A month later, The day of the martial art tournament
One Arena in an outside area and surrounding the Arena many well build bleachers made from dark wood for the disciples along with a higher seat for the patriarch
Currently a battle was taking place, Yang Ming was facing against an opponent at the Heavenly body late stages, a step behind golden core
But even so since Yang Ming was already at the mid stages of Golden core realm the battle was already over from the start
With a swift strike and ample power Yang Ming pushes her opponent off of the Arena
The referee gets on stage and announces
"And that's the match! Yang Ming as always swiftly defeats her opponent! Next match Zheng Miao against Xiao Bu!"
Yang Ming left frustrated
"Damn it, I came here for a challenge, not to fight cannon fodder can't I just skip to the semi-finals? These guys probably can't beat even a B-Rank dungeon!"
After complaining a little, Yang Ming Gets off the Arena
The next fighters got on the Arena
While Fujima Keisuke, is nowhere to be seen
The patriarch(sect leader/Ming Lian) had a worried look
'Damn it, so this kid really won't make it. His fight is in 4 rounds... If he doesn't get here by the last fight I don't think even I can prolong the Tournament from continuing. Damn it Kid, where are you.'
As Master Ming was contemplating his life choices, the match that was currently playing out came to end
The referee spoke once again
"On to the next match! This time Huan Ma against Zhan liu!"
Zhan liu was in Golden core mid stages whereas Huan Ma was in Golden core low stages, thuss Huan Ma was rightfully nervous
Both fighters got ready to fight
Zhan liu spoke
"Let us both do our best, like that none of us will have any regrets"
Huan Ma gulped and both cultivators dashed towards each other
Even so the outcome was once again predetermined, even if its a minor realm the difference from low stage to Mid stage is still grand
~CLANG~
Huan Ma was visibly struggling,
And not after long.. He too fell
~cough~
"Damn it, I thought I would at least stand a chance."
Zhan liu begun speaking
"Now this isn't the time to let up, the future is ahead of you, you can easily surpass me if you put your mind to it"
Zhan liu grabbed the hand of the fallen fellow disciple and pulled him up
"Now, let us get some rest"
The referee came on stage once more
"AN ULTIMATE VICTORY WITH ENCOURAGING WORDS! Zhan liu dominates the crouds heart once more! As for the next match... Da zhan against Mo Bu"
Da Zhan got on stage with a snobbish look like this fight wasn't of any matter to him
And Mo Bu carried a frightened look as he stepped on stage
Da Zhan snobishly uttered
"Hmphf, let's get this over with"
Da Zhan had a reputation for being ruthless and Mo Bu had a lower realm of cultivation than Da Zhan thuss, as the fight was about to start...
"I-i forfeit"
Mo Bu forfeited
Everyone was silent but understood clearly why Mo Bu would want to forfeit,
The referee came on stage to clarify
"Mo Bu, do you forfeit this match?"
Without any hesitation Mo Bu spoke clearly
"I.. forfeit this match"
The referee announced the winner
And Master Ming started sweating
'Damn it, he still isn't here, and next match is...'
The referee started announcing the next fight
"The next match is li Kin against the guest of our sect and the one trained by the Patriarch himself! FUJIMA KEISUKE!"
As li Kin got on stage she looked around, but to her surprise her opponent was nowhere to be seen
Everyone in the croud also noticed and started asking
" Where is he? "
" Bahhah! He must have been scared! "
" Well that's sad, I wanted to watch his fight"
"pfft, even after training with the patriarch he still is too afraid to come and fight"
The referee got on stage
"Since Fujima isn't here the only thing I can do is disquali-"
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"
Kei was here
Keisuke quickly got on stage
"I'm here damn it! Why would you disqualify someone so quickly!? I'm just a little late, I had something important to do"
Kei appeared on stage at the last second, he wore the now repaired uniform but most importantly, he had finally... Gotten a haircut.
It was obvious that the haircut was amateurish, but it suited Kei, too bad the super long hair is gone
The referee announced
"Since Fujima came barely on time he won't be disqualified, well then, are you both ready? LET THE MATCH BEGIN! After I get out of the arena of course..."
At that time 3 people had a serious look staring at Keisuke with fire in their eyes
Zhan Liu, Yang Ming and Da Zhan all had the same thought
'Mid stage...'
Master Ming finally relieved, held his head as a wide smile covered the bottom half of his face
'That kid actually did it.'
Kei had managed to break through to Golden core Mid stages
Now the gap between him and most of the direct disciples was covered
The clothes Master Ming prepared/repaired for Kei, were almost the same cultivator robes he was wearing before, the only difference, it had the Mount Hua sect symbol in the chest area instead of the Cherry blossom one, they were pretty similar
Now Kei's opponent was one small realm behind Keisuke, Golden core low stages
The referee got off stage and finally the battle started
Li Kin dashed towards Keisuke
But Kei remained unmoving, he just engulfed himself and his sword in Qi and waited
"Blossom sword, 5th petal"
Li Kin used the sects martial arts to attack Kei with a wide slash
Kei readied his sword
"No flashy name, 1st slash"
In mochery of the opponent Kei copied Li kin's wording and went for a straight vertical slash
~clash~
From then on they exchanged multiple swords but visibly only Li Kin was getting tired
"I think it's time to end this, you really were a strong opponent"
Kei got ready to defeat his opponent
Out of breath Li Kin spoke
~huff huff~
"Well, thanks for the exercise, you were like an impenetrable fort"
Kei dashed forward and with a swing of his sword, Li Kin's sword flew away and stabbed into the ground next to them
Now Kei's sword was at her neck
"its my win"
Complete silence
The referee came on stage and announced the results
"The winner is Fujima Keisuke!"
The croud was surprised that Keisuke won that easily
The referee continued talking
"That's it for the initial round everyone! Now the second round of the tournament will begin!"
No major fight happend in the second round,
Da zhan, Yang Ming, Li Zhuan and Fujima easily defeated their opponents and mover on to the semi-finals
The referee announced the beginning of the semi-finals
"Now what everyone has been waiting for! The Semi-finals! Which one of these four will be the final Victor?! Fujima? Yang Ming? Li Zhuan? Or perhaps. Da Zhan... The first match! Fujima versus Yang Ming!"
Both cultivators got on stage and the referee got off the stage
And Yang Ming spoke
"Fufufu, even if you are on the same level as me, you still won't be able to defeat me... Just a warning of course, heheh"
Kei asked with a pondering look
"And why is that?"
As the match started Yang Ming dissappeared and suddenly appeared in front of Keisuke with faint sparks
And swung her sword at Kei
~Clang~
Their swords clashed and Yang Ming spoke as Kei was flustered
"Well, because of this"
Yang Ming had learned the first layer of the law of space, she could teleport short distances in an instant
After Kei realised this and got his wits back, he smiled and spoke
"Oh is that so?"
Keisuke disappeared from in front of Yang Ming
"W-what?"
Yang Ming quickly turned around but he wasn't there either
"THIS BASTARD!"
Yang Ming quickly realised and looked up but Kei was already close enough to swing
~clang clang clang~
They exchanged a few sword swings
And as they got a little distance between each other they talked
"So you learnt the first Layer of the Law of space too..."
Kei answered
"i know right? I didn't think there was another person either! Pff."
Both of them started using their divine consciousness in order to avoid having any blind spots
They didn't start of like that since using the divine consciousness uses up Qi but now that they knew their opponent could teleport, using the divine consciousness is vital, conserving Qi was not top priority
"Now then"
Kei teleported in front of Yang Ming and swung his sword as she teleported in the air
"pff, now what are you trying?"
Kei teleported in front of Yang Ming in the air and clashed swords
Keisuke's sword felt heavy on Yang Ming
But she didn't give up easily
Yang Ming teleported to the ground and started gathering Qi into her sword, then her sword got covered in pink sharp petals,
this reminded Kei of Akira's technique but this time it didn't seem like the opponent was going to hold back
Kei got on the ground as well and poured Qi into his sword, but this time he didn't release it, but instead he compressed it inside his sword, the engraved runes on the sword lit up with universe Qi
Along with his sword Kei released more of his aura
Then both Yang Ming and Keisuke teleported closer to each other and clashed swords
~CLANG~
A small slash appeared on Kei's hand
'Damn it this technique... So bothersome.'
Kei decided to start dodging from now on
Yang Ming started a barrage of slashes
And Keisuke kept dodging
Kei's sword had become much heavier thuss Yang Ming didn't want to give him the opportunity to attack
Even after dodging all of Yang Mings attacks there was bound to be one Kei couldn't dodge, right as Kei was about to get slashed he teleported behind Yang Ming and used his training with Master Ming for the first time in a real battle, Keisuke. thrust. his. sword.
~Clang!~
Yang Ming turned around as fast as she could and blocked with her sword
But the impact was too strong and her sword flew up, but her hand was still holding it, she was stubborn
In that moment both of them poured more and more Qi into their sword
Keisuke's sword became brighter in Universe Qi
And Yang Ming Crystallised the petals into a sword shape
'Let this be the deciding factor...'
Yang Ming went for a vertical slash (since her hand was already above her head)
And Keisuke for a Horizontal slash
~CLASH~~TUNGG~
Finally as the two swords and energies collided a blinding flash sprung forth
Dust flew everywhere making the outcome of the battle unclear
But eventually as the dust was settling down
The outcome became clear
Yang Ming was kneeling on the ground supported by her sword
While Kei was standing up
Keisuke had won
*
*to be continued