34 Final Tournament: Yunlong's First Matches!

As the tournament battles began, there were quite a few fights. The first day had twenty fights on its own, and thus ten people entered the losers bracket, ending the first day of competition.

The first battle that Yun paid attention to was the battle of Geng Jian and Mo Feng. One of these two would be her first opponent.

As Geng Jian and Mo Feng faced off against each other they both had weapons in hand. Geng Jian had his long-sword in hand, while Mo Feng had his twin sabers.

With a burst of motion the match began, both of them being cultivators who focused on the Fire laws made for an exciting match where blasts of flame flew out from every exchange.

After a long, drawn out battle Geng Jian was driven over the edge of the arena when Mo Feng got in a surprise kick against his stomach while their weapons were entangled.

Hours later the final matches for the day were completed, 18 groups had fought and nine fighters had fallen into the losers bracket. The entire first round of the bracket had been completed this day.

All fighters were given until the next day at noon to rest and restore themselves. This would be a brutal gauntlet of fighting each day until elimination.

---------

Day 2

Yun waited on the sidelines for her fight to begin. Today would host 16 battles from the second round, with the remaining 16 battles being the next day. This would be the entire Winners bracket plus a few of the Losers bracket on the first day, with the remaining Losers bracket fights happening the second day.

The first four matches passed without much excitement, other than the second match, which was mildly interesting. This match featured Ding Song and Fang Ru. Ding Song fought valiantly, but was unable to overcome the strange soft sword techniques that Fang Ru used, and thus decided to concede the match after exhausting himself.

Finally, the fourth match ended as well and it was time for Yun to enter the stage.

"Mo Feng, Huli Yunlong, enter the stage!"

Both fighters mounted the stage and looked at each other. Yun knew about Mo Feng's fighting style, but Mo Feng knew nothing about Yun.

"Fighters are ready, you may begin." An Elder called out, beginning the match.

Mo Feng drew his twin sabers and charged forwards. Saber fighting styles were indomitable and aggressive, very fitting for the large Canis body. As he drew close to her, Yun suddenly drew out two of the Volvaka spears she still had and started to aggressively attack him, keeping him at a distance while she learned his techniques herself.

During their continuous clashes on the stage Mo Feng began to get angry about his inability to overcome the defenses of such a small child. Soon, his anger started to soar and one of the special abilities of his cultivation technique began to activate. Each strike of his sabers caused small fireballs to fly out, forcing Yun to be more wary and dodge these as well.

Seeing the situation devolve made Yun decide on her next course of action. She had spent enough time analyzing his fighting style, and now even knew he could use distant flame attacks like the Volvaka Fire-Eaters she just dealt with in the tower. Instantly she used a heavy strike to create a small amount of space between them and switched weapons, from the two stiff Volvaka spears to her own flexible long-spear.

Yun's spear was nearly 20% longer than the Volvaka Hunter's spears, but also lighter due to the special materials it was made from. Using this weight and reach advantage she began to strike out at Mo Feng from even farther away, completely suppressing him in speed and ferocity. Even the bursts of flame from his sabers couldn't reach her now, as she would casually block the small fireballs with the shaft of her spear as she prepared for her next strike.

Within another twenty exchanges Mo Feng was driven completely off the edge of the platform, a look of reluctance plastered on his face.

Yun left the stage afterwards, but turned to pay attention to the next battle, as it would determine her next opponent as well. Following Yun's battle was Xue Guo versus Xu Tian. In this battle Xue Guo revealed her iron fans and high speed with her Felis agility to dominate the darkness cultivator Xu Tian and his seemingly omnipresent whip. As they fought there seemed to be six whips flailing about, striking at Xue Guo, but each time they got near they were deflected with a smack from the flat of the fan, or were directly wound up and thrown down with a closed fan as a pivot point.

Xue Guo knew exactly what she was doing in this fight, and the illusions and dangerous tricks that the Darkness laws provided for Xu Tian were all but negligible. Within fifteen minutes of the fight beginning Xue Guo had claimed victory after disarming her opponent.

The rest of the battles on this day were of no interest to Yun, and she spent the rest of the day resting and focusing on her cultivation technique. She had begun to realize that she was missing some things that might be hidden within, so she was analyzing the mysteries of the Solar Thunder Sutra.

The next day was also lacking interest for her, this day was the vast majority of the first round of the Losers Bracket. Yun continued to study her cultivation method and was beginning to see hope that there were techniques buried within that she had failed to see before due to a lack of understanding.

Within her mind, Yun was studying every inch of the image containing the secrets of the first level of the Solar Thunder Sutra. The image was of a beautiful valley, lush and green, with a river running through it made of incredible fire water. Above the valley were heavy clouds, lightning twining between them, and a large number of breaks in the clouds where an incredibly massive and powerful sun was peeking through.

Analyzing this image had already taught Yun how to circulate energy, as the image contained within it a form of energy flow, but she was now beginning to see that there was more to it.

Within the energy flows there was also a concept, and through knowing the concept there were even deeper, smaller flows, that seemed to contain the mysteries that she was seeking. A smile played across Yun's face as she began to understand the first concept contained within, "heat".

Finally the third day ended and everyone rested for the evening. Tomorrow would host all sixteen battles for the third round, winners and losers. She would be the third battle in line, and yet again the battle after her would determine her next opponent.