Chapter 87 - Shin Sumi Steps In To Fight (1/2)
Shin Sumi taunted Sei Shian back. She had never wanted any attention drawn to herself, but in this case it was unavoidable.
She was the last fighter to enter the arena, after fifteen other talented young men and women who had all stated their victory with confidence, even when they lost seconds after.
To remain quiet and not show the same self pride as the others would probably have the opposite effect of drawing the attention to her even more.
”The both of you are exhausted already and your half-baked explosions wouldn't even be enough to topple over a chicken.”
Sei Shian laughed out loud, holding his belly as if he had just heard the world's most fantastic joke. After a few seconds of intense laughter, he pretended to wipe a tear of his eye before talking in a serious manner.
”Don't push your luck, now. Arrogance is fine only when you have the power to back it up.”
Sei Shian sped up towards Bai Fulong who was still almost a hundred steps away. Chu Erlong was gathering Shinsoo on her side, her mind alternating between excitation and depressive thoughts.
The girl from the Cloud-Formation Pavilion knew that out of the three of them she was obviously in the worst state. She had been forced by Mua Lin to use her pseudo-domain, draining most of her energy.
She had definitely not expected Sei Shian to be such a good fighter and to give her this much trouble. If she wished so, Chu Erlong knew she could probably beat Sei Shian, but then she would definitely get trampled by Shin Sumi.
Her mind soon came to a conclusion while she was watching Sei Shian approach Bai Fulong.
”Even if I can't win myself, I'll do everything in my power to stop that freak Shin Sumi from winning.”
The hatred she had for Shin Sumi had roots that were planted deep into her heart from even before the Rising Star Tournament. As herself, Shin Sumi had escaped her in the lower valley. As Bai Fulong she had ridiculed her in the determining fight of the Rising Star Tournament. As Yan Yan she had even taunted her in her own Cloud-Formation Pavilion.
Faced with the choice between helping Sei Shian and conceding the win to Shin Sumi, there was no hesitation on her part.
Shin Sumi frowned lightly when she saw Sei Shian approaching.
”That's not good, I don't want to take the fight over here.”
Sei Shian was fast, but Shin Sumi was faster. She started running too, trying to meet him as close to the center of the arena as possible.
In less than three seconds, the distance between them disappeared. Sei Shian's martial arts stance was ready for any kind of counter attack the moment he had seen the yellow light forming at the tip of the raised Sky Deception.
”Cleaving Meteor!”
”Tch, too slow!” Sei Shian didn't bother blocking the Shinsoo enhanced strike. ”Mua Lin's version was much faster” he thought as he easily stepped to the side and out of Cleaving Meteor's path.
Bai Fulong lips turned into a sly and cunning smile.
Halfway down to the ground, Cleaving Meteor suddenly stopped. Bai Fulong's face went pale for a brief moment as the backlash for stopping a Shinsoo technique had momentarily reversed his flow of energy.
It was the price to pay for interrupting a technique but in Shin Sumi's case it was worth it. With the incredibly deep resources she had, especially considering she had just entered the fight, one Cleaving Meteor's worth of Shinsoo wasn't much.
Sky Deception had not yet completely stopped when Shin Sumi's powerful legs kicked the ground and she picked up speed. In the fraction of second she had become ten times as fast as she was previously, starting to close the distance between her and Chu Erlong and leaving Sei Shian behind, stunned by surprise.
From the speed at which she had entered the arena, who could have guessed that she would be capable of a much quicker pace?
Chu Erlong was only halfway through the preparations for Burning Moon. She, too, had been taken by surprise by Bai Fulong's move.
F.o.r.c.i.b.l.y interrupting her spell, she took out a large pole that seemed to be made out of wax and planted it on the ground as Sky Deception swiped at her.
There was no doubt about the origin of the wax pole. It was a gift from her dual cultivation partner Jun Qian, only she had not expected to use it so soon. The pole now activated by her Shinsoo extended into a great shield, blocking Shin Sumi's first blow.
The shield made cracking noises but held strong.
Second sword strike.
Bai Fulong wasn't even using fancy techniques, but the sheer force of the attacks was making the shield crack more and more.
Third sword strike.
Fourth sword strike.
The wax shield exploded into a hundred pieces. In the meantime Chu Erlong had managed to squeeze her last few drops of Shinsoo, releasing a weakened version of Cold Smoke at Shin Sumi.
Of course, as she knew, Shin Sumi herself had mastered the same technique and its weak points. Not even a single snake cloud hit its target.
Expecting a last defence to spring up from the resourceful Chu Erlong, Bai Fulong lifted and swung Sky Deception one more time. Chu Erlong closed her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her in a last attempt to protect herself.
Seeing how she had become powerless, Shin Sumi twisted her wrist at the last moment, diverting the cutting edge of the sword away and hitting with the flat part of the blade instead.
WHACK!
Even without cutting power, Sky Deception slammed into Chu Erlong's arms with power. The girl from the Cloud-Formation Pavilion was sent flying backwards a few meters before hitting the ground pitifully.
”This definitely won't improve my relationship with Chu Erlong” Shin Sumi thought as she saw the drained girl m.o.a.ning in pain, her consciousness barely present anymore.
”How humiliating... Chu Erlong was basically slapped into losing the fight” a disciple mumbled to another in the crowd.
”The Star-Sword Pavilion is using a brand new fighter but Chu Erlong has already dealt with Mua Lin AND Sei Shian, the outcome isn't that surprising...”
”Still, how could a nobody beat Big Sister Chu?”
”You haven't heard about this 'nobody'? Where were you during Mua Lin and Sui Lin's fight at the Third Star Arena?! Let me tell you, when the fight ended-”
Different rumors and opinions were slowly spreading among the crowd. Shin Sumi was oblivious to it, given her stance as a fighter with ears far away from them, but she would have been quite pleased with the way the conversations turned out.
Many disciples relied heavily on the fact that Bai Fulong has only inherited the lucky position of the fighting order. Only a handful of them believed in his strength being key in this fight.
Patriarch Sen's deep eyes contained a small sparkle as he couldn't help but overhear some of the conversations.
”Brilliant. Remarkable but not extraordinary. As any Ghost should be” he then discretely picked up a small piece of jade and sent his divine sense into it, ”Wudao, prepare your quarters. The fight will be over in a few minutes and she is ready.”
Shin Sumi was breathing with some heaviness. She wasn't tired at all but figured it would be a good practice to seem more exhausted, having swung her sword a few times.
She turned around to face Sei Shian, who was still quite a few steps away. She had taken him by surprise and dealt with Chu Erlong in only a few seconds.
The young man from the Light-Breaker Pavilion had already reluctantly accepted the fact that Bai Fulong was better than he had thought initially. And yet he also knew that Chu Erlong was already nearing the end of her rope, thus he believed that he was still capable of beating Shin Sumi with his two monstrous explosions remaining.
Sei Shian cracked his knuckles, telling himself with optimism ”Great, I didn't have to lift a finger against the girl. This guy got rid of her for me, leaving me with more power to beat him with. Heavens are looking after me!”
One leg to the front, his weight resting on his back leg, his guard up, ready for battling Bai Fulong.
Shin Sumi attacked him straight away. Sky Deception whistled in the air, striking Sei Shian's Exploding Palm.
Shin Sumi's hands trembled under the impact of the Shinsoo burst but held strong.