Chapter 81: Loser Bracket
"Yimo, it's wonderful. You were superb." Han Lingyun helped the trembling Wang Yimo who had nearly run out of qi during the fight.
"Lingyun, thank you, thank you for everything."
"Don't thank me, up there it was all you."
"No. If my dao heart hadn't recovered, I wouldn't have made it. Your words back then, they really helped. Ha, now you better win in the loser's bracket and catch up with me because I won't be waiting for you."
Han Lingyun had a stupid smile on his face as well. Her duel had been hugely stressful for him and her win came as a huge relief. "Yimo, I know that you had your cards and that you were very determined, but please don't put your life on the line like this again. Not for a competition like this."
She nodded. "It was only for this time. As much as I don't want you to lose your life so stupidly."
While the two laughed, things were not looking that rosy on the Cheng Huang School's side. They had lost their third confrontation in a row against a disciple of the White Tiger Sect and their 5th best 2nd-year-disciple perished. Even worst, he had once again been defeated while having a cultivation advantage. And that cultivation had come at a steep cost in resources as he was a 4th ranked talent with normal comprehension but had one of the top sword play among the disciples of his promotion.
The rest of the 16 duels went on. Lai Meihui was defeated and severely injured by Dai Huiling of the Cheng Huang School. It was clear that Dai Huiling could have killed her but she refrained from doing so. Perhaps she felt that such a revenge was pointless. This attracted to her the goodwill of those from the White Tiger Sect.
As for Wang Yimo killing one of their own, except for Gong Hai (ranked 4th in the first phase standings) which was his best friend, the others didn't hold a deep grudge. It was clear that it was a dangerous confrontation and none had the luxury to make an effort to spare their opponent at a decisive moment.
Once again, if someone was to blame, it was the black cloaked elder that sat on an honorary chair with his eyes closed. But no one was stupid enough to dare.
The top 16 was now determined and it was time for the loser bracket with 16 names for a place at the next level. There had been two deaths in 16 matches, so the disciple that won the last loser bracket was able to enter the top 32 without a hitch. It should be noted that the dead didn't immediately lose their place in the rankings and the resources that their place warranted were just as well distributed to their sect. Those that had their place taken by the winner of the last loser's bracket would only have their rankings backing down by one for example.
In that loser's bracket with 16 participants, Han Lingyun was a favorite with the capabilities he had demonstrated and his optimal state, having not fought.
At least half of the 16 disciples were recovering from injuries and various levels of shock. In that fashion, Han Lingyun's first two matches had been free. In the semifinal, he won against the disciple that emerged from the 32-loser bracket with relative ease, by unleashing his cloud and executing the same strategy as with his last true duel.
The final for a place in the top 16, on the other hand, was a whole other situation all together. Against him stood Su Jia from Peach blossom island. Being at the mid qi condensation level, he was ranked 31st in the first stage and just like Han Lingyun, chose to not fight, being faced by the 2nd ranked. Most importantly, Su Jia was a wind affinity spear user and his attacks were expected to make quick work out of Han Lingyun's dark cloud. The spear was also known as a fine weapon to project a qi attack far away.
It was generally less agile and precise than the sword but had a wider range.
At first glance, Han Lingyun had no advantages and the tricks he relied upon until know would be ineffective.
But Han Lingyun wasn't too perturbed, it was just time to move on to the next step. Right as the duel began, Su Jia started swirling around and launching rapid penetrating qi attacks. Su Jia showcased a surprising agility with his long weapon. He was utilizing his wind affinity to help speed up further fast movements.
Han Lingyun's response was to keep a large distance and throw in some invisible blades to keep Su Jia occupied.
This started a peculiar dance as the two ran from one side of the stage to another while never closing the distance. Han Lingyun even tried to throw out wisps of black qi to hinder Su Jia but the Peach Blossom Island disciple would dispel it instantly. Han Lingyun had to keep his black qi volatile for its use but that made it weak to Su Jia's methods.
Small patches of black qi still began to accumulate on stage's ground as in that high intensity chase, Su Jia didn't bother to wash away all the traces of qi. He already had to stay highly focused to evade Han Lingyun's dense qi attacks while trying to take him down.
The task was extremely hard as Han Lingyun was as slippery as an eel, and his blackbird art with the merger skill made him hard to pinpoint, with constant unpredictable movements. Su Jia also had this constant crushing feeling in his chest, which no previous opponents made him feel, like of a prey being toyed with by its predator.
Suddenly, Han Lingyun took a big breath and held it. Before Su Jia could make guesses about his actions, a shockwave traversed his body and all the sound from the spectators stopped. He was suddenly stunned with the realization that there was no more air around. Su Jia circulated his art to verify but his art it failed due to the martial art's dependency on wind. He was far from being at the stage where he could materialize the concept of wind in emptiness. Obviously without particles in the air… there was no wind.
Shocked by the realization of the implications and seeing Han Lingyun approach him while slashing in his direction, Su Jia immediately raised his hands and yelled that he admitted defeat. At least he tried as it dawned on him to his horror that no sound could propagate without air!
Thankfully, his intent was enough for the elder supervising the fight to end it.
Han Lingyun was glad his maneuver played out perfectly. He had dissimulated array flags around the stage in some patches of black qi to construct a formation that pushed all the air out it in instants once activated.
He had other ways to win that fight but this is what he came up with for the easiest solution while not taking any risks: using an exploit to incapacitate the opponent from afar. This ploy could very well have been discovered by Su Jia but Han Lingyun didn't have anything to lose while trying it anyway, with some very promising odds of success once Su Jia was forced to ignore some small little clouds of remaining black qi.
It's safe to say that even considering array users, probably none would have thought of this idea that seemed unreasonably complex. Prepare a formation while fighting? This is a ridiculous notion for any qi condensation disciple. But Han Lingyun was truly a special case. The way his mind worked was different compared to the regular disciples. When others think of a straightforward win, brute forcing an opponent with strength, Han Lingyun hears brute forcing them with his tools, saving him from the bore of charging into the fight himself. And he had the capacity to execute this.
After producing such unconventional methods on several occasions, Han Lingyun had truly become quite popular with the audience. He was unique in that regard! It was a refreshing change from the often-similar hundreds of duels they had already witnessed. The crowd wanted to see more of his tricks.
Like this, Han Lingyun had won the 16-loser bracket and was nearly formally in the top 16 too. He only needed one of the disciples in the top 16 to get seriously injured or to die and his position would be secured without another fight.
And with Yu Tao versus Wei Muchen as one of the duels, Han Lingyun had high hopes of that scenario unfolding.
The disciples were now fighting for a place in the top 8, the quarter finals. Starting from now, the matches would be held in reverse order for some reason, even if that order didn't change anything for the matches. It would be first 8th against 9th, then 7th against 10th and so on until 1st against 16th.
The duels continued on and Wang Yimo gave up before her fight. Her opponent was only the ranked 8th but that just so happened to be Xue Guo, the only 5th grade talent of the Cheng Huang School and the favorite to reach the first rank in the tournament! His place "only" in 8th for the first phase was mainly due to the fact he hadn't actively hunted other disciples and had just waited in place.
Wang Yimo took a logical decision here. She had been a bit unlucky but the top 16 was already representative of her level.
Now all the eyes of the disciples from the White Tiger Sect were on the next duel: Yu Tao against Wei Muchen. Unlike many in the audience, the White Tiger Sect's disciples were not expecting either of them to back down as they knew the history between the two.
Han Lingyun was more than glad to only be an observer of that fight and anticipated seeing an all-out battle between them.
"FIGHT"
None of the two moved.
Wei Muchen sneered. "Are you handing your ass for another whooping, Yu Tao?"
"Muchen, prepare yourself, because I will make you pay a price you cannot afford."
"Hahaha, that's a funny joke. Watch how I crush you once again."
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