"It wouldn't.."
"Do not start with any protests." Leroy said angrily. With everything that was at stake, Chu Xue still hesitated. "you care so little of your family's situation that you wouldn't even take an advantage that can help their living situation. You could have easily wagered for the Clear Tang Family to put pressure on the Dark Tiger-fire Family. You really are a coward and a fool."
"Grrr!" Chu Xue growled in anger. A few people whispered in disdain over the situation and provocation.
"If I had a son like you.. I think I would kill myself out of shame for the child being so dumb and spineless." Leroy said tauntingly.
Slowly he focused his Qi into the Metal Seed in the center of his chest. Perfect time to test it really for more active fighting and situational awareness with Spatial Sense.
"So can it be known to everyone here that he ignored the advantage of the first strike? I do not want to waste any more of my time."
"Agreed." Chan-Yeol said reluctantly. A small look of dissatisfaction passed through his eyes when looking at the young man. Instantly a look of panic passed next. Leroy launched at his opponent in an instant. 'He's fast!'
*Boom!* The kick from the ground-launched Leroy like a tiger at a deer.
Chu Xue barely dodged the pounce. His arm moved to block as a simple high kick came toward his temple. The weight from the leg attack pushed down on him enough that he groaned in pain. Not the brightest idea to take such a kick unprepared.
Circulating his Qi, Chu Xue pushed back and tried to gain some distance so he could recover.
"Ugh!" Chu Xue groaned as Leroy was already back on him. Not giving a moment for him to recover or think. The pressure was building up quickly on the inexperienced fighter. He looked into the eyes of Leroy, which was a mistake. 'I'm.. scared of him!'
Shaking in place, Chu Xue was wide open for a head-on attack. Leroy kicked it up a notch as his finger pointed forward. His Qi focused up to his second knuckle. The other was after all at a higher Rank in the Qi Realm currently.
"Dodge it!" Victoria shouted. Remembering just how dangerous that attack was before. Unlike Chu Xue who never paid attention to it, she knew it could only have grown deadlier since then. Her hands balled into fists as she made her decision to jump at the moment it became too dangerous.
"Ah!" Chu Xue snapped out of it. Pushing his qi hastily, he moved out of the way in flight. But not without a small memento. On his cheek was a burn mark like a scalpel cut. Landing to the side, he was ready to prepare a counterattack. 'I can do this!'
*Woosh!* Qi laced Chu Xue's eyes. He used the technique he cultivated recently to the utmost limit. It allowed his perception to kick up another level as well as disrupted Qi Attacks to a certain degree. Almost slows things down in the sense he already thought of a counter method.
"You move too slow now." Chu Xue had an arrogant smile as he said this with confidence. Giving a few swipes like waving a large fan he sent a wave of Qi towards Leroy. However, the strain from his eyes lowered his control.
*Psh!* A simple punch the Champion gave destroyed the Qi waves.
"If you say so .. coward." Leroy pushed on again. His qi rushed towards the ball of his feet and toes now.
As the two enter an exchange of fists and kicks, the others watched the stamina of the two never drop. Soon, over 20 blows were exchanged in seconds.
"What's wrong, can't stand the heat?" Blue flames started to trail around Leroy's punches. His Fire-lighting Body Technique was working well.
Each strike that was deflected by Chu Xue revealed scorch marks from the connection site. His Qi fire burns the surface of the boys' skin and clothes. Which Chu Xue let pile up since he could heal himself later with Life Qi.
Damage accumulates, however.
Chu Xue started to backpedal under the pressure. The temperature slowly increased around the two creating a disconnected trail of fire on the ground. Chu Xue's breathing became labored as he had to use his Life Qi after taking a palm strike to the chest that lingered with a burn.
Leroy was feeling right as rain as he still had half of his qi still. Control allowed him to fight a lot better than he thought it would at this time. Not to mention he still had all of his Qi from the Flame Vortex in reserve.
'I cannot keep taking damage!' Chu Xue intercepted the next strike. Catching with his off-hand, he reared back to deliver a straight blow to Leroy's chest. trying to return the favor of the palm strike he received. 'All on the line now!'
*Bong!* The sound of metal echoed out loudly on impact. A small shockwave of force spreads from Leroy's feet. A few looked over as the silverish dark Qi was rare to see in none Metal Martial Artists.
All of this confirmed a bit of Leroy's theory. Without encouragement or getting goaded by circumstance Destined Children like Chu Xue were unable to really activate the strength of major character status.
The taunting and the ridicule were a big part of most of their development. Leroy was not crazy enough to provoke that type of response out of him to the utmost. Nor would he if he came across others like that.
"He did it!" A bunch of the commoner students cheered.
They thought it was over with how heavily Chu Xue was breathing. But it was short-lived at the uttering of some words.
"Fire-Lighting Body... full power." Leroy said simply but it sent chills down their spines. Even the teacher felt a touch of fear. A Corona made of blue and white flame erupted forth. It circled around the two fighters with static bursts in some spots. Burning the oxygen up in an instant made it difficult to breathe. 'Humph, just not enough to beat me naturally without this!'
Leroy did not waste his breath by speaking anymore. Spatial Sense let him know someone was going to attack at any moment with a concentration of their Qi.
Leroy flipped Chu Xue onto the ground to end the fight with a vicious slam. The impact knocked the air from the coward's lungs and cause fire to scorch his lips. Making the burning flames that much worse as a bit was inhaled. Leroy came down with a punch straight to the solar plexus to top it off.
*Woosh!* Someone shot past in an instant toward the two. A flame burning hot that made contact with Leroy's chest. Sending him flying into a tree in the distance and causing the flame-lighting corona to detonate wildly in several directions.
Luckily the teachers effortlessly blocked it but took note the older student despite not having the same level of cultivation was the better fighter. They smiled as this would give the other older students the drive to push on.
"Kuff!" Leroy spat up blood that evaporated in an instant from the fire. The flames died down as he stood up and charged forward. His qi was spent blocking the blow from doing any real damage. Well, his qi from the Firelighting Martial Arts anyway. If need be, he would use the Flame Vortex Core qi to fight. "Fair fight my ass.. what disrespectful little shits you are!"
The students looked on with confused looks. Seeing how the duel was interrupted, they were happy it was over. But how it ended was pretty terrible and made a few people upset since they made bets.
"This is indeed a grave offense." Chan-Yeol said. He looked over Leroy closely seeing he was pretty marked up. Splinters in the back and deep purple bruising around the center of his chest. "What do you have to say for yourself Victoria?"
The girl paid no attention to the teacher as she fretted over Chu Xue. Seeing him breathing just fine from using his Life Qi to speed his wounds up quickly she relaxed a little. Finally taking a sense of what she had done on an impulse most thought, the girl had to have a good excuse.
Jasmine knew it was not on impulse. She did catch her friend preparing to intervene the moment things turned desperate. Especially after the outburst she made to snap Chu Xue out of his fear.
"Didn't even deliver death blows." Leroy said fixing his tattered clothes a bit. Mindful to keep the center of his chest covered up more while imitating labored breathing. "Besides the first strike, the rest were all pulled back and went to non-life-threatening areas. Unlike his punch and your strike to the center of my chest."
A lot of the older and stronger students took note of that during the fight. On closer look back, Leroy went for arms and legs strikes mostly. With only a little qi sent through the attacks. In fact, most of his qi was used on defense it seemed.
Besides the use of the technique that caused the corona of qi to form.
"Only the last few moves looked serious." A student chimed in.
"With Chu Xue's ability to heal with Life Qi, he will be fine. But let's talk compensation though." Leroy gave a cold glare to Victoria. "So you can just do what you want during these times, huh?!"
His look was pretty arrogant and made a few wonders what beef the martial siblings had.
"How about I handle the penalty?" Jasmine stepped forward to intervene. "I am sure I can appease your Family somehow."
"My Family is all dead, I am the one who was insulted and here before the tests start." Leroy gave her a cross look before looking at Victoria and the rest. "Was it not agreed family matters or station wouldn't matter here to solve the dispute? No vendettas were pursued.. right?"
"That is true." Pin Feng did not think Chu Xue would have lost. But the fight looked pretty close. He was convinced it was due to the mental state of the two causing the victory to be in Leroy's favor. "I .." His words were cut off as the perpetrator of the duel spoke up.
"I am sorry Senior Brother Leroy! I thought you would kill him by mistake or injure him! Master Jin would have not been happy about this!" Victoria said slightly tearful while trying to be respectful since Leroy was higher in seniority and age. "How can I make it up to you?"
She played the pitiful role very well. At least that is what Leroy and several of them thought. However, a few thought her tears were genuine. Even Jasmine had trouble telling if it was an act or not.
"Hmm, I would say let me give you a strike in return, as you did to the center of my chest. But.." Leroy narrowed his eyes as a desire to kill her passed briefly. Knowing that would not go well at this time amongst the group of students and with Teacher Jin. "I would most likely kill you accidentally on purpose. Let's just say you owe me one or give me some resources. As well as Chu Xue doing the same. I don't trust him to heal me with the shitty Life Qi he has."
As things finally calmed down and everyone got themselves composed, Pin Feng kept an eye on the situation. Surprised that Leroy was lecturing those in the Clear Tang and higher Noble Tiers on the behavior that led to this.
The tongue-lashing he gave them actually caused the teachers to nod in approval. Once everyone was calm enough, they moved on to start the test.
The students fought a few of the low-level beasts that day up until the night time. A lot of the students still feel excited about the previous duel they witnessed and try to think of unusual methods when cornered.
Chu Xue had gotten a lot of advice from the teacher Chan-Yeol and Pin Feng afterward when no one was looking. Both doing their best to wheedle into his heart by the looks of it. Basically, about the way he did wrong during the fight. Which was mostly about the freezing up and not fighting with the intent to really kill or injure his opponent.
Leroy had recovered well enough on his own. Only fighting a little bit to test himself and to gather the demonic beasts into his internal space for later use. The fight helped pushed his insights further into Qi usage. Almost instinctively in some points.
A breakthrough in Metal Seed: Tech Lvl 2 and Fire-Lighting Body: Tech Lvl 2 gave him a boost to his strength and his Qi reserves. Victoria had really struck him with a very dangerous blow at that time. Due to her poor Qi control, he was able to use the opposing Qi fire to enter him for refining. The two Alchemist Fire he was cultivating increased a fair margin.