Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (53 page)

No matter which aspect the audience looked at, it was obvious that this young man was inferior to Rong Xing in every way. Nevertheless, this young man showed no intention of giving up, and as he stood there, he suddenly summoned the final amount of Qi within his body.

The blood vessels within his right eye exploded, causing him to look like a devil, and the Qi all gathered on his right hand as he shot towards the fragile-looking Rong Xing.

“He is cheating!” Deng Wu yelled by instinct as he feared what could happen to Rong Xing. Even though he was yelling like this, the judge paid it no heed as he was very certain that the attack adhered to the rules.

“Please be okay,” Rong Ming mumbled, as his eyes, filled with worry, were glued upon his sister who was currently fighting a serious fight for the first time in the tournament.

At this time, Hui Yue had reached his friends and noticed how all of them had suddenly entered a

state of panic. Even if Rong Xing was stronger, it would not be possible for her to come from an attack like this unscatched. Although all the others were terrified, Hui Yue felt calm. So far, none of the attacks had managed to hit the young girl, and it was highly unlikely that this final attack would land on her, as the tenacious youth’s speed had not increased.

Hui Yue was correct. As the fist moved towards her, she elegantly stepped aside and allowed the exhausted student to rush past her until he collapsed on the floor.

Looking at this young man, a shocked expression filled the audience, as they realised how easily Rong Xing had won against her opponent. Just as the judge was about to announce the results, the other man stood up, his half-lidded right eye dripping blood, and a stream of blood trickled from the corner of his lip.

“I…. I can still fight…. Still…. Fight….” He said with much difficulty as more blood seeped out from his mouth.

Rong Xing looked at him tentatively, and afterwards glanced at her brother before a gentle smile appeared on her face.

“I forfeit,” she said with a voice that tolerated no questions from the judge, and as a judge he no longer had the right to declare her the winner.

“I will not…. Accept…. Your pity!” the wounded man said as he once again jumped towards Rong Xing only to see her escape once again.

“I might have a higher cultivation than you,” Rong Xing said with a voice as light as the summer breeze, “but raw strength is not the only thing which matters to a cultivator,” she continued.

“You beat me long ago with your determination to participate in this tournament, a determination I never had from the beginning. I did not lose in strength, I lost in mentality.”

Having said that, Rong Xing made her way of the stage and walked towards her friends who all looked much more relieved as they saw their friend with no injuries.

What Rong Xing had said was correct. As a cultivator strength was something anyone could get as long as they had patience, however an unwavering determination was something which was needed if the person wished for greatness.

Suddenly the sale of leaflets piqued as everyone wished to know more about this unknown cultivator who had just collapsed on top of the stage. This fight had definitely helped changing his future.

Chapter 37 – Group two

Before noticing, already three weeks had gone by in the blink of an eye, and even now Gao Yan, Rong Ming, Hui Yue and Wang Ju Long were still participating. Today was the day, where the final eight were going to be decided, and although Hui Yue was curious about his own fight, it was nothing compared to the group eight final.

Wang Ju Long was going up against Rong Ming. This was a fight which caused great discomfort for Hui Yue, as Rong Ming had been his friends for so many years, but on the other hand, Wang Ju Long was someone whom he yearned to fight with in this tournament.

Hui Yue sighed deeply as he calmed his conflicted self and looked at the stage in front of him. Now was not the time for him to worry about a fight scheduled in the afternoon, instead he should look at the opponent standing in front of him.

Today was the day to determine the strongest eight for the tournament, and it was obvious that, although Hui Yue’s group was not as strong as some of the others, it would be impossible for him to not go up against a strong opponent at least once.

The opponent Hui Yue had to face that day was a year older than the bunch he usually hangs around with, and his rank was that of an eight-star Disciple.

This particular man was vicious-looking as he looked at Hui Yue, his opponent. So far, within the group, Hui Yue had been floating on a breeze, picking off the easy opponents and leaving the higher ranked to this guy, making him feel more and more enmity after each draw of the numbers to decide their fights.

Today, he no longer had to keep his rage bottled; today, he had the chance to face off against a so-called genius. Looking at his opponent, Hui Yue felt the malice that was aimed at him, and his sky-blue eyes flashed with an ice-cold killing intent in return.

Although Hui Yue was of a lower rank, he had no intention of letting such a weak student best him. Hui Yue would not let anyone stand in his way to enter the finals and gripped his hands tightly as he gave the customary bow towards his opponent. A flash of decisiveness appeared

within the sky-blue eyes and a snicker appeared on his lips.

“The final battle of group two begins NOW!” the judge yelled, allowing his voice to sound out through the multiple mountain tops. So far the battles were still held in the minor arenas, however, now only one match was held at a time, causing everyone to intently keep an eye on the two youths on this particular stage.

As soon as the voice had sounded, the older boy instantly scuttled towards Hui Yue; he was silent like the wind and his Qi had draped itself nicely around his fist. The previously quiet air crackled with energy as the fist was moving, inching closer to Hui Yue with an impressive speed.

A sudden attack such as this did shock Hui Yue, but he had already activated Velocity Flow and while wielding his ability to perfection he barely managed to escape by a hair’s width, rushing backwards.

Seeing Hui Yue escape such a swift attack caused everyone within the arena to fall silent. Not one moved a muscle as they saw a small child using high ranked martial art skills.

Although Hui Yue had fought against stronger opponents before, none of them had ever been as strong as this one, and Hui Yue had to admit that he had underestimated him. Relief flooded his senses as he made a successful retreat.

After feeling the raw power from the older boy’s fist in the brief exchange, Hui Yue knew that he could only withstand one attack at most while relying solely on the fortification of his body. His brain swiftly calculating the various options that were available for him, including Qi Guard.

Hui Yue swore silently as he created a copy of himself by using his perfected Velocity Flow, and, suddenly, there were two white-haired boys standing on the stage, both seemingly as strong as the originator.

Using the Velocity Flow Copy was an obvious attempt to buy some time while considering his options, but in using this copy he knew that his opponent would be on the defence for some time.

Although the aura and the feeling was the exact same, Hui Yue was perfectly aware of how his double was nothing more than a clone without combat ability, nor did it have any defense against

destruction. What it could do was to confuse the opponent to stall for enough time in order to use his next skill.

Hui Yue sighed. There was really only one option that was available to him. Hui Yue was currently fighting against a much stronger opponent and his only chance to win was to stay alive until he was able to plant perfect attacks of his own.

Within Hui Yue’s dantian, the Qi cyclone erupted with force. It sped up with immense velocity, making it impossible to see the individual Qi threads. After having swirled rapidly for a few seconds, Qi started to leave the swirl and it traveled through the meridians before it slowly exited through the pores of his skin, coating it in a translucent pearl-white glistening protective layer of Qi.

This was an ability that belonged to the experts of the middle dantian. This was a protective spell that every cultivator would learn, but even so, it was an ability which no one had ever seen performed by relying on Qi.

This ability was not written into the leaflet, as it had only been seen by a few people during the first fight against Wang Ju Long, and clearly surprise was evident within the entire audience with the spreading gasps. Even Wang Ju Long had to narrow his eyes in displeasure, as he noticed how much better his rival’s Qi Guard had become. An itch appeared within him, as he wished he was the one currently fighting Hui Yue. He wished to know whether or not his Qi Lightning could break through such a seemingly impervious defence.

As soon as the Qi Guard appeared, the older boy quickly threw himself at Hui Yue who was running around without a protective ability, in hopes of lowering his damage intake. What he found was that as soon as his fist made contact with the clone, the clone vanished into thin air.

Growling in displeasure, the older boy dropped onto the floor as he felt an incoming attack, and less than a second after, a leg had appeared where his head had been moments before.

Attack after attack rained down on Hui Yue, however, he was as agile as a cat and managed to dodge most of the them, allowing only two of them to slowly graze his protected body. Even though Hui Yue had an immense defence, he could still feel even the slightest touch, and he could not help but swearing slightly as he spread out his palm.

White strands of light gathered within Hui Yue’s palm before they merged together into one knife. To defeat this boy, Hui Yue was aware that he needed to use some of his hidden cards, and using one knife should be enough.

As the knife came to life within Hui Yue’s hand an overwhelming pressure was applied to the boy in front of him. The air was stifling and the knife was vibrating with an overbearing force that seemed to thirst for blood.

This reaction was unlike anything Hui Yue had felt before while training the skill, yet strands of power shot through his body. This was no longer a practice fight but a real battle and the Qi from within him was beckoning Hui Yue to move forward. To attack. To slaughter.

This baleful aura was spreading towards the audience and while the students got scared, the experts were astonished as to how the Qi of such a young boy contained such dense killing intent.

Hui Yue skilfull use of Velocity Flow increased and he easily managed to evade a barrage of incoming punches. As he escaped the punches he did not retreat, instead, he was advancing with each step, getting closer and closer to the opponent in front of him.

Looking at Hui Yue, one could see a sinister smile on his face together with a glint of killing intent within his eyes, the boy was filled with overbearing energy, so overbearing that even the judge was left shocked on the sideline.

The knife within his left hand was swirling around, being played with within Hui Yue’s grasp. Hui Yue quickly sliced the opponent’s left arm, leaving behind a straight line out of which blood started to flow. The slash had been so quick that the older boy had had no chance to react, and a feeling of dread was left behind. The place where the weapon had touched was tingling with a pain as if it had been sat on fire.

Hui Yue had ensured that the knife did not leave any lasting damage, as he used his speed and agility to dance around the opponent before he allowed the Qi knife to make a long slash on his opponents back.

Right as the second slash had connected with the skin, the older boy managed to twist himself and launch an attack which landed on Hui Yue’s stomach, causing him to stagger one step backwards.

Fortunately for Hui Yue, this second slash was much like the first, and once again the older boy was drowning within pain as though his entire back was being burned.

Hui Yue suddenly was brought back to reality. Although this was a real battle it was by no means a battle of life and death. The killing intent within Hui Yue’s eyes slowly withdrew and instead it was replaced by a thoughtfulness which was analysing the current situation.