The audience was silent. Dong Xiaoli was a dragon among men to these people. Although, among cultivators, he wasn’t so strong, many of these people were mortals or average and below-average cultivators. None of them could compare to Dong Xiaoli, and they just watched his wings get clipped before their very eyes. They couldn’t help but look at Yù Quán a bit negatively. They all knew what Dong Xiaoli had done deserved some action, but what Yù Quán did looked brutal. Those who knew enough about cultivation could discern that Dong Xiaoli’s cultivation had been crippled, which made them feel worse than the others.
To most cultivators, a life without cultivation isn’t worth living at all. They would rather go down fighting and then continue on with their cultivation gone. To Yù Quán, it was the better choice as he didn’t want his family and his sect to hold too much of a grudge. But he didn’t completely understand the world of cultivators yet. All the cultivators there considered what Yù Quán did to be crueler than killing him, including Dong Xiaoli’s father, Dong Chuanli.
Dong Chuanli burst out. Bursting out was typical for cultivators. The early bird got the worm. A fight you may not win could be won with speed, and the quicker a battle you’re sure you’ll win ends, the fewer surprises. What was different about when Dong Chuanli did it was that Yù Quán couldn’t react. Before he could twitch a finger, Dong Chuanli stood beside him, his fist caught by a calm Yàn Lìqín.
“Yàn Lìqín…” growled Dong Chuanli.
Yàn Lìqín didn’t respond immediately, instead slowly looking over to the unconscious Dong Xiaoli, the wide-eyed Yù Quán, and then back to Dong Chuanli. “First, your son threatened my disciples, then he tried to charge them, and now you’re doing the same.”
Dong Chuanli slightly tensed up hearing this. He wasn’t really overcome by anger. The further one has cultivated, the less one's emotions can control them. They aren’t emotionless; Dong Chuanli was truly angry at the crippling of his son. But that’s not why he charged at Yù Quán. Cultivators value different things than mortals do. Among the top are “face,” or reputation, and revenge, obviously after strength and authority. It was already bad enough that Dong Xiaoli had lost, but he had been crippled by a member of the Yellow Qilin Academy in front of almost all the people of Blossom Falls. His son would have become a mortal, and the Supreme Wolf Sect would look weak.
Dong Chuanli was much taller than Yàn Lìqín, but because of Dong Chuanli’s punching stance, Yàn Lìqín could look down on him. “What is the meaning of this, Dong Chuanli?”
Dong Chuanli gritted his teeth. He talked a big game to people, but he had never actually fought Yàn Lìqín. He wasn’t worried about Yàn Lìqín stopping the punch since he hadn’t used too much power in the first place. Yù Quán was barely in the Body Tempering realm; why should he use his full power? A booming voice was heard throughout the arena before Dong Chuanli could figure out what to do.
“Silence,” the voice said. While the voice was booming, even hurting some mortals' ears, the person behind the voice wasn’t yelling. It showed the strength of the person behind the voice—the amount of qi it would take to project a casual voice that loud would be enormous. Most strong masters would instead project their voice louder to save them some qi, but this was obviously someone who treated this amount of qi as negligible.
Yù Quán saw that a man was now floating above the arena. On second thought, it looked more like standing than floating to Yù Quán. Then, the booming voice came again.
“Dong Chuanli, your son jumped at the Yellow Qilin Academy with ill intent. The boy was just defending his fellow disciples. It’s his fault and his fault alone. Take him to go see a healer.”
Dong Chuanli stood up straight but looked down to the ground. “Yes, Mayor Yīng.”
Dong Chuanli jumped to his son, slung him over his shoulder, and looked back at Yàn Lìqín and Yù Quán. Then he sucked his teeth and jumped away.
Yàn Lìqín cupped his hands and bowed. Yù Quán was quick to catch on and did the same.
“Thank you, Mayor Yīng,” Yàn Lìqín said formally. Yù Quán rarely heard Yàn Lìqín get like this, so he knew the mayor was either strong, held authority, or both.
The man wore a black futou, had a black beard that reminded Yù Quán of Garibaldi, a historical figure from his world, and pink and gray robes. They didn’t look like the robes of a cultivator but a distinguished politician. He turned around and waved his hand. “It’s nothing. How could I stand by and let Dong Chuanli do whatever he wants in my Blossom Falls.”
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Yù Quán looked up slightly to peak at the man. Just as he did, though, the mayor looked over his shoulder enough for one eye to make eye contact with him. Yù Quán felt overwhelming power from his look alone. Not danger, but power. Like a bull that was sleeping or a bomb that wasn’t yet lit. The mayor smiled and turned back. “Take care of this one, Yàn Lìqín. He has potential.”
“Of course, Mayor Yīng,” Yàn Lìqín said before side-eyeing Yù Quán.
Yù Quán got the message. “Thank you, Mayor Yīng.”
Without a response, the mayor stepped out and disappeared just as suddenly as he had appeared. Despite being gone from sight, his voice was still sounded out. “Let the tournament continue.”
With that, the matter was settled. But Yù Quán knew that this wouldn’t be the end of it.
…
They announced the next fight with everyone back in their seats, and the commotion died down. The Yellow Qilin Academy students were eerily quiet. They had just watched their fellow student take someone’s cultivation. They didn’t think he was wrong to do so; it was just surprisingly brutal for the version of him that they knew.
Yù Quán coughed from the tension. “...I only did what I thought was right.”
“Of course.”
“Right”
“Yeah…”
Yù Quán, “...”
“Next! Tiān Zhēbì! Qīng Shuàizhí!” the announcer called out.
Tiān Zhēbì and Qīng Shuàizhí casually walked to the arena. Tain Zhebi seemed cocky, while Qīng Shuàizhí seemed unphased. Either way, neither was worried about the fight. Both entered the ring and looked at each other. Tiān Zhēbì was smiling, and Qīng Shuàizhí was as serious as ever.
“Tiān Zhēbì of the Flying Cloud Sect versus Qīng Shuàizhí of the Taiji Sword Sect, begin!”
Yù Quán had expected them to burst out like every other cultivator but was surprised to see them just standing there. Tiān Zhēbì, with his sly grin, crossed his arms behind his back.
“Qīng Shuàizhí, you might not win this battle. Should I go easy?”
Everyone was dumbfounded. Qīng Shuàizhí was a favorite of the finals, and Tain Zhebi was barely known. How bold was he to ask if he needed a handicap? Qīng Shuàizhí shook his head and didn’t respond, just looking at him.
Tiān Zhēbì’s smile grew wider. “Then you should probably surrender.”
Qīng Shuàizhí didn’t respond at first, slowly taking his sword from the sheath on his back. Then, when he had his blade drawn and held in front of him, he said coldly, “Too much talking. Begin.”
Tiān Zhēbì shrugged and continued smiling. Suddenly, the mist was spreading within the arena. It wasn’t a surprise; he was a member of the Flying Cloud Sect, after all. Qīng Shuàizhí didn’t run but waited for the mist to surround him. As soon as he was within the mist, sword beams began flying through the mist. At the same time, the mist was moving and shifting. This went on for tens of seconds; then it went quiet.
After another few seconds, the mist began retracting like it was swallowing itself. When the mist had completely gone, everyone saw that, in less than a minute, Tian was walking towards the walls of the array, away from Qīng Shuàizhí, kneeling on the ground, bloodied and bruised.
There was a moment of shock before the announcer snapped out of it and called out, “Tiān Zhēbì wins!”
…
Yù Quán
Realm: Body Tempering Realm
Stage: 1st Level Skin Tempering
Main Cultivation Art: [Stolen-eyed Mùmùlián Body](Level 3)
Strength: 550 Catties
Qi: 0/2060 wisps
Mùmùlián Core: 6/100
Strange Fire: (Level 2)Murderous Flame(x1)
Techniques:
[Mùmùlián Eye Stealing](Level 3)
[Mùmùlián Eye Refining](Level 3)
[Murder Mantra](Level 1)
[Yellow Qilin Dance](Level 1)
Attributes:
[Strange Fire: Murderous Flame]
[Star Gazing Eyes](Level 1)
[Top-Quality Mortal Avarice Eyes](Level 1)
[Top-Quality Mortal Avarice Eyes](Level 1)
[Top-Quality Three-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 5)
[Top-Quality Three-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 1)(x2)
[Top-Quality Five-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality Blue Wolf Ferocity Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality Winged Watcher Awareness Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality False Dragon Pride Eyes](Level 1)