A little earlier on, during the blank time slot where Bai Ling and Ming Feizhen were having their little spat.
Tie Hanyi and Tang Ye conversed as they fought.
The brute force of Tie Hanyi's palm strikes were countered by Tang Ye's Flower Wheel Finger Arts, forcing Tie Hanyi to retreat half a step. Tang Ye gave chase, stepping forward, but Tie Hanyi side-stepped to evade.
Tie Hanyi was very surprised and laughed out loud: "Brother Tang, your usage of that finger art isn't bad! It's just unfortunate that you can't perform it with both hands, are excessively nimble, but lacking in stability. If you intend to try and beat me half-heartedly, I suggest you quit now!"
Tie Hanyi's intense gaze lit up. He stabilised himself, unmoving like a mountain. He performed the iron palm technique with his hands, with power like that of a crashing wave. The amount of internal energy he moulded on his palms far surpassed Tang Ye's hurricane-speed-like palm and finger arts, thereby naturally being multiple times stronger than Tang Ye's.
At the beginning, Tie Hanyi had no desire to take advantage of Tang Ye, thus only using sixty-percent of his power so as to give Tang Ye who had wastefully expended his energy at the start a chance to recover. But Tang Ye's Yang Blood True Qi technique isn't easy to prepare. It requires time to warm-up his body prior to its activation. However, when he returned to the ring, his movements warmed him up, so he didn't actually lose that much internal energy.
Only now did Tie Hanyi realise that Tang Ye was at full capacity. His internal energy was strong and so he decided to stop holding back.
Someone in the crowd below the ring shouted: "That's such a powerful Iron Palm!"
Tie Hanyi struck the air with his palm and debris scattered around in the ring. A gust of wind blew as a result of his palm strike. Tang Ye's Wheel Flower Finger Arts were no longer able to counter the strength of his palm strikes and was forced to retreat, and then evade by side-stepping.
Tie Hanyi used enough power to defeat ten martial artists alone, yet it was surprisingly effective. Tie Hanyi's palm techniques were dull yet artful. The power of his palm strikes were like a thunder in spring, disrupting Tang Ye's minor advantage just now and evening the odds. In fact, he forced Tang Ye onto his back-foot. The two of them squared off again, but it was totally different to the start where they hid their skills. The tables could turn for either of them in an instant now. One mistake and they could lose the entire thing.
Tie Hanyi laughed and asked: "What do you think now?!"
But just as he took a step forward, the air around them suddenly underwent a dramatic change, becoming incomparably hot as though he had suddenly walked into a sandstorm in the desert while traversing the imperial city. It was like he had travelled through a dimensional rift and couldn't help but stop in his tracks. In that instant, a dark shadow came through. Tang Ye appeared like a sharp metal blade ripping through the sandstorm from an imaginary dimension. With his hand like a sabre sharper than anything, he slashed downwards from above!
That was the beauty of Yang Blood True Qi. Tie Hanyi froze in place while Tang Ye attacked him from left and right, changing the temperature of the atmosphere with the Yang Blood True Qi technique he applied to his entire body. His goal was to throw Tie Hanyi off and trick him into losing his focus for a split second.
The battle could change countless ways and a single slip-up would be deadly. When two people fight, not only must you assess the martial skills of the opponent, you also need to assess how they utilise their skills on an intellectual level.
Tie Hanyi possesses more experience and superior skills to Tang Ye, but in regards to talent for combat, he can't compare to the talented young man. Tie Hanyi's eyes and everybody in the audience's eyes were sparkling at the sight of Tang Ye at present.
It looked like even Tang Ye thought he had the match in the bag. The strength of his chop that could split Hua Shan landed heavenly on Tie Hanyi's shoulder. His strike came from a reputable school in the North, Broken Sabre Sect. Their sabre techniques weren't flowery. They relied on using power and hand techniques to split things in two.
Tang Ye's Yang Blood True Qi was so concentrated, that chop would be no less than an iron sabre cutting down, capable of cutting gold and snapping metal. However, when he landed it on Tie Hanyi's shoulder, he heard a heavy clang sound like it collided with iron! The sound was so loud it hurt everybody's ears.
Tie Hanyi's body was enveloped with a dark iron energy even his skin was the colour of iron as if his entire body was a fine cast iron.
Tie Hanyi laughed and exclaimed: "Brother Tang, you're very smart. However, you underestimated me. You can use it once, but it won't work a second time!" Tie Hanyi then use his Iron Palm techniques again. After he enveloped his body with Cold Body Armour, the strength of his palm strikes reached another level. When he struck again, the power was much scarier than before.
After a short while, Tang Ye was busy fending him off with his left and right arms, being forced to evade continuously causing him to run out of breath.
Tang Ye said to himself: No wonder I heard he beat Long Zaitian back then. The strength of his palm strikes are stronger than Long Zaitian's.
Tang Ye was aware that he couldn't beat Tie Hanyi's fierce iron palms. He quickly pulled his right hand out and turned his left hand into a blade again.
It was the technique Bai Ling couldn't stop praising, the one that comes from the Red Sleeve Divine Blade technique, Replacing the Stiff Peach with Plum. The technique was miraculous, convincing one the wielder would win.
Tie Hanyi moulded energy for his body-hardening technique. Logically speaking, he shouldn't be afraid of Tang Ye's attacks anymore. But as soon as Tang Ye used the Red Sleeve Divine Blade technique, Tie Hanyi's martial arts-crazed brain kicked in. He wanted to see all the techniques in the move-set, so he had to reduce his power output a bit, forcing Tang Ye who was gassed to try and catch his breath.
He used the Red Sleeve Divine Blade technique on his left hand as he calculated other moves in his mind.
Tie Hanyi saw his move and couldn't help but sigh: " Replacing the Stiff Peach with Plum. Your skills are fantastic, especially your hand skills. I have never seen anyone with such skilful hand techniques. You changed your hand from fist to palm and into a blade without losing power. Very few in the pugilistic world can do that, at least nobody in the imperial court is capable of such feat."
Tie Hanyi suddenly said: "But why are you so rushed to improve? You've been challenging schools non-stop this past month, creating countless enemies for yourself. You even crossed paths with the Qilin Guards. You do realise that your actions will do no good for your future prospects, right? You're still young and you possess talent I have never seen before. I am willing to accept you into the emperor's entourage if you are alright with it."
Tie Hanyi spoke as he continued to counter the Red Sleeve Blade Arts. With his Cold Body Armour, he basically didn't have to worry about any attacks. If he weren't interested in the Red Sleeve Divine Blade Art's uniqueness, he could've won within twenty moves.
Tang Ye continued tirelessly, not giving any verbal response.
Tie Hanyi said: "I'm not trying to promote myself, but recommend you to our best fighter, Heavenly Fox."
When he heard "Heavenly Fox", Tang Ye's heard couldn't help but thump hard, indicating that the person with that name was a figure of a high calibre.
"You know what it means for somebody on Liu Shan's Elites Rankings to have the name of an animal represent their name right? It's the same as Flying Fish who formed Liu Shan Men, and Yinglong who formed the emperor's entourage." Tie Hanyi pulled his hand back a bit to give Tang Ye a chance to catch a breather. He looked straight at Tang Ye and said: "He, is, in-vin-ci-ble."
"……." Tang Ye pulled his hands back. After staying silent the entire time, he suddenly said: "I've learnt every style very fast since I was young and I've put in a lot of effort. I believe myself to not be bad. In the capital, only the seventeen hidden dragons and the ultimate three could rival me. But a month ago, I was utterly defeated in the capital."
Tang Ye's eyes locked onto Tie Hanyi's. A flash of light appeared in his eyes, not showing any signs of backing off: "Before I defeat that monster, I won't let anybody sway me."
As he spoke, his hands moved again, using Red Sleeve Divine Blade once again.
Tie Hanyi used his Iron Palms to counter him again. But he never expected Tang Ye to use his right arm as an arrow mid-way through the Red Sleeve Divine Blade and stab at his left chest. The strong gust of wind was like he fired it at him using an iron bow.
That was when Bai Ling saw them.
When that sharp arrow clashed with Tie Hanyi's body armour, it rang out with a clang, like an inflatable bag that got stabbed by a sword. A skilled martial artist present immediately shouted: "That really is the Shooting Yang Sword!"
Tie Hanyi's iron body relies on covering his body in his qi energy. Those who train in iron body fear martial artists skilled at sealing pressure points most. No matter how advanced Tie Hanyi's body-hardening skill is, he's no exception to the rule. The Shooting Yang Sword was one such style that could cut off the flow of qi essence.
And just as you'd expect, when Tie Hanyi's chest got hit, he stopped breathing for a second and revealed an opening on his body.
Tie Hanyi said to himself: You may be able to undo my flow of qi, but you have no way of figuring out where my opening is. Your Shooting Yang Sword technique is only effective for a few breaths time so what good is it? You couldn't possibly strike my entire body.
While he brushed it off in his mind, he saw a smile creep up onto Tang Ye's cold face.
Tang Ye bluntly said: "I can."
Tie Hanyi's heart went stone-cold and realised he was in trouble.
What happened next was what caused Bai Ling to stare with her stunned look.
Tang Ye's hands could change countless ways in split seconds.
It was like his hands transformed into tens of thousands of birds and surrounded Tie Hanyi. Tang Ye's every technique up until now was from reputable families that left everybody astonished, but this time, it was like he was unleashing everything.
Tang Ye switched between his left and right hand, using palm strikes, finger strikes, blade strikes, sword strikes and punches, without repeating any technique once, striking Tie Hanyi's entire body in an instant.
"Found it."
Before he finished his sentence, he struck with his right hand like a sword; his left hand performed a circling motion, changing from a blade into a tiger's claw. It created a whistling sound as it swept through the air and grabbed the exposed left abdomen on Tie Hanyi's body.
Tie Hanyi looked at where he grabbed with disbelief. Bai Ling shouted with her beautiful voice: "Phantom Tiger Claw!"
Tang Ye's internal strength limitation didn't allow him to break through Tie Hanyi's Iron Body technique; so instead, he threw him out of the ring.
After what sounded like thunderclap, Tang Ye roared and then picked up Tie Hanyi like he was lifting up a boulder and tossed him out. Tie Hanyi couldn't breathe or move due to the disruption to his qi. Tang Ye struck very precisely. Ten feet before he hit the ground, Tie Hanyi regained his ability to move. He somersaulted and steadied himself so he didn't embarrass himself.
Tie Hanyi laughed happily. He never expected to be examined so thoroughly. Tang Ye came prepared.
Tang Ye walked up to the edge of the ring, looked down at Tie Hanyi from above and suddenly laughed.
"Guess I'm lucky there aren't too many monsters in the world."
Tie Hanyi was speechless and could only smile bitterly.
The referee behind him shouted: "Winner, Liu Shan Men's Tang Ye!!"
Tang Ye quietly looked up to the sky and under his breath asked: "Aren't I Liu Shan Men's minor lord?" His handsome eyes showed a hint of loneliness in his gaze.
"Good job!"
Ming Feizhen who stood below the ring gave him a thumbs up while Tang Ye just responded with a smile.
But as soon as this bout ended, an uproar came from the other ring as if some grand battle was about to begin.
All that could be heard was the referee shout in a shady and excited tone that he was trying to hide: "Qilin Guards' Yi Yixian versus Liu Shan Men's Su Xiao!"
Glossary
While it Hua Shan is a martial arts school, is also a mountain, hence the Shan (山) part in the name which means mountain.