The difference with our understanding, the way we interacted and controlled our elemental affinities, stood in stark contrast. Perhaps it was the weapon, the Bow did lend itself to a versatility that made manipulating water and air more adaptive. Or perhaps it was the technique. The [Water Pierce] technique had a familiarity with water and air, an intrinsic understanding of the elements that I adapted, allowing me to incorporate lightning, fog, and ice as I mastered those elements.

She had control over earth, metal, and magnetism, but it seemed a pale imitation to my control. I was creating ice patches that made the ground treacherous, fog banks that obscured her vision, and storm clouds that released lighting to target the metal she controlled, her strength became lightning rods that attracted mine. Ionized particles blasted her in overwhelming discharges and filled the room with the scent of ozone, leaving behind a charge that left the hairs on our arms standing in response.

I was certain that my elemental control was more advanced than hers. But that may have been because my [Dao of Movement] elevated my control to the next level. I saw how that movement changed as the water transitioned from liquid to ice. I understood how particle movement created the spark that led to lightning. I watched cooling and heating temperatures affected the movement of water particles to create fog, rain, and snow.

That didn't mean the earth and metal cultivator was without talent or tricks. One of the most impressive and tricky for me to counter and deal with was her one with the earth skill. I had no idea what it was called, but the skill allowed her to seem to become part of the ground. It was almost impossible to tell where she was when she faded into the limestone, and it was while she was in this semi-state of transformation that she was able to move into position for an ambush.

Earth and metal didn't have the movement and fluidity that air and water had. It could, but that would require tremors or heat. But even without those conditions, movement existed. A stored potential that could be unleashed with the right set of circumstances. Eventually, her cultivation would advance, she would be powerful enough to crack the planet's crust and release lava. Or shift a tectonic plate for cataclysmic destruction.

That type of power was what anyone reaching Immortal Venerable Realm could unleash. But by the time she could do that, she would be so powerful there would be no need. Forsaking earthly sensibilities seemed to be a symptom and condition as cultivators advanced. They retreated from the world, severing family, friendship, greed, and love for the higher ideal of reaching the Heavenly plane.

For this battle, water and earth were natural enemies. Earth could direct and confine water, while water eroded and shaped even the strongest stone. Earth versus water. Lightning versus Metal. Air versus Magnetism. We were well suited as opponents, each of our affinities an almost perfect counter to the other.

The Tessen was out of play; I wasn't willing to risk my weapon being used against me when she manipulated the metal, so I had to introduce a new variable. I split my Qi, directing it to the four spatial devices that had been handcrafted into my leather armor. As I did so, reams of cloth were released, once I was happy with the amount that had been released, I closed the storage devices. The openings snapping shut worked like a pair of seamstress scissors, cutting the cloth into four distinct piles.

I grabbed the edges of two of the piles and began waving them around, snapping them in the air as if they were freshly washed sheets about to be folded. As I did so, I began revolving my Qi into [Catch the Moon] a [Tessenjutsu] technique that made use of the material in my Tessen to secure and bind.

The cloth replaced my Tessen, and as I danced and spiraled, dodging the tines of the trident as she blasted them at me, attempting to clip my wings, I was able to create a shield of almost living cloth. As more and more air Qi was released, my movements becoming more fluid as the material became a part of my dance, accentuating my dips and twirls. I extended two more Qi strands, connecting to the pile of material that I had ignored.

The silk the material had been made out of moved easily with each gust of air Qi I released. The hardest part was to keep each section isolated, they tended to try to twine together. There were instances where allowing them to braid would be an effective strategy, but not here.

Keeping tabs of three different weapon attacks and the young woman as she utilized her one with the earth skill to blend into the limestone and reposition was the hardest thing I'd ever done. But I was managing. It was like juggling scarves while dancing ballet.

It was only possible because of my dedication when cultivating [Transcend the Heavenly Footpath]. The attention to detail that that cultivation technique required carried over into all aspects of my work with Qi. I hadn't tried to force the elements to bend to my will, instead; I had spent hours, days, weeks paying the same attention to detail [Transcend] required to each of the elements I controlled.

From the very beginning, I had tried to advance my techniques by applying the idiosyncrasies that each element exhibited. Air could be gentle, a gust of wind, or ferocious, a hurricane-force that destroyed everything in its path. Water could sate a person's thirst as well as allow them to drown. Ice could be refreshing or deadly. And lightning could energize as well as stun.

I hadn't had enough time to integrate the [Dao of Movement] with each of the elements, except perhaps at the most basic level. Everything existed in motion, electrons, and protons moving in harmony to give mass and meaning to all creation. I understood this underlying truth.

Working to harmonize the [Dao of Movement] with [White Crane Opens Wing] and [Dragon Sweeps the Tail] I attempted to bridge two disparate attack skills. [White Crane] was a technique that relied heavily on the arms, while [Dragon Tail] was almost exclusively a leg attack. By assigning two material piles to each attack, I was able to defend and attack.

Silk moved.

Moved to my command, directed by my will, to overwhelm the young woman that even now was using her trident effectively. She had gotten within melee range and was brandishing the weapon more like a sword than a spear, making cutting and slashing motions.

The trident seemed to vibrate, the harmonics of that vibration representing earth, metal, and magnetism. She lashed out with one weapon but delivered three attacks. Her ability to reposition at will was confounding. It was only thanks to my Qi perception that I was able to track her movements at all.

The material that I was using was being shredded, but the aftermath of that destruction became a new advantage, each small piece of material added to the growing pool of material that responded to my will. Our battle had seemed choreographed, each of us anticipating and reacting to the other. Attack, defend, and counter-attack. Movement perceived. Movement anticipated. Movement bolstered my understanding of the [Dao of Movement]. Once we understood the other's abilities and techniques, we became more.

It was during this moment, the give and take that defined the flow of battle that we demonstrated the mastery of our martial techniques. This time of predictability, as we fought as one gave me the skill, I needed, to merge the four piles of destroyed cloth into a shredded cloud of material that I began spinning. A small tornado created not for damage, but to confuse the senses and obscure her sight.

Drawing back the string of my bow, I invoked [Spin and Dive Into the Ocean] jumping and diving while I released an ice arrow, followed by one arrow after another each formed from lightning. My vision was just as obscured by the tornado of cloth as hers. But I didn't need to see. My ice attack had stunned her, leaving her defenseless and unable to react as my lightning attacks continued to rain down on her. Until those judging this event, recognized the battle was over and removed her from the arena.

As the pyramid faded and the labyrinth dissolved, I heard the roaring of a crowd that had been observing our match. I wasn't certain how I felt about that. I was hoping to keep my abilities a secret, but if our competitions were being watched by an audience, then secrecy and anonymity were probably impossible.

I knew my alchemy competition had spectators, I'm not sure why I thought the martial events would be different. This part of the tournament was the true start of the competition as far as most people were concerned.