The crowd cheered
After seeing the fantastical battle between two space law users they couldn't help but cheer
Kei looked up and around at the crowd
And a slight sense of satisfaction washed over him
With this victory he had come to at least 3rd nay, 2nd place, meaning he wouldn't have to sit here for another 6 months, he could finally go and see his mother
Kei was moved but
~huff huff~
He was tired
"it was a great match and an even greater experience" Kei spoke as he helped Yang Ming up
"You have fucking cheats... How can you go from golden core low stage to mid stage AND learn the first layer of the space law in only 6 months! That's the type of bullshit talent a Murim protagonist would have... And this world is only half Murim! The other half is from magic!"
Yang Ming was satisfied even when she didn't show it with her words
"Damn it, I'll acknowledge you, you really are strong, somehow your strikes have more power than it should be possible in golden core mid stages, good. I'll put all my hopes in you, beat some sense into Da Zhan if he beats Zhan Liu, Da Zhan is too cocky and thinks he is higher than anyone, heh, it would be really satisfying to see his defeated look"
Yang Ming had a huge smile imagining the downfall of Da zhan
"You...."
Kei paused before he continued talking
"You talk a lot."
Yang Ming angered
"Yeah I talk a lot because SOME OTHERS don't speak much at all! Damn it I'm trying to be your friend!"
Keisuke's eyes sparkled as a small smile formed on his face
"After such an amazing fight I can't not be your friend, maybe some day I can trust those skills of yours to protect my back during battle or in a dungeon"
Both Kei and Yang Ming had warm smiles on their faces as they shook hands
"Uhm... Guys? I'm sorry to stop your romance short, but like, we have a tournament to continue"
The referee basically told Kei and Yang Ming to fuck off
"oh right I'm sorry I forgot we were on the Arena for a second, let's go Yang Ming"
They both got off stage
And the referee started announcing the last semi-final match
"And for the last semi-final we have! Zhan Liu against Da Zhan!"
As Kei and Yang Ming stepped off the stage they found Zhan Liu as he was heading to the arena
"Zhan Liu, I trust in your power, but I don't think you can win against someone at the Golden core late stage, but.. I'm sure you can stand your ground for long enough, Kei boy here needs time to recover his Qi, to have a fair fight with Da zhan, do your best Zhan Liu"
Yang Ming's words may sound harse but normally even a small realm between levels could be like the difference between heaven and earth, like Golden core mid stage to Golden core late stage, so usually battles between heaven and earth end really fast, so saying that Zhan Liu can last long means that Yang Ming respects his strength
With a smile and tired eyes Zhan Liu
"Of course I will try to win even if I know my chances are almost none, no need to tell me to do my best, I'm going to do better that best."
With a serious look Zhan Liu started walking toward the stage as he spoke the last words of his sentence
Looking really cool in the process
"I'm going to focus on recovering, come tell me when it's my time to fight"
Kei took out some mana stones and sat at a place devoid of people to recover his Qi
'I have already accomplished my goal, I don't need to fight more. But damn it... I feel so excited, what is Da Zhan going to be like...'
*
*on stage
"Finally both contestants have arrived!"
The referee started getting of stage
"Let the match begin!"
"I suggest you just give up, you are just wasting my time it's obvious that I'm going to be the final Victor, humph" said Da zhan like it was a bother even talking to Zhan Liu
"Hah, laughable. I shouldn't have any ambitions in life if I give up a challenge this easily, be prepared. I'm not fighting to lose"
With sharp eyes Zhan Liu drew his sword
And with a bothered look so did Da zhan
"Fine then, how about I give you the first move? Come, Zhan Liu"
Zhan Liu not letting go of this chance crystallised his Qi around his sword as he was dashing towards Da zhan, unlike Yang Ming who's form had imperfections Zhan Liu's form was perfect
Da zhan in return poured his Qi into his sword and at the same time countless petals formed around the sword, not only at the blade, but around the hilt as well
Zhan Liu reached Da Zhan and let a full force horizontal slash strike his opponents blade
~CLANG SLASH~
"heheh..."
A sinister smile formed on Da Zhan's face and his eyes were filled with delight
~drip drip drip~
As Zhan Liu's sword made contact with Da Zhan's, the countless petals on Da Zhan's sword that were struck in the process shot off at high speeds towards the direction they got hit from
Thankfully Zhan Liu managed to dodge to the left in time, but still got a decent slash at the right side of his sides
"You...! You bastardised our sect's martial arts!" Zhan Liu shouted out holding his side with one arm
"So what? Change is vital in order to move forward, if we keep using the same techniques without improving them how can we become a stronger sect? Well, it's my turn to strike now right? Fufu"
Da zhan shot forward and optimised for a wide slash
Zhan Liu had stopped his bleeding only moments before so he managed to avoid the slash by moving backwards
"at least you aren't THAT weak"
Da Zhan without losing a beat went for the mount hua's swordsmanship's thrust form
~swoosh swoosh swoosh..... Swoosh~ ~slash~
Sixteen consecutive and unrelentless thrusts
Zhan Liu dodged all but got a slight slash on his wrist
"You dodge like a rat!" Da Zhan announced
"Only because you haven't put enough practice into the mount huas techniques! You mostly rely on your high cultivation base to win battles! And you know what?! Each day you laze off I train! Each night you sleep off I train! Maybe hard work really can't surpass talent.. Maybe my struggle IS futile, but I will not give up! I will show you the meaning of true mastery of Mount Hua's techniques!"
Many would say that Zhan Liu has almost no talent for martial arts, his martial path was layered with thorns and needles, but one could say that his true talent is hard work, through countless hours of training he has perfectly understood Mount Hua's martial arts
Zhan Liu's whole body fired up with beautiful pink Qi, his crystallised sword Qi started breaking down into countless small shards flickering in the sunlight, and a flowery smell filled the field
Zhan Liu hurled a barrage of attacks at Da Zhan
His sword flowed as fluidly as a petal drifting in the wind
His crystallised sword Qi that broke Dow in countless pieces behaved like a bubble, it followed the momentum of the sword and went forward even after the sword stopped moving
Zhan Liu now alternating between slashes and thrusts along with his perfect understanding of Mount Hua's martial arts
Made it hard for Da Zhan to predict
Frustrated Da Zhan slashed wide to stop the barrage of attacks
But thanks to Zhan Liu's perfect movement techniques from Mount hua, he was able to swiftly dodge
Leaving behind the aroma of a blooming flower
Each step Zhan Liu took materialised a beautiful pink flower made of Qi
"Damn it! How are you so slippery!?" Da Zhan was visibly frustrated someone he thought beneath him was pressuring him, even a little
"Maybe if you didn't slack off at your movement techniques you wouldn't have a problem with this"
"Damn it. I didn't want to use this much power on a weakling.. You forced my hand!"
As Da Zhan announced this, a sword made from Qi like the countless petals formed next to Da Zhans sword
Da Zhan then went on the offence, now seemingly faster and stronger than before, but now
~Swish slash swoosh~
He was attacking with two swords, the one made from sword Qi acting like a flying sword
Slowly but surely cuts started appearing on Zhan Liu, it was hard to dodge a flying sword when you had to dodge a normal sword too
"Damn it" Zhan Liu could feel himself losing strength, he was slowly getting slower as he lost blood
And eventually as Zhan Liu dodged the Qi sword
~slash~ ~splat~
He got slashed by Da Zhan's sword and suffered a major would on his front body
Zhan Liu, without being able to utter a word he lost consciousness and fell to the ground
"Healers! Quickly!" The referee told the healers that the Mount Hua sect hired for this event to help Zhan Liu
"On it!" The healers were magicians that came about from the new era as the dungeon cataclysm happened, some people got their hands on magic books like Keisuke's disciple(the news guy) while others bought the books off of cultivators who took care of dungeons, since cultivators didn't have a need for magic books
The healers administered first aid and took Zhan Liu off the field
"You fought well, now, it is time to watch the final battle" As Yang Ming uttered these words
Keisuke opened his eyes
He had finished his recovery
*
*to be continued