Path Of The Dragon (A Dark Fantasy Cultivation Wuxia Xianxia Progression Series)

Chapter 32 Customs

Pan Tian prattled on incessantly, but Jie sat with her eyes closed and focused on cultivating. It wasn't that she didn't like the older girl. Quite the contrary, Pan Tian was one of the few people that Jie did like. But she couldn't allow herself to be distracted by things like friendship. No, she could only focus on cultivating and growing stronger.

Ming had said it time and time again. Strength was all that mattered. It wasn't just that the enemy she needed to defeat was so much stronger, but almost everyone else was stronger than her. Only the children were her match, and she knew all too well how quickly everything she loved could be taken away.

Now she was in a world where she had the potential to get the power to keep what she loved safe and until she had that power, what good would it do to even entertain the notion of friendship?

"Liu Jie and Zhao Gang to platform three," said one of the elders.

Jie's eyes snapped open.

"I'd say good luck, but I doubt you need it," Pan Tian said.

Jie gave the older girl a nod and moved to her platform.

She stepped up and onto the raised area. She felt the eyes of the waiting contestants and spectators on her and looked up at the stands. She couldn't help wishing to see Ming there to root for her, but he was busy healing and she was too weak to help him. However, she did see Elder Shi watching her intently.

Somehow that warmed Jie's heart and she smiled slightly despite herself.

A humanoid lion twice Jie's size and looking closer to Pan Tian in age stepped up onto the platform opposite her. He had a mane of fiery-red hair and massive hands closer to paws than human hands. A tail like a lion's swished behind him and the aura of a ninth star Adept pulsed from him in waves.

He pressed one of his mighty paws into the other and bowed to her respectfully. Jie returned his bow just as respectfully. Then, both of them took a fighting stance.

An elder Jie didn't recognize stood to one side on a much smaller, separate platform with his hands behind his back.

"The fight is until surrender or incapacitation. Knockouts and broken or severed limbs are acceptable but killing your opponent or crippling their cultivation will result in immediate disqualification and possible expulsion. Should you knock your opponent out of the ring, it will be considered a victory. The fight starts.... Now!" said the elder.

Zhao Gang immediately cycled two separate martial skills. Twin, long flaming spears emerged in his hands as fire qi roared to life beneath his feet, rocketing him toward Jie. His arms pulled back, ready to strike with his spears.

Jie cycled lightning step to its fullest and his explosive speed seemed to slow almost to a crawl. Jie ran straight toward him, his every movement seeming sluggish to her eyes.

As she neared him, he tried to stab her with his flaming spears, but his movements were far too slow. Jie dropped to the ground, sliding legs first across the lily-white tiles as his spears passed over her head, skewering the space where she'd been and stabbing into the tiles behind her with a sizzling crack.

Jie kicked at his legs as she slid into them, knocking them out from under him, before she sprang to her feet, grabbing the humanoid lion by the hem of his robes. She spun with his momentum, whirling in a blur of motion before releasing him and hurling him off the stage.

He arced through the air like one of those hammers she'd seen thrown in the Olympics back on Earth. He slammed into the sand of the arena floor and tumbled over it, his fiery spears and feet leaving a trail of burning sand that turned partially to glass in his wake.