Li Chun Long must really have been looking forward to beating Zhu Jiao up, for his expression turned furious. With a great deal of force, he shoved me back and swung his sword to slash me. I easily deflected his strike to one side and responded with a riposte that would have torn his throat out if he didn"t spin out of the way in time.

"You…!"

Li Chun Long gripped his sword with both hands and swung his green dragon sword downward, unleashing a mighty blow that blew me several steps back. Green, fiery qi blazed around him and his sword, scorching the earth.

"Scary," I muttered sarcastically. Pushing up my gla.s.ses with my right hand, which was still holding a sword, I stared at his weapon.

"You should be honored to be able to see my Sacred Dragon Sword," Li Chun Long sneered as he brandished his elegantly crafted spirit sword. The green blade gleamed like an emerald jewel, and I couldn"t help but think that it was a complete waste of money. Probably going to be one h.e.l.l of a sword to maintain and polish, from the looks of it.

"Oh, I"m so honored."

"Quit wasting time! Let"s take them out!"

"!!"

I jumped away right before Li Guo Qiang smashed the ground where I was standing on with a metallic fist, carving a crater into the dirt. As I retreated, I noticed that his skin had taken on a silvery sheen, as if it had hardened into steel.

"Iron Soul technique," I muttered.

"At the eleventh level!" Li Guo Qiang proudly proclaimed, banging his chest so hard that I could hear the loud clang even from this distance. "I"ll have you know, I"m even stronger than Wu Hei Gui, who you had difficulties against when trying to break his defenses. You won"t be able to hurt me!"

"Then how did you get eliminated from the tournament?" I asked.

"I was the one who defeated him," Zhu Jiao replied behind me. He had finally risen to his feet and was recovering his senses. He lowered his head. "I"m sorry, Wu. I should have believed you. I never would have thought…"

He then turned to glare at Gu Chun Song.

"Senior Chun Song! Why?! Why are you doing this!?"

"I believe I already told you," Gu Chun Song replied coolly. "For the sake of the academy…and for Ning Xue."

"Bulls.h.i.t!"

"No point arguing with them," I told him. "They"ve already made up their minds. And be careful – they"re coming!"

Li Chun Long and Li Guo Qiang were rushing forward from two directions, getting ready to attack. They split off and came at us from opposite sides.

"Chun Long, you take care of Zhu Jiao. I"ll defeat that trash Fei Wu quickly, then I"ll a.s.sist you. Lai! Offer long-ranged support!"

"Got it!"

Xin Lai conjured a fireball from behind and hurled it at me. I dodged it easily, using my footwork techniques, only for Li Guo Qiang to appear in the place where I retreated to and punch me. I crossed my swords to parry the blow, but Li Guo Qiang was so strong that his punch hurled me back. While I stumbled back, Xin Lai threw another fireball at me, forcing me to clumsily execute a footwork technique and evade.

I see…because Jiao has defeated him in the past, Li Guo Qiang decides to leave him to Li Chun Long instead and chooses to take me out.

But…wasn"t he underestimating me a little too much?

Twisting away from Xin Lai"s fireball, I spun around and kicked Li Guo Qiang in the chest just when he closed in on me. It was a flawlessly executed Shadow Kick that would have blown a hole through an iron wall, but Li Guo Qiang merely endured it without flinching. He grinned at me as he tried to grab my leg.

"I told you that you wouldn"t be able to break my defenses!"

"…"

I jumped back and ducked under a fireball from Xin Lai. Whirling around, I threw my swords at her, forcing her to dodge.

"Lai!" Li Guo Qiang. However, before he could get to her, I was in front of him.

"Your opponent is me. You want to get to her, you"ve to get past me first."

Okay, that sounded weird. It sounded almost as if I was trying to protect Xin Lai from Li Guo Qiang when reality was the direct opposite.

"Iron Soul."

Li Guo Qiang strengthened his defenses, the silvery qi around his body thickening and solidifying. Not caring, I kicked him with enough force to demolish a house. The ground around him shattered from the tremendous impact.

"!"

However, Li Guo Qiang remained unmoved.

"What"s with this toughness?" I cursed under my breath before jumping back to avoid a devastating punch from Li Guo Qiang.

"I already told you! My Iron Soul makes me impervious to all physical and elemental attacks! You will never be able to break through my invincible defense!"

"Just go down already!" Xin Lai shouted from behind as she launched another fireball in my direction. I effortlessly dodged it, ignoring her for now. She wouldn"t be a threat – the main opponent I had to worry about right now was Li Guo Qiang…

Boom!

"?!"

I almost got hit by another fireball, barely ducking and rolling away in time. To my complete surprise, the fireball struck Li Guo Qiang and detonated.

That Xin Lai…she doesn"t care if she hits her comrade?!

However, as the smoke cleared, I understood why. Li Guo Qiang remained completely unscathed in the flames, his body fuming but undamaged. He merely grinned as he emerged from the smoke to grab my throat.

"Kuh!"

I kicked his hands away before he could grab hold of me, and then struck his chest with a Shadow Kick. Like before, I didn"t manage to damage him, but that wasn"t my intention. Instead, I used Li Guo Qiang"s body as a platform to propel myself away and widen the distance between us.

"Where do you think you"re going?"

My path of retreat was abruptly cut off by Xin Lai, who threw another fireball at me. While I hastily skidded to a stop, Li Guo Qiang attacked me from behind, his iron fist smashing through the flames and descending for my skull.

I did a cartwheel, kicking out at Li Guo Qiang before his fist ould connect, and then flipping myself back. When Li Guo Qiang clumsily stumbled and fell to his knee, I seized the chance to launch myself into the air.

"Okay…let"s try this then!"

I began spinning myself rapidly, almost turning myself into a whirlwind.

"Oh no you don"t!" Xin Lai hollered and hurled another fireball at me. However, the wind raging around me as I spun around was so violent that it blew the fiery projectile back. Xin Lai"s jaw dropped. "How is that possible?!"

I didn"t reply. Instead, I used the centrifugal force that I had created to generate as much kinetic energy as possible and swung my leg at Li Guo Qiang. He maximized the protection his Level 11 Iron Soul afforded him by condensing the metal qi around him into a protective aura and physically hardened his body.

Wham!

"!!!!?"

"Ugh…!"

Li Guo Qiang actually felt that one, recoiling as pain showed up in his otherwise scornful features. He actually staggered backward from the tremendous blow.

"Impossible!" Xin Lai"s hands flew to her mouth. "That was an incredibly powerful kick! it nearly broke through Guo Qiang"s impenetrable Iron Soul!"

"Guo Qiang! Don"t let him make a fool out of you!"

Gu Chun Song shouted from the back. He was teaming up with Yuan Mei and Li Chun Long to fight Zhu Jiao, but had witnessed the battle. Zhu Jiao wasn"t able to hold out for much longer, having to fight three student council members off on his own.

At least it wasn"t six.

"That trash isn"t even part of the student council! He"s only level 6! How can you and Xin Lai lose to him?!"

"Why don"t you try and take him on then?!" Xin Lai snapped, irritated. Oh, how mature. Let"s resort to shifting blame.

"I"ll take care of him once I knock out Jiao," Gu Chun Song replied. "So the both of you hold out until then."

"That"s not necessarily. We"ll take him out." Li Guo Qiang glanced at Xin Lai. "Lai, keep bombarding him. Don"t give this trash the chance to recover!"

"Seems like you"re the one who needs to recover," I replied as I kicked him with another powerful whirlwind strike. Li Guo Qiang grunted and staggered back, pain flashing across his features again. He might be extremely strong and resilient, but his unnatural st.u.r.diness came at the expense of speed. He couldn"t keep up with me.

On the other hand, I wold probably die to a stiff breeze. Even though I could take a few hits, the power behind Li Guo Qiang"s blows were devastating. I couldn"t afford to get hit…

Bam!

"Stay still, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Li Guo Qiang had tried to punch me again, but I managed to dodge him. However, I walked straight into Xin Lai"s trap.

Boom!

"Ugh…!"

The fireball caught me in the face and detonated, throwing me to the ground. I tried to roll away, but Li Guo Qiang landed right next to me and slammed his knee into my ribs.

"Gah!"

I coughed out some blood, but before I could use a footwork technique to escape, Li Guo Qiang smashed my face with a fist, knocking my gla.s.ses askew.

My vision exploded in pain and blood, a red haze settling over my eyes. I desperately tried to stumble back, but Li Guo Qiang pressed his advantage, pummeling me with his fists. Despite doing my best to block the majority of them, I felt as if my bones were going to break.

"Die!"

With a shout, Li Guo Qiang punched me so hard he set me flying. Blood dribbling from my lips and various wounds around my body, I crashed onto the ground heavily. My qi circulation had clogged up from the acc.u.mulated damage and I couldn"t stand without wavering.

d.a.m.n it…if this was a one-against-one, I might have stood a chance…

However, two against one was still beyond me. I rose shakily to my feet, only to be caught by a fireball and knocked over again.

"Time to finish you off!"

Li Guo Qiang sounded gleeful despite resorting to despicable measures to bring me down. Two student council members ganging up on an ordinary student…if word got out, they would be shamed. Similarly, it took four student council members to beat up Zhu Jiao. They were really disgracing their own name.

"d.a.m.n…"

I looked up as Li Guo Qiang descended upon my position, swinging his leg down in an axe kick that would have caved my skull in if he landed.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion rang across the courtyard.

"Guo Qiang?!"

Xin Lai watched in disbelief. Li Guo Qiang"s kick had gone wide and smashed into the ground next to me, obliterating it with a crater. However, he had clearly missed me entirely. The reason didn"t seem clear at first, but I was raising a hand with faint wisps of qi trailing ominously from my fingers.

Li Guo Qiang glared at me sullenly, feeling a chill when I opened my eyes to stare at him.

"You impress me, Li Guo Qiang," I told him despite still being on my knees. "Why didn"t you come attack me?"

"What"s with that stare?" Li Guo Qiang growled. "…I see! You"re bluffing, aren"t you?"

"Would you care to test that?" I asked.

"Don"t listen to him, Guo Qiang!" Xin Lai shouted from the side before throwing a fireball at me. "He"s trying to trick you!"

Her fireball never reached me. It froze meters away before it could hit its target, turning into a solid block of ice and crashing onto the ground.

"That"s…!"

"What"s the matter, Li Guo Qiang?" I asked as I slowly rose to my feet. "Didn"t you say I was bluffing? Come attack me then."

"Prattling on and on…I see…so you"re trying to buy yourself time?" Li Guo Qiang chuckled viciously. "But time isn"t the only thing you need, is it? Fei Wu!"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "You"re the one who"s wasting time here. Come at me or don"t. It"s your choice."

"Iron Fist!"

Metallic qi bloomed and coalesced around Li Guo Qiang"s fist as he charged at me. A punch powerful to level the whole courtyard, the qi wrapped around his fist was as dense as a neutron star, and would probably obliterate me if it landed.

If it landed.

I stepped to the side, using Liu to synch myself with my opponent"s movements and evade his blow. As I did so, I slammed my palm into his side, right under his guard and almost threw him off balance.

"Heh…"

Li Guo Qiang looked surprised at first, but his shock turned into amus.e.m.e.nt when he realized there wasn"t much force behind the blow. He had probably thought I was going to kick him or something, and was half-relieved that I didn"t.

"Ha ha ha ha! Have you finally given up?"

"No?"

"You should! I told you that my Iron Soul is impervious to all physical and elemental attacks! Nothing you do will ever work against me!"

"Is that so?" I replied as I calmly strolled away, leaving Li Guo Qiang to continue bragging where he stood.

"It"s my turn!"

Spinning around, Li Guo Qiang made to approach me, but I raised my hand and shook my head.

"I wouldn"t do that if I were you."

"Hah!" Li Guo Qiang scoffed. "Another attempt at bluffing? It won"t work!"

He took one step forward, only to suddenly topple over. Clutching his chest, he writhed and coughed out blood, which seemed to gleam like crystals. Going into violent spasms, he swore and glared up at me.

"You…you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What did you do to me?!"

"Impossible!" Xin Lai exclaimed as she backed off, fear overwriting her pretty features. "That trash actually broke through Guo Qiang"s indestructible defenses!?"

"f.u.c.ker! What did you do to me?! Answer me!"

I couldn"t help but feel sorry for him, so I smiled and offered an explanation.

"Do you know that over two-thirds of the human body is made out of water?"

"What the f.u.c.k are you talking about?! What the h.e.l.l does that have to do with anything!?" Li Guo Qiang bellowed. I sighed dramatically and shook my head.

"You really are too stupid to make the connection, aren"t you?"

"Don"t tell me…"

On the other hand, Xin Lai had turned pale because she realized what I was getting at. I smiled and nodded toward her direction.

"That"s right. What do you think will happen if I freeze all that water in your body?"

The look of horror on Li Guo Qiang"s face told me that I had finally gotten through that thick skull of his.

"You…!"

Xin Lai snarled and hurled a fireball at me. I didn"t even bother to freeze it this time, instead disappearing and reappearing right next to her.

Wham!

"Ugh!"

Even if she was a girl, I didn"t hold back and kicked her as hard as I could. Xin Lai went down, doubling over as she clutched her gut.

"You…!"

"It"s over. On your own, you"re no match for me."

I stomped on her, knocking her out.

"Lai!" Li Guo Qiang shrieked and thrashed about, but with his blood and bodily fluids frozen in his body, he was in no condition to move, never mind attack.

"Well then…I guess I"ll go help Jiao…"

Picking up my swords, I turned to keep track of Zhu Jiao"s battle with his opponents, only to bring them up in reflex.

"Celestial Dragon Thunder Flame!"

Li Chun Long descended upon my position, green flames wreathing his sword as he swung it down. I parried it by crossing my swords, but was driven back.

"Ding Yan! Help me!"

"R…roger that!"

Ding Yan, who hadn"t been an active partic.i.p.ant in the battle before – keeping his distance because there were too many people attacking and he didn"t want to get in the way – joined in at Li Chun Long"s order.

"We"ll settle our match right here, right now!" Li Chun Long growled as he slashed at me, almost knocking the swords out of my hands. I struggled to keep up, exchanging several blows with him and trying to match his pace.

"Two of the student council members…"

I shook my head and spared a glance at the unconscious Xin Lai and the writhing Li Guo Qiang, then smirked.

"Weren"t you supposed to be the strongest students in Wu Ling Academy? I hope you won"t let me down like those other two."

"You…!"

Li Chun Long flared up and his qi surged exponentially. The ground around him became scorched as his fiery qi expanded violently and took the form of a gargantuan dragon that roared before diving at me.

"Solar Celestial Dragon!"

Swinging his sword, Li Chun Long unleashed the qi dragon on me. The serpentine monster lunged at me, its fiery jaws wide open to swallow me whole. I simply stood my ground and waited for it to approach before countering with a technique of my own.

Azure Dragon Blast.

Unlike Li Chun Long and the others, I wasn"t in the habit of shouting out the names of my techniques. I merely swung my swords and unleashed an azure qi dragon of my own. Snarling ferociously, the divine beast leaped out of my swords and collided with the fiery green dragon, the both of them tangling in midair and detonating.

"Gah!"

"Kuh!"

"Ugh!"

Ding Yan, Li Chun Long and I were thrown in opposite directions, the shockwaves buffeting us. I rolled to my feet, only for Ding Yan to smash his palm down on my position. The stylish, long-haired martial artist had recovered quicker than either me or Li Chun Long and was a.s.saulting me as quickly as he could.

"!"

I stepped back, just barely dodging his fist, and then retaliated with a slash that would have taken his hands off at the wrists if he hadn"t pulled them back in time. Ding Yan dodged my next sword strike and whirled around to deliver a roundhouse kick that just barely sc.r.a.ped my midriff when I withdrew just in time to avoid damage.

While fighting off Ding Yan, I was almost caught off guard by Li Chun Long"s backstabbing actions. The Green Dragon Sect main disciple had thrust my sword toward my back, but I managed to sense his strike and parried it with both my swords.

"Hu…"

I ducked under Ding Yan"s palm strike next, and slashed at his midriff, forcing him back. At the same time, I used my other sword to deflect Li Chun Long"s flaming blade. Undeterred, Li Chun Long unleashed another flaming dragon strike that devastated the courtyard and forced both me and Ding Yan into evasive maneuvers.

"Hey! Watch it!" Ding Yan complained. "I"m on your side!"

"Surely you"re competent enough to evade on your own, right?" Li Chun Long retorted, unconcerned. Ding Yan scowled.

"Then you can take care of Fei Wu on your own!"

"Hey!" Li Chun Long shouted, but Ding Yan had already retreated. Now I understood why he kept his distance. He didn"t get along well with Li Chun Long.

Then again, most people didn"t get along with Li Chun Long. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s condescending and arrogant att.i.tude didn"t help matters. I didn"t blame Ding Yan. Never mind putting up with the f.u.c.ker"s abuse, I had to watch out from attacks coming from my so-called ally who didn"t care if I ended up as collateral damage.

Yeah, Ding Yan made the right decision.

"Get back here!"

Li Chun Long was shamelessly screaming at Ding Yan, but I cut in front of him and slashed out with one of my swords, forcing him back. Li Chun Long cursed and fought back, trading several blows that reverberated throughout the courtyard.

Despite my best efforts, I found myself drawn into a stalemate. Li Chun Long was a lot stronger than both Li Guo Qiang and Xin Lai put together, and he was actually overwhelming me for the moment. I had to struggle just to match him boow for blow. Every fiery strike was intense and fatally hot, scalding my skin and causing my arms to go numb from the tremendous impacts. I found myself being cornered by his physical strength and superior qi.

"Hah! You"re no big deal! I can defeat you in twenty moves!"

Realizing his advantage, Li Chun Long pressed on further, driving me back. I stumbled as I tried to parry and deflect his blows, but he was slowly but surely breaking through my defenses. His fiery qi continued to burn me and I could feel the damage gradually acc.u.mulating. At this rate, I would be taken out before I could help Zhu Jiao!

Even so, I did my best to hang on. Despite being forced into the defensive, I managed to hold out for as long as I could, matching Li Chun Long blow for blow. Aware that I couldn"t win in a contest of strength, I compromised and gave way whenever I could, allowing him to knock me back or rode the momentum of his attacks whenever possible. Instead of trying to react against him with an equal and opposing force, I integrated myself into the flow of his attacks.

This was the essence of Liu, the footwork technique that Teacher Jiao taught me. He was right. As long as I mastered this, n.o.body in my generation could touch me!

Unfortunately, what I needed right now wasn"t to escape. I needed to defeat Li Chun Long, and then go help Zhu Jiao before he was overwhelmed by Gu Chun Song, Yuan Mei and Ding Yan. I could see from the corner of my eye that he was no longer able to hang on, blood flowing from multiple wounds on his body. Blood dribbled from his mouth and he coughed out a huge amount as Gu Chun Song"s palm struck him moments after he freed himself from Yuan Mei"s grappling technique. As he tried to stagger away, Ding Yan struck him in the back, causing him to throw up more blood.

"Jiao!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Don"t go getting distracted in the middle of a battle!"

"!!!"

I managed to deflect a strike from Li Chun Long and staggered backward from the impact. However, I smiled.

"Twenty moves? It has been two hundred moves and you still have yet to defeat me. Looks like you"re full of hot air."

Li Chun Long"s face darkened and he intensified his attacks, blasting the courtyard with his fiery green qi and solar celestial dragons.

Some distance away, Zhu Jiao had finally collapsed under the combined attacks of Gu Chun Song, Yuan Mei and Ding Yan. He crawled to his feet, staring miserably at the older student who he thought of as a brother prior to this.

"Why…?"

"Give up, Jiao," Gu Chun Song told him gently. "We only want you to do a couple of things. First, forfeit the match."

"You…" Zhu Jiao spat through his bloodied lips, gritting his teeth in frustration as he tried to remain on his knees and hands. "Don"t even joke about it…!"

"Secondly, you are to destroy your qi channels. Of your own volition. After all, even if we defeat you here, Teacher Yi Liao could just completely heal you in a few days. We need something more drastic. We need to cripple you for at least a few months, until the tournament ends."

"Do you think Ning Xue will let you get away with this?!" Zhu Jiao growled defiantly. Gu Chun Song stared at him, his expression hidden behind that half-mask. Only his mouth was showing, and it was set in a thin grim line.

"What Ning Xue wants is not important. She"ll have to accept the result. I"m ready to bear the consequences as long as she wins the tournament and remains the student council president…and the leader of all the students in Wu Ling Academy."

"Bulls.h.i.t!"

"I thought you might listen to reason." Gu Chun Song sighed and shook his head dramatically. "Looks like there"s no other way."

Zhu Jiao glanced up at him, his heart skipping a beat. He evidently seemed like he was wondering if Gu Chun Song might let him go after all.

"You"ll have to die in an "accident". I"m very sorry, Jiao. I hoped that it wouldn"t come to this, but you left me no choice."

"Senior Chun Song…!" Zhu Jiao pleaded as he tried to rise to his feet, only to collapse. "Please! You can"t do this…!"

Gu Chun Song"s only reply was to raise his hand and saturate it with qi.

"Stop!" I yelled and tried to use Jin to dash toward my friend, to cut in between Zhu Jiao and Gu Chun Song before the latter could hit him.

"Your opponent is me."

However, Li Chun Long matched my speed momentarily, his green dragon exploding and striking me while I was rushing forward. Blood spurted out of my mouth as I crashed heavily onto the ground, completely caught off guard.

"Farewell, Jiao."

Gu Chun Song"s hand descended upon the hapless Zhu Jiao. The latter squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the inevitable.

Bang!

"?!"

Gu Chun Song recoiled when something struck his hand and his attack went wide, the destructive qi spiraling to the side and gouging a chunk out of the road beside Zhu Jiao, but otherwise missing his target entirely.

"Stop right there," Teacher Jiao ordered as he landed in the courtyard, his oppressive qi flaring up and sinking down on every student present so heavily that the student council members were brought to their knees in an instant.