Tai Bàoli was disgusted by Seung Duang's provocation, in fact it flew Tai Bàoli into a rage, he'd immediately jump into action utilizing his techniques in full force to almost instantaneously appear Infront of Seung Duang and Hammer down with a terrifying swing of his hammer.
However right before the hammer hit Elder Xian appeared and halted Tai Bàoli's hammer with his palm. Seung Duang barely had any time to think before everything had occurred, but his mocking expression only grew.
Before Seung Duang said anything to make things worse Elder Xian spoke.
Elder Xian: "Fighting outside of tournament grounds is forbidden. No martial credits shall be deducted this time, however if this were to occur again, both individuals will have 150 martial credits deducted."
Seung Duang harrumphed and walked into the stage, he had the next match.
Tai Bàoli still focused intensely on Seung Duang but he put his hammer away and walked off to cool down.
Seung Duang was against Ju Yian, It was going to be quite a spectacular performance.
At the beginning of the match Ju Yian began just like he did against Guan Xian. However unlike his previous match Seung Duang could survive the onslaught Ju Yian had begun dishing out. Seung Duang was still struggling to keep up with Ju Yian but he was at least unharmed by Ju Yian's attacks, at least it seemed so.
Ju Yian and Seung Duang would continue trading blows, or at least Seung Duang was attempting to trade blows. Ju Yian was nearly untouchable, Seung Duang was getting quite upset again and proceeded to attempt the same shout he had done in his previous matches, however right as he opened his mouth to scream Ju Yian was ready with a counter attack.
Ju Yian had gathered Qi to his finger tips and stabbed Seung Duang's throat with immense force almost preemptively, Seung Duang had only begun opening his mouth, not even making a sound yet when Ju Yian struck.
All the Qi Gathering and above elders had solemn expressions on, It seemed Ju Yian had used quite an advanced technique that only a few of them knew of. The technique prevented the opponent from gathering Qi to certain areas of their body, in this case preventing Seung Duang from gathering and releasing the sonic boom of Qi outwards.
Seung Duang seemingly choked on his own voice stumbling back to one knee. He was holding his throat and staring intensely at Ju Yian.
Ju Yian stopped his onslaught and stood motionlessly watching Seung Duang before speaking.
Ju Yian: "You should now know the difference. You cannot beat me here, this is as far as you go."
Seung Duang tried to speak, but no sounds could come out. Only slight grunts, Ju Yian had significantly damaged Seung Duang's throat.
Seung Duang stood up getting back into a fighting stance unwilling to lose, as he got into the stance he'd just immediately begin charging towards Ju Yian.
Ju Yian of course held every advantage here, so Seung Duang's last struggle was meaningless.
Ju Yian simply dodged around and began striking Seung Duang with the Qi enhanced finger strikes. It was almost like a sword was piercing into Seung Duang's skin over and over leaving multiple wounds all over.
Surprisingly Seung Duang even though he had become increasingly more damaged never stopped attempting to block or fight. And Ju Yian and began breaking a sweat as the technique he was using was quite Qi intensive. Ju Yian furrowed his brows, he needed to end this, he had been stopping himself from just attacking Seung Duang's Dantian earlier because Seung Duang was from an infamous clan, and Ju Yian didn't want to invite too much trouble to himself. But he had gotten tired of this struggle.
He'd Immediately slice towards Seung Duang's Dantian with his Qi enhanced strike. Clearly aiming to cripple Seung Duang. However before he finished the strike Elder Xian appeared between him and Seung Duang stopping the strike and speaking.
Elder Xian: "Ju Yian is the winner."
Seung Duang began screaming
Seung Duang: "I...I...I.. WAS FINE, WHY'D YOU STOP THE FIGHT? I WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT , THERE'S NO WAY HE BEAT ME! YOU STOPPED THE FIGHT PREMATURELY!!!!"
Seung Duang seemed to be...throwing a fit? even going as far as to point at Elder Xian and accuse him of stopping the match prematurely.
Elder Xian furrowed his brow and spoke with power in his voice.
Elder Xian: "I am not some servant, boy. Do not speak to an elder like that ever again, you are deducted 100 martial credits. You've lost the match, have some dignity. If you speak once more you will be removed from the top 10 of the tournament and forfeit your reward."
Seung Duang knew his was in the wrong and harrumphed storming off the platform. Ju Yian bowed towards Elder Xian and also walked off the platform. Ju Yian had basically guaranteed his spot in the top 3.
Next was Tian'Jun Jun vs Huang Yin, and It just cemented Tian'Jun Jun's strength in everyone's mind. Huang Yin was not weak, yet like all Tian'Jun Jun's previous opponents he lost almost instantly. The Jun Clan's technique proving its might in front of all again.
It still perplexed Tai Bàoli, the lightning was still faster than he could perceive. Well Tai Bàoli could perceive what was happening, but if he was the one trying to counter he'd be forced into a corner at every turn. It really frustrated him.
Elder Xian fed Huang Yin a rejuvenation pill, and after it was completely finished healing him up the next match began. It was a match against Huang Yin and Seung Duang to see who would face Tai Bàoli for the final spot in the top 3.
Unfortunately for Huang Yin he didn't have a way to stop Seung Duang's Qi shout, and no matter what he tried, even though he was faster and more experienced than Seung Duang it wasn't enough. Seung Duang's unbelievable defense and Nearly unstoppable Qi shout eventually netted him the win.
Forcing the next match to be Tai Bàoli vs Seung Duang.
Both of them eagerly took their places on the platform with sadistic smiles on their faces.
Seung Duang: "You should forfeit now commoner trash, you couldn't even handle the Giang Clans techniques, there's no chance you could handle my golden body."
Tai Bàoli didn't respond instead twirling his hammer in his right hand, he was ready and willing to destroy Seung Duang with all his might. The provocation from Seung Duang had just been too much for Tai Bàoli to continue to ignore.
The anger in Tai Bàoli's heart burned deeply and an intense bloodlust seethed out of his being. Multiple Elders furrowed their brows, they'd never seen a Body Refining Realm cultivator who was so young exude such deep bloodlust. Some of the elders even knew of Tai Bàoli's non existent background and were confused on why he could naturally ooze such bloodlust.
Elder Xian began the match. As he did so Tai Bàoli finally got his mission screen and Seung Duang's screen.
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-Mission-(Defeat Seung Duang)
-Mission Outline-(Defeat Seung Duang)
-Mission Difficulty-(Hard)
-Experience Payout- 20 experience
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-Seung Duang-
-Occupation- (Hidden Mountain Tiger Sect Outer Disciple)
-Cultivation Stage-(Body Refining 3/9, Viscera Training)
-Strength-3.9(+7.5 From the Golden Body Technique)
-Dexterity-3.9(+3 From the Golden Body Technique)
-Comprehension-7
-Martial Arts-
-Golden Body Technique: Mastery ~High~
-Forceful Shout: Mastery ~Mid~
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Tai Bàoli was stunned, he'd never seen one technique boost someone by so much even his Traceless Spectre Across the Void only gave him 6 speed at High Mastery, and it was High Mortal Rank technique. As Tai Bàoli thought about it, that probably meant the Golden Body Technique was either a Peak Mortal Grade technique or a Low Earth Grade Technique.
Tai Bàoli also assessed his own situation.
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-Unlimited Experience System-
-Host-(Tai Bàoli)
-Cultivation Stage-(Body Refining 3/9, Viscera Training)
-Experience-(50)
-Upgrade Cost: 1, amount upgraded per, .1-
-Strength-(3)(+3 from Bear's Hide,+1 from Traceless Spectre Across The Void.)
-Dexterity-(4)(+6 from Traceless Spectre Across The Void)
-Comprehension-(4)
-Martial Arts-
-Cost to Upgrade: 5 experience per grade, per rank-
-Traceless Spectre Across The Void: Mastery ~High~
-Bears Hide: Mastery ~Peak~
-Petrifying Mad Hammer Stance ~Mid~(Side Effects Detected: When used for more than 1 minute in combat consecutively the user begins petrifying themselves slightly. -1 dexterity for every minute after the user continues using the technique.)
-Martial Arts Eligible for Grade Increase-
-Bears Hide: Mastery ~Peak~(Upgrade Cost 30 experience, directly upgrades to High Mortal Rank)
-Upgrading a stat requires experience, gain experience in a myriad of ways-
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As Tai Bàoli thought some more about it he realized the fight might not be as hard as he thought, the system only rewarded him with 20 experience if he won this fight, vs the 30 he had gotten for fighting Xi'an Zi, so obviously the system had came to the conclusion that Xi'an Zi was a more dangerous combatant then Seung Duang.
At least that was the logic Tai Bàoli tried to put behind it.