The atmosphere in the small courtyard of the inn that evening was a strange mixture of celebration and sober reflection. Hu Jian and Lin Tao were ecstatic, recounting their victories with a boisterous energy, their confidence bolstered by their success. Brother Kai listened with a proud, paternal smile, offering quiet words of praise and advice.
Li Yu, however, was quiet. He sat at the stone table, a cup of untouched tea growing cold in his hands, his mind replaying every moment of his fight with Feng Tao.
"That was a clean victory, Junior Steward," Brother Kai said, noticing his contemplative mood. "You exposed his weakness and defeated him with a single, decisive blow. It was masterful."
"It was clumsy," Li Yu corrected, his voice quiet but firm. His friends fell silent, their celebratory mood dimming as they saw the serious expression on his face. "I won because my foundation is deeper and my techniques are more profound than his. I did not win because I was the better fighter. He was faster, his instincts were sharper, and his spirit gave him an offensive edge that I do not possess."
He looked at his own hands. "My Koi spirit is a peerless tool for cultivation, but in combat, it offers me nothing. No elemental attacks, no physical enhancements. When I face an opponent of a truly equal foundation, I will be at a disadvantage. My fight today was a victory, but it was also a warning."
His friends listened, a new understanding dawning on them. They had seen the victory; he had seen the flaws.
The next day, the second round of the competition began. The number of contestants had been cut in half, and the remaining disciples were all true elites of the inner sect. The atmosphere in the arena was more intense, the battles on the platforms more brutal and skillful.
Hu Jian and Lin Tao both fought valiantly, their new strength and confidence on full display. Hu Jian faced a disciple with a powerful earth-attribute spirit and lost after a brutal, ten-minute battle that left both combatants exhausted and bruised. Lin Tao, through his cunning and control, managed to defeat a fire-attribute opponent who was a full stage higher than him, earning a roar of approval from the crowd. They both returned from their matches, one defeated and one victorious, but both with the satisfied, enlightened look of warriors who had learned a valuable lesson.
Finally, it was Li Yu's turn. He drew his lot and his expression turned complicated. His opponent was Yao Ling, the talented alchemist whose Seven-Tailed Spirit Fox he had helped before.
He remembered their first meeting clearly. She had come to him, her usual pride replaced by a desperate worry for her companion. He had spent a day with her, observing the fox, and in that time, they had spoken at length about the nature of spiritual beasts. He had found her to be a dedicated, intelligent, and surprisingly humble cultivator, her arrogance a thin shell covering a deep love for her craft and her companion. They had parted on terms of mutual respect, and she had become one of the few disciples in the inner sect he would consider a friend.
He met her on Platform Five. A murmur of excitement went through the crowd. It was a matchup between two of the sect's most famous young geniuses: the reclusive Beast Physician and the beautiful Alchemical Prodigy.
"Junior Brother Li," Yao Ling said, a small, wry smile on her face. "I had hoped we would not meet so early in the competition. I still owe you a debt for saving my Little Yin." Her Rank 5 Seven-Tailed Spirit Fox, Little Yin, materialized beside her, its silver fur now thick and lustrous. It looked at Li Yu and let out a soft, friendly chitter.
"There is no debt between friends, Senior Sister," Li Yu replied with a polite bow. "Only a contest of skills. I ask that you do not hold back."
"I would not dream of it," she said, her smile vanishing, replaced by a look of intense, competitive focus.
The match began. Yao Ling did not charge. She was an alchemist, and her fighting style was a beautiful, deadly art of preparation and control. With a flick of her wrist, she scattered a handful of fine, green powder. It hung in the air, creating a sweet-smelling fog.
"Paralysis Spore Powder," Li Yu identified instantly from his studies. He immediately created a small, swirling vortex of water in front of him, the «Flowing Water, Still Shadow» art sucking the powder out of the air and neutralizing it.
But the powder was just a distraction. While he was dealing with it, Little Yin, the spirit fox, moved. It was a blur of silver light, its seven tails fanning out behind it. Each tail glowed with a different elemental energy—fire, ice, wind, earth, lightning, light, and darkness. It was a creature of incredible, versatile power. It opened its mouth and spewed a torrent of silver flames.
Li Yu's eyes narrowed. He used his «Rippling Shadow Step» to evade, his form a fluid, watery blur. But the flames were relentless, guided by the fox's powerful spiritual sense. He was forced into a constant, defensive dance, unable to find an opening.
This was where the cold realization from his first fight truly began to set in. He was reacting, always a step behind. His mind, so brilliant at cultivation was not a fighter's mind. He saw the attack, calculated the optimal defensive maneuver, and executed it flawlessly. But he never saw the next move. This was when his real cultivation was at the 9th level, he was just pretending to be at the 5th level. When didn't have that extra power from cultivation, he was found lacking.
He lacked the innate, predatory instinct that told a true warrior when to dodge left to create an opening on the right, when to take a minor hit to create a fatal counter-opportunity. He had no killer instinct.
"You are a difficult man to pin down, Junior Brother," Yao Ling's voice called out from the other side of the platform. With another flick of her wrist, she threw three small, black pellets at his feet. They exploded with a loud bang, releasing a thick, sticky, and incredibly corrosive black liquid that spread across the platform, limiting his movement space.
He was being systematically corralled, his superior movement technique rendered less effective by his opponent's clever use of tools. He was being outplayed. His combat instincts, his ability to read the flow of a battle against a truly skilled opponent, were still far too weak. He was a genius at cultivation, but on an even battlefield, he was a terrible fighter.
He saw a flicker of movement to his left. Little Yin was preparing another attack, this time a blade of pure, solidified wind. Li Yu knew he could dodge it, but it would force him into the corrosive liquid. He was trapped.
He let out a quiet sigh. He had wanted to test his own skills, to see how far he could go on his own. But his own skills were not enough. It would seem that he would need to either just vastly over power his enemies through cultivation where he can smash them like an ant or overwhelm them with his demonic beasts or tools.
Just as the wind blade was about to strike, Li Yu's hand, which had been resting at his side, touched the Beast Bag. "Crimson," he commanded through their link.
With a furious, draconic roar, a portal opened, and the massive, jade-scaled form of his Rank 4 Marsh-Drake appeared in front of him. Crimson took the full force of the wind blade on its thick, armored hide. The powerful attack, which would have seriously injured a normal Fifth Stage disciple, simply scraped against its scales with a screech of protesting metal, leaving only a thin, white line.
The entire arena gasped. Not only did Li Yu have a powerful contracted beast, but he had summoned it with a speed and a seamlessness that was unheard of.
"A fine beast," Yao Ling said, her eyes gleaming with a new, more serious light. "But my Little Yin is a Rank 5. Let's turn this into a competition between beast masters"
The battle transformed. It was no longer a duel between two disciples. It was a chaotic, four-way war. Little Yin, with its seven elemental tails, was a whirlwind of versatile power, sending blasts of fire, shards of ice, and bolts of lightning across the platform. Crimson was a fortress of pure, physical might, its draconic venom a deadly counter to the fox's elemental purity, its every charge shaking the very foundations of the stage. The Koi sanctuary had helped to empower Crimson, he was much stronger than someone of his rank.
Li Yu and Yao Ling became the generals, their minds a flurry of commands and strategies. Li Yu used his mist and ice blades to support Crimson, to create openings, to limit the fox's movement. Once again he found himself to be lacking behind and Crimson was reacting to things before he could give commands to it. Yao Ling used her pills and powders to enhance her fox's speed, to create defensive barriers, and to try and poison Crimson with a debilitating toxin.
It was a battle of two completely different philosophies of beast taming. Yao Ling's was a partnership of an alchemist and her powerful, versatile weapon.
Finally, Li Yu got an opportunity, he created a thick, disorienting mist, and under its cover, he and Crimson executed a pincer attack they had practiced a thousand times in the dead of night.
Crimson charged from the front, its maw open in a terrifying, venom-spewing roar, forcing Little Yin and Yao Ling to focus all of their attention on its massive, powerful form.
And in that moment of distraction, Crimson appeared behind Yao Ling, his form a silent, ghostly shadow. He did not aim for Yao Ling, but for the ground beneath her feet and smashed.
A deep, heavy, and irresistible wave of force slammed into the stone platform. The stage itself groaned, and a web of cracks spread out from the point of impact. The sudden, violent tremor sent Yao Ling stumbling, her stance broken, her connection with her spirit faltering for a single, crucial instant.
It was all the opening Crimson needed. It lunged, not with its claws, but with its thick, powerful tail, and with a controlled, sweeping motion, knocked the off-balance spirit fox off the platform.
The moment her spirit was eliminated, Yao Ling raised her hand. "I yield," she said, a look of profound, frustrated respect on her face.
The referee declared Li Yu the winner. The crowd erupted in a roar of approval. It had been one of the most exciting, skillful, and tactical battles of the entire competition.
Li Yu recalled Crimson and walked over to Yao Ling, offering her a hand. "It was a fine battle, Senior Sister. Your control over your companion is something I can only hope to achieve."
Yao Ling took his hand, a small, genuine smile on her face.
He had won. But as he walked off the platform, his heart was heavy with the same, cold realization. He had only won because he had Crimson, his own combat ability, his own instincts as a fighter, had been found wanting.
He looked up at the central platform, where the final rounds would be held. He knew, with an absolute certainty, that he could not get there on his own. The lesson was a bitter one, but it was a necessary one. He was a cultivator, yes. But it seemed it wasn't going to be one of those geniuses that excel at fighting, at least not right now but maybe never. His true strength might always lie not in his own hands, but in the loyal, powerful companions who fought by his side.