Ryu knew that if he wasn’t persistent, they might not take the pills. Eu-Meh and Seo-Yon reluctantly agreed, the opportunity was very hard to turn down. Ever since incident where the secret manuals of the school got stolen, the Lee family had no source of income. High level blacksmithing requires high level of cultivation. Without income, Seo-Yon couldn’t recklessly spend her family’s savings. In fact even if her cultivation was higher, the blacksmithing manuals were stolen still.

Seo-Yon took her disciples back to the inn and taught them how to absorb spiritual medicine. Ryu told them that he was going to practice outside and departed from them. Ryu found a small park and climbed onto a tall tree. He sat down and started releasing Qi from this body. The Qi then stopped leaking from all directions and formed a shell-like layer around his body. A complex expression can be seen on Ryu’s face and beads of sweat were forming around his forehead. Suddenly, a strange tingle shot throughout his body and then a buzzing sound can be heard. A few tiny streaks of electricity can be seen around him.

A light but happy chortle came from Ryu. He got the inspiration earlier when he saw an electric wolf in the pet store for the first time. The strange little beast was able to generate electricity much to his surprise. After observing the Qi flow in detail, Ryu was determined to mimic it. The concept seemed easy enough to Ryu, first he creates a river of Qi and a vortex of Qi and have the former flow through the latter. Now this may sound simple but Ryu will come to realize how uncommon this is later on.

The tournament started in the morning next day as scheduled. The stadium was immensely bigger than any fields Ryu has seen, it definitely wasn’t possible to host such a tournament back in his town. There were over five hundred participants and over ten thousand observers.

There are nine arenas in the middle of the stadium and 4 bleachers at each side facing the center. These bleachers were filled with scouters from martial arts sects. Seo-Yon sat in one of the last rows of the benches while Ryu, Jia-Hua, Jia-Hui and Eu-Meh stood with the other contestants on the grass field beside the arenas.

Since none of them got a black tag, the group just stood around observing the fights for the next few hours. Although Ryu had suddenly became a super star amongst them, Ryu actually wasn’t confident at all. Like the rest of them, he has only the Flash Punch Technique. He might be a Qi cultivating genius but, in a fight, techniques, experience, luck and even physical strength are all equally vital.

Ryu didn’t see anything out of the ordinary but he did see one person condense their Qi into their forehead to head-butt someone which Ryu found amusing. Finally the third rounds finally started and Jia-Hua was first.

“You can do this Jia-Hua,” Ryu said.

“Don’t disappoint us,” Eu-Meh said with a smile.

Jia-Hua got on the fifth stage. His opponent was a muscular boy with confidence written all over his face. In fact, Jia-Hua realized that this was one of Guan-Xia’s lackeys. The referee waved his hands and the match started.

Both contestants wanted to end this fast. The opponent acted first and dashed forward. Jia-Hua quickly dropped down to one knee and concentrated his Qi at his heels. The Flash Punch was the only weapon he has. When the opponent was within two meters, he let his Qi loose and shot forward. Caught unexpected, the opponent took the hit right in the gut and fell over.

“Victory to number 363.” The referee announced.

Jia-Hui won in a similar manner for the third round against an opponent from another town. The fourth round came and the twins still knocked out their opponent within ten seconds of the match. This caught the attention of many contestants and scouters alike.

However, during the fifth round both Jia-Hua and Jia-Hui lost. It had become obvious to some that the Inferno Fist students had no other moves. The opponent simply dodged their first strike and countered. Ryu and Eu-Meh was in the process of consoling them when suddenly a mid-twenties courteous woman in a blue cloak approached them.

“Here are two invitations to the Purple Lotus School. We are only a Rank 4 school but if the two of you gentlemen are willing, we would be happy to have you.” The lady left two white envelops with them and walked backed to the bleachers.

Jia-Hua and Jia-Hui watched with jaw-dropping expressions.

“See? Teacher said that they are looking at talent, not just the results of the competition.” Eu-Meh said with a grin.

Ryu congratulated them as well but his mind was focusing on the matches going on. Since he hasn’t been in a real fight before, he was absorbing as much as he can. He came to one conclusion, he’s going to use Qi reinforcement to increase his agility and hopefully push his opponents out of the ring.

Finally, it’s the fifth round. Eu-Meh’s turn soon came and the boys sent their best wishes. However, her opponent turned out to be Guan-Xia!

“I hope she’s going to be alright,” Jia-Hui said with a hint of worry.

“It seems like their auras are on par with each other, it’ll be a close one,” Ryu remarked honestly.

The pair looked at him, is he just saying it or can he sense it?

Guan-Xia arrogantly strolled onto the stage, showing off all the expensive jewels he has on him.

On the other hand, Eu-Meh walked properly on to the stage in a dignified manner. One could tell that she was a discreet beauty. Her skin was plain yet flawless, one could tell that she did not use expensive products to maintain herself. She could have gone through life relatively easy depending on her looks but instead she chose to depend on herself.

The two couldn’t be more different. The referee waited until they were both in the center of the stage then he waved his hand, the match had officially started.

Guan-Xia having seen how Jia-Hui and Jia-Hua fought knew that they only possessed simple burst techniques. Therefore, he instantly dodged diagonally backwards. As he predicted, Eu-Meh dashed forward at a frightening speed. He smirked to himself as he prepared to counter.

This pathetic country side trash thinks she can fight with me? I’ll show her how ---. Bang! A painful shock rang throughout his body. Before he realized what’s going on, a sharp pain resonated through his left torso and he was sliding on the floor.

What happened was that Eu-Meh sprinted one step forward and right before she reached him, she sprinted another step sideways. The second step was not only more powerful that the first, it also followed Guan-Xia’s movement perfectly. She noticed the flaw in her technique from the twin’s losses and came up with something on the fly. The rest was pretty straight forward, a punch to the face and a kick to the side.

Guan-Xia is currently in a fetal position, withering in pain. His expression was ugly, the spasms tearing through his body caused him to lose all rationality. Eu-Meh stood a few meters away, composed and ready.

A dignified man in his late fifties with short brown hair and a serious face frowned from the VIP room above the stadium. He gave off an intimidating aura after seeing Guan-Xia fall, this person was none other than Guan-Xia’s father, Kwong Wang.

Shit, did she reach level 9 too? She must have consumed my pills that bitch. I’ve already been punished by my dad last night already too! Guan-Xia was furious, when he betted those pills he just wanted to show off his wealth. Never in a million years did he think that his own treasured pills would help his opponent. His father also heard of the shameful story of losing the bet and had threatened to disown him if he does poorly here.

Eu-Meh waited while her opponent was on the floor. After a few moments, Guan-Xia leapt up and this time took the initiative. He swung with all this strength at her, aiming for payback. Eu-Meh easily side stepped the blows and landed a few more hits in.

However, her hits were not as effective as before. Launching two sprints before previously was her limit, she needs some time before she can perform the Flash Punch again. Even so, she was still pushing Guan-Xia back towards the edge of the ring. Although Guan-Xia had a larger arsenal of techniques at his disposal, his mind was clouded by rage. Since they were both level 9, a distraction like this could prove to be fatal. Guan-Xia started to feel fear as the distance between him and a ring out shrunk to one meter.

However, something unexpected happened while they were exchanging blows. The expensive clothing donned by Guan-Xia, costing hundreds of gold coins, was much more durable then the plain and cheap robe Eu-Meh wore. As they kept exchanging blows, a small rip started emerging on Eu-Meh’s robe above her right shoulder.

Although Eu-Meh is mature for her age and disciplined as a fighter, she is still a girl at heart. She noticed the slit that was forming on her robe and subconsciously weakened her attacks. Her drop in strength did not go unnoticed.

Guan-Xia figured it out and smirked. This cheap bitch, I’ll make sure to pay you make the humiliation you gave me earlier with interest.

Guan-Xia started transforming his punches into claws towards Eu-Meh’s right side and circled around her, reversing the situation. Even with Eu-Meh’s careful movements, the slit on her robe slowly expended downwards and threatened to reveal her cleavage. Suddenly Guan-Xia threw a feint at the tear above her right shoulder, forcing Eu-Meh to try to block it out of desperation. Then he changed the trajectory of his clawing downwards towards her left waist. It was impossible for her to dodge and another tear appeared by her waist, threatening to reveal her bottom. The crowd slowly realized what was happening, most were disgusted by Guan-Xia’s personality. However, this was a fight and there is no rules against this sort of behavior.

Eu-Meh could hold Guan-Xia off no longer and fell to the ground. Instead of extending the same courtesy Eu-Meh showed earlier by letting him get up, Guan-Xia reached for Eu-Meh right breast like a mad beast.

Eu-Meh wanted to forfeit the match but there was simply no chance to say it out loud fast enough. Guan-Xia’s finger tips were only inches away and a sense of dread and despair plagued her heart.

Huh?

The audience gasped. Guan-Xia’s hands passed through thin air. Almost everyone in the stadium were confused, including Guan-Xia himself.

What happened? Did the referee intervene? No, he’s still in the same place. Where did that bitch go?

Suddenly he heard a rustle right behind him. A boy was putting his robe over Eu-Meh.

Impossible! Did that loser move her from right under my nose? Guan-Xia thought. But it’s the only explanation…

The whole crowd was shocked. The few who understood what actually happened were even more so. Ryu was anxiously waiting for the match to be stopped. The referee looked like he was going to step in when Eu-Meh fell but suddenly stopped. Ryu was shy by nature and hated attention but Eu-Meh was one of the few friends he had. There was only a handful of people that Ryu would move for. Just when Guan-Xia was a foot away from Eu-Meh, Ryu darted forward like a bolt of thunder and carried Eu-Meh from underneath Guan-Xia to the opposite of the stage.

The top experts present noticed something even more shocking. The distance from the edge of the ring to where the competitors stood was over ten meters. There was a footprint on the tile where Eu-Meh fell. Another one where Ryu stood with the other competitors. Ryu took one step to reach Eu-Meh and another one to reach the other side of the ring!