Li Yu took his seat in the stands next to his friends, the roar of the crowd a distant noise. Hu Jian and Lin Tao rushed to his side, their faces etched with concern and righteous anger.
"Junior Steward, that was a dirty trick!" Hu Jian growled, his fists clenched. "He just trapped you! If it were a real fight, a straightforward battle, you would have crushed him!"
"No," Li Yu said, his voice quiet but firm, cutting through his friend's anger. He looked at them, his eyes clear and devoid of any shame or frustration. "He would have won. He is a better fighter than I am."
His friends stared at him, stunned into silence by his calm, straightforward admission.
"I have spent my life focused on cultivating, on building my foundation and on understanding the nature of beasts," Li Yu explained. "I have been hiding away, only focussed on my cultivation. You have pointed it out to me as well, I lack combat experience and a killer instinct."
"My techniques are powerful, my beasts are strong but my own instincts in a battle are currently clumsy. I react, I defend, I overwhelm. I do not see the subtle openings, the hidden currents of a true duel. Chen Mo is smart. He saw my weakness and exploited it perfectly. He did not win with tricks; he won with his mind."
"I need to improve in order to be ready for future fights. I plan to ask different sect members for duels so I can see more and more varied techniques and tactics. To prepare myself for the future so I am not found stumbling around. My lack of experience, training and knowledge is my downfall in this tournament."
Brother Kai looked at the young man and a respect filled his eyes. To be able to admit one's own weakness so clearly, especially in the face of public defeat was a good sign. This was a young man that was willing to learn and grow. "Then this was a valuable lesson, Junior Steward," he said.
The first semi-final match was between Chen Mo and Su Ling. It was a battle that held the entire arena in a state of rapt attention. It was a contest of two different philosophies of control.
Chen Mo began as he had against Li Yu, his hands a blur as he laid down intricate, layered formations. He created a gravity well, a wind-dispersing array, and a new Qi-draining formation that pulsed with a malevolent light. He had several more disks floating around himself as well.
Su Ling, however, knew what he was up to and was aware of how to counter such formations. Her Ice-Feathered Crane spirit appeared behind her and with a single graceful flap of its wings, the temperature on the entire platform plummeted. A wave of absolute biting cold washed over everything.
The glowing runes of Chen Mo's formations flickered and dimmed, the flow of spiritual energy within them becoming sluggish, disrupted by the extreme cold. His face didn't look good when he realized his mistake. His formations relied on the smooth, unimpeded flow of Qi. Su Ling had not tried to break them; she had frozen the very air they needed to breathe.
"My domain," she said, her voice as cold as the ice forming on the stage, "is absolute."
Chen Mo tried laying down additional formations but the entire stage was now frozen. His arrays flickered into life but were only able to operate at a fraction of their true abilities.
She raised a single elegant finger. The moisture in the air around Chen Mo instantly crystallized, forming a cage of razor-sharp ice spikes that surrounded him, their tips pointed at his throat. Chen Mo, his formations failing, his own Qi sluggish from the cold could only stare in horror.
"I yield," he said.
The victory was swift, absolute and a terrifying display of elemental mastery. Li Yu watched, his mind absorbing every detail. Su Ling had not just used a technique; she had transformed the entire battlefield into her personal weapon.
The second semi-final was a battle of pure unrestrained violence. It pitted the warrior, Tie Tang, against the sect's acknowledged number one genius below the Foundation Establishment Realm, a disciple named Xiao Feng.
Xiao Feng was a tall, lean young man with a wild, untamable aura. His weapon was a simple, iron-headed spear, and his martial spirit was a Crimson-Eyed Storm Wyvern. The moment the match began, the two warriors charged, their battle a chaotic explosion of force.
Tie Tang was a mountain of defensive power, his every punch carrying the weight of the earth. Xiao Feng was a storm, his spear a whirlwind of lightning and thunder, his every thrust a perfectly aimed, instinct-driven strike.
It was a battle of pure, primal combat instinct. They did not scheme or plan. They simply fought, their bodies and spirits moving in a perfect, deadly harmony. Li Yu watched, mesmerized. He could see some of the openings, the feints, the counters but he saw them a split second after the two fighters had already reacted. Their minds worked on a level he could not comprehend, a state of pure, instinctual combat that was as natural to them as breathing.
He wanted to reach their level, his fist balled up tightly. How long would it take him to reach that level of mastery and improved instincts? Was it something they were born with? Unlikely, talent could only go so far and give them an edge over things. What he was seeing was years of experience and skills from masters of their craft.
The battle ended when Xiao Feng, with a final heaven-shaking roar fused completely with his wyvern spirit. His body became a blur of crimson lightning and his spear strike carried the power of a thunderclap. It finally shattered Tie Tang's Adamantine Bear defense, sending the larger man crashing from the stage.
The final match was set: Su Ling versus Xiao Feng. The Mistress of Absolute Control versus the God of Instinctual Combat.
The battle was a legend in the making. Su Ling immediately established her ice domain, turning the platform into a frozen treacherous landscape. Xiao Feng, however, was a storm that could not be contained. His every step cracked the ice, his every spear thrust was a bolt of lightning that shattered her ice shields.
It was a battle of attrition. Su Ling tried to control him, to slow him, to trap him in her icy web. Xiao Feng simply ignored it, his relentless, overwhelming aggression forcing her into a defensive battle. He was not trying to out-think her; he was simply trying to break her. Li Yu could see that he was able to adapt this fighting style to what was needed at the time and who he fought.
The end came after ten minutes of breathtaking, high-level combat. Su Ling, in a desperate attempt to land a decisive blow, created a momentary opening in her own defense. It was an opening small and fleeting, that ninety-nine percent of cultivators would have missed it.
Xiao Feng did not.
With a speed that defied logic, he pivoted, his spear a blur and thrust it directly into that single momentary flaw. The tip of his spear stopped a hair's breadth from Su Ling's throat.
Silence.
"I yield," Su Ling said, a look of frustrated admiration on her face.
Xiao Feng had won. The crowd erupted in a deafening roar.
The Sect Master himself descended from the clouds, his benevolent smile gracing the arena. He praised the disciples for their skill and bravery and began to announce the rewards.
When Xiao Feng was presented with the Foundation Soul Pill, a wave of envy and awe washed over the crowd. The young warrior took the pill, his expression one of grim satisfaction. Li Yu didn't think that he would use that pill for his breakthrough. Someone of Xiao Feng's genius didn't need it. He would most likely sell it or trade it for a favor.
Li Yu watched the ceremony with his heart calm and clear. He felt no envy or any regrets. He had come to this competition seeking a lesson and he had received an education that was more valuable than any pill.
That night back at the Azure lake, he gathered his friends.
"The competition is over," he said. "And I have found my path."
They looked at him, their expressions attentive.
"In my current state, I am not a warrior like Tie Tang or a genius like Xiao Feng. I am not a strategist like Chen Mo or a master of control like Su Ling," he stated, his voice devoid of self-pity, filled only with a calm acceptance. "To try and walk their path would be to doom myself to mediocrity. My talent does not lie in my own two hands."
He looked around at the loyal faces of his friends, and then at the Beast Bag and storage ring at his waist.
"To make up for my current weaknesses I plan to embrace my current strengths of a beast tamer, a king." he declared, his voice resonating with a new confidence. "A king does not need to be the strongest warrior in his army. He needs to command the strongest army. My path forward for now is clear, at least until I improve further, if I ever do. I will focus on what I do best: cultivation. I will reach a realm so high that my very presence can crush my enemies."
"I will use wealth and connections to acquire the most powerful artifacts, the most unbreakable armor and the most devastating weapons. And I will use my unique gift to nurture and command a force of demonic beasts so powerful that they can sweep away any and all who stand in my way."
Would that mean he would stop trying to get better at the things he wasn't great at? No. He would still need to improve but his greater focus was going to be on things he was great at and use that overwhelming power to crush his enemies.
He had lost the competition. But he had won a far greater prize. He had won a clear understanding of himself of how he currently was.