The attack of Long Jian was going straight for Cao Yun's head at full power. Even receiving this attack in his robe, it would have been dangerous, but in his unprotected head, he would die instantly. Jong Lian tried to stop his own momentum but it was way too late. Even by reducing the shock of the attack, Cao Yun was apparently completely out and he wouldn't be able to defend at all. The time seemed to be frozen for Long Jian as he was seeing this disaster that was about to happen without any way to prevent it.
All of a sudden, a hand grabbed the blade itself and stopped it right away. Time resumed for Long Jian. A pain in his arm jolted him back to reality as all the force he had put in his sword went back to him when it was stopped. Chief Elder Baishen was obviously the one who had intervened.
Up in the air, above the clouds, Chief Elder Suxian and Xiao Xuefeng were both ready as well but Chief Elder Baishen had been closer. With one hand she had stopped Long Jian's sword and completely negated his momentum. With the other arm, she stopped Cao Yun from falling to the ground. He had literally used every ounce of strength in his body. His muscles were all exhausted, even his heart. In fact, his heart had almost stopped for an instant.
Chief Elder Baishen sent her spiritual senses all over Cao Yun's body. Fortunately, he didn't seem to have any internal injuries. The technique he had used seemed to have accelerated the Qi in his body to its maximum limit. This ultra fast Qi had pushed his body, increasing his physical abilities sixfold. However, this was so taxing that he couldn't move even a single finger. He had already used a similar move during his training but he hadn't pushed it to such an extreme. Against Long Jian, he got a bit overwhelmed and went too far.
"Sister Baishen, let me take a look." The telepathic voice of Xiao Xuefeng echoed in the chief elder's head. She then sensed the alchemist's spiritual senses all over Cao Yun and didn't try to stop her.
"He's mostly fine, but this technique is way too dangerous for him. Several of his organs almost shut down. Did you know about this?"
Chief Elder Baishen felt both bad and guilty. She did know about this technique but she hadn't seen him push it to such an extreme.
"When I saw it, he only increased his strength two to threefold. I didn't think that there could be such a situation... Don't worry, I'll talk to him about this."
While they were talking, Long Jian looked down. On his black armor, there was a long scratch. The spear of Cao Yun had left a terrible scar on this 4-star Human armor. Of course, Long Jian could have enhanced it by sending Qi through it. But even without Qi circulating through the armor, only a Mortal Warrior should have been able to damage it. At this moment, Long Jian realized that if he had fought against Cao Yun when he was still a 9th-grade Mortal, he would have been defeated. This boy's martial art was impressive. And his fighting sense was also extremely sharp. Despite his great speed, Cao Yun had been able to predict where he would strike from. Even though he couldn't follow his movements, he had predicted his pattern to use it against him.
The crowd was speechless for a while.
Then, a voice resounded. It was the voice of Chief Elder Baishen.
"Chen Guo is unconscious. Long Jian is victorious."
This simple remark broke the dam. Loud cheers erupted from all around the square. Most of them were not addressed toward Long Jian but to Cao Yun. He had fought against a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior while still being a middle 7th-grade Mortal himself. Of course, the Mortal Warrior had not used any Qi Manifestation. And of course, Cao Yun had lost in the end. But he had almost won. Everyone was able to see that if Long Jian had been an instant too late, the attack would have pierced through Long Jian's armor. Chief Elder Baishen would have then stopped the fight to declare Cao Yun the winner.
Chan Weifeng was in the crowd but he was too pensive to cheer with the others. He had enjoyed the fight as Long Jian had pushed Cao Yun to his limit. There was no need for him to challenge Cao Yun anymore. From what he had seen, Cao Yun would not be able to be a worthy opponent for at least a couple of years. If he became a Mortal Warrior then the fight may prove interesting, but not before that. What made him so pensive was Long Jian's performance.
On the platform, Long Jian finally came back to reality.
"Thank you, Chief Elder. I couldn't have controlled it... I'll apologize to Chen Guo later."
"No need for that. You did nothing wrong. That was precisely why I was here. You should just let him rest. And think about your next fight as well. Everyone is waiting for your final fight. Do not disappoint us!"
Long Jian cupped his fists and Chief Elder Baishen flew in the air with Cao Yun. His friends who were cheering with the crowd were a bit worried so they decided to go to the physician pavilion.
When Long Jian left the platform, he saw Chan Weifeng with a somewhat sad face.
"Brother Chan, maybe you wanted to fight with Junior Brother Chen as well?"
"The idea crossed my mind, but thanks to you, I've seen his full potential. I'm really looking forward to his future progress. However... I don't want to sound too harsh, Brother... But did you really give your best?"
Long Jian had a foreboding feeling. Deep down, he didn't want to, but he still asked his question.
"Are you saying that this level of strength is insufficient against you?"
Chan Wiefeng turned toward him, dead serious.
"Indeed. Even though you were restraining your cultivation, I could somehow see that none of your attacks should be able to pierce my defenses."
Long Jian saw in his rival's eyes that he wasn't trying to be arrogant or boastful. He was perfectly sincere and this ignited something in Long Jian's heart. He had already fought several times against Chan Weifeng but he had never felt this deep confidence in him. In fact, they had switched their rankings quite often. The only explanation was that Chan Weifeng had made a breakthrough. His cultivation was the same, so it was his martial arts. He had probably understood something new in his martial art.
"Brother Chan. I'm looking forward to our final duel. If what you say is true, you won't blame me for being too ruthless, right?"
"Quite the opposite, Brother. Be as ruthless as you can or you'll lose too fast."
Both men smiled at each other. The other disciples around had obviously heard the entire conversation and were completely crazy. This was the fight everyone was waiting for. There were three fights all the disciples wanted to see.
The first one had just finished. The other two were between the two highest ranked from the second-years, Zhi Yin and Long Huafang, and the two greatest faction leaders, Long Jian and Chan Weifeng.
-
Cao Yun woke up several hours later. His friends were all around him. Ren Chao was the loudest but they all cheered for him. Cao Yun was still a bit weak but he thoroughly enjoyed this festive occasion. They even agreed to dine together to celebrate the end of the year, after all the other duels would be over.
His friends then let him get some rest. They also left because Chief Elder Baishen was coming in.
"Stupid disciple! Didn't I tell you not to use it?! Your technique is way too dangerous. You're lucky you're even alive!" Chief Elder Baishen was both relieved and pissed off. "You're really lucky! There's no damage in your body. You pushed this technique too far too fast. Some of your organs almost stopped working. You realize you could have ruptured your meridians as well, right?"
"I'm sorry, Master. I wasn't able to control it. I sincerely thought I could. I tried to increase my strength all the way to the Mortal Warrior level. But the Qi was too difficult to control then and I went too far..."
"Until you forge the fifth star and observe it, you won't be able to control this technique. That's why I told you not to use it in an actual fight, stupid!"
Cao Yun had only exhibited this technique once, against Guan Mo. Back then, he didn't go very far, just enough to pierce through his Wei Qi. And using the surprise, he had beat him, for the first time. Even though it was powerful, Chief Elder Baishen had warned him that he could lose control over this. This technique consisted in accelerating his Qi and sending it at full speed all over his body. A fraction of this high-speed Qi would then enter his muscles and his various tissues to increase Cao Yun's physical abilities.
But he hadn't yet forged the fifth star and he only had a vague idea of how it worked. Thus, controlling it was extremely difficult and it could get out of hand really fast. Cao Yun had tried to increase his strength just enough to beat Long Jian. But, even with his mind cultivation, his own Qi got out of control and went too fast. Some of it even sank deep in his organs and almost killed him. Thankfully, the Drop of Wrath in his heart had instinctively deviated a surge of Qi going straight for it. If it hadn't, Cao Yun would be dead by now.
However, despite the risk, he had also gained something. In his sea of consciousness, the fifth star was now visible.
After pushing this technique to his utmost limit, he had gained more understanding about this star, the Heart Star. Usually, he understood the star and then, only after that, he derived its technique. But by just seeing a glimpse of it, he had got a part of the technique and from it he had forged the star. The first time, he had only seen a small red dot. Right now, this star was the brightest in the sky. However, it was still tiny compared to the other stars. By observing it some more, Cao Yun realized that this star was in reality at least a hundred of times bigger than the Room Star. But it was so far away that it seemed tiny in comparison.
What was not tiny at all was its brightness. It shined a crimson red way brighter than any other star in his sea of consciousness. It was even brighter than all the stars he had seen in real life. This was extremely beautiful. Given its position, it really looked like it was the heart of the Azure Dragon.
Seeing his surprise, Chief Elder Baishen understood right away. "You've forged the Heart Star, right? Well, that's a good thing... However, until you've mastered this technique, don't use it! And even when you master it, limit yourself!"
She paused a bit to calm down and spoke with more conviction and determination. "As your master, I demand that you promise something. Unless there is a deadly situation and you have no other way - no other way! - only then can you use this technique. Promise me this!"
Well, it wasn't that bad of a promise. In fact, Cao Yun himself had realized how reckless he had been. He just got carried away during the fight. And to be honest, he really wanted to try out this new technique. To be fair, he still kinda wanted to try it out... Deep down, he knew that this was a bad idea, but he still felt that he could control it if he tried enough. Training was a bit too addictive to Cao Yun. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing as it allowed him to progress very fast. But with a technique that was so dangerous, he had to control himself and his eagerness to test it out.
"Master. I swear that, until I fully understand this move from the Heart Star, I will only use it if the situation is desperate and I see no other solution."
Cao Yun was too weak to stand up but he cupped his fists and bowed in his bed.
"Good." Chief Elder Baishen finally calmed down. "However, I must admit that this fight was exceptional!" Her fear for her disciple had masked her excitement, but now it was back.
"I've seen techniques that could push someone further for an instant. But increasing all your physical abilities sixfold, that's really something else! Even before that, the intuition you showed during the fight... If I didn't know better, I would have said that you had spiritual senses!"
Chief Elder Baishen went on and on about this fight.
-
Long Jian was also very surprised by this last move and by the overall fight.
"When he finally reaches Mortal Warrior, I don't think I'll be his match at all. I really need to train more! Brother Chan also believes that I won't be able to beat him."
He was alone with Mu Hue. She knew Long Jian well enough to know that this was excitement in his voice, not fear. This fight and the comments from Chan Weifeng made him want to push himself.
"The only reason why Brother Chan is so confident is because he had a breakthrough in his martial art. I'm sure of it. It means that I just need to break through as well."
"Brother Long, you only have two weeks to train. Do you think it will be enough?"
Long Jian raised his head to look at Mu Hue. "I don't know... But it won't stop me from trying. If Brother Chan told this to me, I'm sure it's because he wants me to push my own limits. Everyone wants to see our fight. I won't disappoint them!"
Until the very last moment, Long Jian decided to train with all he had.
-
These were the last days of this first year. Many people had been excited by Cao Yun's fight, but now, the two main duels were there.
Several fights occurred between first-years, but Cao Yun did not participate and no one dared challenge him. It was now clear for everyone that no Mortal cultivator could beat him in a fight. Mei Hua, Sun Liao and Ren Chao were not fighting either. They had spent most of the year focusing on their respective occupations after all.
There were still a lot of challenges though. The duels spanned several days. Cao Yun wasn't that interested in watching them. Instead, he focused on his mind cultivation and his martial arts. He knew that by developing his mind, he would understand the Heart Star faster.
However, he came to watch the final duel of the second-years, Zhi Yin versus Long Huafang.