After the fiery collision, both combatants sprang apart in a shower of sparks. They skidded across the arena, their bodies wreathed by fire or lightning. Tie Shen shook his arm, as if he was trying to shake off a numb feeling.
Even though he was the one using lightning techniques…
"Not bad," he sneered. "I didn't think someone with a scrawny body like yours would pack such a punch."
Chi Yan didn't bother with a reply, and instead conjured up a new torrent of flames. He wasn't using his lotus flames, at least not yet. Tie Shen didn't seem intimiated at all, and merely chuckled. He slammed his knuckles together.
"I'll acknowledge your strength at least. Indestructible Golden Body!"
His qi coalesced around him and thickened as a protective aura, turning his flesh a metallic gold. His body seemed to grow even bigger than before, increasing in mass and density. Each step he took left a crackling crater, electricity running across its surface.
His body now appeared as if it was made entirely out of metal.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Tie Shen burst out laughing and smacked his chest, sending a resounding echo similar to that of a bell. Except that it wasn't the sound of hitting something hollow, but hitting something dense and massive. "With my Indestructible Golden Body, I'm invincible! Nothing you do can hurt me!"
Chi Yan didn't reply. Instead he sent his torrent of flames at Tie Shen, bathing him in a hellish inferno. Tie Shen simply walked out of the fire, apparently unscathed except for soot smudges here and there. He rolled his shoulders and cocked his head from side to side.
"Is that it?" He sneered. "My turn!"
Tie Shen then charged forward, each step leaving a crater in the crumbling arena. With a laugh, he rammed a fist into Chi Yan's chest…or tried to, but Chi Yan dodged the first punch. The arena exploded when Tie Shen's fist crashed into the concrete, and Chi Yan was forced to parry the next punch. Lightning exploded against fire and he was sent hurtling back.
"Strength is everything!" Tie Shen bellowed triumphantly, his crackling fist still raised. "There's nothing you can do against me!"
He then sprang at Chi Yan once more, the latter landing on the ground and skidding as he attempted to halt his momentum. Chi Yan glanced up at his charging opponent, but remained calm. Drawing his black ruler sword, he swung it and cracked it against Tie Shen's punch. Even though the sharp edge of the blade crashed into Tie Shen's knuckles, it didn't penetrate the metallic layer that now shrouded his flesh.
With a laugh, Tie Shen smacked Chi Yan away, only for the fire user to parry it with his broadsword. He blocked the next punch, then deflected the followup strike before counterattacking. Tie Shen knocked the huge blade away and responded with a vicious riposte that seemed certain to punch a hole through Chi Yan's body.
However, Chi Yan deftly twisted his body to the side and avoided the otherwise fatal blow. He spun his broadsword about and hacked the dude's neck, only for the blade to bounce off the thick metallic surface.
"I told you I'm invincible! Nothing you do can break through my Indestructible Golden Body!"
Crowing, Tie Shen struck Chi Yan, who blocked the powerful punch swiftly with his broadsword. Even so, the impact sent him skidding several paces back. He was able too duck the next punch before jumping over a sweeping kick that left a deep furrow across the disintegrating ground.
"You aren't using your lightning techniques as much, though," Chi Yan observed with a frown. "Do you really think I can't handle both your Indestructible Golden Body and your lightning attacks at the same time?"
"Hah!" Tie Shen snorted, even as he delivered another barrage of punches. "I guess there's no need to hide it, but if I use Indestructible Golden Body, I can't use any ranged lightning attacks. It's a little trade off, trading firepower for absolute defense."
Chi Yan raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. It was something he would figure out sooner or later anyway, which was why Tie Shen didn't bother concealing the supposed weakness. It was pretty obvious when Tie Shen hadn't used a single ranged lightning attack ever since he activated Indestructible Golden Body.
"But it doesn't matter! I can just pummel you to death with my fists!"
Laughing boisterously, Tie Shen lunged at Chi Yan once more, throwing another hail of punches. Ranged lightning attacks were off the menu, but that didn't mean he couldn't simply wreathe his body in electricity and stun his opponent in close range.
Theoretically, because Tie Shen's body was made of metal right now, it was an amazing conductor of electricity. Which was why he couldn't fire off ranged lightning attacks – the electricity would all be sucked back into his body or something like that. However, the metallic surface of his golden body would be live or a live conductor.
Dude, I'm not a scientist or an engineer or an electrician. I don't know how to give rational scientific explanations. I'm just making stuff up based off the little physics knowledge I learned in middle and high school. I was more of a literature and history person, I told you that already.
Anyway, Tie Shen and Chi Yan clashed once more, fire around the latter's broadsword exploding against the former's lightning wreathed fists.
"It's useless!" Tie Shen hollered and batted away Chi Yan's broadsword before launching a riposte that the latter dodged. "Whatever you do, you can't break through my Indestructible Golden Body! Just give up and let me beat you to death!"
"You really talk too much." Chi Yan shook his head in disapproval. Then he grinned. "But the more you insist it's impossible, the more I want to try it."
He vaulted over a punch and landed on Tie Shen's thick arm before bringing his broadsword down to crack it against the metal man's head. Tie Shen grunted and swung his other hand upward to grab hold of his opponent, but Chi Yan flipped himself away and left another slash against the metallic arm. It didn't leave any mark, even as flames washed across the Indestructible Golden Body. Tie Shen, frustrated, lashed out, but Chi Yan jumped and landed a distance away.
"Try it if you can!" Tie Shen taunted. Chi Yan actually chortled at that.
"You asked for it!"
Flames swirled around his broadsword before whipping out in a tremendous torrent. Even if the slow moving Tie Shen – weighed down by his heavy, metallic body – wanted to dodge, he couldn't. The inferno practically filled the entire stage. There was nowhere for him to run.
Not that he needed to. He chuckled and stood his ground, crossing his arms protectively over his chest and face to defend himself as the flames washed over him.
"It's useless! Your flames can't burn away my metallic armor!"
"Really?"
Chi Yan smirked and snapped his fingers. The flames coalescing around the stage transformed and took the shape of a gigantic lotus flower, the color changing from crimson to cyan. The spectators gasped at the elegant shape and beauty of the colossal lotus flower and its iridescent colors. It was truly a breathtaking view.
"What the hell is this?!" Tie Shen roared as he was engulfed by the lotus flames. His eyes widened. "No way! The ultimate technique of the Esoteric Fire Arts?! Divine Lotus Flames?!"
Chi Yan held his free hand up in front of his chest, doing some sort of mandala or whatever it was called. The cyan flames then blew up, the lotus flower turning into a gigantic display of fireworks. The stage shook and disintegrated, and Tie Shen howled in agony as the sacred fire burned away his metallic body to cosume his physical body in raging fire.
"Impossible! How?! How can the flames burn through my Indestructible Golden Body?!"
"Have you forgotten about the principle of the five elements?" Chi Yan asked, planting his broadsword on the ground and smirking. "Metal is weak against fire. Perhaps you tried to shore up that vulnerability by increasing your resistance to fire somehow, but the lotus fire transcends all that."
"An essence flame?!" Tie Shen dropped to his knees, his body crumbling away into ash as it burned. "No wonder…"
Then he was gone, completely incinerated. There was nothing left of him but ash and soot.
"You brought this upon on yourself," Chi Yan muttered. He then turned to the stunned referee, who had to keep to a distance to prevent being burned by the essence flame himself. He took a deep breath and coughed, choking on the smog and fumes produced by the lotus flames, but managed to recover quickly.
"The match is over!" He declared. "The winner is Chi Yan of Elemental Mountain Sect!"
There was a deafening cheer from the audience as they rose to their feet and applauded. The lotus fire and essence flame were one thing, but they delighted in the fact that Tie Shen was finally dead. The guy had been killing and humiliating the other participants, so nobody liked him.
I watched Chi Yan stalk off the stage, paying no attention to the spectators. The staff of the Azure Water Sect rushed in to restore the burned and destroyed stage. I was sure they were using earth techniques of some sort to raise rock and repair the damaged parts. It took less than an hour, but they were able to rebuild the arena from what appeared to be scratch.
Whoa…these cultivator techniques were so amazing and convenient.
Another couple of matches occurred before the last one…which was mine.
"Good luck," Lan Bei Er told me, and I nodded and pushed my glasses up my nose with a smile.
"I'll do my best."
My opponent was from Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion again. This time, it was someone named Jian Hai. He was glaring at me as I made my way up the newly rebuilt stage.
"I'll get revenge for senior Jian Shen!" He declared. I shrugged.
"Okay."
"You…! What is with your attitude?!"
"Dude, you were the one who said you want to get revenge for your senior. What am I supposed to say? Would you prefer if I told you no?"
"S…shut up!"
"Enough!" the referee barked. He then raised a hand and swung it. "Match begin!"
Jian Hai wasted no time conjuring ten thousand swords and having them hover in the air. He pointed his one real sword at me and shouted a single command.
"Kill!"
The ten thousand swords sliced down at me, streaking forward like missiles of some sort. I watched them come nearer while drawing Abyssal Edge. But instead of deflecting the ten thousand swords one by one like a nutcase, I summoned my own army of swords.
Shadow Sword Storm.
Shadow swords clashed against spiritual swords, black and white colliding and blowing up violently, sending a rain of qi scattering across the battlefield. The blades shattered when they struck each other, detonating in a swirling maelstrom of black and white qi. The spectators gawked from their seats, nearly blinded by the pyrotechnics.
"White swords versus black swords?!"
"Isn't Hei Ye from the White Herb Sect? I thought he would be using techniques from their famous Blood Blades at least…"
"No, he's been using Black Shadow Sect tecniques this entire time."
"Oh, right. Jian Shen and some of the others were talking about how he was a failure from the now destroyed Black Shadow Sect…"
"How is he a failure!? He's clearly stronger than most disciples from the seven major sects!"
"Eh, I don't remember the Black Shadow Sect being this strong. If they were this powerful, how did they get destroyed?"
"I think they got annihilated by a demonic cultivator from the Heaven and Earth Sect many years ago."
Perhaps it was because the author and artist were lazy and didn't want to draw too many panels of actual combat, Jian Hai and I continued exchanging bombardments of swords for a while. After a few moments, Jian Hai realized that we were at a stalemate and he stopped his nonsense.
"You…!" he snarled. "What the hell was that technique?! I don't remember the Black Shadow Sect having such a technique!"
"You weren't even born when the Black Shadow Sect was destroyed!" An elder from one of the sects shouted. "How would you know what techniques the Black Shadow Sect had or didn't have?! Don't pretend to know anything and just fight properly!"
"Oh, sorry." Jian Hai looked sheepish. I rolled my eyes at how pretentious he was being. Don't know anything yet want to show off, what the f, man. He took a deep breath and then readied himself for another blow. Sprinting at me, he thrust his sword forward. White qi coalesced around his blade, emanating a sharp aura that gouged a huge chunk out of the ground.
This guy was more powerful than Jian Shen, at least.
Raising Abyssal Edge, I parried the blow and found myself hurled back several paces from the impact. Looking up, I caught sight of Jian Hai descending upon me, his sword curving toward my neck.