Chapter 260 - Peeking into the Pugilist World (1/2)
Not many villagers turned up for the next scheduled match. It wasn't because Qin Yun and Titor weren't popular. It was because not many of them were physically capable of withstanding such pressure from the exchange of blows between cultivators.
Instead of using the village square, Qin Yun and Titor decided to take it up at the river away from the village where Zero previously trained his water-walking skills. Only the faes, Zoe and Rima came along with Zero to watch the exchange. The magicians were the ones who would suffer the most from all the qi exposure so they kept away from it.
Zero asked Lovina why that was so and the witch explained the alchemy theory of qi and magic. ”We are unable to get it to coexist and something threatens to break whenever someone forces them to come together. It's like oil and water.”
Zero blinked and showed Lovina that it wasn't true. The witch was alarmed by the discovery as Zero explained the trick to getting qi and magic to work together.
”It's chaos magic actually,” he told her sheepishly.
Lovina's eyes lit up as she added this to her list of research projects. Who knew that such a method existed? Half Moon Village was connected to the Spring of Vitality as well as the Garden of Roth. If one could train in both qi and magic, Half Moon Village would be a small unstoppable force on its own. Nobody can threaten their existence with strong security and advanced inventions. If every warrior knew basic qi and magic, Lovina knew that they could guard the village until Zero returns from his travels without fear or getting overpowered like what happened with Count Carrabas.
Zero had never seen the small witch run so fast before but left her to busy away. The match was starting soon and Zero knew the best spot to watch the match between cultivators. There was no doubt that Qin Yun and Titor were going to use the surroundings to their advantage. Watching from some distance is a good idea and everyone who came followed Zero to climb and sit on a tall tree that had an overview of the small river.
Grandma Moppo offered to host and stood by the river bank while the two cultivators readied their stance on the river water. It was quite a strange sight to see anyone walk on water. In fact, most of the villagers had never seen it before. Cleo made a clone of herself using the plants to get a close-up view. Zero envied that ability a little but had no troubles watching the match even from this distance. His skill Observation allows him to zoom in close to every movement detail. It was something like the skill Far-Sight that Zero still hasn't gotten. Maybe he would hunt a bird with that skill next time to gain it.
So lost in his thoughts, Zero only heard the last part of the announcement when Grandma Moppo yelled for them to begin the battle.
The girls behind Zero screamed as a huge geyser exploded when the match started. Zero thought that the person to make the first big move would be Qin Yun but he was wrong. The brown bear spirit had assimilated with his ancestral brown bear spirit and was now a force to be reckoned with. The geyser was a side effect of that huge qi explosion after Titor's assimilation.
Qin Yun didn't bother concealing her form either and allowed all nine tails to run wild. It might not be Zero's first time seeing Qin Yun in her nine-tailed fox form but for the others, it was a huge revelation.
In a normal battle between a fox and a bear, the fox would be running away because it would lose and be killed in a battle of strength. However, Zero couldn't say the same about the current match. Qin Yun looked like she was easily overpowering Titor with just qi enhanced tail strikes. She wasn't using much fancy cultivation techniques and Titor was finding it difficult to hold his ground with the incessant assault. Eventually, the brown bear started the first qi enhanced attack and shot water bullets at the fox spirit who guarded it.
The crowd behind Zero gasped when Qin Yun's tail that guarded against them started to bleed. Zero was a little worried but Qin Yun didn't even flinch at that. The wound slowly healed before their eyes and Titor frowned. Taking the experienced fox spirit wasn't going to be easy. For him, he used qi in a more direct way. The brown bear spirit guardian only used qi to wield the power of the bear spirit that enhanced his physical attributes. His spiritual attacks were weak in comparison.
Qin Yun smirked. If that was the best Titor could manage, she had this match in a bag. The brown bear spirit holder only knew how to use qi to enhance his body and spirit. He didn't know how to use inner qi to launch an attack. His method of qi manipulation was to infuse qi into existing objects as a medium and that was the result of the water bullets. Something of this level was like party tricks to Qin Yun who had mastered all eight paths and specialised in a frost body.
Zero felt the temperature dip tremendously when Qin Yun activated her qi. The river froze to ice entirely and stopped flowing. Titor shivered not from the cold but from the ominous pressure. Everyone stared at the fox spirit with wide eyes. The trees had already turned into ice sculptures near the river. There was even snow falling from the clouds above. The entire zone had been transformed into a cruel winter land without warning. Grandma Moppo and the rest of the villagers retreated, unable to keep up with the growing cold. Zero promised to take over as the master of ceremonies now that he was the only one watching the match.
Titor grit his teeth when the ice tried to put the bear in him into hibernation. Zero started to enter his mediation state when the cold got too much to bear. He circulated gentle yang qi throughout his body while keeping his eyes fixated on the match. He saw Titor doing the same to prevent a forced hibernation.
Qin Yun didn't lower the temperature any further in fear of causing permanent damage to the environment. Both Tutor and Zero were thankful for that. Qin Yun chose to make her move and gathered the air into a small sphere collected in her palm. Zero watched how the compressed ball of air became infused with yang qi and decided that it wasn't safe to be in the vicinity any longer. He didn't know how to guard against such a fierce qi attack.
Titor paled when he saw Qin Yun charging that air sphere. If she ran that through him, not only would his body turn into ribbons, the entire forest would turn into a huge crater hole.
”I forfeit!” he yelled just before Qin Yun launched it.
Zero heard that loud and clear and heaved a relieved sigh. He still had a long way to go if he wanted to be anywhere near Qin Yun's level of proficiency with qi manipulation. Although he was disappointed that he couldn't see more, it was enough to inspire Zero to work harder in cultivation. Qin Yun was a living legend in cultivation and not even Titor was her match. Zero wondered what kind of outcome they would see if Buddha or Hua Tuo was Qin Yun's opponents. neither Sage God looked strong but Zero knew the truth. They were also cultivation experts. Buddha was the cultivation monster despite his gentle nature and Zero wouldn't be surprised if they managed to come up with scarier techniques than what Qin Yun had.
”And the winner of this match is Qin Yun!” Zero announced, putting an end to it officially. Titor apologised for putting up a poor fight but Zero shook his head.