Every fighter who walked on stage looked to display their greatest strengths to the world, but the majority stumbled off injured without having the chance. Most fights were short, one-sided, with very few exchanges, and little to no insights gained. However, a hard fought victory or a close loss taught a fighter a lot about their weaknesses, and in Liang’s case, his current opponent exposed him to a difficult truth.
The old man taught him many techniques, provided him with powerful weapons, and even gave him lifesaving tools, but Liang realized he underestimated the difficulty of prolonged fights against quick attacks. With his concentration almost completely focused on defense, he spent nearly the entire match shifting his body to block rapid strikes from the Urumi.
When the gong rang, the wiry man named Chen Xuexin whipped his flexible blade towards Liang while he launched a Qi blade in the man’s direction. Both of them were able to block each other’s strike, but Liang was unable to attack again as quickly as his opponent was. With a sharp blade that came at him from different directions, he found his body constantly out of place.
If he moved forward, Chen Xuexin moved back, and if he moved back, Chen Xuexin moved forward. The man’s strategy kept Liang at the edge of the Urumi’s range, and was a methodical technique meant to wear down a fighter and force mistakes, which occasionally Liang did.
The bronze skin fighter slashed the flexible blade in a cross like pattern that appeared easy to follow, but once infused with qi, the whip-like sword became impossible for him to track. Because of this, Liang was unable to block every strike, and the Qi infused sword would often split into two or three blades, penetrating his defenses and leaving dozens of small cuts on his body.
None of his injuries were threatening, but over the length of the match, they dulled his reactions, and shifting his body became increasingly more uncomfortable. Finally, with his time running out and his patience wearing thin, Liang ignored Chen Xuexin’s blades and charged full speed in his direction.
A powerful slash left a deep wound from Liang’s shoulder to his hip, but after activating the pendant the old man gave him, the injury disappeared, and he was in striking distance. Chen Xuexin slammed his shield into Liang’s, but the outcome was completely out of his expectations.
Liang activated one of the arrays in his shield that returned a certain amount of the attack back onto his opponent, which made Chen Xuexin stumble backwards and fall to the ground. From there, Liang struck rapidly at Chen Xuexin’s shield until he destroyed it and broke the man’s arm.
Although Chen Xuexin refused to concede, the time limit expired and the elders in charge of observing the battle called the match in Liang’s favor. It was a disappointing fight, not only for Liang and the young man, but for the crowd as well. When he thought of how it looked, he understood why there were so many boo’s.
Throughout most of the fight, Liang shifted his body from side to side, and from the crowd’s view, he appeared to be nothing more than a whipping post. By the end of the fight, the jeers slowed down, but as he left the stage, hecklers began yelling at him saying he was playing the pig to eat the tiger.
Thankful the match was over, Liang wanted to disappear into the crowd and avoid any further attention, but moments later an argument broke out not far from where he was standing. He wanted nothing more than to keep his head down and it ignore it, but one of the voices made him break out into a cold sweat.
“Old man, you made the bet now pay up!”
“What!? The boy won, why do I have to pay you, you pay me you crook!”
Less than 20 meters away, the old man was arguing with a large, bald man with a thin, greasy mustache over a bet placed on his fight. As the two went band and forth, Liang came to understand that the old man bet 50 medium grade spirit stones that he would beat Chen Xuexin in 60 breath’s time, which he did not.
Although he was the winner, the fight did not end until the time limit expired, leaving the old man on the losing end of the bet. After arguing for nearly the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the old man finally gave in, paying the bald man while giving a dirty look Liang’s way.
Despite boasting about how many stones he had, the old man rarely spent his own money; instead, he enjoyed leeching from Liang. He was also a terribly sore loser, so there was no way he would let the loss go, but before Liang had the chance to imagine how the old man would punish him, he began announcing it to the crowd.
“Humph, having to pay because that boy hid his strength, if this old man was his master I’d teach him even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit. I’d strap him to an iron chair for a week and leave a firestone under him the whole time. I wonder if the boy’s master ever trained him on how to sense attacks coming without seeing them. If I was his master, I’d train him in a blizzard where he couldn’t see a thing and surround him with beasts.”
Nearly three full matches went by with the old man announcing to the crowd all the ways he would train Liang if he was his master, with many chiming in with their own opinions. Some suggestions ranged from more practice against powerful foes, deprivation training, and pain tolerance training using fire. Some of their methods were outright tortuous.
Finally, when the challenges portion of his round came, the old man shouted to everyone, “I bet 100 medium grade stones that the boy will be able to fight against the strongest person in the group, and beat them in 60 breathes.” Everyone dismissed him at first, but soon the old man started a sob story, which caught their attention.
“The heavens have punished me my whole life, but I won’t give up on this boy. A poor boy with no sect and no clan, who’s clearly slow in the head, somehow made it this far. I believe today’s a sign for me to put my faith in this foolish child. The heavens surely wouldn’t punish this old man for believing in this boy. I beg you child, help this old man make his money back.”
“My dear wife doesn’t have much longer. Almost on her way to cross the yellow river, how can she pay the toll if I go home with nothing in my hands? She birthed me 27 children, and we saved up to bet on you so I could afford to feed my family. Tell me boy, how can I show my face to my wife and children if I can’t even afford to feed them! I’m begging you, help this old man feed his children.”
With the old man on his knees pleading, the crowd turned towards Liang and yelled at him for putting the old man in such a dangerous financial situation. Liang’s jaw dropped from shock at their logic. He wondered how anyone could believe such a ludicrous story. There was no way an old man betting 100 medium grade spirit stones was struggling to feed his family, even if it was ridiculously large.
One-hundred medium grade spirit stones could feed a family of 50 for years! However, the crowd became increasingly hostile towards him, with many calling him a coward and family destroyer. Although Liang thought most of them wanted to take the old man for more money, some clearly showed disdain for him on their faces.
Faced with the old man’s threats and the crowd’s boo’s, Liang challenged the strongest fighter in his group. He was a young man in his early twenties that fought with two war swords, and had a body covered in scares. Of his two swords, one was slightly shorter than the other was, and both were a black metal Liang had never seen.
When he stepped on stage again, his demeanor and attitude instantly switched from one of shame to one of determination. With the old man’s mounting debts, Liang could not afford to lose. His opponent called himself Liu Qian Cheng of the Liu Clan, but it did not matter to him. Before he left to battle, there were already 11, 100 medium grade spirit stones bets against him. If he lost, his miserly master would ask for repayment, and he could not afford it.
Eyeing Liu Qian Cheng carefully, Liang could not spot any weaknesses in his stance, but when the gong rang, he dashed forward almost recklessly. When he was only a few meters away, he swung his Khopesh down with tremendous force and released a qi blade that shot forward aiming for his opponents left shoulder. The attack was blocked, but Liang did not give his opponent any chance to strike back.
The Liu Clan member was stronger than Liang was, and able to block almost all of his attacks, but the variety of qi flashes, blades, and explosions overwhelmed his senses, and he struggled to gain a steady footing. Liang fought relentlessly and finally, a massive burst of qi combined with a crushing charge into the qi barrier ended the match.
From the moment the gong rang until the battle ended, only 30 breaths of time passed. Liang completely exhausted his energy, leaving his legs slightly wobbly, but he had won. He accumulated two wins over opponents that were stronger than he was which confirmed in his heart that his hard work really was paying off. He was confident that as long as the old man put him in debt, he would be able to overcome it.
After displaying his strength to the rest of the group, he faced only one more challenge during the second round. One of the weaker opponents challenged him in hopes of making the final three somehow, but Liang defeated him quickly after one move. In the end, the three who advanced were Liu Qian Cheng after he won three more fights, a young woman named Fang Wenlin, who used a ribbon capable of transforming into many weapons, and Liang.
His undefeated streak solidified his place in the top 30, and left him two wins away from possibly winning one of the top ten prizes. One year ago, he dreamt of entering a sect, but today, winning against many sects and clans became his reality. Everything seemed so surreal.
After he confirmed his advancement to the next round, Liang walked out of the arena and went back to his room at the inn where he was staying. He was physically and mentally exhausted. For the last four days, he did not sleep even a single hour. When he was not fighting in the arena, the old man was training him in the canyon. As he closed his eyes while lying on the soft bed, he felt his exhaustion leaving, and his consciousness began to drift away.
However, the old man burst through the door right before he fell asleep with large steps and a huge smile on his face. Completely opposite of his appearance in the arena, he pulled out a large bag from his ring and dumped a huge pile of spirit stones on the desk, which spilled over onto the floor while he laughed maniacally.
“Hahaha, this is how you’re supposed to act! You almost fooled me with your routine. To think every one of those greedy bastards believed you had a difficult time beating an idiot with a metal rope. Seventeen-hundred stones boy, hahaha. Ah, few things in life are better than scamming other people of money. You’re finally starting to understand the importance of things boy.”
“I don’t think it’ll work again though. Best to limit ourselves. I’ll need to think of another way tomorrow. My disciple has finally grown, you sold it well, I’m proud of you boy. I don’t think I ever taught you how to drag out fights like that though, how’d you know how to sell it so well?” It was the first time the old man had praised Liang, and though it was over swindling a crowd, it made him feel a sense of warmth welling up.
While laughing awkwardly, Liang came up with a story about how he thought it was better to fool people into thinking he was weak so everyone underestimated him, which thankfully the old man believed. With the old man in such a good mood, he did not dare tell him the truth or ask for advice on what he could have done better.
Happily counting his stones into groups of 100, the old man hummed a strange song then stopped to rub his beard before telling Liang, “Alright boy, you did well so I’m giving you three hours to rest this afternoon. But get ready. There’s some type of black market tonight. It’s a good chance to broaden your horizons. Probably just full of trash, but there could be a few good things for you.”
The old man’s face turned into a mischievous grin, but Liang did not care. Sleep overtook his weary body, and the last thing he wanted to think about was what kind of trouble the old man would start next.
