"No. You?"

"To be honest…" Zhu Jiao grinned. "I"m looking forward to it. It"s rare that I get to cross blades with you."

"You don"t wield a sword," I pointed out, and Zhu Jiao blanched.

"You know what I mean!"

I did, but that didn"t mean I could resist teasing him. Of course, this wasn"t some sort of stupid mind game to unsettle my friend from the match. I wasn"t that desperate to win. Furthermore, he would have forgotten about the joke by the time we were both in the coliseum.

And that time was fast approaching.

"Phew…"

I wasn"t lying when I told Zhu Jiao I wasn"t ready. I honestly wasn"t. I still couldn"t wrap my mind around the fact that I had made it this far. Furthermore, despite my desire to win, I was highly aware of how formidable an opponent Zhu Jiao was. I couldn"t take him lightly at all. h.e.l.l, even without underestimating him, I might still lose.

But I want to win.

After coming this far, there was only victory. It would suck to come this far, reach the final, only to fall short of the eventual goal and succ.u.mb to defeat. Most likely Zhu Jiao felt the same, but I was slightly self-centered. All that mattered to me was that I won. Well, not to the extent where I would resort to mind games and cheating, but you know what I mean.

Honestly, if I hadn"t made it this far, if the opponent was someone else, I would definitely be cheering for Zhu Jiao and hoping that he won the tournament. But I ended up being his opponent, and needless to say, I wanted to win. That was all.

But how?

That was the real question. Nonetheless, it was one that I could only answer when I actually fought with Zhu Jiao. It was useless standing around thinking of an answer that would never materialize if I didn"t actually step into the arena.

So I followed Zhu Jiao downstairs into the preparation room.

"Wu!"

I turned around and saw our friends approaching us. Waving, I stopped momentarily to converse with them one last time before the match.

"Hey, guys."

"Don"t hey us!" Tang Qi Hong snapped. She calmed down and glanced from me to Zhu Jiao. "How are your preparations for the match?"

"As best as I can make them be," Zhu Jiao replied cheerfully. In contrast, I groaned and shook my head nervously.

"I…dunno. I"m going to just do my best."

"Me too!" Zhu Jiao laughed. "I mean, what other strategy is there?"

Tang Qi Hong placed her hands on her hips disapprovingly and glared at the both of us. "The two of you should take this more seriously! This is the final of the school tournament, you know?"

"Trust me, it"s not because of the lack of trying," I muttered. I did take this final seriously, especially because I wanted to win, but I just couldn"t find any strategy other than doing my best. Despite reading up on the history of the Golden Kirin Sect yesterday and a.n.a.lyzing both the videos of Zhu Jiao"s battles and the written records regarding the Golden Kirin Sect"s martial arts, I wasn"t able to find any weakness.

Zhu Jiao had not only won and emerged the top of the Group of Death, he had also defeated powerful opponents such as Du Lang and Bai Ning Xue on his way to the final. Surprisingly, Du Lang – Zhu Jiao"s opponent in the quarterfinal (when I was fighting Feng Tian Yong) – had also shown up to watch. That was strange. Our aloof cla.s.smate usually eschewed events such as this. Come to think of it, he was also here to watch Zhu Jiao"s match against Bai Ning Xue during the semifinal, but that was the only match he came to spectate.

I couldn"t recall him attending any of the other matches that our other cla.s.smates partic.i.p.ated in. he certainly never showed up for any of mine, except the final.

Bai Ning Xue was also present. Zhu Jiao split up to talked to his new girlfriend.

"Wow, I"m so jealous," Tong Xue remarked as he watched him go. Annoyed, Lian Rou shoved her elbow into his ribs and caused him to double over. "Hey!"

"Nothing." Lian Rou turned away with a "hmph!"

"O…oh, don"t misunderstand. I think you"re the best, Lian Rou!" Tong Xue quickly began to whisper sweet words into her ear, causing her to blush and squirm away.

"Ugh, so embarra.s.sing! Okay, I get it!"

"Anyway, good luck," Ban Zhang told me pointedly, blatantly ignoring the antics of the idiot couple. I smiled and nodded.

"Thanks."

I then turned away and headed into the preparation room, followed shortly by Zhu Jiao. Since neither of us had much to do in way of preparations, we headed straight into the coliseum. At least I did, but given how Zhu Jiao showed up in the arena shortly after I did, it was clear that he didn"t spend much time in the preparation room.

"Heh." I couldn"t help but grin. "At least you"re not late today."

"I was never late for any of my tournament matches," Zhu Jiao protested, but he grinned too, recognizing my jab as friendly banter.

"That"s true," I conceded humorously. "If only you would be as punctual for cla.s.s as you are for tournament matches…"

"Well, this is a martial arts academy," Zhu Jiao pointed out. "Combat is more important than theory lessons!"

I winced at that, not at all in agreement. After all, I was the type who preferred theory over practical. I loved reading over actually doing anything.

"Well, shall we get started?"

"Of course!" Zhu Jiao turned toward the speaker mounted at the top corner of the coliseum. "Teacher Jiao, we"re ready!"

"You may begin anytime."

I honestly didn"t want to put the existences beyond the fourth wall through yet another redundant introduction. By now the readers were familiar with who we were, and would probably be sick of reading yet another formal introduction, so we skipped it. Instead, I went straight to the scene where Zhu Jiao was grinning.

"I"ve always looked forward to having a match with you!"

"Same," I agreed.

"You may begin!" Teacher Cai"s disembodied voice called out over the speaker.

Before I could react, Zhu Jiao was already lunging forward. I used a footwork technique and disappeared from my position, causing Zhu Jiao"s fist to slam into the ground. Despite missing me, the shockwaves from the punch buffeted me even as I retreated.

"Kuh!"

I staggered back, trying to regain my balance, but Zhu Jiao wasn"t going to let such an opportunity slip. He was already spinning on his heels and pouncing on me once again. I had only just recovered my footing when he slammed his fist into my chest.

"Guh!"

I grabbed his fist, perspiration pouring down my face. My feet skidded backward despite my best attempts to dig my heels in, my physically inferior stature unable to halt Zhu Jiao"s momentum. Gritting my teeth, I slowly yanked Zhu Jiao"s fist away from my chest and ground both my feet into the ground, making use of the surrounding qi to hurl him bodily into the air.

"!!!"

Completely taken by surprise by my maneuver, Zhu Jiao did a flip in midair and landed on his feet, dropping to a knee and hand as he did so. He lifted his head and stared at me, impressed. Apparently he didn"t expect me to take his blow directly.

I was known more for my speed than my endurance, after all. After all, I was the guy who ran around with my Shadow Steps and footwork techniques. The problem was that Zhu Jiao didn"t give me a chance to utilize my speed and struck me when I was off balance. Even so, he was still amazed.

"He"s strong!"

No, I wasn"t. I was too weak. Just ask the readers if you don"t believe me. They were whining about how I wasn"t the typical overpowered protagonist. In the first place, Zhu Jiao was the protagonist, not me. I was just a side character.

Heaving, I shook my head, clutched at my chest and winced. Perspiration ran down my temple as I studied my foe.

This must be one of the five Golden Kirin Sect"s martial arts, Golden Kirin Divine Fist.

I took a deep breath to regain my composure.

"What a powerful blow, I almost wasn"t able to withstand it…"

Pushing up my gla.s.ses, I steadied myself just as Zhu Jiao charged at me again. I stepped to the side, just narrowly dodging his armored gauntlet with a beautifully executed footwork technique (if I may say so myself). Whirling around, I kicked him in the gut, just below his guard, and almost sent him stumbling in the opposite direction.

"Kuh!"

For a moment, I thought I had succeeded, my opponent almost falling over and landing flat on his face.

However, Zhu Jiao struck his foot deep into the ground, pivoted himself before he spun around and punched his gauntlet at me again. I quickly dodged back and prepared to counterattack with another kick, but…

"!!!"

"Golden Kirin Divine Claws!"

The second of the Golden Kirin Sect"s five martial arts. Five short-ranged spikes of golden qi lanced out of Zhu Jiao"s right gauntlet and almost punched several holes through my relatively fragile body. It was only because of my reflexes that I managed to barely react in time and executed Tui to retreat to a safe distance.

"?!"

Unfortunately for me, Zhu Jiao was far from done. Having antic.i.p.ated that – his battle sense being as excellent as ever – he punched his left gauntlet forward and unleashed a tremendous wave of golden qi.

"Golden Kirin Holy Blast!"

The third of the Golden Kirin Sect"s five martial arts. I dove to the side as the ma.s.sive blast of destructive qi swooshed overheard, scorching the air and smashing the wall opposite Zhu Jiao into a cratered structure.

"Hu…"

Hitting the ground, I rolled up. Zhu Jiao was preparing a second Golden Kirin Holy Blast, but I refused to give him the chance to fire off anither shot. Kicking off the ground, I used Jin and advanced forward, swinging down my leg to strike the crown of his head.

"!!"

Zhu Jiao glanced up, realizing that he wouldn"t be able to dodge in time. Abandoning his attempt to fire off another Golden Kirin Holy Blast, he coalesced all his golden yang qi around him and solidified a golden, defensive sphere around him.

"Golden Kirin Sacred Armor!"

The fourth technique of the Golden Kirin Sect, and the one Zhu Jiao used to nullify everything Bai Ning Xue threw at him during the semifinal. My foot struck the shimmering golden aura and bounced off, causing me to crash backward, completely off balance. I gritted my teeth and held my foot momentarily, the tremendous impact of hitting such a st.u.r.dy barrier causing my leg to tremble violently. d.a.m.n, but my foot was already going numb.

Yeah, Bai Ning Xue mentioned that when fighting Zhu Jiao…

However, I wasn"t going to give up. Jumping up and retreating when Zhu Jiao punched the ground where I was sitting on, I flipped myself high and above his head, taking advantage of my superior speed to evade his punches. Dodging another barrage of Golden Kirin Divine Fists and Golden Kirin Divine Claws and not straying too far away, lest he used another Golden Kirin Holy Blast, I wove through his attacks and flipped myself over to his blind spot.

"!"

Zhu Jiao spun around, but I was no longer there. Instead, I was soaring high above his head. Landing on top of him, and despite Zhu Jiao having activated his Golden Kirin Sacred Armor, I stepped on top of his head and unleashed my Seismic Step.

BOOM!

"Ugh!"

The entire ground caved in as an explosion rang through the arena, m.u.f.fling Zhu Jiao"s cry.

"Phew."

I landed a few meters away and watched the rapid expansion of dust and debris, which obscured my view of my opponent. Nonetheless, I could sense his qi br.i.m.m.i.n.g strongly from within the center of the blast, and knew Zhu Jiao was far from being knocked out.

"!"

Even though I was cautiously on guard, I was still unable to completely evade the golden beam of qi that ripped through the smoke and dust, striking me. Fortunately, I was able to cross my arms to block the blow, but it was so powerful that it flung me across the air upon contact, causing blood to spurt from my mouth as I helplessly tumbled to the ground.

"Ugh…!"

Even though I was looking out for that, I still ended up getting hit by that Holy Blast! What power, what speed…!

"Huff…"

Zhu Jiao emerged from the cloud of dust and smoke, blood streaming down his head. He wiped some of it off his eyes and stared at me determinedly. Rising shakily to my feet, I met his gaze evenly, understanding what was coming next.

I"ll only be able to defeat him if I increase my power.

This was no time to be holding back and testing the waters. Zhu Jiao realized it too. The time for exchanging pleasantries was over. It was time to get serious.

Whoosh.

The air between us thickened as the atmosphere within the arena began to get heavily saturated with qi.

Golden qi permeated Zhu Jiao"s form, forming a thick field of dense, yang qi that blazed like a golden inferno. A Golden Kirin reared up, its intangible form seeming almost to watch over its master protectively.

I merely c.o.c.ked my head to the side and drew both my swords. Azure qi gathered around me, swirling into my blades, and twin azure dragons appeared on either side of me, almost as if they represented each of my swords. More azure qi seemed to drift around me like constellations, hovering in the air and waiting to be unleashed as meteors.

"Golden Kirin Sacred Beast technique!"

"…"

Dude, did you really have to shout out the name of your technique? I sure as h.e.l.l wasn"t going to tell him that this was my Heavenly Draconic Meteor Sword technique. Readers should already know this by now.

"Hey, do you know what kind of skill the Golden Kirin Sacred Beast technique is?" I asked, surprising Zhu Jiao. He narrowed his eyes.

"Uh, well, considering that I"m the one using it, I do?"

"Then I hope you don"t mind if I make a conjecture and tell me whether I"m right."

I began walking along the walls of the coliseum, while keeping my eyes on Zhu Jiao"s glowing figure. My swords were lowered, not raised for any attack, but nonetheless I gripped them tightly so that I would be ready for any attack that Zhu Jiao would launch while I was speaking.

Not that he would. I knew Zhu Jiao too well. My friend was an honest and straightforward person who wouldn"t resort to such despicable tricks and sneak attacks. Even though I normally wouldn"t hesitate – against such an upright person, even I was loathe to sink to that level. After all, this was a tournament battle with my honor and pride on the line. Not a life-and-death battle where I had to fight for my very survival.

"It"s not just the 5th technique of the Golden Kirin Sect"s martial arts. It"s a pa.s.sive skill, am I right? A technique that can be applied to the other four techniques of the Golden Kirin Sect. such as your Golden Kirin Sacred Armor…in your match against Bai Ning Xue, you upgraded your Golden Kirin Sacred Armor with the Sacred Beast technique to a ridiculous extent, which boosted your strength and power tremendously. Hence, not just your Sacred Armor, but even your Divine Fist and Divine Claws were powered up exponentially."

Zhu Jiao"s eyes widened.

"You…how did you know?"

"I take it that I guessed right then." I shrugged. "It was worth spending the last day and the night before yesterday reading up on the Golden Kirin Sect and a.n.a.lyzing your techniques."

"Heh." Zhu Jiao shook his head, completely impressed. "I guess I should have expected you to be able to figure it out. You were always the smartest among us."

"In terms of theory," I replied heavily. "It"s too bad I was unable to apply my theoretical knowledge to practical use."

Even though Zhu Jiao said that, being the top in the theoretical exams and cla.s.ses wasn"t a very big deal. Most students in Wu Ling Academy couldn"t care less about the theory aspect or academic lessons. They focused more on practical combat and learning actual martial arts instead of the theory behind it. moreover, I was mentally a thirty-year-old (well, thirty-three if I include the last three years I spent in my new teenage body), who had graduated from high school and university and even studied in graduate school in hopes of getting a PhD. It would be embarra.s.sing if I couldn"t even beat the teenage students here in terms of theoretical knowledge.

Unfortunately, actual martial arts and practical combat were a whole other matter entirely. Aware of this, Zhu Jiao smiled.

"Well, you might have figured my Golden Kirin Sacred Beast technique out, but were you able to come up with a counter?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Unfortunately, no. It seems like, from this point forward, victory will depend on which of us is stronger."

To be honest, Zhu Jiao was physically stronger. I might be faster, but as I saw in Zhu Jiao"s match against Bai Ning Xue, posessing the superior speed was not going to guarantee me victory. And it appeared that Zhu Jiao was used to fighting enemies who were much faster than him. (I later found out that his master had been sending him against swift foes as part of his training, which was why he was so good against them)

"Uwaaah!"

"Guaaah!"

Both of us bellowed fiercely as we charged at each other. I used Jin to dash forward at the approaching Zhu Jiao, whose potent aura made him seem to tower over me. The intimidating Golden Kirin snarled above him, its blazing eyes glaring at me.

In response, the twin azure dragons coiled around my swords lashed out to growl back defiantly at the imposing Golden Kirin.

"Hah!"

Zhu Jiao punched me. I whirled away deftly, my feet literally dancing across the ground as I evaded his armored fists. With that upgrade in strength from the Sacred Beast technique, I wouldn"t be able to receive any of his attacks directly without suffering significant damage. Just like Bai Ning Xue, I dodged and weaved through his attacks while trying to attack with my swords. My blades slammed into Zhu Jiao"s souped up Sacred Armor with meteoric force, but other than a grunt and staggering backward, they seemed to have little effect.

Well, given the st.u.r.diness of the dense, thick field of yang qi enveloping him in protective armor, I guessed I should be happy that I could even faze him slightly with my attacks. Dodging under a swinging gauntlet, I slashed with one of my swords but didn"t manage to penetrate Zhu Jiao"s defense. I was forced to jump back as he punched with his other gauntlet, then parried another punch from his first armored fist. The impact was so great that I was sent skidding back.

"Huff…!"

I allowed my momentum to carry me away to a safe distance. Zhu Jiao didn"t hesitate in throwing out an arm to send a Holy Blast streaking in my direction, and I used Duo to evade. Appearing behind him, I swung both my swords with meteoric force. However, Zhu Jiao"s great battle sense allowed him to whirl around and intercept my strikes in time, swinging his gauntlet to parry both of my blades with a thunderous bang.

The ground beneath our feet split apart and shattered from the sheer force of our collision, our raging qi devouring the arena and wrecking it.

Knowing that my speed wasn"t going to be of much help, I stood my ground and began exchanging ferocious blows with Zhu Jiao. Deflecting his fists with my swords, I countered with thrusts and ripostes that clanged off his Sacred Armor, but caused him to stagger from the repeated meteoric force. Even with the Sacred Beast technique enhancing his Sacred Armor, his defense was second when compared to the likes of Wu Hei Gui…or even Li Guo Qiang.

But this was a dangerous game I was playing. All Zhu Jiao needed was one hit, and he would deal significant damage to me. I had to do my best to avoid every single one of his attacks.

Bam!

We sprang apart in a shower of sparks, the ground giving way beneath our feet again.

"Hu…"

I exhaled, perspiration pouring down my face. With his greater physical strength and stature, Zhu Jiao had been pushing me back all this while. Glancing down at the broken trail of rubble that I had left in my wake, I realized that I had been cornered and forced into a retreat all this while. Gathering whatever qi I could, I launched another attack, but Zhu Jiao cleverly countered it with a block from one of his gauntlet before he smacked me into the wall.

"Gah!"

I was able to flip my body and crunched my feet against the wall to propel myself back toward my opponent again. Hoping to deliver a counterattack, I conjured an Azure Dragon Strike and unleashed it at Zhu Jiao.

However, he wasn"t going to wait for me to release the dragon that was now coiled around my right sword.

"!!"

I almost didn"t see his elbow coming. Blinking when I saw a golden blur flash toward my face, I instinctively crossed my swords to parry the strike, but Zhu Jiao"s a.s.sault was so vicious, so powerful that even my block wasn"t effective. While I was knocked off balance, Zhu Jiao followed up with a ferocious punch that I barely managed to deflect with my swords. His gauntleted fist smashed through my crossed blades and slammed into my chest. I was sent hurtling several dozen meters away, crashing heavily onto the ground in an undignified heap.

"Kuh…!"

After coughing out a glob of blood, I hurriedly rolled to my feet before Zhu Jiao could stomp on my position. He then kicked me before I could fully recover, and despite parrying his foot with my swords again, I was flung across the coliseum and slammed into the wall. I almost blacked out for a second, the pain overriding my senses and clouding my vision in darkness.

"Ugh…ah…"

Sliding down the wall, I coughed out another spurt of blood before sinking to my knees. Heaving, I tried to crawl to my feet.

"d.a.m.n it…even though I blocked his attacks, they"re still so powerful…my body"s going numb. And he"s completely suppressing my Heavenly Draconic Meteor sword techniques."

Wiping the blood from my mouth, I took a deep breath and corrected my breathing. Zhu Jiao, who was slowly but surely advancing toward me suddenly paused when he realized that something had changed.

"!"

The azure aura around me had darkened, turning to black.

"This is…?!"

"You have a point," I declared a.s.s I registered the shock on Zhu Jiao"s face. "It"s meaningless to continue testing the waters. Let"s not waste time and use our strongest techniques against each other!"

Zhu Jiao scowled. "You were holding back all this while? I was already using my most powerful technique, you know?!"

"Ah, my apologies." I bowed my head. "I wasn"t deliberately holding back. It"s just that I"m not able to use this technique for so long. It"s a double-edged sword. While it temporarily increases my power, it expends a lot of qi. So if I fail to finish you off with my Shadow Dragon Meteor Strike, I would suffer heavy consequences. Furthermore, it"s not complete yet. I still have to polish it. But…" I sighed. "If I don"t use it, it"s clear that I"ll definitely lose."

"You"re not the only one," Zhu Jiao a.s.sured me. "My Sacred Beast technique is also incomplete. I have yet to fully master it."

My jaw dropped as I stared at him in disbelief. "You"re kidding, right? Even though it"s already this powerful, it"s still incomplete?"

"Apparently there should be visible physical changes," Zhu Jiao explained as he glanced over his body. "But I have yet to reach that stage, so…"

"You"ve got to be kidding me…"

"Well, as you said, your move consumes large amounts of qi…it"s the same for me too. So let"s not waste any more time and settle this once and for all!"

I was in total agreement, so I dashed forward at the same time Zhu Jiao charged t me.

Shadow Dragon Meteor Strike!

Swinging both my swords, I crushed Zhu Jiao"s Sacred Armor within a few seconds, causing the golden sphere around him to buckle and crack. Zhu Jiao"s eyes widened and his stunned expression was the last thing I saw before my attack flung him away with meteoric force.

Like a fiery comet streaking across the atmosphere, Zhu Jiao"s blazing body slammed into the ground with apocalyptic force, disappearing into a crater as the reinforced concrete instantly disintegrated from the impact.

They really need to reinforce the reinforced concrete, I thought. Then again, in a world where martial arts trumped over everything, I doubted there would be much materials capable of withstanding the attacks of martial artists.

"Guaaah!"

Zhu Jiao dug himself out of the crater, his body smoldering. The golden aura around his body intensified, the Golden Kirin roaring furiously in vengeance. I steadied myself and the twin black dragons coiling around my swords reared up and snarled beckoningly in challenge.

"Uwaaaah!"

With a roar, Zhu Jiao threw himself at me. I determinedly faced his charge, raising both of my swords to attack.

"All right…again!"

Standing my ground firmly even as Zhu Jiao towered over me imposingly, I made use of my superior speed to launch the first attack.

He who strikes first gets the advantage!

At least that was what I thought. For a moment, I thought my tactic worked, with my blades cleaving through Zhu Jiao"s protective golden aura and drawing blood in his midriff.

"!!"

Then I realized that Zhu Jiao had let me hit him on purpose.

"Now!"

With a triumphant shout, he smacked me across the chest with his gauntlet, hurling me away and causing me to throw up a wave of blood. Thankfully, I had my aura of black qi protecting me, so I was able to negate most of that blow. Flipping my body in midair, I landed on one of my hands (and sword), and was able to cartwheel safely to my feet.

"Guh…"

Despite avoiding a heavy and potentially damaging crash onto the ground, I still felt the tremendous effects of that blow. The strike had shaken my internal organs and perhaps even broken a few ribs. My breathing was getting more ragged.

"I finally got a hit in," Zhu Jiao grinned. Even though blood incessantly dripped from his side, he seemed relatively uninjured, especially when compared to me.

That was only natural. For marital artists, internal injuries were a lot more damaging than external wounds. The cuts on Zhu Jiao"s midriff would heal in no time at all. As for me, without any medical treatment, it would take me a lot longer to recover from the internal damage I had sustained during this vicious match.

"Hu…"

Exhaling again, I wiped the blood from my mouth as I struggled to my feet. Even so, I refused to admit defeat here.

Instead, I smiled.

"No wonder you were able to make it all the way to the final. Beating Yu Wen Tian, Long Sheng, Xiong Lao Hu, and Hu Bei Yue in the Group of Death, then defeating both Du Lang and Bai Ning Xue during the finals…yeah, you"re really powerful."

"Same." Zhu Jiao grinned. "I"m really glad I"m dueling you in the final. You"re a worthy opponent, Wu."

I laughed. "Spare me the flattery. You know I got all the way here through luck alone. If I was the one fighting against Bai Ning Xue in the semifinal, I would have lost. h.e.l.l, your match against Bai Ning Xue would have been more suitable as the final."

"You give yourself far too little credit, Wu." Zhu Jiao shook his head. "You deserve your position in the final. You made it this far through your efforts alone, triumphing against all odds. You didn"t even need to challenge Li Chun Long to convince the academy that you would have progressed to the final even if he didn"t get disqualified, yet you did."

"That doesn"t change the fact that I would never have been able to defeat Bai Ning Xue if I was unlucky enough to face her."

"How would you know if you don"t even try fighting her?"

I grimaced. "To be honest, I was actually relieved that I wouldn"t meet her in the finals. My chances of defeating her are astronomical, and that"s the most optimistic estimate I can make."

"Have you already forgotten your promise to Qi Hong?" Zhu Jiao asked, his eyes narrowing. "Stop looking down on yourself. If she hears that, she"ll be angry."

"…yeah, you"re right." I sighed. "Sorry."

"For what it"s worth, I think you might find a way to win against Ning Xue. You"re fairly intelligent and you read a lot."

Actually, only the latter was correct. I did read a lot. Unfortunately I was not intelligent. I was pretty sure those existences beyond the fourth wall could go on a tirade on how I was the most stupid protagonist ever and complain about how the main character only did stupid things. I haven"t actually done anything intelligent throughout the entire story, truth be told.

"Well, thanks," I replied instead, appreciating Zhu Jiao"s high appraisal of my abilities, even if I didn"t believe it.

"Unfortunately, you can"t defeat me." Zhu Jiao grinned. Now I smiled.

"Let"s see if I can prove that statement of yours wrong."

Then we both charged at each other.