It took a few moments before everyone had recovered from the collective jar drop. Every person was shocked. The nobles, the rich, the poor everyone.

But the person most shocked and most furious was the Emperor. Why was that girl this strong?! If things got any worse she would be taken by this old man, and he would never reign in any profit. What use is a girl that went away? When you could've had a far better grandson.

And the way this old man was looking he had to do something quickly... Still, he would need to be subtle about it...

Quickly he excused himself. In front of that old man, he was calm and mannered, but to everyone else, he was THE EMPEROR a mighty core-formation expert, that everyone revered! Even if he was reduced to a bootlicker, in front of these foreigners...

When the emperor suddenly barged into the room that held the tournaments committee the old men that were currently around chatting were quite surprised, even more so as they saw the veins on his forehead that were working so hard they seemed to be close to popping.

"Who is next in the fight against Jiao! Tell me immediately, and I will cripple him. I will put a new person in under his name!" Everyone safe for the outsider would notice, but he could enforce silence if he wanted too. "I will have one of my men fight."

The oldest in the committee seemed slightly unhappy about this... "S...Sir her opponent is Hei Tian, from the ancient cloud sect..." Aaah.. the emperor let out a deep sigh. "Mh...I suppose..." He could not dabble in that manner with one of the large sects. While in theory, he had dominion overall, making a fool out of himself in front of them like this would not be smart.

Hei Tian... Tian... "What is his cultivation." He calmed down slightly, the Hei family was not just a very old family it also was very powerful and influential in the Ancient Cloud and the Empire in general.

Listening intently to the man's words the emperor nodded slightly.

"Good...Good, I suppose I won't even need to tell him anything... He will win, one way or the other.

...

When the small girl went back into her waiting room she passed a few fighters, their expressions had changed from the slightly amused ones to calculating. Nobody expected another strong Ning in this tournament, and it felt quite unfair how the royal family was swinging their weight around, why even send Ning Yu if you had Ning Jiao.

Resting in the girls beast back, almost asleep was Kou...Not having done anything, aside from snickering now and then.

"Good Job, Little Jiao, just continue like this and smack everyone in the face! I won't help unless you really can't keep up anymore, so do not relax at all! You'll get hurt if you do rely on me." She nodded slightly. While she would make sure Ning Jiao won, she also wanted the girl to develop more in this tournament. Maybe the teacher role fit her to a degreé! Poor pupils...

The tournament went over a long time, but their next fight was still on this day. Many of the fights went similar, where it would usually take an hour or more for young masters to fight each other and come out on top. Quite a few fights were settled in mere seconds, the difference in power in this generation was quite high.

However, this did not reduce the excitement of the watchers. While some fights were very quick, it still showcased the absolute power of the winner. Things like that are rather rare, and having it happen so often just promised that this generation may step far above the last one, or already had.

In their room Ning Jiao quickly pulled Kou out of her bag, placing the tiny fox on her lap before starting to brush her with a gentle motion. "Mh, I will give my best... this is very thrilling! I felt very good beating that big guy!" The girl hummed happily while her red eyes rested on the white fur with adoration.

The soft fluffiness was just the best!

Kou was a little curious about how her friends were doing, but she was quite relaxed on it, they would probably run into them in the later rounds... However, she was just a bit worried about Xiu Shihong. It was a fact that she had never beaten her before. She got a win in against Hei Tian and won a lot against Li Zhi.

But she never once won against Xiu Shihong. Back then was not comparable to today, Kou was confident in her strength, but she also knew Xiu Shihong. She knew from the years they spend together that under that calm and collected girl was a raging demon thirsty for power. She was just a little shocked after seeing the other girl yesterday.

She had changed, she seemed to have discarded her calm facade, her eyes were hard and she looked like a bow that was constantly pulled back. She did not know what the other girl had gone through after she vanished, but... she was a bit worried.

...

She did not have much chance to be worried about anything... because their next fight was announced and she froze... Hei Tian. She had not fought him but from what she could sense, he was far stronger then Ning Jiao was right now, so Kou would have to help... However, she.. felt rather bad, she did not wish for any of her friends to be kicked out so soon. It was only the second round! She cared not for a random no face, but Hei Tian was her friend.

Still... this had to happen, she would apologize to him later.

He looked good in his fighting garb. A Long Grass-Green robe, without sleeves, showing his toned arms, his fists were covered by bandages and he looked like the spitting image of a heroic fighter, there were many swooning calls from the girls.

Kou also noticed that Ning Jiao's eyes were locked on him, or rather his emerald eyes, a slight blush on her beautiful face. It was quite unfair to watch these two, for everyone else. Each seemed perfect. Very quietly Ning Jiao whispered to Kou. "He... is very handsome, we can't damage his face, that would be bad... lets hit him somewhere he can hide."

Kou, started laughing out loudly, rolling on her back in the girl's bag. "Sure...Thing, not his face, that's fine." At some point, she would get to tell Hei Tian this. And she would love to see his reaction to it...when the tiny girl said she did not want to beat him ugly.

...

Hei Tian felt very much the same. This girl was adorable. And while he was mostly untouched by the other gender, even with all their swooning and so on. Here he could not. This girl would grow up to be a beauty incomparable.

He would do this gently but firm. He had heard of her earlier win and did not underestimate her one bit, quickly taking up a stance, his fists slightly raced. He did not use any weapons anymore, his fists were what he honed the most.

The wind started to form around him, his robe billowing, making him look even more heroic. He would not be surprised, with the speed of wind he shot forward to deliver a blow against the girl's shoulder, hopefully, to ring her out and be done with it.

...

Kou was surprised, he was quick, even she would've had some trouble avoiding him! Ning Jiao was hopeless, she just stepped back and the fist was already in range. Kou was about to stop it, but then a coat of flames burst out, blocking the fist.

It was her bloodline power! The golden flames formed around Ning Jiao like a coat, and large firey wings formed on her back, she looked very much like a phoenix right now. And the smoldering heat coming off from her amazed everyone, even the elders that were producing the barrier quickly doubled their efforts to keep everyone else safe!

The second match. And the second time Ning Jiao had managed to produce a collected jaw-dropping in the masses. The one jaw that was so wide it seemed dislocated was actually the emperor who just stared while gibbering word without meaning.

"Wha.. she... But, why... No.. SHE? Why... No... Impossible."

Hei Tian had backed of quickly he had avoided damage, just a few scorch marks on his bandaged fists. His eyes were wide. He knew of the Ning blood-line. But it was said that Ning Yu actually had the strongest power among all the princes, and back then, while not beat he could at-least hit Ning Yu. Today obviously he was far stronger, so he was quite surprised that this little girl's power was already greater then Ning Yu's was back then.

Ning Jiao... curled her nose slightly. "Let me fight for a bit Master! I want to see how far I can go against someone like that one, who has true strength!" The girl's eyes were on fire, and the flames around her roared as she dashed forward.

Obviously, Hei Tian avoided her, avoided every single blow that came at him in rapid succession. There was no technique here, just raw power. Each strike that missed him instead produced cracks in the arena.

Hei Tian smiled slightly. This adorable little bunny actually was a tiger in disguise! But she seemed far more honest and straightforward than her big brother, the way she fought told him as much. In fact, she reminded him a lot of Xiu Shihong, who also loved to use brute force, Haha, it was so unrefined, maybe the most beautiful of flowers always had the most brutal thorns as well!

With his hands behind his back, he avoided every single strike, dancing around the girl. He did not take her easy at all, if he were to be hit it would hurt, and probably give the girl the upper hand. While it looked like he was just playing cat and mouse with her, he was earnestly avoiding.

Waiting for the chance to come!

And there it was. The girl after these few exchanges had given up on reaching him spread out her flames wide. She wanted to corner him in that way so he would have to fight her head-on. However, that was what Hei Tian was waiting for. The moment the enhanced and protective flames spread out the coat around the girl became thinner.

Using his superb speed he shot towards her, ducking under the fist that was striking in his direction before his hand thrust into her belly, deeply. The girl flew through the air, her body crashing against the barrier.

The flames hastily retreated to their owner and she floated down into the ring gently. However, her face was distorted... This was very painful, she could not control her Qi properly for a moment, and she coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Just with Kou's help was she able to regain her calm. The tiny fox directing some Qi into the girl.

"It's fine now, Hei Tian is powerful. I'll help." She nodded slightly. Ning Jiao had given it her all. What she did not expect was the sharp disagreeing growl of the girl. "No! I want to at-least hit him once before!"

She went back to her feet, her hair slightly disshelved, it spoke of her beauty that even know she had a stunning appearance! As cute as a button! There were quite a few "Boooo Buuuuu" coming from the audience after seeing the girl being hit so badly.

Ning Jiao closed her eyes for a moment. Hei Tian did not go after her, he just floated about an inch over the arena, his arms behind his back, his eyes locked on her intently. He clearly gave her some time to recover.

And that was all she needed! With her Qi calm she activated her own movement technique, and shoot forward, her hands forming symbols as she moved. She did not learn many fighting techniques, but this was one her granddad had taught her.

Her Qi, and the flames of her blood-line flew into the technique and two fiery red whips appeared in her hands, they were quite long, far longer then any normal whip was. And when the girl pulled her arms back it was like a thunderclap.

There were afterimages of the whips everywhere as the girl moved her small arms back and forth with tremendous force, she used her movement technique as well as her strength to amplify the technique which summoned whips made out of Qi and her flames.

Hei Tian seemed to teleport back and forth, when one whip was targetting him he appeared somewhere else, he just barely avoided them, here and there one could see cuts on his robes, but the cutes never penetrated his skin. What a beastly little girl she was! He was very impressed and had a good impression of Ning Jiao, she seemed to give it her all even in front of someone outclassing her!

He would answer in kind!

He was pushed back and whenever the whips hit the barrier around him cracks appeared. The poor elders had to work quite a lot to keep the barrier up. However, after a while...Hei Tian became a bit worried, he waited to find an opening in her striking but the girl's speed just increased, she did not even aim for him, she just wildly swung around and the whips bounced back and forth in the limited space of the arena.

It was then that out of his blind spot, the whip he thought was just an after image struck his left arm, leaving a scorching mark on it, while ripping flesh and skin. It was a painful wound! Hei Tian had enough, green wings formed behind him and uncountable blades of winds shot towards the girl.

However.. she seemed not worried as she defended herself, being cut on multiple spots, she seemed very excited and proud right now...

And then it was over.

Hei Tian blinked as he looked upwards, a massive hammer made out of ice had formed above him, it was too late for him to avoid it "You got to be kidding..." Then he was smashed into the ground, a large part of the arena simply exploding.

Hei Tian just barely saw the white fox sitting on Ning Jiao's head, its clear blue eyes.. seemed to look at him almost apologetic. A moment of nostalgia-filled his hearth and he smiled .."He, you seem familiar." for just a moment before the pain of being smashed into the ground knocked him out.

...

Everyone else saw it as well, once Ning Jiao seemed to be in a corner and about to be defeated, out of her bag jumped a tiny white fox, its icy blue eyes glowing as instantly a massive hammer of ice formed above Hei Tian's head slamming down on him.

What was that?! So Young, already so powerful! And she also had a spirit-beast that protected her of its own accord without any orders! Ning! Ning Ning! Many of the old houses that deep down harbored ill feelings towards the Ning.. Just seemed puke blood. Why was it that the most outstanding youths always came from that blasted clan! If they declined just a little bit, they might have a chance against them!

But no. A Cultivator's power was not just measured in his power alone, there were also pills, magic treasures, and spirit beasts to count. Nobody would complain about it. It was part of fighting and cultivation. If Ning Jiao had such a deep bond with that powerful spirit. It was just part of her very own fighting force.

...

Li Zhi was a bit shocked. She watched the fights. She never would've imagined that he would lose to the Ning girl! That spirit, what level was it? Fourth? Core-Formation? Maybe above? She did not even know, the power and speed of that hammer had shocked her and everybody!

"Well.. I have to tell Shihong about this one.." Quickly she left her spot to move to Xiu Shihong's room.

...

The old man that was sitting next to the emperor rose up from his chair, placing his arms on the railing, his eyes seemed very excited as he looked down. "My friend, I was already quite firm on taking this one with me, her talents are wasted on this place. But with talent in spirit taming like that, she has to come. My Eternal Flow Mansion will soon have another flower that can bloom."

The Emperor felt like crying... Why .. Why was this? Why was it that he had no words in this?! This old man just said this and it was so? What was he supposed to tell the young Masters?! "My friend.. there have been a few young Masters that.. kind of already proposed to me.. I .. can't give her away.."

He was silenced with the raise of one hand. "What I can take and not is for you to say. You will be accordingly compensated, you greedy fool. I'm here to find suitable candidates for great powers. If I take your daughter you will just silently open your hands and take what I give."

There was no more room for discussion.