Zen walked to the fighter’s area, where his cousin, Jao Fuu was waiting for him.

“Wow, Zen’er, that was quite the show!” she said patting him on the back.

With his weakened state, he fell over and crashed to the floor.

“Zen’er!” she cried, crouching down to help him up. “I am so sorry, Cousin. I didn’t know you were so weak.”

“I’m not weak.” Zen weakly said.

Jao Fuu helped Zen to the nearest bed. Zen laid on the bed.

“You took a lot of damage, Zen.” Jao Fuu said, removing his mask.

Zen’s mask had been ruined, only half of it left. Jao Fuu removed it.

“Even your ‘try hard to be cool’ mask is ruined.”

Shibi came up on the bed.

“Shibi, you saw me out there?” he rubbed Shibi’s head. “I won.”

Zen grimaced as he got to a seating position. While on the bed he crossed his legs and closed his eyes.

“Uh… what are you doing?” Jao Fuu asked as beside him, Shibi copied the same sitting position and hand signs.

“Meditating, Cultivating.” He said. “I lost a lot of ki in that battle and I’m going to need all the ki I can get for my next battle.”

“Your next battle?”

Zen nodded. “It will be the toughest battle so far. Against Wang Zen, and I will need every advantage I can get.”

Jao Fuu came back to see Zen and Shibi have not moved from the spot she had left them at.

“Zen’er, I have good news and bad news.” Jao Fuu said.

Zen kept quiet. He did not move or say anything. Fuu was impressed. It was the first time he had ever seen Zen so focussed and performing Cracked Earth Meditation so well.

“Well, the good news,” she continued after a moment of silence, “I won my match.”

Still nothing.

“The bad news. I witnessed Chen Jian’s last match.” She said. “His opponent surrendered. You’ll be fighting him while he is at full health.”

“I guess that’s bad.” Zen said, finally. “But I would not have it any other way.”

Zen opened his eyes. Jao Fuu stepped back at seeing the determination in Zen’s eyes.

“I want to beat him at his best in front of everyone.” He said.

“But you have way less ki and the match is coming up next.” She said. “You won’t be able to recover all your ki with meditation before the match begins.”

Zen sat and thought for a while. His eyes widened. “I know!”

Zen produced his storage stone. He touched it and a herb was withdrawn from the storage stone. It was a red herb with a feint red glow.

“Is that the…?”

“The Red Root,” Zen said. “When consumed, it adds ki to one’s own ki base.”

“Remember what Cong’er said?” Fuu said. “It is unstable when eaten raw. Why did you not refine it into a Medicinal Pill?”

“I am a commoner now,” Zen said in good humour, “I don’t have the cash to refine it into a pill.”

“Well too late now. It would have been real useful as a pill.” She said, pacing up and down. “It would have fully replenished your health, probably even given you a boost to the next level.”

“It might still do that in its raw form.”

“Ha!” Fuu gave a mirthless laugh. “Remember what Cong said? The herb is unstable in its raw form and can hurt and not help you. You’d have to be an idiot to eat it as it is n…”

Fuu’s eyes grew wide in horror as Zen simply popped the powerful herb in his mouth and began chewing.

“WANG ZEN! SPIT THAT OUT NOW!”

He swallowed.

Zen grunted. Shibi looked at him in alarm. He was visibly sweating as chaotic ki entered his body and disrupted his ki swirl in his diantian. His face and skin turned red and he began to sweat. His skull throbbed with a splitting headache. It felt like his blood was boiling and his skin would liquify off his bones before they turned into powder.

“Quick, get into meditation stance!” Jao Fuu shouted as she hopped on the bed behind him. “Use Earth Meditation to constitute the new ki.”

It took all of his effort to get into position. Fuu sat crossed legged on the bed behind him and placed a hand on his back to help him constitute the newly arrived chaotic ki into his own. It would require all her focus to help him as sending ki into someone’s meridian pathways, even if that someone was allowing or could not stop it was still difficult.

Twin streams of steam came out of his nostrils as he clenched his eyes shut, focussing on his meditation. He could not even feel Shibi’s hand, that joined Fuu’s to help him. He feared what would happen to him if he could not stabilize his ki.

Chen Jian walked into the ring. He stood in the middle of the ring. Waiting…

The referee waited for 5 minutes before announcing. “Competitor Wang Zen, enter the stage!”

Everyone looked at the gate where the combatants would enter… but no Wang Zen came out.

“Competitor Wang Zen has 10 minutes to come into the ring.” The referee said. “If he does not show up by then, he will be disqualified!”

The crowd was not sure how to react. Half of them booed while the other half cheered.

Three minutes had passed

“Ha!” Xu Hua said. “The coward knew he would lose to our Chen Jian so he did not even show up!”

“Well, that is disappointing.” City Lord Xu. “But it cannot be helped. Chen Jian is quite powerful. Wiser for him to not participate.”

Six minutes had passed. Ao Li was visibly agitated by the way he was combing his hair.

“Why that jerk!” he said. “Imagine that, he beats me and the does not even show up for the next fight.”

“Wang Zen would not just quit like that, would he?” Jao Cong said.

Xue Shaonu shrugged her shoulders. “To be honest, I don’t know anymore.” She said, still haven’t recovered from the reveal of Zen’s power ruse.

“Wang Zen is a confusing guy.” Deng Ai said. “I also don’t know if he will show up or not.”

“Yes, I guess all we can do is wait.” Xue Shaonu said.

Nine minutes had passed. The last minute was quickly ticking away. People had accepted that Chen Jian had won.

The referee raised his hand, ready to disqualify Wang Zen.

“WAIT!”

The referee stopped and looked at Jao Fuu who shouted out.

Zen began walking out of the gate.

The crowd erupted in boos when they saw him.

He took his time, unbothered by the time that had ticket way past 10 minutes by the time he was in the ring, facing Chen Jian.

“Forgive me for my tardiness.” Zen said, looking at the annoyed referee and the confused Chen Jian nonchalantly. “But I am ready now.”

Chen Jian smirked, “You’ll never be ready for me.”

Zen looked at the man with a bored expression, which made Jian angry that he was not rising at his provocation

“Ref, let’s start this!”

The referee raised his hand then dropped it, declaring the match had begun.

Chen Jian vanished with a flash of purely white ki. He activated Cosmic Short Step. Zen’s senses told him he was in danger. He leaned forward and dodged Jian’s attack when he appeared behind him from his teleporting technique. Jian’s attack passed overhead, missing Zen, while Zen raised his leg and donkey kicked Jian in the gut, sending him skidding back while clutching his stomach.

Zen quickly swiveled to face him. “That trick only worked on me once.” He said, taking a fighting stance. “You’ll find I’m not the same boy you fought for the first time a year ago.”