"Fake?"
"You see a Martial Skill uses qi to be performed and only qi. The kid did not use qi at all to do that, he abused his family cultivation technique to make it seem like a Martial Skill. The tiny fire particles around him count as part of the fire qi, he used them to concentrate on his fist, but still being only a part of the fire qi, a fragment of real qi, the attack wasn't nearly as powerful as a Martial Skill. Still, it is far more powerful than what a normal 7-Star Body Refinement Realm Cultivator could display."
After listening to Vown's explanation, Zayn got interested in the fire qi. If he was able to perform a fake Martial Skill, he would still be thrilled to do that, but unfortunately, he did not have a cultivation technique which enabled him to use fire qi.
"Hey, Infinite Star! Does the Infinite Star Arts have a special kind of qi? Like the fire qi."
"Special kind of qi? Hahahahahahahahaha! Kid, do you want to tell me that fire qi is special? What a joke! Listen, this academy will be nothing than a stepping stone in our journey, heck this world will be nothing than a stepping stone. We'll see many "impossible" things become possible and really special things. That said the Infinite Star Arts does cultivate a special kind of qi. The Infinite Star Qi. It is far more powerful than you can imagine now, but it's not the time to talk about that. Right now our goal is to win the tournament. The coming fights before your fight don't have to be wasted, watch them intensively and learn from them. Most Martial Skills and fighting styles were solely created by watching other fights."
The remaining fights in the Eighth-Finals were not as exciting as the first fight. Naturally after the most exciting fight, between the two strongest first graders, would only come less exciting fights. There were many climatic battles and unexpected winners and the crowd was entertained by the fights. Zayn used the fights to learn more about fighting with qi. Under the Infinite Star's guidance, Zayn learned a lot only from watching. In the remaining fights, the cultivators were at least in the 4-Star Body Refinement Realm. Zayn was the only student in the Eighth-Finals with the 3-Star Body Refinement Realm.
The battles continued until it was time for the last fight in the Eighth-Finals. It was again time for Zayn to enter the arena. He was excited about the fight and wanted to try out many things he learned from watching. Simultaneously, to Zayn entering, a female student with a fierce gaze entered the arena.
After seeing that his battle was against a female student, Zayn was flustered. The current fight counted as his second fight ever. He was uncomfortable with the idea that it would be against a girl.
"Kid, what's wrong?" Infinite Star noticed Zayn's uneasiness and wanted to know the reason behind that. The Infinite Star also set the goal to win the tournament, he really wanted to work together with Zayn to achieve that, but it would not be possible if Zayn was not 100% focused.
"Ehm… Well, how do I say that… I feel uncomfortable fighting a girl. I just don't know if I can do that."
"Uncomfortable? Kid, cultivation, and fighting is not about gender. She probably has even more experience than you in fighting and she is even in the 4-Star Body Refinement Realm, well not that it should scare you. It's true that women have generally a weaker body than man, but cultivation isn't that limiting. Women will make up for their weaker body in terms of intelligence and nimbleness. What is for one a weakness is for the other one a strength. You shouldn't feel uncomfortable with the idea of fighting women. In the future, there will be probably more female fighters in your way. Well, it's not like you will feel comfortable now after me saying all that. Still, try to relax and focus on gaining battle experience."
The battle started and both of them got closer. Zayn was still only dodging and intercepting attacks, but he had to first adjust to the idea of fighting a girl. He adjusted himself fast to this situation, when he saw the strength of the female student.
"Good! You improved! Well, let's keep going. Now focus on footwork. Footwork is crucial in fighting. There are many Movement Arts dedicated to it, but for now, we have to learn the basics, only improving your speed. Try to focus on your movements and I will guide you along the way."
Zayn never did pay attention to his footwork. While intercepting and dodging he mainly used his upper body, leaving out half of his full power. Cultivators and Fighters always used their whole body in nearly every movement. Even when they are only punching, they use their whole body to get the most strength out of it. For Zayn that was only something he heard of, but never tried out.
After getting instructions, Zayn used his footwork in dodging and intercepting. His moves got a lot faster from before, with every second he got faster and faster. His moves also got flashier.
The crowd loved the fight but at the same time hated it. Zayn was now known for his flashiness, he never attacked once in the fight, so they only saw him as an entertainment. What astonished the crowd was Zayn's speed. At first, he was able to keep up with his opponent, a 4-Star Body Refinement Realm Cultivator, but then he got faster and faster. Surpassing a whole Star was not something minor in the academy, but it was also nothing they have never seen before. Still, it made Zayn known as someone in the academy, but unfortunately, his cultivation was lacking. If it was not for that, he would easily become the rising star of the academy.
The female student, Zayn's opponent, got annoyed with Zayn's fighting style. She was not anymore able to keep up with his speed and Zayn was not attacking her at all. She got mad and screamed at Zayn. "Are you one of those students, who are too manly to attack me? Don't fuck with me! If you have guts, attack me!"
Zayn was immersed in his footwork when he heard his opponent's screaming. It woke him up and at the same time frightened him.
"Ehm… it's not like that… Well, it was at first… but it's not…"
"What?!? I can't hear you! Speak louder!" The fierce girl still continued with her fight while talking to Zayn. This time her attack nearly hit Zayn. Her enragement somehow increased her speed. "You little cockroach! Don't just dodge!"
Zayn was just bewildered by this kind of development. He noticed her increase in speed and had to increase his own to keep up. He knew the last thing he should do was to enrage her, it would only make it harder on her.
"Kid, enrage her!"
"Wait, what?!?"
"She increases her speed with her enragement. It would work as additional pressure for you so you could increase your learning speed. There is a saying, diamonds are formed under pressure. Trust me on this!"
"Wait, are you for real? Look at how mad she is! Do I have to really enrage her?"
"Well only if you want to win the tournament. With our current progress, it's not possible to win against the 7-Star Body Refinement Realm kid."
"…"
'I hope you forgive me!'
"I didn't know whales could talk! If you would lose a bit of weight, maybe you would be able to hit me!"
"…"
The girl and the crowd were silenced. He really called her a whale and made fun of her weight. What did he want to achieve with that? Maybe his goal was to bully his opponents into giving up. The crowd started to fantasize about Zayn's reasons.
Ryu and Vown were also shocked by this kind of development. They knew that trash talking was something many cultivators would practice in a fight, but for Zayn to call the girl a whale. That was just too much. You don't trash talk about a girl's figure. Ryu did not believe that Zayn would do that.
"Teacher Bolt, did you instruct Zayn to trash talk?"
Vown knew there was no obvious explanation for this situation, but he noticed Zayn's reason. The girl was enraged after hearing Zayn's trash talk and got only faster and faster. At the same time, Zayn improved his footwork and also only got faster and faster. Zayn was putting himself under pressure to acquire more battle experience. He had to support his student's decision.
"Yes, I instructed him to trash talk… But I didn't know he would go that far." Vown lied to Ryu and then pointed out about the reason for the trash talk and Ryu then also noticed the improvements.
"Kid, I told you to enrage her, not bully her! Even I, a star, know that you don't make fun of a woman's figure!"
"…" Zayn also noticed the crowd looks. 'What the hell?!?'