Volume 1, Chapter 118 – Crossing Blows

Shi Lan was a little dazed and instinctively glanced over at Elder Xin standing to the side.

Elder Xin’s face had darkened a shade. After the corner of his mouth twitched once, he announced, “Gufeng City, Shi Lan is the victor.”

By the arena, Hao Pojun’s expression grew solemn. The fight had ended quickly, but it was enough to show the general level of Shi Lan’s strength. She was definitely a formidable opponent.

A flicker of interest passed through Zhao Jing’an’s dark red eyes. At first, seeing Shi Lan was only at the seventh stage of the Innate Realm, he had assumed all those assigned to her arena were trash. Now it seemed that was not the case at all.

Shi Lan stepped down from the arena and returned to Gu Rentong’s side, staring at him in pure confusion.

Gu Rentong gave a couple of dry coughs. “Well… perhaps Gu Rongyue was just careless for a moment just now…”

In truth, Gu Rentong himself was puzzled. Gu Rongyue’s reputation outside was immense. It was said that with her seven-string zither, she could even contend somewhat with martial artists of the Earth Fiend Realm.

On top of that, her skill with the zither was rumored to have surpassed her teacher, Meng Fan, Valley Master of Miaoyin Valley. There had even been people who offered more than ten thousand spirit crystals for a single song from Gu Rongyue, and she had refused.

All this and more attested to just how extraordinary Gu Rongyue was.

The result of this match had truly gone beyond everyone’s expectations.

At the edge of the arena, Gu Rongyue slowly came to under the nurturing flow of true qi from the woman beside her.

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“Rongyue, how do you feel?”

Gu Rongyue sat cross-legged, adjusted her breathing for a while, then spat out a mouthful of clotted blood and said softly, “I’m fine. No serious injuries, just two ribs broken.”

Even in the worst case, she was still at the ninth stage of the Innate Realm. There was no way a single kick from Shi Lan would completely cripple her. She had simply been too shocked and hadn’t managed to catch her breath in time, which was why she’d blacked out.

After taking a couple of deeper breaths, Gu Rongyue stood up, secured the guqin on her back, and walked toward Shi Lan.

“Today I lost without injustice. Thank you, Miss Shi Lan, for the lesson. I will remember it.” Gu Rongyue stopped in front of Shi Lan and bowed with sincere expression.

Had this been a life-and-death battle, she would already be dead. Today, Shi Lan had taught her something: in a real fight, your opponent would not politely put on a show or wait while you made your preparations.

Outside opponents would not be like her fellow disciples, or the people she’d met on the arenas before, who allowed her time to set her zither properly and slowly get ready.

Shi Lan felt suspicious. Why did Gu Rongyue’s words sound a bit off to her ears? Thank you, because you beat me up today, so I’ll always remember it?

She didn’t quite understand what Gu Rongyue meant, but the habits of her previous life made her respond politely without thinking.

“Miss Gu is too kind. It’s how it should be.”

Gu Rongyue’s expression froze for a moment. She forced a somewhat stiff smile. “You really are… quite a straightforward person, Miss.”

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For some reason, Shi Lan suddenly felt the atmosphere around them grow a little awkward.

Gu Rongyue quickly took her leave and followed the elder from Miaoyin Valley, hurrying toward the great hall.

“The second match will be between Hao Pojun of Heimu City and Zhao Jing’an of Rakshasa Manor.”

Elder Xin called out again.

Zhao Jing’an and Hao Pojun both answered and stepped onto the arena.

Shi Lan’s gaze locked onto the stage. The situation was very favorable for her now. Through the next match, she would basically be able to foresee the final outcome.

“Begin the match!”

As soon as Elder Xin finished speaking, Hao Pojun raised his hand and summoned a light-blue jade bead, slightly smaller than a fist.

Radiance flowed across the bead’s surface as the sound of surging waves rolled out from within it. The surrounding air grew damp, soon condensing into a thin layer of pale blue mist. Hao Pojun, clad in blue, was swallowed by the mist and suddenly vanished from sight.

Zhao Jing’an glanced around at the mist faintly encircling him, then flicked up his hand and tossed out a pill the size of a longan.

The pill hit the ground and exploded, turning into a cloud of black smoke that spread outward with a few chilling peals of eerie laughter.

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Zhao Jing’an clenched his hand, and the black fog slowly condensed into three humanoid shadows two zhang tall. Their features were indistinct, their aura vicious and gloomy, coiling at Zhao Jing’an’s side. After this, Zhao Jing’an flipped his hand and produced a palm-sized black miniature hall. As true qi poured in, the tiny hall swelled with the wind, quickly becoming a hall nearly three zhang tall that hung quietly above Zhao Jing’an’s head.

The roar of crashing waves on the arena grew clearer. Hao Pojun’s figure suddenly appeared above Zhao Jing’an, his feet planted on a rootless current of water over ten zhang wide.

Boom!

With a thunderous impact like waves crashing into a cliff, the water under Hao Pojun’s feet surged like a raging sea, pouring down in an unending torrent to flood the black hall above Zhao Jing’an’s head.

All that water was formed from Hao Pojun’s true qi, impossibly heavy. The black hall was driven down a notch, slowly pressing toward Zhao Jing’an’s neck.

Bang! Bang!

Two of the three shadows beside Zhao Jing’an raised their thick arms to brace the descending hall. The last shadow shot upward into the sky, stepping on the water as it charged straight toward Hao Pojun, the source of the torrent.

Standing beneath the hall, Zhao Jing’an flicked his fingers. True qi gathered into threads that whipped outward, carving grooves several inches deep into the black-iron arena floor.

Seeing this, Shi Lan felt a jolt of surprise. Was Zhao Jing’an… setting up a formation?

Suddenly, a translucent giant hand reached out from within the flowing water, grabbed the shadow sprinting atop the current, and yanked it violently into the torrent.

The shadow struggled for a while, but was quickly ground to pieces by the unbelievably heavy, impact-laden water, turning back into black mist and dispersing.

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Hao Pojun pressed his palm down, and the water surged even more. The two shadows beneath the hall could no longer bear the weight. Their legs bent under the pressure and they dropped to their knees.

Once the last stroke of the array pattern was carved, Zhao Jing’an drew his fingers back, then waved and shattered the two shadows, lifting both hands to support the hall himself.

At the same time, a faint red glow appeared along the array lines at Zhao Jing’an’s feet. The black mist that the three shadows had previously collapsed into slowly gathered at his side and began to condense again.

The black mist quickly swamped Zhao Jing’an, gradually forming a hazy figure with a build similar to his own that wrapped around him like armor, protecting him within.

Zhao Jing’an’s breathing gradually turned rapid. A flush rose to his face, and his aura began to climb at a frightening rate.

Sensing the change in Zhao Jing’an’s aura, Hao Pojun frowned and let his figure sink back into the water mist.

Very soon, Zhao Jing’an’s aura seemed to reach its limit and slowly stabilized.

The black hall suddenly shrank and dropped into Zhao Jing’an’s palm. With nothing left to block it, the surging water overhead crashed straight down on him.

By now Zhao Jing’an looked nothing like before. The figure formed from black mist completely enveloped him, leaving only a pair of dark red eyes visible. His entire presence had become chillingly sinister.