36 Chapter 35: Official Match (1/2)

”So this is an official match…”

I looked around, a little dazed. Even though this was the same arena where I – and many of the students from the middle school section – took my level test, the atmosphere today was somewhat different. There was a buzz in the air, an excitement that surpassed the furor that my level test generated the other day.

”I know, right?” Tong Xue agreed beside me. ”What do you think?”

My friends had brought me to this particular duel so that I could have a better understanding of it. My first six months here had been spent mostly in isolation, so I had avoided the coliseum. I mostly trained against training dummies and programmed battle puppets, so I didn't watch or duel against human opponents.

But that turned out to be a mistake. The whole purpose of all the disciples from the various martial arts sects in the Alliance gathering in Wu Ling Academy was to spy on each other, learn each other's techniques, or duel against each other. And what better way of collecting intelligence on the techniques of rival sects than to watch them fight in an official match?

”I…don't know.”

”Well, don't say that.” Tong Xue grinned. ”We're here to watch Qi Fu Ren fight, so that you'll have an idea of his fighting style, and how his mind works.”

”Bastard…” Zhu Jiao hissed venomously, his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flaring. He clenched his fists as he fought to restrain his anger. ”Fucking coward is picking on the weaker students again. He refused my challenge, and then went to challenge Luo Bin.”

”Who's Luo Bin?” I asked, puzzled. Tong Xue had an answer, which he showed me in the form of his tablet.

”Class 1-1, from the Winding River Sect.”

”Oh.” I immediately understood. ”Water techniques?”

”Yeah.”

While we were discussing, I noticed someone approaching us. I waved at her while she was looking around nervously.

”Tang Qi Hong, are you here to watch the fight as well?”

”Ah…right.” Tang Qi Hong strode over. Usually, she was with her best friend, Lian Rou, but I didn't see the blue-haired beauty today. That wasn't surprising. Lian Rou wasn't that interested in fights to begin with. ”Are you doing all right?”

”Yeah, as you can see, I'm fine.”

I raised a hand to assure her. When I first returned to Wu Ling Academy, Tang Qi Hong had been the first to approach me. Apparently, she didn't forget that I had saved her life before I dropped into the Abyss, and was pretty relieved that I had survived.

It was also clear that she felt a measure of guilt that she wasn't able to help me when I plunged into the abyss, and according to Tong Xue she had been one of those who volunteered in the search party that combed Sen Lin Forest for a month before it was called off.

”Mind if I join you guys? Lian Rou wasn't interested in watching the fight.”

”Sure.” I gestured for Tang Qi Hong to join us. She stepped up next to me and peered through the transparent glass.

”Oh, it seems like the duel will be starting soon.”

”This will be bad,” Ban Zhang muttered under his breath, concern touching his voice. I followed the direction of his gaze and saw that the two combatants were entering the stage.

Qi Fu Ren strolled in arrogantly, that smirk never leaving his face. From the opposite side, a frail-looking kid stepped outside, his furious expression belying his tinier stature. Qi Fu Ren must have done something to piss him off.

”It'll be over in a minute.”

”Aren't you guys giving Luo Bin too little credit?” I protested, glaring at Tong Xue for being dismissive. My classmate merely shrugged.

”If you don't believe me, you can just watch.”

”…”

I obeyed quietly and focused my attention on the arena. There was a teacher refereeing the match, and at his signal, the match began.

”Qi Fu Ren, of the White Tiger Sect,” Qi Fu Ren mockingly cupped his hands as a sign of respect, except that his actions lacked any genuine sincerity. ”I'm at the fifth level of the Qi Essence Stage, and my affinity is with the metal element…to be more precise, lightning.”

”Luo Bin, Winding River Sect.” the student from 1-1 was unable to hide his contempt. ”Third level of Qi Essence Stage, affinity with water.”

The two of them regarded each other for a moment, and then disappeared.

”?!”

My eyes widened slightly and I glanced around, only for the two to clash in the center of the coliseum. Thick clouds of qi erupted from their collision, and both golden and blue qi swirled and buffeted the reinforced walls with shockwaves.

”Whoa!”

”What an explosive start!”

The students watching reeled back from instinct despite the arena being built and designed to withstand such power. I didn't blame them. Even I was somewhat taken aback by the sheer ferocity between the two.

Boom, boom, boom!

Wham! Crackle!

The intensity of their qi shot up exponentially as the two combatants clashed and exchanged blows. Despite being two levels lower than Qi Fu Ren, Luo Bin was giving his opponent a run for his money, striking and punching furiously. For a moment, Qi Fu Ren seemed like he was forced into the defensive, blocking and parrying the strikes. However, he answered with several counters of his own, but Luo Bin executed a couple of fluid movements to deflect those counters. Lighting spilled out and slammed into the ground, scorching the concrete, but Luo Bin remained unharmed.

Thousands of water droplets floated in the air, suspended and unmoving. Since my ice affinity was somewhat related to water, I could clearly sense the potent qi held in each droplet, just waiting to be unleashed.

And then they were fired.

Responding to Luo Bin's will, the water droplets turned into bullets, stretching and then hurtling forward to slam into Qi Fu Ren with enough force to punch through concrete. Realizing the danger, Qi Fu Ren disengaged and stepped back, throwing his hands up to conjure a wall of electricity. Water sizzled and vaporized into steam as they struck his lighting barrier, but a few broke through and tore holes through his body.

”Gnnnh!”

Qi Fu Ren staggered, blood dripping from the tiny holes punched through his body. He chuckled as he glanced at them, more amused than hurt.

”Oh…not bad. You've certainly gotten a lot stronger.”

However, Luo Bin showed no mercy. Already he was lunging forward without any hesitation, his fist cocked back.

”I'll kill you!” he roared.

”Wow,” I remarked as I watched Luo Bin sock Qi Fu Ren. The latter was knocked off his feet and sent sprawling onto the ground. ”He definitely has quite the grudge against Qi Fu Ren.”

”Can't blame him.” Tong Xue sounded gloomy.”Qi Fu Ren has been bullying him since two months ago, and the abuse only escalated.”

”If you think you can beat me up forever, you're dead wrong!” Luo Bin hollered as he kicked Qi Fu Ren. Two colossal streams of water also slammed into Qi Fu Ren simultaneously, lifting the guy off his feet and hands and hurling him into the wall. The tremendous impact actually cracked the reinforced concrete and Qi Fu Ren slumped down. ”I'm not going to stay below you forever!”

”Wow…that Luo Bin has gotten a lot stronger,” Tong Xue admitted. I glanced at him and smirked.

”By the way, it has been over a minute.”

”Yeah, I know…I didn't expect that. Sorry.”

I rolled my eyes. ”Why are you apologizing to me? You should be apologizing to Luo Bin instead. Do that later.”

”At this rate, Luo Bin might actually win,” Ban Zhang commented, pleasantly surprised. ”I can't believe how much he has improved!”

”No.” at Zhu Jiao's ominous declaration, the rest of us turned to stare at him in shock. He shook his head. ”Even with his improvement, it still won't be enough.”

Lightning sparked and danced around the arena, and Qi Fu Ren rose to his feet, his body clad in electricity. His face had turned into a demonic, murderous mask of rage and hatred. Gone was his humor and arrogance, both of which had been replaced by fury and vengeance.

”This can't be good,” Tong Xue muttered. Tang Qi Hong's face blackened.

”Qi Fu Ren has gotten a lot stronger again.”

”Really?” I hadn't been around for two months so I could only take her word for it.

Qi Fu Ren blasted Luo Bin's water attacks apart with his lightning, but the latter didn't seem perturbed. Instead, he conjured a barrier of water to shield himself from a lightning bolt that Qi Fu Ren threw at him.

”So you've finally gotten serious, huh?” he sneered.

”I'll kill you, filth,” Qi Fu Ren snarled. ”Trash who doesn't know his place. You should just lie on the ground and remain like the rubbish you've always been.”

”So that you'll have someone to beat up when you feel like it?” Luo Bin growled. ”Fuck you. I'm going to pay you back for everything you did to me.”

He then launched himself forward, heedless of the devastating lightning that crackled and filled the vast space of the coliseum. Jagged bolts of lightning lanced and blasted at him, but he deftly deflected them with raging whirlpools of water.

”Amazing.”

I couldn't help but be impressed, enraptured by the elemental fury between the two duelists.

So this is the difference between a test and an official match…the difference between a human opponent and a test dummy…

The atmosphere was saturated with so much emotion, with so many raw sensations. Unlike humans, the test dummy or battle puppet was devoid of emotions and feelings. Despite being able to efficiently and almost flawlessly replicate the martial arts techniques of masters, they lacked that essential human nature – the power of emotions and feelings. They fought coldly and mechanically, driven by nothing but their programming. As a result, they sometimes became predictable, one-dimensional fighters who fought only because they were told to do so.

In contrast, the human fighters were driven by an assortment of emotions, goals, dreams, ambitions, grudges and instinct. They sometimes made decisions based on emotions, or trusted their gut feeling as opposed to reason. This made them unpredictable. And they had goals, things they wanted to achieve. That gave them additional strength, power that could not be quantified or measured accurately. This was why I found the whole level and stage thing bullshit.

Humans had a strength that cannot be measured. Time and time again, we had proven that throughout history, we had defied all odds to prevail and rule over all other living things in the world despite being relatively frail and weak.

Qi Fu Ren and Luo Bin traded another few punches before they sprang away after a particularly violent clash. Lightning wreathed Qi Fu Ren's fists while currents of water snaked and flowed around Luo Bin's arms, forming some sort of fluid gauntlets.

”You…” Qi Fu Ren muttered under his breath, his voice laced with fury. ”If I let you go now, you'll be a huge threat to me in future.”

”Never mind the future, I'll defeat you now!”

Luo Bin wasn't a man of many words. With that simple shout, he then lunged forward again, generating a huge whirlpool of water to propel himself forward while simultaneously blasting water bullets to attack his opponent.

”Guoooh!”

Qi Fu Ren bellowed in defiance before he gathered as much qi as he could. His right hand glowing golden after accumulating so much qi, he swung his fist at the incoming water and unleashed his most powerful lightning attack.

”Lightning Flash!”

”What's with martial artists always shouting out the names of their attacks and techniques?” I asked, bewildered.

”Sh, don't ask,” Tong Xue reprimanded me. ”Just go along with it.”

There wasn't much I could go along with. Qi Fu Ren's attack erupted into a colossal pillar of golden lightning, vaporizing all the water in the vicinity. Luo Bin vanished into the gargantuan beam, no doubt electrocuted and fried by the immense power of Qi Fu Ren's attack.

But Qi Fu Ren wasn't done yet.

He launched himself into his gradually fading pillar of lightning, his fists still wreathed in electricity. Cocking his right arm back, he threw a vicious hook that struck Luo Bin's convulsing body and knocked him out of midair.

Luo Bin slammed into the ground, carving a huge crater into the concrete even as he continued to skid across the broken surface. Qi Fu Ren mercilessly bore down on him, slamming his foot into Luo Bin's abdomen.

Crack!

An ominous sound snapped across the arena. Even so, Qi Fu Ren was not done. He kicked the unconscious Luo Bin up and began to pummel him.

”That's enough.”

I had no idea when, but the teacher who was refereeing the match had suddenly appeared in the coliseum. Before Qi Fu Ren's devastating fist could reach the scorched Luo Bin, the teacher seized his wrist. Lightning crackled and bit at his fingers, but the teacher seemed completely unaffected by their electrocuting effects.

”Luo Bin has been incapacitated,” Teacher Cai Pan informed him coolly. ”This match is over. Cease your attacks at once.”

”Hmph.”

Qi Fu Ren didn't seem satisfied, but even a bully like him wasn't stupid enough to go against a teacher. He lowered his fists, then turned away to stalk off.

Before he left, however, he turned around to smirk.

”Well, it's fine. I've damaged his dantian. It'll be a while before he can cultivate…if he can cultivate ever again, that is. Whatever the case, you'll continue to be my punching bag for another long while.”

Laughing, Qi Fu Ren left the stage.

*

”That was vicious.”

I felt sick just from witnessing that whole thing. After Teacher Cai Pan applied the necessary first aid, the medics had rushed in to ferry Luo Bin to the infirmary to get him treated. However, even with Teacher Yi Liao's top-notch healing techniques, if Luo Bin's dantian was damaged, there was very little she could do to help him with that.

It would take a year or at least six months for him to recover before he could resume cultivation again. Fortunately, Teacher Cai stepped in and intervened before Qi Fu Ren could carry things too far, otherwise Luo Bin would have been crippled for good.

”The worst thing is that Qi Fu Ren would not be punished for this. Technically, he did not break the rules surrounding official matches.”

Zhu Jiao sounded bitter as he leaned forward and crossed his fingers.