[Xinhuai], Gao's glaive was very much like him. Large, the entire pole wrapped in cloth, releasing not even a hint of anything but some faint spirituality. Although after finding his opponent's ability, and the fact of him being someone not only under direct tutelage but somewhat even more profound from an expert, Bai Qi would have never believed the weapon to be simple.

*CLANG*

[Spear of Blades] in his left hand and [Blue Fury] in his right, Bai Qi met the glaive's sideward slash with a cross-block.

His qi circulation reaching the absolute limit for his cultivation, Bai Qi resisted the force behind the attack without giving an inch, earning himself an admiring whistle from his opponent.

"I said you were joking about winning, but I apologize. It seems your prowess and strength weren't a fluke. Yet, I am [Xinhuai], and there will be only me standing on the stage when this combat ends." As he finished speaking, Gao started infusing qi into his glaive.

Without retracting the glaive, only adding more and more spiritual pressure and physical force, it was as if he planned to push or send Bai Qi flying away.

"A spirit cultivator is a fearful opponent, but only if you are on the same level." Bai Qi said calmly, nothing indicating the enormous force he was withstanding.

*Stomp*

Bai Qi stomped on the ground and suddenly released the qi he had been preparing since before the clash.

From the connection of the three weapons, sparks began flying. [Blue Steel] and [Black Steel] were very durable, one of the best low-tier spiritual materials. Even so, one could see how strained the spear and sword in Bai Qi's arms were. Yet, they resisted the glaive's blade, and while trembling from the qi Bai Qi kept infusing into them, they maintained the even ground and started pushing the glaive in turn.

"You want to win in a clash between qi against me?!" Xin Gao felt a mix of surprise and anger as he shouted. He didn't expect this battle to be easy, but to find himself in a standoff like this was definitively not part of his plans. Particularly not if there was no reason for such.

"And why not? There is no need to use anything else for an opponent that is my equal in spiritual prowess." Bai Qi couldn't shrug, all of him concentrated on his weapons and qi control, but his voice was enough for [Xinhuai] to feel the lack of stress and pressure in Bai Qi's mind.

"You, you are either stupid or outright crazy." Xin Gao had not paid much attention to the changes in Bai Qi's condition until now. But as he did, he found that Bai Qi had lowered his aura to the bare minimum and was resorting solely to the spiritual part of cultivation, to the qi inside his body.

It was true that Bai Qi went full alert as soon as he discovered the type of cultivator [Xinhuai] was. But not because of the difficulties one would meet against a spirit cultivator, and for sure not for anything related to fear or similar emotions. He was an eight hundred years old immortal, and even in his current body, he had lived through such experiences that not many of the older generation did.

Bai Qi found everything he had to and prepared a plan. Now, he was merely executing it, acting on what he surely could count on, knowledge.

"To risk, to fight on equal standing, what if not this is a path of a cultivator?" Bai Qi continued confusing his opponent. His two weapons continued the deadlock, and his qi surged out in waves, mirroring each of [Xinhuai] own.

"If you were trying to enrage me, you have completed your objective." [Xinhuai] was not a patient man. He had never met an opponent who could continue speaking as if nothing when facing him. And while Xin Gao had attempted to maintain calm because of the prowess Bai Qi had shown, the light hint of mockery in everything the latter did surpass the limits.

*SWOOSH*

Xin Gao's robe stood up from the current of qi that burst from every pore of his body.

Most cultivators inner qi had no color, only some faint hues flowing in it, indicating what elements one used more often. For a lesser part, their qi would be single-toned, containing a single one because of training, bloodline, or other factors.

Two-colored qi was exceptionally uncommon, as only one of a thousand bloodlines and even fewer cultivation methods could attune one's body to two elements, more often than not of a supporting nature to each other.

Yet, [Xinhuai] qi was even a rarer one, it was painted entirely in three different hues, and each of them shone brilliantly but without overlapping each other, showing absolute blending between them. Although maybe one should say it wasn't his, as when the torrent of qi was made apparent, several experts noticed the lack of Xin Gao's essence within the qi.

Bai Qi's eyes slightly widened as he noticed such a mix. His own qi was of several elements, and it was far from being average, yet, his elemental affinity had at least one shared concept, one of destructive nature, Flame, Yin, and Thunder.

With Xin Gao's merely releasing qi, the deadlock between their weapons wavered. It was yet to culminate, but as the tri-colored current surrounded the glaive, Bai Qi felt his weapons reaching their utmost limit, [Blue Fury] bending underneath the suddenly-increased spiritual pressure.

Feeling such extreme strain from his weapons, [Spear of Blades] trembling as if about to break, Bai Qi decided to break from the clash.

Gao's qi was impressive but not above what Bai Qi could show if he relied on the demon essence he had been concealing. Yet, between equaling the clash and losing two favored, self-made weapons, Bai Qi picked to hand a small win to his opponent. After all, what mattered was the result, not some single clash of spirits.

*Screech* *Swoosh*

The three weapons screeched as Bai Qi started lowering his pair Bai Qi stomped with his left foot, thrusting himself to the right.

But it would be proved a mistake only a moment after Bai Qi broke contact.

"Now, you are mine!" Gao growled, currents of green, Wood, and pale yellow, Earth qi pouring into his glaive. His downward slash changed to a lateral one, the blade aimed at Bai Qi's uncovered side.

*Clang*

Caught in the middle of a movement he was yet to complete, Bai Qi was forced to cross his weapons in a side block, protecting himself, despite what could happen to the already weakened, even damaged pair of spear and sword.

*Crack* *Shatter*

Gao's sudden direction change caught Bai Qi at the worst moment. Only his mastery and reflexes allowed his weapons to meet the glaive's blade several inches from the edge of his robes. Regretfully, the already cracked [Blue Fury] resisted only for a moment, shattering into several pieces which flew towards its owner and creator.

*Crack*

And while [Spear of Blades] resisted the impact, cracking in the upper third of the pole, the 3rd dagger of the four ended up losing nearly half of itself in this last-moment save.

All would have ended with just the break of the sword, no further damage inflicted, if not for the specialness of Gao's glaive.

The cloth on the weapon and the ones covering [Xinhuai] had hidden not only the glaive's pole but also a chain connecting the glaive's middle and Gao's wrist. Now, as Bai Qi moved sideways, persisting in his movement, Xin Gao's attack didn't end but continued after the opponent, furthering the damage on the latter's spear, and with the help of a current of qi behind itself, attempting to push Bai Qi out of the stage and conclude the duel.

Bai Qi knew he had messed up. In an attempt to save the weapons, he not only failed but also lost the advantages a deadlock gave, namely the ability to counter without risk.

"I planned to win openly, in a clash of spirits as you wanted. But it seems I failed to provide myself with weapons of enough quality." Bai Qi muttered without any hint of emotion.

***

"Don't mumble such stuff. You already lost!" Sure of his win, such were Xin Gao's words, and while he didn't see, they provoked a single emotion in his Master, a wry smile as he turned towards his lifelong friend, "See, he's simply too inexperienced."

"It shames me to repeat myself, but I did judge Bai Qi would end up winning since the start." Xu Wen smiled in the same manner.

"Forgetting about the abilities of one's opponent. Disgraceful." Cai Zhenkang nodded as he spoke as if noting something to himself.

"While I am not related to the battle, I admire that he met your spirit's heir with pure qi, holding himself back in everything else." The Lord of the small town of [Heibei] spoke a moment later.

"Usually, I would call it out as arrogance, but this Bai Qi is just too above the level of the cultivators we see around." Cai Zhenkang replied right away before pausing for a bit. Then, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice, he asked, "Can we even be sure he is actually as young as he appears to be?"

"On that, I have no doubt. He was checked in [Heibei], and the arena formations here would have shown if he was disguising his age or cultivation."

"Indeed, but you know there are ways to gain the skill of someone far older than one is." Cai Zhenkang spoke in a low voice, not needing to explain who or what he meant.

"Yet experience doesn't come along, and Bai Qi has shown exactly that - experience." Xu Wen retorted, but then added as he looked towards the stage, his gaze on the black and white haired 16-year-old Warrior Lord, "Or, maybe, there is a way to..?"

***

Half of the arena expected the airborne Bai Qi to be pushed out of the stage by [Xinhuai]'s qi and glaive combination.

The other half waited with bated breath for Bai Qi to explode with the aura he had shown before, which would allow him to resist the force behind the attack. To counterattack with even more power than the one, he showed before.

Yet, Bai Qi surprised both sides of the public. He suddenly discarded both of his weapons, and a mere foot before reaching the stage's edge, Bai Qi's movement stopped, and he landed as if nothing. The glaive and its driving qi blocked half an arm from him.

If one looked at the general public at that moment, one would see how everyone's mouths hung open, and the only question that existed in their minds was,

***

"While my weapons are not enough, I did advance in their usage, not only swung them around." Bai Qi's words didn't contain mockery but sounded as if they did. The reason for them, as well for the sudden change in the situation, was founded on a simple fact, Xin Gao had barely scratched at the 1st step of the Glaive Path, something unthinkable for a weapon user.

*Clang*

A spear of pure weapon intent stopped the glaive, allowing Bai Qi to land.

Weapon intent was mysterious even for Immortals. It could be weak as a spirit technique, but at the same time, it could be used in ways rivaling Royal, even Emperor ones. In this case, Bai Qi merely willed it into existence, using it in place of qi and aura, creating a weapon from nothing but his own understanding of how it was.

*Shatter*

"Break." Willing a sword in his right hand, formed from nothingness but containing all of the knowledge of a peak 3rd step swordmaster, Bai Qi slashed at both chain and qi behind the glaive.

*Clang*

Without anything supporting or driving it forward, the heavy, unadorned, coarse glaive fell on the stage's stones. And before Xin Gao could attempt to recall it, Bai Qi had already stepped on it.

In a clash of auras, there would be no way for him to win. His mind was unable to accept what happened just now. Xin Gao, [Xinhuai], didn't utter a word, his gaze following Bai Qi's subsequent actions without any clear plan.

*Swoosh*

Bai Qi lunged forward, spear and sword poised to strike.

*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Slice* *Crash* *Crash* *Swoosh*

Bypassing, dodging, destroying the boulders that attempted to crush him, and cutting the vines that tried to bind him, Bai Qi closed the distance to barely a couple of feet.

"You fought well, and the spirit granted to you is not short of outstanding. Yet, without anything but granted powers, who are you? What is the core of you, [Xinhuai]?" Bai Qi asked, hinting at the same truth that Xin Gao's Master had tried to teach him before, [Without experience and a personal way of fighting, no matter the granted power, one will lose.]

"I..." Gao muttered before suddenly roaring, "I HAVEN'T LOST YET!"

*Thump*

But before Xin Gao's crazed qi, the hurried barrage of techniques, or even his flailing arms, could inflict any damage Bai Qi ended the combat. A straightforward, full-strength punch, still grasping the intent-created sword, concluded what could be called one of the most eye-catching combats until now.

"Winner, Bai Qi!" Yi Bingweng's announcement drowned in the shouts of the public, eager to express the feelings bottled inside them.

While a small part of his mind kept wondering about such an extraordinary mix and why the Wind part of the qi never got used, Bai Qi concentrated on recovering what he could before the next combat started.

The spear and sword intents had been extraordinarily useful, but he had overspent himself. Now he could hardly use the same as someone a step, even two lower.

His inner qi also was severely depleted, as matching the speed and force of a 7th level Warrior Lord, Xin Gao's qi prowess was about his own limit.

Adding to all the loss of his two preferred weapons and the copious inner wounds that occurred from any clash between equals, Bai Qi considered he was only two-thirds of his peak. And only because he had not tapped on the hidden reserves made of his demonic essence and soul part.

Yi Bingwen announced his next opponent, but Bai Qi was dwelling on a single reflection, not noticing anything else. One coming from a quick inspection of how he had fought until now,