After registering themselves for the competition, our group of four rented a large room in a motel and started planning what to do.
"Okay, so the first part of the competition is a four-vs-four. It will continue until 16 teams are left. So it will be 3 battles per team until the end of the first part. Then there will be four one-vs-one battles to test individual might.
Then comes the third part. The eight teams will take part in seven team battles and the ones with the highest amount of points will win the competition."
"So wait, won't it be unfair for Li Tengfei who's only at the upper stage of the 7th level to battle those who are up to 2 whole levels above him?"
"Xiao Yu, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Li Tengfei might be only at the 7th level but he has incredible battle might. I am still traumatised from back when we last sparred. I got defeated within three moves!"
"I am impressed, An Zihao. You can say that with no shame at all."
"Of course. I am proud of my junior brother Li's accomplishments."
------------------------------------
A few days went by and it was now time for the Genius Summit to begin. Li Tengfei did not waste his time during those few days. He had now broken through to the peak of the 7th level.
Our friends entered the giant arena-like place where the competition was being held. About 400 participants were already gathered to form 100 different teams.
Soon enough, the competition started. Teams of four started battling against each other. Li Tengfei was observing their each and every move. In fact, by the time the first match ended, he had already analysed both teams' battle style and the optimal way of defeating them.
After a while, it was finally the turn of our friends. Their opponents were a team of four seventeen-year-old youths consisting of three guys and a girl. The important thing was that they were all at the 8th level.
The fight started. The eight youngsters each chose one opponent and rushed towards them. Li Tengfei, equipped with Brilliance threw a diagonal slash at his opponent who parried it and counterattacked fiercely with a jab. Li Tengfei sidestepped to the left and dodged the saber attack.
Meanwhile, An Zihao swung his halberd and sent his opponent flying. That poor guy didn't see it coming. An Zihao then helped Xiao Yu who was fighting with a whip. The combination of a flexible whip and a halberd quickly overwhelmed the opponent.
Back to Li Tengfei who had apparently chosen the toughest opponent. The battle between the two was simply beautiful. All the spectators and even the judges were left in admiration. Sparks resulting from the clash between their weapons could be seen flying everywhere.
After sometime, Li Tengfei successfully identified the weakness of his opponent. After a beautiful parry, he dashed towards his opponent and used all his strength to perform a horizontal slash and successfully knock the opponent's sword out of his hand. The now disarmed opponent surrendered and gave Li Tengfei a smile.
"You are a worthy opponent. I hope to be able to spar with you again one day"
"Sure thing."
At about the same moment, the other three finished off the the last opponent who was also very skilled. At this moment, the judges announced that they were victorious and actually even praised the sword-saber battle. Coming from an expert at the Manifestation Realm, it was indeed a great honor.
"Phew... that was intense. Hey Li Tengfei, where did you learn such swordplay? I don't remember seeing anything like that back at the sect."
"Oh I created those moves during my free time."
In fact, what he'd shown was a very small part of his power. He was merely playing with the opponent and not using much techniques. It's not good to reveal all your cards in one go, is it?
"Wait, you guys are part of a sect? That's cool. Which one?"
Nobody mentioned the sect to Xiao Yu before, so she didn't know anything about it.
"Oh yeah, back then the three of us were part of the sect but then a hidden enemy attacked the sect and the Elders decided to make us go away since we were the 'geniuses' of the sects."
"An Zihao, stop boasting. The main reason why we were sent away was that we were too weak to have any effect in the war back then." Lu Mengyu remarked.
"Well, that AND the fact that we were geniuses, isn't that right Tengfei?"
"Yeah sure."
Li Tengfei felt that he was monitoring an argument between two kids.
"So what happened to your sect in the end?", the curious Xiao Yu asked.
"Well, err... we don't know."
"Okay, enough of that. Let's get ready for the next match." Li Tengfei said valiantly.
-----------------------------------------
The second match was quite easy as they were matched against someone of the 6th level and three others of the 7th level. They were now part of the top 32 or so teams.
"Okay, the last one is gonna be a tough one. We'll be matched against team no. 42, one of the favourites of the competition. They consist of two mid stage 8th level, one peak and their team leader who is of the early stage of the 9th level.
Who will take care of who?" Li Tengfei asked to his team members.
"I'll take care of one of the level eight!", the other three exclaimed in unison.
"Don't worry, your senior brother will help you when he's finished off his opponent." a voice added.
Of course, who else other than An Zihao could boast like that. Li Tengfei just showed a slight smile and shrugged his shoulders. He was actually the one with the most battle power despite being the weakest in terms of cultivation. So, he had already thought of confronting the team leader himself. Interesting fact, the team leader was also a sword user. It would therefore be an interesting battle.
The battle started. Each person dashed towards their respective opponents except Li Tengfei who adopted a defensive pose and waited. Who was foolish enough to rush with no definite plan at his enemy?
Li Tengfei's opponent performed a lunge[1]. Li Tengfei answered with a gracious parry,as if he had practised it countless times. He then performed a disengage which is a move used to trick the opponent by attacking a specific body part and moving in a semi-circle arc to attack a different area. His opponent saw through his move and quickly executed a circle-parry. Again sparks were sent flying.
The fight went on for quite some time. They were both 'equally matched' despite the cultivation gap. Of course, Li Tengfei was still not showing his true skills. The battle went on until Li Tengfei made a rather bold move. He performed a lunge which was perfectly deflected by his opponent. He then quickly performed a remise[2] which was again blocked. He then lunged forward followed by a disengage which successfully tricked the enemy. He then swiftly put his sword against the opponent's neck. The fight ended as the opponent surrendered. This was followed by a thunderous applause and even the judges were cheering for him, as if the others did not exist.
He promptly helped the others finish off the rest of the opposite team. They had now officially won the three matches and moved on to the second part of the genius summit.
[1] A lunge is a move where you rush at the opponent quickly, as if diving towards him.
[2] A remise is a second attack after the first failed one.