Silently floating on a sword next to his master, Lou Zhou meditated as he waited for his next match. His master sat on a black obsidian throne that was several metres high. He was a man with fierce, angular eyes and heavy wrinkles. As the fights unfolded, he had a deep frown on his face.
“Master, is something upsetting?” Lou Zhou noticed the look on his master’s face.
Leaning onto the throne’s armrest, he replied, “That mortal boy. Something is up with him.”
Looking in the direction of his master’s gaze, he saw a young boy wearing white robes. He had gentle eyes, tanned skin and on his left shoulder was a purple butterfly with green eyes. Sitting comfortably on a patch of grass, he diligently watched the ongoing fight with a seemingly keen interest.
Using telepathy, he exclaimed, “I don-t remember the name of it but could that be a hypnotic butterfly?”
“It is a Wandering Yivok. Although a grade-one spiritual beast, they can easily hypnotise even peak Vessel Cleansing cultivators. That boy wouldn't have been able to resist its powers,” Lou Zhou’s Master explained.
“Master, what could it be doing with him then?” Lou Zhou squinted his eyes.
The loud cheering of the crowd erupted as the match came to an end, the decisive last blow having decided the winner between two 6th layer Vessel Cleansing cultivators.
Yielding on their knees with long bloody gashes all over their body, Wu Jia held his shining silver sword against their throat. With a calm expression on his face, he sheathed his sword in a fancy demonstration and arrogantly harrumphed.
He gave his defeated opponent one look before snapping his neck in Lou Zhou’s direction. The other person, instead of waiting for his master’s reply, stared back with confidence.
Not a single word was exchanged as Wu Jia eventually made his way off stage and broke eye contact. At this point, the large crowd numbering over a thousand had calmed down and now seemed to anticipate the next match. Only the ten core formation elders on their tall black thrones showed no emotion. Only small details could be observed from time to time as they maintained their statue-like facade.
And as the next match commenced, Lou Zhou’s master silently wondered to himself, “What could it be…”
Like that, another hour passed and eventually Lou Zhou was told by his master that he was up now.
Flying down to the arena on his sword, he hopped off of it and faced his opponent for the match. Standing before him was an ordinary young cultivator with a hopeful look in his eyes. He had nothing on him and the only notable thing about him were the red burn marks on his hands and cheeks.
“This match will decide who will face up against Wu Jia for the finale. On the left we have elemental disciple Yi Heng and on the right is sword prodigy Lou Zhou!” A core formation elder wearing a white mask announced from her throne.
A cheer came from the energetic and youthful cultivators in the crowd. People sat and watched in various ways. On their flying swords, wooden and earthen chairs were created using their elemental abilities, with one leg balancing upon a wooden staff, and some even just standing or in seated meditation.
“Begin!” The elder decided the start of the match abruptly after a short moment of waiting.
Leaping toward his opponent using qigong, Lou Zhou closed half of the gap in an instant. Unsurprised, Yi Heng lunged back and spun his hands wildly, conjuring up a red fire whirlwind that completely entombed Lou Zhou.
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Gritting his teeth, Lou Zhou grit his teeth as he spun his sword and conjured up the Bloody Path Sect’s main cultivation art. It was a blood-red aura with lifelike tendrils that waved around his body. Still, a few sparks of fire landed on his body and left him with soldering hot burns that ate through his purple robes.
By swinging his sword at a speed that caused his limbs and jian to turn into whip-like blurs, the fire parted and Wu Jia glimpsed Yi Heng from beyond, creating distance between them by blasting fire from his hands and feet.
Squinting his eyes, Lou Zhou spun quickly and swung his jian to the arena ground. In unison with his sword hitting the ground, he released qi from the tip of his sword in a long straight line.
Yi Heng was interrupted in the middle of the flight and faltered in his flight technique momentarily and was caught with a thin, vertical gash across his right shoulder.
However, this was all Lou Zhou needed and his eyes suddenly turned blood-red, a black slit at its centre. His eyes locked onto the young cultivator, he pounced forward and cut horizontally. His sword and body glowed red as the distance between his blade and his neck became smaller.
Eyes widening in shock, Yi Heng released a burst of blue flame from his mouth. For a moment he thought he was safe but was shocked when he saw Lou Zhou’s blade cut right through his blue flame and continue towards him.
Left with nothing else, he could only hopelessly conjure up a barrier of fire around his body to protect himself. And it was just as Lou Zhou’s blade seemed to cut through Yi Heng’s neck, both cultivators froze in place and the latter hung his head down in bitter defeat.
Looking to the mysterious white-masked core formation elder, one could see that she had her hand raised. Then, by lowering her hand, she slowly lowered the two cultivators to the ground.
“Lou Zhou has achieved a decisive victory,” The white-masked elder announced in her chilly, womanly voice.
Once again, the crowd cheered and in response to this, Lou Zhou could only exhale out a big breath of air that he had made before his victory-winning jump.
“Woah.” Xing Yi was awe-struck. After a few hours of his body being taken away from him, his deep fear for the butterfly had turned into a slight discomfort and wondering what was going to happen to him. In this kind of environment with a large crowd he was sure that no life-threatening harm would come to him.
He speculated that someone, be it an elder or someone high in power was using him for something. Controlling others using hypnotism wasn’t uncommon and difficult to do. So, as Wu Jia came onto the stage for the finale, he could only watch on helplessly, even his own eyesight having been taken from him.
Wu Jia or Lou Zhou did not exchange a single word before their fight. Neither underestimated each other and only wanted to win.
Lou Zhou’s arrogant attitude had been quickly extinguished in recent times due to his uncle’s methods that had forced him to cultivate in isolation for three-straight months. It had worked and he was now at the 3rd layer of Sanguine Arts. It was a variation of the Bloody Path Sect’s main cultivation art.
As for Lou Zhou, he had always been a quiet person. He had never gloated about hsi victory and always stayed disciplined and focused on pursuing the path of the sword.
So, as the two met each other at such a critical point in their journeys to immortality, both put all the chips onto the table. Undoubtedly, the most important moment in their lives so far.
“Lou Zhou, you have the right to recuperate before your next fight. Do you wish to take the opportunity to do so?” The Lady asked in an authoritative tone.
“Yes, Elder Fang. Twenty minutes to complete a single cycle is all I need,” Lou Zhou bowed.
He proceeded to sit down in a seated lotus-position and after tapping the storage pouch at his waist, a white pill floated into the air and flew into his mouth. Closing his eyes, he cycled the mending energy of the pill to fill his meridians.
They were only slightly below full capacity but in a fight against his most difficult opponent yet in the finale didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to fight on low fuel. After twenty minutes of cycling the energy, his meridians returned to full capacity and he even felt light. Leftover excess energy from the qi recovering pill was released through his breath as a light blue fog.
Unsheathing his sword and holding it out in front of him, he stared down his opponent. Likewise, Wu Jia circulated the Sanguine Arts and revealed blue veins all down his arms and legs. A blood red aura emanated from his body. But unlike Lou Zhou’s untamed tendrils, his was uniform and covered him in a thin layer.