Bai Jingshen naturally wouldn't know about the trouble his instructor got in. He was still taking a bigger boulder as his shield, listening to Spike's shooting. He already analyzed his environment and had a path to take in mind. Right now, he patiently counted Spike Jr.'s shots.
While waiting for Spike to run out of energy, Bai Jingshen took a quick look on his wound. He easily ripped his damaged uniform open, inspecting his lower hip. Realizing that his skin slowly turned an unhealthy black, Bai Jingshen felt his killing intent finally erupting again. He decided to throw caution out of the wind, and tank a few more bullets in order to quickly take out his opponent.
Just as Bai Jingshen wanted to weather through a hail of bullets however, a warm energy spread through his body. The former emperor blamed himself for forgetting about his core energy. He realized that his habits and instincts would kick in during a fight, so he still wasn't used to relying on his new body constitution. Bai Jingshen watched in glee, as his overbearing core energy quickly suppressed even this poison in his Dantian. He reminded himself to be cautious however, as he felt this poison struggling against his core energy. Apparently, his body wouldn't be able to deal with much stronger invaders.
Bai Jingshen took a deep breath in and out, as his wound slowly took on a healthier shade. The injury itself would still hurt, but it wasn't very threatening in this state. Focusing his mind again Bai Jingshen decided to go with his former plan before he began to count Spike's bullets in his mind.
After a few minutes of hiding, Bai Jingshen finally counted to 130. He knew that Spike could only shoot 130 bullets before running out of energy, so Bai Jingshen suddenly ran to his right. The bullet storm quickly started again, as Spike Jr. was naturally no novice and simply had already two ARs prepared, but at least Bai Jingshen won a precious second.
The former emperor rapidly accelerated in a straight line, once again showing of a perfected-stage Borde-Technique. This movement technique might nor be good at dodging bullets but its straight-line speed was among the best in the Body Refinement Realm.
Spike Jr. was caught of guard for a second, leading to all his bullets only trailing behind Bai Jingshen. This second was all the experienced veteran needed, as he quickly reached the island next to Spike's.
Bai Jingshen suddenly jumped behind cover, only half of his body still showing. He quickly drew his pistol, aimed it at a spot above Spike, which he already designated in advance and rapidly fired half a Mana Cube's worth of energy. Doing so exposed him quite a lot, leading to Spike Jr. landing two hit on his lower arm.
Bai Jingshen had to drop his pistol in pain, but he elatedly observed that his plan already worked out. Spike could only hurriedly dodge to the side, even throwing away his AR as two massive boulders splintered from the hill above him. As the young gun specialist had to give it his all in order to not be hit by any rubble, he didn't have the time to stop Bai Jingshen from closing in on him.
As Spike was finally out of danger, he couldn't react to the fist rapidly approaching his jar. He only saw it from the corner of his eye, before he took a massive impact, his head turning around do mitigate the damage. However, the braggart was still a young elite with professional training, so he managed to use the punches' momentum to gain some distance.
Bai Jingshen read his muscle movement and quickly pursued. He began to rain punches down on Spike like a savage, purposely aiming at his face. The latter was able to put up a hasty defense, but still groaned from each punch he took. After a few strikes Spike Jr. luckily noticed, that Bai Jingshen's injured left hand definitely was slower than his right. He patiently took three more punches, before his hand suddenly struck like a viper, his fingers hitting Bai Jingshen's wound.
Spike Jr. already seemed to see Bai Jingshen reeling in pain, but to his shock he was only met with an emotionless face and a kick to his guts. Unguarded, Bai Jingshen's heavy kick turned out o be to much for Spike. The young man fell backwards, holding his stomach. Lying on the ground he could not do any more than frantically evading Bai Jingshen's stomps.
He had no time to think about it, but the audience seeing this could only picture a bug trying to escape. Spike Sr.'s smug grin slowly vanished. He sure was happy as he managed to one-up his enemy today, but now he had to watch his son being humiliated. He was seething with rage and could only hold himself back from thrashing the room, as he saw Phill let his finger hover over his bracelet.
Bai Jingshen was thoroughly venting his emotions. If he really wanted to hurt Spike, he could have done so easily as soon as he got in close combat. He knew how many cultivators cared about face, but in his mind face wasn't worth sh*t if you were crippled or dead, so he thought it was really merciful of him to only humiliate Spike a bit. Sadly, his opponent had a different view of things. His father always taught him how important face was. Therefore, he even got reprimanded before this match, as he admitted how he got publicly scared by Bai Jingshen.
Right now, Spike would rather be dead than crawling on the ground. He still had grenades and a backup pistol, but somehow Bai Jingshen would always notice if he wanted to grab them, quickly stomping down on his hand. Even the flash activated by his bionic eye didn't seem to inconvenience Bai Jingshen at all, as the latter still accurately kicked his hands.
After half a minute Bai Jingshen felt his illusionary core rapidly spinning in his mind. This was definitely the strongest reaction he felt since arriving in the Rising Force World. Bai Jingshen observed Spike's face as it showed a wild mix of strong emotions. He could mostly spot rage, panic, fright, and regret. After such a thorough beating, Bai Jingshen already vented his own emotions towards Spike Jr., so he decided to end this.
Suddenly he threw out a faint, catching Spike Jr. off guard. The latter wasn't able to avoid the rapidly incoming next kick, getting hit in his flank. He started to writhe as all the air was suddenly punched out of his lungs. Bai Jingshen's kick sent him flying through the air until he heavily dove into the surrounding water. Spike was too weak to struggle, slowly falling unconscious in this strange peacefulness.
The very moment Spike Jr. fell unconscious, Bai Jingshen was declared winner as the entire environment suddenly vanished. While the two young men were suddenly falling to the ground, Bai Jingshen braced himself for the impact, but to his surprise the metal he landed on weirdly turned fluffy like clouds. Even Spike was gently embraced by the ground as he landed, not even waking up. To Bai Jingshen's continued surprise a hatch opened to the side, letting in Phill on his floating platform and a similar device, which carried two nurses and a medical stretcher.
The nurses gently put Spike on the stretcher as Phill congratulated Bai Jingshen on his win, while eyeing Bai Jingshen's wound. The former emperor didn't care enough to hide his body constitution. Although they granted cultivators a big advantage, they weren't rare enough to make a big fuss over it.
The former emperor hadn't considered however, that body constitutions weren't even a thing in the Rising Force World, so Phill was simply confused. Bai Jingshen's strong healing rather resembled someone who had consumed gene boosters before. However only the richest of the rich would be able to give their children a weaker form of gene boosters early on, gifting them an incredible foundation and stronger abilities at the Gene Activation Realm. No one in the whole Republic would have the connections and money required to do so.
As Phill was chosen to be a guide at the competition, he also passed a rough social training. So, he would suddenly pry into other's private business, wordlessly flying Bai Jingshen back towards Thobar's viewing platform. On the way the latter noted with interest, how the nurse's device closed itself of off the law's suppression with a transparent bubble. He inwardly praised the competition's good organization.
As soon as Bai Jingshen arrived at the viewing platform he could feel a fierce aura filling the cube with pressure. Phill rolled his eyes and valiantly led the way for Bai Jingshen, while the nurses were still taking care of Spike Jr.
When the main door opened, Bai Jingshen's instinct suddenly kicked in. His eyes opened wide, as he saw a bright yellow beam heading for his face. Spike Sr. didn't even have the patience to say anything, directly firing at Bai Jingshen. If this beam hit, only ash would remain of the former emperor.
Bai Jingshen's brain went into overdrive, as he suddenly activated his illusionary core. Just when he decided to use the White Illusion Arts' last resort and sacrifice his illusionary core, he was shocked to find Phill shielding in front of himself.
However, he didn't have enough time to be touched, as the beam quickly arrived. Bai Jingshen now realized though, that he seemingly worried too much. A necklace over Phill's chest suddenly shined in a bright blue, shielding the both of them behind a wave of mana. As Spike's shot splashed against the walls, only making light scratches while destroying the surrounding luxurious furniture, a loud alarm suddenly sounded in their room.
All of a sudden, tens of weapons emerged from the ceiling and walls, all pointing their glowing muzzles at Spike Sr., while a mechanical voice began speaking:
"Emergency in cube 13. I repeat. Emergency in cube 13. Attack on organizer detected."