Chapter 346 – Top Four
Kang Lin was so anxious that she didn't sleep more than an hour the night before her next tournament round—not that she needed much more than that but she'd tried and ended up tossing and turning for hours—and the reason had nothing to do with her opponent. In fact, she hadn't even bothered to check who she'd be fighting.
It simply didn't matter.
For one thing, making top eight already exceeded her expectations. She should have lost to Yang Ru and was positive that, no matter who her opponent was in the next round, she'd be outmatched.
More importantly, though, she couldn't get her inescapable fate out of her mind. As soon as the tournament was over, the sect leader would announce the end of her discipleship. Everyone would know her shame, that her behavior was so reprehensible that she was being forcibly removed from her position as a disciple.
Her reputation would take an unrecoverable hit. No matter how many hundreds of years she lived or how high her cultivation reached, the stigma of her failure would stick with her. Absolutely no one would ever again take a chance on putting her in an elevated position. She'd only ever be able to take in the lowest of low as students to learn from her.
She would be ruined.
And all because … why? It was hard for her to put into words, though it had made so much sense at the time. Yang Ru had been on track to become a legend until her dreadful actions had endangered his chances. Who was she to attach herself to such a rising star?
Her talent was midrange, after all. She would benefit from their marriage. He wouldn't. Thus, it seemed obvious to her that separating from him was the right thing to do.
From one perspective, anyway.
The match would benefit her family and her sect. She'd been taught practically from birth about her responsibility to those two entities. Advancing either or both of those should have been primary in her considerations. Instead, she worried about him. She put him ahead of her family and her sect.
Why?
Because she'd come to care about him.
That wasn't easy for her to admit for some reason, but it was true. That situation was actually what most cultivators hoped for in an arranged marriage, and finding such wasn't impossible. It was what she had wished for herself.
Why, then, did she throw it away when it happened?
Worse, the result of her caring about him and considering him over herself, her family, and her sect was him being miserable and possibly suffering a qi deviation.
None of it made sense. How could doing what she felt was right end up being so wrong for literally everyone?
No matter how much she went over it in her mind, however, she kept coming back to the same basic fact—it was not right for someone as inferior as her to glom herself onto someone with as bright a future as him. Besides, he was part of the Rising Tide Sect. A qi deviation wasn't a setback. Instead, he and his sect leader would turn it into a huge advantage somehow.
Yeah. She was sure of it. Both Yang Ru and Yang Xiu would end up with some kind of huge boost because of it.
Even if they turned the negative into a positive, though, Kang Lin still felt guilty. Even if the end result turned out to be good, it didn't excuse the pain she'd caused them.
She blew out a breath.
The only thing she could do was to resolve not to hurt them ever again, which she could do simply by avoiding them as much as possible. After the tournament was over, she'd be removed as the sect leader's disciple, making it easy to cut ties completely. She'd go to the Poison Claw Sect's main grounds and fade into obscurity.
Decision made, she got ready for the day and made her way to the tournament grounds where she finally checked the bracket. There were four matches to be held that day. The first was Yang Xiu versus the Jade Chameleon's second best entrant. Next, Kang Lin would be fighting her own sect's number two rated participant. The final two matches pitted the top Poison Claw versus the second best Swift Blizzard and the top Jade Chameleon versus the top remaining Swift Blizzard.
Eventually, the round started. It was hard to watch Yang Xiu fight. Knowing she had gone from best friend to hating Kang Lin made her want to avoid even the sight of the girl, but it was difficult not to pay some attention. Luckily, the bout didn't last long, with Yang Xiu destroying her opponent quickly and efficiently.
With that match completed, Kang Lin made her way to the arena floor for her last fight of the tournament. Her opponent, Tan Long, was a renowned martial arts genius in her sect. There was no way for her to beat him even if her cultivation was one minor realm more advanced than his.
Not that losing was a bad thing. She'd already achieved much more than she'd ever believed possible. Top Eight hadn't even been something she'd dreamed of. If not for the fact that she was destined to lose all her status when the sect leader made his announcement, her making it so far would have given her reputation an amazing foundation. A future as a sect elder would have been the least of her expectations.
Would have been.
Regardless, she'd try her best against Tan Long.
After entering the arena, she bowed deeply to him, showing her respect for a fellow sect member with such a high stature. To her surprise, he returned her bow, going to the same depth.
He'd given her much face, more than she deserved.
Of course, he didn't know that she would be losing her discipleship soon. If he had, he wouldn't have even nodded his head.
Like many of the preeminent cultivators in the Poison Claw Sect, Tan Long used a sword. Besides his talent, A-, and his genius at martial arts, another factor that made him stand out was his use of the sect's eponymous qi aspect—Poison. Taking a small cut from him was the equivalent of another cultivator's deep slash or full stab.
Going against an opponent with his skills and the ability to make every strike count made her choose one of two paths. Option A, she could do as she'd done against Fan Tao and use Path of Lightning to avoid Tan Long's blows. That would be great, except that the technique used so, so much qi. And once her pool ran dry, she'd basically have to surrender.
Option B was to use her shield to, as the sect leader called it, tank Tan Long's blows. With her talent so much lower than the twins', she hadn't gotten her lightning shield to Mastery yet, meaning it didn't activate automatically and only in the area where she was about to be hit. Still, though, it was a top heaven grade technique and, as such, was much more qi efficient than the shield any participant other than the twins used. Even better, it discharged a small bolt of lightning upon every hit.
Her qi pool wasn't strong enough to keep the shield active continuously, however. She'd have to trigger it when she expected to be hit. If she missed an activation, she'd be done for.
Her decision came down either to using speed to overwhelm Tan Long or using the efficiency of her qi shield to outlast him.
Neither choice was likely to lead to a win given his superior talent—an entire rank higher than hers—and more advanced weapon skill.
That he was so much better than her actually made her feel better. There was no shame in losing. She could basically do whatever she wanted.
Kang Lin decided on Option B—using her shield. She'd used Path of Lightning to win her first major fight and knew that relying on a technique she hadn't previously shown would give her a small tactical advantage. Any plans he'd made to counter her speed would be wasted.
Besides, though his martial arts skills made him fast, her Qi Gathering realm Lightning Dash technique was a cut above what he could do. Lightning, after all, gave two fundamental advantages—speed and power.
Just before it was time for the match to begin, Tan Long pulled his weapon from his ring. Or rather, weapons. He held a jian in his right hand and a dagger in his left.
That meant he was taking the fight seriously. To the best of her knowledge, it was the first time he'd dual welded during the tournament.
His action didn't faze her, though. Yes, the dagger was just as dangerous as a sword in the hands of a Poison user. Yes, the fight would have been easier if he'd shown himself to be underestimating her.
On the other hand, she simply didn't care. She fully expected to lose, after all.
The announcer started the fight, and she remained firmly in place. She wasn't depending on her speed but on qi efficiency. Using a technique to reach Tan Long would have cost qi, and walking to him would have revealed her strategy. Thus, waiting was the call.
He stared at her doubtfully, obviously expecting her to have rushed at him. After a moment, he grinned and charged at her instead. She supposed that going on the offensive did give him a lot of choices, considering his martial ability.
As he neared, she became hyperaware of his two blades. Either touching her would end the fight even more quickly than she anticipated.
The spear did have a big advantage over the sword, however—range. Before he could get within the reach of his longest blade, she struck. He blocked, of course, but she still delivering a bolt of Lightning. Qi traveled down the blade. Most of it was absorbed by his hilt, but since he hadn't engaged his shield, some made it to his hand.
It was a trivial jolt, really. Worst case, he was feeling a little numbness in his fingers. But she hadn't used any more qi than she'd regenerate in a minute. And she'd taught him he had to be careful even in blocking. After all, her spear technique was also top heaven grade. Not every Lightning user could efficiently deliver qi strikes while being blocked.
He moved in for his own strikes, of course. She blocked his sword, delivering more qi to his hand and, at the last moment, triggering her shield. Even him "winning" by getting a hit in with the dagger delivered a small bolt to him.
Tan Long took a step back.
Interesting. He probably hadn't expected to take damage with every offensive and defensive blow and wanted to regroup. Since it was almost never a good idea to let an opponent do what they wanted, she stepped forward as he moved back, thrusting her spear.
He tried to dodge but probably hadn't realized that she didn't need to stab him, only to touch him. Even more qi than the previous three bolts discharged into the side of his stomach.
Tan Long visibly winced.
Good. At least he'd remember fighting her as he advanced in the tournament.
Finally, he activated his shield just before his counterattack. And it worked perfectly, preventing the qi bolt from her spear tip from traveling down his sword to hit him. And he kept it up as she triggered her own shield, preventing himself from taking another bolt as he tried stabbing her with the dagger.
The fight continued in a similar manner for the next several exchanges. He kept his shield active as he went on the offensive and when he blocked her spear.
There was a reason for his reputation, though. He was good. Really good. His sword found ways around her spear for the majority of their exchanges, and she had no answer for his dagger. The end result was that she activated her shield much more often than she wanted to.
Still, he kept trying to disengage, and she didn't let him. Every time he took a step back, she thrust forward, letting her shield lapse to save qi.
Tan Long feinted a retreat, trying to take advantage of her predictable pattern, but she wasn't stupid. If she'd ever been susceptible to such trickery, innumerable spars with Yang Xiu and Yang Ru had beaten the trait out of her.
She got in a nice hit on his shield while getting hers up in plenty of time to stop his ambush.
Finally, after a couple of minutes of vigorous exchanges, he dropped his shield, and she prepared to thrust.
Instead, he held up his hands. "Your match. I'm out of qi."
Kang Lin halted her attack automatically at the sign of his surrender, but the ramifications took a moment to sink in.
She'd won? She'd reached the top four?
Huh?
Chapter 347 – She Won?
Kang Ya-Ting was conflicted. As he watched his granddaughter compete against a feted genius of the Poison Claw Sect, he definitely wanted to see her win. Obviously. It would be good for her confidence.
But…
Tan Long had earned his reputation. There was little chance of him losing. It was the expected result, and sometimes, events following a predictable pattern was exactly what everyone needed.
If Kang Lin did somehow pull out a victory, more resources would be devoted to her, and her influence would increase. Doors that had previously been locked would open. In a sect, success led to being given the opportunity for even more success.
Not all would be positive, however. The scrutiny on her would become intense. Finishing in the top eight had already put her in view of the sect higher ups. If she made the top four, every elder would have her investigated. They'd learn about her refusal to marry one of the heirs of the Rising Tide Sect.
Questions would be asked. Every move she made would be evaluated. Her freedom would be curtailed.
A year ago, Kang Ya-Ting wouldn't have thought his granddaughter worth that kind of effort. She was a middling talent with a good head on her shoulders destined for, at best, a role as one of the administrative elders.
Six months ago, he thought she had changed her destiny. Greatness lay in front of her. The Rising Tide Sect would ascend, and she would ride the wave of that success as the wife of one of its primary members. Her name would be mentioned in the history books.
That day, watching her enter the arena to face Tan Long, Kang Ya-Ting despaired for what was to come of her. A failed disciple didn't have much of a future, even one who reached the final eight. Especially when she'd reached that high solely due to a dubious forfeit.
As the match started, Kang Ya-Ting found himself surprised by his granddaughter's tactics and skill. Her decision to rely on qi efficiency was smart and not one a lot of the more hotheaded young cultivators would have made.
She executed her plan well. The speed of her Qi Gathering realm movement technique combined with the superiority of her spear skill and shield gave the favored Tan Long fits. He surely hadn't expected such a battle.
As the fight went on, Kang Ya-Ting kept expecting the young man's talent to pull through, for him to find some way to turn the fight around, but Kang Lin wouldn't let him rest. She kept the pressure up.
Kang Ya-Ting had never seen her be so unrelenting, completely undaunted by everything the supposedly superior martial artist threw at her. He'd known that she'd sparred a lot with the talented twins and that the techniques gifted to her were superior to anything the Poison Claw Sect could have given her.
Still, she exceeded his expectations at every turn. In fact, she clearly dominated the entire fight from start to finish. The first time a blocked strike resulted in Tan Long being jolted by Lightning clearly surprised him and completely threw him off his stride. If he'd been allowed a moment to reset his strategy, he might have turned the tide. Instead, she'd kept him off balance since, not allowing him to retreat.
Then, suddenly, it was over. He surrendered.
She won? She won.
Pride welled in Kang Ya-Ting's chest. Whatever else happened, Kang Lin had made the final four. And not just eked out a victory, either. She'd shown she deserved to be there.
Good for her.
Benton was heartbroken. Not only was Kang Lin in excruciating pain, but she didn't even know why.
No, it was worse than that. She didn't even realize that she was hurting. It had to be a cultivator thing because he was positive no one back on Earth could possibly be so stupid about their own feelings.
Uh… In retrospect, he was pretty sure that last thought was wrong. Never mind.
Anyway, when he considered a punishment for her, he was thinking along the lines of making her write apology messages to the people she'd hurt. Evelyn had loved that one. Their kids had loathed having to write letters to their teachers when they'd misbehaved in class. Made them think twice about it the next time, though.
Kang Lin, in contrast, had gone straight for the metaphorical death penalty when he'd asked her input—another one of Evelyn's go to moves.
Of course, Kang Lin's suggestion was ridiculous. She'd clearly only done what she had because whatever she was dealing with had overwhelmed her. If she just would have gone to an adult and asked for advice…
Just like a typical teenager. He supposed that thought had never even crossed her mind.
Ugh.
For the first time, Benton started to doubt his intelligence in that he was bestowing superpowers on children without increasing their wisdom at all. Should he institute a new rule that the sect not accept any new members under the age of twenty-five?
Okay, so he wasn't really serious about that. Teenagers weren't always the wisest and most logical of people, but they had such great passion. They certainly made life interesting.
The older one got, the more one realized how much they didn't know. Teenagers still believed fervently that they had the world all figured out and would vigorously dispute anyone who would tell them otherwise.
Back on Earth in America, anyway.
He still saw some of that reflected in the culture of his new world, but some things were different. For one thing, elders were held in much higher regard. A teenager here was much more likely to listen to direction from someone older.
That willingness didn't necessarily mean they'd learn from the directions they took or that it made them more likely to ask for advice, but it was something.
Kang Lin certainly had never brought her problems either to him or to her grandfather, so it was difficult for Benton to determine the exact issue. His best guess was that she had some sort of confidence issue. Which made sense. In his experience, most teenagers either didn't give themselves enough credit or thought too highly of themselves or, more often, experienced both issues, somehow, at the same time.
As he watched her beat her supposedly superior sect mate like a rented mule, he was filled with pride, though. The boy was shocked from their first exchange.
Benton grinned. Literally shocked!
And the boy never recovered. Kang Lin did great.
Hmm. Maybe making the top four would make her realize how awesome she actually was?
Probably not, given that she was still a teenager, but a man could hope.
Mao Biya was incensed. The tournament was not proceeding in the manner she expected or liked. Not at all.
First had been the lowly Qi Gathering realm stage. Her and Teng Wuying's ploy to bring in a clan of Body Cultivators to handily defeat the Rising Tide Sect had failed miserably. Not only had every single one of the clansmen been defeated, but they'd proven to be working with the Rising Tide Sect. They'd betrayed the Jade Chameleon Sect. Worse, they'd betrayed the Swift Blizzard Sect and her in particular.
The rotten City Lord's faction had accepted a bribe to work against her as well. Everyone was against her.
She vowed that everyone would pay.
When she'd planned her vengeance against the clan, arranging for them to have to make their way back to their home on foot with no supplies where they'd be easy to kill out of sight of the city walls, that damned Chao Su had stepped in and had them transported back, out of her reach.
Or so he thought. Once he was finally dealt with, not a single member of that clan would be left alive. She didn't like biding her time, but as that jackal, Teng Wuying, advised, she would when it was necessary.
Then came the current round of the tournament. Somehow, all three of Chao Su's disciples had made it past the opponents Mao Biya had hand selected for them in the third round. And, of course since her allies were supposed to have been in those positions, they'd had clear sailing from that point until the upper rounds.
Finally, one of them, the boy, had been eliminated. But it had been by his choice and while going against another of the disciples. The victory was a hollow one for her side at best.
When she'd woken that morning, she'd felt optimistic, though. Surely her enemy's disciples would have their winning streak ended. The first match had annihilated that hope. Despite being matched against the second best opponent the Jade Chameleon Sect could field, the girl, Yang Xiu, had defeated him and made it look like she wasn't even trying, not showing a bit of emotion upon winning. Mao Biya wouldn't have been surprised if the girl had yawned.
Next up was the untalented Poison Claw Sect girl who didn't even deserve to be in the top eight. That match, fortunately, would be unwinnable for Chao Su's disciple. The girl's sect mate was much too talented to lose.
But it was not to be. The longer the match went on, the more dominate the girl appeared.
Mao Biya clutched the armrests of her chair. When the boy surrendered, she yelled, "She won? How? How?"
Crack.
Both armrests splintered.
Mao Biya had liked that chair, too.
The next match didn't go any better as the top Poison Claw Sect participant eliminated the second best remaining contestant from Mao Biya's sect. Even worse, the fourth and final match was the top Jade Chameleon versus the top from the Swift Blizzard Sect. One of the two allied sects would be completely eliminated from that division of the tournament.
It was a tough fought round, but her sect mate came out on top.
Mao Biya turned to the master of the young man who had just won. "He faces the girl, Yang Xiu, next. Whatever it takes, he must win. Understand?"
The woman nodded, her expression determined.
Kang Lin was confused.
She won? Against Tan Long? How?
Everyone, literally everyone, respected his martial ability, and it wasn't like he'd made some boneheaded mistake during the fight. He'd done exactly what he would have done against any other opponent.
And lost. To her.
It was almost as if she … was better than him? But that couldn't be. Until recently, she'd been a C+, which was nothing compared to him. She was still only a lowly B-. Which put her in a higher stratus in the sect compared to her old self, but that rank didn't hold a candle to him.
But she'd beaten him. And the match had seemed … relatively easy. She hadn't struggled nearly as much against him as she would have against either of the twins.
Between her improved spiritual roots, her top heaven grade scriptures, and training against truly talented opponents, was it possible she'd simply gotten so much better that she could now beat one of her sect's geniuses?
The answer to that question seemed like it should be a firm no.
Another thought occurred to her. If a low ranked member of the Rising Tide Sect had pulled off a similar upset, she wouldn't have really been that surprised. Honestly, though, she shared most of the benefits of those sect members. Why, then, was she so surprised that she'd pulled off a similar feat?
Was she possibly, maybe, not viewing herself in the correct light? With the exception of her grandfather, her family had always been hard on her, favoring her cousins instead. Had she let their opinions influence her?
That was … possible. Maybe.
But if so, did that mean she was wrong about her being so inferior to Yang Ru? Probably not, right? After all, she was relying on the wisdom of cultivators about such matters, not on her own shortcomings. In that analysis, she could be sure she was being objective.
Right?
Because if not, it was possible that she'd made a horrible, horrible mistake.
Chapter 348 - Semifinals
Yang Xiu dispassionately watched the first of the two semifinal rounds. Her former friend, Kang Lin, was matched against the top finalist from the Poison Claw Sect, Xue Yong.
The boy, whose qi aspect incorporated Fire and Motion, appeared both strong and fast. Kang Lin pursued her strategy of trying to overwhelm him with speed, but he lived up to his reputation as the best in the sect, flaring his shield perfectly to block her attacks with no wasted qi.
Seeing her plan not working, she tried to shift to her alternate tactic of death by a thousand cuts that won her the previous round. Xue Yong's sword hilt, however, was inert to qi, so her bolts did not penetrate to strike his body.
Without being able to employ either her ability to overwhelm him with speed or to deliver free hits while blocking or being blocked, he quickly overwhelmed her and drained her qi pool.
Kang Lin surrendered.
Yang Xiu didn't know how to feel about that. Some part of her thought she should be sad for her former friend losing. Another thought she should be irritated that she couldn't get revenge by facing the girl in the finals. Mostly, though, Yang Xiu simply felt nothing.
Kang Lin, on the other hand, seemed elated. She enthusiastically thanked her opponent for the exchange of pointers, all the while smiling widely. The sight almost made Yang Xiu frown. Who could be happy after a loss?
Regardless, it was her turn, and she made her way down to the arena floor. Facing her opponent, the last remaining enemy in the round, should have given her some measure of satisfaction, but even that emotion escaped her.
As it was the semifinals, a bit more pageantry was utilized as the announcer introduced each of the participants.
"From the north side of the arena, we have the challenger, Yang Xiu of the Rising Tide Sect."
Again, she felt she should have some reaction to the brevity of the details given and the fact that she'd been assigned the less auspicious compass direction, but she couldn't seem to bring herself to care.
Despite the lackluster introduction, both her sect and the Poison Claw Sect rose to their feet and gave her a long, rowdy cheer.
"And from the south, the harbinger of prosperity and success, we have the favorite from the Swift Blizzard Sect. Possessing coveted A rank spiritual roots, he reached Foundation Establishment at the young age of fifteen and won the two of the last three inter-sect martial competitions. Please welcome to the arena, Zhou Kang!"
From the enthusiasm in the voice, the announcer had clearly been anticipating thunderous cheering. Instead, well less than half the stands made any noise at all, and a lot of that was booing.
They'd so clearly tried to manipulate the audience and failed miserably. If Yang Xiu could have made herself care, she probably would have laughed.
Finally, though, all the ridiculous preliminaries were over, and the match began.
Zhou Kang immediately sent a Wind Slash toward Yang Xiu, even faster than should could release an arrow. Her shield automatically triggered and countered it, of course, but less efficiently than usual since Ice was weak against that element. As for her arrow, a Wind Burst pushed it off course, causing him to miss him by inches.
By her estimation, she still came out ahead on the exchange, with his two techniques expending slightly more qi than her shield and what she spent encasing her arrow.
If the status of the fight remained static, she'd win.
Her opponent was highly skilled, however, and obviously able to make the same calculations. Instead of sending another Wind Slash at her, he triggered a movement technique and charged her. Which introduced a problem. He was fast. Very fast. Moreso than her.
She shot two arrows at him before he reached her, both of which he tanked with his shield.
When he did get within melee distance, he used a fourth technique to make multiple strikes with his Wind encased sword, all of which caused her shield to flare.
Since hers was so much more efficient than his, they came out about equal on the exchange when her arrows were factored in. The problem of his superior speed came into play, however. For the first time in the tournament, her movement technique wasn't good enough for her to gain enough separation to use her archery.
Up close, her bow was more of a liability than an advantage. She could have, of course, pulled her spear from her ring, but she had neither the necessary experience nor the techniques required to make that weapon a valid path to victory against such an accomplished opponent.
If she stayed close to such a fast and experienced opponent, she'd lose as his sword slashes and thrusts required a lot less qi than blocking with her shield did. Without her arrows, the fight wouldn't even be close.
She had an out, though, and she mentally praised her master for providing her with the technique, one she hadn't used yet in the tournament. Ignoring two additional sword strikes as she bent her knees, she activated Feather Fall and leaped dozens of yards into the air. Even as she rose, she pelted Zhou Kang with arrow after arrow.
He tried to retaliate, attacking her with Wind Slashes and using Wind Bursts to send her attacks off course. She ignored those efforts. Her shield operated with the most supreme qi efficiency possible. Likewise, it took little energy for her Slippery Sharp Arrow technique, which she'd long since advanced to Mastery, to coat her attacks with qi. When paired with a qi pool that was two to three times larger than her opponent's, he had no chance. He simply used more qi to attack and fend off attacks than she did.
She had to land and reactivate Feather Fall twice more before he finally surrendered, but the result had been inevitable since her first use of the technique.
Yang Xiu gave him a slight bow, turned, and walked from the arena.
Or she tried to.
A Golden Core cultivator from the Swift Blizzard Sect hovered on a flying sword, blocking her path.
"You give my disciple so little face, little girl?" the Golden Core said. "How dare you!"
Yang Xiu didn't react, just stood there staring at her.
"To pay for your insolence, you will kowtow before me."
Master had clearly instructed all his sect members to be polite to their opponents but to kowtow only to those who deserved such respect. The woman hovering in the air before her definitely didn't merit any face at all as far as Yang Xiu could determine.
"What are you waiting for?" the Golden Core said. "Kowtow before me. Now."
Yang Xiu remained motionless.
"If you do not accept your punishment," the Golden Core said through clenched teeth, "a greater one will be inflicted upon you."
If there was one thing that Yang Xiu had absolute confidence in, it was her master. He didn't care about words. No amount of yelling or insults was likely to draw his wrath. But he absolutely would not allow harm to come to any of his sect members if there were any way he could prevent it.
Considering that he was in the stands at that very moment watching, he certainly had the ability to intercede at any moment.
Yang Xiu remembered her duty. Master required that she be polite. She cupped her hands, the minimal expression of respect a junior could give a senior. "Esteemed Cultivator, this one will not kowtow to a member of a sect that has waged war in all but name against this one's sect."
Her calm, even declaration drew an audible gasp from the crowd. To that point in the tournament, no member of the big three or the Rising Tide Sect had publicly acknowledged the conflict.
"You insignificant worm!" the Golden Core yelled. "You seek to set conditions on me, your senior? You give me no face? I will end you!"
Qi gathered in the Golden Core's hands as she prepared an attack that would surely be strong enough to obliterate any low Foundation Establishment cultivator from existence.
Yang Xiu had been in such a position and knew the outcome. She stood there, waiting. The only slight emotion that broke through her icy demeanor was curiosity. If she knew what was about to happen, how was it that the Golden Core cultivator didn't?
Su Xifeng neared the end of her life after nearly a millennium, most of those years spent as a Golden Core. She'd yet to even reach the peak of that vaunted realm, though, and knew that she had no chance of advancing further.
Facing the inevitable had caused her to lose patience with, well, everything.
Simple rules governed her life, and not much else mattered. She owed fealty to members of the Swift Blizzard Sect who had been set above her. She owed respect to those few cultivators higher in realm than her.
Most importantly, any cultivator lower in realm owed her respect.
The only bright spot that she had to look forward to was seeing her prize disciple, the best she'd instructed in all her centuries, take first place in his division of the Quinquennial Tournament. That the young, brash, lower realmed branch sect leader demanded her disciple win made no difference. He would win because he was the best the sect had seen in Su Xifeng's lifetime.
As she'd watched the match's beginning, a rare slight smile had formed. The boy exchanged ranged attacks, determined that course to be a losing one, and closed with his opponent, proving too fast for the girl to disengage from him.
In melee range, the archer had no chance.
Then the girl had used a previously unseen technique to leap high into the air and fall slowly back to the ground, peppering Zhou Kang with arrows all the while. The boy could do nothing. At range, the girl's qi efficiency was simply better, and even triggering the leaping technique twice more, fending off sword attacks as she did so, didn't change the calculations.
Zhou Kang lost.
It had been decades, if ever, since Su Xifeng had suffered such disappointment. To make the situation even worse, the hotheaded, impetuous branch sect leader had exploded.
"You incompetent old fart!" Mao Biya had screamed. "You can't even teach one of the most talented combatants in the sect's history enough to beat a girl from a nothing so-called sect? You call yourself an elder? A master? A Golden Core?"
Su Xifeng had exited the Swift Blizzard Sect's luxury viewing box as much to get away from the screeching as for any other reason. Then her eyes happened to alight on the cause of her misery—the girl from the upstart sect.
A recollection of what had happened to the last Golden Core to accost the girl popped into Su Xifeng's head, but she simply didn't care. She no longer had patience for such trivialities regarding what might happen in the future.
Her eyes found a target, and she advanced. It was as simple as that.