Xiucai immediately summoned Guang and Hei as the match began. He locked eyes with Gong Jun who gently smiled at him. Gong’s teammates focused their attention on the Chu’s looked like they planned on ignoring Xiucai completely. The two land orca spirit beasts awaited Xiucai’s commands.
“Let’s have a good fight, Xiucai. No hard feelings no matter who wins, alright?” Gong spoke to him.
“...” Xiucai nodded. He had no prior or current grievances with this man.
“You know, I really don’t like the feeling of being ignored so thoroughly.” Chu Hua grinded her teeth. “I’m a genius too, you know? I’m just more low-key than you fame-hungry losers.” She was speaking about the Rising Dragons and some members of Heaven’s Angels.
Chu Hua’s claims weren’t unfounded. An 8th stage Qi Consolidation swordsman below the age of 18 was indeed a genius. The Chu Clan wasn’t known to regularly produce geniuses but it wasn’t like they weren’t a significant figure in the cultivation world either. Chu Hua actually had the highest cultivation rank of everyone on the stage.
It was just that her temperament was so bad, that people couldn’t help but underestimate her. Even now, most of the people in the audience thought she was just some loud-mouth braggart. They were more excited to see the Blind Savior’s apprentice face off against the Rising Dragon Gong Jun. Just how powerful were Heaven’s Angels in comparison to the Rising Dragons?
“I don’t think Xiucai even counts as an angel, you know? I heard he only joined the group recently.”
“That might be true. He doesn’t even have a strange weapon like some of the others.”
“I guess you have to prove yourself to the others before they consider you worthy of wielding a trademark symbol of the group. “
“I wonder how I can become a member of Heaven’s Angels...?”
“Heh, give it up. They only accept the gifted.”
“Gifted? I don’t know if you’ve been watching the same fights, I have but they mostly rely on sky-ranked martial arts and sky-ranked treasures to win.”
“So, they rely on their skill and luck to win? It sounds like your just envious you're not as prosperous as them.”
“Anyone would be envious, idiot.”
Chu Bolin had a feeling his Young Miss wanted to prove herself and let off some steam at not being the center of attention for once. He stepped aside as she strode forward to deal with Gong Jun’s allies by herself. His eyes watched the two closely, ready to jump in at a moment’s notice in case the Young Miss needed help. Chu Hua unsheathed both of her curved blades as she continued to slowly walk toward the two.
“I’m not just some pretty face, Prince Jun.” Chu Hua glared at Gong. “Primordial Solar Body Technique!” She shouted.
Chu Hua’s body glowed with a yellow light, warming and brightening the area around her. With a few casual slashes at her two opponents, bright yellow qi slashes flew at them. The two jumped away, avoiding the qi attacks only to realize that Chu Hua had complete control of the flying sword strikes. She slashed out several more and in no time, Gong’s teammates were being overwhelmed by dangerous sword lights easily capable of severing a limb!
“It looks like I did underestimate you, Chu Heiress. My apologies.” Gong Jun wasn’t above apologizing when he was in the wrong. “It looks like our battle will have to wait Xiucai.” Gong turned to look at the masked boy, only to realize he was missing.
“!!!” The hair on Jun’s neck rose in alarm.
Jun felt a finger jab deeply into his neck just before he could unsheathe his sword. A relieved expression soon took his face as he transformed into Jelly. He tried swallowing the little ninja whole just to be beset by his two mutated spirit beasts. The third-generation assassin vanished from his senses as he felt his body being ravaged by the sonic cry of the land orcas.
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His jelly form shook with such intensity that he soon burst into a million little green droplets! The two spirit beasts stopped their deadly song after seeing this sight, unsure if they killed him or not. Jun quickly reformed his body when the two beasts turned their heads to look at their owner. With two quick swipes of his jelly sword, green goo was fired at the spirit beasts that swallowed them whole and immobilized them in jelly.
Now that they were taken care of, Jun began setting up his ultimate sword technique. At least, that was what he planned to do until he felt a finger pierce through his abdomen and actually affect his main body. His jelly form shifted back into his regular one as Xiucai appeared underneath him. The sneaky assassin then struck forward with his index finger toward his forehead. Gong Jun was helpless to resist after being forced back into his main body.
‘I didn’t think anyone could truly affect me while I was in that state.’ Gong Jun smiled helplessly.
It would be rather embarrassing if he lost like this. Not to mention, his pride would be quite damaged even if he said all that stuff earlier about having a good fight no matter who wins or loses. That’s something that only the winner says to seem like a good sport! He didn’t actually want to lose!
The goo trapping Guang and Hei released them as it rushed through the air, barely managing to save Gong Jun in time. Xiucai’s finger deeply impacted the jelly but did not manage to pierce it. After his failed assassination attempt, Xiucai quickly fled as he ordered Guang and Hei to charge Gong. Chu Hua even decided to join in as she wasn’t just some idiot. This was a tournament about teamwork and cooperation, wasn’t it? She also told Bolin to assist her, Gong Jun wasn’t a Rising Dragon for nothing.
However, Gong Jun was no longer playing around after that close call. His jelly longsword began to violently shake and vibrate before multiple globs of green shot into the sky. Everyone watched as the sky seemed to split into several green swords before falling down like a meteor shower of blades. Xiucai’s eyes widened as he hurriedly recalled Guang and Hei back into their capture beads while relying on his inhuman flexibility to dodge and avoid the falling blades. The Chu’s deflected any swords falling near them with their weapons.
“This is my ultimate technique. Sword Graveyard.” Gong Jun politely informed. “I’ve yet to meet anyone amongst my peers capable of defending against it. I’m excited to see if you three have what it takes. It’s a work in process, you see?” He admitted with a chuckle.
“Hmph.” Chu Hua scoffed as she looked at the swords implanted in the ground all around her. “Bolin. Don’t let him touch me.” She ordered as she rose her arm into the air.
“Killing Technique: Solar Armageddon.” A fearsome gathering of qi focused in Chu Hua’s palm.
“Defensive Technique: Heaven’s Inescapable Net!” Bolin fiercely spun his spear as he stood in front of Chu Hua.
“Impressive...” Gong Jun complimented before suddenly disappearing.
A sharp shriek echoed around the ring as Jun and Bolin clashed. Jun picked up a nearby sword as he clashed with Bolin and swiped at his legs, forcing Bolin to flip out of the way. As he flipped to dodge the attack, Jun kicked two blades, one at Xiucai and the other at Hua. The sudden flying blade sliced through Xiucai’s side as he wasn’t expecting Jun to be able to find him before he even attacked! Xiucai got injured badly but it wasn’t enough to completely take him out of the fight. Chu Bolin deflected the incoming blade headed toward his Young Miss as he finished his flip but wasn’t able to block the sword slash aimed at him by Jun.
Jun left his sword embedded in Bolin’s shoulder as he grabbed another blade stabbed into the ground and slashed across Bolin’s midsection. He grunted in pain as a frown formed on Chu Hua’s face. She could see the blood from Xiucai’s wound leaking onto the ring even if she couldn’t find the boy himself. Bolin received multiple sword wounds as he tried to defend both himself and Chu Hua.
Gong Jun’s Sword Graveyard brought his opponents to their very limits. A seemingly unstoppable onslaught of swords came their way even if he wasn’t directly looking at them. If they took one slash, it didn’t take long for that slash to multiply with the endless number of swords around them. Chu Bolin was forced to his knees with several sword wounds across his body but his drive to protect his Young Miss never wavered even at the cost of his life.
“Tch!” Xiucai’s sneak attack failed once again and he received a terrible cut across his chest for his failure this time.
Xiucai fell to his knees, unable to garner the strength to move. If he forced himself with these wounds, the outcome later wouldn’t be favorable for him. His master’s medical skills may be unrivaled but that was no reason to act suicidal. This battle... was his loss...
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” Chu Hua gritted her teeth in anger seeing Xiucai’s sorry state. “Fine! We surrender.” She stopped gathering solar energy from the sun and dispersed a rather terrifying beam of light into the sky above.
The entire surroundings seemingly shuddered and shook from the force of the blast. The clouds above were pierced through and no one could tell just how much damage would’ve occurred if she used that on Gong Jun. His Sword Graveyard was impressive but that beam was just ridiculous...
“Match over!” The referee decided.
Chu Hua rushed over to Xiucai and hurriedly brought him over to that old man he called master, leaving her severely injured personal servant in the ring. No one could hear the sorrowful wheezing from him but Gong Jun. Gong Jun felt quite bad seeing his pitiful outcome. He fed the loyal and respectable warrior a valuable pill to aid in his recovery before leaving the stage himself.