Fortunately, we were given a month or so for the preliminary rounds. So as long as we had the battles on consecutive days, we were able to finish the matches within the month. Nonetheless, my friends were surprised that I succeeded in defeating Tu Zi Yi.

"You actually defeated Tu Zi Yi?" Tong Xue demanded, his eyes growing in shock. I nodded, a little weary from his interrogation. "How?!"

"Why don"t you just watch the match recording to find out?" I was doing my best not to snap irritably at him. d.a.m.n, I was just so tired. I didn"t have the energy to put up with his interrogation. "The details are all there."

"Hmm," Tong Xue mumbled in agreement as he consulted his tablet. No doubt he was searching for the replay of my duel with Tu Zi Yi. As he watched, he couldn"t help but grin. "You sneaky little b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"I"m not a sneaky b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"Yeah, try convincing Tu Zi Yi that. I doubt she"ll forgive you for what you did."

"You think I care? And I don"t see why I need to be forgiven in the first place. She tried to beat me up. You think she"s ent.i.tled to a victory over me?"

"I didn"t say that." Tong Xue raised both his hands. "Just that your methods of victory are…unconventional."

"Yeah, but I"m not the only one who uses unconventional techniques." I stared at him. "You do most of all."

"Ugh…I can"t deny that."

"Well, it is fine, isn"t it? As long as Fei Wu won." Lian Rou stepped in to mediate. "And you won most of your matches too, Xue, so that"s fine."

"What about you?"

I regretted asking the moment I saw Lian Rou"s expression fell. Tong Xue grimaced and nudged me.

"Rou had a match with Bai Ning Xue."

From his tone, I could already guess the result.

"I lost two out of my ten matches," Ban Zhang a.s.sured her. "So it"s not like you"re the only one. We all have it tough."

"I"ve yet to face Wu Hei Gui or Wu Xing," I joined in. Currently I still hadn"t lost, but other than Tu Zi Yi, I had yet to face any real challenge from the rest of my opponents thus far. "And you know what my chances are like against them."

"Yeah, I lost my one hunded percent winning streak against Shi Bai yesterday." Tong Xue groaned as he leaned back against his chair. "I"m also going to face Feng Tian Yong next week. I don"t fancy my chances against him…he has been blitzing and crushing everyone in my group so far. I doubt my strategy can hold him off."

"Just do your best," I told him.

"You too," he replied.

"What is everyone talking about?"

Everyone glanced up and saw Tang Qi Hong coming over. We immediately fell silent. Tang Qi Hong noticed the awkward atmosphere and frowned.

"What"s going on?"

"Ha ha, nothing." Lian Rou was quick to speak up. "How did your matches go so far, Qi Hong?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Tang Qi Hong smiled brightly. "I"ve won all of them! I"m currently at the top of the group."

"Yay…"

"Good for you."

"That"s great."

All of us forced smiles onto our faces. Don"t get me wrong. We were genuinely happy for Tang Qi Hong – at least I was – but it was hard not to feel envious and a wee bit of resentment at how easily she was cruising to the top spot of her group.

"How about you guys?"

"…"

All of us turned away, avoiding her gaze. Realizing her mistake, Tang Qi Hong forced a sheepish laugh.

"Um, never mind. I hope everyone will rank highly in the tournament."

To be fair, Zhu Jiao would probably garner the same response if he was here. He had gone off for his match, having been among the first for the day, and from the live updates on our tablets, we could see that he was winning.

And one-sidedly at that. Typical of a wuxia/xianxia protagonist. Of course he would crush every nameless opponent without breaking a sweat. He was completely unlike me, who had to fight hard for my victories. How was this fair?

Paying Zhu Jiao"s match no attention, my friends just nodded at Tang Qi Hong"s well-meaning encouragement.

"Yes…"

"We"ll do our best."

"Don"t worry, I"ll be focusing on blacksmithing and Spirit Engraving."

Tong Xue, Ban Zhang and Lian Rou seemed somewhat resigned. As for me, I smiled and nodded determinedly.

"I won"t let you down!"

Unfortunately, I was aware that my match against Hei Wu Gui was drawing closer, and this would determine my standing in the academy.

And that match happened to be in an hour or so. Sighing, I shook my head and straightened up, steeling myself.

"So, shall we get ready for our matches?"

"Yeah."

"We should."

"Let"s go then."

With that, my group of friends (minus Zhu Jiao) dispersed and we headed to our a.s.signed rooms for our matches.

Wu Hei Gui, huh…

Like Tu Zi Yi, Wu Hei Gui was a cla.s.smate I was somewhat familiar with. We had been in the same cla.s.s since middle school, and just like all the others, we ended up in the same cla.s.s when we rose to high school.

Even then, I wasn"t very close with him. Wu Hei Gui was from the Black Tortoise Sect, one of the most prestigious sects in the Martial Arts Alliance, and among the eight major sects. Major, meaning strongest, in other words.

Wu Hei Gui and Wu Xing from the Kun Lun Sect were the favorites to win my group. Needless to say the bookies didn"t even consider my existence. I probably had a 1/24 chance of winning the group, even though I was ranking pretty highly after winning all my matches. So far. Even so, I had difficulties in winning against the other opponents, while Wu Hei Gui and Wu Xing were essentially cruising in their matches. Even Tu Zi Yi had one-sided victories.

Speaking of which, despite her initial defeat, Tu Zi Yi was proving herself to be a competent combatant. She had won the majority of her matches so far, only losing to me and Wu Hei Gui. She had yet to face Wu Xing, but she was clearly making a strong case for herself. No doubt she would be ranked highly when the tournament ended, especially with her highly impressive performances.

In contrast, I had not put on a single display where I overwhelmed my opponent completely. That was why no one took me seriously. It was also because my opponents were largely competent and I wasn"t that strong to begin with.

Boom!

I stopped when I heard the explosion. Since there was still quite some time before my match, I couldn"t help but be drawn toward the various matches taking place at the moment. Through a transparent screen, I caught sight of a familiar silhouette.

Isn"t that Wu Xing?

The Five Elements master of Kun Lun Sect, Wu Xing. I could see five different types of elemental qi swirling around him before they blasted off like projectiles. His opponent, a thick, muscular guy that I had trouble defeating just a few days ago, prepared his defenses, but he was knocked over almost instantly by the blow.

My eyes widened.

During our match, I had to kick him over a hundred times before I finally got any damage through his thick, slab-like muscles and iron defense. Even then, what finished him off was my all-out Seismic Step, and I almost suffered a serious injury in return when he retaliated.

However, Wu Xing one-sidedly crushed him from a distance before the poor guy could even strike back.

"You"ve got to be kidding me…"

I stared in disbelief as the huge guy lay on the ground, unmoving. Okay, probably some time pa.s.sed since the match had begun, but the way that Wu Xing took him out was just stunning. I gulped as the prodigy of the Kun Lun Sect raised his hand in victory.

It would be interesting to see the outcome of the match between him and Wu Hei Gui. I wondered if Wu Hei Gui would be able to defend against those five element techniques. Certainly, his defenses were much more formidable than the huge guy lying on the ground, but even then…

Speaking of which, I should worry about my own match first.

Taking a deep breath, I proceeded toward the room. Before I took more than two steps, I was suddenly aware of Wu Xing staring at me.

He was grinning arrogantly, his eyes boring into me in a condescending manner. Evidently he recognized me as one of the rivals in his group, and he probably knew how weak I was in comparison to himself.

I turned away and continued down the corridor. I wasn"t in the mood to rise to his provocation, and it wouldn"t benefit me anyhow. We would meet in battle soon, and I would rather our fists do the talking.

There was no point bantering and arguing verbally. Words would be meaningless in the face of actual action.

As I expected, I was early and Wu Hei Gui wasn"t here yet. That was fine. I should prepare for the duel. Taking a seat in the empty training room, which had been requisitioned as a mini-coliseum for the school tournament, I began to meditate. Manipulating and controlling the flow of qi inside my body, I began to purify it using that water-filter imaging exercise that Master taught me.

Drip by drip. Through the filter. Purified qi emerging from the filter.

Regulating my breathing, I executed the Heaven and Earth breathing method to refine my qi and further purify it, increasing its potency. It also helped me increase and improve my cultivation, somewhat, but obviously meditation and breathing methods alone weren"t going to help. I also needed to train physically.

I had no idea how much time I spent on this, but eventually the door clicked open and I broke out of my trance to see Wu Hei Gui step inside.

"Oh, you"re already here. Sorry for the wait."

St.u.r.dily built, a little on the short end in terms of height, and with messy black hair, Wu Hei Gui didn"t seem all that different from when I first met him three and a half years ago. He was a little taller and better built – with a lot more muscles than before – but he was easily recognizable, especially with that round face and slightly pudgy figure.

"No, I was preparing for the duel anyway."

While the statement could be interpreted in the wrong way, Wu Hei Gui knew me well enough that he didn"t suspect me of cheating. Furthermore, there was a security camera in the training room, recording my every movement ever since I had entered the room, and the staff manning them would have summoned me if they saw me sabotaging anything.

Standing up, I stretched myself. "Ready for the match?"

"Yup."

As usual, we both glanced up at the speaker next to the revolving security camera. We didn"t have to wait long.

"All right, both partic.i.p.ants are here." Teacher Cai Pan"s voice streamed from the speaker. "Both of you may begin the match whenever you"re ready. Just let me know."

"Understood."

Taking a deep breath, I glanced at Wu Hei Gui, allowing him to decide whenever. He nodded and bowed, cupping his hands formally.

"Wu Hei Gui, cla.s.s 1-4, Wu Ling Academy High School. The Black Tortoise Sect. I specialize in the Black Tortoise Mystical Heart Sutra, water-based elemental techniques such as the Black Tortoise Mystical Flow Formula, and the defensive technique, Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l. Currently, I possess about three s.e.xagenaries of qi."

He was a level 8, as were most of the other Four Star Const.i.tution cultivators. I nodded and returned the greeting. This time, I didn"t leave out Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship, but I didn"t mention my self-created techniques.

"Anytime when you"re ready," I told him. Wu Hei Gui beamed and nodded. He raised his head toward the camera.

"We"re ready."

"All right then. Begin!"

I waited. So did Wu Hei Gui. We both stared at each other, not moving, each waiting for the other to make his move.

Then Wu Hei Gui sighed.

"You know my techniques are mostly defensive based, right? Let"s not waste any time. Come and get me."

"Don"t give me that," I snorted. "I know you have offensive techniques too. Black Tortoise Mystical Flow Formula, wasn"t it? That uses water elemental attacks to destroy the enemy from range. You don"t just have defensive based techniques."

Wu Hei Gui merely smiled. "I know. I just want to give you a chance to attack me before I defeat you."

A vein twitched in my brow, but I clamped down on my anger. I wasn"t immature or petty enough to fall for his provocations. a.s.sessing the situation, I saw that Wu Hei Gui was right. He had no benefit to provoke me into closing the distance and attacking. If he wanted to ambush me or attack, he could do it from long range.

This was more of a disadvantage to him than anything.

However, this also indicated just how confident he was in his defense. He was inviting me to attack precisely because he believed that I wouldn"t be able to break his defensive technique, the Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l.

Admittedly, he had every reason to be arrogant. Up till now, no one had broken through his Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l. Yet. At least no one who wasn"t Bai Ning Xue or Zhu Jiao. Even Du Lang. Li Chun Long and Feng Tian Yong had trouble penetrating Wu Hei Gui"s formidable defenses, but it wasn"t impossible.

Every match in the tournament thus far, Wu Hei Gui had won in this manner, by sheer intimidation and driving despair into his opponents when they failed to breach his barrier. With their spirit broken, he then finished them off with a single attack.

To him, a One Star Const.i.tution cultivator like me wasn"t a threat. Especially because I was only a One Star Const.i.tution cultivator.

"…I see."

I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath.

I wasn"t a naïve person who adhered to stupid concepts of honor and fairness. Those values never got me anywhere when I was abducted by the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect or lost on my own in the wilderness of the savage Sen Lin Forest. No, if my opponent was going to offer me an advantage, I might as well grab it with both hands.

"Then I"ll take you up on your offer."

Using Jin, I dashed forward and delivered a devastating Shadow Kick that would have cracked even the reinforced walls open. Wu Hei Gui smiled, having already executed his Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l technique. A shimmering, translucent black barrier formed over him, taking the shape of a st.u.r.dy tortoise sh.e.l.l.

Bam!

"!"

Wu Hei Gui shuddered, and a little bit of regret flickered across his face. However, he said nothing, and I whirled around for a second kick. This time, I spun around several times in midair to increase the kinetic force of my attack and swung my foot down.

Wham!

"Kuh!"

Wu Hei Gui actually felt that blow. Staggering back, he glanced at me, his jaw dropping slightly as he tried to comprehend what was going on.

I replied with a third kick.

CRACK!

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

Wu Hei Gui stared up in disbelief when he saw cracks rapidly expanding over his Black Tortoise Sh.e.l.l. The barrier buckled, but held.

For now.

Fourth kick.

KRUNCH!

The cracks grew, thickening terrifyingly into cobwebs that almost made the semi-translucent black barrier opaque.

"I…impossible!" Wu Hei Gui cried out. "You"re only a One Star Const.i.tution…"

He never got to finish his statement. My fifth kick crashed through, sending tremors rippling through the crumbling sh.e.l.l. But even so, the formidable barrier maintained its integrity. It would require a few more kicks before I could finally demolish it.

"Time out! Time out!"

Unfortunately, Wu Hei Gui wasn"t going to give me the last few kicks I needed. He was crossing his hands and shouting at me.

Landing on the ground, I turned to face him while pushing up my gla.s.ses.

"I recognize your strength! You"re powerful! Let"s do this properly now!"

"Aw…" I let a sly smile crawl over my face. "And here I am, thinking I"ll be able to break through your Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l with my next attack."

"Your next attack? Are you serious?" Wu Hei Gui was trembling, pale from the unexpected turn of events. But even he realized that I would require a few more kicks to break through his formidable defense.

"Yeah. I was wondering if you would allow me one last attack before we do this properly." I feigned disappointment.

"You…" Wu Hei Gui growled. Shock had turned into anger now, and he wasn"t thinking clearly. Visibly annoyed by my apparent arrogance, and still confident that his barrier could take whatever single attack I had in store for him, he beckoned for me to attack. "If you think you can break open my Black Tortoise barrier, you"re more than welcome to try."

I grinned. "You said it. Don"t go regretting it now."

"Hah! I"d like to see you make a fool of yourself…"

He trailed off when he saw me jump up. Instead of kicking this time, I landed nimbly on the top of his barrier, planting a single foot upon the cracked surface.

"What…?"

Wu Hei Gui frowned, caught off guard by my unexpected maneuver. I merely grinned at him.

"Here"s my final attack."

Seismic Step.

BOOM!

Already weakened by my barrage of kicks, the Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l was unable to withstand my Seismic Step and shattered instantly, revealing a stunned Wu Hei Gui inside. My shocked opponent stared up at me in disbelief, and quickly crossed his hands in reflex as I kicked him. Even without his formidable barrier, Wu Hei Gui had a st.u.r.dy physique, and he managed to halt his momentum after skidding a few meters back.

"You…!" he spluttered as he lowered his hands.

"Sorry. That was out of reflex." I landed on the ground and adjusted my gla.s.ses again. "But I told you I"ll be able to break your Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l with one last attack, right?"

"d.a.m.n it!" Wu Hei Gui cursed. "You…! Were you hiding your true strength all this while?"

"Uh…no?" I tilted my head. "Did you think I was easy just because I"m a One Star Const.i.tution cultivator?"

"That"s…" Wu Hei Gui realized that he had no reb.u.t.tal for that. Swearing under his breath, he crouched down and curled his fingers. "We"ll see…I"ll make sure you pay for making a fool out of me! It"s my turn to attack!"

His next strike came hard and fast – streaking so rapidly that I almost didn"t see it coming. I ducked my head in reflex and felt a spray of water on my face. Whirling about, I dodged a powerful stream of water that pulverized the ground.

"That"s…!"

As I skidded away, I saw dozens of snaking water serpents. The water attacks that Wu Hei Gui had created had taken the form of gargantuan, water serpents, writhing and hissing silently as they glared at me with watery eyes.

They charged at me, coming in a fluid cl.u.s.ter of unbridled ferocity. Gritting my teeth, I used my footwork techniques, relying on Tui and Duo to evade their onrushing attacks. Even as I disappeared and weaved through the terrifying bursts of water serpents, the powerful watery attacks left a wake of wet destruction, the huge water serpents carving damp craters into the reinforced ground. I wondered what was even the point of calling them reinforced when they couldn"t even withstand most of the attacks from the students.

Then again, students such as Hei Wu Gui, Bai Ning Xue and Qi Fu Ren were anomalies. Most of the matches I had prior to this didn"t result in such wholesale destruction of the training room. If I were to be honest, matches that resulted in severe damage to the training room or coliseums const.i.tuted only ten percent of the total duels that took place throughout the history of Wu Ling Academy. Still a significant fraction, no doubt, but not entirely exaggerated to the point where reinforced material was rendered absolutely meaningless.

Right now, though, I had to focus on evading the water serpents. Sometimes interspersing Jin among my footwork to throw off Wu Hei Gui"s aim, I sought to close in. however, this time my opponent was guarded, having repaired and recreated his formidable Black Tortoise barrier. I wasn"t given the time to destroy his Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l with a barrage of kicks, though. Not with a swarm of gigantic water serpents pursuing me.

Hmph…as scary as they are, they"re nowhere as terrifying as real sea serpents.

Even so, I did my best to avoid getting hit by them. Getting struck by a fake water serpent – as inauthentic as it was, was no joke. I would suffer heavy injuries if I let even one of them score a direct hit on me.

Despite the deceptively insubstantial and gentle appearance of water, an enormous volume of water could still prove to be deadly. Water can break through rocks if they relentless pelt it, causing erosion. And at the depths of ocean, the tremendous water pressure could crush even steel like an empty can. Highly pressurized streams of water could even cut through metal when directed correctly.

It was best not to underestimate the destructive potential of water.

"Ugh…running like a little rat!"

Wu Hei Gui sounded frustrated, but at least he wasn"t ordering me to stop dodging and let him hit me, unlike a certain Tu Zi Yi. In any case, I was in no position to retort. Diving to the side and just barely avoiding a gigantic water serpent from swallowing me whole, I rolled to my feet and kicked off the ground to dash toward him.

"It"s useless!"

Wu Hei Gui crowed as I kicked his formidable Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l. Despite doing my best, that single blow wasn"t going to crack the st.u.r.dy barrier. Even if I planned to acc.u.mulate damage with c.u.mulative attacks, Wu Hei Gui had grown wise to my tactic and renewed his barrier whenever he had the chance. And with me being distracted by the water serpents of his Black Tortoise Mystical Flow Formula, he had plenty of opportunities to repair or re-conjure that nigh impenetrable shield of his.

However, I smirked. I was about to deliver a second kick, only for the water serpents to crash down on my position. Before they could, however, I disappeared, and the full weight of the water serpents collided with Wu Hei Gui"s Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l.

"I see…so that was your plan."

Wu Hei Gui narrowed his eyes when realization dawned on him. Glancing at the swirling water serpents, he shook his head.

"That was a good plan, but unfortunately…my attacks have little effect on my barrier. Especially since my elemental affinity is water, so the efficiency of any water-based attacks would be reduced by fifty percent."

Well, it depended on the attacker, but that was a good estimate. Nonetheless I hoped that it would at have some effect, but I couldn"t see any sign of damage. That was one h.e.l.l of a st.u.r.dy barrier. Moreover, Wu Hei Gui would have repaired it instantly if his own attack had damaged his own Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l.

I was hoping that the water serpents would be able to smash it in one hit.

Well, that didn"t work out. Time for plan b.

Hopping back to evade another swarm of water serpents, I gathered as much qi as I could in my dantian. Raising my hands, I unleashed the purified frosty yin qi that I had been acc.u.mulating within my body in a single surge.

Krack!

"?!"

Wu Hei Gui"s jaw dropped when he saw that I had frozen everything in one go. All of his water serpents had been transformed into gigantic glacial statues, their once liquid form solidified into ice. Immobilized, they were pinned in place, entombed by my chilling technique.

"How…?!"

I replied by jumping on top of his frozen barrier. Wu Hei Gui was forced to maintain his Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l, or the cold would rapidly encroach upon his position and imprison him as well. As a result, he couldn"t just dismisss his Black Tortoise Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l lightly.

It didn"t matter. I executed Shadow Kick, smashing the ice that had coated his barrier. A few cracks ran down the surface and Wu Hei Gui staggered from the impact.

"You…! Impossible…!"

I couldn"t be bothered to correct his denial. Whirling around, I delivered a second roundhouse kick that widened the cracks all over his supposedly Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l.

"No way…! This can"t be happening!"

And then I jumped upward and stepped on it, executing Seismic Step.

"No…"

BOOM!

The Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l shattered in a deafening explosion, the ice around us breaking apart and misting around us in a thick fog. The ground caved in, a crater formed beneath Wu Hei Gui"s feet. As the pudgy guy dropped to his knees, I landed in front of him and delivered a Shadow Kick into his midriff. He blocked it as best as he could, but…

"Gah…!"

Blood spurted out of his mouth as he was hurled across the air. He landed awkwardly, but threw out a hand and desperately fired off a swarm of water serpents in a last-ditch effort to send me away. I tried to freeze them, but a couple managed to get through my screen of ice and slammed into me.

"Kuh…!"

This time, I was the one hurtling toward the opposite side of the room, smashing through several of the frozen water serpents I had immobilized with my ice technique earlier. Slamming into the wall, I slid down, a trail of blood trickling from my mouth.

"UWAAAAH!"

Looking up, I saw Wu Hei Gui throwing a single, immense water serpent at me while emitting a bloodcurdling cry. This time, his water serpent was much larger than all the others put together. I intuitively understood that this was his ultimate attack, and that Wu Hei Gui wanted to end the battle with this strike.

Very well then.

Staggering to my feet, I drew one of my swords. Steeling myself, I gripped the hilt with both hands and infused my blade with as much frosty qi as possible. As the water serpent neared, I swung it, almost as if I wanted to slash it.

But I didn"t cut it apart. The water serpent wasn"t something tangible to be cut apart, nor was it fragile enough to dissipate upon a powerful sword strike. It was almost a living ent.i.ty in its own right, emanating a strength and vitality that was almost overwhelming.

Even so, I faced it down. Refusing to back down, I unleashed my icy qi and froze the gargantuan sea serpent as it barreled toward me.

"!"

Unlike the others, the water serpent continued to surge forward even as its form solidified into ice. It continued streaking forward like a meteor, even as more of its body froze, its frozen jaws set to clamp down on me.

And just like that, it stopped right in front of me. Just a few more centimeters and it would have hit me, crushing me against the wall.

"No way…"

Even as Wu Hei Gui gaped in disbelief, I sighed in relief. Then I sheathed my sword.

"You…!"

I glared at Wu Hei Gui as he spluttered, and then disappeared from his sight. Wu Hei Gui instinctively understood that I had used Jin to dash toward his position for one final attack, and he quickly erected a new Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l.

Bam!

My kick rang off the black barrier, but I didn"t care. I rained down a barrage of kicks, slowly and surely cracking and ripping apart the Unbreakable Sh.e.l.l. Wu Hei Gui gritted his teeth, and realizing he wouldn"t be able to win in this manner, slammed his foot down against the ground and threw his fist forward. Black qi swirled around it as he threw a punch with everything he had.

"UWOOOOOH!"

I met his challenge head-on. Well, not really. The moment I smashed Wu Hei Gui"s barrier with a kick, I immediately stepped to the side – just as he lunged outward to obliterate me with his punch. His fist sailed just millimeters away from my face, and I spun around before delivering a roundhouse kick that connected with his chest and hurled him against the wall.

"Gah!"

Blood spurted from his mouth as he slumped against the wall, but he was not out of the fight. Not yet, anyway. Blood dripped from my cheek, where the shockwaves from his punch had sc.r.a.ped my skin, but I didn"t care.

I was going to finish this once and for all.

Jumping forward, I delivered a final Shadow Kick just as Wu Hei Gui threw his hand out and launched two ma.s.sive water serpents in my direction. Forced to evade at the last moment, I used my footwork technique and dodged in midair.

The sole of my feet found the water droplets that had been saturating the s.p.a.ce in the training room, as a result of Wu Hei Gui"s contant summoning of water serpents, and I launched myself off, spinning my body just above one of the water serpents that sought to bite me. Spiraling away from the surging water serpent, I dodged the jaws of the other and sailed right beneath its fluid body. Even so, streams of water blasted off the serpent"s watery form and lacerated my skin as I slid under it, causing blood to stream from my wounds. Gritting my teeth, I ignored the pain and allowed my momentum to carry me forward.

I wasn"t going to let a little pain stop me from reaching my opponent.

Right before I hit the wall, I rocked and threw myself to my feet, swinging my leg upward. Black qi gathered around my foot before it connected with Wu Hei Gui"s face.

Bam!

A sickening crunch echoed throughout the training room, and Wu Hei Gui toppled over, his eyes rolling up in their sockets. He fell, sprawled over the floor and didn"t get up.

Heaving heavily, I rose shakily to my feet and wiped the blood from my mouth and face. Staggering toward Wu Hei Gui"s unmoving body, I prepared to deliver one final blow. Perhaps a Seismic Step to make sure he stayed down for good. For all I knew, he could be pretending, waiting for me to lower my guard before springing forward with a surprise attack…

"Wait."

Teacher Cai Pan"s voice rang throughout the training room. I stopped and glanced wearily at the speaker.

"Wu Hei Gui is unconscious. Fei Wu, you"re the winner."

After listening to Teacher Cai"s official announcement, I couldn"t help but collapse to the ground and pa.s.s out from exhaustion and pain.