Chapter 9: I Believe in my Pickles

"PICKLE FUSION"

Boom!

The air around Pickle Lord exploded, creating shockwaves that pushed the people away.

"That's Second Realm strength, how is that possible!"

"Did he advance to the Second Realm while he was fighting? If not…"

"Who is that guy? Where did he come from? What is he doing here!?"

Even the referee stepped down off the platform. He was in the Second Realm, but he didn't want to get caught in the crossfire.

Pickle Lord smugly glanced towards the shocked people, before speaking again.

"I'M THE PICKLE LORD"

Boom!

The air exploded again as he rushed towards Plummy Fang, throwing a punch before the latter could react.

Pam!

His fist did hit something. But instead of feeling the soft and wobbly skin of Plummy Fang, he felt a hard yet flexible material accompanied by a sharp pain in his stomach.

He had to take two steps back to stabilize. His fist was on his stomach. He looked at Plummy Fang, shocked. The latter had a friendly smile on his face.

"Is it still active?"

"It is."

"How?"

"The strange thing would be that it disappeared after one attack. It affects the mind, not the actions."

"So my attack was aimed at myself from the start, that's how it happened…"

"Exactly, Pickle Lord. They say that you are your worst enemy."

Plummy Fang moved his left hand again, throwing another transparent card. It flew many times faster than the last one, arriving with Pickle Lord while he was distracted.

"Second Illusion Card – Style Modification!"

Plop

It sounded like a drop of water falling into a sea; clear but subtle. The crystal that covered Pickle Lord's eyes suddenly changed. It became completely black, obstructing his vision.

"A subtle change that can cause a clear effect. That's the essence of my second card."

After he spoke, the air around Plummy Fang completely changed. He wasn't a weird or funny kid anymore. He was now like an expert teaching his students. He slowly walked closer to Pickle Lord; one hand was behind his back and the other was holding the rapier. He moved calmly and threw another card.

"First Illusion Card – Senseless!"

Pickle Lord couldn't see where the card was coming from, so he got hit again, but this time the card didn't make any sound. No, he didn't hear it.

"It's over, Pickle Lord."

"…"

"You can't take off certain areas of the layer, can you?"

"…"

"If you stop the Pickle Fusion, you won't be able to use the pickles again, will you?"

"…"

Pickle Lord could hear Plummy Fang, but he couldn't determine if he was far away or right next to him. He couldn't make out if the voice was from above or from below. His mouth felt like it was tasting great delicacies at times, and disgusting aberrations at others. He couldn't feel his feet touching the floor and he didn't know if his hands were still in place.

"Give up, Pickle Lord. It was your mistake to use an incomplete move to face me."

"Hehehehe… Fang Chang, do you think my pickles are so simple?"

"Hmmm?"

"Illusion, belief, senses… The clues are all there, Fang Chang. It all depends on the seventh card, am I wrong?"

"…"

"I was deceived. They were all the same card!"

"I'm getting tired of saying this but… As expected of the Pickle Lord."

"It all amounts to the belief I was hit by your card… The effects can vary depending on what you want! Wait, don't tell me… The thrown cards were actually instructions?"

"That's the case, Pickle Lord. This is the might of my Seventh Illusion Card. As long as you believe you were hit, the belief will transform into will, and it will follow my instructions…"

"My mind will go against me, fooling my body to hit itself, making my mind think that my technique was modified and forcing my senses to betray me… That's an illusion!"

"That's true. Unfortunately, I have to be centimeters close to your head to activate the technique for the first time. If not, I would be invincible…"

"Attacking my head with your rapier was only a front… Well done indeed. But, I don't agree with the fact that you would be invincible if you had no restrictions for its activation."

"What do you mean, Pickle Lord?"

"It's all around belief, right? I can't stop believing in your technique, but I can restrain the belief…"

"How so?"

"You see, I believe in my pickles much more than in your technique…"

Boom!

The ground shook and the air moved. Pickle Lord suddenly appeared one step in front of Plummy Fang. He didn't waste time and grabbed him by the neck. The latter was shocked; he didn't expect this to happen and the speed in which it did was too great.

Pickle Lord didn't speak useless words and Plummy Fang was set flying out of the platform, landing on top of the perfectly green grass in between two platforms.

Dirt and dust rose, but Plummy Fang was alright, he had a strong body.

The referee, who was startled from start to finish, announced the result.

"The winner is… Pickle Lord!"

The people below applauded and cheered, it was a good spectacle.

Those watching the fight couldn't help but to imagine themselves fighting against any of these two, however, not even their imagination would allow them to win!

The level of the fight was just too high. Almost nobody had created their own techniques, and even if they did, it wasn't to the point where they could create a whole combat system out of them. And they also had to add that it had to be a powerful system on top of that.

"It seemed like they had unlimited spiritual energy, how can that be?"

"That's true. Normally one can barely use four or five simple energy attacks, but those guys? They threw many complex techniques at each other and had spiritual energy to spare!"

"Aren't they Inner Disciples pretending to be Outer Disciple's?"

"Yeah, they are probably scammers!"

"But they were registered in the tournament; I saw they had the numbers on them…"

"That was probably an illusion! Don't believe your senses, they could be fooled!"

Tian Mo, the gossiper who used to assist every Outer Disciple's Talent Competition of Gray Grass Sect, was shaking as he watched stealthily from afar.

"Brother Bai, who would've thought those two guys would be that powerful! I'm not confident of winning without using up all my means against any of them."

"Brother Tian, I don't think you would win even if you had twice the means…"

"Right… They knew each other's techniques and even if they didn't, they spoke of them openly! If I knew nothing, I fear that…"

"You would be crushed, Brother Tian. But don't worry. Once you cultivate a little more and reach the middle stage of Second Realm, those two wouldn't stand a chance."

"You're right Brother Bai, but it doesn't make me feel any better."

"It won't change unless you start cultivating."

"Okay… Let's go hiding again, Brother Bai."

…

"It was a great card, Brother Fang"

Yi Ren, who had arrived next to the seemingly unconscious Plummy Fang, spoke. The latter was sprawled on the ground, facing the sky. His eyes were closed, but his expression was calm. One would think he was resting instead of being hurt.

"It has its flaws, Brother Yi. You saw them."

Plummy Fang replied without even opening his eyes.

"If we didn't get interrupted, you'd have probably won the 13th competition. You're quite unlucky, Brother Fang."

"…"

"But Wang Fan also held back that time. Sigh… I also didn't show my most recent creation. Since when did the Outer Disciple's Talent Competition of Gray Grass Sect become something we didn't care that much about winning?"

"You felt it too, isn't it the case, Brother Yi?"

Yi Ren nodded. His expression was solemn, but his cubic haircut only made him look funny.

"The 13th was probably the last one…"

"Indeed. Even if it wasn't banned, we have too much attention on us. We can no longer openly show our things."

"No, it has been long like this. It was my fault. I should've never shown that thing in the 4th competition…"

"It's not your fault Brother Yi. The oldies were just too greedy; we didn't think they would be like that."

"Thankfully, they didn't get the complete version, if not…"

"Let's change the topic, Brother Yi. I'm still amazed by your Artificial Energy Cores. Thanks to that we could display so many techniques."

"It only follows the spirit stones logic, it's nothing great."

Plummy Fang got up at once, standing on his two feet directly.

"You're so humble, Brother Yi."

"It's nothing, Brother Fang. We should head back now. Only one match was scheduled for today."

"Let's go get Brother Wang. It looks like his pickle layer has solidified and he can't move anymore."

"Sure."

Both Yi Ren and Plummy Fang quickly went back to where Wang Fan was standing. It was clear that he couldn't move, because the referee was waiting by the side, reminding him to leave. Plummy Fang jumped on the platform, and took Wang Fan over his shoulder.

It looked like he was carrying a statue, one made of candy. He jumped off again and, along with Yi Ren, left towards the direction of their dormitories.

Ling Zhou saw them leave but didn't follow. He kept his gaze fixed in a certain direction, where a little man with fat arms was recovering.