Celestial Martial Path

The bald man smiled widely at Jun Xiang, "That was a great stroke of luck kiddo. You'll have to be careful next round."

Jun Xiang nodded his head, thanking the bald man for his advice. He looked back to the rack of weapons once more before reaching out to grab the glove he had taken last round. This time he wouldn't need to read the weapon manual, meaning he wouldn't get scolded by the adjudicator again.

Unsurprisingly, he was the first to step onto the stage as he didn't need to contemplate on what equipment to chose. Some of the audience jeered loudly at him as he ascended the steps.

"You're going to get your ass kicked!"

"Do you not feel any shame in walking up again?"

"Truly showing off one's ability without possessing any!"

Jun Xiang stood still on the stage, staring innocently back at the jeering members of the audience, 'Sigh, these people just don't let up. I was only a few minutes late, is there a need to make such a fuss?'

Shortly after, a well built figure wearing a large iron shield and a gleaming broadsword upon his back ascended the steps, waving proudly out to the audience. Although everyone knew he was only 13, his body mass was truly unexpected. His height exceeded the 170 centimetre mark while his large, excessive muscles practically bulged out of his exposed arms and legs.

Cries of "Song Han!" ran around the audience as they began to clap and cheer for the bulky boy.

Upon reaching the top of the steps and striding onto the arena, Song Han threw a glance of contempt towards Jun Xiang before turning back to the audience and flexing his muscles in supposedly beautiful poses.

"Hmph, don't think that you can grab all the attention today Song Han!"

Everyone turned towards the direction of the voice, sighting an equally tall yet, not quite as bulky scholar. He held a magical book within his hands and wore a necklace of instant talismans. The scholar's hair was quite long, reaching down to almost his knees, his clean face emitted a youthful atmosphere while the robes he donned simply screamed its purity and goodness.

The scholar gestured grandly towards Song Han, "You are a melee based martial artist and I am a nature elementalist. I counter you perfectly!"

Song Han snorted in contempt, however fear along with annoyance could be seen within his eyes, "Do you really think that I cannot break through your nature bind?"

The scholar smiled, "I guess we'll just have to find out."

Song Han turned away, looking a little disgruntled, however still exuding that powerful aura of his.

Before long, the final figure ascended the steps. Although he looked like a normal cultivator, everything around him seemed to come to life. The leaves danced in circles and the blossoming trees by the arena shook with excitement. Each step seemed to bring about peace and clarity, each movement was smooth and elegant. Even the seemingly bulky spear within his grasp had become docile and amicable.

Some began to shake their heads in regret, 'How could such beauty be wasted on a man! This makes us want to turn alright? I pride myself as a straight man, but you make me question it!'

No one could blame them if they knew their thoughts, this man was truly too beautiful. Not handsome, not manly... beautiful.

"Are you a woman?"

Blood poured from numerous mouths in the audience, they knew exactly who this voice belonged to!

Jun Xiang stared oddly at the approaching competitor, "I didn't know that women liked to dress up as males. But I have to say, that robe is truly good looking on you!"

While the audience tried many methods to stop their heart from bleeding and their mouths from vomiting out blood, the beautiful man simply smiled at Jun Xiang before answering, "My name is Li Sui, a sibling of the lady you beat earlier, Li Ke. Do you think I am female?"

Jun Xiang sank into deep though before continuing, "You have to be right? Someone so beautiful could only be a woman." In a lower tone, Jun Xiang muttered, "If only you weren't as flat though. You would look so much more appealing if you weren't a washboard."

This time, not only the audience, but Li Sui also spat out a litre of blood. 'Are you for real? Not only are you still mistaken over my gender, you also called a fellow male flat? Is there something wrong with your head? You're the one that is flat, your whole family is flat!'

Li Sui composed himself before responding, still with a reddened face, "I'm the elder brother of Li Ke. I just wanted to thank you for taking care of her while she was depleted of energy."

Jun Xiang seemed to come to a conclusion before becoming confused once more, "I see, so it's competitor Li Ke's brother. I'm happy to meet you, but I have one question..."

Li Sui lost his composure instantly, hearing that he was about to ask, no doubt, another venomous question, "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Seeing Jun Xiang close his mouth, Li Sui heaved a sigh of relief before continuing, "How about this, the competition has yet to finish and the adjudicator is waiting, so we'll place a bet. If you win, you can go ahead and ask your question. If I win, you need to apologise to me for calling me flat."

Jun Xiang, realising he had still not addressed his previous mistake, bowed slightly before answering in a sorry tone, "Brother Li Sui, we don't have to wait till you win, I'll just apologise right now. I jumped to conclusions."

It was only after this, that Li Sui felt a little better on the inside. A little of his pride had been restored! 'At least this Jun Xiang was good-natured on the inside, it was definitely good that he was straight forward in admitting his mistakes.'

Li Sui hurried to straighten Jun Xiang's body, "It's fine, everybody makes mistakes from time to time. As a cultivator, you shouldn't bow your head to random people, keep your sense of pride in check!"

Although Jun Xiang's way with words was truly terrible, Li Sui couldn't help but forgive him. He was just too innocent!

A loud tap followed by the adjudicator's annoyed voice sounded across the arena, "Are you done with your childish squabbles? If so, can we please proceed with the battle?"

The competitors nodded before returning to their individual sides of the arena.

The adjudicator sighed in relief while thinking, 'I just want to spend the rest of my day drinking with some old pals, can you not take so long?'

He projected a countdown in the middle of the arena, counting down the seconds until the battle would start.

2.

1.

"Start!" The adjudicator yelled.

'And hurry up and finish so I can go take a break!'