Celestial Martial Path - Chapter 8

“Village head! Are we near the arena yet?” Jun Xiang called out to the speedy old man in front. He could feel intense heat waves smash endlessly against his body and although they did not do any damage to his body, it was making him sweat from every pore in his body.

Lu Feng opened his mouth to answer, but was instantly interrupted by a roar that shook the air. They both looked up into the sky and saw a celestial projection of the Snow Wolf crazily battling a seemingly conscious tornado of flames. Enourmous power radiated from the ongoing battle and crashed ferociously against the wind barrier surrounding the arena, most likely set up by the overseeing adjudicator.

The Snow Wolf projection dived down into the raging tempest of fire and tackled the entire pillar of flames below their viewing area. “Quick, we must hurry inside to catch the action!” Lu Feng urged for Jun Xiang to head in quickly before activating several movement techniques to dash as fast as possible into the arena. Jun Xiang however, stayed still for a long moment, still staring at the restricting wind barrier that stood proudly in front of the conflicting flames and frost.

Strong gusts of wind began to billow around Jun Xiang causing his robe to dance with intensity to the gushing wind. Although extremely slowly, a small vortex began to condense above Jun Xiang’s head, Jun Xiang being the eye of the forming tornado. Wind energy circled around him, dancing excitedly and eagerly, ready to serve a worthy master.

Jun Xiang closed his eyes, feeling the cool, soothing feeling of the wind, feeling the restlessness, feeling the power. Instinctively, he stretched out his hand, reaching for the rushing winds around him. The swirling gales rushed crazily into his palm, steadily forming an air symbol that engraved itself into his hand.

Although the sight of a deep indent appearing upon his palm was new and unexpected, Jun Xiang did not panic in the slightest, instead, enjoying the comfortable synergy that existed between them. In moments, the once surging howls died down, leaving an astounded boy with a peculiar, glowing imprint upon his hand which faded slowly with time.

Jun Xiang stared curiously at the glowing mark until it faded, leaving his hand pure and unscathed as it was before. He looked quickly around him, however Lu Feng seemed to already have left. Just as he was about to rush towards the arena, an air shattering sound split the air. The Snow Wolf garnered its remaining strength, tackling the remains of { Hell Fire Storm } to the floor before howling towards the sky in victory. Its image began to shake and disperse, becoming more and more transparent, until it finally dissipated into sparkling shards of frost energy.

The wind barrier that once protected the audience dispersed into the air and drifted away from arena, now full of shouts and cheers. Eyeing the proceedings curiously, Jun Xiang began to sprint towards the arena. This was just too mystical to miss!

As he approached the arena, the sounds of cheering became louder and the booming authoritative voice sounded throughout the area. “The victor of the match is Zi Liu!”

In the distance, he saw the village head waving urgently for Jun Xiang to arrive, “What have you been doing? I’ve waited here for almost ten minutes! Hurry and come in to the arena!”

Lu Feng hurried Jun Xiang inside the arena, pushing past the crowd to get closer to the front. Although Lu Feng could simply use his cultivation to see past the crowd to watch the battles, Jun Xiang would be unable to.

As they reached the front of the crowd and were unable to progress further, Lu Feng sighed in despair. It seemed like he would have to use a martial skill after all, “Jun Xiang, come close to me and close your eyes.”

Jun Xiang did as he was told, shifting over slightly and shutting his eyes. Moments later, a dull voice muttered what seemed like an incarnation.

{ Vision Transfer Division }

Instantly, bright light filled his eyes before the crowd that was once blocking his vision seemed to part and leave a way for him to view the arena. Surprised, Jun Xiang reached up quickly to feel his eyes still tightly shut.

“I’ve casted a vision sharing martial skill upon us, you will be able to see what I see and this should help you view the arena better, Jun Xiang.”

Jun Xiang nodded his thanks before concentrating his new found vision upon the arena.

The two competitors stood calmly on the stage, both taking a pill before sitting cross legged and absorbing energy from the surroundings to recover. Shortly after, they stood up and shook hands, exchanging praises while they were at it.

“Jian Xi, you have become truly strong!”

“No brother, you are still amazing, defeating me despite the cultivation realm difference.”

The two brothers embraced before leaving to different sides of the arena, Jian Xi towards large mass of welcoming people, Zi Liu blending directly into the crowd, disappearing from the arena.

The booming voice echoed once more in the arena, “That’s the final battle for the 17-18 years. We will now begin the under 14’s arena battles. Competitors please step forwards.”

Hearing the right year bracket, Jun Xiang looked up at the village head with a questioning look.

Lu Feng sighed, ‘This boy isn’t even fourth level of body refinement despite being almost thirteen. Whatever, it should be find to get some experience.’

Lu Feng nodded and gestured towards the growing line of competitors, “Remember to be respectful of your opponents.”

“Yes village head!” Lu Feng smiled widely before dashing quickly over to the line, now with a glint of anticipation in his eye.

The arena assistants handed out to each of the children a paper slip with a number on it. Jun Xiang looked down at his number.

[ 15 ]

“Listen up children, there are 16 competitors so we’ll be doing free for all battles with four at one time. Those with the numbers [ 1, 5, 11, 15] are one group, [ 2, 7, 12,13] are one group, [ 3 . . .”

The children got together into the allocated groups of four before the Adjudicator continued, “The group with children [ 1,5, 11,15 ] will go first. Please enter the arena from the North, East, South and West sides of the arena in the order of your numbers.”

Jun Xiang looked down at his position before moving quickly over to the West side of the circular arena stage. A stout looking man welcomed him over before smiling widely and gesturing towards an array of weapons, “What type of weapon do you use?”