Celestial was stunned. Just a moment ago he had his opponent beaten but suddenly he began to emanate more power than even he could. His opponent jumped up and with him a projection of his top half, 3 times his normal size, was hovering just above him.

Huang for his part couldn't help but think about all of this. Jin, his master, explained what exactly was his power some time ago. An avatar is the materialization of someone's power, more specifically, someone who is a cultivator but isn't a true cultivator who tried to break past his limits and succeed. One important thing about this power is that you can lend your avatar to other people that can awaken said power. That was what happened to Huang. That's why his avatar at first wasn't a projection of himself but of the person who lent it to him. The strange thing was that he wasn't any weak. Whoever was the person who lent him the avatar he used against the demon, made sure to not put more power into it than Huang had. So once he could summon his own, there wasn't really any difference in power.

One important thing about the avatar is that you couldn't make it stronger by using it. You yourself had to get stronger to make it stronger. As for how it worked, it changed depending on the person. In Huang's case, as his body got stronger due to his family technique along with his natural process of cultivating, the power he didn't use that would normally be sent back into the world, was stored in his avatar. The only problem was that Huang couldn't access all that power at the moment as his overall strength, not just physical strength, but mental strength and spiritual strength, weren't enough to handle all the power in his avatar so he couldn't summon it in his full power. That's why he wasn't allowed to use his avatar unless he was fighting someone or something that was significantly stronger than him without him using his avatar.

As for the whole reason for this fight, Huang couldn't help but see that what his daughter was saying to the people in the academy seemed to be true. All his opponent had to do was to jump on top of Huang and put his blade on his neck and he would have won. Huang was stunned long enough for the man to do that but he didn't and that was his mistake. Even if they weren't really fighting to the death, the man should have taken this seriously and because he didn't, he was now going to lose.

“Spear Rain!” Huang said as he dashed forward and began to repeatedly try to stab his opponent with his spear. Huang was fast enough that for the untrained eye, it looked like he was using dozens of spears at once and if that was all, Celestial would still have a chance as he was managing to parry and dodge all the dangerous stabs coming his way, at least from Huang. The problem was that the Avatar was doing the exact same thing but at greater speed. One hit became two who became three and before he knew it, he was showered in stabs, cutting and perfuring him in various places of his body before he fell to the ground.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

As he fell on the ground, he saw an opening, he was going to send a blast in his opponent's direction just before he hit the ground but sadly for him, he didn't get the chance. Not a moment before he began to fall, Huang was on top of him, with his foot pressing his chest and his spear on his neck.

“That's how you fight. I just did what you should have and now I win. Unless you want to try something that will get you killed.” Huang said.

For a moment, Celestial was filled with rage, he was going to scream and shout but in a moment of clarity, everything that his nephew said to him suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks.”I truly lost...” Was the only thing he could say.

Once Huang got off of him, the man simply said 'sorry' and 'thanks' and left.

Huang got healed by the resident healer of the guard and after a little break, went off to do his job of patrolling the more underground parts of the city.

Inside Celestial's Carriage

As his carriage was taking him back to his house, Celestial began to think about the two most important points of what his nephew told him in relation to what started that whole fight.

'Anything truly trying to kill you won't stop until it can't' and 'you only win a fight if you kill or fully capture your opponent'.

Both points were proven true today to him. As a man of a military family, he has participated in various duels and war training. He even fights the occasional monsters when he goes back to his home country, But since they are usually not all that strong, it has never dawned on him that following the rules of 'honored' fighting could get him killed.

How many monsters did he simply leave alive because they got knocked down? How many bandits did he treat like battle practice? How many training exercises did he make his troops go easy on his opponents? How many duels he didn't try to win but to fight fairly? Too many. How many of those would have killed him if an opponent of similar level to him was there instead? Too many.

Once he healed himself and got back home he had stuff to do. He had to say sorry to his nephew and try to put some sense into the people around him. If an opponent who truly is hostile to this kingdom and his own attacks, their armies will not be ready for what is to come.