While Lao Chen explored his Dao through his authoring and Lao Lin explored her various innate elements and affinities to create an Essence Flame, Wu Shan prepared to battle.

The cold waiting room contained less than half the people from the night before, as the contestants who were eliminated didn’t return to the room.

Wu Shan hadn’t taken a single look at the tournament bracket after he found out that his rival was on the opposite end of it and who his immediate opponent was, which was all the information he really needed, although a seed of doubt was planted in his mind after meditating on his rivalry with Zhang He. Why was it so important for him to fight him?

Wu Shan didn’t carry a lot of pride, so it didn’t come as a major shock to him that he just wanted a friend and someone he could spar against. That was fine, really.

Regardless, Zhang He did carry an air of arrogance which needed correction. While posturing was well and good, if it came at the expense of others, was it worth it? Wu Shan didn’t think so.

Suddenly, without warning, Wu Shan’s seated form teleported into the Arena, opposite his opponent, the same short and lithe girl from the night before that faced off against those bandits.

Although… it wasn’t actually the same girl.

The girl from the night before was skittish and scared out of her wits. The girl from yesterday almost seemed like she was going to break down into a crying mess. Wu Shan genuinely thought he saved her from the bandits.

Turns out, he might have saved the bandits from her. Shaking his head, Wu Shan donned a serious expression, expelling any form of doubt. The warrior before him was capable of pulling her own weight plus much more.

“On the West Corner, we have the Hidden Dragon, elected as the predicted winner of the right bracket! Give it up for ‘Storm Fist’ Wu Shan!”

The crowd cheered wildly, and after a few breaths, the MC continued on, announcing his opponent.

“On the East Corner, we have our springy arrow from the North Woods, who reputedly defeated 24 of the losing contestants at the same time the night before! Let’s hear it for the ‘Bipolar Princess’, Shao Lei!”

“On ‘go’, the match shall begin! You know the rules, contestants! Three…!”

Wu Shan assumed a stance. Shao Lei did the same.

“Two…!”

Wu Shan formulated a plan of action.

“One…!”

She readied to bound forwards.

“Go!”

Wu Shan readied a flurry of attacks while Shao Lei wasted no time dashing ahead, creating imprints on the ground with every step she took, deceptively heavy despite her apparent grace.

He summoned his gauntlets and prepared to handle her close combat, fully aware that he was faster than her if pushed to his limits.

Thus Wu Shan and Shao Lei exchanged fists, blocking and punching too fast for mortal eyes, or even their own for that matter, to follow.

With boosted strength from Yang Fists, Wu Shan pressed forwards with a straight, intent on breaking through her guard, but to his surprise, she let the fist fly after some resistance by falling backwards, but on her fall, she managed to kick him in his mid-section.

With a smirk, she bounded backwards.

Wu Shan felt nauseous. “P-poison?” He muttered under his breath. Shao Lei had no time to entertain his queries, so she bided her time on a distance, observing closely.

Wu Shan began to feel a dreading sense of impotence wash over him as the point in his mid-section began to clog up his meridians. With a great mental effort, Wu Shan purged the impurities clogging his meridians while concentrating on Shao Lei, who for some reason let him do it.

Wu Shan banished all doubts and went all out from there. Or perhaps was it his doubt that drove him to going all out?

Wu Shan didn’t care at that moment. Pushing his cultivation base to his near limit, he expended 70% of both his Yin and Yang Qi on both an impregnable, yet flexible Qi armour. A giant black dragon slithered around him while several dark phoenixes floated next to him, prepared to explode at the drop of a hat.

Shao Lei frowned as Wu Shan directed each Phoenix Bomb one by one to explode in her location. They were fast, almost as fast as her, and when two were deployed at the same time, she lost precious seconds to dodge the third one, scalding her skin and sending her into waves of pain. Wu Shan held back on using dragon trail, instead simply leaping forwards to finish Shao Lei off after pelting her.

Despite her weakened state, Shao Lei reacted swiftly, parrying Wu Shan’s hits and dodging his kicks, barely keeping up in the process.

While defeat seemed imminent, Wu Shan lost himself in the movements, reacting mechanically as he eased in on victory.

A stab of pain from his back rocked Wu Shan out of his reverie. Wu Shan swung his head back to see another person that looked just like Shao Lei.

Wu Shan channelled more Qi into his Yang Fist and swung towards the duplicate who, upon impact with his fist, dispersed into white and fluffy clouds.

‘Just like Zhang He!’ Wu Shan’s eyelids widened at the thought as he leaped back to get a better view of the bigger picture.

His back hurt. Moreso, the very Qi running through his meridians burned him like liquid fire, sending waves of pain into his mind, inadvertently sharpening his wits to maximum capacity.

Shao Lei waved her arms around gracefully, dancing on the spot as her hands began to ooze out clouds which began to tangle into a curled pillar-like structure.

The clouds began to take shape, and in the stead of clouds, a wispy white dragon stood.

The dragon coiled around a couple of times before, without warning, charged at Wu Shan, who in turn aimed his fist at the head.

The dragon’s head connected with his fist, and provided no resistance as it harmlessly let his fist dig into it, causing him to overbalance and stumble forwards. The cloud dragon had completely encompassed Wu Shan, now, and despite its intangibility, his movements began to grow slower and slower as it felt like he was swimming through quagmire.

Shao Lei wasted no time as she leaped forwards and created two cloud clones. Once the two reached his soaring form, one jabbed at his stomach while another jabbed at his chest. The third hit his forehead.

Once done, Shao Lei called back her Cloud Dragon construction and reabsorbed her clones.

Wu Shan wobbled up slowly, glaring daggers at Shao Lei. His cultivation base felt rigid, as though it was incapable of pushing Qi through his meridians.

But, his Qi had a high purity level. It could erase meridian clogs, but it would be painful. While Shao Lei finished her gloating and closed in slowly, but menacingly, Wu Shan gave it his all, pushing the remaining Qi in his Dantian into all of his rusted meridians, eliciting a pained scream of pure agony the likes of which he had never felt before, halting Shao Lei in her steps for a mere second.

After almost ten seconds of agonizing pain, Shao Lei was in leaping distance with him, and he regained use of his Dantian.

Just as Shao Lei jumped forwards for a coup de grace, he erected a Yang Aegis, causing her fist to crunch painfully onto the transparent barrier. Wu Shan gave her no chance to scream in pain as he unravelled the barrier and delivered a devastating punch in the liver, but before she could hit the ground, he punched her in the face.

Again.

And also again for good measure.

Shao Lei was down for the count and the winner stood tall. Once a medic hopped down to assess the state of his opponent, he raised two thumbs-up.

“The ‘Storm Fist’ has won the match!” Wu Shan raised his fist in the air, his mind still addled with the aftertaste of sheer agony keeping his legs rooted. He refused to look at his downed foe. She was worthy.

Once he was teleported back into the waiting room, a wildfire of murmurs broke out, too low for Wu Shan to hear, but even if he could, he wouldn’t. His mind was still on high alert after all.

Sitting in a corner, he cleared out the remaining impurities within his meridians, cursing softly under his breath as he stifled his pained grunts.