Xiao Yin Yu.

Yin Long and the others quickly passed through the hallway and reached the massive open hall where the actual battles took place. There was still about one hour until the first battle, but that didn't stop the venue from bubbling with excitement, hushed voices gathering together into a loud symphony.

The three people chatted a bit as they made their way to their seats, but Fang Yau still belonged to a different territory so it would look extremely bad if he actually sat down with Yin Long and Lan Yun. He had to keep walking, but he didn't forget to give the arena a somewhat fiery glance, leaving Yin Long with a soft reminder.

"Don't take your eyes off of the fourth battle, I'll show you a thing or two about twin swords."

Yin Long raised an eyebrow in surprise but still nodded his head. From the looks of things, Fang Yau had received some favourable treatment, to the point where his team had even been informed of who they were going to fight next. But as the leader of the Starsong Territory's first team, it only stood to reason that he got some favourable treatment, most would want to get in his good graces after all.

Fang Yau headed to the seating area of his own territory and immediately started talking with the rest of his team members, none of which wore terribly optimistic expressions. With such dark expressions, Yin Long could form a guess at just who their opponent was, and things certainly weren't looking good if that was the case.

But their opinions on such a thing didn't matter, the contest would move forward without pause. Jie Yue took the stage once more and announced the start of the second day, the six teams who had yet to participate in any battles quickly mounting the stage one after another. And as the last two of those teams finished their battle against each other, Jie Yue grabbed everyone's attention once more.

"And with that, the first stage of this wonderful clash can truly be considered over. From this point onwards, only teams that have shown similar results will have to bare their fangs against each other. It doesn't symbolize that all the teams with similar results are equal so we might still have some lopsided fights, but who knows whether or not one of the teams will dig deep and pull out strength grand enough to tear down even those stronger than them. And with that said, I would like to welcome Starsong Team 1 and Winged-Blood Team 1 onto the stage for the first true battle of day 2."

Hearing Jie Yue's tantalizing voice, Yin Long knew that his previous guess had indeed been correct. Fang Yau had reached the 4th Earthen Door and his team had three other members at the Earthen Door realm, there was only one team in this competition that could make them feel trepidation, Team 1 from the Winged-Blood Territory.

Fang Yau and his team ascended the stage with solemn expressions, Fang Yau the only one among them that could maintain a light of excitement and anticipation in his eyes. And shortly after they set foot on the stone stage, their opponents arrived and took up their positions.

Winged-Blood's Team 1 was a bit different from Starsong's Team 1, it only contained two people at the Earthen Door realm rather than four like Fang Yau's team. But that wasn't due to the fact that the Winged-Blood Territory didn't have more young cultivators at the Earthen Door realm, they did, in fact, have two more such cultivators. But those two cultivators had been sent to the second team, because the team leader of team 1 was enough to easily make up for the difference.

'Rank 2, Xiao Yin Yu, 38 years old, Starblood Province, 7th Earthen Door. Cloud-Dancing Queen.'

Just her age and cultivation level alone were enough to rob many cultivators of their drive and hope, she was an existence that crushed down on the spirits of everyone she encountered. And just like the 1st ranked Zhao Feng from the Cloud-Devouring Province, she didn't even have to move to win her team's first match, her mere presence was enough.

Her reputation certainly preceded her, but she didn't look the part as she stood there. Her she had smooth and delicate features that gave her a somewhat endearing appearance, blue eyes that constantly seemed to flicker with a faint light, and her black hair was tied into a ponytail that hung all the way down to her buttocks. She had a tall and slender frame, and while her legs indeed would cause many a man to turn their head, she could only be called lacking when it came to her other curves.

She didn't radiate an aura of power and instead looked more like a girl you could find next door, her skin covered in a light and healthy tan that made her look like someone who spent a fair amount of time working in the fields. Her gaze swept over Fang Yau's team, the light flickering in her pupils causing the necks of her opponents to shrink slightly. Her gaze eventually settled on Fang Yau, the flickering of her pupils increasing in intensity as an enchanting smile slowly spread on her face.

"That one, Fang Yau, he's mine. You guys can deal with the rest, but don't blame me if I smack you a few times should you try to move against him."

She kept her crystal clear voice a bit low, but Yin Long could still pick up the faint intent within it. And as he heard it, he understood exactly what the light flickering in her eyes was. It was excitement, sheer and unbridled excitement at the prospect of finding a proper opponent she could fight to sharpen her skills. The same light had flashed in his own pupils several times in the past so Yin Long and Lan Yun weren't strangers to it.

Fang Yau was also rather similar to Yin Long, otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to spar with Yin Long and even teach him a little about the twin sword style. As such, how could he not also recognize the meaning of that light? He placed his hands on the shoulders of the two team members closest to him, the two that could be considered his right and left-hand men.

"You guys spar with the others, focus on keeping casualties and injuries to a minimum. I'll take on her, you guys can go harder if I manage to beat her. But if I can't then there's no need for you guys to go too hard and end up with unnecessary wounds."

The nine other members of his team nodded their heads solemnly as Fang Yau stepped forward, but Yin Yu's other team members didn't show any signs that they were going to actually start fighting. Fang Yau's eyebrows furrowed slightly at the sight, but he quickly understood why they acted like that.

If he managed to beat Yin Yu then there was no point in fighting any longer, they alone wouldn't be enough to beat his team. The opposite was true as well, his team wouldn't be able to beat them if he lost to Yin Yu. Of course, if his team was planning on battling them so that they could quickly crush them and then aid Fang Yau then they were free to do so, but they were clearly confident in their ability to hold on for long enough.

A somewhat wry smile spread on Fang Yau's face as he turned to glance at Yin Long, who had leaned forward to closely observe the battle. He hadn't expected that his second battle would be the same as the first, a spar between just two people rather than a team battle. But that was just how things were from time to time, Yin Yu matching his movements as she approached him, cupping her fists while walking.

"Xiao Yin Yu from the Mountain Hermit's Abode, please provide me with guidance."

She didn't bring out a weapon after introducing herself, but Yin Long's eyes had already narrowed faintly as he observed her. Fang Yau spat out a breath and cupped his own hands, discarding every needless emotion so that the only thing remaining was the desire for battle and respect for his opponent.

"Fang Yau from the Fang clan, please provide me with guidance."

Fang Yau brought out his two swords the moment he finished his words, signifying the start of the battle. And his eyes shot open the moment he properly entered his stance, his right knee bending as he lowered his body in a sideways manner. A somewhat subdued rumbling echoed throughout the area the moment his body bent, Yin Yu arriving in front of him with azure lightning trailing in her wake.

Her arm was pushed forward, a sword the same green colour as her robes having appeared in her grasp at some point. The tip of the weapon passed through the place where Fang Yau's shoulder had just been, hitting empty air thanks to his rapid dodge. Fang Yau lashed out with both weapons at the same time, one aiming for Yin Yu's knee while the other aimed for her throat.

Yin Yu didn't move to block the attacks, she simply kicked off from the ground and jumped into the air. And then she moved as if she was stepping on the air itself, vaulting over Fang Yau and sweeping her sword sideways. Fang Yau leaned his head forward so that the sword passed over him, but the weapon grew a bit longer in a strange manner, leaving a small cut on the back of his neck before he managed to fully dodge it.

His own weapons also moved in a strange manner at the same time, both his arms suddenly moving to the side as if he wanted to bend his arms behind him. Yin Yu had yet to finish her somersault so she was caught a bit unprepared, she hadn't expected Fang Yau to be so flexible that he could actually reach so far behind him with his arms.

Her free hand stretched out and gave the air in front of her a push, halting her somersault and pushing her back. She once again moved as if she was actually walking in the air, reversing her somersault so that she could reach Fang Yau's front again. But Fang Yau matched her strange movements with his own, his left arm flashing forward without him even having to halt his previous movement, it simply moved forward as if its direction had been reversed.

Thanks to this, he managed to catch Yin Yu unaware before she got to dodge again, his shortsword leaving a gash on her thigh. She jumped through the air once more and put some distance between them, glancing at the wound on her thigh with gleaming eyes. Fang Yau also smiled rather excitedly, touching the cut on the back of his neck. He was clear that she had yet to go all out in the first exchange, but just being this even was still good enough.

Yin Yu swiped her interspatial ring and took out a small patch of cloth that she stuck to the wound. The cloth wasn't meant to stop her bleeding nor was it coated in any healing medicine, it was simply meant to cover up the hole in her robe that the cut had created. And once she finished, she placed her gaze on Fang Yau again and prepared her sword, which looked normal despite the fact that it had seemingly elongated earlier.

"Hehe, now that's what I'm talking about! Alright, let's kick things up a notch, do your best to keep up!"

She kicked off the stage and shot forward the moment she finished talking, dashing forward in a ferocious manner. Lightning trailed behind her and the wind moved aside in front of her, pushing her speed to even greater heights as she assaulted Fang Yau. And while the first part of the fight had been rather even, that evenness slowly started to crack as the battle dragged on.

Yin Yu only seemed to grow faster and faster as the seconds ticked away, her every move seemingly drawing in the surrounding wind. As a result, a small tornado seemed to form on the stage, Yin Yu and Fang Yau serving as the centre of the tornado as more and more attacks reached Fang Yau.

Fang Yau did just as he told Yin Long, he showed him a thing or two about how to use twin swords. He definitely had the tightest defence that Yin Long had ever seen, his movements slightly similar to the style that Yin Long had been taught by Meiyun, Buddha Dances in the Rain.

But Fang Yau focused more on using the handle of his weapons to block and push away the incoming attacks, he didn't deflect and attack in practically the same motion. But as he had two weapons, there were times where he could use just the one to block while the other attacked, so it stood to reason that he wouldn't deflect and attack in the same motion.

But remaining in a passive state meant that you had already lost the upper hand, Fang Yau even found it hard to move his feet as Yin Yu intensified her attacks. She moved with the fluidity of wind but struck with the ferocity of lightning, and her high cultivation level ensured that every attack carried with it a level of power that Fang Yau had to give it his all to resist.

He held on as best he could, but an expected result was still an expected result. Yin Yu launched a total of 65 attacks in the two minutes that the battle lastedd, and while Fang Yau managed to block 55 of them, the remaining 10 that landed were enough to leave him in such a state that he had to admit his defeat.

"Alright, we can stop here. Going any further would leave me too wounded to properly fight in the next battle, and while I want to keep fighting with all I have, I still need to think about the rest of my team."

The tornado around them vanished when Fang Yau let out his light sigh, Yin Yu landing on the ground a few steps in front of him. Her light green robe had gotten five new patches, each one a hit that Fang Yau had managed to land on her. He had managed to land five hits on her, but that was far from enough for him so he gave her a determined look as he put away his weapons, Yin Yu nodding her head somewhat excitedly in response.

"You've won this one, but it won't be our last fight. I'll come to find you again for as many fights as it takes, I'll win one in the end."

"Good, good, good! Come as many times as you like, I'll fight you as many times as you want. I've never fought against someone with such a strange style as you, it seemed like the usual restrictions of momentum and motion didn't apply at all, there's plenty I can learn from you."

Yin Yu's excited smile was enough to tug at many a heartstring, but she didn't bother with the gazes that the surrounding audience cast her direction. She turned her head and looked in the direction of the Bloodgrass Territory seatings, her excited gaze landing on Yin Long, who was equally looking at her with excitement.

"And you, I want to spar with you. Right now I can only spar with you using exclusively sword techniques so you'd best hurry up and increase your cultivation a bit, sparring without using Qi will only bring us so far."

Yin Long hadn't shown off too much during his first fight, but just the fact that he was able to land a hit on Fang Yau using nothing but his sword techniques showed that he was highly skilled. When it came to people who enjoyed fighting and training, Yin Long was an excellent training dummy, even more so if he could increase his cultivation a bit. It would be quite daunting for most people to be called out so publicly by someone like Yin Yu, but it didn't even make Yin Long's eyebrows flinch.

"Excellent, I'm quite interested in that sword of yours so I'm definitely going to find you for sparring. But whether or not we'll only end up using sword techniques remains to be seen."

Yin Long wasn't an arrogant person nor were his words meant to be used to help him save some face, they were simply a crystalization of his own confidence. Yun Yi was nearly twice his age, but he had trained with his sword since the moment he learned how to walk, it had dominated most of his life. As such, there were few things he was more confident in than his sword. Yin Yu didn't mind his words in the slightest, the corners of her mouth pulling up a bit further as she observed Yin Long's confident aura.

"Good, if you can't even have a sliver of confidence in yourself then you aren't worth jack shit. My team and I are currently staying in Five-Oceans Pagoda, you can find me there."

Her other team members shook their heads slightly when Yin Yu turned away and hopped down from the stage so that she could return to their own seating area. They were clearly like Lan Yun was with Yin Long, already fully aware of exactly what sort of personality their leader had. Jie Yue quickly moved to the centre of the stage after Fang Yau and Yin Yu left, once more drawing everyone's attention while giving a loud clap.

"Now that was an exciting battle, wasn't it! An exchange between two powerful cultivators giving it their all, it's a shame that we didn't get a true team battle, but what we got was certainly good enough for me. But the battle is over, so its time for the next one to begin, a 'losers' battle this time. Would Bloodgrass Team 4 and Starsong Team 6 please enter the stage?"

The first battle was between winning teams and the next one was between losing teams, it was very clear which one would draw the most attention from the audience. But it didn't matter much to the teams how much attention they got from the audience, the only thing that mattered to them was their own end result.

Yin Long was part of Bloodgrass Team 4, so he, Lan Yun, and Bai Mu left the seating area and ascended the stage. Their enemies weren't as oppressive this time so the other seven team members joined them this time, the two teams quickly taking up their positions. Yin Long's team still consisted of 10 people, but their opponents had lost one member during their first battle so they were in a somewhat weaker position.

But they didn't look too dispirited despite lacking one member, the blonde-haired woman who seemed to be the group's leader opening a black pouch hanging at her waist. A soft light flashed out of the open pocket, a one-metre long blue hawk materializing from the light and flapping its wings as it flew over the woman.

It looked mostly normal, with only a single protruding horn on its head showing that it was, in fact, a Demonic beast. It radiated the aura of someone at the 6th Immortal Door so it was clearly a fairly strong beast, it would certainly add a nice boost to most teams that weren't among the ace teams. Yin Long tilted his head slightly at the hawk, glancing at Jie Yue while pointing at it.

"Wait, is that allowed?"

They had already stated that only a cultivator's own power was allowed, and while it was a bit flexible so that it included arrays and the like, it hadn't mentioned anything about Demonic beasts. Jie Yue had clearly already expected his question, smiling sweetly and answering the moment he started speaking.

"That Demonic beast has been tamed by her, otherwise it would not be willing to form a bond with her and enter the Ten Thousand Beasts Pocket. She tamed it with her own power, so it obviously counts as her own strength and thus does not go against the rules."

The pouch hanging on the woman's waist was exactly that, a Ten Thousand Beasts Pocket. It was an interspatial item that could hold living beings, but they had all been slightly tweaked so that they could only hold beings holding a Demonic beast bloodline. This way they couldn't be used to smuggle humans, at least that was the reasoning given by the Province Emperors.

But there were plenty of ways to get around this restriction, so Yin Long knew that they had definitely only added this restriction to ease the minds of the more common populace that didn't bother thinking too much about it. As for the bond Jie Yue mentioned, it was a connection that a man and a Demonic beast could form, it would tie them together until the initiator decided to break the contract.

Such a bond was generally needed for a Demonic beast to be willing to enter a Ten Thousand Beasts Pocket, with a fair few such pouches requiring the presence of such a bond before being able to store the beast. Yin Long didn't own such a pouch, nor had he ever planned on buying one since it went against everything he had ever told Jin Wang.

He nodded his head slightly after Jie Yue confirmed it, she made sure to speak loud enough for everyone to hear her so that there wouldn't be any such future questions. And since she had confirmed that it was within the rules, there was also no reason for Yin Long to hold back as he turned his head.

"Huh, alright. Jin Wang, guess that means there's no need for you to stick back."

Jin Wang perked up from his lying position the moment Yin Long called for him, a sharp light glinting in his dark pupils as he jumped over the small barricade and charged onto the stage. He was quite different from the rather small hawk, his large frame and imposing appearance was far more eye-catching.

Plenty of people had seen Jin Wang during the short time they had been in this city, but seeing that Yin Long had only ever been riding on him and the fact that he hadn't even moved when Yin Long headed for the first battle, most people thought that he was more about appearance rather than strength.

But now it seemed like he was actually a Demonic beast that could be used for combat, and Jin Wang was practically bursting with bloodlust and ferocity as he stood there, awaiting the order to tear his opponents apart.