Yoriichi didn't look away from his opponent. "It's okay. I can handle it."
Snap.
Hearing those exact words, Kuo thought his mind was going to fracture. 'What arrogance...' Kuo seethed, his eyes widening in pure, insulted fury. 'What do you mean by handling me?! I am an Initial Dou Shi! I am not a child you can just casually dismiss!'
"Take your stances!" Instructor Lin barked.
They both took their positions. Kuo dropped into an aggressive, forward-leaning posture, forcefully suppressing his aura down to the gaseous state of a Dou Zhe as promised. Yoriichi simply raised his left hand, gripping the lacquered scabbard of his katana, and brought the entire sheathed weapon up to guard his torso.
Instructor Lin raised his hand and dropped it. "Begin!"
Kuo fastly crossed the stone ring, his speed formidable even while suppressed. He closed the distance in a fraction of a second, using his sword to strike hard in a brutal, horizontal arc aimed directly at Yoriichi's ribs.
CLACK!
A sharp, ringing sound echoed across the arena.
The surrounding spectators were surprised. Yoriichi hadn't drawn his blade. He had managed to block the heavy steel broadsword entirely with his katana sheath. The kinetic force of Kuo's attack was completely grounded, absorbed effortlessly by Yoriichi's flawless posture.
Kuo gritted his teeth and fiercely started attacking from the side, unleashing a rapid-fire sequence of slashes and thrusts.
Clack! Swish! Clack!
Yoriichi was still deflecting and dodging strikes with the serene, effortless grace of a flowing river. He didn't attack; he simply sidestepped, tilted his head, or pivoted his hips, letting the aggressive strikes harmlessly bypass him. When Kuo managed to corner him, Yoriichi simply raised the sheathed katana, blocking the heavy steel sword with zero visible effort.
The sheer disparity in martial skill was glaringly obvious. The senior was furiously fighting a war; the junior was taking a leisurely stroll.
Kuo then furiously told him, his face flushing crimson with humiliation, "Stop jumping, junior! You are a cultivator, not a rabbit! Draw your blade!"
Yoriichi was like a stone, completely ignoring these warnings. He was still dodging, his crimson eyes analyzing Kuo's sloppy, emotion-driven footwork with utter detachment.
Driven to the absolute brink by the sound of the audience's hushed, mocking whispers, Kuo's rational mind shattered. He refused to be humiliated by a freshman!
Which makes the senior more angry, and with a furious shout, he deliberately broke his own rule. The suppressed, gaseous Dou Qi around his body suddenly flared violently. His aura crossed the threshold, instantly spiking to Peak Dou Zhe. His broadsword ignited with a fierce, pale-yellow light as he launched a heavy, Dou Skill-infused overhead strike.
Instructor Lin's eyes narrowed. He took a half-step forward, wanting to stop the match before the senior caused genuine harm.
But seeing Yoriichi calmly dealing with all this—effortlessly sidestepping the massive overhead strike and letting the pale-yellow blade crash harmlessly into the stone floor beside him—Instructor Lin stopped in his tracks. He wanted to see how far this could go, keeping his muscles tense and ready to intervene if something happened.
The nearby students were astonished. The sheer pressure of the Peak Dou Zhe aura was suffocating, yet the red-haired youth wasn't even breaking a sweat. And the fight still goes on.
For another grueling minute, Kuo burned through his stamina with wildly inefficient, rage-fueled attacks. The senior is getting tired now, his chest heaving and sweat pouring down his face.
Realizing that even a Peak Dou Zhe aura wasn't enough to touch this freak of nature, the last shreds of Kuo's pride evaporated into pure desperation. He needed to defeat this arrogant punk, no matter the cost to his reputation.
To circulate more Dou Qi to defeat this arrogant punk, Kuo let out a primal scream.
BOOM!
The air in the arena suddenly grew heavy. A concussive wave of pressure exploded outward from the senior's body. The gaseous Dou Qi instantly condensed, transforming into a thick, visible layer of liquid energy that coated his skin like a shimmering cloak.
His aura spiked to his original 2-Star Dou Shi realm.
The nearby students got alarmed, crying out as the overwhelming pressure washed over them. Several freshmen stumbled backward and turned to the instructor, expecting him to halt the horribly mismatched spar. Instructor Lin was also gazing at the match, his Dou Qi flaring as he stood like a coiled spring, ready to intervene at a moment's notice.
But in the center of the arena, amidst the swirling dust and the oppressive, liquid Dou Qi radiating from the senior, Yoriichi still calmly standing, waiting the antics of this senior to conclude.
He doesn't feel any fear on fighting an opponent higher than him. He isn't intimidated by the liquid armor or the roaring aura. He is just analyzing with detachable and indifference, his hand still resting lightly on his sheathed katana.
All others holding their breaths on seeing what happens next, the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife. The explosive aura had acted as a beacon, and few were beginning to come here from the adjacent training grounds like others, stopping in their tracks and looking completely surprised when they saw this impossible standoff unfolding before their very eyes.