After arriving at the arena, Liang and the old man watched the final two fights of the first round. The first match was between two disciples from rival sects who fought evenly through much of the fight, but eventually, the young man wearing black and gold robes from the Tiger Claw Sect landed a fierce kick to the head of his opponent, knocking him unconscious.
Although the fight was intense, neither was malicious in their actions and the crowd stood to cheer on the competitors. However, the second match was different from the first in nearly every way. A large man who looked more like a bandit than a martial artist walked onto the stage carrying a rusty halberd with tassels stained in blood. He was nothing like the well-kept sect disciples in their fancy robes, instead reminding Liang of his villages guards who drank profusely and slept in the streets.
His opponent, who entered at the same time, was a young woman with short brown hair to her shoulder adorned with a large silver clip. Her clean, pink and white robes gave her an adorable appearance, which led many in the crowd to comment further on how gross her opponent was.
When he compared the two, even Liang felt sorry for the girl facing the dirt-covered man. However, it was the young girl who challenged the man, and when she positioned herself across from him, she removed two short swords from attached to her hips and readied herself to fight, not seeming to care about his appearance.
For reason’s he could not explain, a strange feeling welled up inside of him, as if he had a desire to protect her, even at the cost of his life. His entire body felt agitated, but before it became worse, the old man slapped him in the back of his head, telling him, “Don’t think unnecessary thoughts boy. Are you some kind of protector of virginity now? This fight isn’t what it seems, you better pay attention.”
The slap cleared his mind and the anger he felt moments ago disappeared inexplicably, as if it was never there. When he looked back to the stage, he saw the young girl actually had a sinister grin on her face, and she looked like she was eyeing prey that fell into her trap. He could tell she wanted to tear her opponent apart.
Once the gong rang, the man shot forward with his halberd pointed towards the young girl’s chest, but his movements were too slow and she easily evaded him. Just before he arrived, she dropped the two swords on the ground and slid to the side out of his reach. With his first attack failing, he twisted his body to follow her, completely disregarding the two swords next to his feet.
Both of her weapons were on the ground, and to him, she was no different from a lamb waiting for the slaughter; however, he did not realize the most dangerous spot on the stage was next to the two swords. As he gave chase, both swords shot up from the ground and plunged deep into the back of his legs. The unexpected attack caused the man to fall to the ground and let out a roar in pain unbefitting his appearance.
By the time he stood up, the two swords floated in the air directly in front of him, as if they were waiting for him to make a decision. Once he realized what happened, the man grabbed his halberd and prepared himself to attack, making his decision clear to everyone, but the young girl did not allow him any opportunities to fight back.
With less than 20 meters between them, her body moved gracefully in what looked like a dance, while her two swords cut and sliced the man hundreds of times. Slowly, the splatters of blood from each cut combined into a pool, and not long after the man collapsed, exhausted and bleeding out.
The course of the battle was nothing like Liang had envisioned it, and the crowd turned silent in shock. The young girl called her swords over and wiped them clean using a dark brown rag before returning each to the scabbards and giving a polite bow in the direction of the elders from her sect.
Several moments after she defeated her opponent, many in the arena began murmuring on the young man’s defeat; with most concluding the young girl was a blade dancer. He did not expect such a one sided battle and had never heard of such a technique, so Liang turned to the old man for an explanation.
However, before Liang was able to ask, the old man shook his head and whispered, “Blade dancing is just someone using qi to move a weapon. Anyone that can form qi strings can do it and only idiots call it blade dancing. But refining your control over a weapon takes a long time; it’s not very common, especially for young people.”
“I’ll tell you something though boy, that girl’s not using qi to move the weapon; she’s an elementalist, a metal elementalist.” Taking in what the old man said, Liang realized how dangerous the girl actually was. Right now, everyone thought she fought by controlling her swords, but if she controlled metal then she could hide a myriad of metal weapons, including the clip in her hair.
While Liang thought about the possibilities, the old man interrupted him and saying, “That girl also practices some type of enchantment. She can manipulate what people see and feel. It’s easy to repel, but everyone here thought she was an innocent little girl and the boy was looking to ravage her.”
“Of everyone in the crowd you were affected the most, you’re pent up boy; maybe I really should pay a widow to attack you in your sleep. Now that I think about it that might be a good idea. Anyways, I should have let you rush the stage; you racing to protect her purity would be pretty funny.”
Liang wanted to ignore the jokes, but what the old man said had was true. The only thing he could think of was protecting that girl, it was as if she completely controlled his body, the thought scared him. Faced with the reality the old man continued by saying, “Look at the boy they’re pulling off the stage. Moments ago, he looked like a bandit, now that dirty appearance is gone.” Once the girl left the stage, her opponent looked, 10 years younger and the dirty clothes looked like anyone else’s.
While he took it all in, the old man told him, “It’s some type of bewitchment. I could make something so you can see through it, but you need to learn how to see past these things on your own. Also, she challenged that boy because she could take his place in the next round, but more importantly, it’s cause he can’t shield himself. He’s a loose cultivator that doesn’t have much control over qi. That girl is vicious. She didn’t cause permanent injuries, but she likes hurting people. Pay attention to that girl boy, don’t underestimate anyone.”
Nodding his head, Liang took the old man’s words seriously and thought about how easily he could have fallen to her if he was careless. Her innocent looks might have lowered his guard, and would never have thought an opponent in front of him could attack from behind. A fight with her was like being surround on all sides.
Once attendants finished cleaning the stage, the city lord stepped forward to announce the groups of ten for the second round. When he brought his daughter to stand beside him, nearly every male focused his attention on her beauty, including the old man, though Liang knew the old man nodded in approval for a different reason.
Her waves distracted the audience, but more importantly, she distracted the sect elders seated on the platform while the city formed the groups. Sensing the essence in the fighters, Liang could tell immediately the groups were rigged.
Each group had an equal number of weak and strong fighters in it, except for one, as if the city lord planned to provide a golden path for one of the fighters. After thinking back to the old man’s words, his motive became clear. He was forcing his daughter onto a specific sect, a plan the old man would surely agree with.
After the groups were decided, the old man left to place a few bets and Liang joined with the fighters in his group, which consisted of eight boys and two girls. Of the ten, four were stronger than he was and five were weaker, which meant to advance, he would need to rely on skill, not strength.
However, this did not bother him. Facing weaker opponents to this point left him feeling the tournament was a waste of time. His real enemies were brutal killers, killers who thought nothing of human life. As each day went by, his understanding of where he stood amongst cultivators pushed him to improve as quickly as possible.
When the old man told him a cultivator needed to be at the peak of the Nascent realm to activate an essence-draining capsule, Liang felt as if his chance at revenge was slipping away. The Nascent realm represented a qualitative transformation in power, and the old man said it could take several years before he reached the peak of the Nascent realm.
This was why skills were important. If a fighter’s skills were superior to his opponents, it was possible to overcome differences in strength, and this was what he was counting on. Fighting someone stronger than he was would confirm his skills and motivate him further. The groups were rigged, but he was thankful the city lord placed him in a group with strong opponents.
After finalizing the groups, the city lord said a few more flattering words towards the sects and their disciples then returned to his seat. Of the 100 remaining fighters, only four from the free for all remained. Liang, the boy with the enormous hammer, the girl who questioned him for picking on weaklings, and a short stocky boy with spiky hair he did not remember. As the old man said, the sects held a massive advantage.
Once the announcer arrived, Liang found himself called to the stage, which an elder split using a single qi barrier, allowing two matches to occur at the same time. Unlike the first round, he did not have to wait for hours, and even better, his opponent was one of the four who were stronger than he was.
He opponent was a tall, wiry fighter with bonze skin that held a silver shield in his left hand that was not much larger than his own was. In his right hand, the young man held a flexible sword Liang recognized called an Urumi, which acted more like a metal whip than a sword. They were tricky weapons, and if his opponent controlled it with qi, its movements would be difficult to predict.
However, the old man once told him all fighters had patterns they relied on. No matter how random a technique appeared, there would always be a method to it. While thinking of how he would attack, the gong rang and his opponent lashed out with his weapon. It was his first true opponent in the tournament, his biggest challenge so far.
