Chapter 687 - Mind Over Matter (II) (Patreon)

Unlike the fight between Xiu'er and Lan'er, the one between Zhao'er and Feng'er was more... conceptual, as it were. It was nowhere near as bloody or brutal, with the arena tiles flying off like bullets, leaning mostly into the realm of cerebral. Neither used any Qi, as that would sort of defeat the purpose--no matter how clever or talented Feng'er was, he'd be obliterated just the same by a single proper draw of Zhao'er's sword.

As such, the two battled it out in techniques. Little Feng had gotten quite nimble and precise using the Tie-Chi, switching between the forms at speeds that bordered physically impossible. Like now, when he slashed down with a sword form, causing Zhao'er to take a step back and the sword, mid swing, to change its shape into that of a polearm, forcing Zhao'er to deflect it.

Rather than an 'exhibition' between the two, it looked more like Big Brother Zhao was letting Little Brother Feng show off all he learned for about ten minutes, darting left and right, attacking from all angles, until, in the end, the little one surrendered, seeming a bit down and helpless.

"Brother Zhao, you really leave no openings," he said.

"Can't afford to; one little slip-up against you, and it's over," Zhao'er replied, smiling faintly and tousling the little one's hair for a moment. "You might have benefited the most from the Master's Transference. Anyone unlucky enough to face you... ah, I could almost feel a bit of empathy for the villain."

"Humph, as if! What about you? You didn't even use your main path! It's embarrassing!"

"Alright, if you two are done feeding each other's egos, it's time to step down," Shufen said. "Next up, Yimu and Light."

"... can I just surrender?" Yimu asked immediately and, to my shock, nobody actually mocked him for it. They all seemed to nod, as if in understanding.

"No!" Light exclaimed, her cheeks puffing out. "I want to show off in front of Master, too!"

"... I'll pay anyone a thousand Spirit Stones to switch places with me." Yimu ignored her and turned to the audience yet again.

"..." there was ghostly silence, and I nearly burst out into a chuckle. I mean, part of me wonders whether it's because he's genuinely scared of the little girl, or because he just doesn't want to be the guy who's beating up a 10-year-old. Which, you know, understandable.

"Haah," Yimu resigned, sighing deeply and taking out a spear, facing Light who'd already positioned herself on the other side.

Of all my Disciples, Light's been... the most enigmatic, always. Though she occasionally asks for arts, she doesn't actually 'use' most of the ones I make. Namely, she's not even cultivating either Enduring Eternity or Protean Song. The few times I saw her fight, she'd flick her fingers and summon tentacle-shaped bouts of energy or something thereabout, though even I don't really know the extent of her battle prowess.

I mean, her status window's pretty nutty by now (to be fair, everybody else's is, too, with their art masteries having ALL reached Perfected). To this day, her talent remains '???', with the method being 'Demonic God Mantra', and a whole heap of arts with increasingly worrying names like, 'Soul-Devouring Prison' and 'Delimbing Slice' and 'Art of a Thousand Deaths'. Despite not really receiving either my or Long Tao's help for any of these, they were all at least at Intermediate mastery, speaking volumes to just how insanely talented she is across the board.

As soon as I indicated the start, Yimu moved, spearing forth at a speed which approached mine when I was Spirit Manifestation Realm--when I used Qi and the movement art. And he was doing it purely through his physical body.

He reached her in the blink of an eye, but, by then, she'd already disappeared, a stalk of shadows left in her wake. She reappeared where Yimu stood, while at the same time tangling his feet up with a dozen or so tendrils of twilight-colored shadows. He ripped free of them after a brief struggle, but, by then, there were approximately sixty spears like artillery pointed at him, levitating above the little girl.

Even I couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.

Technically speaking, she was still in the Foundation Establishment Realm, though everybody here knew that was just a surface-level thing. All the same, that scale of an attack... shit, could even I take it head on? No, I'd probably have to evade it. Maybe only the other freaks could do it--like Han Yimu.

He'd lunged toward her regardless, and spears fell down like bullets, tearing through his flesh and muscles and bones. His body was repeatedly pierced, yet just as quickly healed, while he used the spilled blood to ignite himself and start thrusting the spear at basically Mach speed. Light evaded, her form shifting into the sky and shadow, as she glided above him while sprawling tendrils of shadow and dark erupted from the ground, curving and arching like arms toward him. The latter swung the spear in a semi-circle, using the momentum to rip it downward and propel himself into the sky, shattering the arena underneath.

He reached her instantaneously and managed to grab her ankle. However, as soon as he did, he let it go and landed back down, waiting until she did too, standing some twenty feet from him and immediately pouting.

"Tsk, you and that brute that calls herself a woman are a perfect match!" she spat out. "No matter how much you get punched, you just never stop!" she stomped her way away and Shufen declared blushing Yimu a winner, and I wondered for a moment what even the fucking rules of this thing were.

I mean, Light clearly used arts and Qi, but so did Yimu--and yet, the former just as clearly held back. Maybe she just figured unless she went all out, he'd just heal all the damage she did? To be fair, she's probably right. Though they share the same 'core' of a battle style, Lan'er and Yimu are, in fact, different kinds of 'tanks'. Lan'er just... can't really be broken. And though her healing prowess is immense, she doesn't get all that much stronger from being beaten.

Yimu, on the other hand, doesn't really have strong defenses and is forced to mostly evade lethal attacks. However, his self-healing is, for lack of a better word, nuts, while his strength rapidly rockets whenever he's in a battlefield full of blood.

He's also about to have his own breakthrough, which means that he's about to undergo another strengthening. Despite him being initially beaten up by everybody here, the truth was that he was also a bit more talented than the average. Not to mention that he had far, far more experiences fighting than the rest. And now that his mastery of arts has essentially caught up with the rest... it made sense that he'd also skyrocket toward the 'top' of the rankings or whatever they were deciding.

The next match-up was Lao Shun versus... wait, is... is that little Naǒ? Well, she's not so little anymore, having grown to the size of an adult eagle, but still. Even I can sense the awkwardness the alchemist felt. Not because he was fighting a bird, but because he was about to lose to a bird. For his many talents, Lao Shun was dreadful at fighting. He moved slowly, his reaction time was pretty pathetic, and, overall, it was a bit miserable watching him try.

Heck, even I could easily beat him up despite being a whole realm below him, and it's not because I'm particularly good at fighting--I'm just much better at it than he is. The two tangled up for about sixteen seconds before Lao Shun's robes were properly burned and he surrendered, while little Naǒ started gawking and spreading her pluming wings, strutting about with her chest puffed out.

... though I've known for a while now, it's now more true than ever before: I've really assembled an army of monsters, haven't I? I'm beyond certain that, within their age range, there's no other group even half as capable as they are, if that. At least not in this world.

Hooh.

Maybe it's time I actually started the sect? With Long Tao loophole, it's not like it'd be hard for the newcomers to quickly learn a few things, whereupon I can just send them out on random missions and whatnot and passively earn points, all whilst cultivating at the peak of this mountain, minding my own business.

No, not yet. We first have to sort our business here on the island, and then we'll see what happens. Speaking of, we're finally departing the shore tomorrow, heading east to the first major destination: Gold City. I wonder, just for the name's sake, did they build their walls out of pure gold? Surely not, right?

... right?