Alex made his way off the platform, heading towards the waiting area for the fighters who have already fought. His meridians ached a bit from the pressure he had put on them, but at the moment he could feel them pulsing slowly and in tandem with each other. Almost as if they were breathing, it was like 108 horses tethered together and pulling a massive wagon across the Serengeti. Alex seemed to have developed some sort of understanding from his fights, but even more than that, a great change was now taking place within his body.
The Open Dantian competition will start in another one hour, so as to give the open meridian realm cultivators a chance to rest a bit in case they hope to challenge the cultivators in the open Dantian realm. Funny enough, Cultivators in the open Dantian realm and above take longer to recover than cultivators in the open meridian realm, and that's because above the open meridian realm, a cultivator becomes capable of storing and refining Qi within his or her body, and it would take quite a while to refill the Dantian after a battle.
Open meridian realm cultivators directly absorb Qi from the air and channel it through their meridians to power the arts. Such an act always put a strain on the meridians, and the power brought to bear would just be about 5% effective. Either way, Alex was currently meditating, channeling the Wudang heart sutra as he took in tiny bits of Qi and sent them out of his body in an attempt to get himself back into optimum condition.
Then suddenly, his first meridian lit up like a star, blazing in solitude amongst the 108 sleeping stars in a constellation of power. And then the light from the first meridian stretched to the second, and then to the third, and fourth, going on, further and further until it got to the 86th meridian, and then a loud gong was heard, signifying the start of the open Dantian competition.
The open Dantian competition was going to be ran for the rest of the day, and maybe throughout much of tomorrow, and that's because the first day alone was a day of challenges. Each cultivator can challenge someone three times and be challenged three time in return. You need to have two wins to proceed to the next stage of the competition tomorrow, and as it stands, Alex might actually enter the open Dantian realm fully by tomorrow morning.
He would still be the number one of the open meridian realm, but he would also be graded with the other cultivators in the open Dantian realm. The key to this fight was picking a fight with the weaker fighters in the open Dantian realm. Alex was not ashamed of admitting that as he was right now, he wasn't really a match to the other fighters in the open Dantian realm, which means he would have to pull out all of his trump cards and honestly he wasn't so sure they would be able to take him as far as he wanted.
Alex looked up at the stages currently occupied by challengers and those challenged. He noticed his step brother on one of the stages, but t he problem was no one around was even challenging him to a fight. But as it stands it's not exactly his fault as he was right at the peak of the open Dantian realm, for this competition, he was sure to take number one and until he starts making his own moves, no one else was willing to go up against him.
Alex picked up his spear and climbed the stage, going straight for a cultivator in the first stage of the open meridian realm.
Luckily for those in the open meridian realm, to prevent the other cultivators from taking advantage of the gulf between an entire realm and scoring an easy win, the open meridian realm talents can challenge, but they can't be challenged in return. It gave them enough chance to showcase their talents, but honestly facing a cultivator not just a stage, but an entire realm above you is an almost insurmountable feat, Alex would have to dug in deep for this fight.
Alex gave his soon to be opponent a bow, his opponent smiled in turn and gave Alex a bow of his own, but the soft smile he gave Alex rapidly turned into a sinister one as a small barrier rose up around them, isolating them both from the rest of the fighters as they prepared to come to blows. His opponent was 14,just like Alex, but he was a bit taller, even for fourteen year old, his height could be considered above average, and he was just as good looking.
"You know you made a mistake right? You should have be satisfied with being the number one for those in the open meridian realm, a weakling king for a weakling realm. But yet you came up here, hoping to play with emperors, you really are a fool." Alex shook his head, he really didn't think he was a fool, his aim here was to lush himself and grow stronger, but this guy...
"You do realize that sometime ago you were also in the open meridian realm right? Just because you advanced it doesn't give you the right to belittle others, especially not when said people are your betters in both talent and resources. If you were smart you would take me seriously, of you don't want me to poke a huge hole in your arm or chest." Alex said as he stretched out his halberd pointing it behind himself as he crouched down.
"I hope you remember those words young master Zhang, because I will make you eat them up. Welcome to the big leagues boy."
Alex did not even let him continue as he picked up speed and rushed towards his opponent, Alex felt that maybe he should have asked for a name, but it was too late. Alex leaped into the air, all 108 open meridians open and rapidly taking in Qi to strengthen his strike. Alex swung his halberd down, the axe part of it gleaming a dull blue as Qi saturated it's form.
*Bang! Dong!!!*
Alex's halberd smashed and sliced down, but an illusory golden bell appeared around his opponent, protecting him from the strike, and causing a shock wave that blasted Alex away from him, towards the barrier that was around them, and out the barrier. In doing so, Alex had just lost and his opponent had won his first match, and all he did was stand there with his hands folded. The barrier was there to prevent attacks from escaping and hitting other fighters, but it was also a demarcation of platform, and it's quite possible for someone to be thrown out of it, once that happens, it would count as your loss.
Alex hit the ground with a dull thud as his body drew a furrow on the ground, his pristine white robes now brown from the dust and dirt. Alex felt his organs shake a bit from the force behind that bell, he wasn't sure but it looked like Shaolin's (GOLDEN BELL) defensive technique. He knew the Wudang sect had a variation of it, but he couldn't exactly be sure because he hadn't seen to many martial arts yet, so he couldn't be sure which was which.
{What Did I Tell You About Rushing In Without Giving Yourself Any Chance For Retreat! That Boy Didn't Say Much, But He Was Still Able To Get In Your Head. Listen To Me Alex, You Might Be The Most Talented And Currently The Brightest Star In The Sky Right Now Due To The Sheer Limits Of Your Potential, Which If I Might Add, Is Limitless. But He's Right, You're Still Very Much Weak! There's Way You Would Win This Without Giving It Your All. Remember Your Persistent Focus During Your Training, Use It!}
<<<<<
Alex stood in front of a boulder, a wooden practice sword and a spear lying at his feet. Sweat dripped down from his forehead and even down his back as the sun beat down on his exposed skin. His fingers were stiff from gripping both weapons for such a long time, but it was not over, Nezha's words still rang out loud in his mind.
{Pierce That Boulder With Spear Using One Hand One Thousand Times, And When You're Done Use The Other Hand And Do The Same. And When You're Done Using The Spear, Cut That Boulder With A Sword Using One Hand, One Thousand Times And Then Shift To The Other Hand. You're Not Going Back In Until You Finish, And You're Not Allowed To Use Qi}
Alex took a deep breath and bent down, picking the spear up again, this was just the first of the training, it wouldn't do for him to break down this early, he had to push forward, piercing every obstacle in front of him. Alex took a step back, and pushed forward stabbing the wooden spear in the boulder. It's tip smashed into pieces leaving Alex with a frown on his face. He threw it aside on the pile of previously broken wooden spears and swords as he replaced it with a fresh one and started again.
<<<<<
Alex understood what he had to do, he was fighting way above his league here, there was no need to hold back and analyze his opponents. If he face an obstacle he would Pierce through them all, and if that wasn't enough, he wasn't adverse to cutting them all to pieces with his swords. Alex jumped back onto the stage, standing right in front of the person who just kicked him off, much to the surprise of many and the pleasure of the person he was challenging.
There wasn't a rule that said you can't challenge the same person twice, so without a doubt this was another free win for his opponent, or so they thought. Alex's opponent smiled as he pulled out a sword.
"It seems to me that you have a death wish young master Zhang, but don't worry, I'll happily deliver you to the nether realm. But that would be left for another day, today I'll just help your trash of a father beat some sense into you, and show you the true meaning of power."
If Alex was angry before, then now his was absolutely furious and full of so much wrath he felt like he could burn the heavens. The only reply he gave to his opponent was to place his hand on the wooden sheath as his side, his two swords seemed to vibrate as suddenly a mask appeared on his hand, and all of a sudden the temperature within the entire Arena went up several degrees in an instant. The clothes on Alex's body burnt away leaving his upper body bare as tattoos began to appear on them.
But all this was happening when Alex had not even put on his mask, he had achieved a degree of closeness and communion with Nezha's spirit and power that even without wearing the mask, he could use his power, as if they shared the same body. Alex didn't stand on ceremony as he placed the mask on his face and there was a massive explosion of flames that rapidly coalesced in the figure of a teenager with a spear and wheels underneath his feet.
The figure disappeared as Alex's body fully combusted hiding his glowing tribal tattoos. He pointed his halberd at his opponent and said one word to him.
"Burn!"