A Question Of Time

Ye Mo fiercely pounded Ha Jun's head.

Ha Jun could only raise his arms and protect himself under the waves of fists while he strongly moved his waist to make Ye Mo lose balance and fall on the side.

Still, Ye Mo was stable and although he would jerk at times he was firmly holding his place.

However Ha Jun's defenses were astonishing and as he protected his head like a turtle he took little damages. Ye Mo's strenght was just insufficient.

"What is he doing? He's just tiring himself out."

"Once he run out of energy, Ha Jun's gonna dismount him and win this fight."

"Good riddance. If i knew even stupid nobodies like him could join an Institute i would have registered myself."

"You dumb brats don't you see what's going on right now!" Three youths were talking with each others when an old man that heard their conversation rebutted them harshly.

"What... What is it?" The young men were about to flare up when they saw the colors of the Tiger Martial Institute on the old man outfit.

"This Ye Mo's strategy is not to knock out Ha Jun, he's obviously just buying time."

"Time? Why would he do that."

"Sigh... Kids these days don't know anything. Then let this wise one instruct you."

The old man cleared his throat then continued "For such amplification battle skills like Ha Jun's one, there's usually two ways for them to be sustained. One is with Qi, with each seconds passing, Qi would be used until it's completely depleted then the user would revert to his original form.

The second one has a fixed set of time. The user just need a certain amount of Qi for activation and when the time's up he would lose the effects of the battle skill."

"So what you mean is that Ha Jun's opponent is just waiting that the advantages of the battle skill wears off?" One of the young men said in realization.

"That's right, he must have understood it himself at some point. For his age, i must say he's really a perceptive kid hehe.."

Unbeknownst to some spectators the battle became a question of time where the first contestant showing a weakness would be the loser.

Back on the stage Ye Mo didn't leave Ha Jun's any room to maneuver as he made one fist after another heavily fall on him.

"Dammit, i can't do anything beside defending. My legs are unusable since he's on top and i can't pull even half my strenght lying on the ground like that. If i try to grab him i leave my head uncovered and he tries to bite my throat and plunge his fingers in my eyes."

Ha Jun deeply protected his head with his arms and shots to the body didn't make him waver at all, even so he felt hard pressed by Ye Mo.

"I didn't want to kill you but you don't leave me any choice!" Ye Mo heard Ha Jun shout when he saw his hand coming towards him with indescribable strenght.

Wild Fang Implacable Chop!

Ha Jun moved his hand with overwhelming might and the wind hurled before the strike as it neared towards Ye Mo.

"This is not something brute force alone can accomplish, it's a battle skill!" Ye Mo was a cautious person by nature and at the slightest trace of danger he would retreat and reorganize himself. He quickly dismounted Ha Jun and tried to evade but it was too late.

Bam!

Ye Mo was sent rolling multiple meters before he slowed down and stopped.

He wanted to quickly get up but only one hand supported himself. His left arm wasn't responding and when he looked at it he saw his bone protruding on his shoulder. It was dislocated.

His head was dizzy and he vomited some blood but he held on and grabbed his shoulder with his remaining hand.

Kachak!

With his enormous strenght he forcefully put back the bone inside the socket. A gut-wrenching pain shot up his shoulder before it quickly faded into a dull ache.

Ye Mo fell in thought as he made circular movements with his left shoulder "It's still painful but at least i recovered the mobility of my arm. Body refinement combined with battle skills is incomparably powerful, if i didn't turn around at the last moment to block with the back of my shoulder i could have died there. No wonder he can fight people a layer higher than himself."

Ye Mo knew his shortcomings and used this competition to ingrain in his mind every bit of informations he could gather.

He had a hard time standing. The shock he received on his shoulder traveled through his whole body, shook his brain and inflicted light injuries to his organs.

"Give up, you can't beat me. I wanted to keep my battle skills as trump cards against the young masters but now i don't care anymore. If you give up, you can still bide your time and grow stronger but if you persist in obstructing me you will die." Ha Jun tried to persuade Ye Mo.

"Haha, panicking already? If you're scared don't waste my time and get out of my sight." Ye Mo chuckled his confidence unwavering.

"You asked for it!" Ha Jun looked grimly at Ye Mo as he spoke in a low muffled voice.

Immediately he charged at his opponent!

His speed increased greatly and the battle stage shook under his steps.

Great Bull Furious Stampede!

"He's actually faster than me." Without leaving his sight from his opponent Ye Mo quickly darted on the side avoiding Ha Jun's battle skill.

Ha Jun seeing Ye Mo evading, stopped for a fraction of a second then turned on his side and charged at Ye Mo again.

Ye Mo evaded another time and this situation kept repeating itself again and again but Ha Jun using this battle skill was faster and as such he was getting closer every time until only a few meters separated them.

"He can only run in a straight line but when i dodge he cancel his battle skill and instantly face me before using it once again. It's clever but this method should consume a lot of Qi."

"Since i can't escape, i should as well face it." Ye Mo suddenly turned around and rushed head-on towards the charging Ha Jun.

"Look at this kid haha, seems like he turned mad under Ha Jun's pressure."

"He's crazy, the instructor must intervene right now or he's gonna die!"

"Watch out guys, a bloody show is coming."

The audience was stunned but mostly excited by this turn of events.

Both sides collided; Ha Jun was stopped right on his tracks while Ye Mo was sent flying before falling heavily on the floor.

Fortunately the arena was very wide and Ye Mo led his opponent to the center before the collision hence he wasn't directly sent out of the stage.

He barely had the time to wipe the bloodstains off the corner of his lips that Ha Jun was already speeding towards him.

Ye Mo's injuries weren't light and there wasn't one inch of his body that wasn't hurting but he gritted his teeth, stood up and evaded.

"This kid is really resilient, to think he survived till now."

"He's like a cockroach, pestering you and still clinging to life when you crush him."

"He's just delaying the inevitable, Ha Jun with his battle skills surpass him easily. He should listen to him and give up, there's no point going this far when you already joined the Tiger Martial Institute."

The situation repeated itself until Ye Mo was sent flying once more. His whole body was covered in blood, and his nose was broken rendering his breathing difficult.

However he stood up and kept going until a dull thud resounded and he fell on the floor yet again.

"Im almost out of Qi, i can't keep going this way or i will be the one in trouble. I definitely must finish him with my next move!" Ha Jun thought with determination. The spectators cheered for him but only he knew truly how critical was his situation.

Ye Mo slowly stood up. He looked like a crooked old man unsteadily walking. Only his gaze had no change, sharp like the edge of a blade.

He vascillated at first but one step at a time he gradually started trotting, then sprinting!

Ha Jun chased behind him. Ye Mo wasn't as fast as before while Ha Jun was still in good shape and quickly caught up.

"This is the end for you!" Ha Jun roared as he raised his right leg above his head and made it fall towards Ye Mo.

Crushing Waterfall Kick!

"This is a high tier Yellow Class battle skill! The kid won't survive against this even with his strong body." The instructor started circulating his Qi on the side, prepared to save Ye Mo's life at the last moment.

The kick was incomparably powerful, exploding even the air around it. As the heel neared towards Ye Mo's skull, the latter suddenly turned around and spat a clump of blood.

Ha Jun didn't expect this from his opponent and received the blood on his face, obscuring his vision. The trajectory of his kick slightly deviated while Ye Mo didn't stood in place as well.

Boom!

The kick fell on the stage destroying the stone tiles under Ha Jun's foot and shaking the arena.

Ye Mo was beside Ha Jun, silent like a ghost.

Swift like an arrow he jabbed!

Pshhht!

A deep stream of blood trinkled down Ha Jun's face.

Between Ye Mo's fingers was a bloody eyeball, the optic nerve still attached to it.

A profound quieteness invaded the arena for an instant before an heart-wrenching scream resounded, jolting the stunned audience awake.