Yun Chen vs Muyou! This was a match-up which everyone had been looking forward to. A Great Clan's young master against an unknown genius. Yun Chen's reputation in the Glory Marsh City was not any lower than that of a genius too. His growth had been monstrous in the Glory Marsh City and even Great Sects had offered him a place, but he wanted to stay and master his Clan's Martial Arts Skills. He had immersed himself in training and had never participated in this competition. His sudden appearance in this year's competition led to everyone thinking that he might had already mastered his Clan's Martial Arts Skills."I will be going all out at the start, so be careful." Yun Chen warned Muyou as he readied his sword.

"I will be going all out at the start, so be careful." Yun Chen warned Muyou as he readied his sword.

Muyou simply smiled as he gestured Yun Chen to come at him.

"One Step Kill!"

As Yun Chen took his first step, he suddenly burst towards Yun Chen. As the name sounds, after one step Yun Chen was already in front of Muyou as he prepared to slash Muyou.

"Seems like he really is different from the other contestants." Muyou thought to himself as he executed Spectral Deformity.

*Sha!*

Yun Chen frowned as he realised he was slashing thin air just barely missing Muyou. This was the first stance of Yun Clan's Melody of the Sword, and ensured the user to kill as swiftly as possible. He was pretty sure he had not missed, but Muyou's Spectral Deformity made Yun Chen suspecting that his accuracy was lacking. "Maybe I need to practise even harder next time."

Muyou was still standing there admiring that sword skill executed. If Muyou had not learnt Spectral Nymph skillset, he would have trouble escaping unscathed. However, Muyou's dazed expression further confirmed Yun Chen's thinking that it was him who missed and not Muyou who dodged.

"Interlude Stabs!"

Yun Chen suddenly delivered 6 rapid stabs towards Muyou. His stabs were so fast that Muyou could not really tell the sequence of the stabs, it looked like all of them were delivered at the same time. Although Spectral Deformity boosted Muyou's agility to dodge attacks, but Muyou's perception was not high enough to comprehend that attack.

After numerous life and death battles in the jungle, Muyou's emotions were replaced by his battle instincts. He knew this was not the time to panic. He immediately calmed himself and prepared to receive the attack. He knew that if he could not avoid the attack completely, the least he could do is to minimise the damage.

Although he could not differentiate the sequence of the 6 stabs, he could feel the pressure of the stabs. Thus, he used his body to detect the stabs. This was a high-risk manoeuvre, if he failed to dodge, he would suffer a grievous injury. However this was a gamble he was going to make. With Spectral Deformity, the moment he felt the stab approaching his vital regions, he would dodge. Thanks to this, Muyou suffered some cuts and not life-threatening blows.

"Phew, this guy is fast." Muyou leapt back as he inspected his wounds. From the looks of the exchange, it looked like Muyou was being overwhelmed by Yun Chen. Yun Chen looked perfectly fine while Muyou's robe were torn and had blood dripping all over it.

However, Yun Chen was the one extremely worried. He had exhausted most of his stamina and had executed 2 stances from Melody of the Sword, but he only managed to scratch Muyou. Moreover, he knew that Muyou still had not given his all.

"If you can take my next attack, I will accept defeat." Yun Chen said as he readied his trump card. He was preparing to put his all in this final attack.

"Bring it on!" Muyou was not going to make the same mistake and get wounded again. After all, nobody likes to get injured.

Yun Chen closed his eyes as he held his sword up. He then used his finger to flick onto the tip of the sword.

"Ding."

It was a soft sound, and everybody could see the sword vibrating. Slowly, there were Qi forming around the Sword.

"Pronto Slash!"

Yun Chen slashed the sword and the Qi was sent slashing towards Muyou. Yun Chen had exhausted all of his Qi in this attack, this was his trump card. There was no way anyone could escape from this attack.

Muyou steadily stretched out his palm.

"Subduing Palm!"

Muyou let out a huge shout and Qi flowed out from his palm and formed a large palm-shaped Qi figure in front of him. This was the fourth stance of Fists of Defiance, and it was the only defensive stance they had learnt.

The crowd was now holding their breath, as they were about to witness the clash of the 2 Qis. Inner Strength was something which everyone could train, however Qi was the crucial factor which separated a true martial art cultivator and a normal human. To see 2 youths clashing with their Qi, this was a sight for many people in Glory Marsh City.

As Yun Chen's slash Qi was about to reach Muyou's palm-shaped Qi, Muyou shouted "Subdue!" and the palm-shaped Qi suddenly closed its fingers, like it was a hand crushing an egg.

Yun Chen's Qi slash had been forcibly dissipated, as Muyou's palm-shaped Qi crushed Yun Chen's Qi attack like a hand crushing an egg. There were no explosions or any loud sound but merely a sizzling sound.

Witnessing that, Yun Chen collapsed onto the floor as he let out a loud laughter. "I've lost! I've lost!" He knew that he had no chance in winning against Muyou. He had exhausted all of his Qi in his trump card yet Muyou crushed the attack so simply.

"Winner, Muyou!"

The crowd was on the edge of their seats. That martial art skill displayed by Muyou had left them speechless. Furthermore, Muyou was not from any clans in Glory Marsh City nor any of the sects. This unknown dark horse had suddenly shocked everyone. Even Old Sir Lu was very intrigued in Muyou.

"Who is that boy?" Old Sir Lu turned and asked Tai Sheng.

"I'm afraid I have no idea too, I have never seen him before." Tai Sheng continued inspecting Muyou. To have advanced this far without the support of a sect, Muyou's power baffled Tai Sheng even more.

"Now, without further ado, let's proceed onto the Final match, Muyou vs Yiqi!"

When Yiqi leapt up onto the stage, Donghai smiled at the sight of both Muyou and Yiqi on the arena. He never would have expected that these two friends he made would be so monstrous.

"Same rules as always?" Yiqi let out a cheeky smile.

"Same rules as always." Muyou nodded. Yiqi and Muyou had always compared their strength through a simple exchange of punch. They would put all of their Inner Strength into that punch, and let the exchange decide the victor. This was because in the jungle, they were focused on conquering the jungle as soon as possible. Thus if they were to go all out in their sparring, they would suffer heavy injuries which would delay their progress.

Yiqi and Muyou slowly gathered their inner strength in their fist.

"3, 2, 1!"

As both of them shouted the countdown, they charged forward and unleashed their punch. When their fists met, there was a huge *Boom!* sound and the crowd could feel the blowback.

"This level of inner strength... Impossible..." Old Sir Lu's could see through the rough amount of inner strength was contained in this exchange.

After about 10 seconds and the dust had settled, both of them took a step back.

"Guess, this is my loss again." Muyou bowed as he massaged his right arm. His whole right arm was feeling sore and numb after that exchange.

"Don't be discouraged, if we were to compare Qi attacks, I would have lost." Yiqi said as Muyou let out a smile.

Muyou looked up to the crowd and shouted, "I, Muyou have lost! Yiqi is the winner!"

The crowd found it unbelievable, how could the high-anticipated final showdown between two geniuses be concluded like this.

"Booo!! Booo!!"

The crowd started jeering at them, leaving them speechless. It was a match between Muyou and Yiqi, how could the crowd be so thick-skinned to dictate the match.

Suddenly a figure descended onto the stage and let a loud shout "Silence!"

The jeering stopped and when the figure turned to face Muyou and Yiqi, he was Tai Sheng, the patriarch of Tai Clan.

"The yearly Glory Marsh City Competition has ended. The winner will be Yiqi. Now please do not make things difficult for them." He said in a calm tone. Then he said to Yiqi and Muyou "You two follow me, there is somebody who wants to meet you two."

"Is there any prize for winning this competition? Like secret martial arts manual or secret pills?" Muyou asked as they followed Tai Sheng.

Tai Sheng let out a huge laughter as he heard Muyou's question. "You'll see." He said in a secretive tone, like he was teasing Muyou.

After walking for about 5 minutes, Tai Sheng brought them to the City Governor office. He stood outside the room and said, "You two can go in yourself. Remember, the person inside is not to be offended at any cost."

Muyou and Yiqi was very curious, why was Tai Sheng not going in and who would command so much respect from the City Governor.

As they opened the door, they saw an old man inside drinking tea. He was dressed in a black robe, with a golden panther embroidered on each side. He was Old Sir Lu.