Perfect Opponents

After the elder announced the format and rewards for the tournament, an hour was given for participants to recover their strength. Although Hua Shu and Li Zhu were relatively fine, some people had been gravely injured during the preliminary round, and this hour could at least in part help them prepare for the next few fights.

"You were fighting like crazy in the arena, Hua Shu! Are you aiming for top ten?" Li Zhu asked, surprised at how many opponents she had eliminated in the preliminary rounds.

"I'm not sure, yet... it all depends on how the next fight goes!" replied Hua Shu, before saying, "I saw you almost defeat Wang Da, though, so you're definitely on track for top ten!"

"Yeah, that's the plan, though I could be unlucky and be put to fight against Xiao Heng or Song Fai, which would not go well for me" replied Li Zhu, hoping that would not happen.

Hua Shu, though, simply shook her head, explaining, "you have no reason to be worried since the elders decide who to match against each other, and they generally try to avoid fights between two strong disciples early on. This is to avoid talented disciples from not getting good rewards simply because they were matched with someone even stronger. Although you would usually count as a weak participant, your feat of nearly defeating Wang Da has placed you in the spotlight, and the elders will probably value you as they would a member of the current top ten disciples."

"So that's how it is" exclaimed Li Zhu, having understood how the elders managed to accurately get the ten strongest disciples through the first two fights, which would be impossible if they fought each other.

After their short conversation, Li Zhu and Hua Shu both focused on getting to peak condition for the fight, both physically and mentally.

As usual, after the hour passed, the judge elder showed up in the arena, quickly announcing, "The first round of the competition will now begin. Fights will happen one at a time, to give the participants enough space. For the first fight, Yun Huan will face off against Hua Shu... may the participants step onto the arena"

"I guess I'm going first" mumbled Hua Shu, surprised. There were going to be twenty fights of two people each, yet Hua Shu had been placed in the first one. That said, although it was slightly nerve-wracking to go first in front of a huge live audience, her opponent was also in the same situation.

Hua Shu walked into the arena, where a young girl also stepped in, her long, blue hair held in a pony tail.

'She's also from the divine water clan!' thought Li Zhu, instantly recognizing the distinctive features that descendants of the biggest spirit pills supplier in the continent all had.

Confirming his suspicion, Li Zhu heard disciples in the stands talking to each other with excitement, saying, "It's actually Yun Huan, Yun Mei's younger sister! Not only that, but she is the seventh strongest outer sect disciple! That Hua Shu or whatever doesn't stand a chance."

Li Zhu had met Yun Mei before, when she had given him a spirit pill on phoenix peak, the day of the sect entrance trials. It would make sense for the two members of the divine water clan to be sisters, since there would otherwise be no reason for both of them to be in such a small kingdom as Crouching Tiger.

Still, Li Zhu could not understand why these two sisters were in the Flaming Saber sect, though he suspected the motive was all but positive.

He was not left much time to ponder on his suspicion, though, as the fight finally began.

Hua Shu was fighting with the same bow as she had used in the preliminary round, while Yun Mei had no weapon, a sign that she was an elemental cultivator.

'This could be bad for Hua Shu!' though Li Zhu, worried. His worry did not stem from Yun Huan's ranking as the seventh strongest in the outer sect, since he was sure Hua Shu had a few aces up her sleeve. The issue was Yun Huan's particular skills, which were all of the water element, perfectly countering Hua Shu's fire. All Divine Water clan members were masters at manipulating water, and had many powerful skills which made use of this innate talent.

The fight started off quite slow, with Hua Shu simply shooting a few flaming arrows, to test Yun Huan's strength. Of course, the young girl did not simply stand there, as she slammed her hands into the ground, causing a barrier of water to rise from the ground, in front of her.

As expected, the arrows were easily deflected by the barrier, and Yun Huan began her own attack.

With a few hand symbols, long water chains appeared in Yun Huan's hand, before she began to swing them fervently.

'You're an archer, right, how would you like being trapped?!" she mocked, before shooting the chains at Hua Shu with all her power.

The massive chains immediately separated into ten smaller chains, flowing in the air, as though they had a will of their own.

Hua Shu's face grew serious, as she used one of her more powerful skills. Jumping into the air, she shot five arrows simultaneously, towards the quickly approaching chains.

The arrows each began to spin, forming flaming whirlpools, and turning around the chains. By the time the arrows had reached the end of the chains, all the water had evaporated, making them useless.

Unfortunately, though, Hua Shu had only been able to shoot five arrows, and there were ten chains. Before she could muster up the strength to repeat the skill, though, the final five chains reached her, immediately wrapping around her body tightly.

"Well, that's the end of the fight, I guess... ahh it's so boring to be powerful!" Said Yun Huan in a sad tone, as though this was an issue she faced every day.

After all, she was very young, probably around eleven, and being able to defeat people older than her had gone to her head. Of course, this was simply because the Divine Water Clan had many more resources than Crouching Tiger Kingdom, so the disciples of the two had very different strengths.

Hua Shu was not done yet, though, as a determined look appeared on her face. Although she could not move within the grasp of the chains, she still had a few options.

'I better show this arrogant kid that there's always someone stronger!' she thought, before activating one of the skills she had learned recently from her master on Archery Peak.

Archers needed to have a defensive method in case an opponent got too close to them, and Hua Shu was about to use just that.

The first change was her hair, which flew into the air, fluttering in the wind. Next, her skin began turning red, causing the temperature in the arena to rise dramatically. Finally, her eyes also turned red, striking fear into many weaker spectators, who looked away.

Before Yun Huan could even do anything, flames erupted from Hua Shu, instantly shattering the water chains, and reaching the water barrier which had been erected at the start of the fight, causing it to vanish in thin air.

Yun Huan, seeing the crimson flames, rapidly approaching her, retreated, water pillars pushing her back. Hua Shu's skill had simply happened too fast, and she was bound to be injured if the flames reached her.

Though she had temporarily escaped the destruction brought by the flames, Yun Huan still needed to find a way to counter them, so she began to rapidly form symbols with her hand.

The Divine Water clan used a very special method of summoning and controlling water, which required specific symbols, for proper flow of heavenly energy. This method allowed a very precise use of energy, but it was very demanding on soul power, and concentration.

Members of the Divine Water Clan went through years of training to learn this method, and there was a great different in strength between their disciples.

Just as the explosion of flames had almost reached Yun Huan at the end of the arena, a massive, raging wave appeared behind her. The massive wave crashed into the flames, as both energies began to fight for dominance.

This wave was the most powerful skill which Yun Huan could use in a few seconds, since most skills had a casting time, during which she would have been already engulfed by the flames.

The spectators were pretty frightened by this point, since if either attack won over the other, the stands would be struck with a powerful burst of elemental energy.

Of course, this worry was unfounded, since the sect had a barrier around the arena, to prevent spectators from being harmed.

The flames and water mixed, forming a sea of elements in the sky, which released a frightening amount of energy. At one point the flames would seem to be overtaking the water, but the next moment the tables would turn, and water would seem to be the stronger force.

'The fight has just started, yet it has advanced to this level... this will be fun!' was the thought that both Hua Shu and Yun Huan had, excited about fighting a powerful opponent.