5 Arena Battles

"What's wrong Jun Xiang?" Lu Feng had noticed Jun Xiang's hesitation and walked up to him, now standing side by side.

Lu Feng glanced in the general direction of Jun Xiang's gaze, landing upon the blazing myriad of colours, flashing endlessly in the sky. Unlike Jun Xiang, he knew what this was. It was spars between powerhouse clans, and judging by the swirling inferno that had just formed, there was only one sect that was capable of producing disciples with that kind of power, the Soul Fire Sect.

{ Hell Fire Storm }

A second ranked spell that had harsh cultivation and talent requirements as well as fire affinity, however once used would easily incinerate cultivators up to Spiritual Refinement realm. A true god tier beginner level spell.

Seeing that Jun Xiang's eyes were blazing with curiosity, Lu Feng sighed extensively before gesturing for Jun Xiang to follow, "Come, we'll watch the battles. Will that satisfy you?"

Jun Xiang ran quickly behind Lu Feng, practically leaping with excitement for every step he took. Although Jun Xiang was only at the third Body Refinement realm, his speed was relatively fast, allowing him to tail the village head by simply jogging.

Together, the duo traversed the stone paved path, noting the simple enormity of the residential area while also admiring the detail that had gone into every brick and stone of the Martial Sky Stadium.

Jun Xiang felt an unusually warm gust of wind breeze through the area they were passing by. It was confusing as to why warm wind would appear in the middle of winter, but he passed it off as just another function of the Martial Sky Stadium.

Lu Feng however, knew better.

It was the residual energy from { Hell Fire Storm }

And what's more, the energy belonged to a fifth stage Body Salvation cultivator. That was only one major level below his Spiritual Condensation cultivation!

All martial power would remain at its original level even when it was spread over a large distance. For example, a first stage Spiritual Condensation expert would be able to unleash large scale attacks, sometimes over ten kilometres in radius. However no matter how for the energy spread, it would not lower in level, but instead decrease in density until its power was completely dissipated.

Hence, even as they were separated by over five kilometres, Lu Feng would still be able to identity the level of the cultivator, as long as it was not higher than his own.

A deep rushing sound resonated in space itself as a cyclone of crimson winds began to form. Jun Xiang's mouth gaped in surprise and as he was about to question Lu Feng, a majestic black dragon image began to construct in the middle of the cyclone.

Now it wasn't just Jun Xiang who was wide eyed and curious, Lu Feng grabbed Jun Xiang by the waist and activated many profound movement skills, eyes blazing with an intense curiosity.

Who was this genius? He just had to know.

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"Hahaha, Lan Qiang, it seems you really do live up to your name of the 'Wind's Child'. Even my own wind comprehension pales in the face of yours!"

A youth donned with silver embroiled clothing and long swaying robes stared humorously of the flickering figure in front of him.

"I am unworthy of praise from a figure such as yourself, Fan Hui! Or should that be son of the Ember Patriach?"

Lan Qiang had a more simple taste in clothing, going with plain blue-grey scholar robes and bamboo sandals. Although the man seemed calm, he was unpredictable and ever-changing like the Northern winds.

The two were facing each other, both standing in a ready position, preparing to attack the opponent upon the call of the match instructor.

The instructor raised his hand high and thousands of light particles gathered into his palm. An almost blinding beam of energy shot towards the heavens and the two competing children leapt off the starting zones, enleashing martial skills of various kinds.

Lan Qiang pulled back his fist, gathering streams of air and condensing it into a tight ball. Fan Hui was not slow either, quickly forming a flame barrier before continuing his charge forwards.

Martial cultivators began to comment rapidly on the proceedings of the battle.

"That Lan boy has grown much this year."

"Indeed! I can see his cultivation has already reached the middle stages of Body Salvation."

"Geniuses are truly different to commoners. When I was seventeen, I was only at seventh stage Body Refinement."

"Speak for yourself. Weren't you a bit too slow?"

The bald man scatched his head in shame.

{ Wind Gathering Orb }

The first attack of the match had been made. A head sized ball of condensed wind energy sped across the arena and slammed head on into the flame shield. The ball deformed for a slight moment before shattering the flame shield and knocking Fan Hui backwards a good thirty paces before disapating.

The Flowing Wind patriach and father to Lan Qiang stood up in glee, punching the air like a child. "Get hin good son!!"

Lan Qiang nodded before condensing a second { Wind Gathering Orb } and preparing to end the match.

{ Blazing Trails }

Lan Qiang noticed the speed based flame skill, however it was too late. A large ignited fist slammed square on his rib cage, forcing him to not only cancel his skill but also spit out a mouthful of blood.

This time the Falling Embers patriach pumped his fist several times before casting a challenging glare at Lan Qiang's father. The two patriachs engaged in a mental war of insulting gestures and faces before being dragged back into their seats by the Grand Elders who had accompanied them.

The boys had now engaged in an intense exchange of fists and kicks, acconpanied by occasional breakouts of martial skills.

The match was extremely even in the beginning, however the extra year of experience that Fan Hui possessed began to bear fruits, slowly but surely beating back Lan Qiang. At that moment, they both knew eventually it would be Lan Qiang's loss.

Lan Qiang hurrumphed before disengaging with a quick shift backwards. Fan Hui had prepared to follow, he was greeted with three Lan Qiangs. He know that only one of the were real and the others were simply wind illusions created by the skill { Illusory Steps }.

Fan Hui stepped back and prepared a simple area coverage spell { Bitter Embers }. Flames danced upon his finger tips and the surrounding fire particles in the surroundings gathered closely together.

Just as Fan Hui had did to him, Lan Qiang gathered speed with the { Illusory Steps } skill and rushed towards Fan Hui. However, { Bitter Embers } was already spreading ots coverage upon the arena.

Thousands of flame hands enveloped the three Lan Qiangs who where charging straight for Lan Hui. The crowd of cultivators held their breaths as the two seemingly unstoppable forces collided. Wind and fire energy danced vividly in the air and strands of residue power from both competitors swept towards the audience, providing them with a very generous breeze on a cold day.

Before long, the spiral of clashing elements died down and a clear voice sounded from the eye of the dissapating tornado. "I surrender"

It was Lan Qiang's voice.

The crowd erupted into cheers and moans. The two competitors stepped down back into their clan, both recieving praises and complements on their oerformance.

"Hahaha! I must be the strongest fire cultivator this year!" Fan Hui was now laughing in excitement, as after all, being a top elemental controller was definetely something to brag about.

Just as the crowd was about to praise or denounce Fan Hui, a heavy voice beat them to both.

"Good job young man. I can tell your achievements in the art of flame are noticeably good. However you must know no matter how strong one becomes, there is always a stronger above you. Even when you become the strongest, there is a heaven above you!"

"Junior pays his repects to elder, but are you implying that you have a person more accomplished than me in the art of flame?" Fan Hui's reply was almost mocking, showing barely any basic etiquette towards the elderly man.

The man pretended he hadn't seen anything. "Very well very well. Behold my young master, the true 'Child of Ember'!"

A red robed figure strode out from the crowd and stood still next to them elderly man.

Every single one in the sea of cultivators below stared and squinted at the young man dressed in arrogant robes of maroon and the blazingly obvious dragon which was engraved upon it.

Immediately, they all came to the same conclusion.

The Soul Fire Sect had arrived!!