Chương 61: 1.61 Stonks for the win

The competition was slowly coming to an end as more and more competitors were eliminated. Currently, the only two remaining with undefeated records were Xiao Fan and Qiu Han. Since those with similar records were paired together, it was only natural for these two to face each other. In fact, this could be considered the decisive round, the one that would determine the winner once and for all.

"I didn't expect the final undefeated contender to be someone like you," Qiu Han said, his tone naturally condescending, even if he didn't consciously intend it. Xiao Fan's face darkened upon hearing that.

"What do you mean by someone like me?"

"I mean that among all of us, you are still the only one with a low-grade spiritual root." If there were a way to measure what Qiu Han considered "innate superiority," the spiritual root would undoubtedly be a key factor. Someone like Xiao Fan, who possessed the weakest grade, should never have been expected to make it this far.

"Tsk, you talk too much. I'll defeat you right here, right now," Xiao Fan shouted. Meanwhile, Ning, who was lounging in his seat, once again heard the crowd erupt at that declaration.

"The trash has lost his mind! He wants to challenge Senior Brother Qiu!" And they started calling him trash again…

"He thinks he can defeat Qiu Han just because he's currently ranked second? He's too arrogant!" Ning genuinely didn't understand how that could be perceived as cockiness.

"He has eyes but can't see Mount Tai." A classic.

"It was indeed surprising that you defeated the other two high-grade spiritual root disciples," Qiu Han continued calmly, "but defeating me is something you cannot possibly accomplish. I will give you a chance to step down." He spoke as if the outcome were already predetermined. This way of speaking gave Ning a sense of déjà vu. Wasn't this similar to how that Zhou Sheng guy talked? Hearing that, Xiao Fan shook his head and grinned. He stared at Qiu Han with determination burning in his eyes.

Even Qiu Han seemed slightly startled by that piercing gaze.

"I won't give up," Xiao Fan said seriously as he assumed a stance, his aura radiating outward.

"The Fifth Stage of Qi Condensation! He's still only at the Fifth Stage!"

"The trash is finished. I bet he won't last more than three moves!"

"Three moves? You're overestimating him. He won't even last one!" The crowd either admired Qiu Han or mocked Xiao Fan. Ning was no longer surprised. Instead, he was curious how the match would unfold given the massive gap in cultivation. Qiu Han observed him with detached calm.

"You are still at the Fifth Stage," he said evenly.

"You understand the gap."

"I understand it," Xiao Fan replied.

"I'll close it." A faint curve touched Qiu Han's lips.

"You won't." The elder's sleeve fell.

"Begin." Qiu Han vanished. [Supernatural Power: Quick, Doubles all movement speed] The distance between them collapsed like folded paper. His palm shot toward Xiao Fan's sternum. Boom! Xiao Fan was blasted backward, his heels carving trenches into the stone. Cracks spidered outward from the point of impact. Before he could fully stabilize, Qiu Han followed up with another Quick. An elbow slammed toward his shoulder. A short punch drove into his abdomen. A knee rose toward his ribs.

Each movement was clean and merciless. His Seventh Stage spiritual sense locked onto Xiao Fan the moment he shifted to dodge. There was no searching. No hesitation. Just pure suppression of a higher cultivation base. From the stands, Ning's eyes narrowed slightly. This was the ugly part about fighting someone above your level. Not only were their physical abilities stronger, but their ability to track and predict their opponent was superior as well. Xiao Fan roared and retaliated with Heaven-Shattering Fist.

His strike carried condensed qi and youthful ferocity. Qiu Han caught it with one hand. Though his arm trembled slightly from the force, the metallic martial art coating reinforced it, allowing him to remain steady.

"Effort," Qiu Han said calmly, twisting his wrist and forcing Xiao Fan off balance, "does not equal quality." A straight punch followed the remark. Xiao Fan's lip split as he turned his head at the exact moment, absorbing the impact as blood dotted the white stone.

"Give up your futile persistence. Beating someone at a higher level requires talent, and with your talent, you cannot match me." Ning almost face-palmed. This guy was practically raising a flag. Xiao Fan retreated once more. With his keen vision, Ning noticed the old ring on his finger faintly glowing. Then Xiao Fan started grinning wildly.

"So only those with talent can do that, huh?" Suddenly, spiritual qi began gathering around him, the precursor to an impending breakthrough.

"Impossible!"

"How can he attempt to advance to the Sixth Stage just like that? Especially with his spiritual root, there should be a bottleneck after the mid-stage of each realm!" The crowd was dumbfounded. Breaking through in the middle of a fight wasn't unheard of, but it was exceedingly rare. Especially in Xiao Fan's case, his talent shouldn't have allowed such a feat. Moreover, such breakthroughs usually occurred in life-and-death battles, where the body's potential was pushed to its limits.

Whether in terms of talent or accumulated experience, neither seemed sufficient to explain this phenomenon.

"Interesting." Qiu Han did not interrupt. Instead, he watched the breakthrough with clear interest.

"If the gap between us is too big, then all I need to do is try to close the gap, right?" Xiao Fan smiled triumphantly. It was ridiculously simple logic, absurd on the surface, yet impossible to refute. The crowd murmured. Yet Qiu Han did not press. Instead, he stepped back.

"Break through," he said flatly.

"If you can." His tone was purely dismissive, as if the Sixth Stage of Qi Condensation would not make the slightest difference. Spiritual qi around Xiao Fan began to churn violently. Wind spiraled inward; dust lifted from the platform. Ning exhaled softly. It was moments like this that made him feel as if he were truly inside a xianxia novel, with Xiao Fan as the undisputed protagonist.

Ning couldn't tell whether Xiao Fan had carefully analyzed Qiu Han's personality and concluded that he wouldn't interfere, or whether he was simply being reckless. Breaking through to the next stage required complete focus. Ning himself prepared meticulously for every breakthrough, steadying his mind and body, even using auxiliary materials like calming incense. The slightest disturbance could cause failure. Yet here Xiao Fan was, attempting a breakthrough in the middle of a battle.

And not only that, his opponent was calmly waiting for him to finish his obvious power-up. Ridiculous. Qi surged wildly through Xiao Fan's meridians. Qiu Han merely watched, not moving an inch. With a roar, Xiao Fan forced the final barrier open. His aura surged. Sixth Stage of Qi Condensation. Golden light deepened in his eyes as his qi stabilized sharply. The oppressive aura around him condensed into something far more solid. The crowd erupted.

"He advanced!"

"In the middle of battle!" Qiu Han stepped forward again, his expression unchanged.

"Now," he said calmly, "the difference will be clearer." Quick activated. His palm descended once more. This time, Xiao Fan reacted faster. His eyes turned fully golden, and he moved as if he could predict the attack before it unfolded. His body shifted just enough to deflect part of the force. Even so, the impact forced him back several steps.

"I see you are using some sort of ocular technique to enhance your perception," Qiu Han observed calmly.

"It's rare for me to encounter two opponents with such techniques." His gaze lingered on Xiao Fan's golden pupils. Meanwhile, Ning was stunned. What was with this difference? He knew protagonists were special and all, but what the hell did he use to learn Pure Eyes, which changed the slightly glowing effect of eyes to directly golden eyes? Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Well," Xiao Fan replied lightly, "consider this payback for that guy as well." His qi surged again as he unleashed Heaven-Shattering Fist. Qiu Han answered immediately with his own strike. Their fists collided. A shockwave burst outward as stone fractured beneath their feet due to the sheer force of their attack. Qiu Han slid half a step. Then the air grew heavy. Behind him, a crimson sigil formed, circular, layered with rotating geometric inscriptions like grinding plates of molten metal.

Pressure intensified instantly. Qiu Han activated Quick again. His body accelerated, and using the added momentum from his speed, he unleashed a barrage of strikes.

"Metallic Dragon's Consecutive Fist!" Xiao Fan's golden eyes flickered rapidly, analyzing trajectories in an instant. Some attacks he deflected. Some he endured head-on; others he countered with his own fists.

"This is too high-level!" someone in the crowd shouted. The spectators went wild. How could they not? The sheer display of martial prowess left even seasoned cultivators breathless.

"Qiu Han seems quite motivated. He's been using Quick far more in this fight than in any of his previous matches," Ning observed calmly. Unlike the crowd, he wasn't swept up in emotion; he was focused on the details.

"It must be because this match means a lot to him," Zhang Feng replied.

"Hm?"

"You might not know this, but most clans have a main branch and several side branches." Zhang Feng, ever the reliable bro, naturally didn't leave things half-explained like certain elders who enjoyed pretending to be mysterious. Ning nodded.

"Go on."

"Qiu Han was originally from a side branch. It's said his family wasn't highly regarded and was often assigned minor tasks and errands. As a child of a branch family, he would have suffered the same fate. It was only because of his spiritual root and his supernatural ability that he earned a status equal to the heirs of the main family." Zhang Feng leaned in slightly as he shared the gossip, clearly unconcerned about exposing the less glamorous side of clan politics.

"No wonder he keeps talking about innate strength," Ning muttered. After all, it was only because he had been blessed at birth that he had been able to change his fate. In contrast stood Xiao Fan, who, because of his inferior spiritual root, had been stripped of his position as heir and ridiculed. The two were exact opposites.

"Earth-Grade Enhancement Technique," Qiu Han said evenly.

"Crimson Ascendant." The sigil behind him pulsed. His muscles thickened. His qi compressed. Each breath carried multiplied force. A faint red glow outlined his limbs. Ning's gaze sharpened. Enhancement body art. It amplifies structural density and output simultaneously. Ning never had the pleasure of witnessing it, but he had gathered information about it. Qiu Han activated Quick at the same time. He disappeared and reappeared directly before Xiao Fan. His palm descended, blazing with crimson light. Boom!

Xiao Fan was smashed into the platform. Qiu Han did not relent. Quick. Punch. The crimson sigil flared brighter. Quick. Elbow. The sigil rotated faster. Each activation stacked amplification upon amplification.

"You see?" Qiu Han said calmly.

"When gold is refined, it becomes purer. Iron only cracks." Xiao Fan coughed blood. Yet he stood again. And this time, he did not look like he would fall. His breathing slowed as his stance changed. Beneath his torn robes, faint pale-golden patterns surfaced across his skin, veins of light spreading like lotus roots beneath flesh. Ning's pupils contracted slightly. Xiao Fan inhaled deeply.

"Heavenly Lotus Body." Behind him, a faint phantom lotus bloomed, translucent and incomplete, yet unmistakable. Luminous petals spread outward in radiance. The Heavenly Lotus, a plant said to be nearly extinct, and the first prerequisite required to even begin cultivating this technique. Qiu Han's eyes sharpened.

"Heavenly Lotus Body? The strongest body-refining art in the sect?" He smiled faintly.

"This should be interesting."

"I hope you can still speak so calmly after I beat you," Xiao Fan replied, steadying himself. The golden patterns brightened. His bones hummed faintly. The air around him vibrated with condensed vitality. He stepped forward. Heaven-Shattering Fist. The punch collided with Qiu Han's crimson-enhanced arm. This time, Qiu Han slid back two full steps just like Xiao Fan. The arena gasped in unison. Ning narrowed his eyes.

The Heavenly Lotus Body was reputed to be the strongest body-refining technique in the sect, so its effects were naturally extraordinary. Unlike Ning's Jade Skin and Meridian Tempering techniques, which focused primarily on strengthening skin and meridians while leaving other aspects relatively average, the Heavenly Lotus Body provided balanced reinforcement across the entire body. From what Ning could see, Xiao Fan's strength, speed, and resilience were now on par with Qiu Han's.

"As expected… he had a trump card," Ning murmured, glancing at the now strengthened Xiao Fan. Moreover, as far as Ning knew, just this body tempering art should not put Xiao Fan on the same level as Qiu Han, so there was another unseen factor in play. Qiu Han's crimson sigil rotated faster. His spiritual sense expanded sharply. Quick activated again. He vanished. Xiao Fan's golden eyes glowed brighter as he tracked the fleeting figure. Not perfectly. But it was enough to catch the faintest hint. A palm descended.

Instead of blocking, Xiao Fan answered with a straight punch. Boom! Both of them were blasted backward, blood splashing across the fractured stone. From that moment onward, the battle changed completely. The probing exchanges and measured pace disappeared. Neither of them retreated another step. Every collision was met head-on, fists crashing against fists, bones striking bones, each refusing to yield even an inch.

Qiu Han's eyes narrowed as he activated Quick once more while Crimson Ascendant surged to life behind him. The crimson sigil blazed like a rising blood moon. Layer upon layer of concentric rings revolved around one another with a deep, oppressive hum, each rotation intensifying the scarlet radiance until the air itself seemed to grow heavy. Then Quick activated. His figure vanished. A palm descended before Xiao Fan could even finish blinking. Boom!

Xiao Fan was hurled across the platform, his back smashing into the stone hard enough to send cracks racing in every direction. Qiu Han gave him no opportunity to recover. Quick. He appeared behind Xiao Fan, driving an elbow toward the back of his neck. Quick. A backfist tore sideways through the air. Quick. A straight punch exploded toward Xiao Fan's chest. Each burst came faster than the last. Each strike carried more force than the one before it.

Crimson Ascendant continuously amplified every movement, adding speed, momentum, and weight until even the surrounding air wailed beneath the pressure of his attacks. From the spectators' seats, Ning leaned forward slightly. He finally understood. Quick didn't merely make Qiu Han faster. Every acceleration compounded the momentum of the previous one, turning each successive strike into something even more destructive than the last.

Used together with Crimson Ascendant, the technique became an avalanche that only grew stronger as it rolled downhill. On the shattered platform, Xiao Fan forced himself back to his feet. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the broken stone below. Beneath his brows, the golden glow of Pure Eyes burned ever brighter. Quick activated again. Qiu Han appeared at Xiao Fan's flank, driving a palm toward his head. Xiao Fan shifted half a step.

The attack grazed past his cheek instead of crushing his skull. But Ning noticed something. Qiu Han's body carried forward just a little farther before he managed to halt himself. A single extra half-step. Ning's eyes narrowed. He's overshooting. The faster Qiu Han chained Quick together, the more difficult it became to halt his own momentum. Crimson Ascendant multiplied explosive force, but it offered no additional control over that force. Quick erupted again, even more aggressively than before.

Qiu Han descended from above like a falling mountain, his palm carrying enough weight to flatten the platform itself. Xiao Fan crossed both arms in front of his chest. The impact still drove him into the ground. A sickening crack echoed through the arena as one of his ribs gave way. Pain exploded through his body, yet the Heavenly Body Tempering Art answered immediately. Golden veins spread beneath his torn robes, branching through his flesh like glowing roots.

Behind him, the phantom of a Heavenly Lotus bloomed once more, its translucent petals trembling as they absorbed a portion of the devastating impact. Qiu Han's breathing had begun to roughen. Even for him, maintaining so many consecutive bursts demanded an enormous amount of spiritual energy. Yet Xiao Fan simply refused to stay down.

"Why won't you fall?" Qiu Han demanded, frustration finally creeping into his voice.

"Give up! You have no chance of defeating me!" Xiao Fan slowly straightened despite the pain.

"Give up...?" The words stirred a memory. Before the tournament, Ning had handed him a notebook filled with observations about every notable opponent. One page had been dedicated entirely to Qiu Han.

"Quick is terrifying," Ning had written.

"But chaining explosive bursts together as though they were ordinary steps has a weakness. The faster someone accelerates, the harder it becomes to stop. Speed without restraint eventually becomes momentum without control. That's your opening." Back then, Xiao Fan hadn't fully understood what those words meant. Now, standing in the middle of Qiu Han's relentless assault, he finally did. Qiu Han disappeared once more. When he reappeared, his fist was already descending toward Xiao Fan like a falling meteor.

Xiao Fan didn't retreat. He merely shifted his footing by the smallest of margins, letting the punch tear through empty air. Just as Ning had predicted, Qiu Han's body carried itself that familiar extra half-step before his stance settled once more. Golden Pure Eyes ignited. Xiao Fan saw it. Every burst of Quick followed the same rhythm. Accelerate. Overshoot. Correct. Accelerate. Overshoot. Correct. It was almost imperceptible, lasting no more than a fraction of a heartbeat, but the flaw was there.

Another strike crashed into Xiao Fan, forcing him back as the Heavenly Lotus phantom shimmered into existence once more, absorbing part of the impact. Pain shot through his battered body, yet his eyes never left Qiu Han. Instead of watching the attacks, he watched the transitions between them, patiently waiting for the same tiny imbalance to appear again. Across from him, Qiu Han frowned. Despite taking blow after blow, Xiao Fan simply refused to stay down.

Each time he should have collapsed, he instead forced himself back to his feet. Frustration finally crept into Qiu Han's eyes.

"So be it." Crimson Ascendant blazed brighter than ever. The countless crimson rings spun faster and faster until they merged into a single blazing halo, while Quick erupted with its greatest speed yet. Qiu Han vanished. The next instant, he descended from above like a collapsing mountain, both palms crashing downward with enough force to crush the arena itself. This time, however, Xiao Fan did something entirely unexpected. Instead of dodging, he stepped forward.

It was only a single step, barely enough to change his position. Yet that tiny movement forced Qiu Han to adjust his attack in the middle of his burst. His momentum, already difficult to control, shifted just enough for his center of balance to drift off-line. For almost everyone watching, nothing had changed. For Xiao Fan, it was the opening he had been waiting for.

"Heaven-Shattering Fist: Consecutive Flash!" His shout echoed throughout the arena as he exploded forward. The first punch landed squarely on Qiu Han's chest before the latter's footing had completely recovered. Crack! A jagged fracture raced across the edge of Crimson Ascendant's rotating sigil. The immense force circulating through it suddenly rebounded unevenly, disrupting Qiu Han's rhythm for the very first time. His expression finally changed. Xiao Fan didn't allow him even a single breath to recover.

His fists came one after another, each strike flowing naturally into the next. There was no elegance, no refined sequence of martial forms, only relentless pressure born from countless life-and-death battles. Every punch interrupted Qiu Han just before Quick could rebuild its momentum, and every impact further destabilized Crimson Ascendant's circulation. For the first time since the match had begun, Qiu Han found himself being forced backward.

"How can this be?" he roared, the calm confidence that had defined him until now completely gone.

"Gold remains gold! You cannot defeat me!" He activated Quick once again. But haste had entered his movements. The instant he accelerated, he overshot yet again. The crimson halo behind him shuddered violently, its perfect rotation faltering as the accumulated force slipped further out of balance. Xiao Fan's eyes flashed. This was the opportunity he had endured the entire battle to create.

Without the slightest hesitation, he gathered every remaining strand of qi and every ounce of strength left within his battered body into his right fist.

"Heaven-Shattering Fist!" His punch drove straight into Qiu Han's sternum. Thud. The sound echoed across the silent arena. Qiu Han lifted off the ground and crashed backward across the ruined platform, carving a long trench through shattered stone before finally coming to rest at the edge of the arena. Silence fell. The crimson sigil dissolved into drifting sparks, fading like embers in the wind. Behind Xiao Fan, the Heavenly Lotus phantom dimmed slowly, its luminous petals folding inward. He swayed where he stood.

Across the arena, Qiu Han attempted to rise, his legs trembling, but ultimately his legs gave out. He fell. The elder's voice rang out, clear and unyielding.

"Winner, Xiao Fan." Thud. As if waiting for the announcement, Xiao Fan collapsed onto the ground. For a heartbeat, silence lingered. Then it shattered into thunderous uproar.

"Impossible!"

"How can this trash beat Senior Brother?!" They still insisted on calling him trash, even after witnessing his astonishing victory. Ning even saw a few disciples slapping themselves, as if checking whether this was all a dream. The entire arena descended into chaos. Meanwhile, Xiao Fan lay face-down on the shattered platform, snoring recklessly, utterly oblivious to the world around him. One of the universal shounen rules seemed to be that after an intense battle, the protagonist must immediately pass out.

Otherwise, how else would you explain this level of recklessness? For the record, Xiao Fan had just publicly offended an elder. In his current state, he was completely vulnerable. Thankfully, Zhou Chen was nowhere to be seen; otherwise, who knew what that hotheaded fool might attempt? Still, Ning hadn't expected much to begin with. Protagonists tended to have the survival instincts of a deer sprinting straight into headlights, which was to say, none at all.

Of course, with Xiao Fan's luck, things would probably work out anyway. Ning's lips curved upward slightly. His plan, giving Xiao Fan everything he knew and had speculated about Qiu Han's abilities, had paid off. From their earlier fight, Ning had realized that Quick, though terrifying, had flaws. In that final exchange, Qiu Han had overcommitted, and the backlash had exposed him. As the saying went, when you move faster than light, you end up in darkness.

Even with spiritual sense, Qiu Han's perception could barely keep up with his own explosive bursts. Ning's entire strategy had hinged on that single weakness. And Xiao Fan had delivered. Against overwhelming odds, he had won. And in doing so, Ning, who had gambled on that slim possibility, had struck it rich... Thanks for reading~