As the sun rose from the east, the sect once again roared to life as the disciples got ready for the Inner Ranking. If the Outer Ranking was where the up and coming geniuses of the sect showed their skills, then the Inner Ranking was the place where the Skyward Sword Sect's true geniuses shined.
Within the arena, the Inner Ranking battle was beginning, the disciples were once again divided with the top 10 of the Outer Ranking standing to the side.
First the disciples already in the Inner Ranking would battle and after those on the Outer Ranking would then have a chance to challenge them.
"Rank 156th Fan Li vs Rank 132nd Liang Zheng!"
Thus the Inner Ranking began, immediately roars echoed from the crowd as the two cultivators entered the arena. Drawing their swords they pointed their blades at each other.
"Liang Zheng I still haven't gotten my revenge!" Fan Li roared, before charging towards Liang Zheng, his sword coated in Qi. "Haha, lets see if you can even take 10 of my attacks!" Liang Zheng replied before charging towards Fan Li.
It seemed like these 2 disciples had some history, and not a very pleasant one at that, but Wang Tian didn't care for it. 'They're surprisingly slow, even Mu Feng was stronger than them.' He mused, before shaking his head in dismay.
His goal right now weren't these lesser Inner Ranking disciples, but rather Xiao Yang who had already reached the 7th Layer and vastly outclassed Wang Tian. 'If need be I can always use my final trump card.'
As the day went on, Wang Tian continued watching the fights with little interest, until he finally stepped up. Naturally, it was Xiao Yang.
"Rank 93rd Xiao Yang vs Rank 56th Li Yan."
Immediately Wang Tian's ears perked up. "Tsk, finally." He muttered, as he watched the two figures enter the arena. He had never heard of Li Yan, rather Wang Tian was interested to see Xiao Yang's fighting technique.
As the battle began, Xiao Yang didn't move a muscle but in an explosion of power Li Yan shot towards Xiao Yang. Unlike most other disciples Li Yan used a spear, and a corresponding set of spear arts.
"Falling Rain Spear!" Li Yan roared, continually plunging his spear towards Xiao Yang creating countless mirages with sheer speed. In response Xiao Yang unsheathed his sword before slashing it towards Li Yan in a wide arc.
"Drifting Cloud Sword, Crescent Slash!" Xiao Yang's slash emitted a sharp blade of qi that shot towards Li Yan with terrifying power.
As spear and sword clashed, sparks flew in the air as the two combatants locked eyes, in this moment they only cared for the battle. Sword versus spear, it was quite the spectacle for the Skyward Sword Sect.
The two attacks clashed nullifying each other and forcing the two to each take 5 steps back, they were equal in power. "I must admit Junior Xiao Yang, you're much stronger than I expected, I hope you can take my next attack." Li Yan praised before taking a stance.
".....How disappointing." Xiao Yang replied brandishing his sword. Without a second's hesitation, Xiao Yang's figure flashed before appearing in front of Li Yan.
"Flurry!"
"SCHINK!"
With but a word, Xiao Yang's sword erupted slashing towards Li Yan from every possible direction. Just as it happened it ended, in but a moment Li Yan was on the floor full of slash marks on his body.
"I-I concede!" Li Yan cried in fear, had he not managed to protect himself with qi in time, Li Yan believe he would have genuinely died. "Heh, trash." Xiao Yang muttered, before his eyes drifted somewhere, specifically towards Wang Tian.
"I hope you won't chicken out now!" His voiced echoed across the arena. Immediately the audience all turned to where Xiao Yang was looking quickly spotting Wang Tian.
"Xiao Yang's display was indeed impressive today, I don't know how this trash thinks he can compare to him!"
"He'll be lucky if he survives with how strong Xiao Yang is!"
"This trash should know his place!"
Once again the disciples began mocking Wang Tian from their seats, but Wang Tian didn't care. 'You guys are just sheep, half of you wouldn't even be able to beat Mu Feng and you want to call me trash?' He shook his head, it was useless to take these people seriously.
Soon the Inner Ranking battle began to conclude, apart from a few fights amongst the top 20 no big changes occurred to the ranking just the usual shuffling of the ranks.
At the end Xiao Yang had managed to reach Rank 21st, aweing the crowd. After all the top 20 were all in the 8th Layer so this meant Xiao Yang was the strongest below the 8th Layer within the Skyward Sword Sect.
"Ahem! Now that the Inner Ranking has concluded, the top 10 Outer Disciples may challenge 1 disciple within the Inner Ranking. We'll begin from No.10 and work our way down."
With that one by one the Outer Disciples challenged the Inner Ranking, which was also uneventful. After all although the top 10 Outer Disciples were strong in their own right most of them didn't have the balls to challenge the Inner Ranking, in fact only the top 3 would usually challenge the Inner Ranking as Nos 4-10 were usually not as strong.
And as if proving this to be true, the Rank 3rd Outer Disciple was the first to challenge the Inner Ranking out of the top 10. "I'd like to challenge Rank 200." He asked, before jumping onto the arena. Naturally they wouldn't punch too high when challenging the Inner Ranking and Rank 200 was the bottom of the barrel.
A few seconds later the battle began. The genius of the Outer Ranking versus the Trash of the Inner Ranking, their fight was long and drawn out to say the least as blow after blow was exchanged between them.
Eventually the battle concluded with the trash of the Inner Ranking succeeding against him. This was the expected outcome, after all 1 layer difference was quite the jump after all.
Soon Mu Feng took to the stage. While he had been injured heavily by Wang Tian he had still managed to fight for No.2, after all within the Outer Ranking Mu Feng was unparalleled, well if you didn't take into account Wang Tian.
With his nose bandaged up Mu Feng's childish figure appeared atop the arena once again. "Rank 100." Mu Feng declared, and immediately the arena went silent. Was Mu Feng's brain damaged when he fought Wang Tian?
Soon after this declaration, a hulking figure landed on the arena in front of Mu Feng. "Little boy, if you surrender now I won't be forced to pummel you. After all I feel bad for you, yesterday was quite embarrassing after all." The man who was Ranked 100 chuckled.
Mu Feng's face turned red when he heard this, his eyes flashing with rage. "....What did you say?" Mu Feng replied, he could barely stop himself from unsheathing his sword. "I said I pity you, trash!" He responded a grin gracing his face.
"You may begin." The Announcer declared, and with that the fight began. The man immediately charged towards Mu Feng his fist hurtling at extreme speed aiming for his nose. Mu Feng merely sneered at this attack, his sword humming.
'Humming Sword Art, 1st Stance Pierce!'
In an instant Mu Feng's sword shot forward piercing through the air and likewise through the man's hand leaving it crippled. "While you're a Layer above me your inefficient with your Qi usage and underestimated me, you can only blame yourself for your defeat!" Mu Feng declared before retracting his sword, readying another attack.
"Y-YOU SON OF A BITCH!" The man screamed before punching forward with his other hand, this time he put all of his qi into this attack. Mu Feng once again sneered, his sword humming even more fiercely than before.
'Humming Sword Art, 3rd Stance Afterimage!'
Mu Feng's sword shot forward once again, but this time instead of meeting the fist head on he dodged the attack before striking the man. Each movement of his sword leaving behind multiple afterimages.
"Pu! Pu! Pu!"
The attack struck the man at 3 different spots piercing his body and leaving behind a trail of blood. "Next time know your place, trash." With that Mu Feng brandished his sword cleaning the blood off of it before sheathing it.
It was an overwhelming victory in Mu Feng's favor, he had been waiting for this moment all day after all he knew what those trash in the arena had been saying about him. 'Hmph! They think I am trash because I lost to Wang Tian? You people are simply blind!' With that thought Mu Feng looked towards the Announcer, he didn't want to waste any more time atop this arena.
"Winner, Rank 2nd of the Outer Ranking Mu Feng!"