Chapter 11: A Cornered Beast

Weijia, feeling a little smug, began waving his whiskers around himself, cracking loud cracking sounds awed the crowd. Weizhe, on the other hand, simply stared at the whip-like whiskers flying around Weijia. His eyes brightened as an idea came to mind. Hoping to test his idea, Weizhe once again began moving in. Naturally, Weijia wouldn't simply allow Weizhe to close the distance and quickly sent his whiskers flying towards Weizhe's direction. The whips cracked, and new wounds appeared on Weizhe's body. Backing out of range, he grit his teeth and charged towards Weijia again.

"Heh, fool. No matter how many times you charge you won't reach me before the wounds from my whip cause you to faint." Sneering he sent his whips towards Weizhe again, this time aiming low towards his legs. Weizhe, in the middle of his rush towards Weijia, actually changed his direction. Now he was accelerating straight towards Weijia's whip and, just a meter before reaching it, he stomped his feet on the ground and, with a sudden burst of speed, passed the tip and rammed straight into the side of the whip. Being hit by the force of his charge, the whip lost its power and fell back. A delighted appearance graced Weizhe's face seeing his plan had worked.

While Weijia was showing off Weizhe had noticed that the sound of the cracks from Weijia's whiskers originate from the tip of the whip. Believing it to be because snapping force at the tip, he thought perhaps the force would be less along the whip. Hoping to test this hypothesis he entered Weijia's range and tried to see what would happen if he got hit by sides of the whip, rather than the tip. The result: a bruise on his side, far better than the cut he got from the first few lashes. This plan of his was simple, but brilliant, as it would allow him to minimize the damage taken and slow make his way towards Weijia. Of course, there were some key factors that allowed this plan to work, for example the way Weijia manipulates his whiskers. The way he manipulates his whiskers is exactly like how a whip works. Spiritual energy flows throughout the entire whiskers but most of it is focused at the root of the whiskers. This ball of spiritual energy at the root would act like a person's hand, providing the flicking force that would move along the whip until eventually at it's tip it would explode, creating a cracking sound and creating a cutting force. A month ago when Weiyang had swooped in to help Weizhe, she had not just rammed into the side of Weijia's whip but in fact created her own center of power in his whiskers, thus why he ended up whipping himself back then.

Another factor to take into account is Weizhe himself. While the force on the along the whip is much weaker than at the end, it is still difficult to handle being hit by it. Luckily, Weizhe's training consisted of diving his body into a stream of water so fierce it left his body mangled and scarred, so handling the force of the whips was no issue for him.

Perhaps if Weijia hadn't been showboating Weizhe wouldn't have been inspired to try such a method, unfortunately it was too late. From there, the fight proceeded much easier for Weizhe. He continued to rush towards the center where Weijia was, and Weijia would continue to try to lash out his whips, shortening them as Weizhe got closer to try to hit him at the ends. Eventually, they smashed into each other, turning the fight into a stamina battle.

The two pushed and bumped chests, though Weijia was quickly losing ground and being pushed towards the edge of the ring. Taking a deep breathe, he clenched his teeth and fiercely glared at Weizhe, and with red eyes he screamed in a shrill voice.

"Trash! Scum! Waste of space! I will not lose to a piece of shit who can't even cultivate spiritual energy!" With a mad look in his eyes, he circulated his spiritual energy to the limit, and sent it all straight towards his whiskers. Now that they were so close together, Weizhe had no time to dodge as Weijia sent his whiskers behind Weizhe and forced himself to move the center of power halfway along his whips, letting him send lashes out from behind Weizhe. Forcing the ball of spiritual energy along his whiskers was dangerous, and thus he hadn't originally planned to do so. His roots could handle the pressure because of continual practice, but moving the ball of energy along his whiskers was like forcing a finger into a pin-sized hole. This would result in severe injury that, at worst, could take a couple months to recover, however he could not afford to hold back.

Weizhe, under the sudden onslaught, let out a pained whine. Unfortunately, Weijia had made a miscalculation involving Weizhe himself. Weizhe's mind, while above that of the average beast, was still very susceptible to emotional changes. While his fight with Weifan was difficult, Weizhe had never been pulled into a situation where he was not only trapped but enduring a frenzy of attacks, as Weifan was an opponent who relied on short, heavy hits. Weijia, on the other hand, focused on gradually wearing down his opponents with repeated strikes, and right now he had trapped Weizhe in by wrapping him in his whiskers. The fiercest counterattacks came from animals that were wounded and cornered, and it was exactly the case now.

Weizhe's vision was painted red, his "thoughts" were flushed away and replaced with a pure madness. Disregarding the attacks coming from behind, he stood on his hind legs, then he took his forefeet and heavily smashed down on Weijia with the full force of his legs and weight of his body. Weijia was forced down on the ground, and his attacks were halted. It didn't end there though, as Weizhe fiercely trampled the downed Weijia over and over. At the beginning Weijia let out miserable cries, but as it went on eventually they fettered out, leaving only the sound of hooves beating down on a still body.

For a moment time stood still, everyone sent into a trance by the gruesome scene playing out in the ring below. Then, the elder in charge of the matches, snapping out of his daze, quickly went down and separated the wild Weizhe from Weijia's body, trapping Weizhe in a small bubble made from his spiritual energy. Checking his Weijia's body, a small sigh of relief was let out while he signaled to the Zhixin that he was still breathing, shooting a small glare towards Weizhe, he gave the call. Weizhe won.

After the round ended, it was decided that the tournament would proceed the following day. Tomorrow, the remaining ten contestants would compete to obtain a place among the top three.