Chapter 27
Two handsome young men stood proudly on a stage, as if they wanted to show off their auras and handsomeness to the shouting audience. One was wearing a brown Daoist robe, while the other wore a dark green robe with a tinge of red on his collar. Then, when the man standing between them suddenly shouted, "Fight!" both quickly dashed toward each other as if their butts were on fire.
Both fighters activated their body enhancements, and Qi began to glow. As they threw punches and kicks, sparks of spiritual Qi could be seen all over the arena. In the middle of their exchange, the man in the brown robe suddenly shouted, "Hundred Fist Barrage!"
Then, shadows of multiple fists suddenly appeared, surrounding his opponent. The youth in the dark green robe was stunned and unable to react, staring dumbly at the incoming fist shadows. When he regained his senses, it was already too late, so he just put up his hands to defend against the onslaught.
As the barrage of fists was too fast and powerful, he was thrown back three meters, coughing up a mouthful of blood and holding his chest. It was evident that a fist had penetrated his defenses and hit him. The young man gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly. It was clear that his opponent had a more powerful skill than he did. But he didn't want to give up, so he stood back up. He gathered his Qi in both feet and madly rushed forward, then shouted, "Dragon Fire Kick!"
This was a skill he had accidentally acquired when he came upon a ruin while hunting. He had trained it for many years but only attained the fundamentals. So far, he hadn't advanced with it and had decided to change to another skill. But since his new skills were not on par with his enemy, this was his last choice.
A raging dragon suddenly appeared behind the youth as his figure flew forward. Upon seeing this, the man in the brown robe sneered and quickly drew a stance and shouted, "Hundred Fist Shield!"
Then, as if his fists began to form shadows of a protective layer in front of him. As their skills collided, a muffled, bone-cracking sound could be heard, along with Qi sparks. All of a sudden, a figure flew backward and fell to the ground, then fainted. When the dust cleared, the young man wearing the brown Daoist robe lay unconscious on the ground.
"Student Huo Tian Lei from Blood Forest Academy wins!" the man who acted as the referee shouted.
This scene was happening all over the fighting stages, but so far no deaths had been declared yet.
Shin Jiao excitedly watched the fights, but after a while, his smiling face began twitching, and a dismayed look appeared in his eyes. He could not bear to watch anymore, as if the people on stage were playing some fun tag games. He felt his body shake a little when they shouted the names of the skills they used as they fought.
"What the heck is this? It seems that the martial skills in this world are truly lacking, and they would even shout their skills. Are they trying to show off or warn their enemies? Tsk, tsk," he said to himself while shaking his head.
Then another idea came to his mind. Looking around cautiously, he took out a few tiny formation flags. He set up a spiritual sense blocking array, and then, using his robe's sleeves as a cover, he took out the Eyewear. Then he crafted another small rune holder and transferred some information into it.
"Hmm... I think this would do. Let's see the result," he murmured as he carefully checked the Eyewear.
He then put it on and activated the rune program. He looked at two people on the stage who were about to start their match.
As another bout started, Shin Jiao concentrated his eyesight on a fighter on stage. Then, as the cultivator moved, he would smile and nod his head. Although he could also predict the movement and trajectory of each attack, as he had taught Cherry Lao before, it was different this time because he was using the Eyewear. The only difference was the little delay, as one's natural reaction is faster when trained properly.
"Left foot... right hook... back kick... back fist... shadow, eh... left-hand chop," Shin Jiao muttered to himself.
Unknown to him, behind her veil, Qin Lou's eyes were bulging in disbelief. She could not believe that what Shin Jiao was saying was what one of the fighters was about to do. It was like he could clearly foresee the future or could read the person's mind.
"How did he do that?" Qin Lou asked herself.
After some contemplation, her senses went directly to Shin Jiao's Eyewear. But no matter how much she tried to scan it, it was just a piece of hardware and some crystals. Although she could feel the flow of spiritual Qi in it, it was still nothing special. If it weren't so conspicuous, she would mistake it for being a part of his body.
"Maybe this is one of his secrets. This guy is truly inconceivable and... and amazing," she said to herself, with a slight blush on her cheeks.
She felt her heart would feel warm whenever she was with him. Especially this morning, when he helped her escape from the bully Chen Je. As she thought about the time he was grabbing her hand and also her waist, she could feel her heart getting warm, and happiness would cloud her mind.
"Okay, I think this is enough... now all I need to do is to refine this into something... something more portable like an eyeglass," Shin Jiao murmured, unconcerned that Qin Lou could hear him beside her.
As they were seated at the topmost corner of the arena, no matter what they did, most people wouldn't bother to notice them, as most people were busy watching the fights below. As the inter-school matches progressed, many fighters had already been eliminated, and in the Snow Wind School, only three were left: the Golden Core seeded student named Xin Lo, who wore the white and blue robe of the Snow Wind School, a late-stage Core Forming Realm cultivator, and Fatty Yao Koi, who was only at the middle stage of the Core Forming Realm. Now, in front of them stood the five players from Soul Mountain School, as they hadn't lost even a single one of their fighters yet.
Looking at the students of Snow Wind School, the bulky youth named Chen Je stood on the stage with a mocking sneer on his face. In front of him stood Fatty Yao Koi, as he was chosen to be Chen Je's next opponent.
"Haha... hey, fatty, do you think you are my match? You're only at the middle stage of the Core Forming Realm. You're asking for a beating if you don't back down. Haha... or better yet, call that trash senior sister Qin of yours to face me. Maybe she could give me at least a little bit of a challenge," Chen Je said with a tone of provocation.
"I'm not scared of you. Senior sister Qin won't lower herself to your level, as you're just some shameless man," Yao Koi shouted.
"Ha, ha... I'll beat you to a pulp. And the only way for them to save you is to surrender or accept my challenge to Qin Lou!" Chen Je shouted with a domineering tone.
Chen Je's gaze went toward his senior brother, the seeded participant of their group. They nodded with a tacit understanding. Then Chen Je suddenly rushed forward and began his attacks. But Yao Koi was prepared; he didn't get to this stage just because of luck. He, too, was a skilled fighter, and he managed to defend or even evade the rain of fists and kicks. But unluckily, a stray fist suddenly appeared and hit Yao Koi in his big stomach, and he was thrown tumbling to the ground.
After that, a rain of fists suddenly assaulted him in his defenseless state. After the bloody scene, Chen Je shouted as he looked around the stage.
"Senior Qin Lou! If you want to save this piece of shit, I challenge you to come out and face me!" Chen Je shouted.
Nobody reacted, as this was a declaration of a challenge. In this world where strength rules, even school matches like this could be turned into a personal bout. As long as that person was able to back it up with his skills or had a very strong background. And Chen Je was one of the core disciples of his school and the lackey of their school's genius student.
"Very well, our Snow Wind School is not a pushover. Since you wanted to challenge one of our students, I'll let you face her... Qin Lou, come out!" a middle-aged man suddenly stood up from where the Snow Wind School team was seated, which garnered suspicion from others.
"Elder Meng, what is the meaning of this?" an elderly-looking man sitting on the judge's platform asked with annoyance.
"Elder Xing, I don't mean anything... It's just that Qin Lou is a Core Forming Realm cultivator of our school, and she is not giving our school any face. She's even letting this junior from Soul Mountain trample on our dignity. If she can't uphold our pride, it's better if we just kick her out," Elder Meng said as if he was stating a fact and upholding justice for their school.
Although Elder Meng was a senior elder of the Snow Mountain School, he could not refute the logic in Elder Xing's words. But he knew the situation of Qin Lou, as he was one of those who had helped check her condition before.
His eyes showed indecisiveness as he weighed whether he needed to protect the dignity of the school or Qin Lou. As a head elder representative of the school, he had the responsibility to protect both the students and the reputation of the school.
Meanwhile, Qin Lou had her fists clenched and was gritting her teeth in anger. She knew why Elder Meng said those things, as she had defeated his cheating son before, and he had been punished by the school. So this Elder Meng had a grudge against her because of that.
"Qin Lou, do you really want to fight?" a voice suddenly interrupted her train of thought.
She just subconsciously nodded her head. As a cultivator, she had her own pride, and she had been bottling this up for some time now.
"Okay, very decisive. I like it. And because of that, I will help you. But you will not fight today. You'll do it tomorrow, okay?" Shin Jiao said with confidence.
Qin Lou didn't answer, as she didn't know if she would trust him. But deep inside her heart, she already had the inkling of following Shin Jiao's plans no matter what they were.
Then Shin Jiao disappeared from where he sat and suddenly he was running toward the arena, panting. When he reached near the middle, he was blocked by a person who looked like someone guarding the area. He relayed his message while he panted heavily. After doing that, he went back outside and then appeared next to Qin Lou once more, who had an incredulous face.
The person then walked toward Elder Ming and whispered the message, which made the man smile. Then he stood up and laughed loudly.
"Young man, she has accepted your challenge. You will be fighting her tomorrow as an exhibition fight between the Snow Wind School and Soul Mountain School."
Upon hearing this, Chen Je smiled evilly. He let go of Yao Koi, who was already bruised all over, and walked down the stage. All the people inside the arena began to whisper among themselves about the challenge and what had happened. Everyone knew that it was a trap set for Qin Lou, but no one dared to voice their opinion, as they too were expectant to see how the previous genius of the Snow Wind School would fare against Chen Je, who was famous for being arrogant and a bully.
Nobody realized that Qin Lou was just there watching them. She also realized that people really couldn't see her. This was due to Shin Jiao's spiritual sense masking array, which was still active. No matter how much they scanned this area, they would not find them unless they used their naked eyes, which would be too bothersome for most cultivators.
The matches proceeded smoothly after that, and the semi-finalists were already listed. They were to face the 12 seeded participants of each school tomorrow.
When Shin Jiao and Qin Lou went back to the small pond, Shin Jiao quickly implemented the plan which he made while walking toward this place. As a former spy, Shin Jiao was not used to being on the front line; he would always choose to manipulate the scenes from behind the shadows. So he would do the same thing as what he always did. The first thing he needed to do was make a mask for Qin Lou, which would ease her movements. Then a way for her to use her eyes while others could not see them. So the mask of the superhero which is like a spider that is famous on Earth came to his mind.
In one corner, he started crafting and implementing his plans. After five hours, when the sun had already gone down, he luckily finished everything. Then he approached the hut and knocked on the bamboo door. Qin Lou peeked out of the door. From the smell inside, she was concocting something; it seemed that she was preparing for the worst for tomorrow's fight.
"Hi! I made something for you," Shin Jiao said, handing her a white mask.
"What is this?" Qin Lou asked as she scrutinized the thing in his hand.
"This is something to replace your veil, but don't worry, it has the same properties as your veil. Plus, you see this... you can use your eyes on this and see everything clearly, but they won't see your eyes," Shin Jiao said as he explained some of the functions of the mask he made.
Since it was a strap-on mask with a Velcro fastener, it would only cover her whole face but free her hair. With this, she would look like those beautiful masked assassins with ponytails. Qin Lou was a little hesitant to try it out, but her curiosity got the best of her. She went inside the house and reluctantly replaced her veil with the mask. When she felt comfortable with the placement, she went outside.
She saw Shin Jiao smiling, which made her blush a little, as she found his smile truly mesmerizing. She could not deny that he was truly a very handsome young man.
"Let me show you something," Shin Jiao said as he moved into a fighting stance.
This startled Qin Lou, as she didn't expect Shin Jiao to act this way. She felt a little confused. But then all of a sudden, she saw some pattern displayed in her eyes. Since she was a very wise woman, she immediately deduced that this was a movement path, but it was too late as Shin Jiao's fist was already in front of her face. Then she unconsciously stepped back a few paces.
"Did you see it?" Shin Jiao asked with a smile.
Qin Lou nodded without a word but was still in a daze.