"So? Are you ready to suffer?" Luduo Bu walked past Cao Yun and laughed. Mei Ying hid behind her sister and Cao Yun. At first, Mei Hua did not want her to come but she had insisted.
"I know that Big Brother is fighting for me.... I want to be here to cheer for him." Behind some fear, her sister could see a real determination both in her eyes and her words. The little girl had trained, or played, almost every day with Cao Yun. In fact, even though it was some kind of breather for Cao Yun, he still trained her seriously. Within this period, she had truly progressed in her martial arts. Just like her sister, she was as devoted as she was talented, just not toward the same goal. But these sisters were blessed indeed, as one was a genius alchemist and the other had a great potential for martial arts.
No one tried to answer or delay Luduo Bu. Sun Liao and Ren Chao were both ready to jump the guy but they knew it would be bad for their friend.
"Brother Chen! Beat him up! I heard what this bastard did... I'd really like to hammer his teeth in!"
"For once I concur totally with the hammer-head. This man is unworthy of our Wubei Sect. Being in the same uniform he wears feels insulting in and of itself."
"Do not worry, my friends. I saw what he was capable of." He turned back toward the two young men. "I wouldn't be here if I hadn't thought of ways to win." He looked pensive for a while. To be honest, he wasn't sure he would be able to win against him.
A small hand tugged on his sleeve. When he looked down, he saw Mei Ying.
"Big Brother. If you're in danger, just stop. Don't get hurt because of me."
With a big smile replacing the seriousness of his face, Cao Yun patted her head. "Silly you. I don't intend to get hurt at all. And how could I get hurt with you cheering for me?!"
He stood up and looked at all his friends. Finally he asked a last question to Mei Hua.
"I saw that Guest Elder Xiao wasn't here. Do you know why?"
After looking toward the chief elders, Mei Hua sighed and replied. "She got word of suspicious activities and decided to investigate it. She did not give me the details and I did not ask. I know she came here for a very important mission and I think this is part of it. It's just that the timing is..."
Seeing a strange look on Mei Hua's face, Cao Yun could not keep himself from asking yet another last question. "What do you mean when you talk about the timing?"
"It's just that she left soon after Luduo Bu got out of the Devil's Jail." After an awkward pause, she kept going. "But I'm probably just imagining things. You shouldn't think about this right now. Focus on your duel!"
"Of course I will! Trust me, I'm not going there to lose!"
As Cao Yun went toward the platform, he thought some more about this. It really looked like there was some kind of conspiracy. Maybe some people did not want Xiao Xuefeng to interfere with Luduo Bu's fight, or maybe there was something more. This piece of news about suspicious activities ought to be related to demonic cultivators. The first time Cao Yun had met Xiao Xuefeng, she was chasing demonic cultivators. And she was from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. The first time he had met someone from that institute, a demonic cultivator was involved as well.
More and more, Cao Yun was wondering whether he was specifically targeted or if the heavens were just playing with him. Apparently a demonic cultivator had slaughtered his family and he seemed to be knee deep in their intrigue right now.
All these thoughts were poisoning his mind. But the moment he set foot on the platform, his mind cultivation circulated and all these thoughts disappeared. His new level of mastery allowed him to perfectly control his train of thoughts and focus all his intention exactly where he wanted to.
This time, Chief Elder Bian himself stood up. Even though he was pretty far from the platform, his voice echoed throughout the entire square.
"I know that there is a grudge between you two. However, the rules of our Wubei Sect are absolute! Accidents can happen during a fight, but if either one of you tries to voluntarily kill or maim his opponent, the consequences will be dire. For this duel, I will personally be the referee. No matter what happens, you must obey my instructions! Is it clear?"
Both of them bowed and cupped their fists toward Chief Elder Bian. "This disciple understands, Chief Elder!"
"Good! Let the fight begin!"
-
The onlookers were a little perplexed by this attitude of Chief Elder Bian, but they did not take it to heart. On the other hand, Chief Elder Baishen was disgusted. In her eyes, Luduo Bu was the worst of the worst and Chief Elder Bian gave off the impression he was treating him on an equal footing with Cao Yun.
Besides her, Chief Elder Suxian and Chief Elder Luoming were back to their usual bickering.
"Brother Suxian, who do you think will win? This Chen Guo boy seemed to really interest Sister Baishen and he even defeated the young Zhi Yin."
"Well, I'm no expert in terms of martial arts. We should ask Sister Baishen instead." He turned toward the old lady. "So, what do you think, Sister?"
She was more cold than usual due to Chief Elder Bian's presence. "I sincerely do not know. There is something really unusual with this brute..." Eying Chief Elder Bian, she added "It's almost as if he got stronger in the Devil's Jail. What a great punishment that should have been!" The strict man became even more tense but did not react as he was watching over the duel.
Chief Elder Luoming was deeply shocked. "Even Sister does not know who'll win?! So, Brother Suxian, do you dare to bet on this duel?"
"Bet with you?! Do you think I did not learn my lesson during the entrance exam?! I won't bet!" This time, Chief Elder Suxian was very adamant.
"Oh?! Too bad." Chief Elder Luoming took out a small box out from his uniform. As soon as he saw it, Chief Elder Suxian was transfixed.
"Is this...? Is this... Exquisite Purple Jasmin?" While speaking, he almost was drooling.
Chief Elder Luoming was speaking very casually and feigned indifference. "Indeed it is. I thought you might want to bet for it, but I was mistaken. Well, too bad."
"Wait!" The line had been casted and the fish took interest in the bait. Chief Elder Suxian thought a long time over it. "Fine! But I'll bet on the Chen Guo boy this time. And it depends on what you want from me..."
"Nothing much, Brother. I heard you're about to achieve 4-star Heaven array formation master. I happen to have an ancient array formation plate in need of repair. It's at least a 3-star Heaven rank plate. It shouldn't take you more than four months to repair it, right?"
"And you want to bet against a free repair? Fine, I agree."
"Thank you, Brother."
"Wait! Did you find the Exquisite Purple Jasmin to pay me for the repairs?!" A sudden realization came to Chief Elder Suxian who watched his friend with an evil eye. "So if I had refused your bet, you would have asked me to repair it in exchange for these tea leaves, right?!"
"Brother, you make it sound like I tricked you... But you're right. I had indeed searched for this Exquisite Purple Jasmin to ask for your help. But remember that if you win the bet, you'll get it for free and I'll still have to pay you for the repairs."
Chief Elder Suxian was pissed off again. These two chief elders just couldn't stop their feud. From an outsider's perspective, they seemed to always fight each other. But in truth, they were really good friends. It's just that Chief Elder Luoming loved teasing him.
"Fine! This time, I'll trust in that Chen Guo guy. Even my disciple trusts him after all."
"Oh?! Sun Liao is already your disciple?"
"Well, not officially. But I'm just trying to push him to get his next ranking emblem. He'll soon get it and then it will be official. His only shortcoming was his character and it got fixed, thanks to Chen Guo by the way. I can't wait to see his fight after two months in the sect."
"Well, I'm a bit worried for him since he also learned alchemy. He couldn't have had that much time to work on his martial arts."
As soon as Chief Elder Luoming doubted Cao Yun's martial arts, Chief Elder Baishen interrupted him. "I can assure you that he did not slack off at all in regards to his martial arts. If he was faced against Zhi Yin, he would win even if she used all of her means. It's just that Luduo Bu seems really strange today..."
-
On the platform, Cao Yun and Luduo Bu were facing each other. Inside his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was circulating his mind cultivation to its paroxysm. First of all, he needed to keep the Drop of Wrath in check as it kept on getting excited by Luduo Bu. Thankfully, his mastery of the Po character had increased and he could do so more easily. But he also used his mind cultivation to increase his senses and his reflexes. He also even used his 'Shen Visualization'. Thanks to the little understanding he had of 'Bloody Cavalry', he knew all the moves Luduo Bu could use with this martial art.
But he couldn't be sure of the way Luduo Bu would use them and all the variations he could produce from them.
Anyway, Cao Yun took the stance he had learned from the Neck Star, 'The Moon Grounds the Sun'. From this stance, he could perform all his attacks and give them more power. On the other hand, he could also dodge more easily and retaliate in the same movement.
Luduo Bu took no stance at all and just grabbed his halberd still slick with blood. The blood moved strangely and took the form of characters. These were the same characters as the runes that were deep within his own blood.
All of a sudden, his halberd moved and before any onlooker could understand what was going on, a scar appeared on the platform. It wasn't very deep as the platform was meant to resist duels between early Mortal Warriors, but the area was still pretty wide all things considered. Apart from the chief elders, Long Jian and Chan Weifeng, no one saw clearly the attack. Neither did they see Cao Yun's movement.
Indeed, Cao Yun had dodged the move with ease. And as soon as he evaded 'Butcher's Cleaver', he used 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'. His spear stabbed straight for Luduo Bu's chest. Stunned for just an instant after realizing Cao Yun's speed was beyond what he imagined, Luduo Bu still moved his halberd to block the attack and did not flinch at all.
On the halberd, a thin layer of blood absorbed the impact entirely.
'Splitting the Oceans'. An horizontal strike from his halberd tried to cut off Cao Yun's legs. But once more, he dodged. This time, he leapt into the sky and used the same 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'. Luduo Bu deflected the 'Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear' and unleashed 'Thousand Cut Blade'. As Cao Yun was in the air, he could not dodge at all. Only a Mortal Warrior could move a little through the air thanks to his Qi Manifestation and only a Spirit Warrior could freely fly through the air.
Nevertheless, Cao Yun was able to dodge. He unleashed several 'Dragon's Twin Horns' in the opposite direction. These small vortexes of wind allowed him to move and land a bit farther.
Frustrated, Luduo Bu became more relentless. He unleashed attack after attack but Cao Yun seemed to be able to dodge all of them. In fact, Cao Yun was very close to completely understanding the concept of 'stillness within movement'. And using his understanding with 'movement within stillness' allowed him to dodge as precisely as possible. With his 'Shen Visualization' and his heightened senses, he could avoid the attacks more and more minutely.
As the fight went on, the Neck Star started to shine with more and more color. A great orange star was burning in Cao Yun's sea of consciousness.
At last, Luduo Bu got enough of it. He stabbed his halberd in the platform, the edge faced to him. And he cut his own arm on the blade. A bright red fluid flowed all over the weapon and two characters flew from his wounds. They were very strange runes that no one could read. As two small fireflies, they were floating around Luduo Bu.
Luduo Bu had only taken out his first two Blood Runes. The other ones had been formed with human blood. Only Xiao Xuefeng had enough perception to see through his body and notice them. However, if he took them out, all the chief elders gathered here would see that they were made from human blood and he would immediately be captured as a demonic cultivator. Manipulating blood was not inherently evil, but stealing the essence blood of humans was. Then, the chief elders would search the surroundings and with their senses, finding the bodies he had hidden would be easy if they knew what they were looking for. Very quickly, it would be shown that he slaughtered innocent cultivators to steal their blood.
The orthodox way could accept stealing the blood of someone who attacked you as killing in self-defense was of course permitted. But killing innocent cultivators, or worse, innocent mortals, was heavily frowned upon. Everyone knew that this happened but if you went to the point of stealing their blood, flesh, or even soul, you would be denounced as a member of the Evil Path.
The audience got over excited.
"Is this Qi Manifestation in the Mortal realm?!"
"No, it's impossible. Luduo Bu is not even in the 8th-grade Mortal. His acupoints should still be closed."
"Wait! I heard about people born with acupoints naturally open. There was even a legend about someone whose all acupoints were open at birth."
A small laugh of ridicule erupted behind all these conversations. All the onlookers got irritated as they thought someone was mocking them. They turned around and saw Long Jian. As the number one on the ranking scroll, he immediately calmed down their irritation. He had the qualification to mock them all.
"This is not Qi Manifestation. First of all, these bloody characters did not come out of his acupoints, he had to cut open his body himself. And neither can he directly control them. They are most likely an emanation of a secret technique. They will amplify his strength but they can only follow his martial art understanding. He cannot control them with his mind and Qi yet."