This was a match that everyone couldn't help but look forward to. Two of the seeded fighters were going to clash and these two were a very interesting matchup..

The plain nature of Xuan Wu's strength did not detract from his tested battle instincts and explosive techniques. On the other hand, Gong Sunling was a large mystery. He had won each time using seemingly endless tricks and ruthless methods.

His opponents were left broken and trodden. He used hidden blades and strange traps that immobilized and hindered the opponent.

A particular opponent had his skin break out in hives, his screams left a bad taste when bugs broke out of the hives as if emerging from eggs.

Xuan Wu jammed on his huge gauntlets with a serious look on his face. Bandages soaked in the blood of his last opponent were wrapped around the gauntlets making them look especially menacing.

The smirking Sunling stood at ease, his loose robes bunching up around his thin figure. No one knew how many tricks they covered up.

"Begin."

Xuan Wu was wary of the methods of Gong Sunling. Taking short steps, he assumed a solid stance.

'I can't rush in indiscriminately.'

"Hahaha, you don't need to be so cautious of me. I don't bite."

Gong Sunling said as he stepped forwards while opening his arms.

"Or maybe I do."

Needles as thin as strands of hair flew out from under his sleeves. Xuan Wu roared in pain, he had blocked all his vitals but his arms and shoulder had needles sticking out which made him look like a porcupine.

Swiping them off of him was not an option as Gong Sunling stepped in without hesitation. His handsome face had transformed into a bloodthirsty mask.

A soft clink signalled the hidden knife that slipped into his right hand. Xuan Wu barely dodged the following stab, slipping away from it.

Reluctant to let a chance slip away, Sunling bent his elbow and drove it into Xuan Wu's jaw with all his strength.

Displaying his genius Xuan Wu hooked Gong Sunling's outstretched arm, stopping him from slipping away. He drew close and jammed the immobilized arm, making it drop the knife.

'Caught you!'

Not willing to let Gong Sunling make another move. Xuan Wu twisted the arm outwards to break it.

To his surprise, the thin Gong Sibling leaped off the ground and twisted his body in the air. With another knife in his left hand, Gong Sunling wanted to finish the fight with a stab to Xuan Wu's neck.

However, Lin Dong was much more skilled at using knives than Gong Sunling and Xuan Wu had fought him numerous times. He wasn't going to fall for something like this.

Gong Sibling was thrown to the ground with force while Xuan Wu got off with a shallow slash at his cheek.

The crowd let out its bated breath and loud cheering ensued. The first moments of this fight had been a breathtaking spectacle.

Xuan Wu grunted as he plucked out a few of the needles that had been hindering his movement. To him, The trickiest opponent was one who had endless methods like the one in front of him. However, the fight had just started and he was not one to cower.

Gong Sunling put his hands into the two space pouches by his sides. An endless rain of throwing knives flashed as they fell upon Xuan Wu. Each and every one of them was carefully deflected using minimal movement.

However, how could the trickster's attack be without a gimmick? One of the knives burst into a fog of green upon contact.

Xuan Wu was covered completely. The fog made his throat tighten up and his eyes water. He felt like he was going to cough his lungs out.

Xuan Wu knew that he couldn't stand still. Still coughing, he tried to step out of the fog. However, it seemed to stick to him no matter where he stepped towards.

"Interesting." Yun Fei said as he looked towards the wheezing Xuan Wu on the stage.

"Master, do you know why the fog is following him around?"

"It's controlled by Gong Sunling's Qi. He can control the major movements of the fog using his Qi.

He must have some method to use his Qi at a distance like this."

The fog was about to dissipate. But before it vanished completely, the expected attack by Gong Sunling assaulted Xuan Wu.

He dropped directly from above. Xuan Wu could only use his thick gauntlets to protect his head and neck. He couldn't stop the knife which cut straight into his shoulder, bone against steel.

Retaliating with all his might, Xuan Wu was only able to push Gong Sunling after he was stabbed one more time in the upper part of his arm.

From the start of his fight, Xuan Wu had trouble in utilising his strength. He was being led around by Gong Sunling and he was aware of that.

'I can't give him any time to think. If he can't think then he won't have the luxury to use his tricks.'

Having struck upon this strategy Xuan Wu dashed towards Gong Sunling. The blood which dripped from the wounds and his tattered clothes combined with the look on his face created an especially fearsome image. He looked like a demon doused in blood.

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Pressing into Gong Sunling, He launched a barrage of punches and kicks. The small compact blows carried a great penetrative power.

Gong Sunling was aware of their lethality, he still remembered Lin Dong being blown off the stage. Not willing to be touched by the grim looking gauntlets, he tried his best to dodge.

This continued on for some time. Gong Sunling with his expert parrying and dodging created an image similar to Lin Dong vs Xuan Wu.

Nevertheless, Gong Sunling just wasn't as good as Lin Dong in dodging. While he dodged the gauntlets, Xuan Wu finally caught him with a compact but destructive leg kick.

'CRACK'

The crisp noise was audible till the stands. Gong Sunling's expression dropped as he leaped backwards in a hurry.

The lethality of Xuan Wu's blows was completely out of his expectations. He had thought that the only reason Lin dong was out of commission was because of his exceptionally weak body.

However, after eating a clean blow himself he could say for certain that it mas mostly because Xuan Wu's moves were too destructive.

Gong Sunling fell backwards as his left foot wasn't able to take any weight. Limping heavily, he could see Xuan Wu charging towards him like a bull eager to end the match.

Placed into this situation, his hands automatically moved towards his space pouch. It was his measure of safety, his trump card. At this point of time, he had to use everything he had. There was no point in holding back.

Two small flesh coloured balls flew out. Xuan Wu was already too close to dodge them. He could only deflect one of them from his head, it still managed to reach his chest. The other struck his neck cleanly.

In less than a second before Xuan Wu even had the chance to try and remove them, the flesh balls wiggled and started increasing in size rapidly.

The bigger they grew the faster their speed of growth became. Xuan Wu tried his all to tear this flesh away but he was only able to separate some of it and remained completely helpless to the rapid propagation.

Looking at the scene on the stage. Scholar had chills run through his body as he recognised the dastardly thing used by Gong Sunling. He took a deep breath as he said,

"To think he has a method to even utilise the treacherous knobs. This fight might as well be called over."

"You know what these are? I've never seen anything like this before." Uncle asked.

"These disgusting things are Knobs. Although rare, they are found in the Atlas forest. They are very tricky to deal with. The easiest way would be to already have some specially designed poison for them on hand. However, there's no way someone carries it around with them."

"There are some other ways to deal with the weaker ones. If he isn't able to use any of them, it will be his loss." Daoist Ren commented.

Slowly the Knob grew even larger than Xuan Wu. He felt like he was wrapped in cotton, the fat meat squeezed at him from all directions, immobilizing him with wet pressure.

He punched and kicked, hitting flesh with every hit. But it just kept on spreading, smothering him. But as it covered him completely, the propagation finally slowed down. Fortunately for Xuan Wu, it looked as if Gong Sunling had run out of these creatures.

Composing himself, Xuan Wu firmed his resolve. A shrill shriek rang out across the amphitheatre. To the audience' surprise and horror, the writhing flesh had a ghastly imitation of a human face appear on it from where the scream rang out.

The flesh wriggled crazily as the imitated face deformed and eventually tore apart. Disappearing along with the flesh into a spray of greasy yellow liquid.

From within, a burst of hot steam and smoke bellowed out as the prisoner emerged. He looked unscathed but his strange visage filled every observer with questions, including Gong Sunling.

Veins bulged from beneath his gauntlets rising up to his elbows. Blue and red they intertwined together. The runes on the gauntlets glowed bright red, making the blood soaked bandaged appear even more menacing than before.

Xuan Wu's body seemed smaller and leaner. In contrast, the already giant gauntlets seemed to have increased in size by a whole level. He looked grim, like a patient suffering from a chronic disease. His tired expression also added to the effect.

Gong Sunling had already stood up. Leaning on his left foot, he had a smug grin on his face. It was a look he gave to his victims when they were already helpless to resist.

'It's my win!'

Looking at the body of Xuan Wu and his defeated expression. Gong Sunling was assured of his victory. He could feel that Xuan Wu's vitality had decreased. Although he didn't know how he had gotten rid of the knobs, he had clearly paid a steep price. Comparatively, Gong Sunling only had his leg to worry about.

Feeling like a wolf preying on sheep, Gong Sunling leaped towards Xuan Wu. This attack was uncharacteristically straight forwards. He moved in to stab Xuan Wu.

He knew Xuan Wu would raise his hand in a foolish resistance. He planned to dodge that and call it an end.

Like predicted, Xuan Wu moved in resistance. However, it was all a blur to Gong Sunling. He couldn't even understand what had happened much less dodge and finish the fight.

He just felt like a hammer had hit him. Then the scenary in front of his eyes changed. Gong Sunling was dragged across half of the platform before his body rolled and his ass hit the floor.

It was a right hook from Xuan Wu. His body turned with exceptional speed as the punch hit Gong Sunling on his upper arm from the side.

Gong Sunling's eyes had a blank look as he sat on his ass with his legs shivering. One side of his face was completely covered in blood. The skin there had been worn down like a crayon.

His left hand turned in an impossible direction as it looked completely flattened at the point of impact. Gong Sunling finally came to consciousness in some time. The first thing he saw was the grim looking Xuan Wu walking towards him in small steps.

Without even thinking anything, his legs pushed him backwards involuntarily. Realising his fear, Gong Sunling smiled self deprecatingly as he withdrew from the fight.

With Gong Sunling's withdrawal. The audience cheered with mad frenzy. This fight had been the best fight of the day. It was truly a worthy fight to put an end to the first day of the tournament.

Xuan Wu could finally relax. Under the cheers of the spectators, he sat down on the stage and heaved. Only he knew how close it had been. Being swallowed by the ghastly knobs had been a terrifying experience.

Taking one last look at Gong Sunling who lay on his back and watched the stars start to appear in the night sky, Xuan Wu slowly descended the stage and walked tiredly back to his accomodations.

Yun Fei smiled as he looked at the fight.

"Surprisingly upright for such a treacherous person."

"Ehh? Upright? What does that mean?" Devanshu asked as he heard Yun Fei's remarks.

Yun Fei just widened his smile as he ruffled Devanshu's hair.

"You'll understand when you grow up. Now, come on let's go back to the inn."

The fight had actually been very close. If Gong Sunling even with his crushed arm decided to retaliate using his crazy methods, who knew who would win?

However, he did not do that. How could Yun Fei miss this? He was just surprised that someone who had such a treacherous reputation would withdraw so easily.

He didn't think any unprincipled person would care about the spirit of the competition and withdrawing because it wasn't a fight to the death.

Did Gong Sunling withdraw just because he was worried about mutual damage or did he withdraw because he was not as he showed on the surface. Yun Fei wasn't sure of it, it was something he would have to find later on.