CH-15: Rivals

The second rounds started with my match against that Sam fellow, he was quite a cunning fellow despite his looks and fought like a monster, a little monster that is. Our tutoring did not only include martial arts for nothing, we were made to fight 1st Rank Early Stage beasts with no cultivation. Most of the direct lines kept on winning, especially the one with Heavenly Spiritual Roots, he had wood elemental roots, as the Mo Clan is renowned for their herb gardens, most of their off-springs having wood elemental roots. My Lin Clan had a similar situation as them, as we had metal elemental roots our artefact refiners were undisputedly the best. I would also study refining thoroughly.

Common people thought that for alchemy and refining, fire elemental roots were a must, but that is a misconception. Although it was the easiest and most common path, it wasn't the only one. As they say, the path to Dao is endless and there are no wrong ways to tread it! You could go many ways about making pills and refining artefacts. I could use my lightning elemental roots to put pills and artefacts into tribulations artificially and raise their ranks when they overcame them. This method was discovered by an ancestor of my Clan, he had achieved 5th Rank High-Grade Refiner status, but due to his Earthly Grade lightning elemental root and his 'unrefined' refining technique, he couldn't achieve 6th Rank Refiner status. His technique then would be perfected throughout the generations to come.

The second round kept on going, till it was Iyana's turn. There was some spice in that match. She would be fighting against her branch's genius, Renee Jiang. Having the Heavenly Grade water elemental roots and Earthly Grade wood elemental roots, she was one of the highlights of her generation. She was also twelve years old, two months younger than Iyana.

"Be careful," I said to Iyana. "Not to kill her I mean." She looked at me blankly, then made her way into the arena.

'There is no way she doesn't know, even I, a junior of Body Building know that however potent your physique is, it shouldn't be able to damage you to such a degree that you can't even build your body anymore. There was some serious infighting that must be going on.'

Although it is understandable to envy a Heavenly Yin Roots genius, even more so if she even has a special physique, what they did to her would mean they put this generation of Jiang's position in jeopardy. No way that it would go without any punishment. That meant that higher-ups most likely didn't know, and they likely learned after root assessment results came.

Going back to the match itself, the air itself was sharp and cold as swords. Simply breathing would feel like your lungs were being cut.

"How dare you stand against me!" Said Renee. "We fed you and clothed you despite you being a bastard with no father, and this is how you repay? By becoming a whore to Lin Clan? You ungrateful bitch, I will put you in your place!" She did not restrain her voice at all, aiming for everyone to hear her words. With just these words she made themselves seem like the victims. As they also couldn't just say she was literally sold off due to their patriarch losing a bet, she made it seem like she climbed into my bed, ditching her clan and their efforts for a man. 'There is one thing she forgot...'

"AND WITH WHAT CAPABILITY?*" Her voice was as cold as the northern mountain peaks, even freezing the souls.

The audience was mostly unfazed, thanks to the barrier that was put in today. The same couldn't be said for Renee though, she was bleeding from her ears and nose, and her eyes white showed. She was hastily taken away to be tended, while Iyana was announced as the winner.

She seemed like a demoness to the audience, even going to such a degree with her kin. As if it wasn't enough, she still would be against Ava Jiang later, the double Heavenly Grade Roots genius of the direct line. She also had Water and wood elemental roots.

The matches continued. Only two commoners were remaining, one being Ye Tian and the other being the only heavenly spiritual roots genius outside of Prominent Clan direct lineages, Cerys Xin**. She was 14 years old, the youngest among commoners with Ye Tian. She had fire elemental roots, probably a jade beauty for Ye Tian to collect. I turned my attention to Iyana who just came back.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"No need to listen to a delusional person's words, it will only give you a migraine."

"I know." We returned to the inn, she didn't play guqin that night.

Tomorrow came and it was another day of matches. I was against a guy named Sunny but he was too gloomy for his name. We had exchanged a few strikes, he was quite good at controlling the flow of a battle. Though he did not have enough hitting power to match his head, I won with my body. Then came Ye Tian's turn. He was against my brother, Namor.

"I will show you my Lin Clan's might!" 'Can you not keep embarrassing us please...'

"Start!" The referee started the match, and both dashed into each other. 

'However a disappointment may Namor be, he is still a direct line. He had adequate training. It won't be that easy to-'

"Ye Tian wins!"

'...'

'Yeah, we should send him to the countryside.'

The good news was that there was still Rose, so she could still save some face before he fought with me. And I would get to slap Weiner Wang's face again tomorrow. Who are they to boss around? My Clan is the antagonist, who they think they are!

A quick day of matches went on with me and Iyana off-screening the Wang siblings. While Ye Tian eliminated one of the Xue's. The next day would be Iyana vs Ava, and the day after that would be packed with me against Emmanuel, Ye Tian vs Rose and Iyana vs Cerys. I only had to win against that Heavenly Spiritual Roots direct line tomorrow, Declan Mo***.

Now that the end of the tournament was near, I focused on resting and being at my peak performance. It wasn't a joke anymore. Although Emmanuel is a bit of a joke, he is still better than 80% of the students this period. He got quite lucky to match with branches till quarters.

I woke up to a soft music tomorrow morning. Even if it was soft, the emotions it gave were of a storm, quite matching her mood.

"You ready?" I asked her through the door. The music came to a halt and the door opened.

"Never been more."

We walked to the arena. There were a few, well a lot of glances towards us. Me because I'm a genius and was facing a genius too for today. Also, I'm quite handsome. Her because of family drama.

"Won't you wish your fiance good luck?" As I was getting down to the arena.

"Hope you die."

"Ouch, just you wait! I will see what you can do in the finals!" My hope to get the mood higher crushed, I made my way to the arena.

"Axel Lin vs Declan Mo. Start!"

After exchanging greetings we started. He had good technique with the sword, not giving me a chance to close in.

'Should I take it out? But what would a normal whip change against a weapon artefact, it is better not to embarrass myself by taking it out.'

Fighting barehanded against weapons was never suggested unless one was a Body Refiner, and everyone here was Peak Body Building.

'If I can't find one I should create one!"

I dashed in a sudden burst of speed, taking him by surprise. He adjusted quickly to match my Palm attack. Not stopping there I changed my course, dodging from below his sword, I reached his right, punching his side.

"Ugh!"

Again dodging the immediate slash, I grabbed his arm and twisted it. He couldn't hold the sword anymore and to drop it, I kicked it outside of the arena. But it wasn't over yet, as he threw me off right after. Now it was going to be a brawl.

We punched, kicked and tripped each other, getting into a stalemate. Perhaps this fight was one of the most intense matches of the tournament yet, two geniuses fighting for so long. Eventually, my body started showing its capabilities. I could be sharper and more sudden with my moves, gradually overwhelming Declan. As I hit his chest once again with my palm, he slid for five meters. I stopped just then, as he was out of bounds.

"Out of bounds, Axel Lin wins!"

-OOH!

The crowd burst out.

"It was a good match, Young Master Declan. I learned much."

"Likewise, but I can't agree that it was a good match. I couldn't make you draw your weapon."

 'I would have used it if I had a useful one!'

"Next time, for sure. I will make you."

"I'm looking forward to it."

I went to take sunflower seeds during other matches. When I came back, it was Iyana's turn next.