Celestial Martial Path

"Jian Xi of the prestigious Soul Fire Sect versus Zi Liu of the North!"

The adjudicator looked to both competitors. Seeing no objection to the match he shouted once more, "The match begins now!"

Several large flares shot into the sky after the adjudicator's call and the barrier between the opponents disapated, leaving soft swirls of residual martial power in the air.

"Brother, I won't be holding back!" Jian Xi roared before activating a fire based profound movement skill. Two batches of flames gathered under his feet before blazing a near blue state and propelling Jian Xi forward, clocking nearly 20 meters a second!

Zi Liu responded in kind and similarly activated a movement skill, dodging quickly to the left, avoiding Jian Xi's built up charge.

Jian Xi performed a well practiced 180 spin before skidding along the arena floor due to excess speed from his charge.

{ Frozen Blast }

A large mass of ice based martial energy hurtled towards Jian Xi. The sharp edges of the ice blast gleamed in the sunlight and reflected the shock in each and every one of the audience's faces.

How was this possible? A second rank elemental skill at the age of 18? That had to be a new record!

The crowd glanced worriedly at Jian Xi. Would he even be able to stop it?

The elders of the Soul Fire Sect on the other hand, sat contentedly in their seats, indicating a good show was about to happen.

Jian Xi, being the target, noticed the lacking martial power within the { Frozen Blast }.

Testing me? I'll play along then!

Jian Xi lifted his arm and lightly flicked in the direction of the ball of ice. Moments later, a loud shattering rang throughout the arena and the { Frozen Blast } dissipated into martial energy. All the onlookers dropped their jaws in amazement.

"What was that?"

"He defeated a rank 2 spell with a flick"

"This is inconceivable!"

Even the elders of the Soul Fire Sect stared in shock, the eldest one shaking his head in disbelief, 'How could he have already reached Near Perfection Realm of { Piercing Wind }?'

Laughingly, Zi Liu called out, "Nice block! You've grown extremely strong now brother!"

Jian Xi chuckled in reply before entering a horse stance and gathering the surrounding energy, "Thank you brother, it is my turn to attack now, make sure you receive it well!"

A concentrated mass off flame energy appeared within his enclosed palms and tens of miniature strands of flame erupted from the ball of fire, streaking towards Zi Liu at wind breaking speed.

{ Flame Burst }

{ Frost Wall }

The two calls came at almost the same time, Zi Liu's only slightly behind Jian Xi's. A majestic, thick ice wall materialised from the water moisture in the air and surrounded Zi Liu protectively. Waves of flame projectiles slammed repeatedly into the wall and the sounds of cracking began to grow louder.

While most cultivators would be watching anxiously, whether their spell would win or not, the two brothers did not hesitate and had already begun casting their follow up spells.

As the final wave of { Flame Burst } impacted with the wall, two simultaneous voices sounded out once more.

{ Molten Barrier }

{ Icy Grail }

Swirling flames and sharpened ice fought desperately once more. Although the sequence seemed almost the same as the last attack, Zi Liu's { Icy Grail } was built to counter flame elemental shields unlike { Flame Burst }, a conventional attack. Obviously { Icy Grail } had a downside as well, it's cast time at the lowest rank would reach a full ten seconds no matter how skilled the caster was, however in the { Frost Wall }, Zi Liu had more than enough time to cast it.

Hundreds of minuscule punctures appeared within the { Molten Barrier } before it collapsed and dissipated, leaving Jian Xi exposed to the remaining waves of { Icy Grail }. Without a shield to protect him, Jian Xi could only block with his arms, causing him to be pushed backwards many steps while also ripping apart his wrist guard and wounding his arms.

The crowd roared as the excitement levels reached even higher.

"Simply amazing!"

"Truly a battle between top tier geniuses"

"If only I had such power, wouldn't I be invincible?"

"Dream on!"

Jian Xi enveloped his arms with martial power, quickly healing the lacerations before turning to Zi Liu, "Truly a marvellous counter, as expected of my elder brother!"

Jian Xi thought for a moment before continuing, "I don't have enough martial energy to sustain the rest of this fight and I'm sure you don't either. How about we both throw our strongest trump cards against each other to decide the victor?"

Zi Liu nodded silently before beginning to channel his skill. An absurd amount of frost energy gathered around him and began to form the visage of a large snow wolf.

Jian Xi did not hesitate and also channelled his strongest attack. Energy was raked from the surroundings, however it was not just fire, this time wind elemental energy swirled and mingled with the forming ball of power.

Moments later, the energy in the surroundings exhausted and the two stopped gathering energy. Zi Liu had an almost realistic snow wolf above him, baring its fangs menacingly at the opponent, Jian Xi, who now held a ball of swirling fire over a meter in diameter. The two nodded at each other before putting all their might into launching the attacks.

{ HELL FIRE STORM }

{ SNOW WOLF'S CALL }

Time seemed to slow as the spectral image of the snow wolf howled, ramming head on into the now raging tornado of flames. The arena split into two halves, one filled with absolute frost and the other, burning with deathly fires.

The adjudicator stood up abruptly, constructing a large barrier around the arena, redirecting the elemental powers into the skies. Every single soul present stared in horror and awe at the celestial clash between elements and the two shadowed figures upon the stage.

A myriad of colours blazed ceaselessly in the sky.

"Come, we'll watch the battles. Will that satisfy you?" an elderly voice said to Jun Xiang over five kilometres from the arena, and the two hurried to the now frost burnt arena, filled with cheers.