Akata glared at Xiao Pao with hatred. Not only did he mock Akata and his rise to power he was also mocking all the people who helped him to achieve that power. That was something Akata couldn’t accept. His fighting will started to transform. It was adapting a will of hatred, one that was aimed at Xiao Pao.

Xiao Pao slowly walked toward the arena with his hands behind his back. He didn’t give any respect towards Akata. To Fang Zuwa this was unacceptable but to the crowd of disciples this was something normal. Xiao Pao ever since he got in the cabins has never dropped below the eighth rank. Nobody could shake him and given Akata’s unexpected rise in power, seeing as he had just achieved it, nobody really believed he could win. Not even Huihe Ji or Fang Zuwa, two veterans of the cabins, could beat Xiao Pao.

Xiao Pao finally made it to the arena and stood in front of Akata. He still had his hands behind his back as he gave a look of disdain towards Akata. He really seemed uninterested in what was about to happen.

“I can’t believe I’m wasting my time dealing with some bug that was able to grow wings.” He mocked Akata and then shook his head. “Let’s get this over with I have better things to do today. Come on stop wasting my time and ready yourself!” Xiao Pao was growing impatient but as he spoke, Akata’s hatred grew stronger.

Akata didn’t speak at all and instead rotated his red rune and got into a fighting stance. Xiao Pao gave a cold snort, “You don’t even have a weapon? Well whatever, trash doesn’t need tools anyway.” Xiao Pao also readied himself.

He flashed an incantation gesture and a white mist formed. The white mist gave off an eerie feeling that caused people to become dazed. “This daoist magic let’s me battle you in a dream world. So unless you have a great amount of mental energy you can consider this your immediate loss. Flowing Dream Mist!” He finished making the incantation gesture and the mist shot towards Akata where it covered him. The mist also covered over Xiao Pao.

The scene in front of Akata changed. He was now standing in a wide field that only contained white mist and an orange sky. The hatred in his eyes had yet to vanish. ‘So he wants to fight me with mental attacks? Fine. I’ll slowly grind away his pride until there is nothing else then I’ll utterly destroy him.’

Akata’s eyes became cold as his hatred towards Xiao Pao grew. A red light flashed in his already crimson eyes as he rotated his red rune.

In front of Akata appeared Xiao Pao. He looked at Akata with utter disdain and contempt. He gave a cold snort and swiped his sleeve in Akata’s direction. The flick of his sleeve made the white mist in front of him to undulate intensely. A huge wave formed that stood about ten meters in height and it began to make its way towards Akata.

Akata’s hatred seemed to reach a high point as a cold gleam formed in his eyes. A red light began to emanate out of him as his red rune was put into action. He pulled his arm back and unleashed a punch with all of his strength backing it up. A red glow appeared on his fist as his punch was sent flying towards the giant wave.

Before the wave could even go near him it started to waver. Xiao Pao’s face looked confused but then he shook his head as he put off the idea. The wave continued to go towards Akata at an astonishing speed, but as it kept getting closer to the fist that was coming towards it, it trembled more.

By the time the wave was in front of Akata it looked about ready to disperse completely. Akata’s fist wasn’t fully outstretched until the wave was in front of him. Once his fist touched the wave it blew apart sending white mist exploding everywhere. The punch broke apart the giant wave with ease but it didn’t stop there, the blast from the punch continued on towards the direction of Xiao Pao!

Xiao Pao looked forward, not at the blast that was heading his way, but towards Akata with a bit of interest. “Well, you just may have some skill after all.” By the time the last word left his mouth the blast was upon him. It hit directly in the middle of his chest where it just passed through him. Then his body transformed into white mist.

Akata gave a cold snort and closed his eyes to concentrate on spreading his nature energy. After a breath he opened them and looked to his left where he sent another punch out, then a punch to his right, and finally he spun around to send a punch right behind him.

Three blasts of from his fist were sent in three different directions. Nothing was happening in those directions at first but then the white mist started to move and form something. In those three directions, surprisingly there were three figures that looked just alike. They looked like none other than Xiao Pao. Once they finally formed their eyes went wide because the blast was right in front of their faces.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three booms could be heard as soon as those figures finished forming. They didn’t even get the chance to wave their sleeves to send out an attack. It wasn’t a fast attack but Akata’s senses were so acute that he could sense the clones forming before they even had the chance to form! This was the benefit of using nature energy to connect to the environment. He could sense the changes in nature itself.

When the booms sounded Akata was still spinning around and by the time they died down he had stopped to look in a certain direction where there was one more clone. He looked at that clone directly in the eyes. He was sending a message not through words but through actions.

Xiao Pao’s clone didn’t look frightened in the least just very displeased. He gave a cold snort and he flashed an incantation gesture. The white mist undulated greatly and hundreds of clones formed. The clones surrounded Akata from all sides giving him no room to escape.

Akata stood there in the same place still looking at the original clone. His eyes were cold with hatred as he looked at the clone. His cold eyes flashed with a golden light and his body started to radiate with gold.

All the clones then flashed an incantation gesture and the white mist undulated to form giant waves, rivers, and waterfalls. They all crashed toward the center where Akata was standing. Akata raised his head to look at the waves, rivers, and waterfalls heading towards him. He didn’t move anywhere but instead pulled his fist back.

The fist glowed with a red and gold light. He was going to use the power of his red and gold rune in order to combat the combined magical attacks of the clones! The pressure radiating from Akata was intense to the extreme. The white mist that was around him spread away from him, now you could see the grass beneath his feet. The pressure continued to increase as the grass was then flattened, then the crushed into nothingness, and finally the ground caved in to form a crater!

The scene even made Xiao Pao put on a face of confusion. ‘Just what technique is he using?’ he thought to himself.

‘I can’t use the power of the gold rune physically but what if I use it mentally then? Instead of making a corporeal form I can make it illusory! This shall be my new way of using Astral Obliteration until it gets stronger!’ The pressure from Akata increased exponentially as the glow in his fist grew brighter. Soon an illusory image of a small rock the size of a fingernail formed in front of his fist.

The waves, rivers, and waterfalls came closer to Akata and they brought their own pressure upon him. The pressure was intense as it bore down on him. As it came from hundreds of figures while as Akata was by himself.

The attacks of the clones all congregated together in the center and bore down on Akata. It was then that Akata threw his fist out upward towards the attacks. His fist strike sent out the illusory image of the rock. A red and gold glow exploded out from Akata as he threw his fist. One of his eyes changed completely golden while the other eye became a brighter crimson color. The blast from this punch seemed to encompass the whole world they were in and absorb energy from the surrounding area.

This was the most powerful attack Akata had ever used before. The illusory rock was the size of his fingernail when he first sent it out but as it headed toward the congregated attacks of the clones it grew in size. By the time it was at the attack of the clones it was the size of a boulder!

The blast headed straight into the air towards the attacks of the clones. BANG! Akata’s illusory boulder pummeled through the attacks and blasted it apart as easy as putting a hand through water. Xiao Pao’s face changed dramatically when he saw this and he became flustered in an instant. But what happened next caused his face to turn unsightly to an extreme degree.

Akata’s illusory boulder from earlier didn’t dissipate as it smashed apart Xiao Pao’s attack but instead came to a halt in midair. Akata’s face was pale but he had his hand in the air with his palm pointed toward the illusory boulder. He gave a cold look toward the original clone and then waved his hand to it. That motion sent the energy in the area everywhere as it was thrown into chaos.

Craaack! The land started to crack under the pressure of the giant boulder hurdling towards it. Xiao Pao’s face was dark and unsightly as he flashed another incantation gesture. The hundreds of clones began to undulate fiercely as they began to fly towards the original clone uncontrollably. The clones all fused with the original clone and the original began to grow. Soon it stood a hundred meters tall. It didn’t pay attention to Akata but instead the illusory boulder that was crashing down towards it.

This giant was the true mental apparition of Xiao Pao. At first Xiao Pao would send out clones to combat people he sent into his daoist magic but if things got too tough he would use his true mental apparition to fight the opponents true mental apparition.

The giant flashed an incantation gesture and waved his hand towards the boulder. What was left of the white mist gathered in the air and into the form of a massive staff. If you looked at the scene from far away however that staff would look just like a giant river.

“AAARGH!!” Xiao Pao yelled out as he pushed himself to create this giant river and use it to combat the illusory boulder. The giant river crashed into the illusory boulder slightly slowing its descent. However the illusory boulder acted just like a dam, the river couldn’t do anything to it really.

Akata gave a cold snort and then closed his hand to form a fist. “THIS… IS MY HATRED!” The illusory boulder came crashing onto Xiao Pao’s true mental apparition and utterly destroyed it. Then it shrunk in on itself and then exploded outwards causing a huge boom.

The land broke apart and the white mist was dispersed into nothingness. The orange sky took on a red and gold glow but then turned black. Soon everything turned black. Everything was dark.

Then Akata opened his eyes and found himself back on the eighth arena. He was standing in the same place he had been and the white mist around him was starting to fade away. As it faded he could finally see Xiao Pao.

Xiao Pao didn’t look well. His body was drenched in sweat and his face was extremely pale. His breathing was haggard and his face unsightly. “You fiend! I’ll end you!” He yelled out.

Akata’s face was also pale but he immediately rotated his red rune and recovered from exhaustion. He still had a cold look in his eyes as he took a step forward. A red and gold light instantly radiated out of his body and the pressure in the area increased dramatically.

He pulled his fist back and an illusory rock the size of a fingernail could be seen forming. Just as he was about to punch out a voice interrupted.

“The eighth rank cabin match has been concluded. Kaminari Akata, the challenger, has defeated Xiao Pao. Akata Kaminari shall now take the eighth cabin and become the eighth ranked disciple whereas Xiao Pao is now ranked ninth. The ninth rank must wait a week until Akata can be challenged again.”

That was what Third Elder had just announced. As his words were echoing out a force made Akata stop in his tracks and also disperse his energy. When that happened his eyes cleared up and he seemed to gain his senses back.

“Eh? I won? But I didn’t get to truly finish off Xiao Pao.” Akata was displeased with this outcome. He wanted to thoroughly crush Xiao Pao so that he could learn some respect, but Third Elder had stopped him.

Third Elder sent a mental message to Akata where his face changed. He nodded and then backed off. A wind appeared that carried both of them off the arena and took them in the direction of the Medicine Pavilion.

The crowd of disciples that were there to watch the match didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t truly a match at all. All they saw was Akata and Xiao Pao get covered in mist that lasted for about thirty breaths of time until it dispersed. Both of the people looked like they had fought and Akata was about to launch an attack that seemed way too powerful for someone at Grade 2. But then Third Elder announced the results of the match and stopped him.

It was truly… boring.