Chapter 348 - Semifinals
Yang Xiu dispassionately watched the first of the two semifinal rounds. Her former friend, Kang Lin, was matched against the top finalist from the Poison Claw Sect, Xue Yong.
The boy, whose qi aspect incorporated Fire and Motion, appeared both strong and fast. Kang Lin pursued her strategy of trying to overwhelm him with speed, but he lived up to his reputation as the best in the sect, flaring his shield perfectly to block her attacks with no wasted qi.
Seeing her plan not working, she tried to shift to her alternate tactic of death by a thousand cuts that won her the previous round. Xue Yong’s sword hilt, however, was inert to qi, so her bolts did not penetrate to strike his body.
Without being able to employ either her ability to overwhelm him with speed or to deliver free hits while blocking or being blocked, he quickly overwhelmed her and drained her qi pool.
Kang Lin surrendered.
Yang Xiu didn’t know how to feel about that. Some part of her thought she should be sad for her former friend losing. Another thought she should be irritated that she couldn’t get revenge by facing the girl in the finals. Mostly, though, Yang Xiu simply felt nothing.
Kang Lin, on the other hand, seemed elated. She enthusiastically thanked her opponent for the exchange of pointers, all the while smiling widely. The sight almost made Yang Xiu frown. Who could be happy after a loss?
Regardless, it was her turn, and she made her way down to the arena floor. Facing her opponent, the last remaining enemy in the round, should have given her some measure of satisfaction, but even that emotion escaped her.
As it was the semifinals, a bit more pageantry was utilized as the announcer introduced each of the participants.
“From the north side of the arena, we have the challenger, Yang Xiu of the Rising Tide Sect.”
Again, she felt she should have some reaction to the brevity of the details given and the fact that she’d been assigned the less auspicious compass direction, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to care.
Despite the lackluster introduction, both her sect and the Poison Claw Sect rose to their feet and gave her a long, rowdy cheer.