"The rules are simple!" roared the middle-aged elder above the murmuring crowd, "Do not kill your fellow students. Do not cripple their cultivation. Broken bones, knockouts, and even severed limbs are acceptable. But, killing or the crippling of another's cultivation is grounds not only for disqualification but for expulsion depending on the circumstances. So take care! Other than that, fight as you must. Survive until the final five and step further into the tournament! And now... begin!"
The youths sprang into action like a horde of monsters gone insane.
The air filled with flaming spears, ice arrows, glowing fists, acidic kicks, beams of multicolored light, bubbles of force, and strange creatures seemingly made entirely out of qi as the students around her unleashed their attacks upon one another.
Within the first instant, several students went down with agonized screams as blood and severed appendages spilled upon the sand.
Many of those closest to Jie focused their attacks on her. Two at the seventh star, three at the eighth star, and even the armored one at the ninth star. But she'd grown a lot in her recent battles. She could do the unthinkable now and fight on even ground with someone at the first star of the Expert rank.
Jie activated lightning step as they raced toward her and the world around her seemed to slow down as though all the other contestants were caught in a jar of honey.
Jie decided to eliminate the lower ranked students as quickly as possible without expending much energy.
They were in the way, and she dared not release more than a fraction of her power on anyone below the ninth star by mistake.
She moved like a blur up to the two seventh stars who lunged at her and tapped each one on the back of the head. She didn't use her dragonfist skill for this, relying purely on her physical strength and the insane speed that came with using her lightning step technique.
They crumpled like puppets with their strings cut.
The three at the eighth star and the one at the ninth looked at her with wide eyes as she moved far faster than they could. She looked at them and gave a mock salute before racing through the arena.
"You coward!" roared one of the three eighth stars she'd avoided, but then they watched as one after another all those below the eighth star dropped with seemingly no effort from the blue-haired girl.
In seconds, she'd cleared all the lowest-ranked cultivators and only those from the eighth star of the Adept rank and up remained.
The fighting turned truly savage then as all the weakest were eliminated at once, leaving only the strongest to duke it out. There would be no easy victories for anyone after what Jie had done. No hiding among weaklings while the numbers dropped.
There would only be bitter fighting as each and every cultivator found themselves locked in brutal fights.
Some teamed up, forming temporary alliances and battering others down. Many others picked off those who were already busy fighting, but Jie had no time for either tactic.
All she cared about was pushing herself to become as strong as possible.
If she couldn't get through this tournament, then did she deserve any of what Ming had done for her?
She whirled on the strongest opponent she could find. That student at the ninth star who she'd fled from in the beginning.
Qi flowed through her body and formed into two dragonfists, one on each hand. She charged at him like a flash of lightning and threw a punch.
He barely noticed her approach in time and hastily raised his shield. Crackling blue lightning qi met gleaming steel qi and detonated with a shockwave of lightning arcing in every direction as the impact reverberated on his shield like a gong. The sound of which sent shivers down the spines of the other contestants.
The muttering crowd fell silent as the armored ninth star slid backward over the sand, his shield dented and cracked. Though fresh qi already flowed into it like a liquid racing through the cracks and rapidly repairing his shield to its full strength once more.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Jie started toward him again as her spirit sense screamed of incoming danger. A large flaming dog bounded toward her from her right flank. Its lips pulled back into an angry snarl as lava dripped from its muzzle like drool. It leaped at her, its jaws radiating heat. Jie felt a strange kind of link between it and one of the eighth star Adepts who'd attacked her at the start.
Some kind of summoned creature I guess? Jie wondered.
Whatever it was, it lacked the speed to be a true threat and Jie easily evaded its snapping jaws as she grabbed the dog by the scruff of its neck. Its fiery fur burned her fingers as Jie spun, using the dog's own momentum to send it toward the other threat her spirit sense warned her about as the second eighth star sent a volley of ice arrows toward her from her left flank.
Jie hurled the dog into the barrage of ice arrows. The dog's snarls turned to whimpers as freezing cold ice qi smashed into it and Jie winced, feeling guilty despite herself.
But, she set her feelings aside as best she could and returned her attention to the fight itself.
She resumed charging toward the armored ninth star youth who'd taken advantage of her distraction to raise his shield and cycle a new kind of martial skill.
Jie's eyes widened as the demonic face of his shield shot toward her like a missile. Its jaws yawned open, baring razor-sharp teeth as it cackled manically, streaming liquid metal qi in its wake like smoke.
Jie dashed to the side, using her lightning step technique to move out of its path. It hurtled past her and slammed into the third eighth star who'd been coming up behind her with green glowing palms ready to strike at her back.
Razor sharp metal teeth bit down on his chest as he flew backward with an agonized yelp.
Jie continued racing toward the armored ninth star as she charged up a pair of dragonfists, ready to strike.
He stabbed at her with his halberd as she approached. Jie side-stepped and caught the flat of his halberd with the back of her crackling fist, parrying the blow. The resultant blast knocked his halberd arm aside and left only his shield in the way.
Jie jumped slightly, unwilling to allow him to use the force of her blow to gain as much distance again, and drove her fist down into his shield. Crackling blue energy met shining steel qi once more and exploded, shattering his shield and spraying fragments in every direction as an electric shockwave rumbled through the air.
With nowhere to go, and the fact Jie allowed herself to use slightly more of her power than with the first attack, Jie's strike drove him down to one knee. Yet, even as she drove him down to the ground, his halberd melted and formed into the shape of a dagger. He slashed upward with it at Jie's side.
Jie caught his dagger arm and spun with him using a purely physical technique Elder Shi had taught her and slammed his back hard onto the ground.
Before she could follow up on her attack, however, another volley of ice arrows sped her way. Jie wove between them, evading each individual arrow as the archer gritted his teeth, with frozen sweat clinging to his brow.
The armored ninth star used the time to roll back to his feet and lengthen his dagger into a sword, lunging at Jie while she was distracted.
Jie dropped to the ground, evading both the strike and the arrows as she spun, whirling with her legs and sweeping his feet out from under him.
While the armored ninth star was still falling through the air, Jie cycled a dragonfist and sprang upward, uppercutting him in his armored stomach. The force of her strike broke his armor and sent him flying further upward together with Jie and she unleashed a flurry of low-powered dragonfist attacks on him while they were both in midair.
Booms rumbled so close together it sounded like rolling thunder and combined with the lightning that crackled and snapped over Jie's body, it made her look like a cultivator far beyond the lower dantian. Like a goddess had come down from the heavens to bring storms and fury.
The rest of the contestants fought with desperate ferocity, struggling all they could to bring the numbers down to end the round before one of the two monsters duking it out emerged from their battle ready to fight more of them.
Cold sweat ran down their backs with each boom that sounded out like a gong counting down to their deaths.
Fear gripped their hearts in a way many of them had never known as even the air became charged with unbelievable power. The arena grew thick with the scent of ozone like that of a storm.
And how long did they have before the storm turned on them?
Though many of the crowd were far beyond the cultivation of these youngsters, even some of the strongest among them felt apprehension at the ferocity of Jie's attacks.
Like watching a flame kitten rip a stone gazelle to pieces, it led many to thoughts of how fearsome this kitten would be once she grew up
Jie delivered yet another strike as they fell back to the ground together, driving the ninth star hard into the ground as Jie landed lightly on her feet. He groaned in pain as his armor sputtered, leaking qi. He looked at her through his torn faceplate with resignation in his eyes and waited for the final knockout blow.
Instead, Jie offered him a hand.
"Well, come on then," Jie said, "you'd best get to your feet before someone picks you off."
He took her hand, his face plainly showing how confused he was at her sudden mercy.
"...Why?" he asked.
The girl smirked. "I just wanted a decent fight. Doesn't mean I think you deserve to be eliminated when you're one of the strongest here," she said.
"I... thank you?" he said as he held his side with one hand.
She shrugged as though it were of no concern.
"I think this contest has gone on long enough now. I have cultivating to do," she said. With that, she vanished in a blur and a trail of dust. One by one, she reappeared beside one of the other contestants and took them down with casual ease.
The ninth star Adept boy watched her, his mind trying and failing to process what the hell just happened.
"That kid is a monster," he muttered.