Asura woke up early in the morning, excited for his matches. He proceeded towards the arena.
Xie Ling was already present in the spectator seats. Sometime later, Asura's matches started.
Asura entered the stage as Xuanyuan entered the stage.
Xie Ling shouted, "Big brother, beat that man quickly!"
Asura smiled when he heard Xie Ling shouting and nodded to her.
Xuanyuan said, "Brother Asura, I heard of your name so I won't go easy on you."
Asura replied "Don't worry, I won't go easy on you either. But for fairness, I will lower my cultivation to match your level so we can fight at our full strength."
Xuanyuan was surprised "Brother Asura, you have broken through to the second stage already. I admire you. You know I only recently broke through to the first stage of the spiritual realm, almost the same time as you, but I am still at the peak of the first stage while you have broken through the second stage."
Asura replied, "There is nothing to admire, you are almost half a year younger than me yet you reached the spiritual realm at such an age while I was only at the sixth stage of the Temper realm at that age."
Half a year ago, it was true that he was only at the sixth stage of the Temper Realm. If he had not received help from the orchid spirit plant which he obtained by winning against Li Cao, it would not have been possible for him to reach the Spirit Realm in such a short period of time for an Asura.
This shows that Asura's rapid improvement over the last six months has largely been due to external factors, not his natural giftedness. Before obtaining the orchid spirit plant, Asura's progress was normal for a disciple of his background and age. His natural talent alone would not have enabled him to break through to the Spirit Realm so quickly.
The orchid spirit plant was a tremendous stroke of fortune that granted Asura a huge boost in cultivation, allowing him to advance to the Spirit Realm in a very short period of time. However, it also made his battle efficiency lower initially where he had to make up for it by training in the Dark Forest. Now, his battle efficiency is no weaker than before due to his hard work and training.
Xuanyuan felt happy to hear that, realizing that although Asura's cultivation was increasing quickly, he was still inferior to same-age geniuses in terms of cultivation talent.
The referee announced the start of the fight.
They started battling, first using their physical bodies to test each other's strength.
The sound of punches landing on each other's bodies could be heard from far away. Suddenly, a cracking sound echoed in the arena. It was Xuanyuan - he couldn't tolerate the punches of Asura and his rib cage bones broke from Asura's punch.
Xuanyuan complimented, "Brother Asura, your physical body is much stronger than I expected."
Asura replied, "Thank you."
Xuanyuan then said, "Let's use spiritual energy now. In physical ability, I've lost."
Asura replied with, "OK."
Both of them blasted spiritual energy against each other. They also used punches and kicks, but this time, spiritual energy was embedded in them. After a few exchanges, they retreated, and everyone could see that Xuanyuan was again at a disadvantage.
"Let's use our spiritual attack to end this match," Xuanyuan suggested.
But this time, Asura replied, "I am not going to use my spiritual attack. It might accidentally kill you, so I am going to use my battle skill against your spiritual attack."
Everybody was shocked to hear that because they knew that battle skills had less effect against spiritual attacks, so this was clearly going to be a disadvantage for Asura. Xie Ling, who was in the spectator seat, made a worried expression. She knew her big brother could win this match easily, so why was he taking the risk like that?
Xuanyuan was also taken aback by Asura's proposal, and he asked, "Are you sure about that?"
Asura nodded. Xuanyuan then removed his hesitation from his mind and started to gather his spiritual energy. He shouted, "Devastating Elephant!"
A blue-colored elephant made up of spiritual energy appeared and went straight toward Asura, trying to smash his body into pieces.
On the other hand, Asura gathered his martial energy and shouted the name of his battle skill, "Heaven Breaking Fist."
Asura punched forward with his Heaven Breaking Fist, catching the Devastating Elephant's attack head on. His martial energy infused fist collided with the spiritual elephant, causing a blast of energy that dispersed the elephant and threw both combatants backwards.
Asura got up first, dusting himself off. He reached his hand out to Xuanyuan. "That was a good match."
Xuanyuan smiled wryly and accepted Asura's hand, pulling himself up. "Your battle skill is indeed powerful. I did not expect it to break my spiritual attack."
Asura shrugged. "It was a close thing. Your spiritual attack was formidable."
In reality, Asura had held back his maximum strength when using his Heaven Breaking Fist. If he had used his original cultivation level, the Devastating Elephant spiritual attack would not have stood a chance and Xuanyuan could have been seriously injured, or even killed.
The match had ended as soon as Asura's Heaven Breaking Fist made contact. Asura had simply pretended that the collision created an explosive blast to give the impression of an honorable draw. In truth, he had easily overpowered Xuanyuan's spiritual attack.
The crowd fell silent in disbelief. They had never seen a battle skill match a spiritual attack before, and were shocked at the apparent draw.
Xuanyuan understood the truth. Bowing his head, he admitted, "I concede defeat. Your battle skill overpowered my spiritual attack."
The crowd erupted in cheers for Asura, who had pulled off an unprecedented victory. Xie Ling jumped up and down, calling out her brother's name proudly.
Asura nodded at Xuanyuan. "You fought valiantly. Our skill levels were mismatched, that is all." He spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear, showing good sportsmanship.
While accepting Xuanyuan's handshake, Asura knew that he had easily won this match. However, the future matches would not be so simple. As he progressed through the tournament, his opponents would become stronger and less friendly. Some may even try to eliminate him permanently.
So while Asura acted graciously towards Xuanyuan, inviting him for food and drink, he remained vigilant in his mind. He knew future victories would not come so easily, and survival would depend on using his full strength.