The Sect Leader System-Chapter 348 - Semifinals

Yang Xiu dispassionately watched the first of the two semifinal rounds. Her former friend, Kang Lin, was matched against the top finalist from the Poison Claw Sect, Xue Yong.

The boy, whose qi aspect incorporated Fire and Motion, appeared both strong and fast. Kang Lin pursued her strategy of trying to overwhelm him with speed, but he lived up to his reputation as the best in the sect, flaring his shield perfectly to block her attacks with no wasted qi.

Seeing her plan not working, she tried to shift to her alternate tactic of death by a thousand cuts that won her the previous round. Xue Yong’s sword hilt, however, was inert to qi, so her bolts did not penetrate to strike his body.

Without being able to employ either her ability to overwhelm him with speed or to deliver free hits while blocking or being blocked, he quickly overwhelmed her and drained her qi pool.

Kang Lin surrendered.

Yang Xiu didn’t know how to feel about that. Some part of her thought she should be sad for her former friend losing. Another thought she should be irritated that she couldn’t get revenge by facing the girl in the finals. Mostly, though, Yang Xiu simply felt nothing.

Kang Lin, on the other hand, seemed elated. She enthusiastically thanked her opponent for the exchange of pointers, all the while smiling widely. The sight almost made Yang Xiu frown. Who could be happy after a loss?

Regardless, it was her turn, and she made her way down to the arena floor. Facing her opponent, the last remaining enemy in the round, should have given her some measure of satisfaction, but even that emotion escaped her.

As it was the semifinals, a bit more pageantry was utilized as the announcer introduced each of the participants.

“From the north side of the arena, we have the challenger, Yang Xiu of the Rising Tide Sect.”

Again, she felt she should have some reaction to the brevity of the details given and the fact that she’d been assigned the less auspicious compass direction, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to care.

Despite the lackluster introduction, both her sect and the Poison Claw Sect rose to their feet and gave her a long, rowdy cheer.

“And from the south, the harbinger of prosperity and success, we have the favorite from the Swift Blizzard Sect. Possessing coveted A rank spiritual roots, he reached Foundation Establishment at the young age of fifteen and won the two of the last three inter-sect martial competitions. Please welcome to the arena, Zhou Kang!”

From the enthusiasm in the voice, the announcer had clearly been anticipating thunderous cheering. Instead, well less than half the stands made any noise at all, and a lot of that was booing.

They’d so clearly tried to manipulate the audience and failed miserably. If Yang Xiu could have made herself care, she probably would have laughed.

Finally, though, all the ridiculous preliminaries were over, and the match began.

Zhou Kang immediately sent a Wind Slash toward Yang Xiu, even faster than should could release an arrow. Her shield automatically triggered and countered it, of course, but less efficiently than usual since Ice was weak against that element. As for her arrow, a Wind Burst pushed it off course, causing him to miss him by inches.

By her estimation, she still came out ahead on the exchange, with his two techniques expending slightly more qi than her shield and what she spent encasing her arrow. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

If the status of the fight remained static, she’d win.

Her opponent was highly skilled, however, and obviously able to make the same calculations. Instead of sending another Wind Slash at her, he triggered a movement technique and charged her. Which introduced a problem. He was fast. Very fast. Moreso than her.

She shot two arrows at him before he reached her, both of which he tanked with his shield.

When he did get within melee distance, he used a fourth technique to make multiple strikes with his Wind encased sword, all of which caused her shield to flare.

Since hers was so much more efficient than his, they came out about equal on the exchange when her arrows were factored in. The problem of his superior speed came into play, however. For the first time in the tournament, her movement technique wasn’t good enough for her to gain enough separation to use her archery.

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Up close, her bow was more of a liability than an advantage. She could have, of course, pulled her spear from her ring, but she had neither the necessary experience nor the techniques required to make that weapon a valid path to victory against such an accomplished opponent.

If she stayed close to such a fast and experienced opponent, she’d lose as his sword slashes and thrusts required a lot less qi than blocking with her shield did. Without her arrows, the fight wouldn’t even be close.

She had an out, though, and she mentally praised her master for providing her with the technique, one she hadn’t used yet in the tournament. Ignoring two additional sword strikes as she bent her knees, she activated Feather Fall and leaped dozens of yards into the air. Even as she rose, she pelted Zhou Kang with arrow after arrow.

He tried to retaliate, attacking her with Wind Slashes and using Wind Bursts to send her attacks off course. She ignored those efforts. Her shield operated with the most supreme qi efficiency possible. Likewise, it took little energy for her Slippery Sharp Arrow technique, which she’d long since advanced to Mastery, to coat her attacks with qi. When paired with a qi pool that was two to three times larger than her opponent’s, he had no chance. He simply used more qi to attack and fend off attacks than she did.

She had to land and reactivate Feather Fall twice more before he finally surrendered, but the result had been inevitable since her first use of the technique.

Yang Xiu gave him a slight bow, turned, and walked from the arena.

Or she tried to.

A Golden Core cultivator from the Swift Blizzard Sect hovered on a flying sword, blocking her path.

“You give my disciple so little face, little girl?” the Golden Core said. “How dare you!”

Yang Xiu didn’t react, just stood there staring at her.

“To pay for your insolence, you will kowtow before me.”

Master had clearly instructed all his sect members to be polite to their opponents but to kowtow only to those who deserved such respect. The woman hovering in the air before her definitely didn’t merit any face at all as far as Yang Xiu could determine.

“What are you waiting for?” the Golden Core said. “Kowtow before me. Now.”

Yang Xiu remained motionless.

“If you do not accept your punishment,” the Golden Core said through clenched teeth, “a greater one will be inflicted upon you.”

If there was one thing that Yang Xiu had absolute confidence in, it was her master. He didn’t care about words. No amount of yelling or insults was likely to draw his wrath. But he absolutely would not allow harm to come to any of his sect members if there were any way he could prevent it.

Considering that he was in the stands at that very moment watching, he certainly had the ability to intercede at any moment.

Yang Xiu remembered her duty. Master required that she be polite. She cupped her hands, the minimal expression of respect a junior could give a senior. “Esteemed Cultivator, this one will not kowtow to a member of a sect that has waged war in all but name against this one’s sect.”

Her calm, even declaration drew an audible gasp from the crowd. To that point in the tournament, no member of the big three or the Rising Tide Sect had publicly acknowledged the conflict.

“You insignificant worm!” the Golden Core yelled. “You seek to set conditions on me, your senior? You give me no face? I will end you!”

Qi gathered in the Golden Core’s hands as she prepared an attack that would surely be strong enough to obliterate any low Foundation Establishment cultivator from existence.

Yang Xiu had been in such a position and knew the outcome. She stood there, waiting. The only slight emotion that broke through her icy demeanor was curiosity. If she knew what was about to happen, how was it that the Golden Core cultivator didn’t?

Su Xifeng neared the end of her life after nearly a millennium, most of those years spent as a Golden Core. She’d yet to even reach the peak of that vaunted realm, though, and knew that she had no chance of advancing further.

Facing the inevitable had caused her to lose patience with, well, everything.

Simple rules governed her life, and not much else mattered. She owed fealty to members of the Swift Blizzard Sect who had been set above her. She owed respect to those few cultivators higher in realm than her.

Most importantly, any cultivator lower in realm owed her respect.

The only bright spot that she had to look forward to was seeing her prize disciple, the best she’d instructed in all her centuries, take first place in his division of the Quinquennial Tournament. That the young, brash, lower realmed branch sect leader demanded her disciple win made no difference. He would win because he was the best the sect had seen in Su Xifeng’s lifetime.

As she’d watched the match’s beginning, a rare slight smile had formed. The boy exchanged ranged attacks, determined that course to be a losing one, and closed with his opponent, proving too fast for the girl to disengage from him.

In melee range, the archer had no chance.

Then the girl had used a previously unseen technique to leap high into the air and fall slowly back to the ground, peppering Zhou Kang with arrows all the while. The boy could do nothing. At range, the girl’s qi efficiency was simply better, and even triggering the leaping technique twice more, fending off sword attacks as she did so, didn’t change the calculations.

Zhou Kang lost.

It had been decades, if ever, since Su Xifeng had suffered such disappointment. To make the situation even worse, the hotheaded, impetuous branch sect leader had exploded.

“You incompetent old fart!” Mao Biya had screamed. “You can’t even teach one of the most talented combatants in the sect’s history enough to beat a girl from a nothing so-called sect? You call yourself an elder? A master? A Golden Core?”

Su Xifeng had exited the Swift Blizzard Sect’s luxury viewing box as much to get away from the screeching as for any other reason. Then her eyes happened to alight on the cause of her misery—the girl from the upstart sect.

A recollection of what had happened to the last Golden Core to accost the girl popped into Su Xifeng’s head, but she simply didn’t care. She no longer had patience for such trivialities regarding what might happen in the future.

Her eyes found a target, and she advanced. It was as simple as that.