Kuo's eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving as he pushed his meridians past their safe limits. The humiliation of being toyed with by a freshman had entirely overridden his rationality. He didn't just want to win anymore; he wanted to physically break the stoic youth standing before him.
"You think you can just stand there and look down on me?!" Kuo roared, his voice cracking with exertion and fury.
He didn't wait for a response. Kuo slammed his heavy steel broadsword directly into the stone floor of the arena.
BOOM!
The entire circular platform shuddered violently.
"High-Xuan Class Dou Skill: Trembling Earth!" Kuo shouted, his voice echoing across the training grounds.
The pale-yellow Dou Qi surged from his blade into the very foundation of the arena. The stone floor beneath Yoriichi's feet began to fracture and ripple like the surface of a disturbed pond. Jagged, sharp stalagmites of solid rock erupted from the ground in a chaotic, jagged circle, attempting to trap Yoriichi in a lethal cage of stone and completely sever his legendary footwork.
The dozens of students gathered around the edges of the ring gasped, stumbling backward as the shockwaves vibrated up through their boots.
"He's using a High-Xuan area-of-effect skill!" a second-year student yelled over the rumbling. "He's trying to lock Xiao Ning down!"
But Kuo wasn't finished.
With a guttural scream, he ripped his broadsword free from the stone. He didn't pause to let his meridians cool. He forcefully channeled every last, desperate drop of his liquid Dou Qi directly into the steel blade. The pale-yellow aura condensed further, turning into a heavy, suffocating brown light that practically dripped with the dense, crushing weight of the Earth attribute.
"Mid-Xuan Class Dou Skill: Mountain Cleaver!"
Kuo lunged forward, his boots cracking the stone beneath him. He was executing two distinct, highly demanding Dou Skills simultaneously—a feat of Dou Qi control and meridian fortitude that was genuinely admirable for an Initial Dou Shi. He rocketed through the jagged cage of rocks he had just created, his heavy broadsword descending in a brutal, two-handed overhead strike aimed directly at Yoriichi's skull.
The sheer kinetic force of the attack compressed the air, creating a whistling, vacuum-like sound that sent a chill down the spines of the watching freshmen.
Instructor Lin's eyes widened in genuine alarm. The combination of the terrain-altering trap and the overwhelming, armor-piercing strike was lethal. It was no longer a spar; it was a desperate execution.
"Enough!" Instructor Lin barked, his own Da Dou Shi aura flaring a brilliant azure as he prepared to launch himself into the ring to intercept the blow.
But before his boots could leave the ground, Yoriichi finally moved.
Yoriichi did not look at the jagged rocks erupting around him. He did not look at the heavy, brown-glowing broadsword descending toward his head. His crimson eyes were locked directly onto the center of Kuo's chest, analyzing the exact, microscopic flow of the senior's liquid Dou Qi.
'To execute an environmental control technique and a heavy weapon strike simultaneously...,' Yoriichi acknowledged internally, his mind perfectly detached from the chaos.'It requires immense concentration and completely drains the body's reserves. It is an admirable, desperate gambit. However, a localized area-of-effect attack of this density can no longer be passively dodged.'
The commotion in the arena had reached a fever pitch. The violent tremors and the blinding flash of Dou Shi-level energy had acted as a beacon across the outer academy sectors.
Several actual Dou Shis, older students returning from their inner-ring missions, had rushed over when they heard the noise, easily making it in time to witness the climax of the battle. They stood near the back of the crowd, their eyes widened in disbelief as they realized the target of this massive, earth-shattering attack was merely a freshman wearing a 'C' rank badge.
Coincidentally, strolling down the adjacent avenue was a girl dressed in a simple, elegant purple dress. Gu Xun'er had sensed the chaotic clash of energies while taking a leisurely afternoon walk. Thinking that perhaps an interesting faction battle was taking place, she had navigated her way through the thick crowd.
When her golden eyes landed on the arena, her breath hitched.
'Xiao Ning...' Xun'er thought, her gaze locking onto the stoic youth standing in the path of the avalanche. She sensed the terrifying, liquid pressure of the Dou Shi bearing down on him.
The time for passive observation was over. The physical threat had escalated beyond the capabilities of mere evasion.
Yoriichi's left hand, which had been loosely holding the lacquered scabbard, suddenly clamped down with a grip like iron.
His right hand snapped to the hilt.
He took a deep, terrifyingly pressurized breath that seemed to suck the very oxygen out of the arena. The ambient temperature in the immediate vicinity spiked so violently that the dust kicked up by the shattering stone instantly ignited into tiny sparks.
"Sun Breathing," Yoriichi whispered, his voice incredibly soft, yet it somehow cut clearly through the deafening roar of the crumbling earth.
He bent his knees slightly, grounding his center of gravity, and then pushed off.
He didn't jump backward to escape. He jumped directly forward, launching himself straight into the descending path of the Mountain Cleaver.
In mid-air, his thumb flicked the tsuba. The Sun-Steel Katana slid free from its sheath with a crisp, terrifying shing.
The instant the dark metal tasted the air, it reacted to the incredibly dense, milky-white Dou Qi flooding from Yoriichi's meridians. But Yoriichi didn't just use his raw Dou Qi; he ignited it.
The katana literally erupted. A brilliant, roaring wave of crimson-gold fire exploded along the edge of the blade, burning with the heat of a miniature sun.
"Third Form..."
Yoriichi met the descending, brown-glowing broadsword not with a block, but with an interception.
He twisted his body in mid-air, turning his horizontal momentum into a devastating, fluid rotation.
"...Raging Sun."