The sight they were greeted with was surprising, to say the least. They could see his wounds that he had received from Yan Guo quickly disappearing before their eyes. They were definitely surprised due to the fact that they had never seen such a thing in their life before. In their years of learning Medical Arts, they had heard of such a fast regeneration speed but it was usually aided with the help of Qi but Ye Xiu and Shang Yang could see no Qi being used with their observation technique.
Ye Xiu likened it to a superhero that he had read about from the comics that were very popular in his previous world. The speed was definitely just as fast as that superhero's regeneration and Ye Xiu thought that it must some kind of genetic defect that allowed him to heal this fast.
As Ye Xiu was thinking about it, Xiao Tu also leapt up onto the stage and nudged the two who were just staring at Shi Die. "Oi, get Shi Die off the stage, the referees want to begin the next match. Just bring him to the stands where he'll be safe because Shang Yang and I can watch over him there. You can just stay near the arena so that you can get to your match quickly when you're called."
Xiao Tu started to crouch and threw Shi Die over his shoulder and carried him off to the stands with Shang Yang following him. Shang Yang looked over her shoulder at Ye Xiu, "We'll ask about it when he wakes up together. I'd rather not be explaining this over again if we ask it whilst you're at a match or busy with something. It's definitely interesting how his regeneration was so fast though."
She walked off and disappeared into the crowd that surrounded the arena.
Ye Xiu wasn't watching the current match that was going on because he was thinking about Shi Die. "His regeneration... could it be linked to that transformation that he had earlier? There were marks on his body that I could barely see which were pulsing with Qi that appeared together with his fangs and claws. That means that whatever power that he gained was definitely from a source that was a predator."
"His transformation gave him speed but it didn't seem to actually give him strength besides the extra power behind his blows due to his claws and the speed behind them. That means that it's a fast predator as well." Ye Xiu shook his head because he knew that he wouldn't be able to figure it out. He had too little knowledge of the mysteries of the world and it would do no good for him to trying to unravel it when he had his own matches to worry about more urgently compared to this matter.
'I'll just ask Sir when I meet him again. He should have a clue as to what it was if Shi Die doesn't know.' Ye Xiu watched the competitors fighting each other with disinterest because the fight was boring. It wasn't that the people weren't strong that made it boring, it was the fact that neither of them used any flashy moves or did anything to pump the blood of the audience watching. They were just trading hits which Ye Xiu noticed was due to the fact that both the fighters had obscenely strong bodies on par with his.
Though they had strong bodies, they had a rather lacking Qi pool. They had a Qi pool smaller than the average person and it could be due to the fact that they were born like that. The two were twins which also made the match boring because the twins probably knew each other's tricks like the back of their hands so there really was nothing they could pull out to surprise each other especially when they had the same fighting style and moves.
Ye Xiu was thinking of ways to beat Yan Guo. He had said that he should probably be able to beat the guy but his confidence inside was lacking because he hadn't come up with anything to stop the guy disappearing constantly. 'The only thing I can think of is to use my 'Entangling Roots' style and hope that it's fast enough so that he can't slip through the attacks. But from what I've seen, he's definitely fast enough to do just that.'
'Nobody has actually seen my sword and whip dual wield besides my friends and teachers... Yes! I can use that to my advantage. If he doesn't expect me to be able to block him because of my whip then he'll be surprised. I think that instead of actually blocking his attack, I'll just evade instead. He'll be continuing to move forward with his follow through with his strike that means I can strike his side during that time. I should also make potholes around the arena so he won't be able to move as freely.'
Ye Xiu nodded when he came up with a basic plan to deal with Yan Guo if he met him. The twins' match lasted for over thirty minutes until one of them got a lucky hit in on one of their weak spots. The arena was quickly repaired and cleared of any debris that would obstruct the fighting. Ye Xiu's name was called out clearly for the next match and he stepped up to the arena to see a girl with a bow on her back.
Ye Xiu narrowed his eyes when he saw the bow because he knew just how deadly a proficient archer was as proven when he sparred against his father. His father had painfully reminded him to never underestimate the accuracy of an archer especially if they used it as their main weapon. This had been beaten into him every time he lost against his father.
'I hope my reflex training will help me enough if I have to go close quarters or if the arrows get past my whip. I'm confident that my reflexes and speed of my whip will be enough to block the arrows but you never know. Father can use his Qi arrows that can't be blocked by physical weapons and can only be blocked by a defence made out of Qi. If she does start shooting Qi arrows, I'll try my best to evade. Father told me that his homing arrows are a speciality skill of his so that shouldn't worry me.'
Ye Xiu readied his whip and didn't bother hiding it because he had been using it for the majority of the tournament so people must assume that it's his main weapon. The referee was ready to start the match. "On three. Three!"
The referee's sudden three without any count up was a surprise but didn't catch Ye Xiu off guard for long. He quickly lashed out with his whip directly to the girl's bow who promptly dodged it and took several arrows from her quiver. What the girl didn't expect was for the whip to be able to continue coming after her even after she dodged it. She didn't even see the movement of Ye Xiu's body to move the whip.
Ye Xiu employed the same tactic that he used against San Guo because he knew that if he kept her busy it'll be harder for her to shoot. Obviously, for an expert archer, this wouldn't even faze them because they would be able to shoot just as accurate when they are moving as to when they are stationary.
It wasn't unexpected for Ye Xiu when she started to shoot arrows whilst dodging his whip. Ye Xiu knew that a movement technique for an archer would usually focus on evasion so he made sure that he would turn the battleground into his own playground where he could control where the girl moved with his whip's attacks.
Ye Xiu kept his observation technique on the girl to watch for any buildup of Qi in the girl's hands because he would be able to dodge Qi arrows if she was able to shoot any. The girl shot an arrow which was able to get past his whip movement and when Ye Xiu dodged it, he noticed that the arena floor was melting. 'Acid?'
He looked at the girl again who was smiling. "You better dodge those arrows now! I wouldn't want to mar that beautiful face of yours!" She started to make a kissing motion with her mouth whilst she shot more arrows at Ye Xiu who was bewildered by the girl's shamelessness.
Ye Xiu wasn't distracted for long when one of the arrows flew right by him as he dodged in time. He placed his concentration back on the fight. The acid which melted the ground only lasted for a while but did decent damage to the floor. With a grin inside of his head, he knew that he could use it to his advantage. By having the girl shoot her acidic arrows at him and evading them, she'll basically be helping him accelerate his plan.
He took out another whip from his dimensional storage and started to use both at the same time. He hadn't perfected the skill needed for both to not disturb each other during their flight but had enough skill to avoid that from happening the majority of the time.
He had been trying to learn to dual wield whips for a couple of months as a secret move so that it could catch his enemies off guard by the unusual combo. No books on any kind of whip dual wielding could be found in the libraries of the Academy or Dimension.
He had only one style that he figured out that he would use for this manner of fighting and it was completely for defence. Though now that he thought about it, he could actually use this defensive method to deal damage or change the landscape whatever way he wanted whilst having his opponents completely focus on dodging the whips if he so decided to attack. To him, it was obvious that this style would tire anybody out extremely quickly due to the insane amount of movements he would have to make.
After his bloodline awakening though, the muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance that he had, had improved by leaps and bounds. This meant that his original ten minutes of whip dual wielding had extended to over an hour of him continuously using his whips at high speeds. His body got rid of most of the lactic acid buildup in his muscles fairly quickly so he felt no muscle weakness most of the time.
With that in mind, he had an 'impenetrable' sphere of defence around his body that would hurt anybody that touched it. The girl could clearly see his arms moving but not the actual whips. She utilised her observation technique that would help her increase her dynamic visual acuity. It was useful for her because it allowed her to see high-speed objects or targets that would be impossible for a normal person to see.
Qi helped in improving a person's vision but it definitely did not make a person's vision superhuman until you were in an extremely high realm. This technique allowed her to see blurry images of the whip but it was definitely enough for her. She didn't exactly want to aim directly at Ye Xiu but more to stop his whip movement. This meant that she was going to aim for parts of the whip and hope that the acid can burn through the whip and make it useless.
The plan was a foolhardy one but one that she would try nevertheless. Ye Xiu watched her as she nocked several arrows back and prepared to shoot them at him. He raised his eyebrows because he found what she was doing was ridiculous but was still cautious. The girl shot her arrows and one arrow managed to successfully hit one of the whips with the arrowhead. The acid started to burn through a part of the whip which she thought would render it useless.
Ye Xiu raised his eyebrows once again and smirked inside his thoughts. 'Too bad she doesn't know that I can make my whip longer or repair it with my Qi.' He let her success get to her head and pulsed Qi into his damaged whip. He attacked her quickly and captured her with his whips. He started to use his 'Entangling Roots' style and formed Qi thorns to drain her Qi and tire her out. She struggled but not with enough apparent strength to tear her way through the whips.
"I surrender." The girl called out after several minutes of being trapped by the whips.
"Ye Xiu wins and advances to the Top 4." The referee held Ye Xiu's arm and lifted it up. Ye Xiu nodded to the girl as she spoke to him.
"I can't believe I lost so easily, I didn't think of the whip being able to be repaired. Your whip also rendered my bare fisted martial arts completely useless so I never had the chance to even use it against you. How'd you know how to counter my arrows by grabbing the shaft of it with your whip?"
Ye Xiu smiled at his memories of training with his father. "My father is an expert archer beyond your skill level. I've sparred against him enough times to at defeat those of a lower skill level than him after he beat lessons of never underestimating an archer into me. He manages to get the most ridiculous shots past my defences and that is why I learnt to fight against bow and arrow users."
The girl sighed when she realised that she had no chance in the beginning. "Thank you for the match anyway. Get rid of your whips around me, I'm plenty tired now because of you. My name is Jing Hua Fei. I hope we'll meet each other again." She made kissing motions with her mouth and hand once again when she was free from Ye Xiu's whips and sauntered off the arena.
Ye Xiu shook his head and went to the stands to find his friends