Chapter 25

Duels (2)

The woman frowned. “Stop being so mysterious Stone Face and tell me.”

Chu Tang looked at the woman. “It’s probably nothing, besides. STOP CALLING ME THAT!”

The woman gave a self-satisfied smirk. “Humph, so touchy. All I did was call your name.”

“Arghh.” Turning around to watch the next duels Chu Tang pointedly ignored her. The woman made a pouty face at him before turning to watch the show as well, hints of playfulness still visible on her face.

Sighing Chu Shen put the hammer back inside the spatial ring. Tai Long was someone that should have gone far in the tournament. It was a shame he had met Chu Shen. While he didn’t exactly care for the prize, Chu Shen always believed that he should try his best.

Looking over at Tai Long in the elimination area he knew the real reason he won. Every night ever since he went to the soul library, his teacher had him spar with the pillar shadows. The shadow was at the exact same level as him, it was like he was fighting himself.

Eventually he had learned the hammer vortex maneuver from one of the shadows. Even Ti Wu praised him for learning a technique like that. Though of course afterwards he berated him from not learning it quicker.

He looked over at Tai Long. Maybe they could be friends? Shaking his head he dispelled his idle thoughts. Looking around he saw that there was only nineteen people left in the compet.i.tion besides him.

Most were blade users. There was two people with bows and another three with great swords. These swords were big and unwieldy, a lot like the hammer. However, if they ever connected with the opponent it would have a devastating impact.

Besides that, there was one more person who had on dual swords. He was just coming off the dueling stage as the last combatant. From his match it seemed he focused on continuous attacks and high speed.

Chu Shen smiled. While normally a person wielding a hammer or other heavy weapon would be worried about someone who focused in speed, he was not one of them.

After all, Chu Shen had the [Earth Shattering Inscription]. With it his hammer was not as unwieldy and slow as other such weapon types. With this factor it could be said that Chu Shen was actually the menace of agility type cultivators.

He was fast and hit harder than anyone had the right to. With his strength it was most definitely cheating. An agility cultivator usually lost if someone could time their blows just right, or was faster than themselves.

Chu Shen was both fast and strong, he could completely suppress someone like this dual swordsman. Soon he was called up to the stage again.

It was one of the bow wielders. Bowing to his opponent Chu Shen introduced himself. “I am Chu Shen from the Chu branch Sect Misty Pa.s.s”

His opponent didn’t say a word but rather made an arrow appear in his left hand. Taking note of the thin band of metal on his hand, Chu Shen knew he had a spatial ring. ‘Looks like I can’t wait till he runs out of arrows then.’

Withdrawing his hammer Chu Shen held it halfway up the shaft with one hand. “Begin the match!”

Immediately the archer nocked an arrow and shot it towards Chu Shen. He quickly rolled to the left, dodging the three arrows the archer had sent towards him.

The archer was most definitely skilled, being able to fire three arrows in a matter of seconds and all of them only just missing their target. Chu Shen rushed forward towards the archer.

Before he could even get close a total of five arrows cut off Chu Shens approach, sealing off all exits. Gritting his teeth he brought up the head of the hammer and blocked one of the arrows and retreated.

Chu Shen reached down, his hammer disappearing into his spatial ring. Grabbing ahold of the arrow his opponent had shot he stored it in his spatial ring as well. The archer fired again at Chu Shen. Dodging once more he ran around collecting more arrows.

Das.h.i.+ng around and dodging arrows, one by one he picked up the arrows from the ground. Up in the judges box Stone Face laughed a little at the comical sight. In the middle of a duel this kid was running around like a squirrel trying to grab nuts for winter.

‘Certainly an interesting fellow. I wonder what his strategy is?’ Meanwhile the archer was starting to get a little frustrated. Every shot he made missed no matter how many he shot.

Each time he sealed this little fellow’s escape routes he would bring out his hammer and knock one of his arrows down. Five arrows was already his limit and his arrows were not unlimited. Already he had shot out over fifty arrows and only had another twenty left.

Suddenly Chu Shen stopped. ‘Alright, I think I have enough now.’ Using the arrow he held in his hand he threw it at the archer. With a sinister hiss it split the air, heading straight for his head.

Chu Shen had a startled expression on his face. He had aimed for the archers leg but unexpectedly his aim was off. Oh well, he hadn’t really thrown daggers, much less the hard to control arrows.

The archer was immediately frightened and dove to the side. Looking up he saw Chu Shen looking at him with a thoughtful expression. Taking out another arrow he threw it again at the archer. This time it flew just a little to the left of the archer.

Taking out more Chu Shen kept throwing the arrows at the archer. Now the archer was ducking and dodging, trying to keep away from the arrows that got closer and closer to their target.

Chu Tang laughed. Truly this was a perfect example of lifting a stone only to drop it on your own feet. The more arrows this fellow threw the harder Stone Face laughed. This fellow was truly a devious one. He frowned. He didn’t like how ruthless he was though, why did he aim for the archers head in a friendly duel?

Chu Shen realized he was almost out of arrows. With his continuous barrage the archer couldn’t fire a single arrow off. Chu Shen suddenly dashed forward towards the archer.

Seizing this chance, the archer started to nock an arrow before dropping it as he dodged Chu Shen’s own arrow. Starting to panic he managed to nock an arrow and unleashed it at Chu Shen. Because of how close it was there was no way for Chu Shen to dodge.

With less than three meters between them the arrow shot towards Chu Shen’s arm. Hitting it with a Clang it actually bounced off his arm.

With his skin hardened due to the 

technique, how could he be harmed by a mere ordinary arrow?

As the archer stared open mouthed in shock Chu Shen took this opportunity to quickly close the gap. Without bringing out his hammer he directly punched towards the archer’s chest.

Pah

With a strangled groan he flew backwards from the impact. The natural strength of Chu Shen was most definitely overbearing. A slight trickle of blood appeared on the corner of the archers lip.

Chu Shen ran after the archer, gathering arrows on the way. Pausing a couple inches from his p.r.o.ne body he waited. “Cough cough.” The archer started coughing before looking up at Chu Shen with a mixture of shock, fear, and anger.

A white robed youngster ran up to the stage to the archer. Reaching into his sleeve he grabbed a pill and placed it in the archers mouth. Grabbing his arm, the white robed person supported the archer and walked him towards the area with the eliminated people.

The archer was set down on a bench with some other injured people. Chu Shen recognized the pill, it was a basic healing pill. After all, would a large sect waste expensive pills on a group of hopeful students? Probably not, besides, the judges could certainly stop the match before it became too deadly.