Akata watched coldly as Ming Xu walked up onto the arena floor. Neither of them spoke a word, it was deathly silent on the arena. Akata walked over slowly to right in front of Ming Xu. She didn’t retreat at all and let him approach. Soon they stood there facing each other.

After a bit of silence, surprisingly Akata was the one to speak up. He spoke slowly and softly to where only Ming Xu could hear. “Did you have anything to do with Peizhi Xiuying’s death?”

Ming Xu was taken back and her eyes went wide with shock and confusion. Peizhi Xiuying’s death? Since when did she die? She couldn’t get a word out over her mind being jumbled.

Akata could see her facial expressions clearly as spoke again. “No need to answer. Prepare yourself.” He jumped back and then readied himself to fight.

Ming Xu was scared witless. She hadn’t heard anything of Peizhi Xiuying dying. Could she had died when the assassination on Akata failed? Is that why his killing intent was so great? If so it all made since. She knew that she wasn’t going to get out of this with ease. She gulped down some saliva and readied herself.

Even as she stood her body slightly trembled in place. Cold sweat ran down her forehead as she stared at Akata. She didn’t even wish to fight anymore. She looked into Akata’s eyes which was cold as can be.

Akata looked at her with cold merciless eyes and pulled his arm back. He then launched a fist at her sending a blast of air in her direction. The blast traveled fast and ferociously towards Ming Xu.

To her it felt like a giant wall was coming to smash her into nothingness. She immediately flashed an incantation gesture and a snowflake, about a meter in diameter, appeared below her feet. The snowflake quickly moved up in the air carrying Ming Xu with it. Once in the air it disappeared. Below her the ground blasted apart sending pieces of the arena flying in all directions.

Before she could regain her senses however another blast was headed in her direction. She was floating in midair and flashed another incantation gesture where another snowflake appeared below her feet and carried her off, successfully dodging that blast as well.

Everywhere she stopped another blast of air could be seen heading for her. She would flash an incantation gesture and be carried off by a snowflake that would appear below her feet. All she could manage to do was keep dodging. She didn’t have time at all to go on the offensive.

The crowd was boisterous as the duel started. The forceful nature of Akata versus the gracefulness of Ming Xu. It was a great match-up and would provide a great amount of insight for the disciples around.

“Ming Xu’s Snow Steps are as fluid as ever.” One disciple said.

“Yes. Just as no two snowflakes are alike, her movements are equally mysterious and hard to track.” Another one spoke.

“It’s actually amazing that Akata is able to send those blasts in her direction with such speed and precision. His foresight is utterly astonishing.”

The crowd watched on in amazement as they watched Ming Xu display her Snow Steps and Akata send out those blasts of air. No two evasions of Ming Xu were the same yet Akata was able to send out his blasts directly at her.

Ming Lu watched closely making sure Akata didn’t go in for the kill, yet she was amazed by what she saw. ‘He’s not trying to kill her? His foresight is extremely accurate to a terrifying degree and with that he could predict where she is going before she even knows. Yet he’s not actually attacking her?’

She looked over at Akata a bit more closely. ‘He still has killing intent in his eyes and it hasn’t faded away in the least. What is he planning on doing?’ She was at a loss of what was happening. She wasn’t the only one at a loss either.

Xiun Wu was watching closely, paying attention to everything that was happening. “Since when did Akata become this strong? Not only are his fist strikes able to create blasts in the air, but his foresight is amazing. Even I am not able to keep up with Ming Xu’s Snow Steps as great as he can.” At this thought Xiun Wu grew a bit irritated. Akata was better than him at something? Preposterous!

“Why is she not going on the offensive yet? Is she stalling for something? She can at least try to attack while she is in the midst of dodging. Tsk. She’s not even trying to kill him, doesn’t even look like she want to anymore.

This can’t be all of Akata’s strength though. I need for Ming Xu to attack and draw out his full strength in order for me to get a good read on his level. But at this state you can easily annihilate him.”

Xiun Wu looked over at Xi Fe who was beside him and said. Xi Fe was looking at the battle and completely regained his composure as he watched on. The fear that he originally had inside him washed away without a trace. He even started to laugh hysterically.

“Of course I will be able to easily annihilate him with no problem. He wouldn’t even have a chance to attack back with the level of strength he is displaying now. In fact it wouldn’t even be any fun to face him like that. While I admit it is strong for a 3rd Grade cultivator to possess that kind of strength it won’t even call for me to use half of my own strength.” Xi Fe spoke extremely confidently.

“But it would be good to see what else Akata has up his sleeve.” Xi Fe thought for a moment. Xiun Wu spoke up. “I have an idea to get him to fight.” He chuckled.

He walked up to one of the members of the Cloud Rift Crew and spoke. The member nodded his head and walked up to the side of the stage near as close to Akata as he could get. He used a technique that only allowed for Akata to hear him. When he spoke Akata’s eyes went wide and his fists became a bit more chaotic.

Xiun Wu laughed and returned to the side of Xi Fe. “What did you tell him to say?” Xi Fe asked curiously. He obviously saw the change in Akata’s attitude take place when Xiun Wu went closer to the arena.

“Oh just a little something. Now to motivate Ming Xu.” Xiun Wu cleared his throat and yelled out. “Ming Xu what are you doing?! Are you disobeying orders? Fight back and stop dodging! This isn’t how Cloud Rift fights! Hurry up or suffer some consequences.”

After he finished verbally assaulting Ming Xu, Xiun Wu calmly laughed. Xi Fe looked over in praise. “I see, first you entice Akata to make him more ruthless to pressure Ming Xu more. Then you threaten Ming Xu to have her fight back and in turn entice Akata further. Essentially you just created a circle so they further entice each other. Well done.” Xi Fe nodded his head in praise.

“Now to see the results of my labor.” Xiun Wu said as he watched on.

Ming Lu of course was paying attention and noticed a person walked up and speak some words to Akata. She then saw how Akata’s attacks became more chaotic. Coupled with the fact that Xiun Wu yelled out what he did she could tell he had planned something.

“That little bastard! I’ll tear him into pieces soon.” She said gnashing her teeth together. How could she not tell what he was doing. “He’s trying to sacrifice my sister in order to get Akata to fight more seriously. I need to figure out what that guy said to Akata.” A jade slip appeared in her hand as she imprinted it with message then sent it off.

Ming Xu was being bombarded by a sudden increase of Akata’s attacks. Then Xiun Xu’s words rang into her ears. She grit her teeth and flashed an incantation gesture mid dodge and pointed at Akata. “Snow Tempest!” She yelled out.

Razor sharp snowflakes started to appear in the area around Akata. More and more appeared and when they did they rotated around him until they looked like a tornado revolving around him. The area became frighteningly cold as the snowflakes appeared.

With the appearance of Snow Tempest Ming Xu could take a break from constantly dodging. She knew that her attack wouldn’t do much to Akata since it wasn’t fully powered. She landed on the ground and flashed a two handed incantation gesture and pointed at Akata. “Whiteout Gale Shards!”

A cold wind filled with ice crystals sprang up and bombarded the snowy tornado, adding more strength to it. The Snow Tempest grew in size and the sharp snowflakes combined with the ice crystals to add a more terrifying shredding ability. The ground around Akata tore up. Akata who was within the tornado couldn’t be seen within.

Eventually the tornado started to turn red with blood and it looked more like a blood tornado. This wasn’t Ming Lu’s Blood Snow Tempest so it didn’t get stronger with the addition of blood. Ming Xu stood there looking at the Snow Tempest. Her breathing was a little haggard from continuously dodging and then using her full strength to fight back.

She looked at the Snow Tempest and sighed to herself. She didn’t really want to fight Akata. The tempest was a deep crimson color. “I actually… I actually killed him? No… no no no no no! I couldn’t have.” She fell to her knees with a pale face. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t think this would kill him. I should’ve held back more.” She swished her sleeve in order to disperse the tempest.

Xiun Wu looked on closely at the crimson red tempest with a bit of disbelief. It was hard to believe that Akata would be easily killed by the Snow Tempest skill of Ming Xu. The amount of blood that showed up in the tempest was too much for a regular person to put out and still live. It was certainly enough to confirm that Akata had been killed.

“Humph. It’s hard to think that he would be killed so easily. Considering he wasn't killed in the forest. No matter, at least he is out of the way-” Before he could finish his sentence a sound came from the tempest.

A cold snort resounded from the tempest along with a cold voice. “Humph. I guess that confirms it then.”