Path Of The Dragon (A Dark Fantasy Cultivation Wuxia Xianxia Progression Series)

Chapter 35 Duthungr Of The Mountain People

The third round of the tournament began the next day and Jie couldn't wait to begin. She hoped to get matched up against Chen Huo, so she could give him a taste of his own medicine. She rushed to the arena and found a board outside. On the board were the names of those who'd made it this far into the tournament. Each name was connected by a line either to the one under it or the one above it so that every person was paired with someone else.

From this point forward, the tournament was single elimination. To progress, she'd have to win her fight.

Unfortunately, Chen Huo was paired with someone Jie was unfamiliar with, and she was paired with someone by the name of Duthungr of The Mountain People. A strange name, that was for sure, and she didn't recognize it. There were a few others with equally weird names.

This was a diverse, alien world filled with many different people of a variety of species, so she supposed it shouldn't be too surprising.

Her match was scheduled for two hours' time, but she was required to be in the arena ahead of time.

As such, she entered.

The arena floor had changed once again. Now there was one massive raised platform with white tiles in the center. It wasn't too different from the much smaller platforms they'd had in the previous round, and she didn't think it would make much difference to her upcoming fights.

Two youths were already battling fiercely upon the stage. One used a strange crossbow that fired some kind of wind qi while the other was obscured by a cloud of green poisonous qi that swirled violently as the crossbow user fired bolt after bolt into the cloud yet seemed to hit nothing at all.

Jie sat on one of the benches, closed her eyes, and resumed cultivating. She focused on refining Essence as she utterly ignored the roar of the crowd.

Revenge or not, she wouldn't let a single moment go to waste. She owed Ming that. And the stronger she got, the more she could humiliate Chen Huo. That in and of itself was a reason to push herself harder.

Thinking of Elder Shi's words on emotions, Jie allowed her lust for revenge to burn within her as she cultivated. She found that allowing her emotions to move through her did indeed allow her to cultivate far faster and better. It had another effect though and that was to calm her mind. Though her desire for vengeance remained in her heart, it was less like a roaring flame and more like a cindering coal. Slow, patient, and fueling her progress as she greedily absorbed Essence from her surroundings.

She heard people get called up one by one but paid little heed. After all, she had more important things to focus on.

She did take notice when Chen Huo was called up. She remained focused on her cultivation and didn't bother to open her eyes to witness the fight. Moments later, she heard his victory announced loudly and to much applause.

She smiled. It was good he'd made it through. If he hadn't, she'd have to settle for simply pulverizing him. But, now there was still hope of her getting to humiliate him in front of the crowd and to show all of these families and sects what happens to bullies. Whether they had strong backing or not.

Perhaps it was foolish. Perhaps it would make her more of a target, but so what?

The day she submitted to people like that was a day she might as well stop breathing. Evil wasn't something to be tolerated or accepted. Not on Earth and not here. Besides, what would Ming think if she bowed to people like him when their goal lay so far above them?

Jie gathered even more qi and her strength soared while she waited.

Finally, she was called.

"Liu Jie and Duthungr of The Mountain People!" roared the elder officiating the matches. The very same who'd overseen the match between Pan Tian and Chen Huo.