"Hello." Ezoju Ling said with a wide smile on his face.

Bing Qin Yang frowned lightly.

"W-Where am I?

Who are you?

Why...My head feels so heavy?" The youth began to organize his thoughts, his brain had suffered a very slight damage, and whilst Ezoju Ling had many methods to heal it, it still could not prevent people from having temporary amnesia.

Bing Qin Yang's expression flickered, as he began to recall many things, anger, shock, fear appeared on his face, as he looked at Ezoju Ling, who did his best to ignore his discomfort.

In the end, Bing Qin Yang could not help but sigh.

"So, I failed, huh?"

But Ezoju Ling shook his head.

"No, is the opposite, you have been so outstanding, that even before finishing the exam you have already acquired enough merits, to join us."

He was not lying.

Indeed, even if he had achieved those same results, by spending three days working straight his performance would still be outstanding.

Let alone, in such a little time frame.

In fact it was so quick, that Ezoju Ling was already preparing an excuse to give to his superiors, to hide Bing Qin Yang's skills.

However, Bing Qin Yang was not aware of those thoughts, he simply narrowed his eyes and asked bluntly.

"So, am I so incompetent, that you have decided to accept me?"

That was a very common sabotage trick, by firing the most competent and capable, whilst hiring and giving raises to the incompetent, it was possible to create a very unstable work environment, decrease the moral of the workers, diminish their performance, among other things.

Ezoju Ling laughed nervously.

He had already guessed that something like this would happen.

Before, he figured out his secret, he had been taunting the teenager over and over again, something which could hinder his future efforts.

But in the end, he simply thought.

"Is not a question of whether he wants to join to me or not, rather is about the old monster slumbering within his head, as long as I can convince that old monster, the old monster, will convince the teenager."

With that thought, he replied.

"Do not misunderstand me, I am completely serious.

Initially, I could not see M. Tai.

However, now I do, I finally see that despite your young appearance,

you are wise beyond your years.

That within you, there lies the spirit of an old sage."

Bing Qin Yang's expression twisted, in a thousand of ways.

"HE FIGURED OUT WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO?" He thought panicked.

Ezoju Ling could not help but grin.

"So, I guessed correctly!"

Initially, he was not entirely convinced of his little conjecture.

There were many things that he was not entirely sure of, that could lead to a thousand different conclusions, and thus, he read the teenager's Soul Fluctuations, to confirm beyond all doubt, that he had figured out the truth.

Bing Qin Yang clenched his fists, he looked through his soul, until he found his will, that even though was half-broken, it could still be used.

Immediately, he put it on his cranium.

His reaction surprised Ezoju Ling somewhat.

"I do not know how much you figured out, and frankly I do not care.

But enough is enough, I have repaired my will.

Yes, I know you are stronger than me, and that if you try to look through my thoughts, my thin barrier will immediately crumble.

But, so what?

If my will breaks twice in a row, the damage on my soul and brain will be far greater, if anything happens to me, the Clan will hunt you down.

If I die, you will also die."

Bing Qin Yang was very desperate, the situation had already spiralled out of control.

He was in a situation, where he could actually experience an outcome far worse than death.

Why?

Simple.

His identity.

If it was ever discovered that the grandson of the patriarch was not actually his real descendant but a mere 'Body Snatcher', what would happen then?

The reputation of the Bing Clan would be almost completely ruined.

The only way to somewhat savage it, would be to catch down that body snatcher.

What would happen afterwards, well, it was quite obvious.

At 'best', he may be burnt to ashes, at worst, he may get tortured for days on broadlight, without giving him the relief of death, and then when he was at his wits end, his soul would get reduced to dust.

Leaving him no possibility to ever reincarnate again.

To prevent that dreadful outcome, he needed to prevent that man from finding more clues, even if he knew his identity already, as long as he lacked enough proof, nobody would believe it, and it would not matter.

This stressful situation, awakened a primal feeling within the depths of his heart.

A feeling so powerful, that any rationality, or other thoughts were removed.

The desire to survive no matter the cost.

Ezoju Ling tilted his head lightly, while this happened.

Funnily enough, he had never thought about reading that teenager's mind any longer, after all, he did not want to annoy neither that monster, or the vessel of them, again.

Which made the youth's dramatic actions, quite awkward.

Still, he could not help but feel amazed and captive by that determination of his.

"Such rage...Such hatred...Such fear....Such desperation, if his Fire Affinity was not so pitiful, maybe he would awaken his Bing's Clan Bloodline Ability on the spot."

Ezoju Ling thought.

...

After a tiny pause, he finally said.

"You do not have to be afraid, I am not interested in snitching you out, nor about reading your thoughts ever again."

Bing Qin Yang frowned.

"Why should I believe you?"

Ezoju Ling shrugged.

"Look, did I not say before, that I am not satisfied with the association?

Why would I snitch you out, and allow those geezers to get 99% of the rewards, whilst I am given only the crumbs?

Obviously, not!

Instead, I want to negotiate with you, work with you.

All you have to do is to share that knowledge you have, then I can give you many resources, information, protection, among other things."

Naturally, Bing Qin Yang was not convinced by that statement, you simply cannot ally out of nowhere with the man that made you vomit, and who minutes later damaged your brain.

It simply could not happen.

He crossed his arms and said.

"What do you offer specifically that no one else has?

I mean, why I could not go to a Void Cultivator and offer them this same deal?"

But Ezoju Ling simply chuckled.

"Do you really want to share this information with others?

Moreover, there is also another guarantee.

I am a traitor, and the Association already know this, the reason why I have not been disposed yet, is because I am quite talented, and also due to my contract, having said this, they still try to suppress me in all manners, preventing me from gaining any real power or alliances.

They may not do much, even if we become allies, however if the truth about you is revealed, I would also be under quite the threat..."

...

Those words calmed Bing Qin Yang somewhat.

"So, what are your current plans?"

.............

Meanwhile.

......

As the pillars began to crumble, the man was forced to rely on his pair of wing leaf's to escape, abandoning most of his fortress, however, he took with him, some few of the herbs nearby to act as an armor.

Yet, Bing Xi Wang did something very unexpected yet again.

She began to sing.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Her voice was split in three harmonies, on three different frequencies that were fluctuating constantly.

By switching the frequency of her voice, she soon found, the perfect resonant frequency of that man.

That was very dangerous.

Resonant frequencies, were the exact frequency of a particular material, in where the vibration would not get released as heat, but as vibrations across an object, without ever dissipating.

That process may sound harmless, but it was far from it, as the energy was not scattered in heat, the vibrations would progressively grow more violent, and erratic.

Moreover, not all materials had the same frequency, if let's say, your bones had a frequency of 0.5, but your muscles had one of 0.6, and there was a frequency of 0.5, then your bones would begin to vibrate, yet the muscles would not respond in kind.

Which increased the damage across the body.

Another quality was that as her voice was split on three, she was able to target, the tendons, bones, and organs, in very different ways.

...

Of course, that did not meant Bing Xi Wang's attacks were perfect by any means.

To be blunt, she was not exactly sure of what she was doing, her target was simply too far away, and the act of finding the 'frequency of resonance', was an act of memorization.

Any human had very similar 'frequencies of resonance', that fluctuated very slightly, as long as she changed subtly her voice, she could accidentally stumble into the right answer.

If her eyesight was still intact, she would have noticed when she found the 'answer', unfortunately, as she was unable to do so, she kept fluctuating her voice, from time to time.

...

The man was in a dilemma.

Even though he had already gone out of the range of her technique, there was still some lingering damage.

His bones were rubbing against his flesh, producing some internal bleeding, and his Qi flow had turned erratic.

Most importantly, even though he was out of her range, that did not meant it was safe.

Why?

Because while she was expending her Qi, he was expending even more Qi to sustain his myriad of sunflowers, which despite all his measures, still required a minimum of Qi flux to be sustained.

And thus, if he remained on the defensive, he would only give her more time to recover, and overpower him.

He needed to attack, so after some consideration, he made a simple plan.

He put his two hands on the ground.

Silently, he began to pour his Qi, and he created many poisonous vines that moved beneath the ground, heading very quickly towards her.

Those vines emerged from the ground, surprising Bing Xi Wang, who before having the time to do anything was strangled by them.

The man tried to throw her out of the arena, yet before he could do anything more, Bing Xi Wang immediately activated her Bloodline Ability.

Disregarding the potential damage she would suffer from creating a poisonous mist, she directly boiled the nearby vines, followed by her licking her lips and running towards him again.

Once more, due to the lingering Qi left behind, his attacks had revealed his location.

He was not flustered by this at first, even though she was now faster, as she was using her Bloodline Ability, it was not a big deal, after all, she was functionally blind in many regards.

But his expression changed completely as he noticed that she was opening her eyes.

She used many Ocular Methods to discover his location, the light around her eyes, was igniting them, damaging them further, but her perception had grown beyond belief.

To make matters worse, as she got nearer and nearer, she began to rely on Sound techniques to accelerate her body as she jumped in an unpredictable pattern.

The man released whatever tricks he had left, he shoot many seeds from his hands, followed by a myriad of vines, yet by relying on her sheer power, of her Bloodline Ability, she overwhelmed him.

"Hey, you are the type of guy who is bright and early, right?

Well, rise and shine."

She raised her palm.

A dazzling rainbow light was shoot from her palm, followed by yellow flames.

That was one of the applications of her Bloodline Ability, called 'Blinding Flames', which was produced by Fire and Light Qi mixing together.

Her attack was divided in two, however, as even though it was not as fast as 'pure' Light, Light Qi, was still too quick for the flame to follow.

Thus, the light comes first, blinding the target, followed by flames which burn them.

A very simple but effective tactic.

Despite this, the man was not completely flustered.

A yellow sticky substance came from all the pores of his skin, covering him as if it was an armor.

"Do you think you are the only one with a Bloodline Ability?"

That very sticky substance, that looked like honey, began to move towards the vines, and herbs he had arranged, even around seeds that he had left on the ground.

His honey had the power to accelerate the growth of any creature, heal them, invigorate them, and even reinforce them.

The man poured all the Qi he had on an attempt to suppress her, to push her back.

As long as he did that long enough, he would be able to blind her, as long as she was completely blinded, she would be helpless.

Bing Xi Wang raised her two arms, the flames around her body, began to concentrate in her hands.

A bright rainbow light was produced immediately.

The man gulped, realizing the intentions of that woman.

He used all the Qi he could muster, to create more and more pillars to gain more distance, be it horizontally or vertically.

Bing Xi Wang closed each finger on her hands, then she began to lift two of them, very slowly.

Flames flickered around her index and middle finger as she prepared her attack.

Cold sweat flowed through that man's forehead, he moved away as quickly as he could, while thinking.

"As long, as I keep diverting her focus with my attacks, I can distract her, if I manage to make her lost her attention for just a split second, she will have to cancel her technique."

He attacked over and over again, yet Bing Xi Wang did not seem bothered by most of his attacks, as she was able to ignite, most of them.

Being the only exception that particular 'honey', but she evaded it on every occasion.

...

Bing Xi Wang arms began to get closer and closer to each other, forming a shape which resembled an spear.

The fingers finally touched each other.

"SHOCKING BLINDING CHAOTIC FLAME RAY!"

A massive rainbow light enveloped everything, a light so bright that even the meadow of Sunflowers was nothing in comparison.

The light was so potent, that her skin began to burn, boil even.

This was followed by a thunderous explosive wave, which repeated over and over again.

Each time it did, it affected the Qi flow of both.

The man had never experienced something like this, at this point, every part of his skin and flesh began to vibrate and heat up, he was unable to control his Qi flow properly, or even control his muscles completely.

The same applied to each of his plants, which quickly became into direct liabilities, which moved chaotically, aimlessly.

Luckily for him though, due to his special 'honey', he was able to somewhat heal and resist the effect, however it was only becoming worse on every passing instant.

Of course, the one who received the greatest backlash was no other than Bi Xi Wang herself.

Yet, she endured the pain, with courage, she was able to somewhat retain control over her technique, focusing all her will into turning her aura and body into a spear, able to destroy anything.

The flames with the shape of an spear finally collided with the honey, the pillars, as well as the vines and herb-fields.

The honey began to boil, and many flames sprouted from it, whilst many of the herbs produced a cocktail of poisons, that affected the two of them, all whilst also creating toxic ashes, and a boiling mess of fog.

The combination of so many things produced a very exotic scent, that was mostly 'spicy', with a bit of bitterness, and sweetness.

In the end, her spear overwhelmed him, and all his defenses were utterly destroyed, after this, she was unable to sustain her attack.

But, even though her attack had surpassed his opponent, that did not meant the situation was safe for her.

Due to her own momentum, she stumbled, and began to roll over the ground, hitting with many obstacles across the arena, her face collided, with many branches, stones, scattered seeds, among other things.

Not only that, but she was also unable to see where she was moving towards to, because even though her techniques had a very extraordinary overwhelming power, they also had a huge cost.

Specially her last technique, whose bright lights had essentially made her blind, whose thunderous sounds had damaged her bones and vein tissue, making her deaf, and leaving her close to Qi Deviation.

Yet, for all the harm she had received, she did not forget one thing.

"If I fall out of the arena now...This will be a draw, I cannot allow that." With all her remaining strength, she forcefully tried to stop her momentum, she did this, by using her chin and nails.

Leaving behind a huge trail of blood.

...

Many seconds later, just when she was about to reach the edge, she finally managed to stop rolling.

With whatever power she still had, she managed to stand up.

"Huff...Huff...Huff..." She was panting heavily.

...

But the match was not over yet.

The man emerged from the ground.

His body was very heavily wounded and there were many bruises on it, yet, he looked in a far better state than her.

"Heheheh, that fool...The light she made was so bright, that she failed to notice that I had managed to escape, quick enough to avoid the flames.

Still, her technique carried a lot of punch that I thought.

Even just the shocking waves, and bright lights, were enough to make a mess out of my body.

Luckily, I have just enough power to heal myself once more.

I am fresh like a fish."

He stood up and began to stretch.

Trying to let go of all his worries, all while looking with some pity at his opponent.

"Is a shame, really.

Your techniques are very powerful, if you knew just a single proper healing technique, I would never be able to beat you, nor I could have made half the strategies I made.

But, that is life, I have fought and won as many battles as you have, so is not really unfair, that I am in a better state than you." He muttered.

Then, he frowned as he touched his chin.

"Having said this...

I am not stupid enough to get close to that crazy woman.

At this point, she has pulled all kinds of stunts, without caring about the consequences, hell, I would not be surprised, if she would bit me if I got near enough.

So, what if I instead do this..." He muttered, carefreely, he was not afraid of being heard.

After a few seconds, he made his plan.

The man retreated his aura, as much as he could, then he took a piece of a seed that was still on the ground.

He grabbed it, and began to walk, steadily and slowly towards her.

With the seed on his hand, he looked at Bing Xi Wang.

"You are lucky, I will not aim for your heart." He lowered his gaze, and instead he looked at the right leg of that woman.

Immediately, the seed was shoot.

Yet, when it was about to hit her, a thin red barrier appeared from seemingly nowhere.

His own attack had bounced back, hitting his own leg.

The man screamed, as the projectile pierced his skin and flesh.

Bing Xi Wang smiled lightly, she tilted her body.

"Huhuh, so I had guessed correctly."

After she had stood up for the few seconds, she had grown confused.

She had already won.

Why the judges had not intervened yet?

At that moment she realized that her opponent was still well.

And thus, she made a last gamble.

By remaining still on the same position, she allowed herself to be attacked at any angle, yet at the same time she prepared a defense, that would trigger her once someone attacked her.

Moreover, her little barrier would also tell her, where her opponent was.

She triggered her Bloodline Ability, producing tiny sparkles of flames across her body, giving her enough adrenaline to run towards her opponent, and yes, she did this while being poisoned, deaf and blind.

...

It was quite freakish.

Bing Xi Wang created many tiny flickering flames, attacking randomly, not knowing where her opponent could be.

The man immediately became panicked.

Even though not a single one of the attacks was even close to hitting him, he already feared for his life, and subconsciously created another pillar to protect himself.

Yet, that action only revealed his location.

Bing Xi Wang smiled widely, detecting the spiking Qi tide on that zone.

"So, there you were!" She raised her hand, and immediately punched the area where she had perceived the Qi spike.

But before she did that, the man hurriedly put his two hands on the ground and made a thin pillar to block her fist, yet it was pointless.

Her punch broke both her hand, as well as the pillar, immediately leaving him wide open.

She kicked him out with her remaining strength, tossing him out of the arena.

After all of this, she finally sighed.

Collapsing to the ground.

"Heheheheh, I really did it." She giggled, her mind was on an strange mix of elation, and bewilderment.

Her smile widened.

"I may be deaf, I may be blind, I may be reckless, but that is reason why I won.

If I had not blinded myself earlier, you would have not attacked me so carefreely, if you had kept your guard up, I would have lost against you, on less than a minute.

Yet, as you sneak-attacked yourself, you grew bewildered, then when I pursued you, you became panicked, and fell prey to the anxiety.

Which made you even more careless.

In the end, you could say my weakness was what made me triumph.

Heh..."

Bing XI Wang's expression became quite complex.

"There are many candidates for the position of the new patriarch, or in my case, matriarch.

Heh.

I may not be the strongest, as that title goes solely to Bing Sheng Wang.

I may not be the smartest, as dubious it may sound, Bing Qin Yang is the smartest among us.

I also do not have the strongest Bloodline Ability, Bing Sheng Wang is once again, better than me.

If I consider other things like prestige, like wealth, like connections, or even gender, I also am inferior.

As a woman, my body is thinner, and I have a lower aptitude for Yang Paths, which for a Clan whose Bloodline Ability is of fire and who focus tremendously in Body Cultivation, is quite the handicap.

Most people, believe that I stand no chance in becoming the new leader, whilst among the few that believe on me, there are very few willing to invest on my growth.

I know that the spotlights are not on me, even that old patriarch is biased, regarding the two descendants of his favorite son.

That is a great weakness, but I can exploit it to become my strength.

Whilst the other take the spotlights, I will walk around the shadows.

And before any of you even realize it, Bing Qin Yang, Bing Sheng Wang, everyone.

I will surpass you."

Her body finally was unable to resist any longer, and she fell unconscious.

But there was a smile on her face.

Many doctors had arrived at the location, and began to drive her towards the infirmary.