The third round of the Grand Competition was the true dividing line. Of the over one hundred disciples who had started, only the top thirty-two remained. Each one was a dragon among men, a true genius of the inner sect. The battles became longer, more brutal and far more revealing.
Li Yu's victory over Yao Ling had solidified his reputation as one of the competition's dark horses. He was the "Quiet Physician," but had somehow made it this far.
The next day came quickly.
Lin Tao, having advanced to the third round had been matched against a powerful Sixth Stage disciple and was defeated after a hard-fought battle. He was not disheartened but his face was a mask of sober contemplation when he returned to the stands where his group of friends were.
"His foundation was simply deeper than mine," Lin Tao said. "My techniques could control and redirect his attacks but I could not break through his defenses. It was a valuable lesson. I know now what I must work on."
"You fought well," Li Yu said. "You forced a Sixth Stage expert to use his full power. There is no shame in that defeat."
He looked at his friends. Hu Jian had been eliminated. Lin Tao was now out. He was the only one of their small faction left in the competition. The weight of their collective hopes now rested on his shoulders but it was a slim hope. They went into the tournament not expecting to reach the end but there was always a simmer of a chance.
Li Yu drew his lot for the third round. His opponent was a disciple named Tie Gang from the Iron Fist Peak. Li Yu had heard of him. He was a cultivator who had eschewed elegant techniques and profound arts in favor of one thing: pure, unadulterated combat. He was a warrior, born and bred.
They met on the central platform, the largest and most prominent of the arenas. Tie Gang was a mountain of a man. His body was a mass of corded muscle. His skin covered in a faint metallic sheen from his body cultivation art. His martial spirit was a Rank 5 Adamantine Bear, a creature of unyielding strength and ferocity. He stood with his arms crossed, his aura a palpable wave of raw, untamed battle lust. He was at the same Fifth Stage of Qi Condensation as Li Yu's public persona. This would be a battle of equals.
"Li Yu," Tie Gang's voice was a low gravelly rumble. "I have seen your fights. I am not like your other opponents. I do not use fancy techniques. I only know how to break things."
The match began. Tie Gang did not wait. He roared, a sound that shook the very platform and fused with his Adamantine Bear spirit. A thick, grey, metallic light enveloped his body and his muscles seemed to swell, his presence becoming even more bestial and intimidating. He did not use a movement technique. He simply charged forward, his every step a thunderous boom, his path a straight, uncompromising line of destruction.
Li Yu's mind was momentarily thrown into chaos. There was nothing to really analyze here. There was no technique to counter. There was only overwhelming force. This was yet another style that he had not fought directly against so he was excited to have a chance.
He instinctively used his «Rippling Shadow Step», his form a watery blur as he evaded the initial charge. But Tie Gang's instincts were those of a true predator with years of fighting experience. He did not try to follow Li Yu's complex movements, he anticipated his next steps. He simply changed direction in mid-charge, his movements clumsy but brutally effective and fast. He brought his massive stone-like fist crashing down where Li Yu was about to reappear.
Li Yu was forced to materialize his «Flowing Water, Still Shadow» shield to block. The fist struck the shield and for the first time, his profound technique was found to be lacking. The shield did not disperse the energy; it shattered. The brute force of the blow was too great to be redirected. Li Yu was sent stumbling back a jolt of pain shooting up his arm.
The battle that followed was a nightmare for Li Yu. He was completely, utterly suppressed. Tie Gang was not a fencer; he was a brawler. He fought with a wild, unpredictable rhythm, his fists and feet a constant, overwhelming storm. He had no discernible patterns, no elegant forms. He was a force of nature, a living embodiment of combat. Not only was it hard to tell what he was going to do next, he seemed to be able to read Li Yu's mind and predict what he was going to do.
Li Yu was forced onto the defensive, his mind racing to calculate, to predict, to survive. He was dodging, blocking and evading but he could not find an opening that he could take advantage of. He was constantly too on the defensive.
Tie Gang's every move flowed into the next, a seamless instinctual dance of violence. His years of experience fighting constantly has shown him his own weaknesses and he had developed a style to counter those weaknesses. Offense was his greatest defense, never allowing his more technically gifted opponents to get off any attacks. This way, it allowed him to focus on his strengths, his overwhelming power and beast like instincts to detect weakness.
Li Yu realized that this was the true meaning of a warrior that relied on overwhelming power and strength. He had the strength of Tie Gang but not his instincts. It was not something that could be learned from a scroll or practiced in seclusion. It was a talent for combat that was as innate as his own talent for cultivation and honed through endless years of fighting. Li Yu currently lacked both, a talent for it as well as the time needed to develop it and hone it.
He was a school boy facing a barbarian and the barbarian was winning.
"You are fast, little one," Tie Gang grunted, his fists a blur. "But you cannot dodge forever!"
He was right. Li Yu was being herded, his space on the platform shrinking with every passing second. He knew he could not win this on his own. His own combat skills was a flickering candle against this raging inferno. His water arts were useless against Tie Gang, he simply broke through all of them with his power.
Li Yu knew it was going to be over if this kept up so he took his chance, repeating what he did in his first match of the tournament. He saw an opening—or rather, he created one out of desperation. He deliberately allowed one of Tie Gang's sweeping kicks to get past his defenses. He took the blow on his shoulder, his «Tidal Aegis Art» and «Leviathan Bone» physique absorbing the worst of the impact but he allowed himself to be sent flying, a pained cry escaping his lips.
He used the momentum to create distance, landing near the edge of the platform. In that single, crucial moment of separation and with no other options left he once again called his companion. He had learned what he could from his opponent. He wasn't going to be able to beat him alone, it was time to use his full arsenal.
"Crimson! Lirael!" he commanded through his link.
Two portals opened at his side. Crimson appeared with a furious roar, its jade-green form a bulwark of power. And beside it, a slender ten-foot-long serpent of midnight-blue scales materialized. Its golden eyes burning with a cold ancient light. Lirael had made her public debut.
The crowd cheered as the battle was going to intensify. Two contracted beasts! And one of them was a Rank 5 Tyrant!
Tie Gang, who had been charging forward to deliver the final blow skidded to a halt. His eyes went slightly wide with a mixture of shock and a new burning battle lust. "Two of them! Good! This is a real fight!" He wasn't concerned, he loved to fight and this was going to be a good challenge for him.
The battle became a three-on-one war. Tie Gang was a monster but he was not invincible. Crimson, with its tough hide and draconic venom, met his charge head-on in a clash of pure physical might. Lirael, however, was a ghost. She moved with a silent fluid grace that didn't fit her large size.
Her slender form a shadow that weaved through the battle. She did not attack directly. She used her innate abilities to subtly alter the battlefield. A disorienting psychic pulse like the sonar of a deep-sea predator would momentarily disrupt his focus.
Li Yu, now freed from the direct assault, was forced into a supporting role. He stood at the back, his hands a blur of motion as he supported his companions with ice blades and mist shrouds.
Tie Gang was powerful but he was being attacked from three sides at once. His offensive nature was not to allow his opponents to be able to attack back but that was incredibly difficult when there were three opponents at once.
His every move was hampered, his every attack met with a wall of scales or a disorienting pulse. Finally, after a long and brutal struggle, Lirael saw her chance. As Crimson locked horns with the Adamantine Bear spirit, she struck.
Her form was a blur of midnight blue as she shot forward, her silver horn glowing with a cold, piercing light. She did not aim to kill. She struck the side of Tie Gang's knee with a precise, debilitating blow.
The warrior's leg buckled and he fell to one knee with a roar of pain and frustration. At that moment, he was defenseless.
Li Yu appeared before him, his palm glowing with the dark heavy light of the «Deep-River Seal». He did not strike. He simply held it, a silent final move to make his opponent realize he was defeated.
Tie Gang looked at the palm, then at the two powerful beasts. He let out a long weary sigh and the metallic light of his spirit faded.
"I yield," he grunted, the words tasting like ash in his mouth.
Li Yu had won and continued to see where he could improve and what he was lacking. It was what he had wanted from this tournament but each realization brought about frustrations as well.
He had thought he would be a great warrior, what child didn't have that dream. To fight against over one hundred and win by yourself. Currently that was not him but he had time to change that. He was still young and had more to learn.
He walked off the platform, his mind a quiet somber sea. He had advanced to the quarter-finals but his own limitations had been laid bare for him to see. He did not return to his friends. He found a quiet empty spot in the stands and watched the final matches of the day.
He watched as Su Ling, with her cold, precise and utterly flawless control, defeated her opponent without taking a single step. He watched as another disciple, a master of the sword, moved with a grace and a killer instinct that was both beautiful and terrifying. Killer instincts but with immense control to not hurt his fellow disciples was truly impressive.
He was watching true warriors that had been in countless combats and battles. In his current state he would need to utilize his beasts more. Use his beast's primal instincts to make up for his own lacking ones.
Use them to counter his weaknesses until his weaknesses were no longer there. If certain weaknesses never went away then he would just have to find ways to make up for them.. He needed more time to grow, to become better, to become better. What's wrong with using things he had the advantage in to win? Nothing was wrong with that. That was the way.
The realization was not a crushing blow. It was a moment of liberating clarity. He had been trying to walk a path that was not his own because of his own thoughts on what a great warrior was or a great cultivator. He had been trying to become a pure warrior when he currently just wasn't one. Maybe that wasn't his path at all, he would continue forward and find out what his path would be.
He looked at the Beast Bag at his waist and then at the storage ring on his finger. Maybe his path was not to become the sharpest sword. Perhaps his path was to own the sharpest sword. And the strongest shield. And the deadliest poison. Maybe his strength lay not in his own hands but in the overwhelming power of the assets he could command.
The Grand Competition was not over. But for Li Yu, its true purpose was now nearly complete. He had found some of his weakness and had his moments of clarity. He needed to be more like the waters that had given him his strength. Be ever fluid, to be ever adapting instead of locking himself into things from his own perceptive notions.