Page 71: Ah Mu's hard work
A break was ordered by the judging committee after Ling Tian' fight. On the board, the last matches were updated as follows:
platform 1(Ah Mu) vs ( Li Xianliang) for 5th place
platform 2(Ling Tian) vs (Mo Lan)
These fights will be the last batch of fight this day. Whoever will win in platform 5 will become the 5th place while the winner in platform 2 will become the third placer and the other will automatically get the 4th place.
The people started to weep with their wrong predictions. They keep on looking at the betting stalls full of regrets. This time, a lot have lost a considerable amount of their fortune while the one who earned the most is the banker. Many has also started cursing the youngsters who failed their expectations. Little did they know that the popular kids were weaker in truth.
The break was over after an hour. The four contestants were back to their respective places. Everyone was anticipating the final winner today's fight. On one side of the martial grounds, Long Bai was already with another companion. It was Zhang Li. She was in the second batch of examiners at the stadium. While they were waiting for the fight to start, they shared each other's thoughts about the exam. Just as Long Bai speculated, the questions were meant for grade 3 alchemists. Good thing for Zhang Li, she immediately learned about her senior's condition and crammed the volume 3 book that he handed to her. She explained what happened to the 1st apprentice and the events that took place. Just as predicted, someone was trying to sabotage other contestants so that the position would be taken by them. And "by them" meant someone who would be benefited the most from such strategy. Anyway, she told him that she would be speaking with master Wei back later at the residence after checking the results.
Platform 1 has the most spectators since they know that its the fight that would take place first. It's similar to the qoutation "saving the best for last". Ah Mu was just standing quietly while listening to Li Xianliang's disturbing words.
"Hey big lump of meat! Just surrender before I will give you some painful memories. Have you not seen my skill a while back? You should know when to surrender!"
"Hey! Are you deaf? What a big lump of deaf meat I have to slash!"
"
Annoyed by Xianliang's non-stop rants and sky high arrogance, Ah Mu decided to return some words. He just don't learn how to keep his mouth shut after the humiliating event a while ago. What a weird coping mechanism for anger.
"I'm sorry but I only saw a man's head whacked with incredible strength. Now I'm afraid of your head's toughness. If I attack, I should choose another part. Ah! How about your face? I saw your face land splendidly on the ground. Ahh No! Your nose didn't even break! What should I do? Your bones and cartilages might be made of iron. Does this mean I can't hit your face? Hmm. Maybe I'll just aim at your abdomen. That's a part that's not protected with bones. Yes, that's it!"
Everyone heard Ah Mu's daring reply and laughed out loud with almost everyone. Many actually felt relieved after hearing Ah Mu's speech. The satisfaction to say what you want to say to the person that bugs you is just too satisfying. Most who have the same sentiment felt like Ah Mu said what they wanted to say. Specially those who put their bet on him and became disappointed, they were the ones who became more expressive.
Li Xianliang was filled with shame after hearing everyone's jeers. With the anger boiling inside him, this triggered him to go into a raged state. His body became shrouded with true murderous aura that shot out to every directions. The noisy crowd became silent with the situation. Those who were weak hearted started to shiver and drop down on their knees. There were some who fainted from the pressure. The place became chaotic after seeing what was going on.
The elders was about to make a move stopped their actions and returned to their seats when they saw the sect leader appear kn front of them. After assessing the situation, the sect leader used his spirit to manifest and neutralize the fear effect on the people. When everyone from the crowd noticed that they are not already affected by the murderous intent, they looked at the elder's spot and saw the manifested spirit of the sect leader, a giant golden bear releasing a soothing light to the spectators. The only area without it was the platform where Ah Mu was staying.
"Sect leader, are we not going to help the kid? What if he'll be killed?"
"Don't worry, I 'll handle that myself. I'm curious what will this young lad will do in the face of a strong killing intent. If he can overcome and fight this murderous aura, it will be a great help in his cultivation and skills. Same foes with the Li child. If he can learn how to control his anger, it would become a beneficial thing to him. So it is either the aggressor will win or the youngster in front of it. Let's watch."
Everyone became silent and directed their attention to the youngsters in platform 1. Ah Mu was a bit shaking due to the fear inflicted by the murderous aura but still managed to hold on and stand firmly. Since he was in a tight spot, he brought out another sword from his pouch. Now, he is holding swords on both hands, a dual wielding method he focused on from the martial skill his brother Bai taught him. This was his strongest fighting method as of now. He looked at Long Bai who was sticking out from afar and received a nod. He was finally ready.
With the two swords at the ready, he released the strength of the first level of visceral tempering while activating the initial success of the
Li Xianliang was already out of himself and what's left was instinct to kill. The raging anger rendered him unconscious and what replaced his mind was the sword's thirst to kill. First to attack, he dashed towards Ah Mu with the sword above the head making a cleaving attack. Upon slashing, Ah Mu used both his swords to parry the attack and let it slide downwards to the ground. The left hand was holding the sword like holding a dagger pointing to his left and at the same time, the right hand sword was oriented the same. With both swords parrying and redirecting the force to the side by keeping both swords slanted, this gave Ah Mu a chance to spin and give a two strike counter towards his opponent. Ah Mu was able to deliver the first slash to the head and on the shoulder but it only caused the opponent to be pushed a little bit.
Ah Mu returned to his usual stance but immediately, the opponent again rushed towards him. Ah Mu was able to redirect all his opponents attacks but his counters were not doing much damage. At the same time, the attacks were heavy and it indirectly causes small damage to Ah Mu. It seemed like the opponent was not feeling any pain at all even if the hits were all landing on the critical points, the forehead, left and right shoulder, and left and right knees. Although its speed has significantly decreased, Ah Mu was also getting tired.
Once again, Li Xianliang in berserk mode attacked with the same pattern while Ah Mu started to feel the exhaustion. Little by little, Ah Mu's movement started to flow continuously with the repetitive action and then something happened to Ah Mu. His eyes became dull. It was as if he was not looking at the attacks and just keeps parrying and counter-atracking. Soon, he wasn't just making counters but instead he is initiating the attack. His attacks were not extraordinarily strong but it was viciously continuous. The attacks became non-stop like the dempsy roll of swords. There was no space for the enemy to retaliate since every moment was restrictive in nature. All the twelve critical spots according to the
What Ah Mu experienced was a sudden state of perfection. It was a state wherein a practitioner who hasn't yet reached the mastered level unconsciously experience it during a battle. These experience usually appear when one was pushed to the limit or when they are in a life and death situations. Although this was just temporary, when they will return to their senses, a portion of it will be remembered and would give them a boost in comprehending the skill. This means that Ah Mu would be able to reach the master level of the skill sooner than usual.
After two rounds of executing the twelve critical strikes, the berserk mode of Li Xianliang started to wear off and fell down unconscious to the floor. Ah Mu who was about to deliver a strike to the unconscious opponent heard a shout telling him to stop.
"STOP!"
"Stop!"
The sect leader and another person yelled at the same time. With the loud call, Ah Mu's consciousness came back and saw the collapsed Li Xianliang on the floor. Realizing that the fight was at its end, his knees gave out from exhaustion, panting heavily from the continuous attacking.
The 5th place was announced and Ah Mu's name has echoed on the grounds. Medical help came to give aid to the two participants. While Ah Mu was being carried to be given a check up on the medical tents, he enjoyed the sound of his name coming from the spectators. With one final move, he raised hid right hand and gave a v sign. Another louder cheers came from the people. Starting that moment, Ah Mu's signature sign became the sigil of victory.