Brilliance Lotus Academy, Tournament ground

The tournament was nearing its pinnacle, and the round of the finals was just about to start.

Teacher Tao: "The next match will mark the beginning of the finals." - He exclaimed as he stood before the audience in his red robes with a golden teacher symbol embroidered on its back.

He raised his walking stick and motioned to the contestants: "Zhao Min and Bao Zhi, take the stage!"

The students we sitting on the edge of their seats with impatience.

"Too bad the Ye family's young master got eliminated in the previous round. I really wanted to see him fight with Zhao family's young master."

"I smell a conspiracy. I can't believe he was taken care of in just three hits by his opponent..."

Unknowingly the students' suspicions hit the nail on the head. That matchup was indeed tampered with by teacher Tao. He wanted to suppress Bao Zhi and directly promote the Ye clan's young master to the finals.

Hitting two birds with one stone!

It seemed like a flawless plan, his experience told him that even talents needed time to blossom. Overcoming the difference in background and techniques was not something anyone could do.

Too bad this plan of his backfired and now teacher Tao not only failed to suppress Bao Zhi, he even figuratively slapped the academy elder, Ye Xuegang in the face.

Bao Zhi used three strikes to obtain victory. This was three times the length of his previous matches.

Teacher Tao couldn't find trouble with him, due to Bao Zhi's malicious compliance.

Teacher Tao knew he had to solve this conundrum somehow, so he decided to change the matchups again.

With Bao Zhi losing the next match, he wanted to break his indifferent and stubborn attitude. Then, with his head hung low in defeat, Bao Zhi would be more receptive to the academy's teachings.

He could not let go of nurturing a talent with A grade aptitude, even if he disliked that person.

The two contestants took their places in the arena.

Zhao Min's usual calm and nonchalant attitude were gone.

Zhao Min: "Bao Zhi! How much longer are you going to hold back? Or is this competition too mundane for you?"

Bao Zhi raised his eyebrows curiously, but he didn't reply.

Seeing Bao Zhi's reaction Zhao Min continued: "I feel the same. There are no other opponents here that could fight me to the end."

The match began with teacher Tao's instructions. He explicitly told them to use all their methods and don't hold back.

Teacher Tao was already rubbing his palms mentally.

"Bao Zhi has no chance to knock out Zhao Min directly as he did so far. Even the powerful Su Kang's charge was directly stopped by Zhao Min." - He thought.

Teacher Tao: "You may begin!"

Zhao Min did not stand on ceremony, he used his primitive killer move. Green roots sprouted and emerged around him, like a living wall. Next, he used another portion of roots to lash out at Bao Zhi's direction.

Both defense and offense in one move!

Bao Zhi was still focusing on his aperture mostly. Failing to refine the Primeval Elder Gu would be a huge setback currently. He would have to accumulate primeval stones from zero and by that time all his progress in refining the gu would also be gone. He didn't want to waste his time and effort!

But that gu was two ranks higher than him!

Winning this tournament was secondary to him, only a contingency plan if he were to run out of primeval stones.

Seeing the group of roots snaking their way towards him, Bao Zhi did not stand still either.

He did not attack as he did in his previous matches, he changed his tactic now. He wanted to stall for some time.

Bao Zhi kept evading and dodging at seemingly impossible angles. The wooden snakes could not catch this slippery eel!

"Does he have an eye on his back? How is this possible?"

"Now I understand he is a different kind of genius, too bad he's so poor at refining gu."

"Yeah, it is a pity. There is only so much you can do with martial arts. He will be left behind eventually."

"It's easy to look down on him. You haven't had to face him yourself!" - Exclaimed one of Bao Zhi's previous opponents in dissatisfaction. Praising Bao Zhi would also make his loss seem more acceptable.

Meanwhile, back on the stage, Zhao Min was thinking hard: how to catch Bao Zhi?

Time and time again the seemingly cornered Bao Zhi slipped through the grasp of the roots.

Zhao Min thought: "If this continues on, it will be only a draw. Hmm, how about this?"

He split his forces again, now forming three sets of roots. Two chasing and pincer attacking Bao Zhi while still not abandoning his defense either.

Bao Zhi's mental pressure has increased!

He was risking suffering a backlash if his refinement was forcefully interrupted. His fake aperture was only rank one now. Could it endure the backlash of a rank three gu?

Who would be so stupid to do such a thing during a fight?

Even though his moves became less precise, no harm has reached Bao Zhi so far. He continued to take a passive stance.

"What's going on? Is this guy a monkey? How can he be so hard to hit?"

"I can't believe my eyes, this is impossible!"

"He must be cheating, there is no other explanation!"

Even teacher Tao's eye twitched as he was observing the match.

Zhao Min did not lose his composure so easily. He narrowed his eyes, then raised his arm in an upward grabbing motion. His fingers curled like claws.

"How about this?" - He called out in his mind.

Suddenly a group of roots attacked Bao Zhi from underground!

But unfortunately what Zhao Min could not know, was that Bao Zhi sensed these roots as clear as daylight. Even without the usage of gu worms.

How was this possible?

Normally it would not be, but Bao Zhi had great grandmaster attainment in wood path!

Wood path moves contained wood path dao marks, he was highly sensitive to them. He could "see" them coming with his eyes closed.

This turn of events was a mental blow to Zhao Min. He was getting increasingly nervous as the fight dragged on.

"We both have A grade aptitude, but my expenditure is definitely higher. He wants to win in a battle of attrition it seems like." - Zhao Min thought to himself in dissatisfaction.

"Nevermind, I can't fall into his rhythm. I'll go all out!"

Zhao Min activated his rank one Root Sprout Gu and Wood Sensation Gu to their limits. The primeval essence in his aperture declined steeply. Now only twenty percent was left.

"Wow! Look at that, the arena turned into a forest of roots!"

"Now Bao Zhi has nowhere to run. This match is finished."

"The Zhao family's inheritance is just too scary." - Shuddered a commenting student.

At a moment's notice, the myriad roots were upon Bao Zhi. He gritted his teeth as he pulled his limbs closer to himself.

"Almost done. Just a little bit more!" - He could feel it already, the breakthrough in his gu refinement was imminent.

A huge ball has formed in the meanwhile. Zhao Min was panting heavily, controlling this many roots individually was impossible for him, he could only move them all at once. But his efforts were finally showing results.

Bao Zhi was captured!

Zhao Min looked at teacher Tao expectantly, he was waiting for him to end the match already.

"Quickly end it! My essence is running dry soon!" - Zhao Min thought.

But teacher Tao did not end the match just now. He activated his investigative method to check on Bao Zhi's condition.

"Good, I'll let you suffer a bit more. There's still some time left. Don't blame me, this is for your own good as well." - Teacher Tao reassured himself about his methods.

At this moment!

The arena tremored. Loud cracking and tearing sounds could be heard.

"What is going on? Is Zhao Min going to grind him to death?"

"Why won't the match end already?"

The students were also looking at teacher Tao now with their questions.

The sounds were indeed coming from inside the huge wooden ball as it continued to squirm.

Bao Zhi: "Primeval Elder Gu, you are finally mine!"

He immediately put his mind solely on the fight now!

The strange sounds continued.

Zhao Min's face was taking on an ugly expression, contrary to the spectators, he could feel what was happening inside.

Bao Zhi was tearing the roots apart with his bare hands!

The ball of roots started to shake with increasing intensity.

Suddenly a hand poked out from the tangled mess.

Then another!

Bao Zhi held his palms facing away from each other. Next, his muscles bulged as he exerted his strength. The veins on his forearms protruded and had an eerie green color.

Seconds passed like minutes.

Now even the spectators have caught up to what was happening previously. They did not dare to divert their attention, afraid of missing the decisive moment. They held their breaths subconsciously.

CRACK!

The roots were torn in half before Bao Zhi. He jumped out in a flash, clearly intending to strike at Zhao Min.

Zhao Min scrambled in fright. He quickly let go of his control of the massive amount of vegetation. He gritted his teeth and desperately focused on his last line of defense.

The roots around Zhao Min regained their liveliness and fine motion, they struck out towards Bao Zhi.

Zhao Min wanted to stall for time now, only seconds were left from the timer.

But Bao Zhi was done with running around, he directly grabbed onto the pieces of wood and uprooted them! Throwing them to the wayside.

Zhao Min's eyes widened in shock, he lost control of those roots immediately because they no longer formed a continuous entity.

"Oh no! He has already figured out this technique's weakness!"

Just as he had this thought, Bao Zhi closed in on him with haste.

Zhao Min shouted: "I surrend-"

Bao Zhi's first stopped just inches away from Zhao Min's frightened face.

Bao Zhi couldn't help but evaluate Zhao Min again, he approved of Zhao Min's choice. He would have done the same.

Those who can't yield will break eventually. A true expert is one that can tell apart which situation is which.

"..."

"The scene changed so quickly!"

"It was a totally winning position for Zhao Min... Just how?"

"This fight was already a battle of experts."

Now even the gu masters who underestimated Bao Zhi needed to readjust their opinion of him.

Jin Ju was also spectating from his window. He couldn't help but recall the scene where Bao Zhi fought the huge tiger, similarly bare-handed. This cemented his impression of Bao Zhi as a fighting maniac.

Opposite of him, on the other side, teacher Tao was livid.

"Bao Zhi, come into my office! Now!" - He shouted.

Instead of announcing Bao Zhi as the winner, he was now in trouble?

"I see, now it makes sense. He clearly cheated!"

"Nobody could be so strong, right?"

"Yes. I couldn't even tell what gu worms he was using. Someone must have helped him from outside."

The students started murmuring and guessing wildly.

Teacher Tao was looking at Bao Zhi sternly as the youth presented himself respectfully.

"Come here! Let me check your condition."

With that said teacher Tao reached out to sense Bao Zhi's aperture.

Bao Zhi showed a confused expression but complied without resistance.

"Wanting to play dirty? You should know the best about inspecting other's gu worms is a huge taboo." - Bao Zhi snickered in his mind.

When teacher Tao placed his hand on his fake aperture he could not sense anything but a small amount of primeval essence.

"What is this? Does he really have no gu worms? But why is he missing essence then? None of this makes any sense."

Seeing his teacher's confusion, Bao Zhi looked him straight in the eyes. His eyes seemed cold as ice, teacher Tao felt like a beast was eyeing its prey before him.

Rank three aura!

"Teacher should know, not to look into matters too deeply." - Bao Zhi said flatly as he released the Primeval Elder Gu's rank three aura.

Teacher Tao fell back in horror, only his walking stick prevented him from falling over.

"Rank three? Rank three! How... This is..."

One had to know rank three gu worms were only something rank three gu masters would possess.

What did this imply? At least a rank-three gu master was supporting Bao Zhi from the shadows! Rank three meant an elder status at the minimum!

"Curse you, Ye Xuegang! You dragged me into your internal conflict!" - Teacher Tao grieved internally as he dismissed Bao Zhi.

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