The second round took place earlier than I expected, on the very next day after the first round ended. It was mostly to allow the wounded participants to heal up and recover.
Even though I was the only representative for White Herb Sect (I didn't know why the Blood Blades weren't participating, but Xue Ren said they already did so in the past years, so they didn't want to go again), there was a huge contingent that came along with Bai Yao Cai. They proceeded to heal the injured participants and get them ready for the next round.
No wonder White Herb Sect was counted as one of the seven major sects and reserved a place here even though we didn't have many participants in the actual intersect tournament itself. We were basically the medical staff.
"You don't have any injuries…I'm amazed." Lan Bei Er shook her head, impressed. She had checked me once over, just in case. "Well, you did defeat Jian Shen with a single…uh, slap."
"Yeah, I didn't think he would get killed by a single blow. I didn't even mean to attack, I just wanted to smack him away."
"But he was launching so many swords at you…I didn't think he wouldn't be able to land even a single blow. How did you evade all of them?"
"Would you believe me if I tell you it was luck?"
Lan Bei Er smacked me playfully, and then she dropped down on the bed with an exhausted sigh. I massaged her shoulders a little, knowing that she had worked hard. Even though she hadn't participated in the intersect tournament as a combatant, she had been running around the venue, treating injured participants and healing their wounds.
Some readers and toxic commenters insulted her, calling her weak and useless…all because she didn't fight or wasn't good at fighting. They were complete morons. Lan Bei Er's role was healing, and there was nothing "useless" or "weak" about that. Healing was important as f, as any RPG player would tell you. Try playing a game without a single healer in your party, you would more often than not screw yourself over. Lan Bei Er was currently one of the best healers in the Tian Xuan Continent, and having learned Phoenix Resurrection, she was only going to get better. She just didn't get a chance to use much healing on me because I hadn't met any opponent who had severely injured me. Yet.
She healed me after I fought the Ifrit, so there was that. And I think the hell wolf king too. My enemies from here on out were only going to become stronger, so her healing techniques were going to be necessary in future. As they said, a party was only as good as the healer in it.
"Are you all right?" I asked, rubbing her shoulders. Lan Bei Er nodded and murmured under her breath.
"I'll be fine. Just need to rest."
"All right." I allowed her to fall asleep, and then I returned to training. Recalling Bai Ning Shuang's soul attack on her poor opponent, I clenched my fists. This was going to be a difficult battle. Heaven and Earth Formula would provide me some form of protection from her soul attacks, but it was a cultivation technique to maximize the amount of qi in my body, not a defensive or even offensive skill.
In fact, Heaven and Earth Strike was a very simple technique…it simply used brute force, the unleashing of immense amounts of qi to overwhelm the opponent by raw strength. Seismic Step was similar. There was nothing subtle or complicated about Heaven and Earth Formula. Although I loathed the whole "might made right" mentality, it was designed to grant the user near absolute power. Of course, there was a weakness…if I met an opponent who was stronger than me or had more qi, then I was pretty much screwed. Unless I mastered Heaven and Earth Reversal, but that was another story.
Speaking of which, I was at a higher cultivation realm than Bai Ning Shuang. Perhaps I could make use of that…
"Well, no use worrying about this." I wrapped up my training and put my Abyssal Edge and Hou Yi bow away. The Nine Suns Slaying Arrow technique might just be able to make up for the deficiencies in Heaven and Earth Formula, but it had nothing to do with soul techniques. I wished I had learned some sort of soul skill, whether it was offensive or defensive. As it stood, I had almost no protection against Bai Ning Shuang's soul techniques except the scant resistance that Heaven and Earth Formula and a superior amount of qi afforded me. Hopefully He Shan Jie could forge an equipment for me in time.
Then again, why should I worry about that? I might not even meet Bai Ning Shuang in the intersect tournament. I wasn't sure how far I would progress before I finally get eliminated. Four rounds, maybe five?
"One match at a time," I told myself. Lying next to Lan Bei Er on the bed we shared, I closed my eyes and slowly dozed off. Hopefully the rest would allow me to face my next opponent with a clear mind.
The next day, the second round started without much fuss and fanfare. The spectators came in force as usual, with thousands of people showing up and watching the matches. Again, Bai Ning Shuang had the honor of taking part in the first match of the second round. Her opponent, someone from the Golden Thunder Sect, stepped onto the stage with a confident grin.
"The Divine Spirit Body, huh?" He said, brandishing a huge golden saber that crackled with heavenly thunder. "Allow me to test out your strength!"
Bai Ning Shuang said nothing. She was really playing the role of the cliché ice queen to the fullest, cold and indifferent and arrogant to the max. I detested such character archetypes. They didn't say it out loud, but the way they looked at others was condescending. They liked looking down on people, taking it for granted that they were the best or whatever.
I wanted nothing more than to wipe off that smug, arrogant and condescending expression of feigned indifference. It was almost like she wasn't looking at us at all, just treating us as insects. Or that she was in a world of her own, and we were beneath her notice. Ugh. What a bitch.
At the referee's signal, the Golden Thunder Sect disciple charged again, but Bai Ning Shuang calmly took her zither out and played a song. The guy with blond spiky hair grinned and slashed the air with his saber, discharging lightning to fray the melodious notes.
"Do you think I wouldn't come prepared against your soul attacks? They won't work on me!"
Bai Ning Shuang remained composed continuing to play her zither without any pause. The music continued to gently drift over the arena, only to be warded off by the electricity that danced around the Golden Thunder Sect disciple.
"Whoa, Jin Lei is amazing!"
"I can't believe he was able to resist the Divine Spirit Body's divine soul techniques!"
"He might even last ten rounds!"
What the fuck, last ten rounds? Weren't these guys underestimating him? The way they said it, it was almost as if it was a given that Bai Ning Shuang would win. At least respect the other party, dudes. What's the use of having a tournament match if the results were already decided?
That said, there was a reason why people believed in her victory. It was like a soccer game – even though the ball was round, and it was eleven players versus eleven players, the team with the superior skills and strategy was more likely to win. That was why they put such price tags on players – the transfer fees are basically an evaluation of their worth or talent.
Obviously, there was no soccer stone or crystal to measure players' potential at the beginning. You had to earn that price tag, whether it was by scoring goals, defending well, winning championships with your previous team, creating chances for your teammates or keeping clean sheets. Which made me wonder, who came up with this talent measuring nonsense? People should earn their resources or status through their achievements, not have some stupid rock decide everything from the beginning.
But the point was that it was clear whether there was a huge gap between the opposing teams. The team that played better or was more motivated or had more skilled players would have a higher chance of victory. It wasn't impossible for the other team to overcome all odds and pull an upset victory, but such things were not very common.
Bai Ning Shuang demonstrated why everyone revered her so. Her fingers continued to move deftly across the strings of her zither, and the notes sharpened in intensity. Despite the golden protective lightning wreathing his body, Jin Lei was suddenly forced back.
"Ugh!" he grunted, raising his saber to slash a harmonious note in midair. The huge blade reverberated from the impact, shuddering violently. Gritting his teeth, Jin Lei unleashed a web of lightning to blast the persistent flow of music, but they kept coming. Blood began dripping from cuts that opened up across his skin and he dropped to a knee, plunging his saber to the ground.
Gritting his teeth, Jin Lei forced his saber deeper and then released his thunderous qi. A gigantic bolt of lightning split apart the heavens and forked toward Bai Ning Shuang.
She didn't even look up, instead continuing to calmly pay her zither. To everyone's astonishment, the thunderbolt stopped several meters away from her, held back by a barrier of music. The electricity danced about the musical notes, almost as if they were writhing across the surface of an invisible shield produced by the melody.
And then the musical notes smashed through the lightning and streamed toward Jin Lei. With a roar, he rose to his feet to slash at them with his saber, but the sheer volume (in both meanings) overwhelmed him. Blood splashed the ground as the notes cut through his open flesh, and veins bulged across his temples. He let out a yell and rammed his saber against the ground, conjuring a colossal column of lightning to blast away the notes.
"Huff…huff…"
He staggered, but there were still about a hundred steps between him and his opponent. Bai Ning Shuang continued to play relentlessly, sending more musical notes across the stage to batter against his dwindling lightning.
"S…stop!"
Dropping the saber on the ground, Jin Lei raised both his hands and spoke through bloodied teeth. Bai Ning Shuang's hand paused over the zither, and the music stopped. Even so, the notes continued to drift in the air around her opponent. Jin Lei took a deep, shuddering breath.
"I surrender. You win."
"Jin Lei has surrendered!" The referee declared, stepping in. Bai Ning Shuang nodded and began to keep her zither away. The musical notes vanished. Jin Lei breathed a sigh of relief, kneeling on the ground. The referee nodded at the medics from White Herb Sect, who rushed in to help the bloodied, battered Golden Thunder Sect disciple. "The winner is Bai Ning Shuang."
There were cheers here and there, though a few people were disappointed.
"Wow, that was fast."
"At least Jin Lei fought better and lasted longer than I thought he would."
"Is there anyone who can even win against Bai Ning Shuang?"
"Doubt it. She'll be the champion for sure."
"That was brutal," Lan Bei Er remarked beside me. She shook her head and sighed. "Who's going to stand a chance against a monster like that?"
"No idea," I admitted. "Hopefully somebody can pull off an upset."
"What about you? Do you think you can defeat her?"
I shrugged. "No idea. Can't hurt to try…but for now, I hope I avoid running into her in the matchups." Then I glanced at the gigantic bulletin board at the top of the arena. "Well, my match is coming up soon, so I had best get prepared."