A big difference was already apparent among the two fighters in the ring. While Bai Jingshen just continued to calmly watch on, Terr was already growing impatient. Bai Jingshen felt like standing opposite a stupid bull pawing its hooves, rather than a majestic eagle patiently gliding in the sky. At this point Bai Jingshen already lost all his respect for his opponent. Even the stupid bull could pick up on Bai Jingshen looking down on him, making him even angrier.
Finally, the two instructors turned towards the fighting stage and Terr instantly made the first move. His hands former a claw as he shot towards Bai Jingshen. This technique obviously emphasized speed.
Terr aimed at Bai Jingshen's chest. The former emperor looked as if he wasn't able to react, only to suddenly turn away and placing his elbow in Terr's way.
Surprisingly the young man managed to not run into Bai Jingshen's elbow. He used his other hand to push Bai Jingshen away and came to a standstill one meter away from him.
Terr gathered his strength in his legs, and with a low thud sound, he pushed himself forward, this time even faster. His two hands formed claws and ripped through the air.
Bai Jingshen planted his feet on the ground. He seemingly could only take this blow head on. Again, in the last second though, Bai Jingshen dived forward underneath Terr's claw attack.
"Bastard.", shouted an annoyed Terr.
"Stupid newbie, bring out some technique."
The young man didn't realize, that Bai Jingshen looked at him with playful eyes. With those two attacks, Bai Jingshen was already certain about his opponents fighting style. Those claw attacks didn't even aim for his vitals. No, their goal was to bleed out the enemy. Especially against big beasts they would swoop in, wound the beast and fly back out as fast as possible. Bai Jingshen was even sure, that a cultivator above the Nascent Soul Realm invented this technique, as it really would only show their strength in flight. But in this battle right now those attacks where simply to telegraphed.
Terr grew more annoyed by the second. He turned towards his opponent again, a ruthlessness appearing on his face. Once again he gathered all his power and brought his right hand down from above his opponent. Bai Jingshen stood there in a defensive posture, waiting for Terr's attack.
Suddenly, while Bai Jingshen evaded Terr's claw attack to the left, the young man swooped out with his free hand. Bai Jingshen instantly knew this wouldn't hit him, but his years of fighting still told him to be careful.
All of a sudden sharp metal blades shot out of Terr's fingers, catching Bai Jingshen off guard. He simply wasn't used to people having bionics yet.
Bai Jingshen could only deflect those blades with his underarm, leaving an ugly looking, bloody claw mark behind.
His adversary was thrilled about his successful attack threw his head back, laughing.
"Haha bastard. Have enough now? Better run home to your mother and get those wounds treated, they are poisonous after all. Come on, gi… "
Annoyed at himself for having such a blunder, Bai Jingshen's fist raced through the air, accurately finding Terr's blind spot. Before Terr even knew what hit him, he tumbled two meters backwards, his jaw completely dislocated.
Bennet angrily turned towards claw, wanting to interrupt the match. The use of poison wasn't prohibited beforehand, but he still didn't think a young disciple would be this vicious. Out of the corner of his eyes though, he saw Bai Jingshen shaking his had at him and decided to trust him for now.
Truthfully, Bai Jingshen wasn't completely sure what happened, but a new energy suddenly spread through his body. This energy felt absolutely overbearing and quickly suppressed most of the poison in Bai Jingshen's Dantian. The former emperor was shocked, as the Dantian was a cultivators most important place.
Out of the three treasures everyone possesses, namely the essence, Qi and spirit, cultivators gather their Qi in the Dantian. Obviously, the slightest damage to this place had sever consequences. Your cultivation would drastically slow down, you might feel immense pain while guiding your Qi, or you might even be unable to cultivate at all. Therefore, Bai Jingshen had to observe carefully what was happening in his body. He didn't even care as Terr got rid of his dizziness, spurring insults again and readying himself for another attack. Only because he felt that this energy seemed to be intricately tied to his body, did he decide not to intervene directly. Finally, after this new energy suppressed the poison securely in his Dantian, could Bai Jingshen put his attention back on the fight.
Terr was already livid, as his enemy didn't even have his mind on their fight. He learned from his previous attempts though, and decided not to attack Bai Jingshen right away. His enemy was already poisoned, so he would surely give up right away. He could already imagine the scene of bai Jingshen on his knees, while he would trample that annoying face under his feet. Just as Terr was already picturing his victory, he heard the grating sound of Bai Jingshen's voice again.
"This all you got? Poison?"
"So what. It's more than enough for you. Will you begin begging already?"
As Terr was sure he had already won, he was all the more unnerved by his opponent not showing any weakness. Instead, Bia Jingshen even began to talk. The former emperor surely could end the fight quickly if he went on the offensive, but he was slightly worried about something happening to the poison if he suddenly moved. Therefore Bai Jingshen decided to disrupt his opponents mental state first.
Mental warfare was something everyone in the White Illusion Sect had to be proficient in. The Illusion part in their name was obvious, but not many people understood, that the "White" part in White Illusion Arts also had a special meaning. It represented the White Illusion Sect's way of seeing everything around them as a blank canvas. Their desire was to fill this canvas with Illusions so beautiful, no enemy could ever extract themselves out of them, if they ever got caught in an intricate illusion. Every weapon could be used as a pencil, but the best colors were the myriad emotions all living beings felt. Sure, technique was important and Qi would make their colors all the more vivid and lifelike, but emotions served as the White Illusion Arts' foundation.
Therefore, disciple of the White Illusion Sect were required to have a rich experience. They were supposed to go out and interact with others as much as possible. Be it laughing, grieving, being angry or intoxicated, all of those were valuable lessons. At the same time the White Illusion Arts thaught their disciples to not be consumed by those emotions. Your will has to be strong enough to always extract yourself out of those feelings, or you might even fall prey to your own illusions. But Bai Jingshen's enemies wouldn't have such training most of the time.
Almost all people, even in the Great Cultivation World, had the wrong assumption that having a calm mind, being rational or suppressing one's emotions would help against Illusions. While this might be true for others, the White Illusion Arts were especially good at dealing with those cultivators. The more they tried to deny their emotions, the harder they would drown in them after the White Illusion Arts brought those to the forefront of their minds. Only the illusion art's user should have a calm mind to a certain degree, like a painter admiring his own painting from the outside.
However, the easiest, although simply a bit rare, type of enemy to defeat for Bai Jingshen were still those inexperienced brats.
After feeling this energy in his body, Bai Jingshen desired to finally take a closer look at his special constitution. This fight proved to be a waste of time and he couldn't even end it fast. Bai Jingshen choose to sink a bit into the anger he felt over being poisoned.
Slowly the world in Bai Jingshen's eyes got coated in a red shimmer and his face turned slightly ferocious. Uncharacteristic, wicious words thus left Bai Jingshen's tongue:
"Look at you, poison user. Not confident in yourself? Afraid of your brother leaving you in the dust?"
The change in the mood caught Terr of guard, but hearing Bai Jingshen's words quickly made him see red. It was true and he knew it. His brother was hailed as a genius by all, while he was regarded as a sidekick. After experiencing other's scorn from all sides, he could only seek closeness with his master. He slowly became the favorite disciple, but he could still feel it. He wasn't his brothers match at all. Following his master here, he thought he could win against a newbie and boost his confidence, but now he was loosing again.
"I can see it. The anger coming up. Anger at yourself, your master, your brother. Your parents!"
With the mentioning of their parents, Terr suddenly snapped. This was his most hurtful memory. Being discarded by his father, as his younger brother proved to be so talented. Slowly his personality got twisted, and he did cruel things while longing for attention. His mother became the last straw holding his sanity together. But ever since he joined Dragon's Tail, he wasn't able to see her again. Bai Jingshen bringing up his parents made him throw all rationality out of his mind and he used every bit of his strength. In his mind, Bai Jingshen began resembling his hated father.
For someone with such obvious issues, Bai Jingshen didn't even need real illusion arts. Terr had already lost his mind, storming at Bai Jingshen without using any technique. Bai Jingshen wasn't some kind of monster, however. Just as Terr arrived in front of Bai Jingshen, the latter let go of the anger he tapped into before and spoke with a warm, fatherly smile on his face:
"Don't' force yourself. You are good the way you are."
Only Terr could hear these words however, before Bai Jingshen made one evasive step and knocked him unconscious with a chop at the back of his neck, his face impassive again.