33 A Breakthrough

Chu Fan stood still, allowing Yi Mo Chou to approach him. Yi Mo Chou had turned her hands into claws and pranced about like a leopard, bloodthirsty and hungry. With killing intent, she leapt into the air; she closed the gap between her and Chu Fan.

Feeling her killing intent, Chu Fan and Vault Keeper Wang's pupils dilated. Vault Keeper Wang almost stood up, but hesitated as he wanted to see what Chu Fan would do in this situation. He would only interfere with the match if Chu Fan was truly incapable and that he had misjudged this child.

Chu Fan extended his hands outwards and fell back narrowly evading the claws aiming to remove his head. Before he actually hit the floor, Chu Fan thrust his hands towards the ground, propelling himself back onto his feet with the wind force created by his qi.

Yi Mo Chou would give Chu Fan no time to think, and continued her onslaught of claw attacks. She forced Chu Fan to take several steps back as he narrowly dodged the attacks aimed at his vitals. The attacks that he could not block were blocked by his arms and feet. His clothes were torn and tattered now, his skin was revealed; yet no blood of his dripped about where he had been hit.

"Senior sister, I didn't think you would resort to tickling me and removing my clothes. Just what is your hidden agenda in dueling me? You could have just taken me to dinner and asked nicely."

"You! Shut up! Stop spouting nonsense, you perverted fatty. Is your skin thicker than leather? Why do my attacks leave no mark?"

Yi Mo Chou was infuriated that her attacks had no real effects on Chu Fan; so much so that he found time to tease her.

She came at him with palms this time, attacking him with soft force. She sent him flying back a meter or two.

*Thud* He landed on his back, spurting some blood from his mouth as he made impact.

Chu Fan got up as quickly as he could but another palm had already landed on his cheek, sending him flying again. This time he was ready and stabilized himself midair and landed on his feet, crouching. With his feet, he pushed with all his might and disappeared from sight with his lightness skill. He would not allow her to pinpoint his location.

"Senior sister, you pack quite a slap. Allow me to show you a bit of my strength also."

She looked from side to side, finding nothing. She looked up, thinking that he was midair.

"Wrong! Think fast."

From the corner of her eyes, Chu Fan appeared like a ghost. Before she could attack him, he hit her liver with his palm strike. He infused his qi into his attack, amplifying the power and shattering her defenses. This sent her to the floor gasping for breath, her face pale in complexion.

She looked up at the monstrous twelve year old child next to her and questioned whether or not he was a reincarnated death god or the son of an immortal, living amongst mortals.

"What luck I have?" she chuckled to herself.

Chu Fan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled at Yi Mo Chou.

"Get up! I will not strike you while you are down. Let us have another go senior sister. Show me your true might."

Yi Mo Chou caught her breath and she stood up, her complexion returned. Taking a deep breath, a light flickered in her eyes, and she opened her eyes widely. Yi Mo Chou was executing one of her special moves that she had mastered to a high degree: the Dipper Killing Art.

"It's the Ursa Minor stance of the Dipper Killing Art. Senior Sister Yi is really going all out."

In the front, Hun Lian was on the verge of tears; she was split between the two. She just wanted it all to be over with and hoped that none of them were severely hurt.

Chu Fan was berated by fists and kicks, he blocked most of the attacks, and those that made it past his defense wore him down. He was knocked down, his body full of bruises now. The force of those blows were much stronger than the attacks from before, Chu Fan's defensive capabilities stood no chance against the raw strength of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

He coughed a mouthful of blood and backed away, falling to his knees.

*Crack*

He stood back up, and qi burst outward from him. It created a mist that enveloped him in its protective layer. The crowd watching all gasp for air.

"A breakthrough in the middle of a duel?"

"This Chu Fan really is a monster. I thought he was at the fifth level only, I wasn't expecting him to have actually been a half-step Foundation Establishment all this time."

Duan Mu turned her head over to Vault Keeper Wang after muttering this sentence. The one that he had spoken of earlier on in the day, being the only impressive one, had actually been Chu Fan.

"It seems this child has a very promising future ahead of himself. He may very well be one of the youngest to have ever stepped into the Foundation Establishment stage. But the quality of his qi is on another level. I, myself, have never come across such pure qi."

Had Vault Keeper Wang known that Chu Fan was capable of accomplishing such a bizarre feat in such a short amount of time, he would be going crazy about Chu Fan.

Soon, the qi surrounding Chu Fan began to form a vortex around the Chu Fan's stomach. It all entered his dantian. Very swiftly, Chu Fan took all the accumulated Qi into his dantian. He opened his eyes and a gust of wind blew about. He was ready to proceed with the battle and bowed to his senior sister.

"Thank you senior sister for waiting. Let us proceed."

Yi Mo Chou had decided to wait for Chu Fan to finish with his breakthrough. He had waited for her to stand back up, it was the most she could do to repay his kindness. In such a crucial moment of breakthrough, had any interruptions occurred, Chu Fan could have ended up a cripple for a second time.

Entering a new stage of cultivation, Chu Fan felt his strength continually growing with every second. His eyes shown a new light as he grew more and more excited about how much stronger he would feel in the future.

Yi Mo Chou ran up to Chu Fan and began berating him with punches and kicks. Chu Fan's vision was, now, clearer than ever. Every fist travelling towards his vital point was seen in slow motion; he dodged them as if it were mere child's play. He even saw through the fists and kicks that were feints, if they held no qi in their movement, he would simply not block or evade.

After enjoying the thrill of his newfound strength, Chu Fan decided that it was now time to end this duel. He grabbed Yi Mo Chou's arms as he evaded her punches and he simply tossed her up into the air. After sending her midair, he jumped in her direction and gave chase. Like in most video games from his past life, he was preparing to juggle her.

He began his onslaught of palm attacks on her body, with her lightness skills she was unable to maneuver in midair. Yi Mo Chou could only block a couple of Chu Fan's attacks; she was gritting her teeth as she tried to resist the pain of his blows. She was nearing her limits and her vision started to blur.

Chu Fan closed his eyes and started waving his hands in a clockwise motion. When he opened his eyes again, his qi focused onto his palms as he extended his hands in Yi Mo Chou's direction. His qi came down onto her with the force of a crashing meteor, slamming her body into the pavement and kicking up a cloud of dust.

The cloud of dust cleared up and all that lay on the floor was the damaged floor of the dueling stage and Yi Mo Chou's unconscious body: battered, bruised, and bloody. Vault Keeper Wang stood up with a smile on his face.

"I declare the winner of this duel to be Chu Fan."

All the students gasped for air as Chu Fan had just demolished Yi Mo Chou. He had secured an upset victory, making all students present, see him in an entirely new light. All the disciples ran onstage, one side cheered for Chu Fan while the other side ran over to their senior disciple sister with tears in their eyes.

The sound of crying drowned out the cheering on Chu Fan's side, and all the students curiously gathered around the still unconscious Yi Mo Chou. Vault Keeper Wang pulled a pill bottle out of his storage ring and handed it to one of Yi Mo Chou's juniors, but the bottle was snatched away by none other than Hun Lian. With tears in her eyes, she ran over to Yi Mo Chou's side and fed her the pill.

"Wake up big sister! You have to be okay."

Hearing Hun Lian's voice, Yi Mo Chou opened her eyes with whatever strength she had left in her. She looked at her sniffling juniors around her, their eyes were red and puffy. She smiled bitterly as she knew that she had lost to her junior despite her going all out.

"Help me up, will you."

Two of her juniors picked her up over their shoulders. The effects of the pill began to surface as her drained face began to revert to it's original, rosy color. Saddened she turned to face Chu Fan.

"As agreed, our group shall disband and we shall never appear before the young miss ever again."

Chu Fan shook his head and finger at Yi Mo Chou.

"You really don't get it, do you? I never meant my words back there. Besides, that isn't what Hun Lian could ever wish for. No matter how you idolize her, she has as much a right as any other in her choice of companions."

Yi Mo Chou turned her head to look at Hun Lian who had tears in her eyes.

"Big sister Yi, I don't want you to disappear from me. You mean as much to me as Chu Fan does. I don't know what I would do with myself if I didn't have either of you in my life."

Yi Mo Chou had a pained expression on her face also. She couldn't bear to live in a world where she could not be around Hun Lian, who she had accepted as a sister.

"I'm so sorry Hun Lian. I only wanted the best for you. I never meant to hurt you. I see now that Chu Fan is really a capable person. I was blinded by my desire to protect you that I forgot that you are only human also. I shall respect whomever you choose to be friends with from now on."

Vault Keeper Wang only shook his head and sighed.

"Ah, the trouble that beauty brings. Now that this duel is over, I shall excuse myself."

Vault Keeper Wang made his way back to the Sect Vault. He had served his purpose and he really wanted to sample his new pot of wine. The disciples stayed for a couple minutes more to celebrate Chu Fan's victory. Duan Mu was first to approach Chu Fan.

"Chu Fan, you have a lot of explaining to do."