William had a decent amount of confidence in withstanding a soul attack. He might not believe every technique that had soul in the name was actually related to the soul, but that was another matter. William knew that at the very minimum, the soul and a martial artist’s spiritual sea were closely connected. He really only had one data point for the strength of his soul. The Demoness had said it was strong, but that meant something from her. She wasn’t the type to casually call something strong. William had trained in Soul Armor, which never even moved the ki out of his spiritual sea. He was unsure of how well it might protect him, but he had eliminated the remnants of an attack from Yu Huan’s spiritual sea rather easily. Thus, he had some confidence.

William faced off against the opponent from the Song clan. He might have been named Song Ping… that sounded right, but William didn’t care much. It wasn’t like he planned to speak with him. The moment the match started, William gathered his ki for use. This wasn’t hard, since he didn’t need to move it outside of his spiritual sea. William also dashed toward Song Ping, but he didn’t use any ki to increase his speed.

Then, William felt the attack coming. Time seemed to slow down, and William’s mind fell into his spiritual sea. He saw a mass of black energy coming toward him. He activated the Soul Armor technique, and felt the outer layer of the ki inside of him… harden, somehow. Even though it was still flowing around, there was a hard layer on top. William wasn’t sure what else to do, so he prepared to spread his ki around to wipe out the remnants of the attack, or fight back against the giant mass if it didn’t break.

The black mass, which was vaguely spherical but not so coherently shaped, collided with the outer shell of William’s sea of ki. Well, they touched. However, William didn’t feel anything actually like a collision. Instead, as he watched, the black mass connected to the shell, and disappeared. William wasn’t sure where, but it didn’t rebound, nor did it pass through the barrier. Instead, it just disappeared. The mass continued onwards steadily, but as it connected with William’s barrier it grew smaller and smaller, until the last bit of it finally dissolved into nothingness. William wasn’t really sure what had happened, but unless he was just completely incapable of comprehending it… he didn’t feel like he was harmed.

Then, he felt a connection. It was what had launched the black mass, something both like a tendril and a point in the space outside of his spiritual sea. By instinct, William launched an attack back along the tendril of… something. He didn’t remember having learned any soul attacks, but his mind naturally performed the action. The tendril instinctively pulled back, but his attack went with it. Then William was outside again, still running, with seemingly only an instant having passed.

Then, Song Ping spasmed, and coughed up blood. He fell face first onto the ground, where a small pool of blood started congealing. William saw a small trickle of blood coming out of his ears… William stopped. He didn’t think it was a trick, but he also shouldn’t attack an unconscious enemy. William waited… and after a short amount of time, the referee declared him the victor by means of knockout.

As William moved away from the arena, he noticed some elders of the Song clan running up to Song Ping. They lifted him up, and he groaned. William saw that he was also bleeding slightly from his eyes and nose. He wasn’t conscious, but the groan indicated that he wasn’t dead, either. One of the Song clan elders pointed at William and shouted. “He broke the rules!”

William looked straight at him. “Shut your filthy mouth. You just can’t stand to lose. What damage have I done that your pathetic clan hasn’t caused to yourself?”

“How dare you!” The elder actually let go of Song Ping, though fortunately he was being partly supported by another. Then, the Song clan elder dashed at William and launched an attack. There was a loud sound, and William saw blood everywhere. After he wiped the blood off of his eyes, he could see Grand Elder Yu Jian’s arm sticking into the Song Clan elder’s chest, with his other hand stopping the fist that was right in front of William’s face. William knew he was no match for an elder, but he had still provoked them… because he had felt Yu Jian… his grandfather, approaching. The Song clan elder had just been too blinded by his rage to notice.

Yu Jian pushed the lifeless body of the Song clan elder off of his arm, then spoke loudly and resoundingly. “An elder of the Song clan has attempted to kill a junior of the Yu clan, violating the rules of the tournament in the most despicable of manners.” Then, he reached down and pulled a vial out of the elder’s robe. “In addition, they had the face to claim that one of their juniors chose to use poison, instead of it being at their command, yet the very same poison is in their pockets.”

Cries of outrage, boos, and even cheers resounded throughout the area. Various figures came down from the stands. Some were from various clans who had been involved in organizing the tournament, and others were from the Song and Yu clans, who lined up, facing each other. An old, powerful man, likely a Grand Elder of the Song clan, spoke up. “So you say, but you have killed one of our members in this neutral place. That calls for heavy sanctions against the Yu clan.”

Yu Jian just laughed. “Sanctions against the Yu clan? I suppose since you never intended to respect the rules you just didn’t read them. I am perfectly justified in defending a member of my own clan from an attack.”

Many of the elders from the clans that helped organize the tournament nodded. “He is correct. That elder’s life was forfeit from the moment he attempted an attack.” An old woman, presumably another elder spoke up. “The Song clan has intentionally violated the rules of the tournament. As such, now and for the next twenty years the Song clan is banned from participating in any tournaments, for they have no honor. In addition, they will have to pay reparations to those harmed.” The Song clan elder was about to speak again, but then realized that his clan was surrounded. He shuddered slightly, and glared at Yu Jian, but said nothing.

William sighed internally, in relief. He hadn’t expected it to escalate quite that far. He reminded himself that he needed to be more careful with his life. After everything settled, the tournament continued. William surrendered to his next opponent, a young man of eighteen. He was already rather exhausted, and doubted he could have won regardless. In the end, the winner of the tournament only barely defeated a member of the Yu clan. However, this still brought a decent amount of face to the Yu clan, whereas the Song clan was in dire straits. They were still powerful, but had been dealt a heavy blow. That made them all the more dangerous.