He Xianru's sudden increase in speed had awed the audience into silence. They felt that she was going to do something big.

Suddenly, Su Libai moved.

His speed was numerous times greater than He Xianru. His sword went parallel to the ground and extended in a lightning fast stab.

He Xianru felt like she had been dumped into ice cold water. The sword was coming right for her head. She felt like if she didn't dodge it, she would die.

She put her forward momentum to a halt. Going as far to even risk injury, she forcibly withdrew to a side to dodge from the killing blow.

She was completely disoriented. She never expected to lose in something that she considered to be her speciality. This stab had punctured her confidence.

Just as she dodged to the side at the last second. The sword coming for her head as well as Su Libai, both dissipated into air like smoke.

All she could feel was the cold steel pressed against the back of her neck.

"Well, this should be considered as my victory."

Su Libai said as he sheathed his sword. The referee announced him as the victor. Since lethal blows were against the rules, in situations like these, where one had complete control over the life and death of his opponent- he was obviously declared the victor.

He Xianru, as well as most of the spectator's minds were in disarray. A lot of people didn't even understand what happened.

Even though she was the closest. He Xianru still had doubts remaining. The stab that had targeted her was too real. The goosebumps over her body and her palpitating heart were the proof.

The sheer danger she had felt from it had made her back away. However, what she had backed away into, was a sword's edge.

He Xianru had lost. She had lost completely. From the start of the fight till the end, she wasn't even able to harm her opponent even once. Even when she sparred with Ha Ken, she had always been able to land a blow or two.

But this time?

It was completely one sided.

It was all too clear to everyone that Su Libai could end the battle whenever he wanted.

"What a novel concept. You don't have to be fast, you just have to be fast in the eyes of the opponent."

Yun Fei could see through the illusion. This was why he was clear about the flow of events. Su Libai had never moved faster than He Xianru.

In fact, he was relatively slow for the whole fight. The final stab was just his fake image. While the image accelerated with speed which was probably impossible for Su Libai. He just extended his sword to his side. He Xianru brought her neck to it herself.

"However, even though she lost. This He Xianru is no pushover. Her speed and this technique of her father is nothing to laugh at.

It's just that all her skills were useless when she couldn't even discern the position of her enemy properly."

Said Yun Fei, he genuinely believed that he would have to spend some effort to defeat her unless there were special circumstances.

"Master, this guy is too strong. He was playing with that talented young miss from the start to end. Can you defeat him?" Devanshu asked with worry.

Yun Fei just smiled in response as he voiced out.

"Well, We'll just have to wait and see when it's my turn to fight."

A dejected He Xianru walked down the stage amongst the loud consolations from her fans. To her, they hurt worse than the harshest insults, her own personal walk of shame.

"Xianru! You don't need to be so discouraged."

He Xianru raised her chin and put on a bitter smile as she replied to Ha Ken.

"This isn't like you. Since when did you start lying to console me too?"

"I'm not consoling you. I'm just stating the hard facts. You don't need to be so discouraged about losing to someone with a higher cultivation than yours."

"What!? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I've seen him in action before. There's no way he would've been able to maintain this level of illusions so easily had he been on the 5th level of Qi Condensation.

That bastard has also reached the 6th stage."

Just as He Xianru heard this. It was like she had found a support. To justify her loss, she just needed a proper reason.

"You're right. I would never lose so easily against someone with the same cultivation as mine.

It's only because he was ahead of me."

Her mood was very easy to influence. With just this conversation, she had regained her confidence. Pumped up to easily win her next fight.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted their conversation.

"It would serve you well if you think about your mistakes and learn from your fight."

Although they could see no sign of the owner of the voice, both of them were completely familiar with him.

The voice continued,

"Don't try to find excuses for your failures. And don't let yourself be so easily affected by things. Your irritability was a major weakness of yours in the fight."

"But father my opponent was at..", He Xianru tried to explain but was cut off by Weiyuan's voice.

"You shouldn't let a difference of on or two levels affect you. Remember, the first step towards a victory is to think that you can emerge victorious.

Losing to someone stronger than you is not disgraceful. It's how you have fought which is important.

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I think you could have fought much better if you carried yourself with a calmer mindset. Try to keep this in your mind for your next fight."

The City lord wanted the best for his daughter. To ensure that she could perform better in her next battle, he explained to her some key points about her fight against Su Libai.

"If you had a calmer mindset, you would have realised that Su Libai did not have the reserves to keep up his illusion along with his invisibility. He could barely keep them up when you were pressing him with your speed."

He weiyuan went on to explain that the figure that Xianru had often dismissed as an illusion had been Libai's true body.

In truth this battle had been deceptively one-sided, if only He Xianru had maintained her original strategy of trying to parse out her opponents positing. Just a little more dedication would have shown a stark difference in the flow of the match.

Privately Weiyuan thought,

'She would have still lost but that battle would've been far more interesting than this one. She would also recieve a confidence boost.'

"I hope you can keep my words inside your head and perform better in your next fight."

Saying this, He Weiyuan's voice vanished.

"Xianru, it's already my turn to battle. Wait for me, I'll finish this quickly."

Gong sunling narrowed his eyes. The choice ahead was difficult. Ha Ken was a formidable opponent, a famed swordsman and direct disciple of the city lord. It would be the safe choice to forfeit the match.

In such round robin tournaments, giving up was a strategic action. There was no shame in admitting defeat. Avoiding a strenuous battle helped conserve stamina and built the foundation for a higher chance in the following fights.

It was the same reasoning that He Xianru had emulated before giving in to Ha Ken.

Many people had already paid the price for their misplaced fighting spirit. With their fatigued and injured body, they struggled to win even the victories that were assured.

Xianru's admission had caused many to make the decision to forfeit their eventual matchup against Ha Ken.

Sunling was still in two minds, on one hand Ha Ken was, at least on the surface, the strongest challenger. On the other hand, He Xianru had lived with Ha Ken in the same hold.

She may very well have forfeited out of her trepidation at facing someone from the same side. Sometimes, people did not want to lose or win amongst their friends.

There are many different types of cultivators. The techniques that humans used to advance against the heavens are largely the same, but everyone is uniquely enabled by the process of cultivation. Many fringe techniques provide advantages of different kinds to their technicians.

Some were particularly suited to swordsmen or spearmen, some promoted bodily strength, demonic techniques hastened the rate of cultivation to unbelievable degrees, but not without extracting a price.

In the same way, many are born with special talents miles above their peers, like He Xianru or Yun Fei, who was admittedly, not a human.

Others take their place laden with disadvantages, a weak body, a dismal comprehension or in some rare cases a complete crippling of the potential.

Then again, where there are two ends of the spectrum; there must be a midpoint. This is the true mediocrity. Cultivators that hold the majority and are, for all their uniqueness, average.

Gong Sunling fell firmly into this category. He worked hard, tried his best to stand at the top but it just wasn't for him. After months spent cursing his talent, he had finally given in to fate.

That is when he truly became fearsome. He gathered weapons from foriegn lands, poisons from beneath the seas, strange creatures from the forbidden depths of foreboding forests.

An arsenal gathered painstakingly to wield pain and fear as his weapons. His style fed on ignorance and mistakes but never made any.

His shady dealings had given him a permanent place amongst the scum of the lands. In his mind there was no alternative, no choice but to move forward.

This is what made him accept the match. Ha Ken was the embodiment of everything he had struggled against, talent.

Justifying himself against his better sense,

'I may not be able to win, but I should be able to retreat safely. He doesn't seem to have a ruthless streak.'

'I'll fucking swamp him and finish him off. If I can't… well I'll quit, no point in revealing everything.'

Gong Sunling calmly climbed the stage. Ignoring the questioning gaze of Ha Ken and the referee regarding his tardiness, he readied everything he had.

The gong sounded, but before Ha Ken could assume his stance, Sunling had already begun. His movement was so right on mark that many people suspected that he had already started before hearing the sound.

Short handled axes flew from his twirling form, two of them flew out in succession. Ha Ken was unperturbed, his sword flew out of its sheath deflecting the first axe. But before he could do the same to the second, the hidden pouch that interspaced the axes burst mid air.

The powder burned lightly, but it blinded Ha Ken. Refusing to panic he could only slice out at the second axe. As a cultivator, his aim wasn't going to miss.

The deflected axe thudded into the ground behind him. Gong Sunling wasn't going to let this chance pass.

Whoosh!!

Whoosh!!

Whoooosh!!

Small pellets flew through the air. Prepared for any attacks, Ha Ken swatted them away with the flat of his blade. He hoped to avoid triggering them if they were a trap.

It was of no use, they exploded with a deafening crack against his sword. They didn't carry much weight or strength but the sounds were the perfect cover for Sunling's footsteps.

Despite his caution, Ha Ken felt his knees buckle as a deep slash appeared beside his thigh. His blind slashes struck metal as they rang on contact.

But Sunling merely deflected them away, they did not carry any weight. Hearing victory beckon him, he flung out more pellets.

He had made a mistake- against someone like Ha Ken repeating such a move could prove fatal. His hand darted out in a sweeping motion softly cradling the projectiles into submission.

Blearily, his eyes inched open revealing reddened eyes swimming in tears… tears that did nothing to mask his anger.

'It looks like he has almost recovered from the effects of the powder.'

Gong Sunling suddenly took out a contraption from his space pouch. It was a transparent glass covering which he quickly wore on his eyes using the band attached to it.

Ha Ken had just started dashing towards him but suddenly the whole stage was covered in smoke. It was so thick that the audience wasn't able to see anything.

Inside the smoke, Gong Sunling crawled on the ground. Although his own visibility was reduced. He was still better off than Ha Ken.

Ha Ken had tears running down his eyes. While reducing the visibility, it also irritated the eyes. This was the reason Gong Sunling carried a covering for himself.

Suddenly, Ha Ken felt pain just above his ankle. He pulled out a short dwarf of an arrow. He knew more were coming so he changed his position, still getting hit by two more in his legs.

He had started getting irritated. There was nothing he hated more than sneaky opponents like this who depended on tricks.

'I didn't think I would have to reveal it so soon.

There isn't anything to be gained from hiding it. So it doesn't matter much.'

With this thought, Ha Ken's Qi blazed out with the full force of his cultivation.

Holding his sword in both of his hands, he brought it down in a vertical slash. The sword light arced and twisted even as it was bisected with another, horizontal slash.

Ha Ken shouted in his mind,

'Cross slash! Wansen sword.’

It was his strongest move. Gong Sunling had irritated him so much that he wanted to show him the difference between them. Even though he could've won with much less, Ha Ken still decided to beat Sunling up for the tricks he had pulled.

Under the wind generated by the Cross Slash. The smoke on the platform vanished in seconds.

Looking towards the platform, Su Libai thought to himself.

'This has gotten much more interesting now.'

"This kid has already reached the 6th level? His win is almost guaranteed." a city guard said to another.

"That kid from immortal illusion sect also has a chance. If Ha Ken can beat him then he'll win."

The crowd was of the same mind, they roared their approval. But the deafening cheers were silenced as the haze on the stage quickly cleared.

A Gong Sunling lying on the ground was revealed for all to see. Prone on all fours, he pointed a small complex cross bow, complete with an intricate loading mechanism towarda Ha Ken.

Ha Ken rushed towards him without wasting any time, deflecting another stub of an arrow. His anger was clear on his face.

Gong Sunling knew he was finished.

He made a lightning fast decision. This decision was what had led him to survive multiple brushes with death and perilous situations.

He was so used to it that there wasn't any delay between the smoke vanishing and Gong Sunling turning his ass towards Ha Ken. He fired off some shots to disrupt Ha ken as he ran.

In a monumental act of spinelessness, he jumped down from the stage. Finally safe from Ha Ken, he sighed with relief.

Ha Ken would've caught up to him if he was delayed for even a moment. But now, the trickster had escaped and Ha Ken was left with rage and indignation.

He soon composed himself, letting slip a single clear word.

"Coward!"

The only response was Gong Sunling's sly smile amidst the roars from the indignant crowd.