One Final Fight

Li Zhu ran away from Xiao Heng at full speed, not confident in his ability to fight against the spirits.

If he was bound to fight Xiao Heng, he would in the later rounds, but Li Zhu did not want to risk being eliminated in the preliminary round, since he would risk not winning any rewards, and would have to wait until he reached the core consolidating realm to enter the inner sect.

Li Zhu was now out of Shadow Lurk, since his soul power would eventually weaken, and he wouldn't be able to use the skill anymore. Since Shadow Lurk was currently his only way of escaping danger, Li Zhu wanted to preserve his soul power as much as he could. Furthermore, Xiao Heng could locate him regardless of shadow lurk or not, so he currently had no reason to use it.

After a few minutes of running away, Li Zhu finally stopped, panting hard. Xiao Heng had not chased him, so the distance he had run would be enough, especially since the preliminary round would soon end.

There were about fifty people at the start of the round, and it would end when twenty were left. Li Zhu himself had eliminated four people, so he assumed the round would soon end.

"Nice, anther fool to eliminate!"

Just as Li Zhu was recovering his breath, an arrogant voice came from further ahead, where a slim young man sat on a tree stump.

Raising his head, Li Zhu was surprised to discover he actually knew the speaker. 'It's Wang Da!' he realized, as the young man in front of him stood up from his tree stump, picking up the halberd which was lying on the ground.

Li Zhu had seen Wang Da at the training grounds a week earlier, when the young man had lost to Wu Chen, with his close to flawless defense.

"If you want to fight, I am right here!" replied Li Zhu, unhappy about Wang Da's arrogance. The preliminary round was about to finish, so he was more than willing to have one more fight before the end.

"You got some spunk, I like it... but you will regret your rude words" said Wang Da, before charging towards Li Zhu. He was determined to prove his strength to Li Zhu and the spectators in the arena, so he started off with one of his most powerful blows.

Li Zhu, though, simply fused with Buddy, entering shadow lurk yet again. Although he wanted to fight Wang Da, taking a direct hit from the halberd wielding young man would be dangerous, since he had a higher cultivation and stronger attack skills than Li Zhu, whose advantage was mobility.

Wang Da quickly stopped his attack, looking around himself, in search of Li Zhu.

"You may be hidden, but the moment you get out, it won't end well for you!" said Wang Da, trying to provoke Li Zhu into coming out of his hiding.

'He really is stronger than the rest of them!' Li Zhu thought, surprised at Wang Da's current composure. He had not even reacted to Li Zhu's disappearance, and instantly assumed that some sort of stealth skill was used.

'I need to wait until the perfect time to strike' thought Li Zhu, realizing that if he came out of shadow Lurk now, Wang Da would immediately strike him with the long halberd. He needed to wait for long enough that Wang Da would begin to think he had actually escaped, and then he would pounce.

"Kid, you know the round's about to end right? Are you going to just hide for the rest of your life, or do you dare to fight me, huh?" Wang Da continued, still thinking Li Zhu was nearby.

After about a minute of him provoking Li Zhu without response, though, Wang Da finally just sat back down on his tree stump, disappointed.

'It's the time to strike!' Li Zhu thought, traveling beneath Wang Da through the shadows, before getting ready for his attack.

At that moment, Li Zhu raised his hands out of the shadows, grabbing Wang Da's ankles, before pulling as hard as he could.

As Wang Da fell onto the hard floor, Li Zhu completely jumped out of the shadows, aiming a punch at the young man's gut.

"I knew you were still here!" exclaimed Wang Da, his halberd magically appearing in his hands, and slashing towards Li Zhu with an incredible force.

'Time to retreat' thought Li Zhu, running backwards. This did not change his fate, though, as the halberd suddenly appeared behind him, hitting him in the back, and flinging him towards Wang Da.

The young man was smiling, as his halberd flashed towards LI Zhu, who was being thrown in his direction.

Li Zhu, though, managed to ignore the pain and initiate Shadow Lurk, escaping the grim fate which would have awaited him had he been hit by Wang Da's full force strike.

'This won't work... he's too fast!' realized Li Zhu, understanding that all he could do was hide in shadow lurk, but the moment he attacked Wang Da, he would be met by multiple halberds, from every direction.

'His skill is quite strange, but if I can slow him down, I should be able to get a couple of good hits in concluded Li Zhu.

Wang Da was very skilled with the halberd, and he also used a technique which allowed him to spawn weapons mid-air, trapping his enemies.

That said, Li Zhu planned to change fighting style completely, and fuse with Blue instead of Buddy. Although he would lose the ability to escape, he would be able to freeze Wang Da, and strike him with a powerful hit.

To do this, Li Zhu retreated to a safe distance, still in Shadow Lurk, taking cover behind the trees that surrounded the clearing where Wand Da was standing. He then communicated with Blue, who immediately flew to him, and once Li Zhu had come out of shadow lurk, they fused together.

Li Zhu's body immediately changed, crystal clear ice covering his body, and the usual small wings sprouting from his back.

As Blue grew more powerful and Li Zhu strengthened its bloodline, the wings would get bigger. Although he was not sure, Li Zhu assumed that eventually this would give him the ability of flight, which would change his fighting style greatly.

'Time to show the arrogant Wang Da that there is always a higher mountain!' thought Li Zhu, before charging back into the clearing, Buddy close behind him.

Buddy did not stay with him, though, immediately entering Shadow Lurk, ready to attack and distract Wang Da.

"You dare come back?!" Wag Da was surprised to see Li Zhu, who he had thought had run away at last.

Li Zhu did not answer, simply accelerating his charge towards Wang Da, while communicating with Buddy his intentions.

Just as Wang Da was raising his halberd, about to commence his own attack, Buddy shot from the ground below him, hitting him straight in the back making him stumble forward losing his balance.

Li Zhu, while Wang Da was distracted, began swiping his hands on the ground, frost qi emanating from his fingertips. Everywhere his hands touched, the ground would freeze, as Li Zhu finally reached Wang Da, who had just counterattacked Buddy.

Buddy was even better than Li Zhu at using shadow lurk, though, so he simply kept disappearing and popping back up a few yards away, pestering Wang Da with his weak but consistent attacks.

Wang Da was an excellent fighter, and although Buddy was annoying to go against, he would not fail to realize that Li Zhu had almost reached him, and was only a few yards behind.

Abruptly turning around, Wang Da slashed his halberd diagonally, aiming at Li Zhu's face.

'The range of his attacks is too big for me to hit him with frost touch!' realized Li Zhu, before making a risky decision.

He immediately stopped his fusion with Blue, and launched the blue bird towards Wang Da.

Blue easily dodged the halberd, which had been intended for Li Zhu, who had managed to retreat out of its range.

As Wang Da's expression turned to surprise, Blue charged straight into his chest, causing ice to cover his whole body.

Li Zhu and Buddy both took advantage of this, performing a pincer attack on Wang Da, each using their strongest blows.

The moment Wang Da broke free from Frost Touch, he was hit in the front and back, with the compounded blow so strong that he spit out blood and totally lost his breath. He just managed with a desperate swing of his halberd to keep Li Zhu away from him to avoid another attack and gain time to recover.

Li Zhu and Buddy, having achieved their purpose, hastily retreated outside of the halberd's reach, but Wang Da was now enraged, and determined to hurt Li Zhu, who had embarrassed him in front of all the spectators.

Wang Da charged towards the retreating Li Zhu, who jumped backwards, to avoid the multiple halberd strikes appearing from all over the place.

Just as Wang Da was about to catch Li Zhu thanks to his superior speed, though, he felt something was not right, as he began to lose his balance.

'Ice!' was Wang Da's only thought, as he slipped without control right towards Li Zhu, thanks to the momentum he had gained trying to reach him. Li Zhu, on his part, was ready to meet him with a powerful downwards punch, his icy trap having worked perfectly.

Having just been injured, this punch could actually put Wang Da out of commission for a while, and if he did not manage to escape, could lead to his elimination.

Li Zhu's punch was coming from above, and Buddy's claws popped up from below, as Wang Da's expression turned extremely bitter.

He had been the fifth strongest disciple of the outer sect, and right after being defeated into the sixth spot, he was going to lose in the preliminary round of a tournament... the preliminary round!

Just as Li Zhu's vicious strike was about to smash into Wang Da's face, though, the scenery changed, and his punch hit empty air.

'What happened!?' wondered Li Zhu, before looking up, and realizing he was now standing on the sides of the arena... the preliminary round had ended!

Across the arena, a slightly injured Wang Da looked enraged, having just been almost defeated by an unknown 8th stage cultivator, in front of everyone in the stands.

'I was so close to defeating him!' Li Zhu was also frustrated, not having achieved his goal of eliminating a tough competitor from the tournament.

'And now I also have another enemy!' he realized, as his gaze crossed Wang Da, who was staring at him with an expression full of hate.