Universal Knowledge of the Dao - Chapter 76

The second day of the Cloud-Formation Pavilion tournament started quickly. All the contestants still in the race knew that with each passing round the difficulty would rise due to only the best fighters remaining.

By this point most of the fights still went according to predictions. It wasn’t hard to know who would win before the fight had even begun. Still, a few unexpected outcomes made watching the process worth it.

Fu Xue won her fight easily. She was in the top half of the brackets, just like Jun Qian, but the setup was so that she wouldn’t fight him until the last round deciding one of the two finalists.

Right after she exited the stage, the next two contestants took place in front of one another.

Next to Shin Sumi, a disciple who had already won his second fight sighed.

“How boring. Now Brother Inu is up against this guy. We all know who’s going to win, can’t we just send this guy to the Dark Fortress and move on? I’m here to watch Sister Chu.”

Yan Yan swiveled her head around, her beautiful eyes locking into those of the disciple who had spoken.

“You never know what can happen, fellow disciple. I have the feeling that this fight is going to surprise you.”

“Heh” her neighbor snickered. He wanted to retort but kept to himself. He hadn’t payed attention to whom the person next to him was.

Despite his complete confidence in Brother Inu’s win, he simply couldn’t contradict this beautiful girl he had never seen before. The words he had formulated in his mind kept being stuck in his throat as he choked on them.

It was only after a long while that he finally mustered the confidence to talk to Yan Yan, this time with a cunning expression.

“If you are so confident in this nobody against Brother Inu whose rank has remained in the top fifteen for the entire past year, why don’t we bet, Sister…?”

Ever since the end of the Rising Star Tournament, Bai Xuengen had remained discrete. Maybe it was his encounter with Bai Fulong and the time he spent with him and Lan Hui that had changed his ways. The proud yellow robed disciple from before had suddenly stopped flaunting his fighting prowess.

Now he remained in the shadow of others, waiting for his time to shine and claim back his fame. In fact, not many people knew about him even though he used to be in the top ten yellow robes back in the Shinsoo Gathering Realm.

But when everybody was fooled, how could Shin Sumi be too? She knew Bai Xuengen better than most. And with her acute Shinsoo reading ability, she could tell that he was a lot stronger than he appeared to be from a distance.

The l.u.s.tful disciple who had proposed a bet was starting to think that Yan Yan had not heard him when the pretty girl finally replied.

“What shall we bet then?”

His anxiety immediately disappeared, the man’s confidence rose through the roof, thinking “if she is headstrong enough to bet, it’s as good as done, ehehe”.

“If your guy wins, I will give you two technique scrolls from my Rui Clan’s set of passed down techniques. Hell, I’ll even give you a high grade spirit stone with it.”

Shin Sumi almost laughed at the latest addition, “A high grade spirit stone? Nuan can make me hundreds of them a day. I’ll take the techniques though.”

“Is that fine?” the Rui clan disciple waited for her nod of approval, “and if Brother Inu wins… you’ll have a date with me, Rui Keshin!”

Shin Sumi was already expecting this particular proposition. Being a girl in the Immortal World, she had already learned a long time ago how to read a man’s eyes.

Nevertheless how could she pass on such an opportunity to gain two new techniques?

“You’re on, Rui Keshin” she simply said, now focused again on the fight at hand.

Bai Xuengen and Brother Inu were currently circling each other. Gauging one’s opponent was a crucial part of the fight. Depending on their ability, sometimes all it took was a single high speed attack to gain the advantage needed for a one sided fight.

Not finding any flaw in the other’s defence, the man surnamed Inu launched the first attack.

From one of his palms, a jet of water spurted out with incredible speed.

Almost caught up by the thin jet, Bai Xuengen avoided the attack at the last moment when he realized that his adversary’s second hand was moving in a bizarre pattern.

“A single handed incantation…!”

Rui Keshin was hiding his smile. It looked to him like the bet was already won in advance. Inu Lei’s technique was fearsome when unprepared.

Following the incantation, the jet of water suddenly stopped in mid-air, as if it had hit an invisible wall. Splashing against the formless surface, the water rapidly spread in all directions, closing on itself in the shape of a giant cube.

With the speed of a veteran fighter, Inu Lei crossed his arms, forming a circle with two fingers in front of his mouth.

Before Bai Xuengen could even realize, Inu Lei’s breath through his magical incantation turned all the water of the cube into ice.

“Your fighter is now trapped in an ice cage. I’m pretty sure that’s the end of him. When do you want our first date to happen, my lady?”

Shin Sumi ignored Rui Keshin as well as the rising temptation to bash his head in with her own fist.

Maybe she got excited at the prospect of two techniques from the Rui Clan but Shin Sumi knew she wasn’t being stupid when she accepted the bet.

She had felt Bai Xuengen’s progress ever since the Rising Star Tournament.

In the middle of the cube of ice, Bai Xuengen was still as calm as when the fight first started. Nobody, not even his adversary, could see his face and yet it was far from what they imagined.

Bai Xuengen was looking serene, neither happy nor angry. In fact he didn’t seem to be fazed at all by the dire situation.

“I feel the outside breeze…” nobody heard him say in a very low voice, as if to himself.

It was obviously the twelve Core Development Elders who first felt Bai Xuengen’s actions. From where they were sitting, any of them could see the entire stage with their divine sense as if they were standing in the middle of it.

Elder Purple Cloud even lifted an eyebrow, under the complicated gazes of some other Cloud Elders.

KZIIING!

The six ice walls imprisoning Bai Xuengen burst open simultaneously, pushing them aside like they were made of paper with a heavy wave of condensed Shinsoo.

Bai Xuengen revealed himself amidst the cloud of ice shards.

“I see the currents…” Bai Xuengen said softly.

Upon hearing these words nobody could discern, Elder Purple Cloud stood up from his seat for a brief second before he regained his composure.

At the same time, Inu Lei was himself shoved violently to the side, his feet leaving the platform as he twisted and turned in the air.

When Inu Lei finally rejoined the floor, it was his face that touched it first and he wasn’t on top of the platform anymore but on the ground level of the hall.

Bai Xuengen left the platform to return to his seat next to the other contestants who started talking quietly among themselves.

“Bai Xuengen… I remember him now, he joined the Dark Sky Starry Sect two years after me. He wore a yellow robe at the time but spent almost his entire time in secluded training.”

“He got my blood boiling! I used to be really close with Inu Lei in terms of rankings… Now I want to fight him!”

Chu Erlong was gnashing her teeth. The last time she had seen him before these ranking matches was when he stood up to her and her gang in the underground ring of the Rising Star Tournament.

He and Bai Fulong had fought her before they all got separated by the fireball she had launched.

Despite his impressive victory, Bai Xuengen only left a strong impression on the other fighters. The only person who was completely speechless was Rui Keshin.

He simply couldn’t fathom what he had just seen. His eyes were still stuck on the platform when something obscured his field of vision.

Yan Yan’s petite hand was laid out flat in front of him. With a twitch of her finger, she implied what she wanted.

“Pay up.”

Rui Keshin had lost his bet and Shin Sumi wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to gain two new techniques.

She hadn’t heard of the Rui Clan but it was obvious that any technique passed down for a few generations was bound to be somewhat useful.

“F-fellow Sister, as promised here are the two scrolls I talked about, from my Rui Clan. As for the spirit stone… I’m a little low for now but I swear I’ll give it to you in less than a week’s time!”

Shin Sumi was at a loss for a second. She had completely forgotten about the high grade spirit stone. As it turned out it was Rui Keshin’s biggest complaint and yet she couldn’t care less.

She raised her shoulders and took the two scrolls who looked ancient and impressive without having even been opened.

“Ca-can you give me back the scrolls after you’ve understood the technique as well? If I truly lost them, my Father and Grand-Father would definitely kill me…”

Shin Sumi had expected no less. Even if they were the purpose of the bet, at no point had she expected to truly own the two scrolls. Clan techniques were usually a rare prize with only a few copies in existence if more than one.

Shin Sumi agreed and pocketed the scrolls, only in appearance. To Rui Keshin it definitely looked like she put them in her bag of holding when in fact she used the folds of her sleeves to hide her wrist.

In a quick move she had actually activated the leaf pattern on her wrist, making the scrolls disappear within where the Lion Bat Nuan was resting.

It was an unexpected ability she had discovered recently, that Nuan could absorb and eat resources even without leaving the leaf imprint on her skin.

And just like that Shin Sumi now owned two more magical techniques, “it really is too easy when men are fooled by their l.u.s.t.”

***

By the end of the day, only sixteen contestants remained. A wave of relief washed over the tired fighters. From then on, they knew they were in the clear, having avoided the Dark Fortress, the terrifying punishment imposed by the Cloud Master for the losers of the two previous rounds.

Yan Yan had had no trouble at all winning her fight, apparently going against one of the weakest remaining disciples. Or maybe she would have struggled a bit more had she not broken through to the second step of the Liquid Realm a few days earlier.

After three days time, the third round was going to happen but Shin Sumi couldn’t care less. Now that she had avoided the Dark Fortress she only had to lose her next fight to get out of the Cloud-Formation Pavilion ranking tournament.

She was also really excited for the fights to come. Jun Qian and Chu Erlong were still in the race, as was Fu Xue. But more interestingly, the latter’s next opponent… was Bai Xuengen!

Shin Sumi wondered what the outcome would be, “Surely Fu Xue is stronger but how much more strength has Bai Xuengen hidden until now?”

With these thoughts in her head, Shin Sumi exited the Cloud-Formation Pavilion main building. She didn’t go to her courtyard though, unstead going in the direction of the Third Star Arena.

She had received a divine sense message from Xiao Yue, prompting her to come.

“What?! Sui Lin is going to fight Mua Lin!!” She anxiously replied. “I’m on my way there now.”

Shin Sumi sped up, only stopping once before she reached the arena. She had gotten used to setting up a hiding formation quickly and efficiently in order to change her robes and appearance.

When the Third Star Arena was in view, Yan Yan was already nowhere to be seen, replaced by the ordinary looking Bai Fulong.

Contrary to the Cloud-Formation Pavilion, the Star-Sword Pavilion didn’t hold an organized tournament in order to decide the disciples’ rankings. It was all left to the disciples themselves, as long as the ranking was decided before the Cross Branch Arena.

Shin Sumi had previously beaten Ken Duang, taking the fifth place for herself behind Xiao Yue, Mua Lin, Mua Jin and Mei Yunei. She was content with it as long as she was part of the top sixth.

After all she had promised Xiao Yue she would fight for the Star-Sword Pavilion.

But it was all going to change if Sui Lin and Tai Bu were starting to reclaim their places. And what a way to do it… Sui Lin was challenging Mua Lin, the current number two.

Sharing a similar name was not where the comparison stopped between the two cultivators. Both girls were haughty and with the right to be so.

Once was the number two practitioner of the Shinsoo Gathering Realm, the other was the current number two of the Star-Sword Pavilion.

They were both sizing each other up on top of the main platform of the Third Star Arena when Shin Sumi arrived.

Mua Lin was a short and petite girl with long black hair tied in a knot. Anyone who first looked at her would get the sentiment of looking at a small doll. Oftentimes men would offer her their protection when they didn’t know who she was. Only a selected few, though, knew that it was a grave mistake.

With her Despairing Blossom sword in her hand, rare were the men with the qualifications to hold up their own against her in the same cultivation level. Making her really pretty but enhancing her looks as a doll, Mua Lin was wearing a pink dress with a large ribbon as a belt.

“Who is this cutie?! Wow they are both cuties?!! Who are they, are we about to watch a cat-fight?” A male disciple on the side started speaking up to his friend who immediately put his hand on the first guy’s mouth before hitting his head repeatedly. “Do you want to die?! Both of them have the qualifications to make you change your surname to Stupid is they wanted to. This is Sui Lin in white and Mua Lin in pink. And behind the platform is Mua Jin, be glad he hasn’t heard you or else he could have cut your tongue before you finished your sentence.”

Shin Sumi sighed deeply. As a female cultivator herself, she knew why it was necessary for the likes of Xiao Yue, Sui Lin, Fu Xue and the others to be cold and ruthless. The Immortal World was too manly for young women. If they wanted the respect they deserved they had to own it.

As a result female cultivators would often shut themselves from the others and act cold. Not many things could reason with the l.u.s.t in a man’s eyes, but fear was definitely one of them.

“Mua Lin, thank you for holding the second place until now. I’m glad you were the one to do so. But I’m afraid I’ll be taking it back today”, said Sui Lin.

When Mua Lin looked like a doll girl, Sui Lin was much more of a woman already despite being younger than her by a year or so. She was taller, slender with forms in all the right places that her long ice colored dress could only try to hide. At the moment she was pointing a nameless sword at her opponent.

“Take it back?” Mua Lin replied, “Stop holding on to your past achievements, Sui Lin. You never held second place.”

The last words were still floating in the air when the first clash of swords occured, almost too fast for the eyes to see. They both had lunged at each other simultaneously, exchanging blows that were all parried.

“Eh not bad. I hope you weren’t too attached to your sword though. Now hurry up and take out your real weapon.” Mua Lin pointed to Sui Lin’s hand.

Sui Lin’s sword was missing its tip and had a long crack running along it. The disciples who had not paid attention during the previous exchange were flabbergasted.

“Such a difference in swords… No, in level. Mua Lin is much stronger, isn’t she?”

“Wait a bit longer. She told her to take out her ‘real’ weapon. Does that mean it hasn’t properly started yet?”

Sui Lin sighed. “I never really thought this scrap metal would be enough to defeat you, I’m glad you’re not disappointing me” she said as she threw the broken sword over her shoulder away from the platform.

“I’m going to fight you at my best, Mua Lin. The second place will be mine.”

Shin Sumi’s eyes opened wide. She knew perfectly well what her ‘real’ weapon was. As far as she knew, Sui Lin hadn’t used it once since the Rising Star Tournament, so not many people from the upper valley knew about it.

Condensing Shinsoo in the tip of her finger, Sui Lin waved her arm in the air, not attacking but writing something out of thin air.

“World Creating Paintbrush, come forth.”