Blue eyes following you
Laozi, on behalf of Zhu Wenlong, got the result "You may rely on it" on the magic 8-ball. is wenlong going to fool anyone?
so yes, uninteresingly main character-like.
The bout went on for an average amount of time, with the action barely worthy of description. Even on a good day, the Endless Grass disciple had less than half of Wenlong's body strength. With external strength being the least powerful of Wenlong's attributes, that was more than telling of the difference in their power. Unsurprisingly, the audience yawned collectively. The hidden figure watched with narrowed eyes, deeply suspecting some sort of foul play but unable to confirm any suspicions. The elders in charge were barely awake during the "fight". Even the poison crystal, prone to making different kinds of noise in Wenlong's dantian, seemed to doze in a fit of boredom...
Pretending to be harmless is an useful skill, of course. Seems we've found something you're good at that doesn't involve talking rubbish, haha! Now, if you hadn't demonstrated that you're much more able back while chasing that slut around, you might have fooled intelligent people as well. Instead, now it's the idiots looking down on you, the intelligent people laughing and the powerful ones dismissing you outright. But you've done allright for now, slave.
The rest of the fights went on during the slow morning. Surprisingly, the White Peak disciples came out on top despite not showing up with the most people. Much murmuring of unfair tactics aimed against water techniques and exploiting the innate advantage ice techniques had against water ones was heard, but all is fair in ove and war, no? After all, this contest was to be a sharpening tool for the young generation. The Green Forest Pavillion students did amazingly well for themselves, winning two thirds of their fights, and every fight against the Endless Grass. This provoked much gloating and ridicule among them, and even Ma Liang wasn't immune to turning his nose up a bit. In fact, the Endless Grass students suffered the most losses, a fact that even the most casual onlooker could grasp and appreciate.
All the star students breezed through the first round. Unlike Wenlong, they all chose to display their power and intimidate future opponents. Chi Shuang used the leather cord used to pack her musical instrument as a soft whip. Indeed, no part of her instrument was simple - the whiplike cord snaked and twisted like a living thing, the lead weight at its end smacking right in the middle of her opponent's forehead and leaving him unconscious in a single move.
The second round of the competition in the afternoon had Wenlong pitted against another Endless Grass student. A rather boring fight later Wenlong was free to dust his sleeves and step off the platform, having displayed a convincingly mediocre performance. Judging by this level of power, no one expected him to make it through the third round.
The third round was held in the evening. The environment was rather beautiful - the sunset provided a multitude of colours to paint the sky, the seabirds' voices frolicked on the wind, the slightest clamor of the crowd watching the fights giving a background noise that mingled with the ocean... Even the fights looked more like opera performance than real combat, with very few real injuries, and barely a drop of blood spilt.
Wenlong, used to the rough life in the mountains, found himself wondering if all this was real or just theatre.
Then it was his turn to fight again. The dice assigned him another opponent from Endless Grass. It was yet another broad-shouldered, spade-handed, dark-faced ox. This time, however, mere tricks didn't work, as the sheer physical strength of the opponent countered the Arhat style. Using an unnaturally stiff fighting method just wouldn't allow for a win, Wenlong realized after being tossed around the fighting area for a few minutes, forearms and shins bruised from hard blocks. The excitement among the Endless Grass students was almost palpable, as they expected a much-needed win here.
How do you want to handle this one, slave? A bit of poison? A single kiss should be enough. Or some love from your real skill? The ox' meridians seem so vulnerable. Or you could just stand on his head, haha. Or do you want to use that useless stinky frog farting loudly technique? Then again, you could just bore the guy to death with this fighting style you are using. Gah, playing the underdog is so humiliating! But the satisfaction when poisoning someone unsuspecting... so sweet! Stupid farts, I can't wait to drown them all in poison!