As soon as the word echoed through the arena.
"Begin."
Both released their Qi almost at the sa instant. There was no testing. No provocation.
Half of the arena froze.
The ground beneath Kyrian’s feet cracked, a thick layer of crystalline ice spreading like a silent tide. Translucent crystals grew over the stone, covering every crack with a white film.
On the other side, Han Xue’s red fire exploded.
Dense, compressed flas spread across the ground, heating the slabs until they began to glow faintly. The air distorted. Heat rose in visible waves.
The point where the two energies t entered violent conflict.
Hiss.
Steam rose like a white wall, partially obscuring the view of the arena. The Coliseum was taken over by a heavy, humid heat.
So spectators instinctively stepped back. Even though they were protected by barriers.
But at the center of that elental chaos, Kyrian and Han Xue remained motionless.
Without weapons and without movent. Just staring at each other. There seed to be a tacit agreent. First, they would fight using only their Qi. Only their dominion over their own elents.
Han Xue moved his right hand.
A fla imdiately appeared above his palm, compressed and intense. He brought his left hand up and wrapped his fingers around the fla.
The sphere of fire expanded. It was not unstable, it was controlled. He squeezed the flaming ball and elongated it.
The fire shaped itself under his control and transford.
A bow erged, completely made of dense red flas. The ends were sharp, and the center vibrated with compressed energy.
He spoke softly, but his voice carried weight.
"Fla Bow Technique."
An arrow of condensed fire ford on the burning string. The heat increased once more.
Even in the upper stands, many felt the air beco drier. Kyrian did not interrupt.
He only observed.
His sky-blue eyes shone with absolute focus.
Han Xue pulled the arrow back. The fire was compressed to its limit. And then he released.
The arrow was fired with a muffled sonic explosion. A red trail cut through the air of the arena, evaporating the steam in its path.
It was fast. Terribly fast.
But the instant it was fired, Kyrian had already seen it. The trajectory, the force, the point of impact.
His eyes shone intensely.
Qi and icy intent expanded. He raised one hand. The ground in front of him exploded.
Five barriers of ice rose instantly, thick as walls.
The arrow struck. The first barrier exploded into fragnts. The second cracked and shattered. The third split in half from the force. While the fourth was pulverized.
The fifth and final barrier endured for a second, a single second, and then lted completely. The arrow lost montum and extinguished itself a few centiters from Kyrian’s body.
Steam rose violently. The crowd reacted with muffled exclamations.
But Kyrian was already moving.
His eyes shone again.
Around his body, twenty gigantic ice spikes appeared floating. Each over two ters long. Sharp tips, compressed energy vibrating along their surface.
Without hesitation, he released them all. The spikes shot forward like celestial ice spears.
Han Xue frowned.
Another flaming sphere appeared before him, larger this ti.
He compressed it and expanded it shortly after.
And then, an imnse wall of blazing fire rose around him, spinning like a vortex.
The spikes struck. Successive explosions echoed through the arena. The fire barrier wavered. The heat rose violently.
But it did not break.
One by one, the ice spikes were lted, turning into scalding steam that enveloped the center of the arena.
When the steam partially dissipated, Han Xue was still standing.
Unscathed. But his expression had changed. Even without being directly hit, he felt it.
A chill suddenly arose within his body. A cold that did not co from physical ice. It ca, in truth, from Kyrian’s eyes.
Kyrian stared at him with an impassive expression. He looked at him like sothing to be frozen.
Suddenly, Han Xue felt the icy energy penetrate his body. His ridians trembled. He imdiately released his entire cultivation. Flas enveloped his own body, covering arms, legs, and torso.
It was a defense beyond his own Qi. Not against material ice, but against that invisible icy intent.
’Terrifying.’
He thought as he realized that, if he had lowered his guard for a single instant, he might have ended up like Kyrian’s first opponent in the coliseum, having lost the fight with just a single glance.
Defeated without even understanding how.
The fight changed rhythm. They seed evenly matched to the spectators. At least in energy, which was definitely sothing incredible, Kyrian’s Qi was definitely weaker than Han Xue’s. However, due to his eyes and icy intent, he could compare with Han Xue, who was in the middle stages of the Core Formation Realm.
Han Xue then advanced.
The ground beneath his feet exploded in compressed flas, propelling him forward.
He used neither sword nor spear. His fists beca weapons. A flaming punch was launched.
Kyrian tilted his body to the side. The blow grazed past, lting the ice on the ground behind him.
He responded with a direct release of concentrated ice. A white explosion shot from his palm.
Han Xue crossed his arms and received the impact wrapped in fire. The clash generated a cloud of steam that covered them both.
Inside the mist, rapid movents occurred. Muffled explosions. Clashes of energy.
The audience could only see silhouettes.
Suddenly, Han Xue erged, spinning his body and releasing three crescent-shaped cutting waves of fire.
Kyrian extended his arm. The air froze before him. The flaming waves struck a layer of ice and exploded.
But the temperature continued to rise.
Han Xue raised both hands. The fire above the arena began to condense. A rain of flaming projectiles descended.
The spectators’ expressions changed. The heat was suffocating.
Kyrian closed his eyes for a brief instant. When he opened them, the icy intent beca denser.
The entire ground beneath his feet froze once more.
He spun his arm.
A circular wave of ice expanded in all directions. The rain of fire t the tide of ice rising from the ground.
Steam took over the arena again.
But this ti, even within the extre heat, the sensation of cold persisted.
Han Xue was breathing harder now. Each technique consud a large amount of Qi.
’How the hell does this guy have so much Qi to attack like this and remain the sa?’ Han Xue suddenly thought.
Not only he, but many had that doubt. What they did not know was that Kyrian possessed two dantians, he possessed more Qi than anyone else in the Qi Liberation Realm. Not only that, but his eyes could make use of his Qi with perfection, each attack used an amount exactly necessary, both to defend and to attack.
In Kyrian’s strikes and defenses, there was not a single waste of energy. While the others, inevitably, would use more Qi than necessary, unless they were an absolute genius.
’My next attack will be the last... if he manages to defend it, I’m finished.’ Han Xue suddenly thought as he moved away from Kyrian, positioning himself on the other side of the arena.
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