The Final Fight

The spectators continued to insult Song Fai for a while, before calming down. From their perspectives there was going to be an exciting fight to watch, but because of Song Fai's cowardice they did not get to enjoy it.

After a while, though, they realized that complaining would do nothing, so they simply waited for the next few fights, all of which would be interesting.

Only one of the participants in the top ten was quite weak compared to the rest, and that was the tenth ranked disciple. He had won by default since Hua Shu had admitted defeat to him, due to her injuries. Although he was somewhat strong to have reached the top twenty in the first place, he had also gotten very lucky in the earlier rounds, resulting in his current placement.

Other than him, all top ten disciples were quite powerful, and Li Zhu was unsure of who to challenge. Although he did not wish to stay in eighth place, to receive better rewards he would need to increase his rank all the way to fourth, which was quite challenging.

Xiao Heng was undoubtedly stronger than him at this point in time, since he had no powerful attack skill, and getting too close to the cold young man would be dangerous, due to the many ghostly spirits.

When it came to Ti'en Hu, after seeing this fierce man's last few fights, Li Zhu was not confident in his capabilities to defeat him. Although he would gladly fight with Ti'en Hu on a normal occasion, Li Zhu did not want to risk losing the opportunity of getting into the top four, simply because he underestimated his opponent.

That left Song Fai and Wu Chen, both slightly easier enemies for Li Zhu. That said, Song Fai still had not used his second spirit beast, and although Li Zhu was almost certain that the beast would not be taken out in this tournament, he did not want to risk angering Song Fai to the point that he went against his plans. Although Song Fai wanted to keep his spirit beast hidden, he would not want people to continue challenging him, since he did still wish to receive good rewards.

Because of this, Li Zhu decided to fight Wu Chen, the big young man with an almost impeccable defense. It would be tough to break through his tough skin, but according to Li Zhu's knowledge, Wu Chen did not have any powerful attack skills, making him the easiest out of the top four disciples to beat.

Stepping up, Li Zhu said, "I challenge Wu Chen for fourth place!"

His words caused an uproar in the crowd, since from their point of view the eighth placed disciple fighting the fourth placed one was simply asking for a beating. It also raised a few eyebrows in the elders' rooms, since the ranking they had made was after all their real opinion, and for someone to challenge it by this much somewhat angered them.

Wu Chen stepped into the arena, a wide smile on his face. He was happy anytime he got to fight, since due to his slow movement speed, he often could not catch spirit beasts even when on missions. Furthermore, most people in the sect would not fight him because of his ranking as one of the top ten outer sect disciples.

For both these reasons, Wu Chen was extremely happy that Li Zhu challenged him, as he said, "Li Zhu, right? Let's have a good fight!"

Li Zhu nodded, as he also entered the arena, while thinking about his strategy for the fight. Wu Chen had a very strong defense, so Li Zhu needed to find a way to defeat him without using brute strength, something which was not easy to do.

To test the waters, Li Zhu started off the fight as usual, fusing with Buddy, and entering shadow lurk. Although by now the first strike would not take anyone by surprise, it was still a good way for him to better understand the abilities of his opponent, key to winning a battle.

Li Zhu traveled behind Wu Chen through the shadows, before viciously punching him in the back. The moment his punch completed, he immediately re-entered shadow lurk, to avoid any possible counterattack.

As expected, his punch did nothing, and Wu Chen barely even cared about the strike, as he just stood there. Li Zhu was the one who got hurt the most, since his hand was now bloody, as though he had punched a rock.

Li Zhu would not let this small setback stop him in his tracks, though, as he continued to alternate between shadow lurk and punching Wu Chen, at an incredible speed. Even the spectators could not keep up with his movement, as he appeared somewhere for just a split second before appearing somewhere else, always delivering the strongest punch he could.

Wu Chen kept looking around, trying to predict where Li Zhu would appear next. This, of course, would not work, since Li Zhu could see where he was looking, and went somewhere else.

This tactic of hit and run was quite effective, and Wu Chen was beginning to get annoyed, as bruises started showing up on his body. Although he had cultivated a very powerful defensive method, he still had weaker and stronger parts on his body, and Li Zhu was now hitting him in specific weak spots, such as small areas on his back or stomach, as well as his face.

A furious expression showed up on Wu Chen's face, as he helplessly resisted the chain of punches that Li Zhu would not stop delivering.

Li Zhu was not unharmed, either, as his hands were now completely red, the skin having scraped off from the impact with Wu Chen's tough body.

After about another minute of this, Wu Chen was starting to look pretty haggardly, his body riddled with large bruises, which were steadily getting worse.

At this point, though, his face turned serious, and he jumped into the air, before slamming into the ground. As he hit the ground, a sudden burst of energy appeared from beneath him, followed by large, stone spikes, rising from the ground.

Li Zhu, who had been in the midst of another punch, was hit by one of these spikes, and flung backwards.

Wu Chen was not done, though, as he stomped on the ground yet again, causing all the spikes to break off of the floor and fly up in the air. The spikes then fell down, but Wu Chen started spinning, punching and slapping each of the spikes towards Li Zhu, who was still midair.

Li Zhu hastily entered shadow lurk, before retreating to a safe distance. At that moment, all the spikes flew past where he had been, causing a shiver to run up his spine.

If he had not entered shadow lurk in time, the spikes would have pierced through him, which would have heavily injured him, if not worse.

'He has some attack skills after all!' thought Li Zhu, realizing that Wu Chen had been hiding his ability all along. After all, no person could be considered strong if they only had strong defense, because against equal opponents they had no way to win.

"You forced me to this point, Li Zhu... I will not be bullied!" said Wu Chen, before slamming into the ground again, causing giant earth pillars to rise up, before he punched them.

The pillars split into hundreds of little rocks, and Wu Chen simply extended his hand, causing all of them to shoot towards Li Zhu.

Of course, he simply avoided them with shadow lurk, but it was no that easy to avoid this attack. The rocks did not continue moving, as they simply floated midair. Wu Chen clearly had complete control over these stones, meaning the moment Li Zhu came out of shadow Lurk, he would be hit by the hundreds of shards.

"Come out, you know you have lost! Although your stealth skill is quite miraculous, you and me both know it will run out eventually!" Wu Chen said, feeling confident that he had won the fight.

In the shadows, Li Zhu gritted his teeth, realizing that Wu Chen's words were accurate. Even if he managed to destroy the stones, Wu Chen could simply create more, and Li Zhu's energy would deplete much faster, eventually leading to defeat.

Just as he was about to resign to his fate, Li Zhu noticed something in the corner of his eyes: water! Under Wu Chen, the stone floor ha slightly caved in, even though it had been protected by a defensive formation.

A small little sliver of water was rising from the cracks in the stone, causing an idea to sprout in Li Zhu's mind.

The more he thought about it, the more Li Zhu was determined that his new plan was a good one, as he mumbled, "Although Wu Chen may be stronger than me, a fight can be won in many ways! He likes slamming into the ground? I will let him... and use it against him!"