The second part of the Genius Summit would start in a few days, our heroes therefore went back to the motel to further discuss the strategy to take from then on.
"Okay, so now come the one-vs-one battles. Our individual battle mights are pretty good, especially Li Tengfei's, so we should be fine, no?" said Xiao Yu inquisitively.
"Xiao Yu is right, we should be fine."
"So wait... why are we discussing strategy? Who's idea was it?"
At the same time, everyone turned and looked at Li Tengfei who instigated this meeting.
Li Tengfei smiled and explained the reason why he called everyone.
"So, have you been observing the other teams' battle strategy?"
"We were supposed to observe? I thought I just had to show up and kick *ss*s"
For once, An Zihao talked on behalf of everyone else.
"Well, er.. yeah. But studying your opponents gives you a big advantage. Anyways, I have been assessing the others and I think that only Team no. 1 may pose problem to us. They should be the ones sent by the Fu Family, right?"
"Yeah probably. So we should steer clear of their way at least until the last part of the competition."
"Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to say. Now, the second reason for this meeting. We have definitely not given our best for the first part of the competition. For this second part, we should show part of our true battle might, but we should still keep some of our cards hidden."
"Agreed"
"Agreed"
"Agreed"
"Good. Now, we have a few days to cultivate and improve ourselves. Let's make the best out of it."
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A few days passed by in the blink of an eye and it was now time for the second part of the competition. Our quartet indeed did not disappoint us. Li Tengfei actually broke through to the 8th level and even reached early stage. Since it was Xiao Yu's first time witnessing Li Tengfei cultivate, she nearly passed out, while An Zhihao and Lu Mengyu merely showed a bitter smile.
Actually, these two were already at the very peak of the 8th level, ready to breakthrough at any moment. Li Tengfei even estimated that they'd break through before the end of the genius summit. As for Xiao Yu, she managed to breakthrough to the beginner stage of the ninth level.
Our friends went back to the arena-like place. This time, there were considerably less opponents, but at the same times, the number of spectators nearly doubled.
The first one to go up was Xiao Yu. She sparred against someone of the 7th level and given her cultivation of the 9th level, she made mincemeat of him with her whip, both figuratively and kind of literally.
"That was a very bloody fight... except that only one side bled."
"Yes. It was a great fight. One of the most beautiful ones I've ever watched."
"..!!!"
Lu Mengyu and Li Tengfei both turned towards An Zihao and gave him a weird look. Was he becoming sadistic? Or maybe he wasn't focussing on the fight but on a certain someone?
The next one to go was Lu Mengyu. She also had an advantage in terms of cultivation but it was a rather small gap. The opponent was also a saber user. He performed a saber chop and Lu Mengyu did a high parry. The opponent followed by a thrust which was successfully deflected by Lu Mengyu. After some more deflecting and parrying, Lu Mengyu seized the right moment and attacked, forcing her opponent to adopt a defensive stance. She then feigned a vertical cut to then attack his exposed left side and thus won.
As for An Zihao... well, his fight had no technique at all, he just used a bit of brute force to win against his opponent who was inexperienced.
Following that came the real deal, Li Tengfei's fight. Li Tengfei actually got matched against Qin Da. Who was Qin Da? A powerhouse at the upper stage of the 9th level and was the team leader of the team sent by the Fu Family.
Qin Da was also a swordsman, and quite a good one.
As soon as the fight started, Li Tengfei adopted a defensive stance, ready to parry or deflect at any time. As for Qin Da, he'd seen Li Tengfei's previous fights and knew that he 'wasn't very skilled'. He directly feigned a lunge and did a horizontal slash. That should have been the end of the battle but Li Tengfei successfully dodged it. Qin Da furrowed his brows and realised he had got himself a true opponent.
Qin Da adopted the ox ward stance while Li Tengfei adopted the plow ward stance [1]. Qin Da performed a magnificent high blow which Li Tengfei avoided by steping backwards. He then dashed forward and performed a lunge followed by a diagonal slash and an overhead thrust. Qin Da skillfully avoided them all and charged forward to attack.
Everyone was left aghast by this fight. Even the judges could not guarantee that they could do better. After a series of missed attacks and parrying, Li Tengfei got a general idea of his opponent's fighting style. It was indeed very difficult to win against him. Li Tengfei performed a feint [2] which in turn put him in an advantageous position. He then used all his might to dash forward, jump and performed a verticle slash which forced his opponent to dodge-roll to the side. As if he'd predicted it, Li Tengfei pounced in the same direction and put his sword against his opponent's neck. If one was to try to find a flaw in the stunt he just pulled off, it would be that a drop of blood trickled down his opponent's neck.
The entire audience was still shocked by what they'd just witnessed. It wasn't until one of them came back to their senses and started applauding that the judges proclaimed Li Tengfei's victory. Even they would probably not have been able to pull that move off.
A thunderous applause was heard while Li Tengfei was going back to where his teammates were. Even they were left in awe for Li Tengfei's swordplay. In fact, he had still only showed a part of his skills. His true skills were that he was able to use the element of lightning together with the sword which made him faster and gave it a stunning effect. However, he wasn't going to reveal his trump cards if not necessary, as he may need them to trick a mortal enemy into underestimating him. Especially since this was something many of those in the Manifestation Realm could not even do.
As they had finished their four battles, they left the arena and went back to the motel to prepare for the final part of the competition. Even Qin Da was in awe for Li Tengfei. He had fought against those of the peak 9th level and did not lose. Yet, today, he lost against someone with a lower cultivation than him. There wasn't just awe but also a trace of fear. He was already like this now, what about when he would break through to the 9th level?
Ruthlessness flashed in his eyes before it was concealed with a mocking grin.
[1] Technical terms ( I think )
[2] Provoke the enemy into performing a certain move.