Cyrus VS Ling Jian'er

On the stage that was a literal giant brick, Cyrus and Ling Jian'er glared at each other. Their auras seemed to naturally repel the other, causing their conflict to attain a spiritual aspect as well.

"This turned out to be a physical and spiritual battle of wills."

Sitting at the ethereal table, Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er looked to Logean Wuji in confusion.

"Does Sir Wuji mean to say that, in terms of their karma and fate, those two are what we would call arch-enemies?" Ling Jian'er gasped as she said this, already realizing that she was right.

Logean Wuji did not confirm or deny it, instead he smiled and handed her and Ye Hong two cups of tea. Though the tea felt warm and had a clear scent, it also seemed to fade out of existence and magically reappear every few seconds. It was getting increasingly difficult to tell it the tea was actually real or not.

However, all doubts were eliminated once they took a sip. Suddenly, it no longer mattered if the tea really existed or not. All that mattered was the taste- that was real. Logean Wuji chuckled, then he returned his gaze to the two youngsters on stage.

He saw what others couldn't possibly, therefore he knew just how monumental this battle was about to be- for those two especially.

Looking through his eyes, Logean Wuji saw their souls, wills, fates, karma, dharma and all else there was to see. The truth was that the entire talent show was completely unnecessary to him. The only reason he did it was so that the people could bear witness to the potential he already had the clearest image of.

If he did not do this, passion would surely erupt among the people in the region. His goal was to bring the entire realm to the highest state of being, but not through tyranny and fear. He wanted the people on his side.

"This battle will spark in those children a desire to completely surpass the other in every way. Their souls are unique, but also uniquely linked. Watch, Ye Hong, Ling Ji'er. Watch and see just how spectacular a soul can be."

Cyrus frowned and tore off the already torn up shirt he was wearing. He brought up some spit, spat on his hands and rubbed them together in preparation for what would surely be the hardest battle of his life so far.

In his blue eyes, dim white soul light danced around his pupils.

Ling Jian'er smirked, then crooked a finger at him. Raging in her brown eyes was also a white light, but it was significantly brighter than Cyrus'. As the bruised youth rushed toward her in a raging response to her taunt, she giggled mockingly and uttered some more incomprehensible whispers.

Cyrus cried out in shock as he was lifted off the ground by the invisible air around him, then once more when he saw he was about to be slammed into the stage. With little else to do, he raised his arms above his head.

To the untrained eye, it would look like he was just holding an awkward handstand. To those who knew what they were looking at, they could see that the wind was holding him upside down by the waist. From behind his dirty platinum hair, Cyrus roared and pushed off the ground with his hands.

To Ling Jian'er surprise, he forced his way out of the wind and righted himself in midair, however he was unable to land before she sent the wind to constrain him once again.

"Concede, kiddo. If even I couldn't defeat this technique, that means it might just kill you. Don't push yourself too hard, okay?" Taking a page from Logean Wuji's book, Ling Jian'er smiled warmly while condescendingly talking down to Cyrus.

As he grunted in struggle against the wind, he shot vicious glares toward Ling Jian'er. This time, she controlled the wind to hold him in place far above the ground. There was no possible way for him to escape.

This was what she thought.

"Agh! You pissant! You think this is enough to stop me?"

Thinking his words were nothing but hot air, Ling Jian'er brought him down to her, having him suspended in the air a few inches away from her. "I do, actually."

As she said that, Cyrus flung his platinum hair aside and finally shot her a smirk of his own. With a roar and some effort, he 'shattered' the wind around him with his arms and broke free. Instantaneously, he grabbed the sides of Ling Jian'er head and forced it down into his rising knee, aiming to break any part of her face that he could.

That was when he frowned and hurried to pull himself away, backflipping several times to increase the distance. Just then, instead of pounding into her face, Cyrus' knee had struck a sturdy barrier of wind that had appeared between it and her face.

Unwilling to accept what had just happened, Ling Jian'er's smirk vanished and her complacent expression became one of concentrated anger. "To think you would dare try to harm this face of mine."

Cyrus chuckled evilly, taunting her by raising his knee and pretending to hit her in the face with it. "Don't worry princess. When I'm done with that face, it will have improved."

"Enough! Wisp of Essence, Gust!"

Natural energy emitted from the wind gathered fervently around Ling Jian'er, uplifting her aura and providing her with a shocking increase in power. In addition to this, the energy melded with the air, causing a terrible wind to pick up and loom over the entirety of the village.

Swathes of windy gusts, powerful enough to sweep up an entire house, were now headed straight toward Cyrus' tiny figure. Though he was shocked, he loosened himself up and took a deep breath while he could. Luckily, he did, because the very second that the attacking air reached him, he was unable to inhale.

Much to his dismay, as he struggled against his invisible foe, the air within his lungs was being forced out of him through his nostrils. To make matters worse, Ling Jian'er twisted her arm, guiding the overpowering gust to slam and drag Cyrus into and along the surface of the stage.

Onlookers gasped, dismayed and worried by her actions. Cyrus was forced to cry out in pain. The repeated attacks beat the breath out of him in a most violent way. New bruises appeared on his body and his pants became even more torn; his face gained a large number of scrapes and cuts due to the rough texture of that giant brick stage.

Ling Jian'er wore a cruel smile, then she flicked her wrist and ended the vicious onslaught. Cyrus lay on his back, greedily sucking in breath after breath of air. His face soon regained it's natural complexion, but his overall situation was not any better for it.

As of right now, it was clear to everyone that Ling Jian'er had won. Clearer on this matter than anyone else, of course, was Ling Jian'er. She clasped her hands behind her after dusting her dress, making a show of just how effortless it all was for her.

Cyrus happened to glimpse this, and his eyes glowed fiercely even more than before. Struggling to roll over onto his side, all the while eying Ling Jian'er with bestial rage, he pointed a finger toward her and shouted, "Shut your mouth!"

Annoyed and lightly pissed, Ling Jian'er looked down at him and laughed derisively. "What? You haven't had enough?"

Cyrus chuckled as he fought the urge to cry out; every movement he made irritated some wound and brought him to higher and higher stages of pain and agony. Still, he crawled and staggered until he was resting on his knees.

"You think that was enough to stop me? Please! You have no idea what I've been through-"

"I don't really care."

"You have no idea how much I suffered!"

"This is getting annoying, brat."

"Since the day I was born to now, I have lived hell every single day- and you think this is enough to defeat me? To break my spirit!?"

"SHUT UP! Wisp of Essence, Storm!"

This time, the dark clouds themselves sought to intervene in their battle. Like a hurricane, they assumed the form of a cyclone and emitted terrifying oscillations of air, rushing past all who were present like a raging tide.

Cyrus smiled in the face of it all, though the pure wrath within him continued to build in his eyes. White light shone out of them, reflected from the depths of his burning, feverish soul.

At that moment, Ling Jian'er roared and thrust her hand forward, intent on completely destroying the boy before her.

"Die!"

Lin Fei was slack-jawed, but when he heard that word he snapped out of it and prepared to rush onto the stage and save Cyrus. A hint of hesitation arose, though, as he realized he was unsure of if he could actually save the boy from such an attack.

Fortunately for the chieftain, Cyrus let loose a roar of his own that wholly reversed the tide of the battle. With a thunderous volume, his shout broke something in the air that nullified the force of the wind. Even the cyclone above, when faced with that mighty sound, dispersed in an instant.

All were amazed and dumbfounded- even more so after what Cyrus did next.

Standing firmly, whereas before he could not even stand, Cyrus seemed to have acquired a new source of strength. With each movement, his eyes left white trails in the air that lingered for a few seconds before fading.

"My soul is unfaltering before you and shall not be defeated!"

Ling Jian'er was now sick thoroughly sick of this brat. For some reason, he refused to stay down.

"Fine! I'll make you admit defeat if it's the last thing I do! Wisp of Essence, Gust, Storm!"

This time, newer and more dismal clouds appeared. The overcast sky, like the crepuscular, sunless dome, was filled with numerous cyclones, each more horrible than the last. Endless torrents of stormy winds blew forward, this time gathering around Ling Jian'er as the gust technique was also carried out.

"Hoh? So she has mastered Wisp of Essence enough to combine the two initial styles. Impressive indeed." Logean Wuji said this, but Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er had no idea what was happening. Esoecially Ling Ji'er, who was rooting for Cyrus in her heart. She wanted nothing more than to see her sister defeated, and had appeared disappointed when it seemed that Cyrus had lost.

Now, seeing the newfound power welling within Cyrus, she was reminded of Logean Wuji's assessment of the lad and became hopeful yet again.

Cyrus platinum hair was blown this way and that, his dilapidated pants filled with air and flapped. Yet he remained, beaten and bleeding yet clearly unwilling to go down, he slammed his fist into his chest and shouted, "I am Cyrus! The true King of the Proud Heaven Empire!"

With his voice, reverberating pulses of raw power sounded out to contend fiercely against Ling Jian'er and her aerial attack. The echoing sound of his voice was like an attack unto itself, sending out an energy combined with the sound itself.

Sound waves and terrifying gales clashed in the air, causing explosive yet controlled explosions of aura that evoked shocked cries from the massive audience. Before things could get too dangerous for the majority of them to handle, a golden light encased them in it. Father Tang had stepped out to protect them with his aura, standing where the guards around the stage were.

As for Cyrus and Ling Jian'er, they were standing on their respective ends of the stage. Ling Jian'er had taken a knee, still surrounded by a layer of rushing wind but unable to stand. Cyrus stood tall, seeming unperturbed, but his body was pitifully weak, devoid of energy. At this point, Logean Wuji took it upon himself to act.

The incarnation of him that lingered invisibly in the space between Cyrus and Ling Jian'er stepped out of space, making it seem like he had teleported when in reality he had merely made his presence known. His incarnation that was in the sky vanished, but that was simply because it was hidden in the fold of space.

"The battle between Cyrus, the little King-Boy, and Ling Jian'er, the Whirlwind Monkey, ends here. The Monkey has suffered internal injuries due to the tenacity of the King-Boy's sound attack. However, the King-Boy has used up all of his vital energy."

"Thus, the battle ends in a draw." Logean Wuji immediately returned to his place in the sky, at the ethereal table.

No one took issue with his judgement, especially those that could verify what he just said by way of their divine wills. They could sense the abundance of qi within Ling Jian'er, while Cyrus was running on empty. The only people with anything to say were, naturally, the parties involved.

"Young Master Wuji, I am the clear victor! This idiotic redhead could never defeat me!"

"As if! You were about to die, vagrant! Longan Wuji, I demand you declare me the winner!"