There was no hatred nor excitement at the moment.
There was just pure bliss.
Lou Lan thought back to his sparring matches with Xue Chang slowly. He felt the pain of his body being beaten and battered back then vividly.
The bruises and injuries surrounding his body throbbed viciously, even though they were clearly suppressed by Xue Chang.
It wasn't like he actually felt pain, all of this was just in his head. But that was what made it so scary.
A great pain that his mind created and he could not remove, it really sucked.
And now his body was screaming at him to stop anything that could bring to it more pain. To destroy anything in his way!
flashes of a person's shape or figure flickered in front of him constantly. Instinctively he would bring up his staff in the same positions he did when battling Xue Chang. And slowly he caught on to this strange fighting style and was learning from it.
"Swing this way, twist that way. Block here, kick there, thrust here, swipe there."
Over and over over again these little commands rang in his mind as he continued to pummel whatever was in front of him.
and unbeknownst to him, his dantian was quickly slurping up any spiritual force it could find in the area.
Slowly but surely, he was making a breakthrough!
Meanwhile in the real world, Xue Chang was watching Lou Lan's changes in anticipation.
Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out a corked bottle of mottled blue substances. This bottle was a familiar thing given to him a while back by Lou Lan, in their first true interaction.
"Xue Chang, isn't that?"
Tian Hai was the first to notice his actions as he stared at what was within Xue Chang's hand.
"This was originally supposed to be a gift for you later, but it'll take a long time before you can reach the point to use this, better to put it to good use right now!"
With a grunt, Xue Chang flung the bottle over toward where Lou Lan stood. The cork covering its top broke off as its contents poured out.
But instead of just falling to the ground, the murky liquid flew into the air and began to circle around Lou Lan.
Slowly, a stream of water was formed and ever so slight a shark fin could be seen rising from the water.
And as an unquenchable thirst took ahold of him, Lou Lan opened his mouth and began to inhale the liquid into himself. And as he did, the pressure emanating from him grew.
And among the crowd, only Xue Chang was able to see clearly everything that was happening.
"Let's go!"
Wang Dong, who had been getting trampled every single time he approached Lou Lan, witnessed these series of event.
His face transformed into a scowl as he growled out, "Using me as an instrument to help in your breakthrough?! DON'T MOCK ME!"
His rage had finally reached an all new high as he pulled back his fists ready to strike, yet before he could even do anything a wooden stick softly landed right in his shoulder.
An an awful feeling overwhelmed him as Wang Dong fell to his knees, completely listless.
Meanwhile, the ground beneath him fell in on itself and formed a large crater. Large cracks traveled across the floor covering the stage with a myriad of scars.
Even the clothing on his body was shredded apart, and the staff didn't even make contact with him yet.
And there standing up while looking down at him was Lou Lan who had succeeded in his breakthrough!
"You've lost" with these two words spoken, Lou Lan bent down and picked up a small bag attached to his waist.
Digging into the contents within the bag, he pulled out a small statue made of white jade and a container filled with the same murky liquid he had ingested seconds prior.
He had reclaimed his water essence and jade.
Lou Lan then turned and slowly made his way off the stage without even giving Wang Dong a second glance. He knew this battle was over.
Wang Dong just stayed there on the ground frozen in shock.
He couldn't believe that he had lost the battle. It just didn't make sense to him.
How could he lose? Especially to someone like Lou Lan who was a terrible fighter!
His understood that he had loss since he acknowledged that that final attack wasn't a bluff. If Lou Lan, with his second level cultivation, truly used all of his strength in that attack, Wang Dong probably wouldn't be able to survive much less stay conscious.
Yet his shattered pride rejected that notion. It screamed at him to do something, to get up!
But he couldn't do anything. He just stayed there kneeling until Lou Lan finally got off the stage.
Lou Ning quickly ran up to give her cousin a hug as she excitedly exclaimed, "You did it! You actually won!"
"You sound like you thought I'd lose." Lou Lan laughed a little at his own joke until he noticed that Lou Ning held an awkward expression on her face, "Seriously? Couldn't you have believed in me even a little?"
"Hehe... we have a spare coffin back at the house..."
Hearing Lou Ning's words, Lou Lan became speechless, "You know I'm not that weak right?!?!"
Tian Hai just sat back and laughed at their small quarrel while Tian Kai went ahead an claimed their prize money.
"It was a 1.2:3 ratio, 3 on the challenger's side. So that means you owe us... 300 gold coins!"
The broker looked at Tian Kai with death in his eyes. Even if he sold everything he had on him, he wouldn't be able to pay off his debt at the moment. He would have to probably sell off his house to pay these monsters right in front of him. He was ruined!
He promised himself he would never get involved in gambling affairs ever again.
As the friends were all celebrating, Wang Dong's anger grew every single second.
A flickering flame appeared on his gloves as his bloodshot eyes stared in the direction of Lou Lan.
Wang Dong was a prideful individual. Because of his high status he had never faced a setback once in his life.
So this experience was a first for him.
To him, who saw himself as the most perfect individual, he couldn't help but feel deep hatred for the person who ruined his winning streak and reputation.
"...Damn you..."
He mumbled to himself softly.
"..Damn you..."
"I'll kill you..."
"I'll kill you!" Finally he began to shout his intentions as a burst of energy erupted from his fist and flew toward Lou Lan.
The head of the Wang Family, his father, had bought him the gauntlets long ago as a gift and as a way to save his life once.
Within the magical treasure, his father, a level seven practitioner, had imbued an attack equal to that of a blow from a peak level three cultivator.
Added to it the flames of the gauntlet, it could theoretically save him from danger three times.
He had already used one charge long ago to defeat a demonic beast that had chased him down while he was playing in the forest.
Yet here in his rage he chose to waste one of his last two uses.
Aiming directly for Lou Lan and the others, he unleashed the full might of the gloves in a glorious blast of strength.
His strike contained an unbelievable force as it descended upon the group of five.
Tian Hai eyes immediately dilated as he prepared himself to stop the flaming ball in front of them, meanwhile Lou Lan unleashed what little power he had left in his body.
Unfortunately the breakthrough had thoroughly drained him of energy and he couldn't unleash his full power just yet.
Meanwhile Tian Kai calmly took hold of his spear.
But before any of them could even take action, the ball of fire disappeared right before their eyes.
Almost as if it had been an illusion.
The crowd let off confused and surprised gasps as what they thought to be the end of them turned out to just be a trick of Wang Dong.
Many of them were disgruntled by his little trick but few were willing to state it for fear of his background.
Only Lou Lan was able to let off a look of contempt as he snorted and stomped off, away from the young heir.
Everyone else also dispersed as the battle was over and they had to return to their own lives.
And in the end only two people remained in the area.
Wang Dong who now sat down in shock, confusion, and fear.
And the other person...
...was Xue Chang.
Walking over to the fallen heir, Xue Chang squatted down in front of him and gave him a small pat on the shoulder.
And there sitting within his hand was a miniature version of the fireball the gauntlet released earlier.
"None of that now, I actually am starting to like those people."