Two figures dashed about Border City's arena, rapidly exchanging blows. These were the Meridian Opening cultivators who were scheduled to fight before Meng Zhao, and despite their seemingly ordinary appearances they managed to excite the crowd far beyond expectations. Their moves were vicious, striking at their opponent without regard for themselves, and within a short time both sides had been heavily injured in the mad melee. Despite this, the two dragged themselves forward, continuing to fight with an odd, sullen determination. Some would attribute this to both sides having extraordinary willpower, or maybe too much pride to give in. Others would assume that it was about money. These people would be correct, as the two Meridian Opening cultivators were being paid a handsome sum so that the match before Meng Zhao's was exciting enough to get the crowd pumped up. Of course, most of this sum would go to the victor- if they offered the same amount to both, why would they care about winning?

Fortunately the fight before Meng Zhao's went off without a hitch thanks to a liberal dose of capitalism, successfully exciting the crowd and helping pull in more bets for the next fight. The arena didn't want this mood to fall apart and immediately after the fight ended Meng Zhao and his opponent both appeared on the arena's battlefield. Meng Zhao had a rough, tanned body that reminded Liu Zhu of a farmer, and a few light scars could be seen scattered across his body. His opponent looked rather ordinary for an elite of a major family- handsome face, overpriced armor, et cetera. This appearance showed off a certain pride and strength, but it didn't stand out like Meng Zhao's peculiar appearance. As the two took their positions the loud voice of an announcer could be heard throughout the arena- by the sheer volume of his screaming it was clear that he was a relatively powerful cultivator.

"I'd like to thank everyone for patronizing the Border City Arena on this fine afternoon, and I hope you're all enjoying yourselves! This match is what many of you are waiting for, so I'll get to it- on a 20 match winstreak, Border City's very own rising star, Meng Zhao! He possesses strength far beyond his boundary, but today he's facing another talent from his generation- Mao Jia, the most talented junior of the Mao family! Both sides are at Late Bone and Marrow Tempering, and both sides are able to display strength beyond their cultivation. Still, clearly you all see a forgone conclusion, as today the betting odds have settled at eight to one in Meng Zhao's favor. Will we see Meng Zhoa's legend move forward here, or will Mao Jia forge his own? It's time to find out!"

Seeing that the crowd was beginning to get impatient, the announcer had hurriedly wrapped up his spiel. The crowd yelled out happily as the two took center stage in the arena, standing only a dozen feet away each other. Mao Jia unsheathed his sword, ready to start slashing out at any moment, while Meng Zhao stood across from him, fists raised with no intention of taking a weapon out. Seeing this the crowd let out a cheer, heckling Mao Jia and cheering on Meng Zhao, who they'd taken as a local hero despite his sudden appearance. Border City was a big place, but unlike most of the cities in the country, it wasn't really controlled by a large force of cultivators- only the Ki family could be said to have some clout here. That independence meant that despite the amount of people here there weren't many talents able to stand out throughout Yutian Country as a whole. Correspondingly, when one did appear the city would quickly latch onto them as a young hero, cheering them on and gossiping about how they might take the position of Border City Lord eventually. In truth this 'might' could more accurately described as a one or two percent chance, but a talent like this would excite the city anyways- even if they didn't reach Half-step Soul Foundation another high-level Acupoint Opening master appearing in their city meant that there was another powerhouse to protect their relative independence.

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Mao Jia was a bit uncomfortable after the crowd's sudden outburst, but he closed his eyes for a moment and seemed to recover. He may have been out of his comfort zone, but even so he was a chosen elite from one of the major families- he wouldn't crack under the pressure of just because of some yelling. Once he calmed down he let out a deep breath, reaching his peak condition and then slashing out at Meng Zhao at his greatest speed. As Mao Jia strike out a small cloud of dust shot up, forced upwards when Meng Zhao shot away from the blow. To Liu Zhu's surprise the dust didn't scatter out normally, but instead flew towards Mao Jia. This dust obviously wouldn't cause any direct damage, but it would blind him for a moment. Seeing what was about to happen Mao Jia forcefully pulled back his sword and stepped backwards. As he scanned his surroundings he saw that Meng Zhao had slipped behind him and aimed a heavy kick at his shin. He moved to dodge, but given that his sword was still in motion the momentum affected his movements, making them a bit slower and less exact. This small variable was enough for Meng Zhao to land a solid hit on him. While it wasn't a heavy injury it made the gap in skill obvious and set the tone for the rest of the match.

For the next five minutes, Mao Jia suffered greatly at the hands of Meng Zhao. He launched attack after attack, slashing with one sword strike after another, but he hadn't been able to land a single decent blow. Every time he'd attack Meng Zhao would dodge and launch a counterattack. At no point did he show off using strength or speed far beyond his cultivation to counter Mao Jia, but instead leveraged a fearsome amount of skill and practical experience. Whether his strength or speed was beyond average wasn't clear- there was just too much of a gap. Meng Zhao's smallest movements were calculated to put Mao Jia in the most uncomfortable positions, blinding him, putting him off-balance, forcing him back, and so on and so forth.

At one point Mao Jia had managed to lightly injure Meng Zhao, but in exchange he'd received a heavy injury of his own- this exchange had probably been calculated beforehand. Even at the tail end of the match, as Mao Jia unleashed his family's trademark technique, the "Melancholic Whirlwind", all it did was manage to force Meng Zhao back. He was unable to counter such a blow head-on, but at the same time Mao Jia was unable to do anything more than scratch him with it. After his greatest technique failed to show any results Mao Jia hesitantly forfeited, realizing that there was very little he could do at this point. He was already covered in bruises and too tired to show off his full strength, so why would he drag this out? He was here to fight, not to make sure the arena-goers got the most out of their tickets.

Upon Mao Jia's forfeit the crowd shouted out once again, even louder than before. Around this point Liu Zhu drew in a sharp breath, idly discussing the fight with Duan Ping. "That... that level of skill is scary. I can't fathom what he's gone through to have so much battle experience at our age." Duan Ping nodded before letting out a small chuckle. "I agree. How do you think you'd fare against him?" Liu Zhu let out a sigh as he thought through the fight and tried to calculate his odds. "I doubt I could hit him, but at the same time it should be hard for him to injure me. I probably wouldn't be a serious threat, but I could force him to use his weapon at least." Duan Ping nodded throughout Liu Zhu's response, not paying complete attention. "As for me, I could... I'm not sure. My chances of victory are slim, but let's hope that he's not hiding too much of his strength. I think I have a 20% chance to win."

A 20% chance of victory was more than Liu Zhu thought he could eke out, but what surprised him more was how seriously Duan Ping was taking his own hypothetical. "That's a bit exact, isn't it? It's not like you'll have to think about it, will you?" Duan Ping bitterly smiled as Liu Zhu said this. "Er... the reason I came here today is because I will have to worry about it. I'm his opponent tomorrow. Before this fight I assumed that we'd be roughly even, but now I'm having some doubts." Duan Ping sighed upon saying this, deflating slightly, but after a moment he sprung back up. "Anyways, enough of that- it's not like it's a life or death battle, so the outcome doesn't matter, just that I do my best. Weren't we going to that gathering with your friend?" Realizing that he did have to look for Yu Bai, Liu Zhu came to his senses. "You're right. Let's meet up with him then."