Terrifying Woman

"What?!"

The young man facing her had an ugly expression on his face but reined it in. He cupped his hands.

"I'm sure we can't decide that unless we fight. What is your name?"

"Humph!"

An absolutely petrifying aura erupted from the delicate woman's body. The aura was so intense that everyone felt it. Bai Hu opened his eyes wide to inspect the commotion.

"F-foundation!"

The young man who bore the brunt of the aura trembled before falling to his knees. Everyone could see that he was sweating and completely oppressed, unable to move an inch.

"I-I surrender! I surrender!"

The woman retracted her aura, allowing the vast majority of the people to breathe again.

As soon as the aura was gone, the young man turned tails and was also gone in the next instant.

Elder Gong's voice sounded soon after, "467, Shui Bing, wins!"

This brought a bout of murmurs and whispers in the crowd.

"Foundation Establishment? Won't she completely dominate this competition then?"

"Shui Bing? Isn't that Elder Shui's daughter?"

"Yeah! I heard that her spiritual root is of the rare ice element. She cultivates a powerful technique that combines the elusiveness of water and the hard and sharpness of ice"

"Elder Shui's daughter eh?"

Bai Hu stroked his chin as he imagined Elder Shui and Shui Bing standing next to one another.

"Absolutely no resemblance, though that's probably why I thought she looked familiar"

"Whew!"

Long Sun wiped away his sweat and breathed in deep breaths, "I thought I was going to suffocate there! That Shui Bing is truly renowned as an ice block, cold and uncaring. Completely different from her mother"

"Hm? You know her mother?"

"It's not a secret. Elder Shui's Dao Companion, Ling Yue Yan, was known to be kind and benevolent to everyone. She would also often give lectures and instruct others on their cultivation"

"I see"

…

It was day 2 of the Outer Court Competition. After the first day, word began circulating about the spectacles witnessed during the first day.

First thing people would talk about is Bai Hu, a 14 year old youth at the sixth level of qi refinement. Many would comment on his fast cultivation speed and his high cultivation base for his age. They would become even more shocked when they hear he defeated a cultivator at the eighth level fair and square with relative ease. Many call him the dark horse of the competition.

A few elders also expressed their willingness to take him as a disciple, but that soon died down, most likely because Zhong Xian went around boasting and claiming Bai Hu as one of his people.

Then there was news of Shui Bing, the cold woman. At the age of 19, she broke through the qi refinement bottleneck and entering Foundation, earning the title "Ice Phoenix " from her peers. Elder Shui had then received many congratulatory gifts that day and even more marriage proposals. Naturally, he turned the suitors down and gladly took the gifts.

A few other noteworthy people were also discussed and were all beings at the tenth level of qi refinement. They were called the 4 kings of the outer court and enjoyed many benefits due to their overwhelming prowess.

Yang Feng, also called the Yang Fire King, cultivates a fierce fire attributed art that is speculated to be of the Black rank. Fei Yuan Wei, or the Spectral King, cultivates an odd art of the Ghost Dao, focused on spiritual attacks and possessing a semi-spectral form. Dong Wang, the Gold Beast King, has a gold attributed spirit root and has a formidable body and sharp attacks. Lastly, there's Mo Yuan Kai, the Dark Moon King. He has an incredibly rare darkness attribute and has the ability to hide in shadows, making him a potent assassin.

With this in mind, the organizers will most likely ensure they don't meet before the final battle.

"314 and 1003"

Bai Hu jumped onto the platform for his second battle. Only 1 day had passed and over half of the people here were gone, all at another platform for later placements.

His opponent is a young man with short black hair at the peak of the eighth level. His face was pale and thin, almost akin to a person suffering from malnutrition. He cupped his hands in greeting.

"Gui Guan"

"Bai Hu"

They immediately unleashed their own moves.

Bai Hu covered himself with the Goldshine Cloak and summoned the Gold Splitting Hammer in his right hand. Gui Guan unleashed tendrils of black qi, making him look even more sinister than he already is, and his hands were then covered in sharp metallic claws. They dashed towards each other for a direct clash.

Clank!

Sparks flew as the golden hammer and the metal claws met. Neither moved back and it seems that the first clash was a stalemate. They both jumped back seeing as neither one of them could get the upper hand.

Bai Hu began making hand seals again while Gui Guan made no attempt to interrupt. Instead, he made a hand seal and began chanting an incantation. After a short moment, they both unleashed their own moves.

"Spirit Trapping Bell!"

"Chasing Metal Ghost"

A golden bell and a silver skull appeared in their hands. They sent it out at each other.

The Spirit Trapping Bell made its way over to Gui Guan, who showed no sign of movement and allowed himself to be trapped. The skull flew over to Bai Hu, but because of its slow speed, allowed him to dodge it easily.

His brows furrowed as he knew it shouldn't be this easy and made a hand seal. The Spirit Trapping Bell started pulsating but just as it started, a loud screeching sound could be heard. Bai Hu's eyes widened when a pitch black claw sliced an opening in the bell. Gui Guan emerged from the opening slowly.

A feeling of danger assaulted Bai Hu from behind and he hurriedly jumped out of the way.

A silver skull snapped its teeth shut and took a rather large chunk out of the platform. Bai Hu broke out in cold sweat as if he was just a bit slower, he would be severely injured even with the Goldshine Cloak.

The skull rose again and flew towards Bai Hu again. His heart jumped when he saw that it didn't dissipate. Thankfully it was slow and must take a lot of qi to maintain.

He turned his attention to Gui Guan and narrowed his eyes. He raised his hammer and lunged towards the young man, who replied in kind with a hand seal.

Whoosh!

When Bai Hu was just a meter away from Gui Guan, the Chasing Metal Ghost suddenly flashed and appeared right behind Bai Hu. He sported a smirk on his face as if victory was in his hands but faltered slightly when seeing Bai Hu also smirking.

Boom!

A burst of sharp winds exploded out of Bai Hu's back, effectively blowing the skull away and propelling himself forward. The Gold Splitting Hammer descended and that was the last thing Gui Guan saw before he was knocked unconscious.

"314, Bai Hu, wins!"

"Woah!"

"He did it again"

"Brother Gui's Chasing Metal Ghost never failed before!"

"Was that the wind attribute he just used?"

It was at this moment that they noticed the traces of wind qi in the air. Seeing as he could no longer hide, Bai Hu covered his feet with wind and jumped off the platform at fast speeds.

"It really is the wind attribute!"

"How can he control wind? I thought he was an earth or metal attributed cultivator!"

Word spread quickly that Bai Hu, the black horse of the competition, showed the wind attribute, surprising everyone and securing his second victory.

Day 2 of the competition ended just as some speculated. The stars of the show didn't meet and were able to win their matches with relative ease, and Shui Bing's opponent directly surrendered in fear. At the end of the day, only 200 remained.

"Not bad"

Bai Hu was currently sitting across from his master who was evaluating his performance through a recording jade.

"Hiding your skills till the last moment to surprise your opponent, plus you still have your lightning and fire attribute you haven't shown. Perhaps you're aiming for first place?"

"How could I? The disparity between me and Shui Bing is like the distance between Heaven and earth, it's hard to cover that distance when I'm not at the peak of qi refinement"

"Hoh? But remember that you have a few other trump cards"

He narrowed his eyes "You mean my peak grade magic treasure? Surely with her status she would also have one"

"Do you really think that peak magic treasures grow on trees? She'll be lucky to even have a high grade one at all. Plus, with how the sect treats their own descendants, it'll be harm for her to get any magic treasure"

Bai Hu digested this information as he continued cultivating the Thousand Soulspirit Art. Perhaps with the might of his newly obtained weapon, he could fight her to a stalemate, though he had little confidence in winning.

He spat out a wisp of light from his mouth that then transformed into a spear. Zhong Xian had taught him a method of slowly nurturing the treasure and it had already been mostly refined.