Huang Yun left his opponent battered, with charred clothing and injuries clearly visible across her body; however, he was not much better. It was difficult to find a single spot free of lacerations and blood splotches covered his robes. Neither of them was in great shape, and both used weapons they had previously not shown.
The moment the gong rang Xuan Fu struck by floating dozens of small daggers hidden in her robes above the stage, encircling Huang Yun in a death trap. Simultaneously, her dual swords shot forward and attacked with movements practiced a countless number of times. Combined with the daggers that flew towards him from numerous directions, Huang Yun could do nothing more than block.
The small cuts added up and became deeper with time, but contrary to what anyone expected, his speed increased, and after the time it takes to brew a cup of tea the numerous strikes were no longer a challenge to him. With the flick of his wrist he was capable of expelling any small dagger, and the blades were not able to penetrate his defensive qi, so he advanced.
With each step, he exuded a suffocating aura that pressed down on the stage and slowed Xuan Fu’s movements. Even Liang could feel the force used, making him wonder if the old man’s recent training was because of this. It was clear Huang Yun was making a statement. Most considered Xuan Fu the top contender, so if he crushed her, nobody would challenge him.
The crowd booed in response, similar to how they booed Liang earlier, but this time they laced their jeers with comments on his theft. Liang did not realize the rumors had spread so far, though he had an idea why after seeing the smile on the old man’s face. No matter the reason, their jeers only incited Huang Yun further until he took out what was clearly a clan treasure.
“It’s the Hells Wind Staff,” said a spectator holding a large tray of food not far from Liang. “I heard it’s one of the high-level spirit weapons given to potential Huang Clan heirs. If that lying thief has taken that out, I’m afraid nobody in the competition has a chance to beat him. A coward borrowing the strength of his clan.”
The man laced his words with venom, but Liang could not find any fault in them. The gold colored staff was twice as thick as a normal staff and was well over 2 meters long. It even sparkled when the sunlight hit it in a rainbow of colors. He had to admit, it was a beautiful weapon, a beautiful weapon not allowed in the competition.
The rules of the competition did not allow fighters to remove stored weapons during the match. Xuan Fu’s sect objected to the clear violation, and her elders hurled several abuses, however, unless enough rival sects of clans intervened, nobody would penalize him. That was the favoritism shown to powerful sects and clans. The city-lord could stop the fight, but it was clear he was happy with the situation, confirming the old man’s suspicions.
The fight became one-sided afterwards as Huang Yun overpowered her using the staff’s innate abilities to control fire and wind. An inferno covered the stage with heat so oppressive even people in the stands could feel it. It was indeed worthy of being a high-level spirit weapon.
The match ended with the young girl laughing hysterically while seated on her knees. She clearly did not want to forfeit the match, but an elder from her sect convinced the announcer to end the fight and declare Huang Yun the victor. With eight victories and a weapon nobody wanted to deal with, his first place position was secure.
Liang thought about how he would defeat him, but there was no chance of them competing against each other. The old man refused to allow Liang to fight him, worried he would accidently exploit an unknown weakness and tragically win first place. It was regrettable, but thankfully, he received one more challenge.
In fourth place with three wins and one loss, the boy with the large hammer challenged Liang in what became a competition to see who the best-unaffiliated fighter was. Although Liang had the option of declining and dropping to fourth place, it was a good opportunity to measure his growth, so he accepted.
Like the other matches he fought, the boy lunged with incredible speed and slammed the hammer towards Liang. In each of his matches previous his opponents would avoid the attack and either go on the offense immediately, or time their attacks while on the defense, but none had taken the attack head on.
The massive war hammer was an extremely unbalanced weapon that caused massive damage when it landed, but his shield was a near perfect counter. The moment the hammer landed on his shield more than half of the energy ricocheted back into the boy, causing him to fly backwards and drop his weapon.
Leaving no opportunity to escape, Liang attacked the surprisingly quick fighter in what became a somewhat lengthy chase around the stage that saw several powerful fist strikes against his shield. Seeing he had no way to win, the boy surrendered and the competition ended. When he first saw the boy, he was in awe at his brutality, but now that he understood his own body and weapons better, the boy was no longer his opponent.
Although Xuan Fu lost, Liang never challenged her, so in the end despite being undefeated he remained in third place. Quite a few people in the crowd yelled for him to challenge Huang Yun as it was tradition to have only one undefeated fighter, but the majority of people felt Huang Yun’s performance was enough. Even Liang questioned how successful he would be against the staff weapon. Though the shield and sword given to him by the old man were superior, there was a limit to his endurance; he was not unbeatable.
With the tournament over, all that remained was the award ceremony held by the sect elders. Led by Huang Yun, the ten winners walked to the steps of the platform where the elders and city lord sat and waited to hear their names called. Each one stood proudly displaying the colors of their sect or clan, a badge of honor of some sort Liang assumed.
One by one, they stepped forward, and when the boy with the giant hammer walked up, Liang learned his name was Bao Zheng and he was famous throughout the city for his good morals and intelligence. Surprisingly, instead of joining a sect, he asked to join the city lord’s justice squad that rooted out evil and corruption throughout Xiamen city and its surrounding areas of Tianchang and Duanzhou.
After Bao Zheng stepped down, Liang heard his own name called and he politely bowed in the direction of the city lord and the elders as all contestants did before him. However, he refused to join a sect or accept the reward of a high-level spirit sword and a Jade crystal pellet, which could help cultivators break through to the Nascent realm.
Although a large number of insults came his way such as, “who does he think he is,” and, “such an ungrateful person does not know the immensity of the heavens,” Liang still refused. As the old man said, the rewards came with strings, and entering the tomb of a former Dao expert and retrieving a lost cultivation manual sounded quite time consuming, not to mention dangerous.
Bowing respectfully one last time, he walked off the platform and stood next to the old man, whose eyes sparkled like gemstones in the sun. His excitement was so apparent that he fidgeted like a small child holding in his piss and looked as though he would burst from joy. Unfortunately, none of this had anything to do with Liang.
“Look boy, that city lord is smiling like the bastard he is,” the old man said turning towards Liang. “I’m telling you; in all my years I have never seen such a devious way to destroy a clan.”
Of how devious the plan was, Liang was not sure, but if the old man said so, he had no way to refute him.
“Alright quiet, pay attention, here it comes.”
“Once again our tournament comes to a close, and ten great heroes have risen from amongst the generation,” the city lord announced, loud enough for everyone to hear no matter where they sat. “Each competition is special to our great sects, but this year is even more special to me. It is special because not only has our hero proved his prowess beyond a doubt, but he will also take my beloved daughter as his cultivation partner.”
“It is a sacred bond, honored by the heavens, and forged in eternity that cannot be broken. Today, the heroic Huang Yun of the mighty Huang Clan will take my daughters hand and they will both make a vow to the heavens, joining them together.”
Immediately the crowd gasped at the city lord’s proclamation. As far as everyone knew, vows to the heavens could not be broken and anyone who violated them would surely die. Carelessly agreeing to a vow was like putting your life on the line, so an elder interrupted the ceremony and read the vows written on the scroll.
Huang Yun was visibly nervous, but after reading the scroll, the elder gave a nod to the city lord and seemingly convinced Huang Yun to agree. Both would read from a scroll instead of repeating the city lord’s words, and his daughter started first.
“I, Jiang Mei vow to the heavens, that I will honor and submit myself to Huang Yun as his cultivation partner,” she said in a voice so sweet the crowd stretched their necks afraid to miss a single word. “I will fulfill my duties and cherish him until I die. Never scheming to harm him or abandoning him.”
They were simple words, but every man within the arena wanted to rip Huang Yun apart. To have such a beauty give her life to such a low-life willing to steal from an old man, for many the ceremony was painful to the ears. However, unlike the rest of the men, the old man was in shock.
“Jiang Mei, how is it possible,” he mumbled barely loud enough for Liang to hear. “Jiang Mei. When babies are born, you can already tell if they will be ugly, so there’s no doubt he realized what she would look like. But to name her a beautiful river flower… is it possible to plan so far ahead? Could this city lord know from the time she was born he would weaponize her?”
Jiang Mei…, it was a name not fitting of the girl the old man described, but Liang did not understand the issue. However, the old man told him a person could not vow to the heavens using a false name, meaning the city lord did not create a name for her recently. It sounded far-fetched to him, but the old man believed the city lord planned from the beginning to use his daughter against his enemies.
“I, Huang Yun vow to the heavens, that I will honor Jiang Mei as my cultivation partner. I will keep her safe, never scheme against her or abandon her, and cherish her until death.”
Huang Yun’s vows were simple as well, but they were damning. It was becoming clear that someone within the Huang Clan was working with the city lord to sabotage Huang Yun or the clan itself; otherwise, an elder would never allow him to make that vow. As factions within the clan fought over the patriarch position, schemes would abound. The elder Huang Yun appeared to trust fully did not hold his best interests. It was foolish, but for some reason Huang Yun agreed.
The vow meant Huang Yun unknowingly paired himself with a lesser cultivator, and he could not abandon or harm her after he found out. Even if he took multiple cultivation partners later, if the primal yin of his first partner was far inferior to his primal yang, it would place a cap on his talent. The only way to regain his full potential would be crippling his cultivation and starting over.
Once the ceremony ended, there was little more to do other than collect the old man’s bets, which were quite large. With an enormous haul, he was happier than Liang had ever seen, telling him there were a few places he needed to visit on his own, a code that Liang knew not to question.
When he arrived back in his room, he replayed everything that happened throughout the tournament and laid down on his bed. His road was still long, and once the old man came back from taking care of his needs, they would be leaving to face new challenges, perhaps with a new companion. He was too tired to worry though, the mental exhaustion had finally caught up, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.
