He really was busy, not just for his personal growth but for finances to. Checking over the population that came from Port Tundra took some time. They thanked him for saving them and were grateful the Empire didn't send them back to their country.
The cost alone was really expensive. The Empire that Port Tundra belonged to didn't want to pay for the return either. The various Sects that were implicated also hoped none of the people will come back to keep from increasing their crimes.
They were going through the process of becoming citizens but were kept at the Merchant Division for now. Doing jobs such as gathering herbs, minerals, and any other mundane practice. A few would enroll in the Akademy's next recruitment phase. A few of the stronger ones that showed promise joined the Army under a single General that didn't care where they came from.
With the problem caused by the Rebellion lots of jobs and work needed to be filled.
The Champion was almost late as he actually had a patient that needed to have treatment for intense burns taken care of. When he requested for several fish to use as a healing method they wanted to throw him out but the patient could only afford something like this and not Actual Burn Balms.
The shit was really expensive. Not to mention the Pills or Elixers at the level of anti-inflammatory medication.
Leroy found it ironic that it was a Flame Martial Artist that failed to execute a technique correctly ending in such a situation. But the gap of understanding medications here with modern medicine increased a lot in the last few days.
The Tournament was in full swing when he arrived. Teachers from the other Akademys with their students. Noble Houses of both Aristocracy, Military, and powerful Merchant families were in attendance as well. The few Sects in attendance look unbothered and were not participating. Leroy spotted a few he recognized from memory.
A Dark Tiger-fire family member he noted even approached him to talk. A few of their people that attended the Akademy had pointed him out apparently by the looks of it.
However, Leroy excused himself to speak with Old Jin immediately. Tang Bo and Tang Xui were keeping their family members distracted enough. They were really good at that since the pressure to recruit classmates to bolster the number of the Clear Tang Family had grown. Not to mention pestering for them to come back more into the family.
Even when they met a few minutes later, Leroy didn't ask a single thing about the family situation and assured them he was not related to them. It gave him deniability and Tang Xuan knew just what would be important to share with him later found out.
Tang Bo and Tang Xui had done decent enough in their fights. Not fighting to their limits of course. Something Old Jin requested that they do. Xiao Mei on the other hand...
The competition was separated into 3 Major Divisions. Xiao Mei took the all-female one and scored the top place. Tang Xui was in the Mixed Mastery Division and purposely lost to score big when pressured by her family to do so. She played hurt really well to get more resources earned from the loss.
"Lots of training to make up for this..." Leroy was understanding of the reason why she did it though. Taking a bribe from one of the elders who lost all his disciples allowed for some nice rewards. A spear technique was acquired from it as well as some resources to help improve her Cultivation Base. "... 3x as much."
He knew she had pushed for developing Fist Intent but why the spear, he really didn't know. Unknown that the young female started studying spear arts for personal reasons.
"Hehe, I understand." Tang Xui rubbed the back of her cheek embarrassed. Xiao Mei's anger towards her was real, however. The best way to make it believable was to not let others know you took a dive. No matter what. "I have this to study to make sure I grow stronger anyway."
The Spear Technique was incomplete like so many others. But this one was pretty high up there. Would serve her well up until the Nascent Soul Realm. But several spear techs at the Foundation Establish Realm could be incorporated into it to make it a lot better.
"Burning Flood Dragon..." Leroy looked at the outside cover with a twitching eyebrow. "..Concept of Heaven and Hell falling to a herd of Dragons...." He didn't finish as he was called for his first matchup.
The thought of a fire wave barely appeared in his mind before being dismissed. With everything going on, Leroy was going to use the competition to help temper himself. Closing off the flow of several pathways and creating an overall weakened state.
He needed to recreate the situation at Port Tundra that led to Murderous Intent being used and the way his body fought overall. He couldn't remember a lot but a haze of absolute anger.
"What's on his arms?" A student spotted the large weights on Leroy's wrists. "Strange weapon?"
A few other students pointed it out and wondered when none had answers. But over in the Armed Divisoned, they knew them to be weights that forced the body's physical development along with stimulating the mind to use a weapon more.
Leroy knew the neurological meaning of the weights. A small type of hypnosis and nerve stimulation that tells the body something is wrong with the fingers and toes. Forcing more effort to control that area of the body from the brain.
"Leroy Agu Shentai v.s. Li Yan.. competitors... enter the arena." The elder called out. Both stepped into the arena without any fuss. "The battle will not end unless someone admits defeat or falls out of the arena..." Looking at them both to see if they had anything to say. With them having nothing to say, he continued. "..only another way for the match to end is if one faints."
"Humph, I am going to enjoy this!" Li Yan was slightly arrogant in his talking for no reason other than he was dealing with an old cultivator by their standards. Just a young dumb whippersnapper. "I am at the Peak of Qi Refining, you are not my match!"
Leroy said nothing as he bounced on his feet. His arms and legs contain sparks of lighting. His fists moved close around his mouth, with the elbows shifting a bit creating small illusionary effects.
With the few days before and hours of cultivating from memory, the boxing style he imitated from the memories of those in his original life was ready for display. Combing with Insciption Patterns as well as the Lighting Blades use of special discharges would help befuddle his opponents.
The fighting taken from the Sects could not be used yet at all. Not until he had active persuasion on how he acquired them.
*Fwip!* A probing jab went out riding the current of lighting in the air. Li Yan didn't know what hit him as it grazed his cheek near the eye and brow. A cut appeared instantly with blood coming out freely and not clotting correctly.
The gloves Leroy wore had ginger and ground cayenne peppers mixed into the fibers for insurance.
"That the best you got?" Li Yan scoffed at the weak hit. A bit of his qi circulated to stop the blood flow but it didn't last long. He didn't notice the lighting that circled behind his head in small bursts. "I will show you a real punch!"
Charging recklessly, he tried to hit Leroy. Try the operative word. Each punch was dodged with ease. Leroy moving in little electric spurts when an attack came close. A small circulation of lighting from his Dantian and he hoped on the pull of free-flowing electricity in the arena.
Punch after punch missed with more and more punches delivered that didn't clot when Leroy made contact. Annoyed, Li Yan pushed his qi to cover more ground and attack faster. The blood flow was typically ignored by cultivators when they reached higher realms.
But Li Yan was definitely not at the Relm yet.
"Run from this!" A wave of water poured out. He shot forward like a sea animal riding a wave. "River Snake Roaming the Waters!"
The water made from his qi didn't spread around the arena. Which was unfortunate since it would make it easier to disrupt Leroy riding the Electricity bands. The attack was limited but covered a good bit in one direction.
"Come back and fight you, coward!"
*Bzzt!* Leroy moved in a burst of lighting all the same with a slight increase to turning. Still bouncing on his feet but now creating full illusions of himself. He moved to the other side pretty quickly as the other rammed through a fake.
Li Yan kept turning in every direction to attack. Wasting more qi in the process. He shot to the four corners chasing Leroy down every time.
Over and over again new blood was exposed and new cuts refused to clot. With each tap of the foot, Leroy made subtle marks in the blood as he was trying to use it as a Formation actively in battle.
Every now and then, a bit of lighting would remain behind where Leroy once stood. When Li Yan landed after missing his next attack, the lighting latched onto him unnoticed like a chain net.
"Humph! Seems your friend can only run!" A member of the Noble House of the Clear River Dragon grumbled out. He was angry that a member of his clan had such trouble against someone weaker than him. "First your niece lost and her Doctor runs away, how pathetic!"
Tang Anusi shrugged, having picked up the habit from Tang Bo who picked it up from Leroy it seems. He treated the hothead's words like air and the provocation as something small.
Only thought about how those who found out that Leroy was Tang Xui's Doctor to such an extent.
"Hmm, Leroy is barely wasting any qi, unlike his opponent." Tang Xui observed carefully. Her eyes paying close attention to his footsteps. "No wonder he always practices such control. Thought it was only in his fingers."
Off in the teacher area, Old Jin was wondering where this style of fighting came from. He understood the illusions from the Lighting Blades but not in this way.
"What happened on the Mission I wonder." The Vice-Principal was at a loss but he did know that Leroy came back from it more injured than what was let on. 'The arm looks perfectly find and not something longevity burning could fix like that. Maybe he has developed something else that has not been shared yet?'
"I guess that girl is the only one worth anything among your students." Ms.Itsumi ridiculed. Her taunts were ignored, however. Unable to get a rise out of Old Jin." What do you think Teacher Hiroshi?"
"I think that .. we should pay close attention." Teacher Hiroshi did not expect to see Leroy fighting like this. In fact, he expected him to use his Flame more than this to overwhelm his opponent. 'To wear his opponent out is good, but the difference in qi will decide the fight.'
"Humph, how foolish." Ms.Itsumi scoffed. She was worried despite the words as the blood all over in the arena was disturbing. 'Leroy did not even try to curry favor or earn rewards from a wager. But his other friends did. Maybe that brat knows something I don't.'
*Splash!* A large body of water spread out as Li Yan attacked using more qi. Most in the crowd understood what was going on at this point. The Clear River Dragon House was upset at the display of their member.
"Ha.. ha.. damn you!" Li Yan was out of breath a little and was starting to see triple from over blood loss. He caught sight of his clansmen's glare which made for a quick focus. "Tch!" Turning to strike Leroy who he thought was on the other side of the arena, he was determined to land at least a single blow on him. "You.."
*Bzzt!* A jab full of lighting caught Li Yan's turning head. With enough Qi, the air vibrated as the scattered lighting hit him in the back like a closing net.
The jab hit the jaw full-on mid-turn and the lighting locked up the nervous system in place with the bleeding cuts slowing reaction time and thought process. The synapses misfiring as the entire body lit up like a Christmas tree did not help.
"Haaa.." Leroy took a small breath before planting his feet apart to stabilize for the next attack. "..wooh!" His qi gathered in his dominant hand as he let it lose towards his opponent.
The blood around the arena from Li Yan flowed back towards the source. As if beckoned by the large lighting current that swirled behind him. The Formation lit up catching the eyes of a few experts.