At the top of the stairs, he hesitated and wondered whether he should tell Shadow One he knew who he was but then decided against it. It was better to leave as little a trail as possible in case the blood moon found out who he was through this information.
As he walked down the stairs he winced. Zhang Zi saw this and walked up to him.
"You're injured?" Zhang Zi asked him.
"It was my fault. I was careless." Bai Yun said.
Zhang Zi frowned when he heard this. Bai Yun immediately understood what he was worried about.
"Don't worry, we'll have our fight. I'll be fine after a night of rest. You just worry about getting into the finals." Bai Yun said with a chuckle.
Zhang Zi nodded and accepted Bai Yun's reply. There was a short event after this where the rewards for those outside the top four were given out. The prices for those below the top sixteen were already given out yesterday. Tomorrow the focus was on the final four. So they did it to make sure that no one else would steal the limelight. Also, the people who lost need not come the next day and relive their loss.
Bai Yun didn't stay for the ceremony. He left right after his fight ended. The medics wanted him to stay back, but Bai Yun declined.
Old Hai took him back in secret. When Bai Yun reached home he was surprised to find his parents back home. They had left for a while in order to search for traces of devil wors.h.i.+ppers.
"Are you alright?" Bai Mu asked with a smile. Both of them had a much greater cultivation than him. They should be able to see that he was injured with a single glance.
"It's fine. I should recover once I take a medicinal bath." Bai Yun said.
"Good luck with your fight. Don't lose face for us okay." Xiao Mei-er said.
"You know other parents would try to comfort their kids if they were injured." Bai Yun said.
When they heard Bai Yun's words they stared at him for a while. Finally, Xiao Mei-er said. "We watched your fight you know. Old Hai send us a live view of it. Honestly, you deserve that punch for being so stupid."
"I could understand if you got hit because you were worse than the other person ." Bai Mu continued with a chuckle. "But this was just plain sloppy. Honestly, I am happy that you can hide your ident.i.ty. At least no one will know you are our child."
Bai Yun winced when he heard them. With a grimace, he went back to his room. He could hear laughter behind him as he left.
When he reached his room, a medicinal bath was already drawn for him. He got into the bath and started to draw in the medicinal essence to heal himself. At the same time, Bai Yun also continued to cultivate. Bai Yun only stopped when he felt himself reach the peak of the seventh stage of qi condensation. There was still some residual energy of chaos aura left within him and that helped him to quickly increase his cultivation recently. Bai Yun could break through to the eighth stage of qi condensation if he wanted. But he decided to wait for a natural breakthrough. That would lead to a better and more stable foundation for later.
Once this was done. Bai Yun finally went to sleep late in the night. He expected a tough fight ahead of him tomorrow. So it was better to rest.
Old Hai finally woke him up the next day. Bai Yun lazily got ready and left for the stadium. His parents wished him good luck when they saw him leave. By the time he got there, he was a little late. When Bai Yun walked into the arena, Bai Qing and Zhang Zi had already begun their fight. Bai Yun got an earful from the referee for being late.
Bai Yun carefully watched the fight between Bai Qing and Zhang Zi. They were both pretty good. But Zhang Zi was definitely in the lead. Bai Yun carefully watched Zhang Zi's fight. Finally, Zhang Zi knocked away Bai Qing's sword using his shockwave innate ability and won the match.
Once their match was over, it was time for Bai Yun's. He and Meng Qi walked up the arena to the stadium.
Mng Qi had her bow out. Bai Yun carefully studied her. She didn't talk much and kept to herself. There was not much that he knew about her.
"Start." The referee declared once the two of them had gotten into position.
Meng Qi immediately pulled out her bow and arrow and shot one at Bai Yun. Bai Yun casually took a step to the side and dodged the arrow. Meng Qi stood there with an arrow in her bow but did not shoot anymore. She had the feeling that if she did so Bai Yun would dodge it.
And it was true. Bai Yun's comprehension of the archery dao was far beyond Meng Qi's. Bai Yun had reached the immortal realm in archery dao in his past life. At this distance, Bai Yun could easily predict the path of the arrow and calmly dodge the attack. While it might be difficult at close quarters, it was no problem for Bai Yun at such distances.
Bai Yun slowly started to walk towards Meng Qi, keeping his attention on her bow. As he walked towards her, Meng QI would often let loose attacks at Bai Yun. But Bai Yun was able to evade them with ease, often by just bending his body. Sometimes he would even be able to evade an attack even before the arrow left Meng Qi's bow.
One step at a time, Bai Yun closed the distance between Meng Qi and himself. As he walked forward, Meng Qi tried to draw away from Bai Yun, but he would not allow her to do so. Soon Meng Qi found herself being cornered by Bai Yun.
Meng Qi rapidly put away her bow and stabbed at Bai Yun with her arrows. But Bai Yun casually blocked it with his sword. Meng Qi then dropped her arrows and picked up two daggers and continued to attack Bai Yun. But Bai Yun was able to easily deflect her attacks.
Bai Yun was surprised by Meng Qi's new attack. She had not used it previously. But it was clearly a systematic attack style. He figured that it was something she gained after joining the little merchant a.s.sociation.
Suddenly Meng Qi dropped her daggers and leaped backward. In the blink of an eye, her bow and an arrow were back in her hands. But Bai Yun had also jumped along with her. So when she held her bow and arrow, the arrow was only inches away from Bai Yun's chest.
Bai Yun immediately launched wind motion just as Meng Qi released her arrow. But it only pierced through an afterimage of Bai Yun. The next second Bai Yun appeared behind Meng Qi and rested his sword on her neck. On Bai Yun's chest, a long tear was visible from where the arrow tore through his robe. Thankfully the arrow had not scratched Bai Yun, only his robe.
"Bai Yun wins." The referee declared seeing that Meng Qi had no more moves to make even after a while.
Meng Qi was quietly glaring at Bai Yun as he walked down the arena. She seemed to be the type to take her losses seriously. But Bai Yun wasn't too bothered by it. It would be a long while before she could match up to him in a fight.
After the fight was over, there was a break for lunch. But most of the spectators didn't leave. There were still two fights remaining in the afternoon, and they were the most important fights. They didn't want to lose their good seats if they left now.
Food was provided for the final four by the organizers. All four partic.i.p.ants ate in silence. They all had a fight left in the afternoon. After lunch, Bai Yun quickly changed his robe into a new one.
Once the tournament restarted the first fight was between Bai Qing and Meng Qi for the third place. The fight proceeded without any suspense. Even though Meng Qi was strong, she was still far from Bai Qing's match. After a short beginning where Meng Qi suppressed Bai Qing with her sniping, Bai Qing retaliated when Meng Qi made a mistake. Bai Qing quickly closed the distance and disarmed Meng Qi. Soon after that, Meng Qi admitted defeat.
Once the fight was over Bai Qing tried to chat with Meng Qi and draw her into his circle of friends. But Meng Qi was disinterested in anything but fighting and gave him the cold shoulder. But Bai QIng was not disappointed. He knew different people had different personalities. He quickly left the arena with a chuckle.
Bai Yun thought that the third place fight was a waste. A fight between Bai Qing and Shadow One would have been much better as the third place fight. Based on what he knew, Shadow One was slightly stronger than Bai Qing. Unfortunately he was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Bai Yun.
Once the fight was over it was finally time for the finals.
Bai Yun and Zhang Zi glanced at each other. They saw a look of determination pa.s.s through each other's eyes. Then the two of them got up and slowly walked up the steps to the arena.
As the two of them walked up to the arena, the cheers from the crowd rose to an incredible high. Most of the cheers were for Zhang Zi but Bai Yun did hear his name here and there.
Once he reached the arena, Bai Yun closed his eyes and calmed down. When he opened his eyes, the sound of the crowd had faded away from his ears. A terrifyingly calm look appeared in his eyes. The only thing he could see was the arena.
Bai Yun turned to Zhang Zi only to see that he had two spears with him. One of them was the spear he had used for the tournament, the spear he had carried during the gold test. The other was a special spear Bai Yun had never seen before. It was coated in gold and looked even more special and ferocious than other one.
"Is that a secret weapon just for me?" Bai Yun asked while nodding at the new spear.
"Obviously." Zhang Zi replied.
"Second time we are meeting like this." Bai Yun said with a chuckle.
"And it will end the same as the fight time." Zhang Zi replied. He then put his old spear on his back and stood there holding his new spear. Bai Yun also got into a fighting stance. For a moment there was silence in the arena.
"Begin." The referee finally announced.