End of The Tournament

Blake walked out of the ring with difficulty, her Qi reserves were almost completely empty. She a little surprised that Lie Feng seemed to be hurt as well, her body was in better shape than Blake's but she was stumbling while walking and her face seemed a bit pale. Did her last attack use a lot of Qi?

Blake slightly smiled, so she did give her some trouble. Truth be told, Blake did feel bad losing the fight, even though she was contemplating on losing on purpose earlier. But as her opponent stage was far above her her own she didn't feel discouraged or anything, she only felt she lacked training.

'If I had trained more and my last attack had been faster, I could have won the fight. I would have died if my life was on the line, I need to take this more seriously.' Blake does know she is a pokemon trainer, so the main fighting force was her pokemons and not herself. Still, if she is too weak she will be targeted by opponents and killed.

Some servants came to carry Blake off the ring, they brought her to a infirmary where those who got harmed or injured from the tournament were staying. She laid down on a hay mat and stretched her arms legs which was a little painful.

She doesn't feel like taking a Potion here as she was tight on pokedollars, and her injuries weren't big because of the formation. Cultivators also recovered faster than normal people so there was no reason to take a potion right now.

Blake closed her eyes and rested.

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"Aaaa..." Blake woke up, yawned and stretched her arms. She looked around with a sluggish look before realizing she was in the infirmary for the tournament participants. Seems like she didn't sleep for long.

She found out her body wasn't as hurt anymore and and stood up from the hay mat. As she examined her body, she had a pleasant surprise. Her Qi capacity increased! She clenched her fists, and feeling the strength, she nodded with a huge smile.

'I had a breakthrough!!' Blake was now on the fourth stage of the Body Refinement Realm. She had been stuck on the pinnacle of the third stage for a while now, and the intense fight she had earlier was the push she needed for a breakthrough. Blake was now in a very good mood.

She told the servants that were watching over the injured participants that she was fine, and left the infirmary to look for her friends.

As soon as left the infirmary she was surprised to see that the tournament was still ongoing, she really slept little. She looked around the Arena and found Fang, Little Xun and Zhao Long on the same spot they were before. Zhao Long was waving at her.

"Sister Blake! How are your injuries?" Zhao Long immediately asked after she reached them, he seemed happy and a little worried.

"I'm fine, they have mostly healed and it only hurts a little. Anyway, for how long have I been sleeping?" Blake slightly smiled and moved her arm around to show she didn't have any problems.

"For about a hour and and a little more." Little Xun answered while smiling. He and Fang didn't seem to be worried, since they could see the severity of the injuries more accurately so they knew Blake was not seriously harmed.

"So, which stage the tournament is right now?"

"It's the finals." Fang suddenly said.

Blake looked at the fighting ring, she was slightly surprised to see Lie Feng there. She smiled. Lie Feng was fighting a spear wielder, who was using fire arts. He was big for a young disciple, far bigger than Lie Feng and he was in the fourth stage.

She seemed to toying around with her opponent , running around in circles while slashing him. The spear guy was incapable of hitting her, he looked quite clumsy with his big frame as he constantly slashed at empty air, missing Lie Feng every time.

"That guy is Da Yanshi, one of the strongest disciples this year if not the strongest and the favorite for championship." Zhao Long said as he noticed Blake looking at the fight.

"One of the strongest outer disciples if not the strongest? Then why is he being beaten that hard?" The guy was getting bullied. Blake was feeling pity looking at him, he wasn't even able to fight back and could only passively defend. This reminded her of the fight Riolu had with the Black Bear, where the bear couldn't land a single punch on Riolu.

"To be honest, I'm also curious about this. The disciple that.... defeated you is someone completely unknown in the outer sect." Zhao Long tone seemed a little hesitant when he reached the part of Blake being defeated.

"Unknown...?" Blake was curious.

"Yes, she was either hiding all this while and she just got into the sect recently, I didn't hear of any geniuses like her this year. She suddenly popping up like this and one sidedly beating all of her opponents the tournament surprised everyone." Explained Zhao Long.

"So she is a dark horse, huh..." Blake got it. She was feeling a little frustrated. What the hell? First tournament in her life and some ultra strong person pops up out of nowhere and destroys her, isn't this exactly what happened in the Sinnoh League with Ash and Tobias?

"This girl is weird..." Fang suddenly said as he stared at Lie Feng, he was frowning.

"By weird you mean...?" Blake asked.

"She is too suspicious. Appearing out of nowhere like this, in the fifth stage which is very high for the outer sect, not to mention she uses wind techniques instead of fire techniques." Little Xun said in Fang's place.

"So, you think she is a spy or something?"

"No, no spy would do something like winning a tournament and revealing their strength and cultivation for the world to see. But, maybe she is using reverse psychology so we can't rule out the possibility." Little Xun analyzed the situation.

"She is most likely a disciple from another sect who was expelled or a disciple of a strong vagrant cultivator, but sects rarely let disciples leave just like that after they cultivated their technique so they don't leak it out, much less letting them join another sect. So she is probably a disciple of a vagrant cultivator or found a cultivation technique somewhere"

Blake was attentively hearing Little Xun and nodded, agreeing with his deduction.

While they were talking about this, the match was already over. Da Yanshi had given up, begrudgingly, as he realized winning was almost impossible. Lie Feng simply put her two swords back into their scabbards and looked at him with a indifferent look, turned her back to him and walked away, seemingly already expecting this result. Da Yanshi felt humiliated and clenched his fists, looking at her departing back with rage.

After the fight was over, a Elder with robes different from outer Elders, probably a inner Elder, started calling each disciple who had won a spot in the inner sect name by name.

"Shi Ming!"

"Cao Ju!"

"Kong Liang!"

"Blake!"

As soon as she heard her name being called, Blake stood up from her seat and looked at her friends.

"Fang, Little Xun, see you soon!" She smiled at them.

"Yeah." Fang nodded with same old lack of expression he always has.

"I look forward to it, Sister Blake." Little cupped his fists and lowered his head, smiling.

"As for you Zhao Long..." Blake gave him a deep glare.

Zhao Long started feeling embarrassed by being glared at by Blake like this.

"Are you going to meet us there?" Blake asked.

"I don't think so, Sister Blake... I'm going to stay here for a while then go back home, the life of cultivation really isn't for me." Zhao Long slightly looked up and did a sorrowful smile. Blake kept looking at him for a while, before smiling herself.

"Since you've chosen how you will live your life, I won't say anything about it."

"Zhao Long, extend your arm and close your fist." Blake suddenly said.

"Hmm? Sure..?" Zhao Long doesn't know what Blake wants to do, but he did as she told him to anyway. Blake then also closed her fist, and strongly hit his fist with her own.

"What is this...?" Zhao Long looked at her and asked.

Fang and Little Xun were also curiously watching.

"It's fist bump, it's a thing friends do back in my home as a goodbye and a greeting." Blake was still smiling while looking at him.

"One day I hope I can do this with you again, maybe you can show me your family or something.... Okay that sounded weird." Blake did a embarrassed laugh.

Watching this, Zhao Long shook his head and smiled, his smile was genuine this time.

"Sure Sister Blake, one day I will do this again with you. Goodbye!"

"I'm waiting for it! Goodbye!"

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The inner Elder looked the crowd of disciple gathered in front of him, saw that there was no one lacking and nodded.

"Disciples of the Scarlet Flame Sect!" The Elder shouted. His voice was being boosted by Qi and everyone heard it clearly, all the disciples ceased their chatter and the place was silent.

"You, the fifty disciples in front of me, have proved their strength! Today you have showed the world what you are made of, and have risen above your fellows, earning a place in the inner sect."

"But, this isn't the end of your journey. In the contrary, it is just the start! Each and every one of you will be the pillars of this sect in the future. The bright fire that will guide us in times of darkness."

"From now on, you are all Inner Disciples! In the name of the Scarlet Flame Sect, I congratulate you!" The Elder clapped his hands.

The disciples loudly cheered.