She was out! Done... And the Emperor came down personally to pick her up, his face being full of rage as he looked at the woman, but it was the same when he looked at Ning Jiao, who was currently coughing blood, and the tiny fox creature.

"You... Begone." He stretched his Hand out the power of a mid-level Core-formation reached out seeking to just crush the Spirit-fox, for an instant their pressure clashed and he felt his hand grow cold, but before they could engage any more, a Hand was stopping him. It was the Outside Elder who was looking at him with bright eyes.

"And what might you be doing?" He moved his hand up, forgoing any pretense of face and simply broke the emperor's arm, in front of EVERYBODY, a sickening crunch seemed to echo unnecessarily loud through the stadium... silence.

The Guards and Elders stood up but the Emperor waved his hand "Stop... just... misunderstanding." He was talking through his teeth, before the Emperor quickly limped away, like a beaten dog!

Kou scoffed. That Emperor, he was weaker than the first Prince! She had heard things in the sect how the Emperor was this great cultivator and all, but apparently that was all just hearsay without any proper proof! Heck, she was sure Ning Jiao could beat him up if she got a little stronger, for sure. However.. right now she had no time to continue to waste time looking at these people, she moved back over towards Ning Jiao, the girl was coughing and her complexion seemed weak. No matter how swift the beating was, she still had gotten into contact with the poison of someone far stronger than herself.

Her cultivation was unable to protect her against it, and she spat out a mouthful of blood before fainting. However, before Kou could do anything the old man stretched out his hand. Wind caught her and Ning Jiao and they were quickly carried to him before the old man employed some kind of incantation Kou did not understand, as if teleported they appeared in a comfortable study. A great many books were here, as well as many soft chairs and sofas.

This old fellow was actually quite gentle in the way he put Ning Jiao down on one of the Sofas. And it was not long until another old man appeared. While he did not give Kou the same expression that the old man gave her, she still could feel that he was quite formidable.

However his face seemed very red and there were thick veins pulsating on his forehead, he looked like he might spew fire at any moment! "I apologize for my idiotic son, he will be properly dealt with later, but what do you need of my Grandchild!" His voice boomed and the walls seemed to shiver. Even Kou flinched, but the old man just stood there looking at Ning Jiao.

"Calm yourself Hao, I will treat her. And she has already gained my interest, I will take her with me and develop her talent." Kou was not having this at all. Healing Ning Jiao was fine! But taking her away, Na! She growled and showed her teeth at the old man, her 2 fluffy tails bushing out making her appear much larger! In fact, as she growled her whole body seemed to grow, and she became a lot more fierce looking!

The old man pulled his hand back his gaze resting on the Fox. "Don't worry, you'll be going with her. And you can't fool me... I know you are not just a mere spirit..."

Kou growled at him. "If you know, back off! Ning Jiao will stay, we will fight... and I will stay! I have things to do that are important, won't go with some old foggy!" She was already against the wall, so she went all out!

The old man brushed Kou to the side like a fly, before leaning down, pulling some kind of elixir out of thin air before feeding it to Ning Jiao. Meanwhile, Kou found herself smashed into a bookshelf. That hurt a lot! And she did not see it coming at all!

"Good Good, Meddling while I'm healing, you need to learn to regulate your Temper." The old one looked at Kou and waved a hand. "I won't take you right now. You can handle your affairs but after half a year I will bring you with me outside, not just you two, I found a bunch of promising young ones here. You will embark unto the journey of true cultivation at my Immortal Dao Villa!

...

Wu Xiao rubbed the back of his head slightly. "Ha... I could not find Miss Xue anywhere..." A partial reason for why he competed this time was to find her again. Sitting down he sipped some of the tea he had prepared. He was a fairly down to earth guy, while some people saw him as a silk pants and typical young master, he tended to not get along too well with that kind.

He was also able to be very real with himself and understood himself quite well. He had fallen quite deep for that woman that he probably would follow her to the ends of the earth if he had to. Every now and then he remembered her face, her hair. her soft features.. and let out a sigh. "I'm too to be lovesick.." He chastised himself but it did not help at all. He wanted to see her again.

But would not happen here... Still, he managed to find a few people that were rather pleasant to get along with. Xiu Shihong was an Ogress in battle but outside of it, she was quite cultured and easy to talk to. In fact, the two of them had hit it off well enough that Wu Xiao was thinking of following her. After all, it was quite clear that the future's name was Xiu Shihong in this empire.

Hei Tian was also quite good. Albeit the constant swarm of groupies was a little annoying. Once the girls had been sent away the two of them got along splendidly. To a degree that they were actually training together. They were both more or less on the same cultivation level just the width of a finger away from Core Formation. His progress was quite something after he had taken the Pill...

He had not talked a lot with Li Zhi but the woman seemed quite savage at time. It was weird since she kind of had that wallflower look, and a bit refreshing seeing something else than empty smiles and nodding from one of those types.

Something seemed to forge these 3 together... and he was fairly sure it was deep hate for the Ning family... Which... honestly was just fine in his opinion. He disliked that family himself, having had some trouble with one of the Princes.

Still.. he was just a few years older than them... but he already felt like they were of a different generation, as their level of growth was frightening him. But... with Miss Xue's pill, he was able to catch up to these young heroes...

"However what am I supposed about this... this just looks kinda cruel..." He was looking at the tournament bracket, he had won every fight so far, somewhere a bit difficult but he managed, but how exactly was this fair? His next enemy was...Ning Jiao. That little girl was very powerful and had that amazingly powerful pet too. He had seen how Hei Tian was bashed down by them.

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On the other side of the bracket, there was Ning Yu vs Xiu Shihong... and that made him feel a bit better actually, seeing that arrogant twerp finally get some was worth getting beaten up by a little girl and fox spirit. Still.. he did not feel good about this at all... but maybe he got the better card, he was quite sure Xiu Shihong would've stomped him underfoot too, even if they got along quite well.. that was just the kind of person she seemed to be.

With a heavy heart, he made his way outside, to step into the arena.

...

Kou was ... irritated at best, and angry at worst. This old foggy! Just doing whatever he wants! That was her thing! How dare he steal her thing!... She... snickered to herself in anger... at-least she could still make jokes.

However whatever he had done to Ning Jiao had worked wonders, just minutes after they were sent back into their room Ning Jiao woke up fully healed and in fact, she was about to break into the fourth realm just like that!

Kou was an alchemist and she knew many kinds of elixirs that could do things like that, but the materials needed to create those were not something native to the Empire at all! Even back on the Island, she could only find few truly powerful and rare herbs. And she protected them like a Tigress! They were for special things.

But this old man whipped it out so casually! She sat there ... thinking while acting as a dharma protector for Ning Jiao who was currently making her breakthrough. All the fighting and the medicine would make her breakthrough very stable, and she would probably gain another level of power. In fact, she did not think that she would need to help at all against Wu Xiao...

Wu Xiao... Mh, she wondered why he was even here, he did not seem like the kind of person that would bother with things like this, yet still, he was here. And .. she felt a little happy to see him again. While their time together was short, she enjoyed what she could. He was very friendly to her and did not even seem to mind her normal personality.

If she could she would try to meet him again after all was done! They could actually become real friends!

...

Ning Jiao... took a deep breath, she felt the Qi flowing inside of her, gently, she was currently directing it through her body, it was smooth and simple, as someone from royal blood she did not need to bother about opening meridians painfully like common people. She had all of them opened up quite early on with very expensive medicine, just like her brothers.

So for her to reach gold core, or for anyone in the royal family to reach gold core was quite simple actually, reaching it by 35 was normal. It was a well-kept secret of the royal family, which had resulted in them always having an edge over the other nobles. Obviously they also had quite good heritage. It was said that the Ning family was born from a phoenix emperor the very reason they all had fire abilities inherited with their blood. Some of them were stronger some weaker, but it was always something from the phoenix.

Her own fire came from that source she believed, however, she never heard of anyone having flames that protected them without their own doing. It was quite something and Ning Jiao felt very safe in the embrace of her flames, it was not like a thing.. to her, it was more like an actual being that was with her at all times. That was how she felt.

In fact, it was not all that different from how she felt about Kou, an entity that she could rely on and that took her seriously, someone to look up to and aspire to be like. That was the kinda feeling she got from the flames... warm and fuzzy, and nice!

...

Ning Jiao looked at Wu Xiao, she was politely nodding to him, and the male made quite the elaborate bow. From the swooning voices in the background, it was clear that he was quite the favorite for the young ladies that were currently watching. Wu Xiao! Hailed as a genius. He never joined any sect nor did he enter any competitions. Everyone was kind of confused as to why he was here.

They both looked at each other. Wu Xiao looked down at Ning Jiao, the slight breeze making his robes billow and his hair flow in the wind, he was indeed quite handsome, maybe just a little worse than Hei Tian!

However...Ning Jiao seemed... affected this time, a little red on her cheeks she whispered to Kou.. "He...He seems very gentle... and refined... not as flamboyant as .. Mister Hei Tian... He looks.. good right?" She stepped from one foot to the other. One had to remember, unlike Xiu Shihong who quite early on had contact with a marriage, and was around males quite a bit. The only people Ning Jiao usually saw were women or her family.

Kou opened her mouth and closed it again, before tilting her head. She never really had a crush on anyone... well maybe a bit on Hei Tian back then..? She was not quite sure, she always thought of him more like a brother to be honest. So she was not really helpful in this...

"Should...I fight him then?" Her question was simple. If Ning Jiao did not want to hurt him, she would? She liked Wu Xiao but right now he was in her way, so she would push him away and say sorry later? But Ning Jiao shook her head quickly before raising her fists. "Nu, I will fight him! I won't let you down. I will take any fight I can win head on! Even if they look really nice!"

She stomped her foot, flames erupted around her and there was some whispering in the audience, they noticed her sharp increase in cultivation and power the girl displayed! It was almost a little shocking and in such a short time as well! Many whispers could be heard speculating what had happened, and obviously everyone came to the same conclusion...the Mysterious Elder!

Ning Jiao let out a roar and her flames roared even higher, with one smooth motion she propelled herself forward, shooting towards Wu Xiao like a bullet, she looked like a wild firestorm approaching him.

Wu Xiao barely had time to react, but he was capable and managed to jump to the side, however... he had already prepared beforehand! Underneath where he stood was a small puddle of water he had left behind, the girl dashed right through it and he quickly closed his fist.

Watery tendrils shot up her clothes and stopped her feet, with all the speed she had going she immediately fell over and hit the ground face first, it was an awful sight, and she let out a pained groan. This was the Wu clan's secret technique! Flowing flood dragon!

The Water quickly retreated from the girl and started to flow around Wu Xiao, forming into to long serpent-like dragons. Ning Jiao got up in the same moment her nose bleeding and her expression slightly sour as she looked at Wu Xiao. "Fine.." She mumbled before leaning back slightly she swung her sleeve and the fire around her formed into fiery feathers. There were surely hundreds if not thousands of them.

And they had two properties, razor-sharp and scorching hot! Getting hit by those would be bad! Wu Xiao's left eyebrow twitched slightly... these robes were new... For the next two minutes, it was him being full-on on the defense, narrowly avoiding the blazing feathers...worst thing was these things didn't go out at all! They would fly up and attack again!

Ning Jiao had developed this after she had fought Hei Tian, seeing how his wind blades were very powerful! It seemed to play out really well... However, each feather on their own was not really a threat right now, it was the mass that made it dangerous... and Wu Xiao abused this fact, his water dragon swatting the fire feathers out of the air, extinguishing them.

"You won't win like this Jiao.. he is decently strong." Kou who currently sat on Ning Jiao's head very proudly observed the fight. Ning Jiao was quick on her head and creative in using her power! When she saw something that worked well she would abuse it for herself... very good! Still, if this continued she would exhaust herself... however Ning Jiao's answer surprised her.

"I know...I just want to make him dance a bit for tripping me... that really hurt." Blinking to such viciousness Kou felt even prouder than before! "Mh!" She nodded heavily. It continued for about a minute more before Ning Jiao once more shot forward, this time under the cover of the phoenix feathers, Wu Xiao saw her coming and... grumbled... "This tiny girl is a Monster... isn't this a little too unfair? Oh well!" He stretched out his right hand, with his fingers he drew a symbol into the air, quickly his dragons gained size transforming into fully formed flood dragons, a roar shook the arena and shoot towards Ning Jiao who had concentrated her flames in her fist to strike him.

Dragons and fist collided midway, and for a moment they were in a standstill, but then in an explosion of vapor Ning Jiao shot through embedding her fist deeply in Wu Xiao's side sending him flying and smashing against the arena barrier. He spat a mouthful of blood...

"Ah...I give up." He waved his hand quite flamboyantly before turning around...

FINALS!