The Dabao Carving The Heavens from Luo Zhang Yang had blown Rou Lang off the sparring platform. If it were not for the spiritual-energy-infused sabre, the broken sabre would not have been the only thing that was destroyed.
Luo Zhang Yang stood on the platform, staring down on the cocky boy that was just defeated by him. He said nothing, except continued to eat his dabao. A chill ran down Rou Lang's spine. Clearly, he had now developed a fear for meat buns.
"Impressive! Little Luo truly deserves to be in our school of Fist Arts! Look at how dominating he was on the sparring stage!" Elder Tie Bo Yun from the school of Fist Arts shouted out in determination. From the way Zhang Yang had sparred, he was sure that the burly boy would enrol into their school. The other elders there knew that was the case and chose to keep quiet.
"Where's my lovely sweetheart? Why hasn't he go on stage and fight for the first spot?" The Elder of Hidden Weapons, Hong Wei Lin asked curiously. She, in tandem with the elders of Sword and Sabre arts, were waiting for Liu Fei Ling to challenge for a spot.
In today's selection test, the highest cultivation level was Mid Body Enhancement stage. There were only three individuals that were in that level and they were Luo Zhang Yang, Jiang Rou Lang and Liu Fei Ling. To the elders, it was more or less confirmed that the top three spots of today's spar, would belong to them. After all, someone in Mid Body Enhancement stage was very different from someone in Early Body Enhancement stage.
The reason for that was, in each tier, Early, Mid or Late, there were three levels. That was to say that in the Body Enhancement Stage, there were a total of nine levels. That goes for all stages in cultivation. Thus, if a Level one Body Enhancement stage spars with a level 6 Body Enhancement stage, it would be a five level discrepancy.
"I wanna challenge the first place spot.." A small voice came out from the crowd of young cultivators. Even though it was soft, being a martial cultivator, any small noise could be picked up. Some Martial cultivators specialising in spying could even listen in on conversations from many kilometres away!
The people standing at the front of the stage made way for the young boy. The person challenging was Liu Fei Ling, the prodigy in his own right. For his age, he was definitely on the shorter end of the stick in terms of height. Many of his peers, because of training in martial arts, had grown into a larger size. Only he had stayed undersized. Yet looking at his perfect facial features, anyone could tell he would grow up to be a lady killer.
Lightly stepping onto the platform, the eleven year old boy placed down his sword that was slightly too long for him. He did not head to the weapons stand to pick up another sword, but instead, chose to fight barehanded. The current first place contender was a 16 year old teen with a muscular stature, You Gao Yue. He was a half-step away from Mid Body Enhancement stage, which made him another popular contender for the top three spots.
Seeing how his opponent did not replace his weapon, instead, chose to fight without one, Gao Yue felt offended. Does he not plan to take me seriously?
Gao Yue gripped his weapon, a wooden pole tightly. His eyes narrowed, focusing on the small boy in front of him. Gao Yue walked forward using a very eccentric movement art. Snake Slither Form. Gao Yue approached Fei Ling by mimicking a Demon Jade Snake. It was a high difficulty movement art that Gao Yue could only master twenty percent of it right now. If it was fully mastered, the Snake slither form could put an opponent into a state of unawareness, allowing the practitioner to strike when they are most vulnerable.
Unfortunately for Gao Yue, Fei Ling did not let his guard down one bit, making his Snake Slither Form useless. Since his Movement Art did not work, Gao Yue knew that there was no point dragging this any longer. Raising his staff, he used his Rod technique, Earth Splitting Strike. Gao Yue swung the rod downwards, aiming directly at Fei Ling's head. With his extended range advantage, he thought that his victory was certain. What he did not know was that he had already fallen for his opponent's trap.
Badump. Badump. As he was striking downwards, Gao Yue stopped his action abruptly. His heartbeat was abnormally loud in his ears, as if it was about to explode. His head started to spin too and before he knew it, Gao Yue fell to the ground, unconscious.
"…"
The entire spectating ground could not understand how Fei Ling had toppled down the muscular giant. Everyone was speechless. Had he use a Mind Attack Move? Or did Gao Yue suddenly face a complication when using the Snake Slither Movement art? Everyone around the stage could not tell how the fight had went down. Only the Elders watching through the Surveillance Array witnessed Fei Ling's prowess.
"Hahaha! It seems like Fei Ling truly belonged in the School of Hidden Weapons! That display of talent was something we have yet to see since my previous disciple!" Elder Hong Wei Lin praised the little boy in the array.
A decade ago, the Elder had personally trained another cultivator to become what everyone feared as the Nightbringer. He had already left the Academy to seek a higher level of cultivation, but it was no lie when the Elder had said that Fei Ling was comparable to the Nightbringer.
The Elders present were able to identify that Liu Fei Ling had indeed use Hidden weapons, rather, he had utilised toothpicks that could be found in restaurants. Since the toothpicks were made from a more inferior wood than the weapon's rack, the little boy's victory was even more commendable.
While You Gao Yue was focusing on how Fei Ling had not pick up a sword from the weapons rack, that was already when Fei Ling start his fight with his opponent. There was a need for distraction when you were a practitioner of Hidden Weapons, especially when you are forced to fight your opponent face-on. Fei Ling had thrown several toothpicks imbued with his spiritual energy into the dusty sparring grounds. Even though Fei Ling was only in the Body Enhancement Stage and could not release his spiritual energy out to imbue the toothpicks for a long period of time, he only required the toothpicks to be temporarily reinforced with his spiritual energy.
His opponent would do the rest of the work. The Snake Slither Form was the perfect encompassing movement art that brought his hidden weapons to fruition. As a result of approaching Fei Ling, Gao Yue had inadvertently stepped on several of the toothpicks and it had affected his nervous and circulatory system.