Amidst the chaos of debate in the audiences, Fang Xin threw a kick which Yun An blocked with her palms.

By redirecting qi to her hands, the kick’s damage was minimised. A fraction of the force was also dispersed as Yun An allowed herself to be pushed away. The disengagement would serve as breathing room to strategise a new approach to Fang Xin’s revealed power.

Her opponent caught on to this idea. He dove straight into her space.

She responded with a few punches that Fang Xin evaded with medium difficulty.

Yun An recognised this unusual reaction. Since the start of the match, Fang Xin has avoided most of her attacks with relative ease. There should be an answer for why it was harder for him to do so this time.

Yun An soon found out why as Fang Xin captured one of her fists. Just like she had caught his wrist to deliver a more sure-fire punch, Fang Xin held onto her and returned the favour in the form of eight consecutive punches and palms.

Fang Yun almost interrupted the match had Yun An not grabbed Fang Xin’s arm with the hand of her locked arm and threw him over head.

Despite heavy landing, there was no adverse effect on him except a little dizziness.

As Yun An raised her fist for a hammer, Fang Xin applied his hands onto her abdomen. 

In the time of a sneeze, the small body of Yun An was blasted into the air. She floated above three meters before crashing onto the tiles with her back.

Standing up proudly, Fang Xin enjoyed at his masterpiece.

“I heard the junior master was looking for pointers in this tournament. How do you like what Fang Xin had prepared for you?”

As Fang Xin took a breather, Fang Yun rushed toward Yun An.

She put up her hand, signalling Fang Yun to not interfere. Although hasn’t sat up properly, she had no desire to give up.

“You probably haven't heard of this technique. I heard you couldn’t remember a dim before couples of months ago.” Fang Xin inhaled. “Even if you still remember, you wouldn’t know about this technique. What do you know? You have only started a season ago.”

Yun An finally got up. This marked the first time in the sect’s little tournament she was down that long. Her bones were fine, but not her organs. Every heartbeat felt like a pulse of agony. The sole consolation was that the pain was lessening with every passing moment.

“I think one would not be enough. How about another one?”

Fang Xin leaped forward. In a heartbeat, he swept Yun An’s feet off the ground. His palm laid on her tummy, pressing her down to the pavement.

Yun An grabbed Fang Xin's hand and administered a kick to his forehead.

Too focused on offense, he didn’t form qi armour to protect his head. One explosive kick was enough to make him back away.

When Yun An struggled to get up, her body registered a new wave of pain. Her vital organs were not in bad shape, but there were two which bore the brunt of that attack. The brat didn’t attack to win. His last attempt was to humiliate her by targeting her intestines and bladder. It felt like they could rupture at any time.

Yun An held in to not soil her pants.

“How do you feel, junior master? Do you feel the flow of qi as it ravages your body? This is a technique of my family, an antiquated one. It’s called Heavy qi blast. To use it, one must stay still to concentrate their qi and inject it into the opponent. It can bypass most kinds of defence. It leaves no visible damage to the outside but can disrupt the flow of qi and wreck internal organs. As you become more skilled, you will need less time to activate it. A great technique, huh? I will take your less than comfortable face as agreement. Do you want to know its weakness? It has one. It is practically unusable in the age where cultivators can trash a house from thirty meters away.”

“Is that it?” Voice slipped out of her gritting jaws.

“What do you mean?” Fang Xin threw a sharp glance.

Yun An made a strong exhale through her nostrils. “Since I am in a good mood, I will teach you other things about it that I noticed.”

Fang Xin scoffed. “You. Teach me? I am delighted to see what you are going to teach.”

Her veins revealed themselves on her neck and arms. “Then come.”

“As you wish.”

“Fang Xin sounds calm but…”

“He will kill Dong Yun An.”

“I heard about it some time ago when one of the seniors persuaded Fang Xin to stop practising that technique and to focus on the techniques of the sect.”

“He must be holding a grudge since.”

“If someone tells you your family’s technique is trash, you will get pissed too.”

“Yeah.”

Fang Xin’s calm demeanour has transformed into tranquil fury. He bombarded Dong Yun An hit after hit.

She tanked those attacks with her body before striking back at him. In spite of spitting more blood, she was immovable even against his Heavy qi blast.

Fang Xin turned more desperate with his fists.

Seemingly tired of the facade, Yun An grabbed Fang Xin’s collar bone and forced him down to his knees.

“This is what I first noticed. The more you used that technique the weaker you became. It started with your breathing. You tried to mask it with your talking but it didn’t add up, Fang Xin.”

Her other hand caught his. In one smooth motion, she lifted him up through that hand and slammed the boy back down onto the ground.

“As you exhaust yourself, even a normal attack like this can go through. You were just weakening yourself.”

Yun An got his shoulder and brought him back to his feet.

“I don’t understand why you didn’t use it as a finisher since it’s clearly designed to be used as such. You need to wear out your opponent to even get the chance to use it. And when you do, you blast them with everything you got, not to prolong the fight like what you did. So answer me.”

“What? I- You are just-”

“Then this will be the last thing. It disrupted my qi but I have more than just qi. Beware that not all opponents are the same.”

Yun An accompanied her words with a knee to Fang Xin’s stomach.

He spat out a mouthful of blood. His qi defense was long down due to his excessive use of Heavy qi blast.

“I, in particular, can do that without qi.”

Fang Xin’s face laid next to the tiles as he held his tummy.

Yun An squatted down. “Those are my pointers. Now it’s your turn to talk. Did you hate me or what?”

“Hate!?" He seemed to still have enough strength to yell. "I despise you! Do you know how much I went through for a chance to Gudu? Do you know how much is at stake? How dare you treat it like a training spar? If you want to spar, go and spar in the training round. This is the sacred place to select the representatives of the sect.”

“Then do you want to continue?” Her voice was indifferent.

“You bet I am.”

The moment he got up, Yun An shattered the ring with her fist.

The shockwave tossed Fang Xin back to the floor and frightened the nearby disciples.

Yun An rose her left hand to eye level and slowly formed a fist. “Senior Fang Yun. If he doesn’t surrender, I will give him a punch similar to that one. Should I do so?”

Fang Yun exhaled. He walked over to Fang Xin. “Fang Xin. Give up.”

“Senior master!”

“Just give up. I know you don’t want to but please. Treat it as a favour for your senior master.”

Fang Xin finally relented, and Fang Yun announced Yun An as the last victor.

Yun An approached the dejected Fang Xin, whispered. “If you want to know more about how to use Heavy Qi blast, look for me.”