"Will the participants please come to the stage" Mu Kai called out as the two exited the tent, walking side by side without giving so much as a glance between one another.
They walked to the centre of the stage before turning to each-other.
Bai Lian's expression was neutral, she was calming herself before the battle begun; It was easier to control her techniques if she was calm of mind, however as she glanced at Tai Hui's weapon she couldn't help but frown slightly.
"What's with that weapon?"
Tai Hui placed the sickle in his hand on his shoulder, a long chain attached to the handle jingling as it moved. "Heh, I was looking forward to this fight so much I picked one out just for you" he spoke with a dirty smirk.
Her frown deepened.
*Clank* She brandished her glaive that shone with a light azure glow and pointed it towards him "If you keep being so fussy like this and don't decide on a weapon you'll be left behind" she said as a warning.
"Now, now, don't say that I can't really help it, they all have so many different uses and strengths I can't help but want them all" Tai Hui shrugged his shoulders.
"Hmph" Bai Lian turned away, annoyed her warning wasn't taken seriously, and went to her starting position.
Tai Hui chuckled slightly as he walked to his position as well, the moment he took his position and turned around the smile on his face was gone as he gripped the small sickle, the chains seemed to settle on the floor before rising and entering his robes, the other side obscured.
The crowd settled as silence fell on the arena, everyone began to watch closely; Unlike the matches before the two fighting now could potentially be the champions of this tournament, this match would be the first true 'match' of the tournament!
"1st match of the 3rd round, Bai Lian against Tai Hui!" Mu Kai's voice echoed, the stances of the two fighters shifted slightly as they awaited the start.
"BEGIN!"
Without a second of hesitation a chilly wind began whipping around the stage as frost gathered at Bai Lian's feet, she expanded her <
*Shhh* And began her 'skating', heading directly to Tai Hui while brandishing her Glaive, a frosty wind gathering around its tip.
Tai Hui didn't panic, his eyes watched her carefully and closely taking in her stance, movement, and speed before he suddenly took a step forward himself, his sickle dropping from his hand as he began to spin it.
Bai Lian saw him movements but didn't falter, she would break through whatever he threw at her.
Though she didn't expect him to throw something literally.
*Swooosh*
The sickle shot through the air, flying directly at Bai Lian who gracefully shifted her feet, dodging it as it flew past nicking a strand of her long white hair as it flew past.
'He just threw his weapon like that. He's not stupid is he?' She said as eyes shifted back to Tai Hui who watched her movements with focused eyes, she felt a strange chill like she was a mouse before a cat.
*Crackle* Suddenly, along the thin chain that had followed the sickle along, currently suspended in the air a meter or so away from Bai Lian as she charged forward, a few sparks cascaded along the surface before-
*BANG*
A chain of explosions set off at the same time creating a snake of flame passing a quarter of the whole arena!
"Ugh!" Bai Lian barely managed to react at the last second, concentrating her rime domain into a shield of frost, but it only managed to block a portion of the impact and heat causing her to be knocked away, the formation flittering orange on her body here and there before fading.
Meanwhile in the stands where the elders sat, a messy white haired elder wearing a monocle and unbrushed beard laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! Great implementation boy!" The others looked towards him and sighed, the messy elder was known for his eccentricity but his skills were unquestionable, and they all knew what they just saw was because of him.
The old man was Da Ru, the elder of the Formations Division, the sects best formation expert, the one who maintains and updated the sects formations and most importantly- Tai Hui's mentor. Tai Hui had been spending plenty of time in the combat division, but what most people didn't know was that he regularly snuck off to the Formations Division!
The technique from before was something considered simple in formations yet was underused in Da Ru's opinion; It was a technique called <
What Tai Hui had done was that he had 'embedded' the technique <
*Cough* Bai Lian spat out smoke and bits of dirt that had been thrown about and span her glaive, the frosty winds whipped about and blew away the smoke clouding her vision.
*Clatter* "?!" She heard the sound of chains behind her and turned slightly to see, but she quickly realised it was the sound of the sickle dropping on the stone.
"In front?!" She reactively yelled as Tai Hui closed in on her exceedingly fast, his hand holding a knife!
She firmly stamped on the ground and the wind and ice began crawling on the ground going straight for Tai Hui.
<
The speed the layer of ice travelled was more than 3 meters in less than a second, before Tai Hui knew it the ice was threatening to deep freeze his feet! So he jumped!
Bai Lian quickly stepped in while priming her glaive, she would end it with this strike!
But Tai Hui wouldn't let that happen, he threw his knife directly at Bai Lian who was about to knock it out of the way before she dodged at the last second.
'BOOOOOM' As she expected, the knife was 'primed' as well, if she parried it she'd take damage.
'Annoying bastard!' She couldn't help but curse in her mind.
But when she saw him land she couldn't help but smile, her technique was still active has ice quickly crept up his feet, freezing him in place, yet even then Tai Hui's face was devoid of panic, she saw him twist his body like he was tugging something.
*Rattle*
'The sickle!' She watched as the chains laying beside her came to life as the sickle flew up off the flaw, heading straight towards her back!
'I need to get rid of this!' She struck the chains near her with her glaive, she didn't expect to break it but rather she began to freeze it so it could no longer function as a 'chain'!
*Step* "What?!"
In front of her, much closer than he was a second ago was Tai Hui, completely unfrozen!
'How?! He shouldn't have been able to break out so quickly, he would have hurt himself if he used one of those techniques-' She stared into his eyes as she backed away as fast as she could, she couldn't let him close in!
Those eyes were devoid of panic, fear, bewilderment; All she could see was a sense of satisfaction, enjoyment, like he was the one watching the match.
'This guy's even worse than my brother!' She felt chills, her mind spun trying to plan what to do next as she noticed a faint aura surrounding Tai Hui's body.
'That technique?!'
Seeing the surprise in her eyes as he chased Tai Hui couldn't help but smirk a little.
It was a technique of the Fire element, <
Bai Lian knew it well because it was a technique favoured by the Huo clan! Why? Because it directly countered the Bai Clan's ice techniques! The high temperatures made it harder to freeze them, and made ice techniques lose power, Tai Hui had thawed himself out this way.
"Did you learn that just because of me?!" She couldn't help but ask.
"No, I just think it's a useful technique" Tai Hui answered simply.
'There!' Bai Lian saw a chance and lifted her glaive, ice storming around it as a long shimmering blade formed.
<
She countered his charge, aiming for his next mid-air step.
*Clang*
The sound of chains entered her ears yet again.
'It doesn't matter, I'll hit before the sickle does!'
Yet that wasn't what Tai Hui was going to do, in his other hand… was the other end, still hidden, of the chain! He lifted it up in defence.
*SHHHHHHH*
Metal grinded against metal as a shrill sound echoed throughout the arena causing some to cover their ears.
The chain began to freeze yet the two hands holding it still kept the frost away with its heat, a deadlock was formed as steam from the evaporating ice began to fill the air.
*Swish* Tai Hui moved to the side, letting Bai Lian's Rime Blade crash through the place she just was.
A great frost mound spread out from the hit location as Tai Hui backed off, putting his hand in front of him.
<
He planned to hit Bai Lian in her recoil! The ball of flame was a second away from hitting her as she managed to pull herself together to slash it in twine, she couldn't help but sweat as she felt the heat from the fire ball pass over her.
*Bang*
Yet just as she was breathing to recover, she felt an impact on her chest.
She looked down, seeing the red formation light blocking a heavy metal dart linked to a chain, it was the other end of the chain had been holding.
"What?..." She looked to him, his hand in a throwing posture.
"When? You sued that technique, but I blocked it and-" Then she realised, she would have seen him throw it if he did it any later than the Flame Burst, but if he used them at the same time…
The strength left her body as she fell to her knees.
"I fell for such a trick…" She found it hard to believe.
"Simple tricks can end someone life, you shouldn't look down on them".
"Match over! The winner is Tai Hui!" The crowd went wild, too many expected Bai Lian to win since she was from a major clan, so this was a sudden upset.
"That was a good fight, I didn't even get to use my weapon properly!" Tai Hui laughed it off.
Bai Lian steadily stood up with the held of the butt of her glaive, a slightly gloomy look on her face before she left the stage she decided to ask Tai Hui a single question.
"If one of the major clans asked you to join them, would you?"
Tai Hui looked surprised for a second as he put his hand to his chin to think.
"Nope" He then answered simply.
"Huh?" Bai Lian looked slightly surprised "I thought you would, powerful backing, secret techniques and more".
"But I'd have to get married." Tai Hui said with dismissive expression.
"THAT'S your reason?" her cool expression broke entirely.
"Look, I've had enough women troubles in my life I've had enough, from now on all I want to do is cultivate and fight! The path of a true cultivator!" He spoke, looking proud of himself. "Unless you're offering" He winked.
"As if" Bai Lian replied with a face of pure disgust, the idea of this man for a partner revolted her.
"Haha, I was just joking; You're too young for my taste anyway" Tai Hui laughed it off as he returned to the participant tent.
She sighed as she began to make her walk of shame out of the arena.
She had lost, her run had fallen short, she didn't even make it to the finals, her clan will definitely be disappointed with her, but that wasn't what was in her head right now.
'He has talent with the Fire element, when word gets out the Huo clan will almost certainly try to pull him in to their fold'.
She stared deep into the dark corridor ahead of her, as if she were staring in to her own future.
'It would be good if he refuses them, I wouldn't want him as an enemy in the future'.