章 28: Two Hammers To Strike The Poor
Sighing, shaking his head, Li Ao sat where he stood.
'I get why you concede—I am obviously superior!'
'But why do you wait for so long!?'
Looking around, Li Ao saw a few other fights conclude, mainly those of Heaven's Children and a few prominent noble heirs. Anyone that appeared in front of these elites got blown away with a single strike, coughing blood.
The ponytail girl also finished off her opponent with a single strike.
He had been watching for a minute when the walls of light rippled around him. Li Ao turned around and saw a young woman, who was also at the 7-th level of Qi Condensation. Right as she stepped in, her gaze landed on Li Ao, then remained there.
Standing up, Li Ao cranked a smile and waved. The girl didn't even respond to his greeting, so he chose to wait.
A minute passed, and with a click the walls locked them in.
Li Ao put up his fighting posture and...the girl didn't make any movement.
He waited a minute, then two more, but still the girl refused to move.
''Hello?''
''I concede.''
With a whoosh, the girl disappeared in a beam of light.
''...''
Li Ao stared at where she vanished for a long time.
He glanced at the other competitors for a few seconds when the wall of light rippled again.
''You!'' He shouted at the young man walking in. He also had a 7-th level Qi Condensation cultivation.
The boy took three steps in, looked at him, then kept his stare at the same spot.
''You...?''
Li Ao sensed some disturbance this time. Still, he waited a minute, and he saw the young man put up a fist forward just as the clink echoed inside the small arena.
''Well done!'' With a shout, accompanied by frenzied laughter, Li Ao took a step forward. ''Let us have a proper battle!''
In the middle of his words, the disciple shot the fist up and shouted. ''I concede!''
With a flash, the disciple vanished.
''OH FUCK OFF!''
Li Ao's frustrated scream shook the people closest to him in the audience. Many had strange gazes as they observed Li Ao.
After all, anyone would notice something weird if it happened three times in a row. Especially in a high profile tournament where bets were common, people had proper knowledge of some fighters. Li Ao's fame as Fan Yueyin's disciple was well-known, for he made frequent trips to buy materials all around the Central Square.
Apart from his Forging mastery and deep-pockets, there was only one other thing known about him—he had an unfathomable cultivation base. As such, those in the know didn't find the conceding people any strange.
There hadn't been any reporter who could read his exact cultivation, which in turn made him the focus of many betting scams and schemes. Some advertised him as a dark horse, others as an upset point to break winning percentages.
Either way, he was one of the unique ones, and the weird spectacle gathered much attention.
In the audience seats, Master Jiao and Riri looked on with expectant eyes at the swearing Li Ao. The duo kept biting their nails, thinking of their little project, as well as Li Ao's promised advertisement.
Even now, as they saw another person concede to Li Ao, the thought wouldn't leave their heads.
'He must get a good ranking!' the duo thought.
'Only then will we be able to rise!'
Up on the high seats, Fan Yueyin looked on with a troubled expression.
Watching the scene with little interest, the old man beside her sipped on a red spiritual tea. ''Your disciples are pretty good.''
Hearing the Imperial Ancestor's praise, Fan Yueyin only nodded. ''Thank you sir.''
''Your eldest and youngest disciples are a bit too unique, though...''
''Sun Jian is only a bit too naive. He is a good boy who has trouble in showing himself to others.'' Fan Yueyin replied, then cast a dark look at the hollering Li Ao who couldn't fight for the fourth time. His curses made some of the people around her wince and whisper.
''That one is just retarded.''
''Pfft!''
The Imperial Ancestor spit out his tea.
''Ahem! Still, he has quite a formidable body. Did you teach him the technique?''
Frowning, Fan Yueyin nodded. ''Yes. The hard work is on him, however.''
''Your trip to the Higher Realm Remnants must have been quite fortuitous, then. I can sense it is quite an accomplished manual. Those lower-realm disciples can't even react under his Physical Aura.''
''Its drawbacks aren't worth the gains.''
''It always depends on the person, does it not?''
Fan Yueyin glanced at the two old men sitting beside the Imperial Ancestor, then down at her disciple.
Suppressing her anger at the group of old monsters, she returned inspecting the arena.
Back on the stage, having 'finished' all four matches, Li Ao sat around the corners and watched the rest of them play out.
Sun Jian and Qing Yan were both in their third matches, having some tough hand to hand combat with their opponents. Lei Jin was at his fourth battle, and currently overpowered his opponent with a single saber strike that split a portion of the ground.
To his surprise, however, Li Ao saw the ponytail girl against a boy with a green halo around him.
She was facing off against a eleventh-level Qi Condensation Heaven's child, and didn't seem to be losing any footing!
Eyes squinted, Li Ao tried to see through her technique. However, apart from flickering green dots of light, he couldn't see much. Her opponent seemed bewildered as well, but his confusion only added to his eventual demise.
In five invisible strikes, he was on the ground, with a fist over his defenseless throat. Showing a pained, unwilling expression, the Heaven's Child conceded after another beating.
For a Heaven's Child to be eliminated this early caused quite an uproar among the crowd. Bets were called off, and the hidden orchestra began playing fiercer notes to further incense the flames of competition.
In thirty minutes, everyone finished their matches. For better or for worse, there was no other upset.
When there were only some seventy people left, the judge opened his eyes and waved his hand. Around half of the people got thrown out, one of them another Heaven's Child.
''I said you would be disqualified.''
No more was said of those thrown out of the arena. No one would take pity on the careless ones, though the Two-Fold Sect Elder on the high seats showed disappointment at the result. Beside him, Xin Xiayou and Qin Tangshou consoled the man.
These two were the masters of the people that caused Fan Yueyin to escape with an inch of her life. After bickering for a while, these two ignored her presence, neither looking nor talking to her.
''It doesn't matter, Elder Wu. Even eleven disciples are enough to sweep through this category.''
''Little Yun and her juniors are already Foundation Establishment cultivators—no one can match them in this competition even with a few trinkets.''
''Well, of course. Without some external aid, how could mere Qi Condensation disciples match up to a Heaven's Child?''
Her anger already stifled, Fan Yueyin regarded their words with boredom. Not only was the attempt lazy, the way they commented sounded too strange.
Even Elder Wu had a weird look on his face as he regarded the old men. Still, he responded to them in kind gibberish and focused on the stage.
''This is the randomizer box!''
With a shout, the judge took out a large box that stood as tall as himself. With a wave of his hand, he procured thirty-two sticks, numbering from one to thirty-two, and after waving it three times around the audience seats put them inside the box.
With a flow, the box churned for a few minutes, then stopped. The sticks stuck out of its top, but no number could be seen on them.
''Come and receive your order!''
The first to go was the ponytail girl, who pulled out her lot and sat to the side. Others followed suit, and after talking with his senior brother and sister Li Ao pulled his own lot.
'Thirty...''
It was the second last match.
''Number one and two, come forward!''
With his command, two youths leaped onto the stage. After a quick warning to both of them, the judge shouted for them to begin.
In a moment, flashing lights and clangs of meeting metal sounded across the arena. Without any wall of light, the audience could better focus on the single fight and enjoy it longer.
Also, without any barrier, the audience's wild shouts and cheers could reach the fighters' ears. At every turn of events, the audience's cheer further pressed on the losing side, causing great upsets to happen throughout the fight.
Amidst deafening explosions of their techniques, one youth overcame the other at last and descended as the winner.
A few more matches passed in the same manner, then Sun Jian's turn came. Stepping on the stage with a bright smile, Sun Jian waved at Fan Yueyin and his grandpa, then looked forward.
A green halo shot from the other side, accompanied by an invisible pressure. Sun Jian took on a serious expression at the sight of his opponent.
His foe was a Heaven's Child, with a cultivation at the eleventh-level of Qi Condensation!
He seemed young, but also arrogant, sharing the same condescending look with his fellows.
Li Ao sensed danger as the judge rose away from the duo.
''Begin!''
Sun Jian clenched his fist in the air, his Qi and Blood surging. A long golden sword appeared in his hand, then with a hand seal he pressed towards the incoming Heaven's child.
The speed at which he acted surprised Heaven's Child. Propelling himself left and right, the Heaven's Child escaped the invisible pressure bearing on top of him. Wherever he stepped, a moment later a deep crevice would carve the ground.
With a deafening explosion, Sun Jian pressed on again. His eyes saw nothing but his enemy, and seemed unable to hear anything outside of the arena.
Li Ao watched him with bright eyes.
The Heaven's Child couldn't get close no matter how he tried, so stopped where he stood and stomped on the ground with a hand seal. A tremor ran through him, the green halo swirling around his body twisted like fabric and became a long roll of silk.
With a swish, he sent it rolling forward.
Sun Jian didn't even blink and pressed his palm upon the air. A wave of Qi pulsated, layered several times upon each other like plates of armor, then hit the fabric.
A loud explosion shook the arena, raising clouds of debris.
A moment later, a grunt rose, and Sun Jian retreated with a cut over his shoulder. His attack couldn't repel the flexible fabric. It kept turning and bending, capitalizing on its evasive nature to ignore his heavy strikes.
With each of their clashes, another part of the arena sunk, and the cloud of dust grew even larger. In a minute of fierce fighting, the mortal audience couldn't see inside the smoke anymore.
Retreating another step inside the dark cloud, Sun Jian made a hand seal and stabbed forward with his sword. A golden sword light cut through the smoke. There was no target for it to find.
From another part of the cloud of dust, a silent green fabric shot at his feet, cutting his ankle.
Yelping, Sun Jian fell to one knee, then stabbed at where the fabric extended from. Another overbearing sword light exploded, yet when it went past the cloud couldn't find its target again.
With a sharp whistle, the fabric lashed at him again, taking away his other ankle, and Sun Jian fell face-first onto the floor.
With a groan, the boy pushed himself up to his knees. With no feeling in his feet, he knew there wasn't anything else he could do. He didn't really know how to fight, anyway, and for his own credit did enough to be considered decent.
Thinking so, the focus in Sun Jian's eyes dimmed, then his smile returned.
He looked at the judge as he shouted. ''I concede!''
The fabric stopped an inch away from his arm. Its abrupt halt sent lashes of wind that fluttered his long hair and robes, then retreated like a snake.
''Good fight!'' Sun Jian said, cupping his hands.
The fabric distorted, then broke into motes of green light that merged with the boy's green halo. Casting a disdainful look, the Heaven's Child turned around.
''Boring.''
Sun Jian didn't seem to mind the comment. Fan Yueyin, however, had a cold gaze as she looked down. The judge carried Sun Jian over to the medical staff, then resumed with the competition.
Outside the arena, Li Ao looked at the livid Qing Yan.
She seemed to be burning with rage, even forgetting to press on the cap over her head.
Sighing, Li Ao cast a look forward. It was no secret Sun Family's forging technique took a great deal of its strength from legs.
With the skill gap between Sun Jian and Heaven's Children, the boy could have finished the whole matter in one move. Instead, he chose to cripple him first.
Fortunately, Sun Jian remembered to concede before his wrists were cut as well. Though he couldn't heal completely until the Forging section, it wouldn't hinder him too much.
Soon, Qing Yan's turn came. He advised her to be alert at all times, to not show mercy and so on, but she didn't seem to hear any of them.
With a stomp, she leaped onto the stage. Her opponent was another Great Noble heir, who seemed a bit intimidated by the steam forming around her nostrils.
With the signal to begin, Qing Yan took out a pair of war-hammers, one silver and the other black.
For a moment, it seemed like there would be a great fight as both fighters stared at each other. The air was tense. Loud gulps sounded in the audience.
However, when Qing Yan noticed her opponent looking at her head, something broke within her.
With a valiant scream, she lunged, hurling both hammers at her foe. The boy couldn't understand what made her so angry, or why her scream sounded so anguished.
He only knew that this person was a lunatic!
A little scared, he retreated two steps and took out a bow and quiver. The wide stage allowed a better use of ranged equipment, so the boy had no qualms about retreating himself into a corner.
Yet before he had the chance to follow any action, the hammers soared in the air and, as if homing, smashed on his chest. A disgusting crunch echoed. Shivering, the boy spit out a mouthful of blood and crashed into a pit.
Qing Yan took a deep breath and walked over to retrieve her hammers. She cast a disdainful look down at the boy, took her hammers out of his sunk chest, then snorted.
''Don't look at my head again!''
''Huh...'' the boy groaned. 'What lunatic gets offended by that!?'
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