Duel to the Death [1]

Over a thousand youths were gathered in the Blazing Valor sect courtyard, and Lee Xiaoping stood before them with a smile on his face. These were a thousand of his best disciples, cultivators that he had trained from childhood, and today they stood before him as proud confident high tiered cultivation gurus. One reason why the Blazing Valor sect was so powerful, was definitely because the average cultivation speed of each disciple under them was four stages each four weeks, and one stage a week. Compared to monsters like Lee Chun Hua or Xin Minxia who advanced stages like crazy in a day, it was laughable. But compared to all the other cultivators in all the other sects, this cultivation speed was simply unfathomable. A normal cultivator cultivated one stage in four weeks, a good one could manage three weeks, and a 'genius' could advance in two weeks, but at the Blazing Valor sect, even the weakest were geniuses. This was the reason why Lee Xiaoping could boldly stand before them as he made his announcement.

"Good day to you all, esteemed disciples of our revered Blazing Valor sect. I am proud to see the results of your hard work paying off so nicely..." He scanned each of the disciples one by one, looking each them in the eye. Some would flinch and avoid his piercing gaze, and some would hold their ground and stare at him back, respectfully.

"Some of you who were at the peak stage of the Body refinement realm, have made it to the Nascent Qi tier, and those of you who were previously at the peak of the Nascent Qi realm have successfully entered the realms of the Qi manipulation realm. It is very impressive. But an impressive cultivation speed us not going to keep you alive where you are going to! The Imperial Sky Emperor's Trial is a harrowing test of resolve, cunning, and strength. You will see horrors that no human eyes should witness, and you will face threats from every direction. Friends will become foes, beasts that you won't even see in nightmares will stare you in the eye, and you will learn what kinds of terrible things people would have to do in order to like just a minute longer. You are going to a place where death isn't just certified, it's guaranteed and its assured. But the end result, is to survive and come out victorious. My daughter, Lee Chun Hua has finally broken into the first stage of the Qi reinforcement tier, and she shall lead us to victory!"

"Master!...' One male disciple called out. He was a well built muscular man with a greying goatee. At his age, he should have been promoted to one of the teachers by now, but he had hit his bottleneck at the peak of the Qi manipulation realm.

"... I believe, that 'Senior' sister Chun Hua is unfit to lead our great valor clan to victory. She has merely broken through this very morning, and I have been at the peak of the Qi manipulation realm for almost thirty seasons now. I am well in tune with my abilities, and she is not. I declare, a duel."

Lee Xiaoping wrinkled his forehead in thought as what the man had said was actually through. Chun Hua only made it to the early stage of the Qi reinforcement realm this very morning, and had no idea on how to use her new abilities. A duel in the Blazing Valor sect only ended when one side was dead, and he did not want to lose his only daughter because of his greed. Turning to face Lee Chun Hua, he asked.

"Do you wish to duel to the death, or forfeit?"

Deep within himself, he wished that she would stand down and forfeit the role, but it turned out that her own greed would be the death of her. Why did she have to be so much like him?

The jade beauty lowered the pretty pink hand fan covering her face, and smiled.

"I wish to duel, father."

***

The words had been said, hadn't they? Lee Chun Hua had agreed to duel, and duel she would have to.

The man and Lee Chun Hua faced each other in the centre of a large circle which the other disciples had created. The man smiled darkly, and then cupped his hands in a low bow.

"Forgive me, 'Senior' sister Chun Hua. But I, Disciple Wu Chun, will take your life today. I hope you are reborn into a good family."

Lee Chun Hua chuckled lightly and then made a bow of her own.

"Thank you, Junior brother Wu. But I am not going to be dying anytime soon."

And then the battle had begun.

"Qi burst."

"Song of Terror."

The two of them shouted out at the sane time as they dashed at each other in lightening speed. Lee Chun Hua was much faster, such that before the ball of golden Qi could manifest in his hand, the beautiful jian was already in her palms and was halfway to cleaving his head open. However, the junior disciple quickly noticed it and jumped back a few metres, allowing the blade to crush the stone floor where he had stood a split second after.

'That was close.'

He located Chun Hua pulling her stuck jian out of the floor and decided that it was his chance. Swiftly, the small ball of golden Qi flew out of his hand with speed that far surpassed that of a bullet. Unfortunately, his opponent was the one person on the continent with a Qi perception spreading two kilometers around her. Lee Chun Hua's aura perception ability was still rather high as she was using it to track Seth for... reasons best known to her. The Qi ball travelled like lightening, but she had sensed it almost as quickly as he had thrown it. The Qi burst technique was essentially creating a Qi grenade of sorts that exploded once it came in contact with flesh, and almost always caused a Qi disruption by invading the Body it touches, but Lee Chun Hua was now at the Qi reinforcement tier.

She flattened her palms and let the ball roll past her palm, on top of her arm, and past her neck, then she flung it back with even more force than Wu Chun had ever imagined and let out a slight grin.

"I bet you didn't expect me to be able to harness the power of the Qi reinforcement realm, did you?"