Winner

The next day.

The finals would start at ten in the morning. Everyone would be done with their cultivation by then. Unless it was a war or opening of a secret realm, no event encroached on the cultivation time of the disciples.

After completing his routine cultivation, Zhang Wuji met with his friends and together they went towards the arena.

"What is the format of the finals?"

"It's gonna be a round robin style."

"Wouldn't that be a waste of time?"

"You should know that there are no absolutes rankings. Someone's combat style might be the bane of other's but that does not mean they are stronger than the other. The finalists performance against all battle styles needs to be seen before giving them a rank."

"How long is that gonna take?"

"Shouldn't take more than five hours. There will be 45 fights in total. Half of them will be over in less than a minute. So it might be less than three hours in best case."

As they were talking, they reached the stadium and took their seats. In a while it was half filled just like the day before. After that the deacons and Elder Man took their seats.

Elder Man signalled a deacon who explained the format and rules of the finals.

It was round robin style, the first pairings would be between ranks that when added give eleven. For example sixth and fifth, tenth and eleventh, etc. In the following rounds the rank of the opponent of a particular ranker would keep decreasing. So sixth would then fight fourth, third and so on. When the opponent's rank is one, the next one would be tenth and from then it would continue decreasing till one fought everyone else Some adjustments are made so as to ensure the battles between heavyweights occur in the last rounds.

The first rankers battle is always scheduled last so that the final battle would be between first and second rankers.

There were in total nine rounds with five battles in each round. The first fight in the first round was between He Jifeng and Ma Jun, the sixth and fifth rankers respectively.

They were both 15 years old, both reached completion in their martial arts, their height and bulk looked about the same. Except for He Jifeng wielding a one handed saber and Ma Jun wielding a spear, they were similar in all aspects. This fight's result would be purely based on combat experience.

He Jifeng launched himself forward to shorten the distance. When facing a long weapon like the spear, the fight's all about distance. Ma Jun also similarly lunged forward. He was like an arrow shot out a bow, blending completely into his spear.

He Jifeng was carried forward toward the spear due to inertia. The timing of the lunge was such that he wasn't given enough time to change his motion. But a spear wielder at such a close distance was an opportunity. He tried to grab the spear and deflect it a little and then strike with his saber.

His left hand was badly mangled as a result. Before he could land his strike, he was hit in the nose with the butt of the spear. He blacked out for only a second but that was enough for the spear head to reach his throat.

He Jifeng felt bitter. He did not expect him to lunge forward. He wasn't bitter because he lost, but because he lost bad. He didn't even last half a minute.

"If you indulge yourself in pleasure instead of cultivating this is what would happen. Hmph." Ma Jun left this sentence behind and went back to his seat.

He Jifeng clenched his fists and went back to his seat.

"Brother Lin do they have some bad blood or something?" Zhang Wuji was puzzled at the serious ending.

"Nothing like that. All men envy him. It is obvious that they would take a jab at him given the opportunity."

Zhang Wuji nodded in understanding.

The next fight was between Xiao Zhimei and Xie Jingwen ranked seventh and fourth respectively. Xie Jingwen trained in Jade Palm Art. It's original version was also Heaven tier, but the sect only had Earth tier version.

Jade Palm Art focused more on defence. None of Xiao Zhimei's attacks landed. Xie Jingwen deflected them all with ease. She was like a rock in the middle of a stream.

Xiao Zhimei took a step back to get out the loss of control she felt, steadied her breathing and forcefully strich with a downward smash. She put all her energy in it to ensure it would not be deflected.

Xie Jingwen turned to one side and her palm gently traced the body of the shaft and reached the point where the energy was centred and pulled violently.

Xiao Zhimei was pulled forward along with the staff. She was struck in her throat by the edge of Xie Jingwen's palm and was then fully subdued.

...

The fights continued till it was the final fight of the round. Lei Feng vs the thirteen year old Han Dongfang.

Han Dongfang was a little cute kid with short black hair. His sparkling black eyes looked peaceful and sincere. Something about the way he carried himself made others forget his actual age and be filled with a certain calm. There was no childishness or arrogance of being the first ranker on his face. He cupped his fist and bowed towards the Elder and referee before facing the opponent. Lei Feng returned his salute.

"What is up with this kid?!" Zhang Wuji was shocked looking at him. He looked nothing like a thirteen year old kid. He did not know why but he was actually moved by the sincerity in his eyes.

"You ask me but who should I ask? When I first met him he was super respectful and called me big brother. I felt like he was really my little brother and involuntarily treated him as such. Only long after I said my goodbye and left did I feel it was strange. I actually thought he had some special body constitution that made everyone feel he was one of their own or something but later he was tested personally by a core formation realm Elder and confirmed to not be special in any way." Lin Yingjie looked like he was thinking back to the experience.

"Yeah makes one feel friendly towards him. You should know being number one means lot of challenges and rivals, but all fights end with him making friends with the other. Even when an inner disciple lost miserably to him it did not develop into any grudge or something. They continue to have friendly matches every now and then." Pan Mu added.

'Looks like the consequence of some evil art. I'd better stay away from him.' Zhang Wuji was scared of this new character.

Han Dongfang was ridiculously fast. The battle ended in a single punch. Lei Feng did not even have the time to react before he was punched in the gut. After the fight Han Dongfang helped him up, spoke a few words with him and they both went back to their seats.

Lei Feng seemed happy after the conversation even though he lost in a single move.

'He's dangerous' Zhang Wuji thought with a serious expression on his face.

Zhang Wuji kept staring at him with a serious expression. Han Dongfang seemed to have felt something and looked towards him and smiled.

Zhang Wuji was alarmed and swiftly turned his gaze towards the center of the arena. Han Dongfang was puzzled at that but didn't care and looked at the arena too.

....

After a few rounds, Zhang Wuji had a thorough understanding of the top ten.

Rank ten Lei Feng, age sixteen, weapon great sword. His combat style was as stable as a mountain. He rarely moved but every move of his was packed with great strength. He was slow but used his expertise with the sword to compensate for that. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to defeat others in top ten.

Rank nine Wan Fulin, age fourteen and used Venomous Snake Palm Art. With its attacks from tricky angles combined with great completion in it he managed to beat Lei Feng when he was in the eight level. Now in the ninth level he was climbing ranks rapidly.

Rank eight Ma Jin, thirteen years old and weapon dual short sabers. She was Ma Jim's sister and the only fifth grade spirit root in the top ten. Her left saber was for defence and the right one for attack. Her saber art concentrated mainly on speed. Given the short time she had been cultivating for, she didn't have much of combat experience so she might fall to the ninth rank.

Rank seven Xiao Zhimei, fifteen, weapon staff. She was equally good in defence offence and speed. She along with Lei Feng were the only on first class disciples in the top ten.

Rank six He Jifeng, fifteen, weapon willow leaf saber. A single handed weapon primarily used for cutting and slashing. His combat style was speed and attack oriented. Also managed to win the heart of a beauty and the support of her family along with the envy of fifth and ninth rankers in the top ten. Whatever with the Yue family support and his first class status, his cultivation will be unstoppable. Lucky bastard!

Rank five Ma Jun, age fifteen, weapon spear. Had a crush on Yue Yinghua. Where his little spear failed, his weapon succeeded. He beat He Jifeng in the shortest time possible, possibly calming his raging heart a little. His style is all about explosive attacks. Mainly focusing on thrusts, his Volcanic Spear art was a simplified version of its Heaven tier version.

Rank four Xie Jingwen, fourteen years old. Unlike Venomous Snake Palm Art, her Jade Palm Art focused more on defence. Getting within arms length of her was impossible for those ranked below her. She was also the most beautiful in the top ten. Her beauty was famous in the sect. She came from the Xie family with many formation building realm cultivators. One of whom was an Elder in the sect. Combined with her being a first class disciple nobody would dare lay their hands on her.

Rank three Song Jia, fourteen and wielded a sword. It was the most popular weapon in the sect, maybe even the world. Single handed, dual edged straight sword. She defeated her opponents not with overwhelming attacks, not with speed nor defence. She defeated them with finesse. Moving 500 kilograms with 50 grams, wielding light as heavy and many other skills were beautifully done by her. It was so amazing that Zhang Wuji decided that he would use a sword in the future.

Rank two Wang Chong, seventeen years old. He wore steel gauntlets and fought in a southpaw stance. His right gauntlet had sharpened claws and knuckles with which he mainly controlled the opponent and deflected their moves. His left hand delivered heavy punches at the vital points of the enemy. He had needle like hair and always looked serious as if he was always ready for a fight. All his fights ended with a bloodied opponent.

Rank one Han Dongfang, thirteen. He wore bronze gauntlets and used the Golden Fist Art. Till now he only used a maximum of two moves to defeat his opponents so all that can be said about his fighting style was that it was swift.

In the seventh round, he timed his attacks to break Xie Jingwen's flow, twisted her wrist and punched her in the gut to land the finishing blow.

In the eight round, he covered Song Jia's whole field of vision with innumerable feints and again finished the match with one punch.

It was the final match of the competition. Wang Chong vs Han Dongfang. Both won all their previous fights. There wasn't much of a change in the rankings except that Wan Fulin managed to defeat He Jifeng to get the sixth rank. He almost won against Ma Jun. His defeat could mainly be attributed to his lacking combat experience.

Both of them got on the arena and waited for the referee to give the signal. They were standing less than two meters apart. Wang Chong was in his southpaw stance and Han Dongfang was standing straight with his arms to his side.

The moment the signal was given Wang Chong threw a jab at Han Dongfang. He leaned to the back and dodged the sharp knuckle hooks by a hair's breadth.

Wang Chong continued to rain punches. Mainly he delivered jabs and claws with his right. Occasionally there were hooks and uppercuts Han Dongfang dodged all of them by a hair's breadth.

'Hmph show off.' Zhang Wuji was certain that Han Dongfang was evil.

After a while both fighters got back to their positions. No one was out of breath. They seemed even more energetic.

"Raarg" Wang Chong shouted and attacked again. Zhang Wuji automatically translated the beastly roar as 'Again'.

This time Han Dongfang didn't just dodge. He started punching every now and then.

"Brother Zhang pay attention. This is the reason no one likes fighting brother Han." Lin Yingjie reminded him.

Zhang Wuji continued watching with rapt attention.

He finally noticed it. Han Dongfang's random punches were timed precisely to make the opponent switch his move to another. Every martial artist must be familiar with these switches and thus just this shouldn't be much of a problem. He forces the opponent to make the switch at the moment when the buildup is changing to an action.

In Wang Chong's case, his left hand was the main attacker. Each attack from it came with maximum energy buildup. Just as his punch's forward movement after the retraction to build strength starts, he sees a bronze colored fist enlarge in his vision. It was like Han Dongfang knew his move beforehand.

He now faced the option of either eating the fist to his face after which his own move would miss anyway or block it as it was already too late to dodge.

This way of fighting is really stifling. No wonder Lin Yingjie made such an uncomfortable face. Looking at the fight made him, a spectator, feel as if someone put a truck on his chest, suffocating. Wang Chong must feel worse.

Wand Chong couldn't take it anymore and delivered a wide hook in his frustration, leaving him full of openings.

But before he could release his pent up energy with the left hook, the world lost colour and he fainted.

Han Dongfang retracted his arm, bowed and left the arena. Wang Chong woke up by himself in a few seconds. He looked around and realised what happened. He punched the ground in frustration and left the stadium not waiting for his rewards.