"This… Isn't that Doran? What's he doing there?"

"He hasn't reached the essence gathering stage, and he dares to fight Nehru Bai? He must be crazy!"

"I heard he can't absorb essence crystals, so there's no hope for him ever reaching the essence gathering stage"

"Was he forced?"

"What a lucky bastard, Nehru Bai seems to have gotten himself an easy win…"

…

…

…

The hall was filled with chatters. It was very strange for any disciple to agree to a duel with someone they knew they couldn't win. Who would purposely want to taint their arena record? There were only two possibilities; either he was forced into it, or he had gone crazy.

Nehru Bai felt relieved when he saw Doran walked up the stage. He was quite uncertain about today's duel; he had been troubled that Doran would chicken out of the fight due to fear. Although he was still yet to understand why Doran readily accepted his challenge, but, who cares? He was aiming for the top 200 in the next ranking test; so it was needful for him to do so with a perfect arena record.

The issue was the opinion of other disciples. They would definitely think that he forced Doran into accepting the duel, and this might ruin his reputation in the Academy. He didn't want to be a top-ranked disciple with a bad reputation, the ball was already in his court, all that was left, was for him to wrap things up beautifully.

Thinking this, he faced Doran with his expression turning serious,

"I must admit, you are quite reckless for daring to face me. But due to the fact that you are not my match, I will go easy on you, and give you a chance to make the first move."

"I thank brother Nehru for being considerate" Doran cupped his fists with a smile, making it look like he was extremely pleased by Nehru Bai's statement, but he sneered inwardly.

Doran broke through to the essence gathering stage, which was unknown to the disciples of the Academy; and what was more spectacular about it is that he had learned the Force Point Actualization technique. The technique was a natural nemesis to those who relied solely on their essence energy in battle, and the opponent standing in front of him wasn't an exception.

Hurry up and make your move, Nehru Bai said with an indifferent expression, as he casually waved his hand, beckoning Doran over, like he was ordering a dog.

Doran clenched his sword tightly, he then rushed toward Nehru Bia and swung the sword. The swing didn't come with an imposing pressure; it rather appeared terrible, lacking any potent mastery. This greatly darkened the expression of everyone present, they would have sworn that a five-year-old could do better.

Seeing the ridiculous strike approaching him, Nehru Bai couldn't help but chuckle inwardly; he even wondered how such a waste of a disciple could be admitted into the academy. He didn't see the need to ready himself for the impact; he casually flung his sword, at Doran's strike,

*Clang…*

As the two swords met, Nehru Bai lost all reason to prolong the fight, he decided to end it quickly. He circulated his essence energy, ready to infuse it into his weapon; right then, his expression stiffened. He felt his blood flow backward; his body trembled, and a sharp pain emanated from his chest region, like his core ring, was about to crack. He fell backward to the ground and coughed up a mouth full of blood.

The whole crowd watched in silence, shocked at this baffling scene. All they saw, was Nehru Bai swinging his sword to repel Doran's strike, and the next moment he fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

"What's going on?"

"Was he sick?"

"Or did he suffer some backlash from a technique he practiced recently?"

"That must be the case"

The confused disciples mumbled among themselves.

Nehru Bai slowly rose from the ground, he stared at Doran with bloodshot eyes, the remnant blood still lingered on his lips, coupled with his paled expression; which made him look like a wounded beast.

"You… what did you do!"

Doran revealed an indifferent look like he was oblivious to what had happened. "What did I do other than swinging my sword?"

Nehru Bai glared coldly at him, with his eyes emitting a thick Killing intent. Although he couldn't tell what happened to him, he was sure that it had something to do with Doran.

"You piece of trash, just wait till I shred you to pieces; I will surely get the answers from your ghost by then," saying this, he roared, circulating his essence energy to the extreme. Just as he was about to make a move, he felt like his heart was pierced by a javelin; cracks appeared on his core ring, as he fell to the ground, vomiting great mouthfuls of blood, before passing out.

The entire arena experienced another brief moment of silence, that even the sound of a bug flying by wouldn't go unnoticed. The match officials quickly rushed to the scene to examine Nehru Bai's motionless body. After a while, it was confirmed that he still had life. They carried him on a stretcher, and rushed him out of the arena, obviously to the infirmary, where he will remain for several months, or maybe even years, who knows.

After Nehru Bai was rushed out of the arena, different questions were thrown from one confused disciple to the other; afterward, they came to a collective conclusion that it must be the work of the heavens. Nehru Bai was bullying the weak, which must have provoked heaven's punishment.

"If only he could think properly, he wouldn't have ended up in his current state" Doran sighed as he muttered to himself. Being the architect of the incident, he was very much aware, in detail of what had transpired.

Although he purposely waved his sword stupidly, that was in order not to arouse any suspicion, because he applied the principles of Force Point Actualization to the sword; which was transmitted directly into Nehru Bai's body, and blocked his meridians. Simply put, Nehru Bia had suffered from a Qi deviation, because he tried forcing essence energy from his already blocked meridians.

The arena official, came later on, to announce Doran as the winner of the duel, and had it written in his arena record, as he quietly walked off the stage. Much to his expectations, there wasn't a single soul cheering him from the crowd. This was understandable because they felt he didn't deserve the victory and was just some lucky fellow.