The match between Luo Yichen and Wu Kangming was about to begin.

  I watched as Luo Yichen took a deep breath before walking over to his sworn brother.

  “Big Brother Wu,” he said quietly, his hand gripped the Mirrorwater Blade’s hilt so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. “I may not be your match, but I need to see how far the gap between us really is.”

  “Then I won’t hold back, Little Brother,” Wu Kangming replied, understanding flashed in his eyes. “That would be the greatest disrespect I could show you.”

  With that, the two walked towards the portal together, and I couldn’t help but notice how different their postures were.

  Luo Yichen’s movements were stiff and tense as though he was walking to his own execution.

  On the other hand, Wu Kangming was relaxed as ever as though he was taking a casual stroll through the sect grounds.

  As the portal swallowed them both, the formation screens flickered to life.

  The Proving Sanctum realm took my breath away.

  It was different from any other inner worlds that I had seen so far.

  The entire space seemed to be carved from a single massive crystal, which depending on the angle, shifted between deep purple and electric blue. Below their feet, the ground was so smooth that their reflection could be seen perfectly. As for above them, there was no sky, just more crystal. The enclosed arena created an effect that felt both infinite and claustrophobic at the same time.

  The two brothers stood about twenty metres apart.

  At first, all they did was just stare at each other.

  And then suddenly everything exploded into motion.

  Luo Yichen made the first move.

  The movement was so fast that his body became a blur.

  The Mirrorwater Blade sang through the air, coming down in a diagonal slash aimed at Wu Kangming's left shoulder.

  Wu Kangming's sword was already there to meet it.

  The clash sent a shockwave through the chamber causing the walls to light up with spiraling patterns of light as the protective formations activated.

  Instead of simply blocking the strike, Wu Kangming’s sword slid along the Mirrorwater Blade to redirect the force just as his free hand came up in a palm strike directed towards Luo Yichen’s chest.

  Luo Yichen twisted away, using the momentum from his deflected strike to spin into a horizontal slash.

  A reflective barrier appeared as the Mirrorwater Blade’s special ability activated.

  Wu Kangming’s sword rose up to meet it.

  But instead of reflecting Wu Kangming’s attack back at him, the sword tip simply passed through the barrier as if it didn’t exist.

  Luo Yichen’s eyes widened in shock.

  This was clearly the first time the ability that he was so reliant on was ineffective.

  Forced to abandon his own attack, Luo Yichen leaped backward to avoid Wu Kangming’s blade.

  He was fast, but not fast enough.

  A thin line of blood appeared on his cheek where the sword tip had grazed him.

  As he landed, Luo Yichen touched his cheek, staring at the blood on his fingers with confusion.

  Wu Kangming didn’t give him the chance to gain his bearings, he shifted his stance slightly, then he was suddenly everywhere at once.

  At first, I thought it was probably some sort of illusion technique, but then I realised it was just pure speed, it made it seem like he was able to attack from multiple angles simultaneously.

  Luo Yichen’s blade work became desperate as he tried his best to block, parry, and counter.

  But the onslaught came too fast for him to react properly.

  The first strike to get through his defence was a knee strike, it caught him right in the solar plexus, lifting him off the ground.

  Before he could recover, Wu Kangming’s sword pommel struck his wrist – the force of the blow nearly made him drop the Mirrorwater Blade.

  Just as he tried to disengage, a sweep kick sent him tumbling across the floor.

  Luo Yichen rolled to his feet, gasping.

  There were various small cuts all over his body.

  With a roar, his cultivation base flared, his defensive technique pushed to its limit.

  A sphere of reflective energy appeared around him.

  This seemed designed to return any attack, but with double the force.

  I held back a sigh, if the first reflective barrier didn’t work, I doubted this one would be any different.

  Wu Kangming clearly felt the same because he walked over casually, his sword held loosely at his side. When he reached the edge of the sphere, he didn't strike it like most cultivators would. Instead, he placed his palm against it, and then with a gentle application of qi, he caused the entire technique to shatter like glass.

  The fragments of spiritual energy hung in the air for a moment before dissipating.

  Luo Yichen stared in shock.

  This was likely one of his most powerful techniques, and Wu Kangming had dismantled it with a tap.

  Wu Kangming continued forward until he was close enough to strike.

  But instead of ending the battle, he spoke for the first time since the battle began.

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  “Your Mirrorwater technique assumes your opponent will strike with force. What happens when they don't?”

  Wu Kangming’s sword then moved in a pattern so complex that even I struggled to follow it.

  The blade never touched Luo Yichen, I was certain about that, but despite this, blood began seeping through his robes in a dozen different places.

  It was the air pressure, I realised.

  Wu Kangming was using the speed of his movements to weaponize the air pressure within the barrier to create the cuts.

  I had to admit; it was smart thinking by Wu Kangming.

  This was clearly battle IQ at a very high level.

  Instead of trying to figure out what Wu Kangming was trying to demonstrate, Luo Yichen went for the counter, thrusting his blade directly at Wu Kangming’s heart.

  Wu Kangming didn’t even bother dodging properly, he simply angled his body slightly to the left, letting the blade pass harmlessly by while his own sword came to rest at Luo Yichen's throat.

  “Second lesson,” Wu Kangming said calmly. “The Mirrorwater style reflects what it receives. But reflection requires something to reflect. What happens when your opponent gives you nothing?”

  With that, he removed his sword from Luo Yichen’s throat and stepped back, inviting his junior brother to attack him.

  To his credit, Luo Yichen didn’t hesitate for a moment.

  Immediately, he launched into a furious assault, creating a web of steel that should have been almost impossible to navigate for any other opponent.

  But Wu Kangming wasn’t just anyone.

  He moved through it like it wasn’t even there.

  He didn’t block.

  He didn’t deflect.

  He moved his sword only to make slight adjustments to Luo Yichen’s form that disabled the deadly combinations and turned Luo Yichen’s own momentum against him.

  As their spiritual pressure began to increase, cracks spread across the ceiling, and fragments of crystal began raining down. They expertly dodged the falling shards, not giving them any attention, their focus was wholly on their battle.

  But such a high pace could only go on for so long before it became too much.

  Luo Yichen's breathing was getting ragged, and his robes were soaked with his own blood.

  The longer it went on, the more his movements slowed down and the sloppier his techniques became.

  As for Wu Kangming, he hadn't even worked up a sweat.

  Luo Yichen, realising he wouldn’t be able to win a battle of attrition, gathered all his remaining spiritual energy into his sword for what appeared to be his ultimate technique.

  The Mirrorwater Blade blazed with silver light and the air around the blade began warping.

  A localized field that would reflect and amplify any force that entered it by at least a factor of five formed around him.

  Wu Kangming didn’t take the bait.

  He simply stood there watching.

  Luo Yichen roared, striking within the field to activate the effect.

  A diagonal slash powered by at least a factor of five came down on Wu Kangming.

  Wu Kangming did something I never expected.

  He sheathed his sword.

  The gesture was so unexpected that Luo Yichen hesitated for a fraction of a second.

  In that moment of uncertainty, Wu Kangming's hand came up and caught the Mirrorwater Blade between his thumb and index finger.

  The ultimate technique, all that concentrated spiritual energy, simply stopped.

  “The final lesson,” Wu Kangming said, still holding the blade motionless. “Is that power without understanding is meaningless. You've mastered the forms of the Mirrorwater style, but you haven't grasped its essence. Stop trying to reflect others. Start understanding yourself.”

  With that, he let go of the blade and stepped back.

  Before Luo Yichen could process what had happened, a blade rested on his neck once more, but this time with undeniable finality.

  The lesson was over.

  “I…I surrender,” Luo Yichen whispered.

  Wu Kangming sheathed his sword and, to my surprise, smiled. It was small, barely more than a slight upturn of his lips, but on Wu Kangming's usually expressionless face it might as well have been a broad grin.

  “You lasted longer than I expected,” he said. “Your foundation is solid, Little Brother. With time and proper understanding, you'll surpass most cultivators. But don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday.”

  The words hit Luo Yichen harder than any of Wu Kangming’s strikes.

  His eyes began to water, though he quickly blinked it away.

  Wu Kangming’s praise clearly meant a lot to him.

  But I noticed something else in his expression.

  It was the crushing realization that the gap between them was far greater than he expected.

  He'd likely always known Wu Kangming was stronger but knowing and experiencing were two different things.

  We didn’t get to see the rest of their conversation as the formation screens turned black.

  After a few minutes, a portal opened up in the middle of the arena, and the two walked out.

  As per tradition, the senior brother emerged first.

  Wu Kangming looked exactly the same as he had when he entered.

  If I hadn’t known better, I wouldn’t have thought he had been in a battle.

  Then again, he probably didn’t consider that to be anything more than a spar.

  The same couldn’t be said for Luo Yichen, he walked out looking bloody and exhausted, but it was nice to see that he was holding his head high.

  “Winner of the first semi-final match: Wu Kangming!” Elder Wan announced.

  Around me, the crowd erupted in cheers and excited chatter.

  I heard snippets of conversation how Wu Kangming must have some mysterious old master hidden (they didn’t realise just how right they were), speculation that he was actually at the Elemental Realm, and more than a few people adjusting their bets for the finals.

  As for me, I was still curious how Wu Kangming had bypassed Luo Yichen’s reflective barrier.

  After all, it was that special ability that brought Luo Yichen all the way to the semi-finals.

  I began to replay the battle in my mind, trying to figure it out.

  Reflection-based techniques require energy or force to reflect, the way to neutralise them would be to not provide either.

  But then that begged the question: how did his sword move through the barrier?

  “Master,” Azure called out. “Think of it like this: if you place your hand gently on the surface of still water, it doesn't create waves. But if you slap it, the water reacts violently. Wu Kangming's technique involved moving his sword at exactly the threshold where it existed in space but generated no actual force for the barrier to detect and reflect.”

  The explanation was hard for me to wrap my head around, but it was beginning to make sense.

  It was the martial equivalent of becoming nothing while still being something.

  An opponent who could comprehend such a concept was honestly terrifying.

  The sheer level of skill it would take to modulate attacks so precisely that defensive techniques couldn't even recognize them as attacks... No wonder Luo Yichen was overwhelmed.

  “Hey, did you see the way he walked through those attacks like it was nothing?”

  I turned around to notice Wei Lin staring at me with a grin that looked like it would split his face.

  “It was impressive,” I agreed, trying not to look at the red gleam in his eyes too obviously.

  “Our fight is going to be way better,” Wei Lin said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We'll give them a show they'll never forget. All those techniques you've been hiding, all the tricks I've been developing... this is where we find out who's really the strongest.”

  “Yeah, it should be fun,” I smiled, despite the knot forming in my stomach. “And no hard feelings for whoever loses, right? We're still friends no matter what happens in there.”

  “Of course!” Wei Lin laughed, his grip on my shoulder tightening. “But I don't plan on losing. I've got some new applications for my stalls that I've been dying to test on someone who can actually take it.”

  I didn’t like the way things were going.

  The last thing I needed was a best friend turned enemy arc.

  I knew how those went.

  Whether it was power, jealously, ambition, or something else, the best friends would end up trying to kill each other. Sometimes they succeeded, other times they reconciled, but not before causing irreparable damage to everyone else in their lives.

  I didn’t need that kind of drama now or ever.

  Unfortunately, I was beginning to think that it was already too late.

  We might already be on that path.

  “The second semi-final match will now begin!” Elder Wan called out.

  “Let’s give them something to remember,” Wei Lin clapped me on the back hard enough to sting before walking into the portal.

  I didn’t follow immediately.

  Instead, I took a moment to scan the crowd.

  My mother was clutching my father's arm with white knuckles.

  Liu Chen was trying to look confident but was obviously worried.

  And there, a few rows down, sat Lin Mei looking at me with worry in her eyes.

  She'd seen the changes in him, the way the demonic qi was affecting his personality.

  She gave me a look that said: please take care of him.

  I nodded.

  I’d be careful to avoid seriously hurting him, and I’d try my best to keep him from hurting himself.

  Though, the latter might be impossible.

  “Master,” Azure said as I approached the portal, “remember your strategy. No offensive sun attacks, limited rune usage, stick to formations and qi-based techniques. Wei Lin's current state makes him unpredictable.”

  “I know,” I replied. “Let's just hope he doesn't do anything too crazy in there.”

  I took a deep breath then stepped through the portal.

  It was time to face my best friend in combat.

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