“Say, who do you think is going to win?”
Wun Siu Lan pursed her lips and smiled. Even though she was quite powerful for her age, she knew that her knowledge was still lacking when it came to reading a fight. In contrast, while Wun Fan might be weak, she had always been impressed by his understanding of combat situations.
Wun Fan gave his opinion, “Wun Sam’s large, swinging moves are very powerful and it even looks like Wun Si can’t counterattack with his own moves, but in truth, Wun Sam’s attacks haven’t inflicted any serious damage on his opponent. In fact, he seems to have exhausted a lot of his soul energy. His breathing has obviously become heavy. Moreover, his movements are too stiff. He’s exposing his vitals on his ribs and waist with every strike. Meanwhile, Wun Si has very agile moves. The two moves he used were to increase his speed and to defend himself. He will have no problem with either a drawn-out fight or a rapid counterattack. He also has a very strong sense of combat. He tied the sword handle to his hand with a piece of cloth because he got blood on his hand to prevent it from slipping. Only someone with real combat experience would do that. I think your average clan member wouldn’t have that kind of awareness.”
Wun Siu Lan was completely befuddled by the whole string of analysis. It wasn’t just detailed in its observation, but also well-reasoned and argued, all in a calm and assured tone. She couldn’t help but wonder if Wun Fan was really only one year older than she was.466Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡik5ExRT4Xd
The two combatants stared at each other across the stage.
Wun Sam’s breathing was much more laboured than Wun Si, his chest heaving with every breath. Just as Wun Fan said, he had used up a lot of his soul energy.
“Fine. I’ll end it with this move,” Wun Sam muttered under his breath and gripped the sword with both hands. He swung the sword downward and started to walk toward Wun Si, dragging the giant sword behind him. A deep groove was carved into the ground.
With every step he took, the groove grew deeper and the more strength it seemed to drain him to take the next step. Dragging the sword appeared to be an incredibly difficult task. Almost everyone was confused about what he was doing.
“He’s charging up an attack!” Wun Siu Lan cried out and Wun Fan nodded in agreement.
“Heh.” The third elder stroked his beard when he saw Wun Sam’s actions and said in a satisfied tone, “Who would’ve thought that the Riverbreaker move would suit him so well?”
Wun Si could see Wun Sam’s aura grow fiercer and fiercer with time, and he felt the pressure build. He dared not waste any more time. He drew on his soul energy and unleashed his own move.
“Lethality: Sword of the Moving Clouds and Floating Shadows.”
Wun Si became even more agile as he pounced left and right, like a jaguar looking for a chance to strike.
“Lethality: Riverbreaker! Hup!”
Wun Sam twisted his hips, the veins bulging along his arm as he swung the giant sword upwards with all his strength. An invisible but immense force cut across the ground at Wun Si, leaving a deep furrow in its wake. Wun Si pushed with his toes when he saw this, stopping his momentum and switching directions. The attack just barely missed and slashed past him.
Wun Sam showed no frustration at seeing his move dodged. Instead, he smiled big and wide. Wun Si immediately reacted as he growled, “Something’s wrong!”
The sword blast turned around after missing Wun Si. Wun Fan could sense that the sword blast had lost a bit of its strength, but it continued striking toward Wun Si.
“Lethality: Sword’s Formless Guard.”
The sword blast was already in his face and he had no means to dodge anymore. His only option was to use his defensive move at maximum soul energy output in hopes of surviving the attack.
Boom!
The sword blast smashed against Wun Si’s sword and sent him flying through the air. He crashed heavily into the ground with such tremendous impact that blood was seeping out from the corner of his mouth. Wun Si could sense his blood churning in him, but he leaned against his sword and stood up with all he had. He looked across the stage and saw Wun Sam lying on the ground, breathing heavily and without an ounce of strength left in his body. It seemed like he had completely used up all his soul energy.
In the end, Wun Si won by a hair. However, Wun Sam was probably the most satisfied. The experience of just this fight alone was far more fruitful than training by himself.
“The winner is Wun Si. An interesting match.” The third elder returned to the middle of the stage and gave two brief comments, “Excellent combat consciousness from Wun Si; good execution of Riverbreaker from Wun Sam.”
A few more battles commenced on the stage after Wun Sam and Wun Si’s battle, but none of them were as intense and exciting as their fight. Wun Fan even felt a little unsatisfied and he got a little tired as the night went on.
Interestingly, someone tried to challenge Wun Siu Lan, but the great elder denied the request before she could say anything. His reasoning was that Wun Siu Lan was too powerful and it would be too easy for an accident to occur if things got out of hand.
Wun Siu Lan was fuming when she heard this. Wasn’t that basically accusing her of always losing control? What kind of gramps would say that of his precious child? She wanted to challenge the great elder there and then! If Wun Fan hadn’t been there to console her, it would probably have been a whole thing again.
“Any more challengers?”
The third elder was as calm as ever. There didn’t seem to be any more new challengers, so he continued, “It’s eight. It’s late and we should…”
“Hold on.” A voice came from the platform, interrupting the third elder.
“Wun Ping!” Wun Siu Lan shouted when she heard Wun Ping speak. To speak up at this moment, and with his gaze fixed on Wun Fan; it couldn’t be more obvious what he wanted to do. He was going after Wun Fan, just like he said he would earlier! He wanted to challenge Wun Fan!
“Mm?” The third elder looked up toward the platform at Wun Ping, without any hint of emotion in his eyes.
“Heh, Third Elder, the one I wish to challenge is my third brother, Wun Fan,” Wun Ping said respectfully to the third elder as he glanced at Wun Fan to see his reaction.
The crowd murmured and talked amongst themselves at this turn of events.
Wun Fan was still sitting with one leg crossed over the other and a toothpick in his mouth, completely unfazed. Wun Ping was annoyed to see this.
“Oh, my brother, why do you want a friendly match with me so badly?” Wun Fan narrowed his eyes and put on an innocent smile unlike his usual serious expression.
Meanwhile, both the clan master and the great elder didn’t seem like they intended to speak up about the situation. After all, there was nothing wrong with Wun Ping challenging Wun Fan to a match! He was simply working within the rules. Wun Fan was free to accept or refuse the match as he wished.
However, the Wun Clan prized martial power above all else. A man that refused a challenge would be looked down on by everyone. There were four levels of difference between their strength, but there was no such thing as true fairness in this world, and anyways, there were no cowards among the men of the Wun Clan.
“If it’s a fight you want, I can be your opponent,” Wun Siu Lan stood up and snorted coldly. She looked at Wun Ping with scorn in her eyes as she said, “Your levels are so far apart. Are you not ashamed to be picking on him?”
“Fourth sister, if you want to fight, you will have to wait until I and third brother are done. Or perhaps you don’t intend to respect the Wun Clan’s rules?”
Wun Ping finally found an opportunity to use the rules to his advantage and immediately used it to make Wun Siu Lan shut up.
“You…”
Anger glowed in Wun Siu Lan’s eyes. If there was any offensive power to glaring, Wun Ping would have been beaten up to a helpless pulp by now.
Suddenly, Wun Fan patted Wun Siu Lan on her shoulder and indicated for her to calm down. He then flashed his teeth at Wun Ping and said, “Do you really want to fight me?”
Wun Ping finally acted properly. He said nothing and used no insults. He simply waited for Wun Fan’s answer in silence. In his mind, Wun Fan now had no choice but to choose between his dignity or his physical well-being.
“Why don’t we play a game?” Wun Fan smiled. He looked Wun Ping in the face and proposedly eagerly, “Neither of us is allowed to use aether in our fight. How about that?”
“Hahaha.”
Wun Ping couldn’t help but break out laughing when he heard Wun Fan’s proposal. He had been training for five years now and had attained tenth-level Martial Disciple. His body wasn’t impervious to swords and knives yet, but it was still far stronger than your average person's. Moreover, his opponent was a sixth-level Martial Disciple, a cripple that would never be able to break through to a higher level. However, he smelled something resembling a nasty plot behind that wicked smile of Wun Fan’s. He hadn’t forgotten Wun Fan’s extraordinary performance during the New Year’s Gold segment earlier.
Wun Ping calculated the risk in his mind and his gaze at Wun Fan started to turn hesitant. He was actually hesitating about the fight now. However, when he remembered that Wun Fan was only a sixth-level Martial Disciple, he gritted his teeth and agreed to the idea.
“Fine! We won’t use aether in this match.”
Wun Fan smiled as he swore to himself in his head, This time, I’ll show you what I’ve got.
If they were allowed to use aether, he would be at a definite disadvantage due to the four-level difference between them. This was the reason why the martial realms and levels were absolute in Heaven’s Martial Continent. It was simple—someone at tenth-level had four additional levels’ worth of aether compared to someone at sixth-level.466Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMxWoSxCEU
