Ascending the ranks

"The young mistress of the Zhou Clan really has some ability. Defeating not only the 9th and 8th rankers but doing it together and that with such an overbearing method! Surely this can't be the end can it?" The people in the audience began to talk about Zhou Xinqiu's previous performance.

"Next I dare to challenge little yu ling!" Zhou Xinqiu's smile grew even wider as she laughed.

"Senior sister Zhou Xinqiu! Don't tease me like this!!" Yu ling stood up and crossed her arms.

"How am I teasing you? I am honestly very scared to challenge you." Zhou xinqiu and Yu ling started to laugh sweetly while everyone started to get annoyed because they had been sitting in the same position the entire day and these two girls were just having a conversation instead of fighting.

"Ah, I guess I am very very strong haha" Yu ling flexed her arms and stuck her tongue out. "Since I am also very kind, senior sister I will forfeit from this round only so that I don't injure you!"

"Indeed you are too kind" Zhou Xinqiu couldn't help but cover her mouth before she looked up at Zhou Feng again. "Ill challenge the 6th ranker next"

As her words came out of her mouth, a black shadow shot out from the crowd onto the arena. It was the mysterious katana man. This was the second time Zhou Xinqiu was facing him but this time she was fighting him 1 on 1 rather than a group setting. Seeing him appear immediately wiped off the smile on her face and she began to become serious.

"Xinqiu, this man is very strange" Qin gong warned Zhou Xinqiu to be careful. "However he is only at the 8th level of body tempering and not the 9th. Therefore, no matter how strange he is, you should be able to deal with him. Just be careful of any tricks"

In the sky Zhou Feng activated the arena once more. "Begin"

The black hooded man turned into a shadow and appeared in-front of Zhou Xinqiu. He grabbed a dagger from his waist while Zhou Xinqiu used some soul imprints to cover her hands and imitate knives. The knives and dagger started clashing at an abnormal rate. Zhou Xinqiu began to realize her lacking skills in close combat. The mysterious katana man also was extremely fast which added on another layer of difficulty. Every time Zhou Xinqiu would try to distance herself in order to use the nine sword dance art, the shadow would appear in front of her and start throwing attacks to her.

At this point she remembered Qin Gong telling her about how she should not only think of the soul imprints as a shield or blade. She suddenly had an idea that would allow her to increase her speed enough so that she might able to display her techniques. She brought out 2 more soul imprints and placed them behind her two feet. Then, while being pushed back by the constant attacks, she stepped onto the two imprints and started to run across the arena. Her idea was indeed correct. The soul imprints allowed her to be able to move at a quicker rate.

"Eh? The young mistress is fleeing?" the crowd started to discuss the fight

"Haha yes, I had warned her of taking on more than she could handle! Now she looks like a coward!" The elder from the lightning devouring faction's face once again lit up.

Finally the Mysterious katana man spoke, "Are you only going to run now?" He was still chasing Zhou Xinqiu while throwing out dagger attacks behind her. Zhou Xinqiu turned around in the next instant and a boundless sword aura smashed into the Mysterious katana man.

"Nine Sword dance art - seventh form" Seven forms of her body ravaged around the mysterious katana man before returning into her palm forming a lotus. However, this time you could see that the mysterious katana man had no injuries other than a few minor scratches and cuts in his clothes.

The mysterious man walked back before unsheathing his katana "Hell Sovereign Katana art, Dark transformation" The one katana in his possession multiplied to ten and they began to form a circle in front of him with a dark sword qi forming in the middle of the 10 blades.

"Annihilation sword lotus" The lotus started to float towards the 10 blades. When the two forces met it was like two swords striking each other. A loud 'Li' sound rung out from the point of contact and both Zhou Xinqiu and The mysterious katana man were pushed back. When the dust settled, both attack seemed to have been cancelled out. All that was left was one lone katana and a petal of the sword lotus flying down from the sky.

"You cancelled out my Hell Sovereign art, that's not something many 8th level body tempering people can say. Of course that small girl over there also has this privilege. Next is my final attack, I don't have the need to display anymore techniques if you can pass this... Draconic Roar" A black dragon rose from behind The mysterious katana man.

Seven soul imprints appeared in front of Zhou Xinqiu this time and merged into one imprint the size of two heads. The merged imprint even began having the slightest sliver of a bronze tint on it.

Suddenly the dragon head behind the mysterious katana man let out a loud roar which had the power of hellish sword qi. As the merged imprint blocked the qi from hitting xinqiu, some cracks began to appear on the surface. She was about to take out another soul imprint to merge before a voice spoke.

"You did not merge it properly the first time, which made the new imprint lose some power. Adding another imprint will not only take too much time but it will also mess up the mistake you made even more. Your blood has a mysterious energy.. try to drip a small drop onto the imprint" Qin Gong explained as the cracks grew deeper.

Xinqiu nodded and cut into her wrist and controlled a tiny drop of blood to hit the imprint. when the blood made contact with the imprint, the originally white color imprint became a vivid red color and expanded to the size of 3 heads. The cracks even begin to disappear. "My blood really is strange.."

The roar soon ended and the mysterious katana man looked at the blood red imprint in confusion and interest. "I don't know what you did but it seems to have worked. Congratulations, I will now take my leave." The Katana wielding man abruptly turned into a shadow and disappeared from the valley and Zhou sect altogether.