Chapter 208 - Fox's Pride
The fight between Lang and Chloe Elliott was over. Victory had gone to the young beast tamer of the Ice Wolf Beast Family. The affinity and cooperation between her and her spirit beast, the wolf Fenrir, had allowed them to prevail over their opponents.
As the four fighters left the stage to make way for the next match, Song Yazhu announced the next two challengers.
"Taking the field for the next match are Huli Xieren of the Huli Family and Bao Yeong-Cheol of the Bao Family."
“Bao Yeong-Cheol? Is he related to Bao Jong-Su?"
Upon hearing that name, He Fen, whom he had confronted Bao Jong-Su on his rounds, couldn't help but ask.
"Yes. Bao Yeong-Cheol and Bao Jong-Su are brothers, twins to be precise."
The one who answered was Feng Chen. As a member of one of the Eight Big Families, he knew the names of the principal members of the younger generation of each bloodline family, especially those in the Southern Region and therefore within the area administered by the Feng Family. The young man then turned his gaze to the young woman with fiery red hair, preparing to leave the stands dedicated to the fighters.
“Xieren, go and win. With your skills, you will have no problem facing Bao Yeong-Cheol. But be careful; he could turn out to be an insidious opponent."
Hearing Feng Chen's recommendation, Huli Xieren nodded her head. Her purple eyes with a slight reddish tinge looked in the direction of Feng Chen. The intensity of her eyes’ color was so bewitching that she would be able to captivate people with little willpower with just one look.
"I'll be back as a winner as soon as possible."
Leaving those words, Huli Xieren made her way to the fighting stage. As she exited the fighters' stands, she met her opponent, Bao Yeong-Cheol, who was also heading to the stage.
“And so my opponent is someone from the Huli Family. You know, I confess I was hoping for a better opponent for the first round, especially after my little brother lost his match and was eliminated from the tournament. To regain the lost face of my family, it would have been better to face someone strong. And instead, I have to put up with someone from a shameful family like the Huli Family. You and all the other families who submit to the Eight Big Families are just trash. To avoid seeing your prestige ruined by your ineptitude, you are willing to lick the asses of those who would not hesitate to kill us if they could."
Hearing those words, Huli Xieren said nothing but just continued walking in the open corridor that connected the stands of the fighters with the fighting stage. Seeing this, Bao Yeong-Cheol came out with a smile as if he was expecting a similar reaction.
His earlier words weren’t a provocation to influence Huli Xieren's heart and her clarity in combat. It was his honest consideration of the Huli Family, shared by the Bao Family and the other bloodline families.
It had to be known that, although the Sun Empire appeared strong and firm in their bonds, in reality, it wasn’t. The Imperial Family had always been wary of the Eight Big Families and tried to increase their authority and prevent the Eight Big Families from gaining too much power. Similarly, the Eight Big Families had constantly monitored the Imperial Family's movements to prevent them from achieving the Empire's supremacy while taking advantage of every opportunity to increase their influence.
But it wasn't just these nine noble families who wanted a piece of the pie. Even the smaller families, especially those with pure bloodlines, wanted their share; no, they wanted an even bigger slice. After all, those at the bottom of the ladder would always envy those above and go to great lengths to climb up and replace whoever was above them.
Consequently, for the smaller families who saw the Eight Big Families as their target, there was nothing more repulsive than someone who gave up their independence to submit to one of the Eight Big Families. This was because the act of submission did nothing but widen the gap in strength between the minor families and the Eight Big Families. And it so happened that the Huli Family was just one of those families who had given up their pride in order not to lose their prestige.
'No reaction? It wasn't like I was aiming to undermine her concentration but even so… if an attack on her family's honor doesn't affect her, why not try a personal attack? ' Bao Yeong-Cheol thought to himself.
He wasn't normally the type to use such tactics, but his opponent came from a family for which Bao Yeong-Cheol had no respect. Therefore, he decided to provoke Huli Xieren seriously. Not only would he get his first tournament win and regain face for his family, but he would also teach a heavy lesson to the traitors who had turned their backs on the other bloodline families.
“I guess your life must be easy. You just need to open your legs, and that cocky Feng Chen gives you some resources to cultivate in exchange. I guess he told you he loves you or something like that. That's nonsense. He's just using you for his pleasures. As soon as the Feng Family finds someone for him to marry, he will throw you away or keep you as a concubine to use when he feels like it at most. If I were you, I'd leave such a guy, but considering you're part of the Huli Family, I guess you're used to throwing your pride in shit to stay in your fake position of prestige."
Bao Yeong-Cheol's words were malicious and contemptuous. He poured out his contempt and hatred for the Huli Family directly on Huli Xieren as she belonged to that family. He also brought up Feng Chen, insinuating that the latter was only exploiting the young woman for his pleasures.
Once again, Huli Xieren said nothing. However, this time, some twitchings could be seen on the edges of her eyes and forehead. The young woman had been influenced by Bao Yeong-Cheol's words, although she was doing her best not to show it.
"Let the fight begin." Song Yazhu declared as soon as the two designated fighters arrived at the center of the fighting stage.
“Come on! Won't you respond to what I said? Not even a word? Or do you know that everything I've said is true?" Bao Yeong-Cheol was smiling gleefully. He didn't care about playing the bad guy; no, considering the other party came from a traitorous family, regardless of what he said, he could never be considered the villain of the situation.
Hearing this, Huli Xieren eventually could no longer remain silent, “How much do you speak? I hope your strength matches your ability to get your tongue moving. As for what you said about my family, I can't blame you. We sold out to avoid the destruction of our family. For the other minor families, we are traitors, and indeed we are. But I don’t care. We of the Huli Family have long since given up our pride and no longer have the right to be angry if someone insults us.
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However, it's another question if you start insulting Feng Chen. You don't know him. You don't know what kind of person he is and about his situation. Yet don't hesitate to tarnish his name as well as his relationship with me.
Therefore, as a representative of the Huli Family… no, that's not correct. As the personal guard assigned to the young master Feng Chen, I, Huli Xieren, will face you with my full strength. You will experience first-hand what it means to piss off a woman."
After saying this, Huli Xieren released her spirit power. An intense fighting aura enveloped Bao Yeong-Cheol, who could sense the young woman's anger even from his position.
“Hahaha, do you think you can scare me just because you're pissed? What bullshit. Well, if you really have the strength to support your words, then let me experience this so-called anger of yours!" Bao Yeong-Cheol yelled as he pulled out his weapon.
The weapon of the Bao Family's young man was a metal staff a meter and a half long. The unusual thing was that the ends of the staff, which should have been flat, contained a triangular blade, like a spear. Moreover, the blades themselves weren’t smooth but serrated, thus chopping the opponent's flesh rather than cutting it.
Slash!
Bao Yeong-Cheol moved his staff forward, aiming one of the blades at Huli Xieren. The young woman had drawn her sword but didn’t receive the weapon's impact coming from the front. Instead, she dodged to the side and then advanced towards Bao Yeong-Cheol, who was exposed.
'Stupid.'
As he thought like this, Bao Yeong-Cheol quickly backed his hand back, bringing his staff's shaft behind his back. From that position, he switched the weapon from his right to his left hand and brought the staff forward, just in time to meet Huli Xieren's sword. All this was done with a speed and fluidity that demonstrated Bao Yeong-Cheol's mastery with his staff.
After doing this, Bao Yeong-Cheol put his right hand back on the staff's shaft and thrust his weapon forward, leveraging the edge that wasn’t blocked by Huli Xieren's sword. Having two blades at his staff's ends, Bao Yeong-Cheol could block with one of the two and then attack with the free one.
Slash!
Huli Xieren avoided the oncoming attack in time but had to prepare to dodge another blow quickly. 'His rotation skill is of a high level. He manages to rotate his staff with his body, preventing me from taking advantage of the disadvantage of long weapons, which is close combat. First, I have to understand the pattern of his attacks. Only then will I be able to match the rhythm of my movements with his and create a breach in his defense.'
Like Feng Chen, Huli Xieren was also a fighter who favored a more calm and composed approach than an aggressive one like Hu Jie's. Despite her anger, she was still lucid enough not to abandon her fighting style. She would study her opponent's attack pattern, and only then would she make her move and deal heavy damage.
"Intent of the Sword, Fire Law, Burning Blade!"
It didn't take Huli Xieren long to memorize her opponent's pace. Despite Bao Yeong-Cheol's constant assault, she was able to dodge and parry every blow as she examined every single detail of his movements. And when Bao Yeong-Cheol was performing his arm-to-arm shift again, Huli Xieren made her move.
Quickly increasing her speed, she quickly bridged the gap between her and Bao Yeong-Cheol while using a Fire Law technique. Just by looking at how quickly she completed her technique, it could be seen that her knowledge of the Fire Law was quite high for someone at the spirit soldier rank.
Slash!
The blade of the sword flew down in the direction of Bao Yeong-Cheol. If the latter did nothing, he would be cut from the shoulder to the hip. He obviously had his defensive layer of spirit power active. But, even if he weren’t to take damage, there was no doubt he would consume a great deal of spirit power.
Split!
At that moment, a sharp crack could be heard, as if the padlock or lock of something had been opened. And indeed it was so.
Peng!
At the moment when Huli Xieren's sword was coming down, Bao Yeong-Cheol smiled despite his situation. Then, the serrated ends of the staff broke away from the shaft. No, breaking away wasn’t the correct term. Instead, they stretched out while a metal chain joined the two serrated blades with the staff's shaft. Thus, one of the blades went to intercept the descending sword while the second flew into Huli Xieren's chest. With one simple move, Bao Yeong-Cheol had reversed the situation, and now it was Huli Xieren who was in danger of being hurt or otherwise losing a great deal of spirit power.
Peng!
Huli Xieren's sword collided with the first of the serrated blades. Since the serrated blade was supported only by Bao Yeong-Cheol's spirit power, it couldn’t withstand the impact with Huli Xieren's sword but was deflected. However, it bought enough time for the second serrated blade to land on its target.
Chop!
The serrated blade sank into the young woman's chest. A grimace of pain crossed Huli Xieren's beautiful face as the defensive layer of spirit power around her body grew thinner. Although she wasn’t visibly injured, she had received frontal damage. Thanks to her quick battle instinct, she moved backward, slightly decreasing the damage she received.
“Don't think it's over here! Intent of the San Jie Gun, Black Panther Bloodline, activate! Lightning Law, Claw of the Panther King, Storm Mode!"
At Bao Yeong-Cheol's cry, his staff's serrated blades filled with lightning in an impressive amount. Only from the rumbling sound of the lightning one could imagine their power. The terrifying thing was that the serrated blades were connected by metal chains to the staff, thus following Bao Yeong-Cheol's movements. Also, they could be shortened and lengthened as needed, thus increasing the effective range.
"You lost! Panther Acceleration!"
Bao Yeong-Cheol used his speed technique and headed at high speed against Huli Xieren. As he moved, his arms were spinning the staff, and so were the two jagged blades full of lightning.
"Nine-Tailed Fox Bloodline, Dance of the Red Moon!"
Huli Xieren obviously wouldn’t have passively waited for her opponent to arrive. So she activated her bloodline and prepared to meet Bao Yeong-Cheol.
'I have no interest in my family's prestige. I'm not fighting to make the Huli Family’s Head or the Elders happy. But Feng Chen told me to win, so I'll do it. But first, I'll let you taste the burning flame when a fox's pride is wounded.' Huli Xieren thought to herself. The pride she spoke of was not related to the Huli Family, but Feng Chen.
Boom! Boom!
The two serrated blades swooped down on Huli Xieren. The young woman had already prepared herself and therefore avoided the attack without problems. However, that was all. She could dodge, but she couldn't parry. The power of lightning within the serrated blades was problematic, considering her strong point wasn't the brute force or frontal fighting.
Slash! Boom! Slash! Boom!
When Huli Xieren dodged, Bao Yeong-Cheol didn’t slow down the pace but somewhat increased it. Continuously rotating his body and staff, he waved the serrated blades as if he were a whirlwind of blades. The rumbling sound of the lightning was so deafening that ordinary spirit soldier martial artists would have difficulty concentrating and maintaining balance.
Yet, despite the ferocity and speed of Bao Yeong-Cheol’s attacks, Huli Xieren dodged every move with absolute elegance and skill. Her delicate and graceful figure was like a small fire at the mercy of the storm, which, however, despite its ferocity, couldn’t put out that small fire.
“I don't think you'll be able to dodge forever. And when that time comes, it will be the end for you! " grinned Bao Yeong-Cheol. He had the upper hand over his opponent, yet he wasn’t landing any hits. Even though Huli Xieren was dodging, with no sign of being able to fight back, the young man from the Bao Family couldn't help but get nervous.
'Shit, Storm Mode is one of my trump cards. The more I use it, and the more my next opponent will know my attack pattern. But at the moment, I can't slow down, or I'll finish losing the initiative.'
This was a tournament, not a single challenge. Every move the fighters revealed would be one less hidden card. Therefore, almost the majority aimed to win without revealing too much about them. But this wasn’t a tournament like any other. It was a tournament between the younger generation members with the most talent among the Southern Royal War Academy students. No wonder that even in the early rounds, they had to show their best and killing moves.
'He's starting to get nervous. It’s time to fight back.' Huli Xieren said to herself as she used her fire tail as an additional limb, making dodges unthinkable for a normal human being. Like Feng Chen, who generated a wing made of spirit power, Huli Xieren could also generate something similar - in her case, it was a fox tail.