“Is this all you got, Ruidian? Pathetic! To think you actually gave my cousin trouble yesterday. Well, never again, once I’m through with you!” Hissed the looming giant Ku Bai glaring down at a crumpled Alex as the crowd of nobles and privileged spectators alike erupted into a frenzy when the Late stage silver’s Avalanche had sent Alex windmilling through the air, smashing into the far wall, multiple wards crackling and fizzing all that kept Alex from exploding through the reinforced stone and into the spectators roaring their excitement. Because all the decorum and poise so valued in so much of Golden Realms culture was put on temporary hiatus, when people were enjoying revels or death matches. Or as close to death matches as you could get without crossing the line, a groggy Alex thought, Power healing one of his few remaining beast cores as his Interface showered him with messages of multiple organ contusions and muscular damage.

Yet by some miracle his Prismatic Bones, forged as much by desperation as inspiration and far too much power thrown in the mix, showed no trace of damage at all. Nothing save the ghostly echo of Shui Jun’s laughter, reminding Alex what his final fate would be if he didn’t make best use of his gifts and lurch back on his feet… NOW!

Quickness Check made!

Just barely dodging the flying drop kick that left a massive crater in the ground, the air now filled with a massive cloud of dust and debris a supervising Wujen rapidly pulled from the air. And Alex couldn’t help but note that the fight wasn’t called, for all that he had been slammed right out of that ring, beyond dismayed to find himself moving so sluggishly, the flow of spiritual energy seeming to oppose all of his techniques… as if it were a wind current that had always been at his back before, yet was now forever in his face, blowing against his every movement while the roaring Ku Bai dashed forward again and again, unleashing multiple Silver Tier Earth techniques without being hampered at all.

Yet Alex was nothing if not persistent, parrying blows that would have stalled tanks in a world long left behind, Dark Qi Gauntlets pretty much the only thing not being hindered in the sluggish currents that couldn’t be explained away as the remnants of a poor night’s sleep, haunted as he had been by nightmares and the faces of all his friends, trapped in chains of darkness and despair where he would never find them.

“Alex!”

He felt more than heard the word, but he was already pivoting for all he was worth as a knee bomb radiating the spiritual energy of an avalanche missed him by inches, yet still radiated sufficient Spiritual Energy to send the crowd pressed back on their seats in the seating behind him, no matter that wards in place should have caught all of it.

Alex’s eyes widened in alarm as an abrupt scream was replaced by approving grunts of men too powerful to admit fear, only admiration for the prodigy so like themselves that could pierce even a Wujen’s ward.

And never had Alex felt such peril since the fight started as he got it. He finally understood.

Understood why the flow of heaven and earth spiritual energy was coming so damned sluggishly to him, why the roaring ocean of power behind his blows no had no more force than a rubble choked stream.

You have been struck with Granite Blow! Left forearm looses all feeling! You have been jerked off your feet! You are rolling away from foot stomps like mad!

He finally understood why the Silver Wing parry that he had used just now, in a desperate attempt to shift not only the blow but the fluid space around the blow, had ended in absolute failure.

Understood why the Deep Silver was hitting more like a Gold.

It all had to do with the imperfectly warded crowd of spectators, their silken noble attire covered in dirt and grime after Ku Bai’s last kick, their eyes stinging with the burst of particles that had gotten through.

The enchantments around this ring should have blocked anything. That had been made clear to all of them from the very beginning. For the enchantments to fail would be an unforgivable breach and a mockery of those whose job it was to protect both contestants and crowd. No. They were only compromised because someone had wanted them pierced.

Someone had wanted an opening for the very few who could affect a match like the one Alex dared even now.

Gold tier puppetmasters, powerful wujen, were the only ones that could.

Alex would be his life on it.

In a sense, he already had.

On the plus side, getting beaten to a bruised pulp by the laughing monster he now faced had benefits beyond struggling against the metaphoric wind.

Soul Sight skillcheck failed. Save for sensing the merit of past lives, you are unable to sense the flow of spiritual energy through your opponent!

Find Weakness skillcheck successful! You sense the flaws in your opponent’s technique, and countless openings from which to strike!

Find Weakness is now Rank 6!

You have successfully dodged killing frenzy.

You are now deliberately attempting to pierce Qi Fog!

“Contenders will return to their circle!” The pinched face announcer now glaring Alex’s way shouted, Alex and his opponent exchanging cold looks before doing just that. Yet all the while, Alex was embracing the lessons Panheu had worked so hard to teach him, forge within him, even if he felt sudden awful resistance that almost encouraged him to dare absolutely no Qi at all. Which would put him at a serious disadvantage, and benefit his enemies to no end.

So he refused to.

Instead he infused himself with it to the absolute maximum. Even if he now felt like he was being forced to fight through water.

Ku Bai flashed a wicked smile, making it damn clear he knew exactly what was happening. “How good it is to see an obnoxious upstart like yourself be put in his place!” the giant roared before cracking his knuckles with a wicked smile. “It will be good to break you in front of your betters.”

Alex didn’t bother answering, more focused just on moving back and forth, as if trying to break the man’s concentration, to distract and disorient, when really Alex’s desperate goal was much more important.

It was to get a feel for the awful waves of spiritual energy which washed against him from any direction before snapping to directly oppose his movements manipulation, no matter what direction it might be on… until suddenly it wasn’t.

Or at least, not entirely.

And Alex enjoyed a brief surge of hope before Ku Bai came far too close to pummeling Alex within an inch of his life.

Avalanche has been successfully chained with The Mountain’s Maker!

You have saved versus catastrophic injury!

Multiple organs ruptured.

You are power healing.

You are unable to retreat!

Ku Bai’s face lit up with unholy glee. “How does it feel to be put in your, place, Ruidian scum?”

His mocking laughter froze with uncertainty when Alex flipped back to his feet.

“No. How the hell are you still standing? I felt you break under my onslaught! I have slain better men than you will ever be with those elite techniques!”

He lurched back with a furious hiss even as the crowd’s bloodthirsty roars grew in pitch and intensity.

Matching the roar within Alex’s own heart.

His madcap grin.

As he finally began to understand the maelstrom so opposed to him.

Understanding its source, and finally, at along last, how best to counter it.

How best to make the currents work for him, like tacking into the wind.

Qi Perception check made! You (finally) sense the Gold Tier formation flag array being used against you! You sense no less than three Gold Tier currents being used in tandem against you.

You have chosen not to cry foul!

You have chosen to embrace the storm!

It was tough as hell, of course, and a snarling Ku Bai found it all too easy to avoid Alex’s renewed onslaught… at least until Alex caught the pattern of Qi Surges being staggered by three elite foes, shifting his balance and piercing the storm of Qi.

Tacking into the wind.

You have successfully pierced countervailing currents (Gold Tier).

Piercing Strike is now Rank 11 (15)!

The giant Silver who had been all too happy to show his mastery when the deck was stacked in his favor, challenging Alex without any armaments at all, barehanded with all the Qi they could channel, was forced to wipe away the look of surprise along with a spray of blood when Alex’s fist, for one brief, perfectly timed moment, slipped through overlapping currents and finally found its mark.

Sending Ku Bai rocking back as Alex’s fist slammed into his jaw in a sheath of white-gold Qi.

You have critically struck your opponent.

Your opponent is temporarily stunned!

You have finished power healing all injuries.

But he didn’t follow up with a finishing blow as Ku Bai’s momentary look of fear turned to furious contempt once more, mocking Alex as he wiped the blood from his lips.

“Fool. You had your chance, and you failed to take it. Now you’ll find the cost of hesitation on the battlefield!” he roared, pummeling Alex with a series of expertly chained Bronze Tier techniques with a Silver Tier finisher.

And Alex smiled as he did his best to counter and parry each and every one, even as he was forced to fight against ever more chaotic currents, his foes clearly sensing his growing ability to pierce their array, and punishing Alex for it as best they could.

Alex couldn’t quite hold back a grin even as he lurched back in fresh agony, forearm exploding in pain and fresh blood as his superhuman physique just allowed him to parry what Silver Wing failed to counter… yet he didn’t care as he took injury after injury, even as an increasingly anxious-looking Ku Bai found himself leaping back instead of following up more and more often as Alex unleashed painful shin strikes and low angle kicks, slowly but surely learning how to pierce his enemy’s storm as the fight went on.

His bloody grin only grew wider as Ku Bai’s saturnine features twisted in ever-growing dismay and uncertainty. Almost as if he sensed that, far from being worn down, Alex, like the best quality steel, was being strengthened in the crucible of his enemy’s hate. The quality of his resolve and techniques hardening, the killing edge of his blade growing ever sharper as Wujen sorceries were pierced with ever growing regularity and Alex wanted to laugh for sheer glee as his enemies did all they could to break him.

Having no idea the gift they were truly giving him.

When almost every battle was either the most careful exercise were killing intent was forgone for mundane techniques, or mad furious explosions of desperate wrath where one had only a split second to strike and kill Gold Tier wujens and the like before he himself was killed, here Alex finally had a chance to hone his killing edge against a man who most definitely wanted him broken, bleeding, and dead.

Which meant that Alex had the exquisitely precious gift of being able to hone and refine his skills and mastery in the crucible of mortal combat, counting every explosion of pain as he slowly improved his ability to parry and redirect the storm of hostile spiritual energies, every ruptured organ as he desperately strove to heighten his sensitivity and absorption of hostile Qi, as the hammering of his soul into the deadliest blade imaginable.

Finally understanding Panheu’s greatest lessons when he had repeatedly plunged Alex into the killing fields of the arena sands back at Dragon Academy. Understanding as few did that the greatest insights and breakthroughs were made when fighting for one’s life. Because whereas most battles were brief, furious, confusing affairs lasting only seconds no matter the minutes, hours, or days of anxious tension leading up to actual conflict… being continuously harassed and bullied by murderous cultivators for long minutes, even hours on end, in sadistic duels where both contenders and referees wanted one dead was perhaps the absolute best path of advancement any cultivator walking Panheu’s path could possibly hope for.

Of course the odds of dying along that path, or being shattered into a broken, tormented wreck were so high as to be shocking. But along no other path imaginable could a lad with just a handful of meridian channels cleared hope to advance all the way to the bloodiest peaks of Silver, with a dragon’s strength and fury roaring in his veins, in just a few short years.

You have successfully deflected Silver Tier Killing Strike enhanced by Gold Tier flag configuration!

Qi Deflection is now Rank 11 (15!)

Reveled in finally being able to let go, to unleash his killing fury in a fierce barrage of ridge hand strikes and half-moon kicks that had his foe reeling back, his look of disbelief as Alex alternated timing his strikes to pierce to hostile flag configuration and simply powering through it with lightning-fast crosses, hooks, and shin kicks using nothing but his own Gold tier strength. So much easier to push through when not trying to channel the hostile storm of spiritual energy all around him. A storm he was still doing his utmost to slip right through, or forcefully tear free of his opponents and make his own.

Ku Bai roared and charged, hands glowing with lethal killing intent.

Alex didn’t hesitate to dart low, whipping his legs around in a devastating sweep kick using every ounce of his Strength, Quickness and Finesse, and no Qi techniques at all. Just raw skill combined with Hao Chan’s own acrobatic techniques. And even if he struck with less than half the force he should be, it was still enough to send his foe cartwheeling through the air before crashing to the ground with a cry… then immediately springing back to his feet.

“How dare you!” Ku Bai snarled, as if Alex had committed some grave sin, daring to send the man tumbling. And much to Alex’s sweet satisfaction, the man was trembling not with rage… but fear.

Fear he failed to hide in his snarls and bluster when Alex’s snap kick cracked against poorly placed knees before slamming his heel down upon fragile foot bones that lacked the supreme resilience of the rest of the man’s body, Alex sensing so many weaknesses in a foe who had managed to strengthen his entire upper body, even his neck, so as to make himself near invulnerable.

By taking shortcuts in other areas, shortcuts Alex could now perfectly sense.

Ku Bai’s eyes widened with dismay before he roared and charged in a stumbling lurch, at least one foot bone broken, Alex effortlessly weaving past the overhand right resonating with the power of an Avalanche before his own left hook connected with his opponent’s jaw right on the sweet spot. Even at just a fraction of his maximum power and with all his enemy’s body hardening techniques in play, it was still enough to send Ku Bai lurching back, stumbling on his ass only to gaze up at a smirking Alex in disbelief before he hurriedly wobbled back to his feet, a smirking Alex allowing his opponent to regain his balance one final time.

“No. There’s no way in hell you have that kind of Strength. Your no Gold Titan!” Ku Bai’s eyes flinched towards the stone arena walls Alex suspected contained far more chambers than just the competitor stables, no doubt filled with luxuriously appointed rooms where favored guests could view the fights at ground level, and squads of wujen could use their arts to manipulate the fights out of the public eye. Alex couldn’t help smirking when he caught sight of chest high openings at regular intervals through the entire arena circumference well disguised in the ornamental stone carvings gracing the bases of the stands.

Qi Perception check made!

Alex couldn’t quite hide his smile, taking advantage of his opponent’s momentary dismay to truly zero in on the source of the hostile currents of spiritual energy crashing against his own.

And there it was.

His head snapped around in the directions he could now clearly sense such discordant resonance, now knowing exactly where those Gold tier monsters were hidden as they desperately rearranging their flag conformations in the rooms just beyond the arena walls that Alex could now sense perfectly.

Before quickly turning away, all his focus on his foe once more.

At least Ku Bai was somewhat savvy and could think on his feet, Alex would give him that much credit at least as the man took full advantage of Alex’s momentary distraction, springing back on feet without a trace of dizziness or disorientation as he whipped his body around with a roundhouse kick that would have torn through solid steel, no matter the cracked bones he had suffered.

His confused glance was priceless, however, when he saw Alex smiling at him, arm glowing with an odd blue aura that seemed to bend far more than Water Qi. Ku Bai opened his mouth as if to protest, before swallowing Alex’s right hook in an explosion of teeth, blood and bone, before being sent flipping through the air end over end, spraying blood across the arena sands before landing in a boneless heap.

“Stop! You will stop now! You are disqualified for a killing blow!” The panicked referee screamed, gazing up at the stands like a whipped dog fearing its master.

Alex couldn’t help smirking as the crowd roared with either victory or dismay. And however much the elites might hate an upstart who clearly wasn’t true-blooded nobility, no one achieved their rank in life without appreciating talent for its own sake. Besides, as Alex already knew from Panheu’s comments the other day and his own sensitive hearing, there was a fortune to be made in the betting rings, and Alex could almost imagine the hundreds if not thousands of spirit pearls worth of treasure and assets being traded with the crack of Alex’s winning blow.

Still, he made a point of looking exactly where the trembling ring master was, his fight having lasted considerably longer than the other two, so all eyes were on them, and for just a second, Alex caught the hooded gaze of Dongfang Hong himself.

And how Alex froze, fierce smile of hard-fought triumph freezing on his face when he caught sight not only of his beloved friend Liu Li dressed once more in a betrothed princess’s silken attire, gazing down at him with such a look of joy and despair… but he caught sight of Princess Xian Hong herself. The true heir to YanTu nation as far as Alex was concerned, yet now, after nearly a decade of running, she was dressed in the exquisitely fine fabrics of a crown princess, hands at her sides and head demurely bowed before her uncle. Her gaze made it clear she had also witnessed the fight, daring to flash Alex a brave little smile before the despair in her eyes betrayed her, and Alex couldn’t move. Frozen where he stood.

“A worthy fight! A noble has been defeated, and fresh blood forged in the crucible of battle now rises as one of us! Take note of this lesson, my friends. The greatest cultivators are forged on the killingfields of war, not the carefully cloistered sanctuaries favored by too many isolated clans.” Declared none other than Dongfang Hong himself, giving a bemused clap in Alex’s honor. “The Ruidian continues to ascend to the peaks of battleforged cultivation. Who will challenge his ascent?”

Despite the surprising warmth of his smile and approving nod, or the dozens of cheers this earned Alex, as if the headmaster’s approval turned the crime of his victory into manifest destiny to be celebrated, his words weren’t lost on Alex anymore than they were the two girls dressed like dolls by his side. Dongfang Hong had poisoned with his praise, inviting not one but several powerful looking warriors to immediately cry out to accept Dongfang Hong’s challenge on Alex’s behalf, such that he found himself without any break at all, forced to face the fierce killing glare not of any late stage silver, but an actual Gold.

The Gold Titan flashed Alex an amused smile, radiating a Strength and Vitality that left him glowing with a rugged handsomeness that no doubt assured him a bed filled with adoring concubines. “You fought well, little man. Your path ends here, of course, but I will have my youling jesters compose a song in your honor in memory of our fight!”

Alex smirked. “You do that,” he said. Ignoring the growing whispers and looks of both genuine outrage and thoughtful consideration. For Dongfang Hong forcing an immediate rematch was lost on no one. Nor did they miss out on the fact that Alex, far from protesting, welcomed the giant with a smile.

Already fully healed, as eager to continue honing the blade of his soul as his enemies were to break it.

The Gold Giant laughed. “You may call me Lord Thunder. I would have your name in turn, Ruidian.”

Alex smirked. “Alex Hammer.”

Much to his surprise, the Titan actually blanched, before furrowing his brow, glaring Dongfang Hong’s way before gazing back at Alex in frank curiosity. “You couldn’t be him.”

Alex smirked, both of them ignoring the ringmaster’s imperious, nasally voice. “Who can say?”

This earned a smirk. “Who indeed.” Thunder took a deep breath and chuckled. “If the stories are true… and I’m not so stupid I don’t taste countless subtle currents… and the Imperial Inquisitor’s banner is already flying in the city.” The seven foot titan actually winked. “Yet I hardly feel like a character in any man’s tale, save my own. Perhaps you’re just an unusually talented mixed-blood in need of a strong patron.”

Alex laughed. “Maybe I am at that.”

The man’s smile hardened. “Tell me now if this is farce, for I won’t be holding back. My blows will be filled with killing intent. And should you survive my onslaught… perhaps there will be a place for you, fighting by my side.”

Alex blinked, surprised to find himself actually confronting an honorable soul when he had expected nothing but vipers on the arena sands this day. “I too will be fighting will killing intent. I look forward to your pointers, elder brother. May the blades of our souls both be honed to razor sharpness by our exchange.”

Alarm bells screamed inside Alex’s head, overwhelmed by the sudden titanic weight of a Steel-aligned Gold’s killing intent.

But Alex was already twisting to the side, slipping effortlessly away from his enemy’s devastating right hook. A blow filled with so much killing intent Alex shuddered to think what would have happened to his brain if that blow actually landed.

Only to find the air suddenly as thick as molasses, and the Titan’s warm smile instantly transforming to something hard and cold as Alex felt titanic forces clamp around him. Not from the titan now lifting his foot to crush his skull as he stumbled over, but from the three Gold tier wujen now exerting themselves with everything they had in concert.

All four of them working in perfect tandem, striking as one.

The warmth of moments before had been a lie.

This monster knew.

And his goal was nothing less than Alex’s death as his foot hammered down with decapitating Qi and absolute killing intent.