"Yeah, yeah, I know." I quickly interrupted Ban Zhang before he could finish his sentence. The guy had been repeating his reminder for what seemed like the hundredth time in two days. I appreciated his concern, but he was going overboard here.

Sighing, I glanced in the direction of the coliseum and tilted my head from one side to the other to ease my stiff neck muscles. Perhaps I had been doing too much training and preparation the day before, but I was sure it would be worth it.

After all, today was my match with Kuang Hu. Having fought him during the group stages, Ban Zhang was naturally worried about me. Fortunately, he had surrendered early when he realized he was hopelessly outmatched, but he knew I was a stubborn individual.

Well, n.o.body could be perfect. I was highly aware of my own flaws, but I embraced them along with the other aspects of my personality. If people didn"t like who I was, they had to deal with it. I couldn"t be bothered to change my personality now.

That said, Ban Zhang was still my friend and a little tact never hurt. So I smiled and nodded.

"Don"t worry. If it gets too bad, I"ll surrender. Though…" I grinned. "I"ll do my best to defeat him before it ever reaches that stage."

"My, confident, aren"t you?"

Tong Xue shook his head as he joined us. He shared my grin and nodded excitedly.

"Did you come up with some sort of plan last night?"

"Honestly? No." I shrugged. "My only plan is to do my best. To be frank, I"m already amazed that I got this far. I didn"t think I would have beaten Wu Xing. Even if I lose in the round of 16, I think I"ve already achieved quite a feat by making it this far."

At the very least, I had made it into the top 16 of the student rankings, which was an achievement anyone should be proud of. Of course, I had no complaints if I could go higher, but I wasn"t unrealistic enough to request for such a miracule.

That said, it wasn"t as if I had given up. I intended to do my best and see how far I could go against the very best of Wu Ling Academy. If I could win, that would be even better. Honestly, it annoyed me a little that Ban Zhang already thought I would lose, and I had heard from murmurs from my schoolmates that my odds of winning this match were low. It was only natural. Kuang Hu breezed through the group stages while I struggled against most of my opponents. The difference between our strengths were visible.

However, that only caused me to want to prove everyone wrong by defeating Kuang Hu. I would love to see their shocked expressions when I beat them. Just like a former Newcastle manager in the late 90s, I would love it if I beat him, love it.

"Have you forgotten your promise?"

I turned around, startled. Right behind me, Tang Qi Hong was glaring at me with her hands on her hips. As always, Lian Rou accompanied her.

"Uh…"

"I won"t forgive you if you lose. You promised that you"ll take revenge for me and defeat Bai Ning Xue, didn"t you?" Tang Qi Hong drew closer, almost flaring up. "How are you going to do that if you can"t even defeat a small fry?"

"Hey, you do realize Kuang Hu isn"t a small fry, right?" Tong Xue complained, but n.o.body was paying any attention to him.

"Y…yeah," I told her. "I"ll do my best. I"ll definitely defeat Kuang Hu and get into the next round so that I can kick Bai Ning Xue"s a.s.s."

"Hmph. That"s better. I won"t forgive you if you lose."

"Hey…" Ban Zhang cleared his throat. "Um, I know how you feel, but even then Kuang Hu isn"t someone you can take lightly. He"ll not hesitate to kill you. Even among the delinquents in Wu Ling Academy, he"s known for being utterly ruthless and merciless."

"What else is new?" I muttered, remembering Qi Fu Ren. Funnily enough, he was also from the White Tiger Sect. with the exception of Bai Ning Xue (who was a girl), were the guys of the White Tiger Sect always brutal and violent?

"Just don"t take any unnecessary risks, all right?" Ban Zhang reminded me. I sighed and nodded just to a.s.sure him.

Then I turned to Tang Qi Hong in concern. She looked normal, but I could see signs of red around her eyes.

"Are you all right?"

"Of course. Why wouldn"t I be?"

"Well…to be honest, I thought you would be…uh, resting in your room today."

Tang Qi Hong looked annoyed. "It"s your match today. Why would I do that? No matter how emotionally down I am, there"s no way I would use that as an excuse to not come and support you, would I?"

I hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. Even though it might sound awkward to voice it out, but I appreciated Tang Qi Hong putting on a brave front, pushing aside her depression and issues, just so she could come cheer for me.

I was a really lucky guy.

"Thank you," I responded instead. Tang Qi Hong colored a little, then gave me a little shove toward the direction of the coliseum.

"I…it"s only natural! A…anyway, you should hurry up or you"ll be late for your match! It would be stupid if you got disqualified for being late!"

Concealing a smile, I nodded and allowed her to push me toward the coliseum.

*

"So you came."

Kuang Hu greeted me with what I could only describe as a feral smile when I stepped into the arena.

I shrugged. "Would you have preferred if I didn"t come?"

He snorted. "Would have saved yourself some pain, and me a lot of time if you didn"t."

"Why?" I mocked, my tone dripping with sarcasm. "Did you want an easy victory? I guess you"ll want the other opponents to forfeit as well, so that you can win the tournament without having to work for it, am I right?"

Kuang Hu"s eyes narrowed as he glared at me. I couldn"t help but notice how predatory his gaze was. It reminded me of the Shadow Leopard I encountered in Sen Lin Forest all those years ago. He curled his claws…no, fingers, into a fist.

"Watch what you say, trash."

I couldn"t help but be a little astonished. I had thought that I had proven myself not to be trash so far, what with reaching the round of 16 in the tournament and receiving the acknowledgement of so many of my peers and teachers. I guess there would always be one or two outliers who would continue to be obsessed with my One Star Const.i.tution or something.

"You"re not fit to be my opponent." There was a crunching sound as Kuang Hu grounded his fingers against his palm. "I would have preferred to fight against someone like Zhu Jiao, or Feng Tian Yong."

"Ah." I shrugged in what I hoped was a nonchalant manner. "You might get to fight them…if you succeed in defeating me first, that is. Otherwise…it sounds like you"re just making excuses for when you lose."

"You…!" Kuang Hu growled as his qi exploded. Before he could lunge at me, however, Teacher Cai"s voice spoke out from the speaker embedded in the ceiling.

"The match hasn"t begun yet, Kuang Hu," he warned. "Before I give the go-ahead, neither of you are allowed to attack each other. Is that understood?"

Kuang Hu spat and turned away with a snarl.

"I said, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," I replied. Kuang Hu turned to glare at me condescendingly before he raised his middle finger to the window.

"Understood."

"Good." Teacher Cai paused for a moment. "Then are both of you ready to begin?"

"Right away!"

I nodded after Kuang Hu ground out his reply through gritted teeth. The guy was obviously just biting at the bit, impatient to begin after I had offended him. Taking a deep breath and furthering infuriating him with my slow response, I finally spoke up.

"Yeah."

"Then you two may begin at any time."

The moment Teacher Cai finished his sentence, Kuang Hu sprang at me. No formal introductions, no fancy ceremony. He was too eager to attack me as quickly as possible, to end this match in the first second.

"!"

I stepped back in reflex, sensing danger, but was unable to avoid. There was a silver flash, followed by a spurt of blood from my shoulder when Kuang Hu slashed me with something. Electric qi sparkled and flowed down my arm, trying to inhibit my movements, but I suppressed it with a surge of my pure qi.

"Hah!" Kuang Hu sneered. "Not so tough, are you?"

"…"

I didn"t have time to muster a retort. I kept my eyes on Kuang Hu, warily tracking his movements. Kuang Hu spun around deftly before dashing forward to slash me again. Even though I could follow his movements, my body was too slow to react.

Slash!

Grunting, I staggered back as a fresh wound was scored on my arm. Blood dripped down my wounded limb, but I shook it off and suppressed the bleeding with qi. Turning around frantically, I tried to spot Kuang Hu, but he kicked me from behind before slashing my back.

"?"

Kuang Hu frowned when he noticed something odd, but he continued to attack me. When I tried to straighten up, he slashed at my face. I dodged his lightning claws, but he then bounced up at a terrifying speed and kicked me in the chest, sending me flying back even though I managed to cross my arms and blocked his foot in time.

"Oof!"

I skidded to a stop, the wind knocked out of me. Kuang Hu"s speed and power was truly terrifying. If this kept up…

Zap!

Lightning scored the ground, trailing the claws that Kuang Hu wore. While I managed to evade the lightning bolts, I wasn"t able to dodge Kuang Hu"s physical attack. He was too fast. More blood spurted into the air as he tore into me.

"d.a.m.n it…!"

Gritting my teeth, I kicked at him, but Kuang Hu bounced off the ground and neatly escaped my attack. He countered with another slash, before dashing away. Adopting a hit-and-run strategy, he came in from unexpected angles, often taking me by surprise, before bolting away to avoid any retaliation. Over the next few minutes, he repeated his maneuvers, literally bouncing all over the arena and ripping me apart with unbounded ease.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! So weak! So slow!"

Kuang Hu guffawed as he bounced away from my kick, before tearing a new wound open on my thigh. I stumbled as blood leaked from the cut.

Shallow…Kuang Hu"s attacks were shallow and didn"t have a lot of power behind them, but the volume of attacks he put out was astonishing. At this rate, even if I survived the current exchanges, I would evetually suffer from a death of a thousand paper cuts.

And Kuang Hu…he was just toying with me.

"Ha ha ha! What"s the matter? Didn"t you say you"ll provide a challenge? In the end, you"re just talk!"

Kuang Hu looked down on me from the ceiling before disappearing into a blur and slashing me again. I staggered and kicked at him, but he was already gone.

"Those weapons…"

I eyed him cautiously, especially those claws that jutted out from the gauntlets he wore around his hands. They crackled with intense electricity, the sharp multiple blades wreathed in a shimmering power field. Every time I received an attack, I suffered a tingling numbness that further slowed and debilitated my movements.

If I hadn"t used my purified qi to suppress those annoying effects, I might have been incapacitated by now.

"Lightning Claws, aren"t they?"

"What about them?" Kuang Hu sneered as he showed off his Lightning Claws. "Just saying, but you can"t have them."

"Oh, I don"t want them. I have these." I gestured to my two swords, which I had yet to unsheathe. With Kuang Hu"s speed, wielding two swords would be too slow against him. I couldn"t afford to clumsily swing two extra weights about, not when he was already so much faster than I was. "I"m just curious about your Lightning Claws. If I"m not mistaken, they"re dependent on the user"s strength, and allows you to re-roll wound rolls."

"Huh?" Kuang Hu gaped at me momentarily, lost by the last part of my final sentence. "What the f.u.c.k are you talking about?"

I smiled thinly. "Sorry. Wrong timeline. This isn"t the 41st millennium, after all. And you"re not clad in power armor or terminator armor."

"I asked you what the f.u.c.k you"re talking about?!"

Kuang Hu slashed at me, a burst of electric discharge flaring between us and electrocuting me. While I jerked about in uncontrollable spasms, he whirled around and kicked me, hurling me across the coliseum. I crashed into a corner and lay there unmoving.

"Hmph. Nothing but trash. Of course you"ll be spewing rubbish."

"Sorry about that."

I rose shakily to my feet and cracked my head from side to side. Kuang Hu stared at me, his jaw dropping from shock.

"You"re still able to stand from that?!"

"I seem to be pretty tenacious." I shrugged and then stared at him. "What"s the matter? You can"t be done already, can you?"

"f.u.c.ker!"

With an enaged howl, Kuang Hu charged at me, his Lightning Claws glowing brightly with silver electricity.

I drew my swords and parried his Lightning Claws. Kuang Hu"s eyes widened, but he pressed on, his Lightning Claws disappearing into blur.

Slash!

"Kuh!"

I coldn"t help but stumble back. As I suspected, the swords weren"t of much use, especially against an insanely quick opponent such as Kuang Hu. His lightning claws were weaving through my defenses, slashing past my comparatively unwieldy swords and opening up new wounds. My counter with my weapons felt clumsier and slower, so when Kuang Hu responded with a riposte to rip me apart, I finally dropped them.

"Heh!"

Kuang Hu tried to eviscerate me, but I managed to step just out of reach of his lightning claws. While I staggered to the side, he flipped his body about and kicked me in the chest. There was a dull thud before I was sent sprawling on the ground.

"!"

I rolled away when he tried to stab me with his Lightning Claws from above, just barely escaping with my life. His claws scratched against the concrete, sparks and electricity flying off from the relatively short blades and showering me.

d.a.m.n it…!

Gritting my teeth and ignoring the tingling numbness that ran through my face, I tried to roll to my feet while simultaneously dodging Kuang Hu"s next slash, but he kicked me from below. I doubled over and barely brought up my hands to shield myself from the next slash.

Splatter!

My blood splashed across the ground and I staggered back, unsure of the weird sensation that ran from my hands. It almost felt like pain, except that the high voltage of electricity was numbing my arms. I could smell scorched flesh, though, which was bad. The damage had been piling up and I was losing a lot of blood.

"Just go down already!"

I quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed up my swords and desperately defended myself as best as I could as Kuang Hu went on a rampage, slashing and cutting me with his Lightning Claws. Blood continued to spurt out as he exploited the gaps in my defenses and overtook my relatively slower speed to slice me apart. I tried to retaliate, but he ducked, only to kick me in the gut.

"Huff…"

Even my footwork techniques are…!

Unfortunately, it wasn"t as if I had forgotten my footwork. I had actually been using it the entire time, but Kuang Hu was just too fast. Even when I used Duo, I wasn"t able to completely evade. Kuang Hu"s speed was so swift that he actually caught up with me even when I used Tui or Duo, to the point where he rendered my footwork techniques meaningless.

"!"

Case in point. I was just using Tui to widen the distance between us, but Kuang Hu suddenly appeared in front of me and slashed me. Even though I raised my swords to parry the claws, I felt the blades open up the skin on my neck.

"Gah…!"

Feeling blood dribble into my uniform, I staggered back and tried to use Duo. However, Kuang Hu spun around and kicked me in the knee, causing me to stop and drop. I tried to bring my swords up again, but Kuang Hu"s claws grazed my face, cutting a line across my cheek. His other hand slashed open my temple, causing blood to spill into my eye and turning my vision red.

"Ugh…!"

Squeezing my eyes shut in reflex, I was unable to block the next blow, which sent me sprawling across the floor. My swords clattered uselessly a few meters away.

"Weak…so weak."

Kuang Hu strolled over, rubbing his Lightning Claws against each other in gleeful antic.i.p.ation. Sparks flew and danced around the air above me, filling the s.p.a.ce with numbing static electricity. I gritted my teeth and tried to get up.

"Wu!"

"Don"t lose!"

"Come on!"

Even though the windows were soundproof, I could almost hear my friends screaming for me to get up and fight, or expressing concern for me. Crawling to my feet, I sighed in frustration, even as I spotted Kuang Hu"s feet nearby. He swung down his Lightning Claws, but I kicked off the ground and advanced forward.

"Trying to get away? Not so easy."

Kuang Hu overtook me while I was executing my footwork. Before I could stop myself, he spun around and slashed at me. I tried to duck, but he then kicked my legs out from under me and stabbed me in the gut.

"WU!"

I could almost hear my friends screaming through the supposedly soundproof window. Or perhaps it was my imagination.

Not that it mattered.

Thunk!

"?!"

Kuang Hu frowned when his Lightning Claws sank a little into my chest but seemed to stop. I grunted and staggered back. Dismissing his concern, Kuang Hu spun around and kicked me in the chest, sending me flying back.

Coughing, I tried to execute Tui to make full use of the momentum to widen the distance between us as much as possible, but as usual Kuang Hu caught up with his unbelievable speed. He leered at me for a moment before slashing me.

Despite raising both arms to defend myself, I couldn"t help but stagger back as more blood spurted from my arms and shoulders.

"Hah!"

With a sneer, Kuang Hu dropped down and kicked under my guard, his foot catching me in the abdomen and hurling me across the arena. I slammed into the wall and then slid down, my breathing ragged.

"Ugh…"

Blood dribbled from my mouth and I looked up weakly. Kuang Hu slowly approached me, the lightning intensifying around his Lightning Claws.

Overwhelming defeat. There was no way I could match his speed. Perhaps his power, but what use was it if I couldn"t defend against his speed or land a hit on him?

"Hah…"

I expelled a sigh a.s.s I glanced up at him. Kuang Hu glared down at me in a condescending manner and raised his Lightning Claws.

The guy was evidently not going to ask me to surrender or offer me a chance to surrender. He swung his Lightning Claws down to cleave me open from head to groin.

"!"

Whoosh!

I kicked his feet out from beneath him, but as expected, Kuang Hu"s reflexes were too fast. He jumped above to avoid my sneak attack, and then slashed down with his Lightning Claws. However, because they were too far away, he was forced to discharge a lightning bolt at me instead. I hit the ground and rolled away, narrowly avoiding being scorched black like the reinforced concrete behind me. Jumping to my feet, I used Tui.

However, Kuang Hu had antic.i.p.ated that. He must have footwork techniques of his own, for he caught up pretty quickly and slashed at me. I managed to just barely avoid the first strike, but the second Lightning Claws tore the front of my uniform jacket apart.

"Hmph!"

Kuang Hu then flipped around and kicked me while I was still trying to retreat. His movements were too swift for me to dodge and I found myself hurtling upward into the ceiling. My back collided with the ceiling, leaving a cobweb of cracks in the concrete.

"Gah…ugh…"

Coughing out blood, I crashed back toward the ground. My vision fading away, I closed my eyes even though I could sense Kuang Hu charging toward me and getting ready to finish me off with his lethal Lightning Claws.

"It"s over!"

I suddenly opened my eyes and my qi surged up.

"!!!!"

Kuang Hu veered off at the last moment and skidded back a few dozen meters away when the whole s.p.a.ce suddenly froze. Ice congealed and solidified throughout the arena, turning the place into an indoor tundra.

"You…!"

Standing atop a glacial wall I had conjured, I rubbed my injuries and exhaled tiredly. Pushing up my gla.s.ses, I stared down at Kuang Hu. Around my body, my bleeding stopped as ice spread around them, forming some sort of makeshift plaster to seal the cuts.

"I"ll admit that you"re strong. Right now, you"re too fast for me to follow. Even if I can follow your movements, my body can"t keep up. You really deserve your t.i.tle of the fastest student in Wu Ling Academy."

Kuang Hu snorted as he stared upward at me. His Lightning Claws flared to life again and he glared at me.

"Get down here or I"ll drag you down if I have to."

"Go ahead," I replied and beckoned him. "If you can."

"You asked for it!"

Kuang Hu kicked off the icy ground and disappeared into a blur. The next moment, he appeared right next to me, his Lightning Claws lashing out to sever my head from my shoulders.

"!!"

However, before his weapon could reach me, he was suddenly forced to evade when a new pillar of ice emerged to impale him. He vanished before reappearing on the ground, sliding across the ice while warily looking out for more attacks.

"You…!"

Kuang Hu glared furiously at me, lightning still wreathing his form. I merely shrugged and gestured for him to try again.

"I thought you could drag me down?"

"f.u.c.k you! Come down here and fight like a man! Stop being a coward!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

I couldn"t help but burst out laughing at that bulls.h.i.t. Of course he would resort to such nonsense when he realized the tables were turned. He wanted to bring me down to a situation where he held the advantage. Never mind that I had no obligation to entertain him. Even so…

"Fine. But first, let me even the odds."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kuang Hu spat. I shrugged and stretched almost leisurely atop my ice pillar.

"Like I said, you"re too fast. Right now I"m too slow to catch up for you." I glanced at the window, where the spectators – especially my friends – were watching. "If I want to keep my promise, it seems like I can"t afford to hold back. I can"t afford to handicap myself any further."

Given Kuang Hu"s strength, he would eventually find a way to overcome the current crisis and destroy all the ice pillars in the arena and force me to fight him on his terms. When that happened inevitably, I would find myself returning to the earlier position of being severely disadvantaged in terms of speed.

Besides, I didn"t want to win this way. It would be more fun to crush Kuang Hu on his own terms, and utterly destroy him in a compet.i.tion over the physical aspects and techniques he was most proud of.

"Oh, well…I guess I have no choice then."

Muttering to myself, I began to take off my uniform jacket.

"W…what are you playing at?!" Kuang Hu demanded, his face ashen when he saw me. I smirked.

"Seems like you"re misunderstanding something." Shrugging off my uniform jacket, I revealed the training gear I had been wearing the entire time. An inner jacket of metallic body weights. Pulling up my sleeves and trouser legs, I revealed similar weights bound to my limbs. "I"m just removing my training equipment."

"No wonder it felt so weird when I slashed at you with my Lightning Claws." Kuang Hu narrowed his eyes. "You were wearing those things as makeshift armor."

"Nope. Not as makeshift armor. Just to train myself."

For the past two years, I had been unable to train my qi, having been in a situation where I could only a.s.similate the vast amounts of qi I had absorbed from the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members I had slain. To make up for that shortcoming, I had continued to train my body physically, increasing the weights while running, moving and fighting.

Thanks to that, I was a lot physically stronger than before.

"But it"s precisely because I"m being weighed down by this training gear that I"m unable to fight you properly."

"Ha ha ha ha!" Kuang Hu snorted in derisive laughter. "If you think just by removing a bunch of training weights, you can match me…"

He never got to finish his sentence. I had finished unstrapping the weights to my limbs and taken off the weight jacket, then dropping them on the ground.

BOOM!

The weights smashed into the ground and pulverized both the ice and concrete, leaving a huge crater.

"What the f.u.c.k?!"

Kuang Hu"s jaw dropped open. Meanwhile, above, in the spectators" box, my schoolmates went wild with shock.

"Holy…!"

"What the h.e.l.l just happened?!"

"What is with those weights?!"

"Isn"t that overly excessive?!"

"Well then…" I rubbed my wrists and ankles for a moment before I straightened and pushed my gla.s.ses up my nose. "Shall we begin for real now?"