Bai Jingshen vs. Spike Jr.

After his win against Daro Mellar, Bai Jingshen finally counted amongst the favorites in this competition. Many onlookers analyze the footage of this battle and came to the conclusion, that Bai Jingshen used transcendence-stage Borde Sword Techniques. With one transcendence- and two perfect-stage techniques people realized, that this young man could most likely count among the top geniuses throughout the Rising Force World. Even Bennet was shocked, as Bai Jingshen never showed off his sword mastery.

The instructor quickly notified his superiors, telling them to try their best to keep Bai Jingshen in the long run. This mysterious young man might just be a diamond in the rough, their second biggest genius after Elena Thobar herself.

In another cube, floating amongst those at the top, Julia Ceres had a wry smile on her face. The prideful woman was still a bit indignant about her loss, especially as her master admonished her about saving her trump cards. After all, while other's only prepared one trump card, the merchants of Celestial Jade usually had ten's of accessories. However, after Bai Jingshen revealed his sword mastery, she, as well as her master, could at least accept her defeat easier.

Obviously, a completely different mood pervaded Ellshire's cube. Lehno furiously watched the screen as his subordinate talked on an on like a little wimp. As someone schooled in manipulation, he could clearly see how Daro never stood a chance in the first place. Now that idiot's words would even bring trouble to him. Not because he admitted to anything shady, but because he was called future Lord in public. Although, he would surely rise to a high position in the future, but only his older brother would ever be called Lord. Lehno was sure a heavy punishment awaited him at home.

His rage only grew, as he observed his subordinate being carried away while this pretty boy was praised by everyone. Was having a transcendence-stage technique something great? He really hoped to meet Bai Jingshen in this competition…

After having to endure his team member's questioning and praise, Bai Jingshen was finally able to relax again. This fight didn't cost him a lot of energy, so Bai Jingshen decided to wait for Sam. He suddenly realized that Spike Sr. and his son were messing. Asking Bennet about it, he learned, that Spike Jr. apparently never told his father about what happened in the Gentle Water Inn.

He chuckled a bit, thinking about what the braggart would reveal. Bai Jingshen was certain either he would end up as a huge villain in this story, or Daro and his partner would become the biggest demons, crawling out of hell only to influence other's minds.

The former emperor quickly forgot about Spike however, as Phill soon brought back Sam. The talkative young man only had a few bruises, but from the disappointment appearent on his face, he obviously lost. Seemingly the matchup wasn't even close.

In order to cheer up Sam, Bai Jingshen brought him over towards a table, playing a game called billiard against him. After the former emperor thoroughly got destroyed, Sam appeared to be in a better mood, so Bai Jingshen decided to meditate again. Bennet happily watched his thoughtful recruit return to his bedroom, highly suspicious if he lost on purpose.

Slowly the mood in Thobar Bionics' cube settled down a bit. A lot of exiting matches were still ongoing, but most of them didn't have much meaning to the Thobar employees. Bennet only decided to send Bai Jingshen a notification about Ra losing to Lehno. The latter's subordinates where a bit afraid of failure, so they didn't inform Lehno about Ra's connection with Bai Jingshen, leading to Ra losing in a fair fight. The instructor also deemed it necessary to include a warning, telling Bai Jingshen not to underestimate the noble heir.

The former emperor pitied his friend, but there was nothing he could do about it. Bai Jingshen simply cleared his mind and inwardly prepared for his match against Lehno.

A development catching Bai Jingshen by surprise however happened first, as his next opponent turned out to be Spike Jr. Both of them were still undefeated, so in the audiences eyes this would surely be an interesting matchup. Naturally the mood in Thobar's cube grew heated again, as the RSS and SFT confronted each other directly for the first time.

Bai Jingshen didn't forget his humiliation at the hot springs, so was sure to teach Spike Jr. a lesson in this fight. He stood up, composing himself and walked out of the bedroom. Looking around, he could see his and Spike's team members already arguing with each other. In his opinion words were meaningless at this point. Only fists had the right to speak now. He once again followed Phill onto his floating platform, waiting for Spike to show up.

At the last second the young man stormed out of his bedroom. His head seemed red form rage, but Bai Jingshen was sure one of his cheeks took on a darker shade than the other. The former emperor could imagine how Spike Sr. reprimanded his son. Only the exact reason remained unclear.

Spike Jr. jumped onto the platform, prompting Phill to finally fly out. Bai Jingshen already felt his adversaries' glare on him, but he decided to ignore those and adjust his mental state. Inwardly Bai Jingshen was also rather angry at the shameless braggart, therefore he simply wanted to give him a good old thrashing.

The two men finally arrived at their fighting stage. All the other contestants having their match at the same time were already waiting in displeasure. At long last however, the next round could begin as everyone entered their preparation rooms. Bai Jingshen knew Spike would definitely fight with his guns, so in addition to his previous weapon sets, he even added a Mana Pistol to his belt.

The organizers voice sounded out again, quickly starting the countdown for their next match.

As soon as the countdown reached zero, Bai Jingshen ran out onto the fighting stage. He inwardly cursed his bad luck, as the fighting ground this time turned out to be a series of small islands in an ocean. Those islands all consisted of some kind of hilly terrain and were connected to multiple bridges. If he was still the old emperor, the terrain wouldn't have mattered, as he could just fly over it. But with this layout, he would have a hard time getting spike into close combat.

The braggard's annoying voice could already be heard sounding through the fighting stage.

"Hillbillly! Do you think you are a big shot now? You're nothing! And I will prove it! I won against you before and I will do it again!"

Bai Jingshen was impressed, as he couldn't even tell if Spike Jr. believed his own crap. Surely, he couldn't be this delusional right? Well, he couldn't verify it and didn't really care to do it either.

For now, Bai Jingshen swiftly crossed the first few bridges towards his opponent's voice. As expected, as soon as he was out in the open, gunshots were coming at him at high speeds. Bai Jingshen began to run in intricate patterns, left and right, faster and slower, while bending his body around to avoid as many shots as possible. Still, he wasn't able to get through AR fire completely unscathed, so he already received a few wounds before arriving at another island and lying down there.

The two young man quickly found themselves in an impasse, as each one wanted to fight their opponent on his own turf. Bai Jingshen concentrated his senses, trying to make out any movement from Spike Jr. He already knew where his adversary was hiding, but he was still contemplating on how to get there.

Bai Jingshen was rudely interrupted however, as Spike seemed to take a page out of Daro's book and suddenly threw a grenade at Bai Jingshen. The former emperor cursed his enemy in his mind, hurriedly changing spots. He quickly had to dodge gunfire again. A bit slowed down from his sudden escape however, Spike managed to inflict a heavy wound on Bai Jingshen's hip this time.

The experienced fighter had to grit his teeth, while hiding behind a single stone. Bennet meanwhile began raging in Thobar Bionics' platform. The old instructor saw history repeat itself, as he realized Bai Jingshen actually got hit by the same bullet Spike Sr. used against him in the past. Looking at the smug chief inspector's face, Bennet finally saw red.

Maybe he hadn't even realized himself how much of a liking he took to his new recruit. Seeing Bai Jingshen most likely permanently wounded, Bennet quickly activated his metal glove, sending a full strength punch at Spike. Phill however reacted quickly, telling his AI to take out Bennet. A small gun suddenly appeared out of the ceiling. It easily took aim, firing a bullet at Bennet. Even as a Golden Core Realm cultivator the brawny man wasn't able to evade in the slightest.

The projectile hit Bennet in his arm, shooting energy through his body and knocking Bennet out cold. Dahlia hastily ran over to hold his unconscious body. The RSS team was seething in rage, but they couldn't do anything about it. As Spike suddenly started to laugh loudly, the RSS could only take Bennet and help Dahlia to carry him into a bedroom under the SFT's ridicule.