Chapter 12: Tournament Final

I could have issued a challenge to any of the Mu Rong younger generation but I couldn't be bothered to. I had better things to do with my time, and as I said, the rewards for winning the tournament weren't beneficial to me anyway. Plus I wanted to keep a low profile. It wasn't a good idea to expose my true strength to these cousin-in-laws who constantly schemed and plotted against me, or simply looked down on me for no reason other than because I married into the Mu Rong family.

Of course, I could hear certain people from beyond the fourth wall telling me to win the tournament and get the rewards for my wife. Well, she could win the rewards herself and I had complete faith in her to win the female portion of the Mu Rong family tournament. Also, it wasn't a matter of having more was better. You ever heard of overdose? Rather, too much of everything was bad for health.

Mu Rong Shu wasn't keen on the rewards either. She told me that she preferred playing music to fighting, so she wasn't interested in whatever Mu Rong secret techniques or elixirs that would help improve her cultivation.

"I've retired from the life of an assassin years ago," she had grumbled to me. I had nodded sympathetically and reiterated my support for whatever she wanted to do. Which was playing the guqin we found in the tomb about a month earlier.

Even so, she went and won the female tournament. As for the male side, Mu Rong Shan was on his way to win, facing Mu Rong Lin in the finals. The two geniuses of the Mu Rong clan clashed fiercely, one using the earth element to raise mountains and hurl them upon his opponent, and the other using the advantage he had with the wood element to do protect himself and restrain the mountains. It was truly a clash of titans.

Mu Rong Shan conjured another massive boulder to fling it and Mu Rong Lin, but the latter simply produced a wooden sword. In a few strokes, he sliced the boulder apart, the rocky fragments raining all around him.

"Wood beats earth. That's one of the rules of the five elements theory," Mu Rong Lin warned his cousin, raising a hand and summoning more trees. Vines whipped out to break apart mountains and earth spikes. "You're at a disadvantage."

"I don't mind giving you a handicap," Mu Rong Shan replied before ripping apart the vines with his bare hands. Earth spikes pierced through trees, reducing them into splinters, and he continued to carve a destructive path toward his opponent, raising more mountains and boulders. "It's only fairer that way."

"Hmph. You'll regret this."

"No, I won't. Also, while wood is super effective against earth, you forget that it's not the same as wood being invincible against earth. It's just an elemental disadvantage. It's not enough to cover the gap between you and me."

"I'll show you the gap!" Mu Rong Lin growled and lunged forward. He swung his wooden sword, vines protectively guarding him from rocks and shattering them to harmless debris. Swinging his weapon, he sent an emerald shockwave that Mu Rong Shan blocked with a mountain.

The structure shattered into countless stony shards, but Mu Rong Shan barreled his way past them. He clashed with Mu Rong Lin in the center of the stage, meeting the latter's wooden sword with his brown gauntlets.

The force of their collision sent both parties flying apart while also leaving a colossal crater in the middle of the stage.

"Amazing…" The various Mu Rong clan members were gasping in awe, their eyes wide at the destruction both parties were causing. "This is the power of the two strongest Mu Rong family younger generation."

"They are evenly matched," Mu Rong Shu commented beside me. "Mu Rong Lin may have the elemental advantage, but Mu Rong Shan has the greater skill."

"I wonder who win," I murmured, relieved that neither of them challenged me like Mu Rong Feng did. These two would be extremely difficult for me to defeat, even if I had the help of my war spirit. It wasn't unwinnable by any mean, but it would be a challenge. I estimated that my chances of winning was only fifty percent.

But it would be cool to exchange pointers with them someday.

There was another huge explosion and both Mu Rong Shan and Mu Rong Lin sprang apart again. However, this time Mu Rong Lin fell into a trap. A fissure opened up beneath him and he plunged into the sudden hole in the earth.

"Do you really think you can stop me with such trivial tricks?" He yelled. Vines whipped out and ensnared him, arresting his fall and tossing him back onto solid earth.

"No." Mu Rong Shan was already waiting for him, a gigantic mountain raised overhead. "But I thought it would buy me enough time for my finishing blow."

Before Mu Rong Lin could react, Mu Rong Shan smashed the mountain onto him, pulverizing the poor guy.

Fortunately, he managed to summon a wall of wood at the last minute to mitigate the damage, but even so, he simply survived. On the other hand, he lost consciousness, blood leaking from his body as he lay entangled with his vines and wood.

"Medics!" Mu Rong Lao shouted. Then he cleared his throat. "Match over! Winner…Mu Rong Shan!"

There was wild applause. The members of the Mu Rong family, both young and old, shouted out their approval and cheered the triumphant Mu Rong Shan on.

"All right…are there any other challenges?" Mu Rong Lao looked as if he was about to wrap the tournament up, but…

"Yeah." Mu Rong Shan remained on stage and stared at me. "Zhao Huan Shi, would you mind having a match with me?"

There was a murmur in the audience, some of them scoffing and several rolling their eyes.

"Why waste your time on trash like him?!"

"Don't bother, Brother Shan, he's just trash. You'll defeat him in an instant."

"Silence!" Mu Rong Shan yelled, causing everyone to shut up. He then turned back to me, his eyes determined. "Unlike all the other idiots around here, I recognize your strength, cousin-in-law. They might be blind, but I am not. I think you are a worthy rival, and I wish to exchange pointers with you. It'll be a waste if I don't make use of this opportunity to spar with you…and for you to demonstrate your abilities to the fullest. Ignore what those morons said. You've proven yourself over and over again, and if they are still deluded in thinking you are trash, then they can't be saved. But you can take pride in your strength, and I will definitely respect you."

Finally, we had one decent guy in the Mu Rong family. Then again, this was the same family who produced Mu Rong Shu and was under the rule of Mu Rong Lao, so I was surprised that there were fewer decent people than the one-dimensional antagonists who existed solely for me to slap about.

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I smiled and nodded. If Mu Rong Shan afforded me respect, I would return it ten times. Jumping up onto the stage, I took my place opposite him.

"Do you need a break to recover your strength before we begin?" I asked. "And don't give me the handicap bullshit, I want to fight you at your peak."

"Fair enough." Mu Rong Shan laughed and sat down to recover his strength. It took him ten minutes and then he hopped back onto his feet. "Let's begin."

"All right…I believe this will be the last match of the Mu Rong tournament." Mu Rong Lao raised a hand. "Let the match begin!"

Unlike the others, Mu Rong Shan actually followed the rules and didn't launch a sneak attack. He actually waited for the signal before he began his assault.

And when his attack came, it manifested in the form of a mountain.

My war spirit materialized in front of me, and with a single swing of his spear, he cleaved the mountain into two. Both halves of the mountain continued tumbling forward, crumbling to powder on either side of me from the sheer power of my war spirit's strike.

"As expected of you, Zhao Huan Shi!" Mu Rong Shan was laughing in delight. "To be able to counter my attack so easily! But this isn't all!"

He was already raising a barrage of boulders and hurling them at me. My war spirit met them head-on, spinning about and slicing through each and every boulder at dazzling speed. He was a whirlwind of destruction, a literally impassable barrier that caught each projectile and ruthlessly destroyed them to nothing more than sand.

His movements were so fast that the spectators couldn't even follow them. To them, my war spirit was little more than a flash of gold, his gleaming armor and spear turning into blurs that zigzagged across the stage, leaving broken boulders and shattered mountains in his wake.

"Not bad!"

While Mu Rong Shan was flinging mountains and boulders at me, he wasn't physically idle. He was lunging at me, his gauntlets glowing with brown qi as he threw a punch at me.

Flicking my hand, I recalled my war spirit and had him materialize as a spear in my hands just before Mu Rong Shan's fist could reach me. Parrying his strike, I was sent staggering back from the sheer force of his blow. Behind me, a fissure erupted, the concrete stage unable to withstand the impact.

"Ugh?!"

My arms were numb, the bones in them feeling as if they were broken. Mu Rong Shan mercilessly hammered away at me, forcing me to parry each and every strike. I twirled my spear around, using the shaft to deflect his gauntlets or directly block his devastating punches. The ground beneath our feet crumbled and disintegrated from each exchange, the shockwaves blasting them into powder.

"For a summoner, you've a pretty sturdy body too!" Mu Rong Shan praised me before spinning about to slam a hand onto my collarbone. I barely managed to ward the blow away with my spear, but the bones in my arms creaked and I felt my feet descend into the ground by several centimeters. "Seems like your spirit isn't the only one you've been training!"

"It's useless to have a powerful war spirit if I myself am not strong enough to handle him," I replied. Right now, I was relying on the skills and combat experience of my war spirit to tide me through. Even though the efficacy was inevitably reduced by a significant amount, my unique summoning skills allowed me to make use of the skills of my spirits.

It was similar to Spirit Possession, where I allowed my spirit to take over my body. But it was more complicated than that, especially since I retained my consciousness and will. It also involved becoming one with my spirit.

That was why I knew the true identity of my war spirit. Not that I was going to reveal him here. Not until I was finally able to fully summon all 100% of him. Otherwise it would be too dangerous if someone found out his true form.

Unfortunately, I was a summoner and not an actual martial artist. My specialization was on summoning, not direct combat. That was why Mu Rong Shan was able to overwhelm me. A single punch caught me almost in the chest, and though I managed to bring my spear up vertically to block the blow, the tremendous impact sent me flying away.

Boulders continued to rain down on me, and I cleaved them apart with my spear, my body moving almost on instinct. However, right when I sliced one apart, Mu Rong Shan burst through it and punched me. I parried his strike, but such was his strength that he jarred the spear from my hand and sent it flying away.

Then he slammed his other gauntlet into my face. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to dodge in time, I could only watch helplessly as the strike hurtled toward me with incredible velocity.