Fu Yin smiled and approached He Gon's unconscious body. The crowd was astonished from what they had just witnessed: Fu Yin had only said a few words to the masked figure, then a flash of red light had robbed them of their sight.

Finally, when they were able to see again, they had found, with a great deal of shock on their part , that He Gon had actually passed out! His eyes were showing white and his whole body was shaking, as if he was experiencing…

“Nightmares.” Fu Yin bent over and whispered into He Gon’s ear.

Of course, the other was still unconscious, so he could not hear nor understand what the other was saying: “I lied. Blood is the demon of war and gore, yes, but he is mainly the demon of the nightmares that cause even the best warriors to crack, to break apart…”

“He is the demon that haunts the battlefield: like a crow that feast upon the dead, he feasts upon the despair and regret of the dead souls… He doesn’t eat human flesh, nor does he thirst for human blood. To be defeated by a dream, an illusion… I wonder how that feels.”

Fu Yin smirked and tossed a glance at The Rin, on the other side of the arena. The girl was also smiling slightly, her eyes glittering as she seemed to understand what had just happened.

Fu Yin then turned to look at Lao Jianghu: the old man’s eyes contained traces of amusement as well as admiration

“He should wake up in an hour.” Fu Yin stated as he stepped out from the stage, the eyes of the whole audience following him, wide in disbelief!

“The winner of this fight is… Fu Yin!” Lao Jianghu announced, those words waking everyone up from their state of shock. Fight? What fight? Could this be considered a fight?

Te Rin had shown a great and profound skill, mysterious to most. The little crystal bird would haunt the memories of many from then on!

Fang Lu had dominated the opponent through his might alone and had hinted that there was even more to his strength than what met the eye!

Xiao Wu had amazed everyone with her display of great skills. A mysterious technique at hand and a flying sword below her feet, she defeated the puppet that had emanated a pressure of the peak Superior stage!

Finally, there was Fu Yin. He, who had defeated his opponent… without even lifting a finger! What terror would this knowledge instill in the hearts of those who were told of this? If someone could knock you out with a single glance, with but a thought, wouldn’t you be afraid?

Terrified, even?

…

Afterwards, another fight took place. Unfortunately, as the previous battles had been so flashy, the contestants, whether they won or loss, didn’t catch the eye of the audience.

Flashy skills were put into display, but when compared to those of the Sect’s greatests geniuses, they could not compare in any aspect!

“Everyone, the first round of the tournament has been concluded! My sincere congratulations to the winners, and a word of thanks for the beautiful spectacles they have shown us up until now!”

Lao Jianghu nodded and dismissed the crowd with a wave of his sleeve: they could now catch a break after having passed the whole morning assisting to the fight and cheering on the contestants. The Tournament would resume in the afternoon.

After being dismissed, Fu Yin, Xiao Wu and Sou Rou headed back to their tent, changing from their “Successor’s Attire” into plain robes.

Sou Rou sighed: “Damn, to think that I’d be eliminated in the first round! What bad luck… I still don’t get how that Te Rin could defeat me like that, in the blink of an eye!”

Fu Yin scoffed and then smirked: “Had you listened to your brother and paid attention, you would have not charged straight in, leading to your demise!”

“Oh really!” Sou Rou pouted: “Then tell me, how did she defeat me?”

Hearing this, Xiao Wu also leaned in, perking her ears up: this was something she was also curious about. Sou Rou had higher speed, greater strength, faster reflexes than her opponent… how did Te Rin couple with all that?

The white-haired, pale-blue-skinned boy pondered for a while, without speaking a word, appearing conflicted. In the end, Fu Yin shook his head smiling apologetically:

“Sorry Sis, but I cannot give away a fellow cultivator’s secrets! Especially if it is someone who has gained my deepest respect. All I can say is this…”

He lifted one finger in one hand and asked: “If I were to attack with a single finger, using all my might, it wouldn’t be any different than using my fist. The power would be the exact same…”

He opened his hand and then curled it into a fist: “Now then, what if I was to attack with a fist using the power of a single finger? If I can make weakness into strength, why not make strength into weakness?”

“With that in mind… what if my one attack held neither the strength of a punch, nor that of a single finger… but was only a disguise for the hidden dagger to strike?” Fu Yin opened his hand and then blew on it: “It is easy yet at the same time difficult to trick the mind, because humans are not perfect. Thus, we can both easily be fooled and hardly be tricked at all! One of the easiest types of disguise is not an head-on attack through ‘deception’, but instead a hidden strike via ‘misdirection’. Why attack when the mind is on alert rather than when it is distracted?”

“...” Xiao Wu raised one of her eyebrows, rolling her green eyes in annoyance: “Really? Didn’t you not want to tell us out of your respect for her? You basically just did give it away!”

“Ehi! You guys were the ones to ask for help in the first place, don’t bash me down now!” Fu Yin chuckled.

Sou Rou turned in shock, gaping as she glanced at Xiao Wu: “You understood? I barely caught a hint of what he might be intending!”

Xiao Wu shrugged her shoulders: “Kinda… I still can’t help but feel that something is missing. There is just one piece that doesn’t quite yet fall into place... whatever, I’ll think about it when the time comes… if it will come!”

Fu Yin stood silent as his lifeless, blue eyes glinted. He then sighed, nodding: “Fang Lu will be a hard bone to pick… I doubt you’d be a good match for him even if you find yourself at your very top condition.”

He turned to look at Xiao Wu right in her eyes, maintaining eye contact: “You remember what I told you this morning before the matches started?”

Xiao Wu turned her gaze to the entrance to the tent, biting her lips. She hesitated for a moment then nodded: “Yes. Now more than ever, after that display of skill, I realize you were right...”

She looked down at her hands and summoned the black dragon aura sword. She smiled bitterly as she caressed the blade: “I… cannot defeat Fang Lu.”

...

The first round had ended. Finally, after the ‘brief’ break which had lasted until the sun had fallen below the horizon, the second round finally began!

Two matches were about to take place: first would be the match between Te Rin and Dan Yang, while, as both second and last, would be the heated battle, the monstrous Fang Lu versus the young and talented Xiao Wu!

Why had Fu Yin’s match been cancelled? Simple: Fu Yin was a monster beyond their comprehension, his opponent was no big shot, the fight probably also wouldn’t have held too much of a suspense to it.

The challenger, a youth named Lu Bei, had also foreseen this and had already forfeited. After all, how could he possibly hope to compare with Fu Yin, one of the two strongest disciples in the Sect?

To fight him would bring him no benefit and countless hardships!

Battle Experience? Ah! Fu Yin had already spitted on that by ending the previous fight in the blink of an eye! What experience would being knocked out as soon as the match started bring him?

Face? Sure, like being annihilated in a single blow wouldn’t lead to a just as strong blow to his face as well?

Lu Bei was no crazy pervert or masochist that got off the pain, he was a perfectly sane human being that had already faced similar situations before and hadn’t hesitated in either of them to make the same choice as now.

He had given up as soon as he had won his first fight in the first round!

Lu Bei held a glass of wine in his hands. He sighed in delight as he noticed that, with that weight off his chest, his beverage tasted better than ever!

I’ll gladly stay here and enjoy my drink, thank you very much! I’ll just leave the monster for the other beasts to deal with. I reckon it’s going to be much more fun seeing them at each other’s throats instead of just barging in the snake’s nest!