Chapter 67 – Wei Yuan VS Xu Miao
After Qing Zhong's failure, many others tried to fight against inner disciples from both sects in earnest.
The duels were peaceful and friendly. After 300 fights, no one died since all inner disciples held back. Yet, nobody could impress the elders or landed an attack on one of these 20 elites.
Hours went by. Soon, most new disciples got their turn. Only a few top scorers hadn't joined in the fun yet.
Soon, Wei Yuan made her appearance. This blond girl had a pleasant smile that charmed all spectators, but most young men couldn't help but glare at Xu Miao in envy and hatred. None of them forgot the infamous trashy young master who soiled their goddess.
"Can I challenge non-inner disciple? I wish to challenge my future husband."
The crowd murmured in shock. Even the elders looked at each other, confused by Wei Yuan's request. Most of them turned to Wei Huang, who might know something.
But Wei Yuan didn't want the commotion to escalate. She elaborated, "When we were in the third trial, we didn't get a chance to test each other's strength before we… err… fell in love and consummated. I wish to learn about my prospect's skills and talent with my full power, so I need elders to watch over us."
Many elders from the mountain goose sect nodded. Since Wei Yuan might want to forfeit her right to challenge their inner disciples, having her fight the infamous young master might be a good idea.
Jia Shan approved, "I see no problem with that. Xiuying, are you fine with that?"
Xu Xiuying rolled her eyes, "Go ahead. Don't kill each other."
With the two masters' permission, Xu Miao had no choice but to jump onto the stage and faced his unofficial fiancé. He also didn't forget to take Killer Queen with him, just in case, this oni girl might try something stupid.
"Xu Miao greets wifey! So, are we here to discuss our future wedding or what?"
Xu Miao acted nonchalant to hide his anxiety. He hated revealing his strength to the crowd, especially in front of Xie Tian and other lurking local villains.
Wei Yuan grinned. She donned herself in her new heavenly treasure, the dragon scale robe.
During the break, Wei Huang secretly empowered the robe with his essence, activating 80% of the robe's functions. Now, it could block 30-40% of magic attacks, and it was invulnerable to physical attacks.
With such OP treasure, Wei Yuan wanted to bully Xu Miao and force him to join her family obediently.
"Hubby, I want to make a bet."
"What bet?"
"If I win, join the Wei family! If you win, I'll give you an earth-grade treasure."
"That's not something I can decide. I belong to the Xu Clan, so I can't just simply change my surname without my mother's permission!"
Although Wei Yuan's proposal was attractive, Xu Miao had a change of heart. Since he had a bit of immunity against mind attacks, Xu Xiuying's threat wouldn't be as scary as before.
Secondly, now, the Wei Clan and Xie Tian had become sworn enemies. It would be unwise to join that side since he might have to fight Xie Tian in the open. Xu Miao didn't plan to fight Xie Tian at the moment when he was weaker than the protagonist.
"Are you sure? I'll add my wager. I'll join your sect instead of the mountain goose sect if you win. How about that?"
Instead of talking to Xu Miao, Wei Yuan's words were directed to Xu Xiuying, who held the decision power. She gave her "mother-in-law" a bright smile, testing the patience of the succubus queen.
Xu Xiuying snorted. She shook her head, "I don't approve gambling. No betting in this fight."
"Ah, what a pity," Wei Yuan sighed. This family didn't fall to an obvious trick. Still, she got to fight Xu Miao and test his skills, which was her main goal.
Jian Meng stepped forward to end the drama, "Are you done?"
Wei Yuan and Xu Miao shrugged and nodded.
"I'm ready."
"Anytime."
Jian Meng waved his hand, "Then, BEGIN!"
As soon as Jian Meng signaled the start of the match, both Wei Yuan and Xu Miao leaped away from each other.
Wei Yuan was wary of Xu Miao's energy drain skill, so she avoided fighting in close combat. As for Xu Miao, it was his natural fighting style that he always kept a distance from his enemies, so he could read his opponent's fighting style easier.
Seeing that Xu Miao didn't choose to fight in a close-combat, Wei Yuan summoned a medium-grade naginata, which she had obtained from KQ. She also threw two kunai, which was coated with her demonic aura.
Xu Miao took out a common saber and coated it with his aura as well. He leaped to the side, avoiding the flying knives.
But the two kunai suddenly curved and made a U-turn. They were homing knives!
Amused by the skill, Xu Miao parried it with his saber.
*CLANK*
The saber broke the moment it hit the demonic aura from one of the knives. The quality of demonic was superior to yang qi.
'Ho?'
Xu Miao bent his body as if he were Keanu Reeve, dodging the homing knives again.
The kunai returned to Wei Yuan's hand. She tossed them again and followed up with four more homing knives. After that, she rushed in, closing the distance.
Xu Miao flipped his body while he was laying on the ground on his back. An ice wall manifested before him while he summoned another magic weapon from his new spatial ring.
A sheathed low-grade rusty katana appeared. Xu Miao got back on his feet and got into Iaido sword-drawing posture, getting ready to slash as if he were a samurai.
He might not have trained in sword arts, but he had practiced a lot in this world and he had stolen a skill.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Six homing kunai hit the ice wall and exploded. While the ice was exploding, Wei Yuan leaped into the explosion and swung down her naginata. She also activated her technique.
Mountain Cleaver!
Air splitted and pressuring aura sharpened. A giant blade image appeared on top of Wei Yuan's naginata, and it threatened to cut Xu Miao in half.
Xu Miao drew his katana. Using his muscle memory after he fought monstrous clones several thousand times, he also used his sword techniques.
Qing Swordsmanship +20!
Stripper Swordsmanship!
Using the knowledge and the techniques as a base, Xu Miao had a fundamental understanding of various sword movements. Using a katana was no different from using a saber as long as he could understand the movement's purposes.
As if Xu Miao was mimicking a skill of Atomic Samurai from a certain anime with an OP bald protagonist, a hundred flashes of afterimages sliced through Wei Yuan's skill aura.
"ATOMIC SLASH!"
*SWUA* *SWUA* *SWUA* *SWUA*
*SWUA* *SWUA* *SWUA* *SWUA*
*SWUA* *SWUA* *CLANK*
Of course, a half-baked mimic skill was incomplete. Xu Miao couldn't possibly slash as precisely as Atomic Samurai. Still, it was enough to shatter Wei Yuan's shadow image and repel her attack at a cost of losing the low-grade katana.
*SWUA* *SWUA*
Ten slashes grazed Wei Yuan's neck, face, and torso, leaving shallow wounds. However, it couldn't cut through the dragon scale robe. The demonic essence inside the robe was too strong for Xu Miao's current strength to break through even though he used a lot of qi.
Wei Yuan took a few steps backward as she gazed at her destroyed weapon in a pity. She had a wry smile on her face.
"Hubby, it's bad to destroy your wife's precious belongings."
Xu Miao's face distorted. His arm muscle was damaged, and his arm ligament was torn because of the usage of the previous skill. He circulated his Qi into the injured areas for emergency recovery.
"Wifey, that skill just now could have killed me. If I didn't destroy your weapon, I could have died."
"Oh, please. You could have dodged that. Why did you repel it?"
"Dodge that, and you'll follow up with a more destructive skill! I sensed your Qi moving to your feet. The next attacks would have come after me from the ground!"
"Like this?" Wei Yuan stomped her front foot, and a stone cage manifested from the stone arena, trapping Xu Miao inside, "See? I just wanted to trap you."
Xu Miao rolled his eyes. He could break the cage and continue fighting, but it was a hassle and a waste of resources. Moreover, he didn't want to reveal his hands to Xie Tian and other villains.
Thus, Xu Miao turned to Jian Meng, "I give up."
Jian Meng nodded. He raised his hand and ended the match, "Winner, Wei Yuan!"
Wei Yuan laughed and returned to her family, but she got scolded for ruining her medium-graded weapon. The commotion on the Wei Clan's side didn't seem like she won at all.
As for Xu Miao, he returned to his seat and popped one of his healing pills to his mouth. Then, he sat down and concentrated on healing his injured arms.
Many disciples from the silver phoenix sect looked disappointed that Xu Miao lost. Only a few elites and the elders knew that Xu Miao didn't give his all.
The masters gazed at the sheathed weapon behind Xu Miao's back. It gave off an aura of a heavenly treasure, similar to Wei Yuan's protective robe. Yet, he didn't use it.
Qi Hong glanced at him. Curious about his skills, she questioned his motive, "Had you used the sword on your back, you could have won. Why didn't you use it?"
"Yeah, right. I would have won, but I would have killed Wei Yuan in the process. Do you want me to start a war with the Wei Clan?"
"Of course not!"
"The duel wasn't pointless, though. Well, at least I know that I can't use a sword properly in a real fight."
Qing Swordsmanship was useful. After upgrading it to +20, Xu Miao's sword handling skill got more fluid and precious. But for him, it wasn't enough. He needed more training.
Xu Miao was optimistic. Learning that he couldn't use Atomic Slash properly, he planned to train some more until he could mimic it without a backlash.
'I need to make a shortlist. Aside from dealing with Xie Tian, I should jot down my training goals…'
Xu Miao's training schedule and target list got longer again.