章 28: Martial Arts Tournament part 3

Chapter 28

The bright light above the sky is truly magnificent as it shows its golden rays that bathe the whole land. The trees, plants, and beasts are enjoying the warmth it provides and nourishes each body to become strong and healthy. In this tranquil time, in a small part of the forest where an illusionary mountain stood. People are beginning to flock in a certain part of the area, where raised platform made from slabs of rocks are encircled by a huge old construct made of stone and mud, it's a place they called 'the arena'.

"Hey, what do you think would happen?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen that senior Qin Lou fight before. My senior brother told us last night that she is truly a martial genius, but was wasted some years ago."

"Do you think Chen Je would beat that woman?"

"I can't wait to see the previously called genius of the city of Er in action."

"I don't think she could win against Chen Je that brute. I think he would shame her, or even maybe take that veil off her face. Haha!"

The people everywhere are starting to gossip and make their own predictions on the possible outcome of the upcoming battle between Qin Lou and Chen Je, which is about to begin.

On a particular stage stood a burly youth with big bulging arm muscles and a smug looking face. On his side inserted on the ground is a large flat blade which glimmers as the golden rays of the sun reflects through them. His mind is running the possible things that he could do. As of now, he is not worried as he had prepared a lot of things just to win. He even had a secret pill bottle on his pocket which 'that' person has given to him last night. That person said that the pill could enhance his spiritual Qi and make him even stronger by a degree, which means he could enter the gold core state at that moment. This made him more confident, as he can already see the pile of spiritual stones going into his pocket. His excitement is through the roof and was truly elated at his decision to challenge that trash of the Snow Wind School.

Actually, Chen Je had another reason why he wanted to challenge Qin Lou, and that is to avenge the defeat of his senior brother a few years ago. It was below his senior brother to challenge Qin Lou as she is not as strong as what she was before. So their only option is to use this tactic and get a satisfying result.

Thinking up to here, a wide grin on Chen Je's face is plastered. He can't wait to hear the praising words his senior and boss would give him and also the reward that comes with it.

Chen Je suddenly noticed that he had been waiting for about an hour now and Qin Lou is still of no show. With an irritated look in his eyes, he took a glance at his team's waiting area and saw the nonchalant look of his boss. So he felt a little helpless and decide for himself what to do next. So, he took a step forward and put both hands on his waist took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

"WHERE..."

He did not finish what he was about to shout when the people below the stage had a commotion. There in the entrance, he saw two people walking. The woman wearing white and not the usual Snow Wind School uniform is followed by a young man that seems to be her mortal servant. They are slowly advancing towards the stage. The woman has a white cloth-like mask on her face just like that of an assassin and her jet black hair is tied in a ponytail. But the most curious thing is that two dark crystal like thingy that's covering her eyes. Everyone looks at them with an incredulous face as they noticed that Qin Lou had a mortal servant which she would not usually do.

"Haha... So you finally showed up! What a refreshing look you have. I was a little skeptical when they say that you are ugly, but seeing your face like this. Seems that for once the rumors must not be true?" Chen Je said when Qin Lou reached the stage and stood in front of him.

"Truly, this little lass has a lot of things that her master gave her. I can't even see through this mask that she is wearing." an old man sitting at the top of the judges' platform said.

Most of the old men in that area just stayed quiet and watched on as they had their own train of thoughts. Shin Jiao didn't follow Qin Lou and just stood below the stage where other cultivators are looking at him with a curious look. And though Shin Jiao is a mortal his looks are exemplary, and upon noticing this, most people had thought and had a trace of disdain upon looking back at Qin Lou on stage.

"Since both contestants are on stage now. We'll start the match." a man said as he walks and stood between Chen Je and Qin Lou.

He then raised his hands and upon lowering it down he shouted, "Fight!"

Qin Lou is donning a fighting stance, but Chen Je nonchalantly looks at her. In his mind, he was performing some calculation on how to embarrass her in front of the crowd.

"Senior sister, I'm actually a magnanimous man. I don't really want to fight someone like you. But I find it too boring to fight someone weaker than me, so I hope that you would pose a challenge for me." Chen Je said with a wide grin as he slowly circled around which Qin Lou followed in vigilance.

Then all of a sudden a murderous glint flashed in Chen Je's eyes as he dashed forward extending his right hand towards Qin Lou's head.

"Dragon Claw!" he shouted as Qi burst forth from his fingers making it looks like sharp claws are extending out from them.

Upon seeing that she was not moving, most people on stage shook their heads as traces of disappointments can be seen on their faces.

"Sigh... She truly has fallen now. I can't believe that after all these years, she still had not recovered from that trauma. Poor little thing." Elder Xing said to himself as he hopelessly watched Qin Lou about to receive heavy damage on her head.

"Haha, this is truly retribution, son, I will see the end of this wretched woman and our vengeance and shame would be washed away." Elder Ming on the side is feeling Schadenfreude at the thing that was about to happen to Qin Lou.

Most students in the golden core stage felt the same way upon seeing this as most of them have been defeated by her before and was unable to accept that fact, but most did not seek revenge yet as their pride didn't permit them to do so. All except for the seeded participant of the Soul Mountain School, Lo Bei Wang.

Lo Bei Wang, one of the 3 young masters of the Wang clan in Er City. He is known to be the best in martial arts among the three brothers, a prodigy. And he was nurtured and cultivated by his father the clan leader to be as such. Although he was given the attention and said to be the hope of the clan, he is not qualified to hold the position of being the next clan leader as his temperament and personality are lacking. So this made Lo Bei Wang have a domineering attitude and started to bully others as a way to express himself and his frustrations.

At that time when Qin Lou appears he had an inkling to teach her a lesson as he didn't like people calling her the genius of Er city. And so in their bout, he used every skills and technique in his arsenal and still lost big time. She was the one who caught the eyes of the big wigs of every sect and not him. The only mistake she did was to declare her stand and stood firm as a student of the Snow Wind School, and after that, she was attacked and had damaged her dantian unable to improve her cultivation anymore but instead had regressed. Everyone knows why she was attacked and most of the schools are happy that this had happened because it means less competition for them. As no one wanted to have a strong opponent and would rather drag down someone with potential than face them. But it was also a part of negligence in the Snow Wind School as they had let a future strong cultivator to be trampled upon.

Still as part of the cultivation world where the strong rules and the weak succumb to their fate. Here no one points their finger on who is who as it is a part of this world's rules.

Now on stage people are gasping as they saw the large dragon claw draw closer in slow motion towards Qin Lou's head.

As the dragon Qi was about to hit her, she just moves a simple side step and evaded her dangerous predicament. Chen Je's grinning face was frozen stiff as he realized what had happened. This expected one hit kill attack was evaded just like that. Not only him but almost everyone in the arena had a dumbfounded look in their faces. But some had an expression which shows interest, even some bored young masters a while ago now open their eyes and is now looking at the stage.

"If you were in her shoes, would you be able to do what she did?" a handsome young man wearing a mix of red and white robe asked his servant.

"I may be able to do it young master, but not as skillful as that." The man standing behind him answered.

"Hmmm… did she really recover from her wounds? This would be truly bad… we can't let this happen." The handsome young man said to himself.

Elder Ming is now standing with an ugly expression, he was really feeling elated a while ago at the indication that he is about to get his revenge for his son. But now he can't accept that it seems that Qin Lou could truly be hiding her skills. With clenched hands, he bowed in his heart to never let her go and should eliminate her the sooner the better.

While everyone was busy thinking, on stage Qin Lou and Chen Je are facing each other. With an ugly face, Chen Je looks like smoke is rising from his head as he felt insulted for not hitting his target. But what ticks him the most is that Qin Lou seems to have not exerted any effort in facing him.

"That was just a fluke, not try to evade this!" Chen Je shouted as he gathers his feet and suddenly rushed towards her and an evil smirk appear on his face.

"Rain of dragon claws!" Chen Je shouted as he suddenly jumped up when he got near Qin Lou.

Then as was if the sky was covered with golden claws as spiritual Qi began to materialize into fist-sized claws in the sky. This is not a martial skill but instead a spiritual Qi skill using Qi to materialize the claws. The skill began to fall one by one towards Qin Lou who stood there unperturbed. Although hundreds of claw-like fist are coming towards her, she just calmly look at them.

Everyone is expecting her to run outside the stage as Chen Je had pulled a nasty trick by using a spell combined with his martial skill. This is against the rules and if she can get through this she would win the bout automatically. But this is not the most pressing thing right now as Qin Lou is faced with multiple fist Qi which is raining down on her. This could injure her gravely if she didn't use defensive talisman or Qi shield spell, but if she used any of this she would also lose the fight. So the people are anticipating what she would do at this time.

Upon seeing this scene, Shin Jiao became angry and clenched his fist tightly. He bowed to make a move if things would go sour. He first used his goggles and look at the people around him, and saw that the most powerful being in this area is just a late-stage gold core realm old man who is sitting in the middle of the judges' platform.

"If I save her, they would pose no trouble for me. But I still need to respect her wishes though… Ahhh… Whatever… I just have to wait and see it then." Shin Jiao thought to himself.

On the stage, Qin Lou suddenly moved. And to everyone's surprise, she didn't use any talisman or shield, she didn't even enhance her body to be able to move quickly. She just moved like a fish in the water through that hail of claw Qi. She didn't blur like a shadow or move as fast as lightning but instead, is looking at the falling claw Qi with a calm demeanor and walks while evading leisurely while she approaches the boundary of the stage where Chen Je is going to land.

Qin Lou was truly amazed at the ability of the thing which Shin Jiao crafted. She was too entranced at that moment that she had forgotten that she is having a duel and that his opponent has already cheated. At this time she had an enlightenment of the movement of Qi in her surroundings. She now discovers that the thing covering her eyes are sensitive in Qi particles around her, so through this, it could predict the trajectory of each action of her opponent.

"If that is the case then, there is a big flaw in this artifact. The absence of Qi! Which means if the enemy doesn't have Qi fluctuations I could not predict his or her movements." Qin Lou said to herself.

Even though she is currently thinking, she still successfully dodges every single claw thrown at her. Then Chen Je has his eyes wide open when he found that he is now in front of Qin Lou when he landed. Then he suddenly feels is a small palm touching his chest as he was stunned and was unable to react immediately. But it was already too late as this simple palm strike from Qin Lou contain a skill called hidden impact. It would damage not the outer layer of the skin but the inner organs. If Chen Je was able to put up a Qi shield then he would not receive heavy damage, but since he received it directly he was thrown out of the stage for many meters while a fountain of blood was spewing out of his mouth.

A pin drop silence pervaded the air as everyone was too shocked to react.

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