"And now! The moment we've all been waiting for! It's time to determine who is the best among the younger generation! Who shall stand atop the mountain and declare their strength to all those among us? To a brighter future!" The judge bellowed, "Liu Jie! Chen Huo! Step up!"

Jie hopped onto the stage with cool grace. Chen Huo waited a moment and did the same. What had Ithilix said yesterday? It was a sign of disrespect or something? Well, whatever.

Chen Huo still had that lopsided smirk on his face as though he knew he would win. Jie regarded him coolly. Then, on a whim, she tilted her head to one side like she'd seen those weird anime characters do back on Earth. Was she doing it right? That kind of head tilt as though bored by the so-called challenge that awaited her.

A stir ran through the crowd.

"Who does this girl think she is? Does she think she can look down on someone stronger than her?"

"Hah! That girl's asking for a cruel beating."

The murmurs died down, but frenzied whispers continued. It was easy to see who supported the Chen family and who didn't. Those that did were all either angry or laughing about how 'she would be put in her place'. The others looked grim or curious.

"Let the match... begin!" the judge said.

Jie activated lightning step but didn't move.

"So, who do you think will cry for you?" Chen Huo said.

Jie let her lips curl into a smile as she allowed her feelings to flow through her. "You," Jie said.

Chen Huo blinked and his smirk faltered a moment before reasserting itself.

"Are you sure your Pan friends won't come crying for you?" Chen Huo said.

Jie thought of a retort but held it back. Even if she won the verbal exchange, it would still allow a battle to take place. From what she knew of these people and their customs... there was a very simple way to really get someone mad. To remove all face as they called it.

Jie sighed. "If all you're going to do is talk, just forfeit already. I have stuff to do," she said.

The crowd sucked in a breath almost as one. Chen Huo's left eye twitched.

Ah yes... they hated being dismissed as nothing. And, it'd only make what she was going to do hurt even more.

"You dare?" Chen Huo said.

Jie stretched languidly and yawned as though she'd just climbed out of bed. The Chen family's supporters burst into angry muttering while the rest turned increasingly curious. This time, she cared what the crowd thought. Not because it mattered to her, but because it mattered to the Chen family. It was her weapon. Something she could use to strike the entire Chen family. Maybe these idiotic customs weren't so bad after all... as long as you made sure to use them the right way.

"I'll make you regret your arrogance," Chen Huo said as he released the full weight of his second star Expert aura.

Judging by how others reacted to similar differences in cultivation, Jie thought his aura ought to feel utterly oppressive. But, as it was, it felt like a summer breeze.

Jie felt a fuzzy warmth and gratitude in her chest to Ming for giving her such a powerful cultivation technique that allowed her to face cultivators of higher ranks. Something her breakthrough earlier only added to.

Great golden, fiery wings sprouted from Chen Huo's back. His flawless white hair reflected their light, giving him a kind of halo, which made him look something like an angel.

Somehow that only made Jie want to hit him all the more.

"Are you just going to stand there trying to look pretty or are you actually going to fight me?" Jie said with as bored a tone of voice as she could manage as she inspected her fingernails.

Chen Huo's brow furrowed as he glared at her before he dashed toward her, his wings adding considerably to his speed. He didn't bother to draw his sword but lunged toward her with his knee aiming straight for her face.

He didn't even use a martial skill aside from his strange movement technique.

It bothered Jie somewhat that they'd both apparently had similar ideas.

Jie pushed her lightning step for every drop of speed and his movement seemed sluggish to her. Jie sidestepped, evading his knee strike at the last possible moment then jumped up, reinforced her muscles with her qi, and slapped Chen Huo hard in the face. She twisted her entire body into the blow. His skin rippled like he'd been hit by a sledgehammer as a sound like a thunderclap ripped through the air.

The slap drove Chen Huo straight down into the stage with a meaty thud that sent his golden wings sprawling over it like a bird that'd flown into the side of a building.

Chen Huo was quick to recover, however, and rolled away and back to his feet. The crowd gasped. A bright red handprint stuck out upon Chen Huo's purple skin.

"What martial skill was that?" asked someone in the crowd.

"Such speed!" exclaimed another.

"Wait... did she just slap him? I didn't even see any qi. Did you?" said someone else.

Chen Huo clutched his cheek, his eyes wide with disbelief at first and then narrowing with hatred. Jie kept herself utterly expressionless.

"If you're done playing around?" Jie asked.

Chen Huo's face twisted with rage as he finally drew his sword. The long, curved shining metal ignited with golden fire almost immediately as he cycled some kind of martial skill.

He lunged toward her and then zigzagged with incredible weightless grace, not unlike his sister Chen Ai. He moved with incredible swiftness only to pause seemingly randomly in the air and change direction with another burst of speed, making him difficult to keep track of or anticipate. The result was both hypnotic and unpredictable at once.

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Jie leaped back just in time to evade a slash that seemed to come out of nowhere. The slash carved a burning golden line in the stage right in front of her as embers of golden fire flickered and trailed in the wake of his sword.

But, he wasn't the only one who could move unpredictably.

While Jie was still in the air and Chen Huo was exposed after his missed attack, Jie formed a lightning step platform behind her and boosted off of it, appearing in front of him before he had a chance to react. Jie reinforced her muscles with qi and slapped the other side of his face even harder than the first time, smashing him into the stage yet again.

Chen Huo grunted from the impact as the tiles broke beneath him. But, rather than rolling away as he had before, he immediately slashed up at Jie.

Jie caught his sword arm and held it firm with a grip like iron. She slapped him again. Then again... and again... back and forth across his face. He was two stars ahead of her and she wasn't using a martial technique so Jie let go of her usual restraint. When it came to her raw physical strength at least.

Blood splattered from his lips upon the lily-white tiles as each slap rang out with a loud crack like the snap of a whip.

Chen Huo's perfect facial features bulged as they swelled and dark bruises spread out across his skin from Jie's onslaught.

To his credit, he remained focused and cycled another martial skill.

Chen Huo's entire form turned into a dazzlingly bright golden fire that slipped out of her grip and erupted upward like a burning comet only to zigzag in the air much like Chen Huo's normal movements only vastly faster.

The crowd held their breath as one.

In an instant Chen Huo was upon her, slashing with his blade with a speed that dwarfed anything he'd shown before. Jie blocked the strike with a dragonfist but Chen Huo's burning form zipped away then came at her from behind. Jie spun to face him and again she blocked. He rocketed away then came at her from the side and she blocked.

A relentless flurry of impossibly fast strikes coming from every direction so fast he left burning afterimages all around her, yet as impressive as his technique was, Jie blocked every single strike. Each of his strikes meeting only the snarling, hungry crackle of Jie's dragon lightning qi.

Jie's meridians screamed as she pushed more qi into her lightning step skill than ever before just to keep up with the speed of his attacks. But, she kept her face as impassive as possible, trying her best to make it appear effortless.

A roaring cheer began to grow within the crowd as Jie blocked each impossibly fast strike until Jie blocked the final one and Chen Huo materialized in front of her. Jie slapped him hard, driving him down into the stage yet again. All without him so much as scratching her.

The crowd's roar was deafening. So loud the air itself seemed to quake as the stage vibrated from the force of their amazed cheer. Their applause and yelling voices merged into a storm of emotion that shook the arena.

Chen Huo rose to his feet again, but his legs were shaking and blood dripped from his lips.

"Oh?" Jie said, "Did you finally learn to bite your tongue?"

There were a few who chuckled among those who opposed the Chen family and grim silence from those that supported the Chen family.

"You bitch," Chen Huo said as he spat blood upon the stage, "I'll gut you like a fish."

"If you say so," Jie said in as bored a voice as she could manage while she pretended to inspect something beneath her fingernails.

Yet, despite her outwardly casual demeanor, Jie continued cycling lightning step to the best of her ability. He was vastly faster and stronger than any of her previous opponents. One wrong move would ruin not only the embarrassment she was trying to inflict upon him and his family but almost certainly cost her the match as well.

Someone among those that supported the Chen family chuckled before covering it with a cough.

Chen Huo trembled with rage as he glared at Jie with murderous hatred.

He leaped up into the air, gripping his sword with both hands and preparing to cleave her in half. But, his speed was nothing compared to his last attack and his previously excellent technique had given way to sheer unbridled anger.

He descended toward her, his blade angled straight for the top of her head and his eyes wild.

What would be the most humiliating way to deal with this? Jie wondered.

Jie waited until Chen Huo was almost upon her, then moved in, grabbed him by one ankle, and slammed him onto the stage with brute force. He gave a strangled, wordless cry and Jie kept hold of his ankle. He was a higher rank, but he was still weaker than her. And unlike the others she'd faced, Jie felt little desire to be restrained with him. Not after what he'd done.

She hefted him like a club and slammed him into the stage again and again, smacking him back and forth as he hung from her grip like a dead fish, his golden wings trailing limply after him.

Despite her anger, Jie still measured the strength she used, after all, she didn't want to kill him or let this end too soon. He had to at least appear to be able to fight. And, if he forfeited? All the better. But that didn't mean she had to be gentle about it.

She lost count of how many times she smashed him into the stage before she finally let him go. Blood flowed like syrup from Chen Huo's lips and it looked like he was missing a tooth. His armor didn't look too bad but it was disheveled and dented in places. While her robes remained utterly impeccable.

It seemed silly to think of such things, but these people did. So much was about appearances. The contrast between her perfect looks and his sorry state would only increase the humiliation she was giving him. Especially since the Chen family was said to be even more prideful than most.

Though Jie wasn't sure how much longer she could handle the strain of pushing her lightning step technique so hard.

Chen Huo pushed himself to his hands and feet. His limbs shaking all the while. He drove his sword down into the stage and used it to lift himself back up to his feet. He gritted his teeth even from that small effort and he looked as though a stiff breeze would knock him back down.

Cultivators sure can take one heck of a beating... Jie thought.

He glared at her but made no move to attack. His eyes watered, but thus far he'd managed to avoid shedding a single tear. Jie couldn't imagine that was easy. Getting smacked around looked painful. Well, she hadn't really expected to make him cry. It'd just be a bonus if she could.

She paused. Was what she was doing right? The people on Earth would probably say no... but he'd hurt her friends. And where had those people been when her life had come apart? Where had their precious respect for human life been when her life was in danger?

No. To hell with them. To hell with them all. If this made her a monster then so be it. She would be the monster monsters feared.

Chen Huo took a staggering step away from her, his eyes wide. Jie took in a deep, calming breath and brought her expression back under control.

Jie's robes fluttered softly in the wind as her cold eyes bored into Chen Huo, but still, she made no move to attack.

"If you continue to go on without striking one another, it shall be determined to be a draw," the judge said.

Jie wanted to kill that judge. He'd been the one to allow Pan Tian and Pan Zhanshi to suffer and now he was protecting Chen Huo? She felt the anger and burning hate bubble up her throat but held it back. No. She'd done so well. She wouldn't be foiled so easily.

Besides, the strain of pushing her lightning step skill so hard was getting to her. This would be an excellent excuse to stop toying with Chen Huo. The damage had been done. It was time to end it before he could gain any face for enduring the torture she would give him or something. Or for her to make a mistake. No. It had to be ended swiftly.

"Have it your way then," Jie said with a shrug as though it were of no concern.

She darted to Chen Huo, showing him what true speed was as she cycled her qi into a dragonfist. With the others, Jie had been incredibly restrained, but he was stronger and Jie wanted to end it here and now.

Jie slammed her electric fist into his jaw and felt the joint break like crumpling tissue paper. A flare of worry surged within her as she feared she might've accidentally killed him as blood and fragments of his teeth sprayed across the stage.

Chen Huo spun away and collapsed in a heap. Blood pooled on the ground from his shattered jaw as he cried out and sobbed into the tiles.

Jie looked at him with disdain, even as she felt secretly grateful and disappointed that she hadn't killed him. "I told you you'd cry for me," Jie said.

She kept her burning hate out of her voice as much as possible which made her voice sound hollow and emotionless. A cold so sharp as to make ice feel warm. The crowd shivered. Even a few experts so far above Jie's cultivation that they should have nothing to fear.

"Chen Huo has been rendered unable to continue fighting. The victor is Liu Jie," the judge said.