The battle had begun, but Wu Jian made no move to attack yet. He studied Shā Ying Yue through the slits in his mask.

“I have a question,” he said at last.

“Oh?” Shā Ying Yue raised an eyebrow. “You would ask a question in the middle of battle? Either you are very confident in your victory, or you are a fool.”

“You shouldn’t say that considering you’ve done the same thing before,” he countered. Shā Ying Yue furrowed her brow. Wu Jian pressed on. “Have you ever been to Zahn City in the Shang Kingdom?”

“Zahn City…” Shā Ying Yue eyes glazed for a moment, as though searching through her memory. She smiled after a while, albeit, it was very brief. “I do remember traveling there once. I took part in a tournament several years ago. Why? Were you there at the time?”

“I was,” Wu Jian confirmed.

“I must have left quite the impression for you to remember me,” she said almost wistfully.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget your battles,” Wu Jian confirmed. “But that wasn’t my question.”

“Then what was?”

“Why are you so different now from how you were back then?”

That was what Wu Jian really wanted to know. The woman calling herself “Yue” back when he was still just a young child of twelve had been cheerful and upbeat. The woman standing before him now seemed somber and serious. It was a very startling difference.

Shā Ying Yue closed her eyes as a struggle visibly took place on her face. Her expression contorted for several seconds before relaxing. She opened her eyes and shrugged.

“Let’s just say people change and acquiring power isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.”

“I see.”

Wu Jian couldn’t say he understand exactly what she meant, but he could tell something had happened in her past after she gained power that led her to have these thoughts. What had she done? What had she seen? Was her current state of mind the reason she had joined the Crimson Sand? He didn’t know any of these answers, and they weren’t something he should really pry into since he had no intention of helping this woman.

“Thank you for satisfying my curiosity,” he said.

“You’re welcome.” Shā Ying Yue paused. “It’s rare to meet someone who is so polite. I can’t quite place it, but you remind me of someone I met a long time ago.”

Wu Jian smiled behind his mask. “Maybe you met a polite young man during the tournament all those years ago.”

“Maybe,” Shā Ying Yue shrugged. “Anyway, I believe it is time we got this battle started. The viewers are getting antsy.”

“Right.”

Wu Jian was lightning fast. He threw a punch, space folded around his fist, and his attack appeared near Shā Ying Yue. She dodged it. He frowned when she moved back, but attacked her from behind. It was dodged again. Shā Ying Yue simply swayed forward to avoid his attack.

Can she see where I’m about to attack? No. My attacks are impossible to see, and she’s not a sensor. She must simply have an incredible sense of spatial awareness and instinct.

Wu Jian continued to attack to no avail. Shā Ying Yue swayed from side to side as she began walking forward, avoiding his attacks like she could see them coming. She made it look easy. How was she doing this? Since simple punches weren’t enough to hit her, he threw in a couple of kicks, but those were also dodged.

As she came closer, Shā Ying Yue bit her finger. Blood flowed from the wound, far more than should have been possible, and it soon elongated and took the shape of a katana, longer than average and filled with jagged edges. It looked like something made to rend through flesh and bone.

The woman swung when she was within attack range. Wu Jian dodged, of course, but her blood flew off the weapon and shot toward him like throwing knives.

“Blood bullets,” she announced.

Wu Jian eyes widened as he scrambled out of the way, but the blood bullets curved and followed him. This was what his friend had warned him about. This woman could control her blood to an incredible degree.

What should I do? I can’t block her attacks with my fists. Do I cut them with a spatial knife? Should I use Nihility? No. I still don’t have perfect control over that ability. Using it to avoid a technique of this caliber could backfire.

Since he didn’t have many options, Wu Jian turned toward the bullets and took them on his chest. Blood splattered against his armor but didn’t penetrate. He looked toward Shā Ying Yue, who stared at him with unfathomable eyes, then threw a punch. Space folded. The woman dodged.

Wu Jian watched all of her movements as she dodged his attacks. It became obvious that she couldn’t tell where the attacks were coming from. She used wide movements to simply move away from the place where she had been.

She can’t tell where my attacks are coming from, but she can see when I attack, so she’s simply moving out of the way entirely. I’ll have to predict which direction she’s going to go if I want to hit her.

There were ways of telling which direction someone was going to move in. Wu Jian studied her feet as he threw his next punch. Then the next one. The next one. And the one after that. She didn’t have a set pattern, but she did telegraph her movements via her legs.

Wu Jian threw another punch and then, when he saw which direction Shā Ying Yue was moving, lashed out with a kick. A loud crack resounded around the arena as his attack finally landed. He had struck the woman in the head. His attack was so powerful that she spun around like a top before falling over.

He thought that would be the end of it. His attack had struck her temple, which should have disoriented her if not knocked her unconscious. Thus his eyes widened in surprise when the woman climbed to her feet. She spat out some blood while glaring at him.

“That was pretty good. You predicted where I would move, then used that strange attack of yours to hit me. I don’t know how you do it, but you’re easily the most dangerous opponent I’ve fought in this tournament,” Shā Ying Yue smiled. “But you should have been paying less attention to me and more attention to your surroundings.”

“What?”

Wu Jian only had a moment to react. He threw himself to the side as something whizzed past him. It was a blood blade. A crescent shaped wave of blood that could cut through even stone.

Another one came at Wu Jian, forcing him to dodge again. Then the original attack curved around and came in at his left. More blades joined in with the first two, forcing Wu Jian to continue moving.

If I could just take them on my armor, then maybe I can--!

Wu Jian felt pain jolt through his arm. He looked down to find it bleeding. A cut ran lengthwise across his arm.

When did I get cut? I know I dodged all of the attacks!

“Did you think I couldn’t control the blood on your armor?” asked Shā Ying Yue as though she knew what he was thinking.

I see! While I dodged the obvious attacks, she had the blood that splashed against my armor creep up and cut my arm.

“My blood is now inside of you. I highly recommend you surrender to avoid suffering serious injury,” said Shā Ying Yue.

Wu Jian bit his lip and thought fast. What could he do now? How could he get out of this? She could control her blood even when it was inside of him, which meant she could use it to create blades to slice apart his muscles, sever his veins, and damage his organs.

But if it’s her blood, that means it’s a foreign entity. Can I sense her blood inside of me?

He wasn’t a sensor, so he couldn’t sense chi very well. That was one of the reasons he barely avoided this woman’s attacks. But what if it was inside of him? Could he sense it then? He continued dodging her attacks and searched inside of himself, looking for something that didn’t belong.

Oh. This is surprisingly easy.

It was easy to sense Shā Ying Yue’s blood. It didn’t belong inside of him, so it was like a bright red flame flowing through his body.

Now I just need to fold space around it and transport it outside of my body… there!

Shā Ying Yue blinked when her blood splattered against the ground. She stared at it, then looked back at him.

“That was… impressive. No one has ever managed to expel my blood once it gets inside of them before.”

“Thanks for the compliment,” Wu Jian grunted as he threw several punches. Now that he understood how to counter her blood, it was easy to fold space in front of his fists. The blood never touched him and was instead transported away from him.

Of course, he had forgotten the blood on his armor, and more quickly got in and began to reak havoc on him. He stumbled as blood welled up inside of his throat when one of his organs was damaged. He couldn’t tell which, but the pain was distracting enough that several cuts opened on his body.

He gritted his teeth and quickly focused on expelling the foreign blood. He did, but the woman continued to attack. Shā Ying Yue now stood several chih away, arms crossed, expression stern as she attacked without moving. Wu Jian realized he was fighting a losing battle. This woman wasn’t even trying.

I… I need to do something, but what? What can I do?

Wu Jian thought fast and quickly decided on an all out attack. He locked down on every ounce of foreign blood in his body, transported it straight into Shā Ying Yue’s face to blind her, then released all of his chi in a massive explosion. He channeled it into his fist and thrust it forward.

What appeared from his fist was a strange ripple that tore apart the arena floor. It struck the unprepared Shā Ying Yue, who was busy wiping her own blood from her eyes, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Wu Jian knew he wouldn’t get another chance. He rushed forward, prepared to end this battle, then stumbled when the chi within his body roiled. His eyes widened as his insides squirmed.

I’m breaking through now?! Of all the times, why did it have to be now?!

“I forfeit!” Wu Jian declared.

“What?!” The announcer shouted. Even Shā Ying Yue looked utterly shocked by his sudden declaration.

Wu Jian had no time to pay attention. He rushed out of the arena, entered the waiting room, and left before his companion could even greet him. The roiling sensation within his body was getting stronger. His bottleneck was breaking faster than he thought possible. He needed to find a quiet place to cultivate and heal his wounds, or he might end up harming himself.

He slammed the door to his room shut and locked the door, then sat down, removed several pills from his storage ring, and popped them into his mouth. Two of them were healing pills. One was a Chi Gathering Pill.

He made a hand seal in the shape of the Celestial Tiger, directing the medicinal liquid of the pill to heal his cuts and injuries. Then he gathered the chi from the pill and condensed it within his dantian. He first needed to restore the chi he had lost.

Loud banging nearly interrupted him.

“Hey! Wu! You in there?! Open the door!”

“Shut up! I’m about to break through!”

“… Oh. Uh. Carry on then. I’ll just, er, stand out here I guess.”

Wu Jian sighed as his friend went silent and quickly focused on restoring his chi. It was hard. His bottleneck had already weakened enough to attack it, but it would only remain like this for so long. He needed to break through soon or the opportunity would be lost. That might leave a sequelae that affected his cultivation.

He couldn’t let that happen!

Wu Jian soon restored his chi and quickly gathered it all within his dantian. He took a deep breath, then sent it through his meridians to attack his bottleneck. There was a slight resistance as he tried to break through. It felt like he was slamming his fists against a straw hut with a metal wall reinforcing it. He gritted his teeth, shifted his hand seal from tiger to dragon, then sent all of his chi forward in a single burst.

There was a brief stinging sensation, then a whirlpool of chi rushed flowed through his meridians, gathered toward his dantian, and began filling up the ocean within him. Within his sea of consciousness, the ocean that represented his chi began expanding.

Each time a person broke through a subrealm, they would gain enough chi to break through the entire previous realm. Breaking through a subrealm at the Anima Realm was like going from the Hunger Realm straight to the Anima Realm in a single go. This was also why people at lower realms had such a hard time competing against cultivators above them.

Wu Jian had a lot of chi. According to what he had discovered through sparring with Huǒ Shuchang, he had about as much chi as his friend, who was at the second subrealm of the Asura Realm. That and his mysterious cultivation method were the reasons he could fight cultivators at a higher level. Not only did he have more chi, the quality of it was better than the average cultivator. This also contributed to his prowess on the battlefield.

Wu Jian took a deep breath as his chi finally settled down. He smiled. He might have lost the tournament, but he had attained more strength, and to someone who only cared about growing stronger, this was a more than worthwhile trade off.