Fan was being pushed around the ring, and the Quinyang Sect people simply couldn’t comprehend it.
“Not so powerful now that he’s met a Wu Ji Sect disciple huh….” Luo Sheng stated in a cold voice.
Jing Feng glared at Lou Sheng as he spoke in reply: “Brother Bi Fan will certainly emerge victorious in the end.”