52 Wang Zhu

"Who do you think you'll be fighting Ye Xiu? I hope you get to fight that Yan Guo guy, I want to see you pulverize him." Xiao Tu was being very loud in the bathroom as they were cleaning themselves up for the start of the day.

"Quiet down Xiao Tu... It's too early in the morning for this. I don't mind who I go against as long as it's a good fight. If it's a bad fight where my opponent has absolutely no idea what they are doing then there is no point in me trying to fight them in the first place because I'm here to prove myself and to get battle experience against others." Ye Xiu groaned.

Xiao Tu's exuberant smile died as he frowned for a few seconds before going back to his sunny disposition. "You're no fun! Show more enthusiasm for your fights! How can you expect to do your fight if you're not even excited about it?" Xiao Tu kept on pestering Ye Xiu trying to get him to be enthusiastic about his upcoming match.

Ye Xiu sighed as he ignored Xiao Tu's pestering to continue with his daily routine. After he finished washing his face he replied to Xiao Tu. "Not everyone has the same ways to prepare for a fight Xiao Tu. For some people to fight at their best, they are at their calmest and it's the same for me. I like to keep a calm demeanour as I fight so I don't lose track of my surroundings because I have to keep an eye on multiple things at the same time. I have to do so much more to win a fight compared to you."

"Your excited manner may work for you and other people but it definitely won't work for me. Sometimes I may be extremely excited about a fight but I become calm pretty much after we start the match. Don't try to incite my excitement for the fight. I just want to have a calm resting period before we go over to the Arena grounds. If I can have a peaceful day besides the fight then it'll be fine for me. I can't wait for the tournament to be over. I'll have to participate against those older students though."

Ye Xiu left the bathroom after saying his piece and was getting dressed as Shang Yang walked into the bathroom. "What did you do put Ye Xiu in such a glum mood?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to get him to be excited about participating in the matches today. I mean, he'll get to fight the strongest opponents in our year so it should get his blood pumping shouldn't it? Just thinking about it makes me want to get into action!"

Shang Yang was washing her hair as she heard Xiao Tu's enthusiasm through his shouting. "Not everyone is the same. I'd probably be more nervous instead of being excited for a match like this. Just let Ye Xiu do what he wants for now. If being calm before a match helps him win then let him be. It is all about the results in the end game, not the immediate rewards." Shang Yang continued to wash her hair when a voice rang out throughout their dorm room.

"Shang Yang, Xiao Tu and Shi Die! I'll be going out to the Arena grounds first. I don't know if they will start early or not because the referee is different this time! I'll see you guys later, cheer for me alright?" Ye Xiu closed the door behind him quietly and ran towards the Arena grounds. He wasn't completely calm which his face did not suggest but inside he was actually screaming in excitement.

'Even though I told Xiao Tu that I wasn't excited I know that I was just lying to myself. It probably also didn't help that I had just woken up and my mood wasn't exactly great for being too excited.' Ye Xiu sighed after rethinking what he had said to Xiao Tu. 'I hope he doesn't hold it against me and understands my reasoning.'

Walking towards the Arena grounds, Ye Xiu noticed that a lot huge amount of people had already gathered and some of the contestants that were going to be fighting later were sparring with their friends as a warmup before their matches. Ye Xiu sighed once again because he should've asked one of his friends whether they would spar with him so that he could warm up. 'Well, what's past is past. Hopefully, they make it here soon so I can spar against them. It'd be bad if I don't warm up.'

Ye Xiu started to stretch since his muscles had already been prepared with his stretching session due to his run from his room to the Arena grounds. He noticed shadows over him as his head was bowed down to stretch his upper and lower body. He looked up to see Xiao Tu grinning above him. "FOUND YOU!" Xiao Tu picked Ye Xiu off the ground easily and hugged him like a bear.

"Xi-Xiao Tu, you're crushing me here. I can't breath!" Ye Xiu was gasping for air as his body was being crushed by the tight hug that Xiao Tu was suffocating him with.

Looking at the floor like a chastised child, Ye Xiu was let go from Xiao Tu's hold and he promptly fell to the floor trying to inhale as much oxygen he could possibly get into his lungs. "Seriously Xiao Tu? Did you have to hug me so tightly? You could've just hugged me like an ordinary person and that would've been completely fine. Why did you hug me so tightly anyway, we saw each other a few minutes ago. If I hadn't seen you for a long period of time then I'd understand..."

Xiao Tu blew a raspberry at him. "I just like giving strong hugs like that. It feels much more sincere if I do it this way. Are you ready for your fight?"

"I need your help as a sparring partner, you can see that the majority of the others that will be fighting later are warming up by sparring against their friends. I think it is a good idea because at least I can see if I've improved slightly in the past few days and it'll also help me warm up at the same time. So what say you?"

"Sure why not? Xiao Tu took out his quarterstaff from his dimensional storage and jumped onto an empty arena that was close to them. Start whenever you're ready." Xiao Tu pointed an end of his quarterstaff at Ye Xiu beckoning him to begin the match.

Ye Xiu slowly got up to the arena and took out a single whip. "Same rules as usual?"

Xiao Tu shrugged. "Okay. When are you going to fight me with your two whip style?"

"When you deserve to be fought with it." Ye Xiu smirked devilishly.

Xiao Tu raised an eyebrow and smiled at Ye Xiu. "Do you really think I'm not worth you using your whip style? Do you think you are the only person who has hid techniques in secret?" Xiao Tu took out another long object from his dimensional storage and when Ye Xiu saw it he was surprised.

"You actually learnt how to use the spear in secret with your mother? Did you do it because of the similarities between fighting with a quarterstaff and a spear?" Ye Xiu asked quizzically.

"You know me too well. If I learnt to fight using a bo staff then I wouldn't have learnt how to wield a spear because of the differences in grip and whatnot. At least with a quarterstaff, the wielding styles are very similar to each other." Xiao Tu was smiling very brightly as he wielded his spear.

Ye Xiu shook his head because if Xiao Tu thought that him wielding a spear would help him win the spar then he was wrong. "You've got the wrong idea if you think you can beat me with a spear. I've fought your mother multiple times so I have a basic idea of fighting spear users as well just so you know."

"Thinking that you know my mother's style would mean that you know my spear style is definitely the wrong misconception. I've obviously learnt a different spear style from what my mother knows so that you wouldn't be able to counter it too easily." Xiao Tu boasted about his skills and leapt away as Shi Die attacked him with his lone whip.

"Your whip movements are the weirdest I've seen. I still don't understand how you're able to get that whip to keep following people so easily. Also doesn't your whip have a range limit?!?" Xiao Tu started to rant but was quickly defeated because he wasn't paying attention to what Ye Xiu was doing. He had brought out his second whip and discreetly used it to bind him.

"That was easy." Ye Xiu stood over Xiao Tu's bound body.

Pouting, Xiao Tu got out of the bindings as Ye Xiu relaxed them. "I'll beat you next time. I won't be caught unaware by that second whip next time."

They went to the stands and talked to each other, waiting for Shang Yang and Shi Die to appear. After an hour of waiting for the referee for the matches stepped up to the Arena and announced the names for the first match.

Ye Xiu was already walking towards the arena when he heard his name being called and promptly made his way there at an even faster speed. He made it there and noticed that his opponent was an unknown one. He deduced that this must've been the person who won the fight after Ye Xiu finished his fight.

Ye Xiu stared at the person and the person stared back at him. "My name's Wang Zhu. Give me the best you have." Wang Zhu stared at him with an arrogant expression on his face and Ye Xiu wasn't very excited to fight a person with such a bad attitude.

"My name's Ye Xiu. I hope for a good fight." Ye Xiu went for a polite approach to appease the person's ego and was snorted at after he said it.

"You better not disappoint me. Everyone in the tournament so far has been so weak." Wang Zhu's arrogant words made Ye Xiu narrow his eyes in response.

'I'll show you weak... If you want to be so arrogant, I'll stuff that attitude into your mouth so you have nothing to say when you lose.' Ye Xiu calmly observed Wang Zhu as he ranted inside his head and noticed that whatever Wang Zhu used as a weapon was not very obvious. He watched as Wang Zhu took out a massive war hammer that was blunt on both sides and wielded it as if the weight didn't bother him.

Ye Xiu knew that he would definitely have to stay out of Wang Zhu's way unless he wanted to get his skull bashed in by the vicious attacks that were certain to be coming his way. Ye Xiu took out both of his whips since he knew that he wouldn't be getting close to him anytime soon. 'I'll just have to evade him for long enough. He's probably not going to tire from wielding his war hammer the way I see it...'

'So tiring him out isn't an option. An option of mine is to disarm him but I have no clue if I have enough strength to rip it out of his grasp with the whip. I guess using the 'Entangling Roots" style to accumulate injuries and sap away his Qi would be a better idea.' Ye Xiu tried to reaffirm himself of his confidence and came up with several plans to try and defeat Wang Zhu.

The referee looked at the two opponents and raised his hands. "On the count of three. One! Two! Three!"

Wang Zhu threw his war hammer directly at Ye Xiu which was extremely surprising to him and he quickly dodged it by using his 'Swallow Mirage steps.' Ye Xiu started to sweatdrop at that sudden attack.