Spirit Cultivation

Xuefeng hopped onto his own stage after wishing good luck to Xiao Wen only to get scolded by the old judge who was suspended in the air above them, "You took your time coming to the stage. Do you think we have whole day?" 

It was the same judge that once supervised Pio's battle not that long ago and he didn't seem to care about Xuefeng's importance to Liena. 

Xuefeng glanced at Quickshot with questioning gaze but the one only smirked, shrugging. It was easy to guess that Quickshot didn't pass the message about five minute delay to the judge. In that case, Xuefeng wasn't planning to be polite anymore. 

"Sir, my opponent agreed to wait five minutes for our battle. He challenged me when I was busy with something. I think it's okay for me to get ready first when I'm being challenged?" Xuefeng informed, bowing to the judge respectfully. 

He didn't expect the judge would momentarily turn sides.

"Quickshot! One hundred Fate Stones fine for lying to the judge!" the old man called out unhappy but Quickshot took it calmly. "Fine, it was my bad. Shall we battle?" 

"I'm ready but I have a quick question. Is there a penalty if I cripple or kill him by accident?" Xuefeng asked seriously, pulling out his Black Flames Slayer. 

"No, but I will stop you before you do. Don't worry and use all strength in your attacks. I will be the one responsible if any of you die. So far no one ever died on my watch," the old judge assured him confidently. 

"Alright, I'm ready," Xuefeng nodded, glancing at Xiao Wen on the second arena. She was also preparing to start her battle.

'Little Ming, please take care of her. Ling, you too. Heal all her wounds until she wins,' Xuefeng pleaded, not willing to risk Xiao Wen's life. He mainly questioned the judge for her sake. He already knew that Quickshot was a dead man in his battle. 

"Do you plan to place additional bets with each other before the battle?" The judge asked for the last time, seeing the two were ready. 

"No need. l can't wait to test his strength," Quickshot shook his head and extended his hands, taking his battle stance. 

Xuefeng also nodded, raising his sword. 

"Begin!" The judge called out and both of them moved. 

Like his name suggested, Quickshot extended his hand and fired tens of bullets made of ice. They momentarily traveled across the stage as if they teleported right in front of Xuefeng before smashing into his chest, not leaving him the time to react. 

Quickshot was aiming for a quick kill but he underestimated Xuefeng too much. A Lighting Qi barrier appeared on his body and all ice bullets broke on hit, leaving no mark on his clothes. 

Xuefeng smiled and taunted, "You shoot fast. I guess you must have troubles making a woman come, hehe." 

He already expected another attack coming his way so he disappeared from his position, using his invisibility to dodge. A second later, tens of thick earth spikes pierced through the ground, aiming at each place on Xuefeng's half of the stage. There was no time between attacks as Quickshot's arms turned into fire and he smashed them into the ground, covering the whole stage with fire. 

One couldn't leave the stage during the battle so there was no chance Xuefeng could avoid that. 

But was there a need for that?

Hahaha!

The stage burned with red fire when a sudden laugh reached everyone's ears, coming directly from the middle of the stage where the intensity of flames was the strongest. Then, something strange happened, causing Quickshot to frown. 

His flames turned black, forcing him to push them away with a blast of air and Xuefeng finally appeared, almost blending within the black fire as his whole body was covered with them. 

"Are there people seriously calling you strongest elementalist? Your control is shit, the power behind your elements is even worse and I can break them apart with ease. Is this a joke?" Xuefeng spoke while spitting fire from his mouth before sucking in all the fire from the stage. "If you are the best one then I guess your ruling is over." 

Xuefeng knew Quickshot was saving his Qi for future battles but that was a clear disrespect coming from him. Xuefeng didn't want to waste time seeing the opponent didn't even treat him seriously. 

"Let me show you the real power of Elements," Xuefeng announced as Wind Qi started wrapping around his body. In the matter of seconds it grew into a thick barrier that Quickshots bullets couldn't pierce anymore. 

To everyone's surprise, Quickshot wasn't panicking, simply staring at the Wind Domain Xuefeng was trying to create. He even smiled, moving to the edge of the stage and waited. 

Anyone who researched about Elemental Domains would know they were extremely Qi dependent. The stage was too big to cover it whole with a Domain and many would consider it a waste of Qi. Weren't they supposed to fight many more battles afterwards?

Too bad, Xuefeng never played by the rules. 

The Wind Domain grew stronger and bigger in size until Quickshots smirk began disappearing. It already covered three-fourth of the stage and it didn't show any signs of stopping. 

"Damn... " Quickshot cursed and seeing the Domain was about to swallow him, he knew he had no choice but to jump inside to fight Xuefeng. 

Just as his body surrounded with Air Qi to protect himself from the wind, the Domain covered the whole stage, eating him up. 

"Welcome," Xuefeng muttered as he grinned and created an explosion near the air spikes, using the surroundings to his advantage. 

Bang!

The earth spikes broke into pieces and wind immediately took them into the air, sending the projectiles straight into Quickshot's face. Despite being bombarded, he pushed forward to get to him and fight him in close quarters.

'He knows you are immobile as the round stage limits you. The domain will always make your body its center and if you leave the stage, you will lose,' Ling warned him calmly but Xuefeng already knew it. He didn't plan to change his position at all. 

Quickshot came inside his Wind Domain. Everything here was under his control.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! 

Tens of explosions blew up around Quickshot, joining the assault of rocks that continued to smash against his body from all direction. Each time he was hit, a chunk of his Air Qi armor got ripped away. Quickshot was forced to use up his Air Qi reserves just for his defenses. 

He stomped on the ground and created an earth shield around him but it was momentarily blown away. 

Just when Quickshot could finally see him, Xuefeng smiled. Five shining swords flew out of his sleeve, heading straight at Quickshot, slicing and cutting through his barrier like it was bud. 

Thud. 

Quickshot finally dropped to the ground, having five swords stabbed through all of his limbs and chest. The repeated attacks wore him out until he had no more Qi left to defend. 

'Should I test my new ability…?' Ling asked, seeing they basically won already. They didn't check how exactly it worked yet. 

'No. It seems to inflict a lot of pain on the victim. He wasn't our enemy before so he doesn't deserve it,' Xuefeng rejected and decided instead. 'Quick Death.' 

He didn't mind killing for abilities anymore, knowing they would do the same to him. 

With Quickshot immobilized, Xuefeng decreased his Wind Domain in size and walked up to him. His Black Flames Slayer was already in his hand and he slashed at Quickshot's head without hesitation. 

Quickshot was still conscious, staring at Xuefeng with regret, probably that he didn't go full out from the start, but that didn't work on Xuefeng anymore. If Quickshot was a female, it might have stalled Xuefeng for a moment but unfortunately, he was not. 

Clang!

Out of nowhere, a golden barrier surrounded Quickshot's body which reflected his falling sword. Xuefeng wondered when would the judge interfere with the fight. 

'Drakos?' Xuefeng asked in his mind and got a quick excited reply, 'On it!' 

Crack!

The barrier cracked in seconds and Black Flames Slayer broke through, cutting Quickshot's head off as it touched the ground. 

Right after, Xuefeng heard an angry cry coming from the outside of his Wind Domain. 

"Boy! You must be tired of living!"