Chapter 121

Chapter 121

Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou stared at the “Ling Fang” who had suddenly appeared, then at Ling Fang sitting beside them. Astonishment struck them both.

Exactly alike. Not a single difference.

As though one person had split into two.

Ling Fang did not respond to Qi Tiansheng, who stood in the arena pointing his staff at him. Instead, he first explained to his two team members, “The man up there is the Buddha Victorious in Battle’s Chosen. His ability is External Double.”

He seemed to sigh with a little resignation, then said, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

With that, he closed his eyes, looking like an old monk deep in meditation.

At the same time, the other “Ling Fang” began to move, walking toward the arena.

His steps were unhurried, steady and firm. Xie Qingling, however, was full of worry.

She understood what was happening now, and knew that a fight in the arena would not endanger his life. But…

Why had this Qi Tiansheng singled out their Director? In his state of health, wouldn’t he only get beaten up?

Surely this was not another old enemy trying to take the opportunity to get at him!

Someone suddenly squeezed into the space in front of her.

Their old enemy Tang Yuanxiao had returned. By sheer coincidence, he sat right in front of them, watching Ling Fang in the arena with great interest and eager anticipation.

“Didn’t you leave?” Xie Qingling asked.

“These are the best seats for watching! Why would I leave?” Tang Yuanxiao did not turn around. His eyes stayed fixed on the arena, leaving her only the back of his head to look at. “There’s a good show on. Of course I’m coming here to watch.”

“What good show? Surely you already knew the Director isn’t well? Since when is bullying someone weaker a good show?” His eagerness to watch Ling Fang suffer displeased Xie Qingling, and her tone was rather sharp. Looking at that big, round head in front of her, she even wanted to slap it.

“It’s not his real body going up there. What are you thinking?” This time, Tang Yuanxiao did not get angry. Leaning back slightly, he said to her and Shen Huaizhou, “Ling Fang’s External Double doesn’t measure up to his level back when he was an Acquired Spirit, but at least it isn’t in the same state as his real body. Just watch. This match will definitely be exciting.”

By now, Ling Fang had reached Qi Tiansheng.

Qi Tiansheng tossed the staff in his hand to him and also left an External Double of himself. His double likewise held a staff, though it was clearly longer than Ling Fang’s.

“Hello, Director Ling.” Seeing him enter the arena, Qi Tiansheng’s smile grew even brighter.

“In this match, I won’t use any divine abilities, just my External Double to fight you,” he said. “We’ll exchange martial techniques, nothing else.”

Ling Fang raised his clasped hands in salute. “I look forward to learning from you.”

Meanwhile, Qi Tiansheng’s real body also left the arena.

Only the two External Doubles remained.

Once Qi Tiansheng’s double opened its eyes too, the pair immediately moved apart. Staffs in hand, they seemed poised to probe each other’s defenses, yet neither rushed straight in. Instead, they worked through their footwork, seeking an angle and an opening to attack.

They guarded against one another, testing each other in the arena. Though neither had struck, tension already rippled beneath the surface.

Below, Tang Yuanxiao chuckled twice. “Qi Tiansheng is bullying your Director.”

“Huh?” Xie Qingling asked. “What did he do?”

“An extra inch of reach is an extra inch of strength. Look at the staff he left Ling Fang. It’s shorter than his own. He’s trying to gain an advantage through their weapons. Shameless. With Ling Fang’s proud temperament, if he loses badly and embarrasses himself in public, won’t he be furious? Hahahaha!” Tang Yuanxiao mocked Qi Tiansheng without mercy, but his tone held no condemnation. Instead, he sounded delighted to watch the trouble escalate.

Xie Qingling: “…”

Even if you lost the fight, you could not lose your spirit. Facing Tang Yuanxiao’s arrogance, Xie Qingling retorted, “If Qi Tiansheng needs little tricks like that to guard against him, it only proves he’s wary of our Director’s strength. Besides, even if the Director really has no chance of winning, he won’t lose face.”

Wasn’t he still backed by her and Shen Huaizhou? She was already considering finding an opportunity to fight Qi Tiansheng herself if the Director lost.

Though Shen Huaizhou had remained silent beside her, he nodded at this.

“If he had no chance of winning, Qi Tiansheng wouldn’t have called him up. He’s not that shameless.” Tang Yuanxiao, however, was quite scornful of her argument. At his leisure, he said, “Haven’t you heard? A fist fears a strong young man; a staff fears an old wolf. Your Director is the old wolf. Qi Tiansheng is the one who ought to be afraid.”

At that moment, Tang Yuanxiao’s loyalties were remarkably unclear. He seemed happy no matter who won or lost.

Xie Qingling frowned, unable to work out whose side he was on.

Perhaps he would enjoy the show on either side.

Before she could figure it out, a sudden clatter came from the arena. Qi Tiansheng swung his staff in a flourish and attacked first.

Ling Fang’s staff began turning too. He blocked left and right, evading Qi Tiansheng’s attacks. Clang, clang, clang. The staffs collided, their shadows flying. In an instant, the arena was a confusing blur; it was almost impossible to tell whose staff was whose.

As their grips and points of leverage changed, the staffs shifted between moves of different reach, sometimes attacking the upper body, sometimes the lower body.

They fought at close quarters for a while, locked together, then separated in the blink of an eye, putting distance between them and facing one another with staffs in hand.

Qi Tiansheng circled the arena in search of an opening to attack. Ling Fang answered by circling as well.
Watching them face off made Xie Qingling more nervous than entering the arena herself would have. Those few dozen seconds of fighting had left her mouth dry. “This Qi Tiansheng looks hard to deal with. I wonder if the Director has found his weakness.”

“What are you so anxious about?” Tang Yuanxiao said, exasperated. “They haven’t even started fighting yet. That was just a little probing. The real contest is only beginning.”

Xie Qingling kept watching in silence.

After Ling Fang and Qi Tiansheng had circled the arena twice with their staffs, Ling Fang moved his wrist, turned his staff, and launched the first attack.

Applying force through his hands, he held one end of the staff while the other traced circles. He slowly approached Qi Tiansheng, but the turning staff in his hands was immensely supple, like a coiled snake ready to strike at any moment.

Qi Tiansheng’s staff began turning too. The two staffs tangled together, winding around each other, circling each other, as though the energy and force behind them had become intertwined as well.

Suddenly, Qi Tiansheng thrust his staff forward.

His staff was a little longer than Ling Fang’s. The strike went straight toward Ling Fang’s chest.

Ling Fang had already seen through his intention. As Qi Tiansheng drove forward, he took a large step back. At the same time, a sudden burst of force from his wrist knocked Qi Tiansheng’s staff diagonally downward and pressed it down. Both staffs hit the ground – Ling Fang’s pinned Qi Tiansheng’s firmly against the floor.

Sensing trouble, Qi Tiansheng tried to pull his staff back, but Ling Fang pursued him.

Crossed against the ground, the staffs chased each other across the floor. Their forceful movement and friction sent sparks flying, accompanied by a shrill scraping sound.

Ling Fang drove Qi Tiansheng to the edge of the arena. Qi Tiansheng immediately planted one end of his staff hard against the ground. Under the pressure, the shaft bent, and he used the force to somersault behind Ling Fang.

Who knew how he did it? In midair, Qi Tiansheng suddenly paused against his own momentum, then immediately twisted around, raised his staff high, and brought it down toward the back of Ling Fang’s head.

No! He was behind him!

Xie Qingling’s breath caught. Her heart was almost in her throat.

An ambush from behind – she knew this move all too well!

Leaving your back to an enemy was dangerous at any time. You had no eyes behind you, so defenses usually failed. And many weak points could be attacked from behind, the brain and spine among them. A successful ambush was almost always a one-hit kill – for Xie Qingling, severing the spine with one cut or gouging out the cerebellum would produce that result.

Now she could only hope Qi Tiansheng’s aim was poor and he would miss Ling Fang…

If that strike succeeded, it would split Ling Fang’s skull. He would fall and not get back up, and the match would be over.

It was not only Xie Qingling. Other spectators could not help closing their eyes too, unable to bear watching Ling Fang’s blood spill across the arena, even if it was only an External Double.

Only Tang Yuanxiao still watched wide-eyed with relish, even swinging his crossed leg.

Ling Fang, however, seemed completely unaware of the approaching danger.

Qi Tiansheng was already behind him. A deadly threat already hung diagonally above him. Yet he neither looked back nor turned. He simply held his staff, his posture almost leisurely. Then, suddenly, he lifted it over his shoulder and hurled it hard into the air behind him –

“Turnback Thrust!” Tang Yuanxiao burst into uncontrollable laughter. “Qi Tiansheng, you underestimated him! Three parts staff, seven parts spear. The staff is foremost among all weapons, and quite a few spear techniques derive from staff techniques. How could Ling Fang not know the Turnback Thrust?”

As he finished speaking, Ling Fang’s staff struck Qi Tiansheng out of the air before the latter could hit him.

Qi Tiansheng’s expression turned ugly. Pain shot through his body, and he plunged uncontrollably from the air, landing on the ground and almost failing to keep his footing.

By now, Ling Fang had turned around. With a flick of his long leg, he hooked up the fallen staff and caught it again.

Taking advantage of the opening in Qi Tiansheng’s lower defenses, Ling Fang swept his staff straight toward his lower body.

Sweeps, rising strikes, chops, thrusts…

Every move, every technique targeted Qi Tiansheng’s feet, attacking only his lower body.

Qi Tiansheng kept moving and dodging, but his steps were clearly disordered now, his breathing unsteady.

In the blink of an eye, the tide had turned. Ling Fang changed his approach. He was no longer defending without attacking, as he had at the beginning, but had become the relentless aggressor. His face was deadly stern, his eyes sharp with the intensity of a hunting beast. He was unstoppable.

Xie Qingling stared for a moment. She felt as though she had watched the entire thing and yet somehow seen nothing at all.

The two had been fighting for only about ten minutes, but all that had happened seemed as thrilling and full of twists as several hours’ worth.

“I was right, wasn’t I?” Tang Yuanxiao said leisurely. “A staff fears an old wolf. Qi Tiansheng is still too green.”

“His staff technique is good, but he benefits from his blessing, so he learns faster than other people. The time he’s spent as a Spirit Wielder is nothing compared with the time Ling Fang has spent practicing martial arts.”

“Look how steady Ling Fang’s stance is. That’s real skill, built bit by bit through standing exercises and horse stances, day after day for decades. Qi Tiansheng’s stance isn’t steady enough. In a fight, he’s easily knocked down.”

“And once he’s knocked down… things get bad.”

His words had barely ended when Ling Fang’s staff struck Qi Tiansheng’s kneecap hard.

Qi Tiansheng grunted, fell to the ground, and could not get up again.

Ling Fang spun, using his momentum to make the attack even fiercer, and brought his staff down heavily on Qi Tiansheng’s forehead.