The third round of the tournament began the next day and Jie couldn't wait to begin. She hoped to get matched up against Chen Huo, so she could give him a taste of his own medicine. She rushed to the arena and found a board outside. On the board were the names of those who'd made it this far into the tournament. Each name was connected by a line either to the one under it or the one above it so that every person was paired with someone else.
From this point forward, the tournament was single elimination. To progress, she'd have to win her fight.
Unfortunately, Chen Huo was paired with someone Jie was unfamiliar with, and she was paired with someone by the name of Duthungr of The Mountain People. A strange name, that was for sure, and she didn't recognize it. There were a few others with equally weird names.
This was a diverse, alien world filled with many different people of a variety of species, so she supposed it shouldn't be too surprising.
Her match was scheduled for two hours' time, but she was required to be in the arena ahead of time.
As such, she entered.
The arena floor had changed once again. Now there was one massive raised platform with white tiles in the center. It wasn't too different from the much smaller platforms they'd had in the previous round, and she didn't think it would make much difference to her upcoming fights.
Two youths were already battling fiercely upon the stage. One used a strange crossbow that fired some kind of wind qi while the other was obscured by a cloud of green poisonous qi that swirled violently as the crossbow user fired bolt after bolt into the cloud yet seemed to hit nothing at all.
Jie sat on one of the benches, closed her eyes, and resumed cultivating. She focused on refining Essence as she utterly ignored the roar of the crowd.
Revenge or not, she wouldn't let a single moment go to waste. She owed Ming that. And the stronger she got, the more she could humiliate Chen Huo. That in and of itself was a reason to push herself harder.
Thinking of Elder Shi's words on emotions, Jie allowed her lust for revenge to burn within her as she cultivated. She found that allowing her emotions to move through her did indeed allow her to cultivate far faster and better. It had another effect though and that was to calm her mind. Though her desire for vengeance remained in her heart, it was less like a roaring flame and more like a cindering coal. Slow, patient, and fueling her progress as she greedily absorbed Essence from her surroundings.
She heard people get called up one by one but paid little heed. After all, she had more important things to focus on.
She did take notice when Chen Huo was called up. She remained focused on her cultivation and didn't bother to open her eyes to witness the fight. Moments later, she heard his victory announced loudly and to much applause.
She smiled. It was good he'd made it through. If he hadn't, she'd have to settle for simply pulverizing him. But, now there was still hope of her getting to humiliate him in front of the crowd and to show all of these families and sects what happens to bullies. Whether they had strong backing or not.
Perhaps it was foolish. Perhaps it would make her more of a target, but so what?
The day she submitted to people like that was a day she might as well stop breathing. Evil wasn't something to be tolerated or accepted. Not on Earth and not here. Besides, what would Ming think if she bowed to people like him when their goal lay so far above them?
Jie gathered even more qi and her strength soared while she waited.
Finally, she was called.
"Liu Jie and Duthungr of The Mountain People!" roared the elder officiating the matches. The very same who'd overseen the match between Pan Tian and Chen Huo.
Jie leaped up onto the stage and a ripple went through the audience. Many of them didn't even bother to whisper and she heard them clearly with her cultivator's ears.
"She didn't get disqualified?"
"Isn't that the one who--?"
"Hard luck for her. The Mountain People are renowned for their strength. To face one of them as her first match in the real tournament. The Heavens are clearly not smiling on her."
"A hundred gold says the girl gets crushed!"
"I'll take that bet!"
Jie ignored them all. She felt the judge's gaze boring into her and met it coolly as though he weren't the judge, but an annoyance whom she was warning with but a single look.
Despite the massive difference in their strengths, the judge was the first to break eye contact. Jie took that as a win.
Then, a massive man jumped up onto the stage opposite her.
Though, calling him a man wasn't entirely accurate. His skin was various shades of gray like he'd been carved from the face of a cliff. And he was immense. His face looked youthful like a young teenager's, but he was larger even than an adult man. He towered over her, nine feet tall and bursting with enormous strength. Not just of cultivation, but of raw muscular power. His arms and legs were thicker than her entire body, and his back was covered in razor-sharp rocks. He radiated the aura of the first star of the Expert rank.
And, more than that, his qi had a profound density to it that gave Jie the feeling he was perhaps stronger than an ordinary first star of the Expert rank.
"Surrender," Duthungr rumbled, "I do not wish to hurt you."
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Jie paused. Though many of the entrants said similar things, they were insincere and laced with venom and arrogance. But this rockman sounded like he meant every word.
Jie gave a respectful bow. "I'll not be doing that, and I think you'll find I'm much stronger than I look," she said.
Duthungr sighed but nodded. "I hope so," he said.
He rotated his qi and the tiles under him shattered, unable to bear the sheer weight of his aura. A brown, earthen color of qi swirled around him in thin wisps. His aura weighed on her, but not much. He was strong, but so was she.
Jie rotated her own qi, and flickers of bright blue lightning played across her skin and her blue hair.
Duthungr raised an eyebrow as her aura reached him, then gave a respectful nod.
"Let the fight... begin!" yelled the judge, his voice booming through the entire arena.
The second the words left the judge's lips, Duthungr sprang into action. The stage shook as he charged toward Jie, each powerful step carrying him impossibly far in the briefest of moments. Earthen qi swirled around his fist as he drew it back, ready to strike.
Jie activated lightning step and sidestepped the first earthen fist he threw at her. But, that fist blurred as an endless tide of earthen fists appeared around it, turning the single punch into an avalanche of earthen fists, one of which caught her on the shoulder. Jie spun from the force of it, but quickly recovered and dodged the next hail of fists.
"An impressive martial technique," Jie said as she zipped across the arena even faster than the massive man.
"Not bad yourself," Duthungr rumbled.
He appeared at her side, but she was already moving. The two of them sped around the arena, moving with a speed only those at much higher cultivation levels could follow.
Though the fight had only gone on for a mere ten seconds, they had already traveled the length and width of the platform countless times, and Jie was tired of retreating.
Ming's words echoed in her mind as they often did when she faced an opponent who'd put her on the back foot at the start.
Lightning attacks with swiftness, precision, and deadly force.
To flee all the time would go against the very nature of her training. She activated her dragonfist technique and blue lightning flickered, snapped, and crackled over her fists. Duthungr caught up to her as she was turning at one corner of the platform, just as she'd intended. He attacked, a rockslide of fists appearing in the air and each bearing down on her.
But, for all Duthungr's speed, Jie was still faster. His fists struck only the afterimage she left behind. Duthungr turned his head toward her, no doubt feeling the immense pressure bearing down on him from the side, but he was far too late. Jie struck with a powerful dragonfist against his side that blasted him off the platform.
He flew through the air toward the sandy arena floor. But, before he hit the ground, qi rippled around him as he somersaulted to get his feet angled downward at the floor rushing up to meet him. His dense earthen qi formed into a ball at his feet and when it touched the sand, it exploded in an enormous cloud of sand that washed over the stage. He rocketed back up and crashed down onto the platform like a comet as lily white tiles broke apart and rained down around him.
Jie smiled. "I'm impressed," she said.
Duthungr nodded. "As am I," he said, "not many can claim to have almost defeated me in a single hit. Let alone someone with a cultivation lower than my own. I warn you. I shall no longer hold back."
"I'd be upset if you did," Jie said.
Duthungr roared. His massive, bulging, gray muscles swelled until they were twice the size and he grew another three feet. The sharp rocks upon his back lengthened and the weight of his aura seemed to double. His roaring voice slammed into Jie like a physical wave, ruffling her clothes, and making her hair billow out behind her.
"A transformation technique?" Jie said.
Duthungr gave no answer and lunged at her. Tiles blew apart beneath his foot as he exploded toward her. His speed was suddenly vastly greater than it'd been at the start. He threw a punch, and as before it split into a multitude all bearing down upon her. Only now, each fist was larger than her head and radiated power on a level that dwarfed his first attacks.
Jie pushed her lightning step technique harder than before, unleashing the full extent of her speed just to evade the devastating attack. The rush of air from the avalanche of fists washed over Jie as she dodged, and his fists smashed into the floor of the platform.
Lily white tiles exploded into shards of tile and powderized rock in a thick cone from where Duthungr struck. Jie evaded every blow but Duthungr was already chasing after her yet again.
The crowd gasped.
"That's more like it!" Jie yelled. She smiled and dodged another hail of fists. How much qi did this earth man have? Could she outlast him? She wondered. Nah! Where was the fun in that? Lightning doesn't retreat after all!
Jie cycled another pair of dragonfists, one in each hand, and charged at the earth man. He unleashed another avalanche of punches, but Jie leaped over them, flipping in the air until her feet were raised vertically above her head as she stared down at Duthungr below her.
Jie used her lightning step technique in a new way she'd only recently developed in her training with Elder Shi.
She grasped onto the air itself with her lightning step technique, forming a platform of crackling blue dragon lightning qi beneath her feet. She bent her legs and pushed off the platform which discharged in the air, giving her an extra boost of explosive speed like a springboard in mid-air.
Jie shot down at the earth man as though she'd been fired out of a cannon straight down at him. His eyes went wide as he canceled his attack and desperately raised his arms above his head to try and block her assault.
Jie smashed her fists into him and the explosion tore through the arena. The already damaged stage exploded beneath his feet as the marble-like stone gave beneath the force of the blow, hammering Duthungr into the stage as a cloud of dust and debris rose up around them.
The blast sent Jie flying back up and out of reach before Duthungr could even hope to respond. Jie backflipped in the air and landed gracefully on the edge of the arena behind Duthungr.
Jie could barely see Duthungr, obscured as he was by the swirl of dust around him as shards of white stone pattered like rain over what remained of the stage.
"Can you still fight?" Jie asked.
Duthungr grunted. Whether that was from pain, the effort of trying to extricate himself from the crater, or agreement she couldn't tell.
He grasped the broken stone around him and hauled himself out of the hole she'd hammered him into, then rose up on shaking legs.
He turned to face Jie, taking unsteady steps toward her.
"You are... quite strong," Duthungr said.
Jie smiled brightly. "So are you," she said.
Duthungr turned to the judge. "I must forfeit. I can barely stand," he said.
The crowd gasped.
"She beat a rockman?"
"He was so far above her cultivation! What happened?"
"That girl is a monster!"
"Nah! Obviously, she paid him off or something."
"Ha! Told you she'd win! I'll be taking that hundred gold now!"
"Bah! The match was rigged! Fine! Take your damned gold. If the heavens have any kindness, you'll choke to death on it."
Jie ignored the crowd and bowed to Duthungr. "It was a pleasure to spar with you. I hope we can do it again sometime," she said.
Duthungr returned her bow, although his body trembled, and his powerful legs looked like they might give out. "I would be delighted. Be sure to win the tournament now," he said.
"The winner is Liu Jie!" the judge announced. Although, it was more a formality than anything else.
Jie hopped off the stage and left the arena. She walked with her head held high even as her heart boiled with the desire to see Chen Huo humiliated. And hurt.