"BEGIN" Mu Kai shouted out to signal the start of the round, the two competitors didn't waste a single second before the started moving.
Jin Bao created a thick wall of wind that began swirling around himself, Shu He wasn't sure if it was a technique similar to Bai Lian's technique that she had used to cover a wide area with her Ice Qi, but it seemed to the same type.
He could see Jin Bao's wind Qi circulating to and from his body into the air around him forming a maelstrom with him at the centre.
Shu He decided to test it first, with the same technique he had used the last two rounds, he drew four arrows from his hip side quiver and fired them off consecutively, twisting the string and adjusting his aim each time so they flew different paths, cornering Jin Bao with a single move.
Unfortunately, as he expected the moment his arrows contacted the wall of wind around Jin Bao their flight paths deviated, and it wasn't just a simple nudge in the same direction either, the maelstrom around him twisted and turned like a collection of smaller tornadoes, when each arrow made contact they were knocked by the air in entirely different trajectories and their power reduced!
They shot past their target, missing by more than a meter! One of them was potentially going to strike Jin Bao in his side, slightly off target, but it was easily knocked aside by the sword in his hand.
Jin Bao sneered "You know I'm from the Jin clan, that I use wind techniques, yet you still use a bow? Idiot".
Shu He didn't reply, instead he stood with his bow drawn, his eyes closed to a slit as he scrutinised the wall of air around his enemy.
'As I thought, no chance of getting through that wall haphazardly with my arrows'.
Yet, he picked up 5 arrows from his quiver again.
"More arrows won't do anything different!" Jin Bao mocked as he watched Shu He like he was watching a bug squirm.
*Pheeew* An arrow flew directly at Jin Bao; it penetrated the wind shield deeply but was still knocked off course before it missed as the scion stared pitifully at his opponent.
But Shu He wasn't bothered, he watched closely with his glimmering golden eyes.
Another arrow flew in a slightly different arc, and another, at this point it became clear to Jin Bao that Shu He wasn't even trying to hit him, just testing.
"If all you're going to do is mess around, then I'll finish this!" He stepped before launching himself across the stage, a gust of wind propelling him at his back as he brandished his sword.
All of a sudden Shu He's eyes opened wide, and he smirked.
"I see"
"And just what is it that you see when you're about to lose!" Jin Bao yelled, he was a simple 5 meters before Shu He as the wind around him twisted and shook.
Instead of dodging, Shu He stepped in and drew his bow while sliding, his body positioned so he could draw it to the absolute fullest.
'With a bow?!' Jin Bao didn't expect him to approach with a ranged weapon, so he was caught off guard as the tip of an arrow was pointed directly at his belly.
"No!" He screamed as he stopped at the last second, but it was too late as Shu He released the arrow that shot forward at much greater speeds than before, it was a certain hit!
But-
*FWOOOOSH*
A large gust of wind burst on to the stage out of nowhere between the two, Shu He was pushed far away as he struggled to regain his footing, sliding on his feet before stopping.
His pupils had constricted to the size of a pin prick as he stared at his opponent.
Jin Bao held his hand out, a strong wind twisted around it making it resemble a tornado as dust and debris from the arena were caught up in its gust, his face looked a shade paler as he gritted his teeth.
*Cough* he stumbled slightly as specs of dark blood were spat out from the back of his throat before waving his hand, causing the strong wind to disperse leaving only what was there before.
"You'll pay for that!" He screeched, dark eyes glaring at Shu He.
"You, what is that?" Shu He's stare pierced him, what reflected in those golden eyes was not Jin Bao, but a small black sphere.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" He spat, getting ready to fight again.
"Inside of you, what is that?" Shu He asked the question again, there was no emotion in his voice, his face expressionless.
Jin Bao looked confused for a second, then he flinched before his expression smoothed over.
"I don't know what you're talking about" He said, the anger he had a second ago seemed to turn to nothing.
"Is that so" Shu He replied as he drew his bow once more, putting every ounce of his strength into it.
His mind had been stirred so much he had stumbled upon a state of weird calmness, he had thought before that Jin Bao was similar to his father, that he had taken the World Devouring Elixir, or some different form of it, maybe a weaker version so it wasn't lethal.
By defeating Jin Bao he could try to learn where he got it from, he was sure if he reported it to the sect Elders or even the Sect Master they wouldn't let him get away, he had learned how illegal the elixir was after all.
But… he hadn't expected this.
He had watched Jin Bao from the sidelines before, he hadn't seen or detected anything with his eyes, but that's because he hadn't scrutinized hard enough.
He could see it now, deep inside Jin Bao's chest was a small black sphere, the reason he hadn't found it was simple, it had the same Qi signature as him, it worked like the rest of his body, he hadn't seen it because of this.
But after what just happened now, it was different.
Shu He's sight can be affected by his degree of 'understanding', when the fight started he saw the wall of wind as a pale sphere made of green Qi, so he used his arrows to try to understand the nature of the technique, the nature of Wind Qi.
He used the arrows to observe the direction of the wind in different locations across the shield, using his sight to see how the Qi was affected, where it went after and to understand the flow more closely.
It was when Jin Bao used the dashing technique, combined with his prior knowledge of how wind works, that he made a breakthrough in his understanding.
Wind techniques, or at least the ones Jin Bao is using relies on 'Eyes' of Qi to generate wind, similar to the concept of an 'Eye of the storm', the shield is formed of 7 eyes around him in two layers, 3 top and 4 below, the winds are the strongest at the centre of the eyes contrary to a tornado and weakest between two.
When his understanding reached that point, he could feel his sight adjusting as he could now see the 'eyes' controlling the wind, when he had dashed towards Shu He, he had used 3 of those 7 eyes, the ones behind him, to propel him forward.
That's why Shu He knew, when he approached he ditched his shield and began transforming the eyes, they became thinner and span faster as if they were charging up, but his defence was gone, so Shu He was confident about the step in.
But what happened after that, was not what he expected.
As his arrow was about to hit, he felt a pulse of horrid Qi from deep inside of Jin Bao.
It sent chills down his spine as his mind froze over.
He had felt it before.
He KNEW what that Qi was.
He had expected to deal with the Elixir, but this was entirely different.
This, he couldn't forgive.
He would never forget the face and visage of the one that wielded this Qi before him before.
Tai Min, who was a living mountain of Baleful Qi.
But why was it here? What was that thing?
And why did he feel so… sick after seeing it.
And then, he immediately had his questions answered.
Jin Bao summoned a full 10 eyes of the storm in a circle in front of him, their combined might easily blew away Shu He's arrow and Shu He along with it.
And Shu He saw it with his eyes, it was as if that black core was woken up, and was squeezed of its life, the baleful Qi leaked out as that 'thing' suffered, the resulting Qi entering Jin Bao's body giving him the resources to pull off that technique!
It wasn't just that, he felt the Qi was tainted with something oh so familiar, he saw the draw of Qi towards Jin Bao grow drastically while his complexion turned a shade whiter.
Now, he stood before Jin Bao on this stage, the same as before.
But as he watched that small black core he could almost feel… it wanted to watch back.
But it couldn't see, it had no eyes.
But it couldn't hear, it had no ears.
But it couldn't feel, it had no skin.
But it couldn't taste, it had no tongue.
But it couldn't smell, it had no nose.
He didn't know what it was, he didn't know whether I was human, an animal, or something entirely different.
All he could tell was that it was in pain, suffering, tormented by its very existed.
That's why, to him.
Jin Bao was now his enemy.