Chapter 209 - Specter vs. Smoke (1/2)

'He's starting to get nervous. It's time to fight back.'

As soon as Huli Xieren thought so, her eyes lit up with a fighting spirit. Harnessing her tail made of spirit power, she slammed into the fighting stage floor to rise into the air.

”Fire Law, Wisp!”

Quickly in the free hand that wasn't holding the sword, a small ball of fire the size of a fist formed. Soon after, the young woman hurled this fireball at Bao Yeong-Cheol.

”Break!”

With a scornful cry, Bao Yeong-Cheol made one of his jagged blades move against the fireball. The rumble of lightning struck the spherical flame and tore it apart. Then he too jumped up and moved his second blade.

Slash!

The blade whipped through the air but missed Huli Xieren once again. Even though they had shifted to air combat, she hadn't lost her agility of movement. However, she soon brought the fight back to the ground.

'Air combat is not recommended given the range of his blades. I still don't have enough flight maneuverability that can match my movements on land.'

It was right. Even though spirit soldiers could fly, they would rarely fight using their flight ability. This is because their amount of spirit power and their ability to control it still weren't enough to match their ground fighting skills. Thus, Huli Xieren decided to bring the fight back to the ground where she could use the floor to bounce her body thanks to her tail.

”Fire Law, Wisp!”

Even though the idea of ​​air combat had been discarded, Huli Xieren didn't just defend herself. Whenever she got a breather, she would send a fireball towards Bao Yeong-Cheol. However, each of these fireballs contained low attack power and were all easily destroyed by Bao Yeong-Cheol's attacks.

”Can't you do anything else? Such a poor technique can never defeat me!” Bao Yeong-Cheol said as he smiled. He was initially concerned because Huli Xieren had started attacking. As a result, he feared he was on the verge of losing control over the course of the battle. Fortunately, Huli Xieren was always using the same technique, which didn't have enough attack power to worry him.

'Considering my attack pace, she probably doesn't have the time and clarity to use other techniques. She uses the same move because it's easy to create and doesn't consume much spirit power. Is she trying to create an opening so she can hit me? I'm sorry, but you're off track if you think you can screw me like that.' Bao Yeong-Cheol analyzed, reinvigorating his fighting spirit. Now that he knew what his opponent was aiming for, he just had to pay attention to it and wouldn't lose.

Indeed, Bao Yeong-Cheol's reasoning wasn't wrong. Huli Xieren was using the same technique with little power to breach into Bao Yeong-Cheol. But the young woman didn't want to strike using an opening in Bao Yeong-Cheol's fighting stance. Instead, she wanted him to believe that she was aiming for it so that he didn't notice the real trap.

'Time to finish the fight.' Huli Xieren told herself as she gathered her spirit power.

”Fire Law, Adherent Flame!”

As soon as she said this, tiny red granules lit up all over Bao Yeong-Cheol's body, including his staff. But it wasn't just Bao Yeong-Cheol. The spot on the floor he was stepping on was also full of red granules, as well as other areas on the fighting stage. By analyzing the granules' conformation, it could be deduced that these formed a trail that mimicked the movements that Bao Yeong-Cheol had made. And the next instant, all the grains of fire away from Bao Yeong-Cheol poured towards the young man.

Blaze!

It all happened in an instant. The granules on Bao Yeong-Cheol's body exploded, generating a purple and red flame that increased in intensity as the other granules of fire fell upon Bao Yeong-Cheol.

”Arghhh!”

Seeing himself engulfed in flames, Bao Yeong-Cheol tried to move from where he was. And yet, strangely, he couldn't. It was like he couldn't move from that point at all.

”What is happening? It is as if I am glued to the floor. I can't even get altitude.”

At this time, Bao Yeong-Cheol's confident and bold attitude was gone. Fear had taken its place - the fear of defeat. He knew very well that if he didn't free himself soon, he would end up losing. Therefore, he began to unleash more spirit power to infuse greater power into the lightning, covering his serrated blades.

'If I can't move, then I'll get my weapons moving. Once that bitch's concentration is destroyed, I can free myself from this technique. ' Bao Yeong-Cheol thought as he tried to calm down.

Despite his efforts, however, his weapons also suffered from the same effect. At the moment, it was at the mercy of the flames, and although they wouldn't have melted that easily, they were stuck in place with no sign of moving.

”Fire Law, Fox Hold.”

Seeing Bao Yeong-Cheol struggling, Huli Xieren intervened. Now that she had him, she wouldn't let him free himself for the world. She then approached Bao Yeong-Cheol's burning body and then wagged her tail of spirit power. The tail wrapped around Bao Yeong-Cheol, breaking away from Huli Xieren's body. At that point, the flames surrounding the Bao Family's young man rose in intensity so much that you could smell the smell of burning flesh.

”The winner is Huli Xieren.” declared Song Yazhu, who saw, beyond the block of flames, the breaking of Bao Yeong-Cheol's defensive layer of spirit power. Without that layer to protect him, the young man's body would soon be charred.

At the proclamation of Song Yazhu, Huli Xieren didn't immediately put away her flames but left them for a few more seconds. She hadn't forgotten the insulting comments about Feng Chen, and her anger still hadn't subsided. Luckily, she wasn't a woman who would get overwhelmed by emotions and didn't forget about the current situation. Thus, although her flames had burned Bao Yeong-Cheol, the latter wasn't injured so badly as to risk his life. Then, without giving Bao Yeong-Cheol another look, Huli Xieren turned and walked back to the battle stands.

Such an action obviously provoked the Bao Family members' anger, who had come to watch the tournament. Initially, they were overjoyed to have two family members among the 32 fighters qualified for the tournament's main stage. Yet despite everything, both of their representatives had lost in their first round.

This might also have been acceptable if the opponents were powerful and famous, such as Long Tian, ​​Feng Chen, or Hu Jie. However, those who had beaten their promising martial artists came from two families they didn't hold in high regard - the He Family and the Huli Family.

And it was mainly because they had lost to the latter that they felt anger and hatred. But since the Feng Family was behind the Huli Family, they could only grind their teeth and congratulate the Huli Family members in the VIP stand.

”The next fight will see the last of the Imperial Prince's guards, Hide. His opponent will be Wei Yaling.” Song Yazhu proclaimed the names of the next challengers.

The first was Hide, the last of Long Tian's four guards. His three companions had all won and advanced to the next round. So he was the only one left, and the Imperial Prince's faction would achieve a complete victory. His opponent for the first round was Wei Yaling, a woman with long black hair and a complexion rather pale as if she were ill. She had a lit smoking pipe over her mouth and occasionally released puffs of dark gray smoke.

”Let the fight begin.”

At Song Yazhu's signal, Hide proceeded to draw his weapon, a spiked mace also known as the morning star. The shape of the weapon and the spike's presence gave the morning star a terrifying power capable of smashing the opponent's bones on impact if the latter hadn't had the defensive layer of spirit power active. Soon after, without waiting for Wei Yaling's response, Hide swooped in on her, raising his morning star spiked mace.