A critique often made to the Cheng Huang School was that their disciples were over geared, with boosted cultivations that they didn’t know how to utilize fully. As a result, when Xue Guo came on stage without his deep abyss sword, many assumed he was arrogantly trying to make a statement about winning even without his strongest weapon.
In truth, Xue Guo was doing the opposite and took the fight very seriously. Deep Abyss added a profound depth to his moves with the Nascent Soul Senior’s contribution but it had some draw backs too.
First of all, Xue Guo was more familiar with his usual treasure sword. But more importantly, the Deep Abyss sword philosophy conflicted to an extent with the martial art he practiced. Although this wasn’t visible in most of his sword moves, Xue Guo couldn’t display his greatest attack with deep abyss in hand, and he needed it against Yu Tao.
For the Cheng Huang School, Deep Abyss was more a display of status for their number 1 than anything else. It would also find its ideal match some day in the future, and this would create an unstoppable disciple for his generation, but that would be for later.
Right now, Xue Guo was their strongest element in the last couple of years. A brilliant mind with a 5th grade talent. With the resources he had at his disposal and his comprehension, he was able to reach the peak of qi condensation one month ago already. At the same time, Xue Guo accomplished incredible levels of proficiency with every martial art he learned. He hadn’t been able to create his own martial art but he had a great intuition to practice martial arts that complemented his style and spirit perfectly.
There wouldn’t have been any suspense this year if Xue Guo had reached the foundation establishment realm before the competition but he was stuck at the bottleneck for the time being. According to his teacher, what he lacked most was experience and true combats, to temper his state of mind further.
Rather than facing a handicapped Xue Guo stripped of Deep Abyss, Yu Tao would be facing the unchained version. The disciple from the White Tiger School sensed the change in the air as Xue Guo picked his preferred sword and that made him frown. His high confidence had already subsided to an extent.
One holding a spear and another a sword, they scrutinized each other from the two sides of the stage.
“BEGIN.” The Elder announced with the same pitch as for all the previous matches.
The big clash began explosively as Yu Tao and Xue Guo immediately traded qi attacks from afar. Yu Tao pushed back with all his might as the violent collision forced him to take a step back! He had lost the initial altercation, overwhelmed by the volume and density of Xue Guo’s first rapid strikes.
As Yu Tao tried to assess the situation, Xue Guo was already upon him after having used his elite dashing technique. His objective was obviously to not leave Yu Tao any time to charge his lightning dragon skill. Yu Tao instantly reacted with a series of lightning slashes that forced Xue Guo back.
The young boy from the White Tiger School had learned to maintain a terrifying intensity of qi discharge through the harshest of training. This was putting a massive strain on his body but the result proved his hard work paid off considerably.
For the first time on the back foot, Xue Guo decided to accelerate the resolution and went all out in blistering counterattacks that leveraged his qi advantage to the maximum.
Once again, it was Yu Tao’s turn to struggle against the rhythm and barrage of qi attacks his opponent imposed. Before the situation turned dire, Yu Tao revealed his second card: the second stance of the Roaring Dragon.
He executed a series of rotations to achieve 4 slashes in preparation to the final movement. Everything linked up in a final magnificent diagonal slash.
The air roared and broke as lightning qi inundated the stage in deep gashes. Xue Guo hadn’t anticipated that brisk change. He circulated his qi to the maximum to activate his defensive art as he tried to strike the crisscrossing dragons down.
Just as the attack landed, Yu Tao firmly took a step forward to charge up the first stance of his Roaring Dragon art. He now had the initiative. At that exact moment, Xue Guo was completing a backflip after having been thrown away by the lightning wave. He ended with one knee on the ground, facing Yu Tao that was already getting ready to execute his main attack.
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Without losing any more time, Xue Guo stood up and jumped in a single movement. As Yu Tao was beginning to produce his all-out thrust, Xue Guo finished turning on himself in the air and added his own shout as his sword came back to view at a phenomenal speed due to the magnificent rotation.
Xue Guo’s sword seemed to have cleaved through the fabric of space as a terrible blood red incision spread to meet the Roaring Dragon. The resulting collision between the two attacks was the most powerful yet and the closest spectators had to protect themselves from the violent shockwave and the dust projected in all directions. On the stage, the gash had stopped the tenacious dragon that disintegrated as it cancelled the sword cut.
Yu Tao found himself unbalanced for a brief instant and in an awkward position as his move didn’t permit for any easy follow up. Xue Guo on the other hand was already linking his next attacks. Yu Tao had to jump and roll from side to side as the stage was being destroyed by Xue Guo’s attacks behind him.
Yu Tao was nearly out of qi and in an unrecoverable position. He therefore edged to the border of the stage while still avoiding and dodging dangerous attacks. Finally, he jumped out of the stage which marked the end of the duel. He knew that he had lost but no one would make him verbally admit defeat!
The crowd of more than 50 thousand cheered with all its might at the new 2nd year champion. Unquestionably, Xue Guo proved he was the strongest one. The Cheng Huang School was celebrating ostensibly this victory as Xue Guo stood proudly alone on stage. With the domination of the White Tiger Sect in the 4th year’s competition, the Cheng Huang School winning the 2nd year’s competition had a symbolic importance.
The 3rd place didn’t have the capacity to challenge Yu Tao and thus the tournament finished.
The Black Cloaked Elder had watched this final with interest.
After some time when the excitement was starting to die down, he unexpectedly appeared next to Xue Guo on stage and congratulated him. After some pats on the shoulder and words only those two could hear, the Elder slipped a gift into Xue Guo’s hands.
The 16 other Elders also stepped on the stage. It was time for the reward distribution and the disciples of the top 64 that were still in correct shape were called on stage with an Elder of their sect as a representative. Han Lingyun and Wang Yimo thus came back on stage as well.
One of the 16 members of the council ordered for silence and began announcing the prizes as Elders were preparing for the distribution.
“First of all, I wish to congratulate everyone that participated in the competition, and all the sects for forming another fine generation of disciples. The Sun Cultivation Alliance demonstrated once again the soundness of its methods. I am convinced that we will obtain a fine bunch of loyal and mature cultivators from that batch.
I wish to give a special mention for the 1% that obtained a spot in the tournament, be it with their strength, luck or wits. All those qualities are essential for cultivators. No matter the method, the main point is always to succeed.
Finally, the stars of the generation, please congratulate the disciples that made it to the top 64.
They have all won an early spirit condensation pill for their performance.”
Gasps of astonishments were heard from the crowd. Every disciple on stage were provided a pill bottle. For the missing ones, it was their representative elder that received the prize in their stead. The disciples placed outside the 32nd rank were then asked to leave the stage and the elder went on with the list of rewards.
“Those that made it to the top 32 have gained an additional glass of body reconstruction freezing-water. This rare and exceptional liquid not only reforms the body but it also washes the qi pathways and increases one’s qi circulation by up to 20%.”
The process of distributing and disciples exiting the stage unfolded once more.
“Now for the top 16. On top of the previous rewards, you have earned the chance to follow a formation directed by a Nascent Soul Elder. You will be summoned during the next year. In addition, this master will only welcome disciples that have yet to reach the formation establishment stage.”
Han Lingyun and Wang Yimo looked at others’ eyes where they could see their mutual excitement for the guidance. That was a windfall and a rare opportunity. They exited the stage with bright smiles, and with two bottles in hand.
The Elder from the council continued his announcements. “Our 8 quarterfinalists receive a ticket that can be exchanged for any qi condensation level item in the SCA’s treasure vault.
The top 4 obtain the extraordinary opportunity to cultivate one day next to the famous Sun’s ancient pillars. These are ruins and encryptions from another era that help deepen one’s comprehension level. Many martial arts of the SCA have been developed on those sacred grounds. You can show up at the crater to claim your day when you want but you might need to reserve the slot several months in advance.
Our two finalists will be able to choose a Martial Art from our grand collection at the SCA. This collection is greater than all the libraries of the top 16 sects combined. The level of that martial art isn’t limited to the qi condensation level but can be for the foundation establishment realm. And even more remarkably, a Nascent Soul elder volunteered to serve as an advisor for the decision.”
And finally, we have our grand winner, XUE GUO from the Cheng Huang School”
The Elder bowed towards the Black cloaked man. “I will let Senior Qiao Fa announce the reward.”
The Black cloaked cultivator took a step forward and revealed his true face. Han Lingyun could only describe the man as average looking, the type of face that easily mixes up in the crowd. He would never voice these thoughts though, especially with the council elder referring to this man as a “Senior”. In the cultivation world, a higher seniority was attributed to a higher cultivation. This Elder was then logically at the Nascent Soul Realm.
The man with the black robe smiled at the crowd like caring elder brother. His voice resonated through the stadium as he released a bombshell. “I am accepting Xue Guo as my personal disciple.”