76 The Final Fight (2 in 1)

Whoosh!

Without hesitation, Shi Li and Shi Shisi used their maximum strength in propelling their bodies towards each other, trying to make the first move than the other one. Both of them knew that holding the initiative would be beneficial in the long run.

Of course, Shi Li did not ask Shi Shisi if he was interested in limiting the amount of moves they could do as he wanted to not only test his strength against Shi Shisi, but also test his endurance.

While he was meditating at the time of rest before the finals started, Shi Li was able to breakthrough in reducing the amount of energy he used to 30 percent. He only had 10% to go to technically reach the second level of the [Energy Condensation Art].

As he was wondering about how to go about making his first move, Shi Li could hear a chuckle that was getting louder and louder in front of him.

Whoosh!

"Hehe, it seems that I'll be striking first!" In an instant, Shi Shisi stopped in his tracks while Shi Li was continuing to get closer to him, pointing his extremely thin sword forward before gripping tightly on the hilt.

"First Art: Void Pierce!" Using Shi Li's momentum to his advantage, Shi Shisi moved his sword towards Shi Li's left arm, relying on his own momentum and Shi Li's momentum to reduce the time needed to strike.

"Shit!" Shi Li knew that there was only a gap of a few meters between them and he would not be able to execute All-encompassing Sword because of it. With his quick wits, he decided to spin counterclockwise, which was out of Shi Shisi's sword's reach.

Whoosh!

Although Shi Shisi somewhat expected Shi Li to deflect or dodge his attack, he did not expect him to spin towards his side. Speaking of which, his sides were open.

"Let me be the one to return to favor!" Shi Li laughed as he removed one of his hands from the hilt of Sundering Flame, shaping it into a claw before slashing down.

"Fiery Claw!"

"...!" Shi Shisi's eyes widened as he did not expect Shi Li to attack like this. Although he was prepared for his Inferno Ring that gave a large wound on Shi Daoliang's back, since it was the first time he got to see it, he had no way to retaliate back.

Whoosh!

Five thin lines of orange sword light appeared on the trajectory of Shi Li's fingertips as Shi Shisi took a few steps back to avoid the claw.

"Why didn't you use that skill earlier?" Shi Shisi could not help but ask as he charged forward with his sword in a piercing position.

"Hehe! It was my trump card to fight against you!" Shi Li could not help but laugh as he bent his knees and assumed a guarding stance, ready for Shi Shisi's attack.

Yet he was not ready for it at all.

At first, Shi Shisi's speed was still traceable by Shi Li's eyes, but at the next instant after that, Shi Shisi accelerated at a speed that was three times...no! Five times faster than before!

"Second Art: Star Piercer!"

Whoosh!

Shi Shisi was able to land a hit on Shi Li's left arm, although it was not in the place he expected. At the last moment before Shi Shisi's sword pierced through Shi Li's left arm, Shi Li relied on his instincts to move a little bit to the side, allowing the sword to not pierce through his arm's nerves, which was Shi Shisi's aim.

"Heh!" Rather than grimace in pain from the attack, Shi Li endured it as he kicked with his right foot in an arc, a radiant orange sword light appearing on the tips of his foot.

"Shi—" Shi Shisi was about to curse as he tried to pull out his sword from Shi Li's left arm, but this was abruptly halted as the orange sword light from Shi Li's feet collided with his abdomen, flinging his body and the sword he tightly grasped by a few meters.

Pfft!

Fresh blood spurted out of the wound that Shi Li inflicted on Shi Shisi as he flew through the air, slightly covering the ground of the dueling platform with blood in his path.

Thud!

Not long after, Shi Shisi landed on the ground with a thud, coughing out a mouthful of blood before standing up again to face Shi Li. A flame of determination appeared within Shi Shisi's eyes. 'I finally found a good opponent! I won't lose to him!'

Of course, Shi Li's eyes were filled with determination as well, having the motivation to triumph against Shi Shisi. Gripping on his sword with his slightly debilitated left arm, he dashed once more at full power with his [Flame Bursting Step] as the memory of Shi Shisi's previous attack surfaced in his mind.

'That attack was incredibly fast...yet extremely condensed to a point where it's hard to follow,' Shi Li could not help but give Shi Shisi's attack a high evaluation.

"Wait...condensed..." Shi Li could not help but think that this word was the key to fully mastering Flame Slash rather than remaining in its half mastered state.

Raising his sword up in the air as he dashed towards where Shi Shisi was, he shouted, "One more time!"

Although the wound on Shi Shisi's abdomen looked life-threatening, it was only skin deep at most, allowing him to grip tight on his sword one more time before dashing towards Shi Li at a greater time. "Take this!"

At the instant, Shi Shisi started to dash towards him at a greater speed than before, Shi Li could not help but feel his pupil shrink as he knew that Shi Shisi was injured, just like him. Not long after, he could feel the aura of a galaxy collapsing around Shi Shisi's sword before condensing to a infinitesimally small point on the tip of his sword, giving Shi Shisi's sword that it held the weight of a galaxy.

"I can't back down from this!" Shi Li could not help but grit his teeth as he knew he did not much time to retreat, definitely not at the speed Shi Shisi was heading towards him. In the end, he decided to give it his all in this attack, using the most familiar move he knew.

"Flame Slash!"

Whoosh!

As if the determination and motivation from his personality was channeled to his attack, the sword light that was generated was slightly different from his previous sword lights.

As the orange sword light shot out of the tip of Shi Li's sword, the orange sword light that was familiar to Shi Li gradually shrunk in size as the condensed wisps of golden sword light appeared all over the insides of the orange sword light.

Surprisingly, it did not stop there. While continuing to head towards Shi Shisi's sword, the condensed wisps of golden sword light, as if it had a mind of its own, suddenly organized itself to coalesce at the center of the sword light, bolstering the aura of the sword light to a higher level.

Shi Li could not help but stop in his tracks as he noticed that he had finally achieved the level of mastery Tian Zhenfei did in his Flame Slash. "Fully mastered...Flame Slash..."

Indeed! Shi Li has finally mastered Flame Slash, which meant that he could now proceed to the next level of mastery while knowing fully well that his Flame Slash was extremely solid and powerful! This meant that he could now tread further on the path of the [Five Element Sword Technique] he would learn in the future!

Although Shi Li said his technique out loud first, it took a while for Shi Shisi to shout his technique as his sword technique took a while to fully power up.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The tip of his sword now radiated a dark light as Shi Shisi shouted, "Third Art: Galaxy Collapse!"

Shi Shisi did not hesitate to charge forward as he knew that he would win the tournament with this technique. But once he took a look at the sword light Shi Li shot out, he could feel an intense feeling of conviction and resolution within the sword light. Not only that, it radiated an aura of extremely terrifying strength, which unknowingly made Shi Shisi's control over his sword technique weaker, reducing the power his technique would have.

Of course, at the instant this happened, Shi Shisi forced himself to gain full control over the technique once more as the aura around his sword strengthened one more time. But then, a thought flashed through his mind.

'Should I really fight against a Martial Novice cultivator who has cultivated for only a few months while I have already cultivated for over 6 years?'

'Haven't I reached the peak of the Martial Novice stage for a long time already? Haven't I reached the limit of strength I could attain within this stage?'

'Is it really worth it?'

In the end, Shi Shisi reduced the power of his sword technique, allowing the sword light shot out by Shi Li to bypass through his sword, hitting his abdomen with a reduced strength as he flew out for more than ten meters under the eyes of multiple people.

Rather than regretting the fact he did this, he could not help but chuckle inwardly as he thought about he affixed he was to the thought of pursuing the most sturdy foundation for the future of his cultivation.

'Haah... I've already reached the limit of the Martial Novice stage already, it's time to break through to a higher realm. I still need more strength if I want to obtain that item.'

'I should really stop mulling over my foundation, I've strengthened it far too much already. It's not like I have a deficiency on cultivation techniques anyway.'

'I have 10 lives worth of techniques, waiting for me to cultivate.'

Thud.

As Shi Shisi landed on the ground one more time, a light smile was written on his face as he closed his eyes peacefully, not caring about the gazes of the multiple spectators.

As for Shi Li, he could not help but stand there dumbfounded as he noticed what was going on with Shi Shisi's technique. "He intentionally weakened his attack. If he didn't do that, he would've inevitably won. Why though?"

Even after pondering over it, he couldn't wrap his head around the reason why Shi Shisi did that. In the end, he couldn't help but let out a sigh as he went closer to Shi Shisi, helping him carry him to the healers.

"I'll just find the reason why later," Shi Li muttered to himself.

While Shi Li was carrying Shi Shisi to the healers of the Shi clan, the spectators could not help but be silent at the outcome of this tournament.

Ever since they started participating in the tournament, they only knew that one person would always obtain the spot of champion, which was Shi Shisi.

But today, this was all changed...by a man named Shi Li.

"He..." one of the spectators could not help but mutter. Not long after, his emotion overflowed with excitement as he shouted, "He beat Shi Shisi!"

All of the spectators could not help but scream and cheer for Shi Li as he was the first one to break the streak that Shi Shisi maintained. Even Shi Xingwan could not help but look at his fleeting son with a smile. "You have made me proud, my child."

He then laughed out loud before looking at the sky. "Xia'er, could you see this? Our son is on his way to become a legend of the Shi clan. I believe he will become one."

As for Shi Xingtai, he hovered where he was, dumbfounded at the results of the final duel. It took a few seconds for him to wake up from his stupor before announcing, "Shi Li has become the new champion of the Shi clan Novice Tournament!"

...

Shi clan, night time.

Many hours have passed since the end of the tournament. The rewards that those who entered the top 10 were announced by Shi Xingtai to be given next week. As for the story where Shi Li had beaten Shi Shisi, it easily spread through the Shi clan like wildfire, even going so far as to spread through Verdant Breeze Town, changing a few people's perspective on Shi Li, who was known as a useless heir to the clan who only indulged in women.

Although that was the case, the moon was already high up in the sky. Most of the clan members were either sleeping or cultivating, or even having fun with the fairer sex at this time.

Within the Logistics Hall of the Shi clan, one of the elders, who was also the one in charge of the hall which was Elder Yan, could not help but let out a smile as he said to himself, "I knew there was something special about you, Shi Li."

He then sat cross-legged on the ground inside the room behind the counter as he channeled his liquid qi towards the air, forming an intangible connection with another place.

Bzzt...bzzt...

A few seconds later, an image of a beautiful woman who had a body to die for and hair as black as the dark night, appeared in front of Elder Yan's face.

"Oh...if it isn't Senior Yan, what made you call me?" The woman took a while for her to recognize Elder Yan before lightly smiling as she asked.

"Nice to finally meet you again, Young Mistress," Elder Yan smiled as he replied. "Do you remember your son, Shi Li?"

As the woman heard the words Shi Li come out of Elder Yan's mouth, her gaze could not hp but become tender and caring as she asked, "What happened to him? Is he fine? Is he well?"

Seeing how the woman in front of him reacted, Elder Yan could not help but chuckle as he replied, "Hehe, he is alive and well. He also became the champion of the Novice Tournament the clan held."

"Oh? What cultivation realm is he at?" The woman could not help but smile after hearing her son won a tournament. Not long after though, her expression became serious as she had a hunch as to why Elder Yan called her at this time.

"The peak of the Martial Novice stage. Sooner or later, he'd be able to break through the Martial Adept stage," Elder Yan replied.

"Stop calling it Martial Novice and Martial Adept, you know how it's originally called anyway," the woman commented.

Letting out a soft sigh, Elder Yan nodded his head with a wry smile. "He's already at the peak of the Skin Tempering stage, and has a great chance to break through to the Bone Tempering stage within the next two weeks."

"The Bone Tempering Stage?" The woman raised an eyebrow as she pondered for a bit before shouting, "Do you mean...?!"

"Yes." Elder Yan nodded.

"He is ready to awaken the bloodline."