As the fight went on, Jin Zhang's punches and movements got swallowed in an unrelenting tide of sword strikes. Mei Ling's figure couldn't be seen in the avalanche, all that was present was an ocean tide sound accompanied by a spray of blood.
After a quarter of an hour passed since the change in Mei Ling's attack, Jin Zhang's uproarious laughter that he had maintained all throughout the fight suddenly stopped as he fell backward with a satisfied smile on his face. He was missing all his limbs that had been smoothly sliced to mince while every part of his torso to his face was filled with deep slashing marks. His blood had a firey element to it that attempted to burn the floor every time it dripped on it, however, it was useless since the arena was built to handle the fight of even peak domain experts.
Standing a few inches away from him was the tiny Mei Ling who was completely drenched in blood from head to toe. The only visible part of her body was her eyes, which seemed zombie-like as her gaze was firmly fixed on the dismembered Jin Zhang lying in a pool of his blood. The thin sword in her hands was shaking along with her body which other than trembling was also releasing steam. She looked like she was trying to move, but for the life of her, she could not take as much as a single step, even blinking her eyes proved to be laborious.
"Winner, Mei Ling.." announced Instructor Pan, which was the cue for Yang Qing to step into the arena.
Yang Qing immediately appeared next to Mei Ling as he congratulated her, though, by the state she was in, he had doubts if she had him at all due to the pain and strain her body was in because of the art she had just executed.
The cultivation art she had just executed was the Augmented unrelenting severing sword tide art which could be considered a quasi-blue-grade art. The attack was aimed at compounding the sword strike's power and speed with every swing. Any user who used it would abandon any form of defense and would only focus on swinging the sword without pause or doubt.
It required one to have a strong will that they would not be deterred or shaken to halt their movement even if they were just about to be cut apart. The sword strikes needed to be continuous and like its name unrelenting. As long as one maintains and gradually increases the momentum and intensity of their attacks, the power and the momentum of the sword strikes would increase to the point the one being attacked would feel like they were being bombarded by an ocean tide of sword strikes with each strike weighing like an ocean. The strikes borrow that weight to increase the speeds, so other than a strong will to not pause in between the attacks, one needed a strong body to maintain the weight of the attack.
It was for this reason that Mei Ling could barely move with her body shaking. The move had drained her of every qi and strength she had if Jin Zhang had held on for a minute longer he would have been the victor as Mei Ling would have been too worn out and defenseless to do anything. However, though the Augmented unrelenting severing sword tide had a lot of demands and risks to the user, the power of its attack, especially at its peak is as strong as any low-tier blue-grade art. The only reason it wasn't yet considered one, was it needed a continuous flow of uninterrupted chain of attacks to draw out that force, whereas blue grade arts can release it at the onset.
A cool blue-green light was produced by Yang Qing which enveloped Mei Ling, healing her wounds, restoring her qi, and alleviating her fatigue and mental strain in one full motion. Mei Ling who was an unmovable boulder of stillness had a look of surprise similar to the one Ren Jie had when Yang Qing healed her.
"Will....she.....be....okay?" laboriously asked Jin Zhang in between coughing copious amounts of blood as his hazy eyes fell on Yang Qing and Mei Ling.
"She will.." answered Yang Qing.
"Good,....litt...le... gi.rl th..an..k you f..or the f...ight," said Jin Zhang with a pure child-looking smile.
Yang Qing waved his sleeves and another blue-green light enveloped Jin Zhang who was moments from passing out.
The moment the light fell on him, his wounds rapidly closed up at a speed visible to the ear, and then his limbs started regrowing. In less than a minute, Jin Zhang who was already having tea with death was pulled back and his banged-up body that had no limbs was reborn. It was like the Jin Zhang from a few seconds ago was nothing but an illusion.
Jin Zhang who had nothing but fighting in his mind was shocked even more so than Mei Ling.
"Why did you heal me?" he asked as he got up and started clenching and unclenching his fists, unsure that they were real.
"It's part of the rules of combat. As long as you have a breath in you when the winner is announced, you will receive full healing, same as the students.." Yang Qing calmly said which drew surprised looks from both the students' and the inmates' side.
Even though they heard the rule being mentioned, they didn't expect it to be upheld.
A complicated look flashed before Jin Zhang's eyes before his normal laugh and look appeared on his face.
"Well thank you, I guess. Do I get to fight again?" he asked.
"What? Do you want to fight me?" asked Yang Qing with a simple grin.
"If I was at the same realm, sure, I would love nothing more, but as I am, I doubt it will be a fight. I enjoy fights, not a single-sided beating.."
"Your fight for the day has ended, but you will be called up again. But if your level remains as it is, I doubt you will get to enjoy a lot of them.." Yang Qing meaningfully said.
Jin Zhang stared at him for a short moment which then fell on the students before finally settling on Mei Ling whose calm demeanor had returned. He laughed once more as he said,
"You may be right about that.."
He turned and left to the inmates' side while Mei Ling bowed in thanks to Yang Qing as she left for her side, leaving the arena for the next participants.
The students of the Institute won the next seven bouts after Mei Ling's fight, with three of the seven ending in the deaths of the inmates. Although none of the seven won, the win had been hard-fought to the end.
It was only when it came to the tenth fight did a change finally happened which drew a tug of smile on both Instructor Pan's and Yang Qing's lips.
"As expected.."
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