Stepping down from the arena, Ip An made his way back to his original place of seating under the watchful gazes of the crowd. As he sat back down and resumed meditating, he couldn’t help find himself very amused at the situation he had put himself in, unable to resist a smirk to form on his face. Ip An hadn’t done it out of pure hatred or wishing to show off, he was trying to make a statement to his further opponent’s that he wasn’t to be looked down on because of his young age and that he was to be taken seriously.

With Ip An’s shocking demonstration from earlier, Ip An’s was very clear and direct. Plus, to Ip An, it doubled as a lesson for the poor teenager who had just gotten a tad too arrogant. He could see his reasoning for this, but he just had to encounter him. Even the heavens could make fools out of the otherwise reasonable and wise.

Ip An was only left alone for another twenty minutes until he was summoned for his next fight, though this time by a different referee and on the third arena. This time, as he walked onto the arena, he could feel significantly more people watching him than last time. Their subtle gazes were inspecting him all over, some curious and others confused at who this mysterious boy.

His opponent, a youth who looked to be fourteen or fifteen years of age was stunned when he found out his opponent was Ip An. After shaking his head, he unsheathed the dual blades from his leather belt and stared at Ip An with a serious expression, his eyes not faltering at all.

Seeing that his opponent was taking him seriously this time and didn’t care to chat, Ip An shook his limbs in anticipation of this fight. Hopefully, this fight would get his blood pumping and ready him for his later fights past just the preliminaries where all the small fish swam. In his earlier fight, he had quickly oppressed his opponent and ended the fight in one single move, as his teacher, Manzi, had taught him.

The ‘One Strike Arts’, as described in the old book and vigorously repeated by his master, revolved around the principle of ending the fight in but a single move. By overwhelming your opponent with so much force and power that you would defeat them with but a single punch or kick.

There were two paths, the ‘punch’, and the ‘kick’. Both were viable, but Ip An centred on the ‘punch’ part of the arts as Manzi told him that it was better to spend a majority of his time on one part and that once he was proficient enough, he would patch up his weaker kicking side and bring them both up to shape. Anyways, Manzi was just slightly more proficient in the punching path than his kicking, so he had Ip An focus on that path first.

Even when his opponent was staring him down, he was unaffected. His master had beaten him so thoroughly and terrified him so much that this was child’s play to him. Ip An was still technically a child himself, but the point was still there. He would rather face off against any god-gifted prodigy than face off against his master, the man was a force to reckon with and gave him immense pain and suffering every day. From his unmerciful sparring, not willing to pull any punches or soften his blows, Ip An would find himself sprawling to the ground in pain wishing for the pain to end. He was subject to it every day, and he found himself slowly becoming numb to the fear of fighting and the pain involved.

So, as he faced off another opponent that was different to Manzi, he brought himself to a neutral position with both his hands slightly raised. As the referee signalled the start of the fight with a loud shout, Ip An launched forward with the same ghost-like speed he had before. Speed that he had acquired by flowing his inner qi in a specific pattern through his legs. With his supernatural inner qi manipulation skills, he was able to practice advanced techniques that Manzi gave him access to sparingly. He had only given him but a few techniques to drill and practice, yet each was mastered to a high degree over the past two years.

Weaving under, over and to the side of the flurry of slashes of the dual-bladed youth, he patiently waited for an opportunity to strike at his opponent. A decisive moment. Sure, he definitely had the ability to defeat his opponent right now, but he was still kinda sloppy and could risk getting cut by one of his blades. Even then, he didn’t want to look down on his opponent.

As Ip An expected, an opportunity quickly came. Yet, as Ip An cycled the inner qi inside himself and punched towards the side of his stomach, his opponent suddenly changed positions with temporarily increased speed and sliced down with one of his blades. If this slash connected, then there was a high chance that Ip An would be decapitated unless he defended with his inner qi. In this competition, anything goes. It was either defeating your opponent or admitting mercy. It wasn’t strange for there to be an occasional death.

Sensing the blade cutting down fast, he dodged it with relative ease and connected his deadly punch by slightly rotating his body. After gauging how much power he needed this time from earlier experience, his punch sent his unfortunate opponent to the stone floor, his dual blades loudly clattering to the ground, instead of sending him flying out of the arena. He didn’t want to be wasting unnecessary energy and making a scene. He had already made a spectacle out of himself as it already is.

As the referee once again announced his victory, after another similarly short match he walked back to where he was seated earlier once again. Over the next two hours, he would be called back for another four fights, in which he would thoroughly defeat his opponent in each. After winning all fights, he was told by one of the referees that he had passed to the next stage.

Only his last opponent, a freakishly tall and muscly teenager of about sixteen or seventeen years of age, made him temporarily stop.

However, looks were deceiving and his fighting was very crude and sloppy, making it very easy for Ip An to slip past his defences and finish him off in a single punch. When he sent him falling down like a group of men cutting down a tree and calling “Timber”, the crowd of youths were sent into a frenzy, unable to believe he had defeated him.

Apparently, no one had been able to defeat him because of how strangely strong and durable his body was. Not even a single person was able to elicit a single drop of blood or create a single bruise. That was until he versed Ip An. Even having incredibly rudimentary and basic fighting skills didn’t stop him from wiping the floor with his opponents.

As the competition came to an end and he was informed by the duo of old scholars where the competition would be held next, he was suddenly intercepted by Ye Hai in a cramped alleyway a couple of streets down from Peerless Grand Hall.

Just as Ip An was ready to fight against Ye Hai, thinking he came here for revenge, he ended up being mistaken. Bowing at a ninety-degree angle while cupping his hands Ye Hai pleaded, “Excuse me! Do you have any time to spare?”

Not needing to urgently be anywhere until Rising Dragon’s Meeting next phase of the competition tomorrow, he replied, “Yes, I do. What is it?”

Ip An was slightly intrigued. Just as he was wondering if this was some elaborate trap or he had some underlying motive, Ye Hai revealed, “I was wondering if you have any accommodation for the night. My master and I live on the western edge of the city, not too far from here. If you don’t have a place to stay already, I am willing to let you stay with me for your duration of stay in Peerless Cliff City. We also have a small courtyard you can practice in.”

Ip An considered Ye Hai’s offer for a short moment, observing him and the feeling he was getting from the older boy. After sensing that he had no ill intention, and seeing that it would be highly improbable that he would find a knife in his stomach in the middle of the night he accepted his proposal. After his training with Manzi, he could subtly sense people’s intentions. This stemmed from the intense killing intent he was constantly put under, therefore making him more sensitive to other people’s emotions and intentions easier.

“Sure”, Ip An agreed and they began making their way over to Ye Hai’s house. On the way there, Ip An and Ye Hai properly introduced themselves to each other. Ip An subtly apologised for sending the other boy flying right after. The other boy said it was fine as it taught him a valuable lesson not to be arrogant and that it didn't hurt too much because he was tough. Though Ip An doubted that cause very once in a while he could see the other boy twitch in pain. Once they put this aside, Ip An started having a conversation with him, something that he hadn’t had since leaving Fifth-Step Village. It was mostly Ye Hai talking, discussing the fights and all the supposed golden child prodigies that would participate in the final and next stage of the preliminaries.

Disciples from the major sects didn’t need to participate in the preliminaries and just cut straight to the second stage and finals. Each took place over the course of a day in a small arena, where many experts and masters would be watching from the sidelines.

When they both arrived at Ye Hai’s house, the other boy’s father was slightly surprised seeing that they had a guest. Treating with due courtesy, he left the boys alone and let them stay until he wished to leave. Thanking Ye Hai’s father for his kindness, Ye Hai gave him a tour of the humble, but beautiful house and then led him to the tiny, back courtyard.

Ye Hai stopped in his steps as they reached the middle of the courtyard, turned around and bowed, “Truthfully, I invited you over so that you spar with me so that i could further my horizons. I hope you can grant my request.”

Realising this, Ip An slightly widened his eyes in surprise. He had just thought he would like to sit down and pander to him, hoping to gain his favour but was unexpectedly requested for sparring. Ip An accepted in kind.

Until nightfall, the two boys sparred. Although Ip An was holding back the hold time, only dodging and giving the occasional light punch that wouldn’t completely incapacitate him, Ye Hai’s vigorous routine of staff strikes and vigorous movements helped make the fight even interesting for him. Somewhere throughout it all, Ye Hai’s father had started watching from the sidelines in a kneeling position, his gaze constantly tracing Ye Hai’s movements with heavy scrutiny.