Celestial Martial Path

Circles of frost energy radiated from the centre of the blast, forming what seemed like a deadly formation. Both targets narrowed their eyes, sensing the incoming blast. Immediately, they both expended talismans to block the attack, however the immense frost power from below them surged through the barrier of the talisman and attacked the two competitors, throwing them several meters backwards.

Li Ke smiled victoriously, seeing her spell effectively immobilising the enemy for a short period of time. Although she looked perfectly normal from the outside, her blood vessels had expanded a single fold, bringing her total energy circulation speed to new heights.

One would wonder if such a powerful spell should bring about a certain amount of backlash, however this was not the case. If Li Ke's spell forced backlash upon the user once completed, there would be an extreme amount of flaws right after casting, leaving the user exposed to large numbers of enemies. How would the Severed Snow Sect be even able to lift their heads after creating such a double edged sword.

{ Hell Damning Shards } had been evolved throughout the centuries of the sect's history, ridding it of not only the backlash that a major spell would usually bring, but instead enhancing the energy circulation of the user. This was why Li Ke did not hesitate to use the energy consuming spell in the first minute, because she knew with her temporarily expanded vessels, she would be able to regenerate all of the consumed energy back in no time.

Words of praise began to fill the arena as the audience marvelled at the sheer power and usefulness of her spell.

"Truly worthy of praise."

"No wonder she's one of the top talents in the Severed Snow Sect."

"Her power would be able to contend against even competitors with high cultivation!"

Although many would turn at the sound of the praises and feel a sense of importance, Li Ke had been trained by a strict master and her mental fortitude was extremely stable for a 13 year old cultivator.

Although Li Ke was able to regenerate her energy quite quickly, her current self was extremely drained and could only keep up appearances to prevent the other two from engaging her. If they were to launch a synchronised attack now, she would truly be unable to fight back.

Fan Xun, the fire elementalist, breathed in deep ragged breaths. He had suffered moderate exterior wounds while his insides felt numbed and displaced, the effects of the frost attack still lingering around the lacerations on his chest and arms. As the brother of a genius, Fan Hui, how could he perform like this! If this went on, he wouldn't even have the face to greet his elder brother again.

Passion for battle flared from his eyes and deep orange flames erupted from the holes in his clothes, burning off his robes as they gleamed menacingly, staring daggers at Li Ke.

Fan Xun glanced over at the earthen cultivator, Tu Xia, confirming that he wouldn't be attacked by the recovering man. Tu Xia, although practising defence based earth arts, similarly suffered numerous external wounds, albeit a factor healthier than Fan Xun.

Currently, a mass of plants had sprung from the frozen ground and began transmitting gentle natural energy to Tu Xia's wounds, healing them slowly. Although he seemed extremely vulnerable, several protruding rock spikes vibrated intensely, waiting for an opportunity to block and strike the aggressor.

Fan Xun made up his mind, in this type of scenario, it was truly all or nothing. His eyes began to turn a crimson red and a faint flame imprint began to shine upon his forehead as he roared to the skies.

{ Sacrificial Blaze }

The spectators gasped in awe at his bravery and commitment to winning the fight. One had to know that { Sacrificial Blaze } would grant several minutes of overwhelming power before depleting all of the cultivator's energy and leaving him prone to attacks. It was a gamble to take out all other opponents during the few minutes!

While the audience had dropped their jaws long ago, Li Ke wrinkled her brow in face of the rising aura. The hearts of the flames were now glowing a pale blue, reaching out towards the arms of the fires and empowering them.

{ Flame Burst }

Although his power was much weaker compared to Jian Xi's { Flame Burst }, it was still not to be underestimated. Streaks of flame formed a fraction of the ever lasting waves that Jian Xi had, before slicing through the air to reach the target.

Li Ke harrumphed in contempt, raising her hand to form a barrier in front of her like a shield. At that moment, Fan Xun revealed an elated grin before shifting both his hands, left and right.

The original straight paths of the projectiles weaved and curved around the ice barrier, speeding straight for the space behind it. A large inferno of explosions and flames appeared behind the ice barrier and Fan Xun put his hands to his hips, laughing to his own content, "Looks like I, Fan Xun, am able to beat one of the most talented children of the Severed Snow Sect!"

Of course, he did not laugh for too long, quickly turning his attention towards the last remaining threat, the earth cultivator. Fan Xun's eye's bulged out in surprise. In the time that he had defeated the frost elementalist, the earth cultivator had already built a goddamn fort. He now stood in a rocky bunker with the only entrance point being a tiny eye hole.

Fan Xun sneered at this seemingly flawless design. His master had advised him before the battles to prepare against such a defence. Now that he had learnt a derivative skill from his master, there was no way he would miss the minuscule eye hole.

{ Flame Burst : Sniper }

Once more, streaks of flames began to gather around him, however this time they did not form waves, but instead combined together to create a sharp, penetrative spear that glowed with the embers of his powers. Instantaneously, the spear shot towards the eye hold, aiming to pierce the formation and split it apart, hopefully injuring the cultivator inside as it did so.

So focused on casting the penetrative spell, Fan Xun had not realised that a vibrating rock in the ground had suddenly launched towards him. Still, with that mocking grin upon his face, a deep thunk followed by the crumpling sound of a body contacting the floor sounded out his defeat. Fan Xun had been knocked unconscious with a rock!

Audience members laughed and jeered at this unexpected turn of events and looked expectantly towards the adjudicator.

"Why isn't he announcing the results?"

"All the opponents are defeated, shouldn't it be over?"

"Maybe he's drifting off in his imaginative world."

Just as the words left their mouths, the arena became a frozen hell once more.

{ Frozen Tomb }

The audience stared in shock as the stone bunker was encased in a thick layer of ice. Their eyes flashed back to where Li Ke had fallen, and there she stood, proud, a little dishevelled, however awake.

Thousands of stones battered the encasing ice cage from both the inside and the outside, however there were no signs of the barrier shattering. Soon, the rocks began to slow and before long, they stopped entirely.

Not taking any chances, Li Ke commanded for the barrier to smash open the stone bunker. The barrier obeyed promptly, destroying the stone bunker and revealing the unconscious earth cultivator, now lying on the floor prone.

Li Ke fell back onto the floor as well. She had dried up all her energy with the high grade rank 1 spell { Frozen Tomb }, however now the battle was over. She lifted her arm in victory.

However the shouts, cheers and cries of the audience were not heard. These were not important. What was important was the fact that the adjudicator had not even made a move to announce the results. The audience began to break into restless chatter.

"What's going on again?"

"She definitely won this time!"

"Is he really day dreaming?"

Li Ke looked around in confusion. Fan Xun was clearly knocked out, the palm sized lump on his head could testify to that. The earthen cultivator had also been defeated. Who else was there?

Suddenly, her eyes twitched in disbelief. 'There was no way right? Wasn't there a third level Body Refinement child as well?'

Everyone turned to the west side of the arena, eyes full of disbelief. The smoke from the battles had drifted across to the west side during Li Ke's counterattack.

Suddenly, a figure appeared from the smoke along with glowing gloves and a childish, playful voice, "Sorry I took so long, I was reading the manual that came with the glove. Are we starting now?"

"..."