บท 90: Lo Kien's Fateful Duel

From watching the third round, it was clear that most of the weaker finalists already had their luck run out in the previous rounds. In spite of this, a couple of the remaining participants in the first half still steamrolled their matches. Lo Kien was in the 5th match. His opponent was good, in fact I thought his style was rather more efficient than Lo Kien's. Lo Kien impressed me more, though. His opponent scored a couple hits on him early on, but I noticed Lo Kien move just enough to lessen the potential effect on his ability to fight—a slash aimed at his elbow or shoulder joint impacted much less meaningfully on his upper arm, and he backed off the second hit to his chest so that it was more like a scratch.