Unmatched Warrior – Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Confronting Jiang Bu

“The winner! Lin Tianyi from Stone Village!”

“Now, the two finalists have been determined. It will be Jiang Bu from Jiang Village against Lin Tianyi from Stone Village! Please wait patiently while the contestants take a short break. The final match will begin soon!”

Under the referee’s arrangement, Lin Tianyi returned to the lounge to meditate and recover his Qi.

Meanwhile, the arena staff and various small vendors were weaving through the audience, hawking their goods.

In the VIP room of the arena, City Lord Liu Fangrui and his family slowly walked in.

After everyone was seated, a subordinate who had been waiting for a long time stepped forward to report the results of the matches.

“This Lin Tianyi is quite good. After the competition, we’ll visit Elder Fang and chat with this young man,” Liu Fangrui instructed after listening.

“Father, I don’t understand.” The sixteen-year-old Young City Lord Liu Chengrong, who had been reading Lin Tianyi’s file, looked up and asked.

“What don’t you understand?”

“Compared to Jiang Bu, you seem to value Lin Tianyi more.”

“In your opinion, Jiang Bu is an extremely rare dual cultivator of Spirit and Martial Arts, while Lin Tianyi is just an ordinary martial artist, so we should focus our attention on Jiang Bu, right?”

Seeing his son nod, Liu Fangrui smiled.

“Your idea isn’t wrong, and most people would choose the same. But that also means Jiang Bu will be surrounded and sought after by many people. How high do you think the cost of us trying to curry favor with him would be in that situation?”

“But Lin Tianyi is different. His talent isn’t low, and his future achievements won’t be bad either. When Jiang Bu steals all the attention, our goodwill towards him will seem all the more precious. Giving charcoal in the snow is far more valuable than adding flowers to brocade.”

“What’s more, he’s Elder Fang’s disciple. Although Elder Fang has retired from the Ironclad Army, his influence within the Ironclad Army is still unmatched!” A glint flashed in Liu Fangrui’s eyes.

“I understand,” Liu Chengrong nodded thoughtfully.

…………

After the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Lin Tianyi opened his eyes.

“The competition is about to begin! Please welcome the two finalists to the stage. They are Jiang Bu, the nine-year-old contestant from Jiang Village, and Lin Tianyi, the ten-year-old contestant from Stone Village!”

Amidst the cheers of the audience, Lin Tianyi and Jiang Bu walked onto the arena, facing each other directly.

Jiang Bu still had his long hair covering his face, but he had changed into a black outfit. What was eye-catching were the two black and white sleeves, which were extra long and dragged a long way on the ground, completely hiding his hands, making it impossible to see what was real and what was not.

This opponent, who cultivated both Spirit and Martial Arts, already had unpredictable attacks. Now that he had changed into an outfit with unknown uses, Lin Tianyi raised his guard even higher.

The match began, and Lin Tianyi launched the first attack, throwing a tentative punch at Jiang Bu.

As if he had seen through Lin Tianyi’s thoughts, Jiang Bu didn’t use the Vortex Force Field, but instead used True Energy to counterattack.

The two black and white sleeves came at him, making him dizzy and giving him the feeling that his mind was being drawn into them.

Lin Tianyi subconsciously used his Mental Strength to protect his eyes, which dispelled the visual impact. Anyone else would likely have been hit directly.

As soon as they made contact, Lin Tianyi determined that Jiang Bu’s Realm was approaching the Second-Order level.

“Hey, if I hadn’t activated my Mental Strength, dealing with your move would have been a real pain.”

Thinking this, Lin Tianyi directly raised his power to the Second-Order and threw a punch.

As the fist wind howled towards Jiang Bu, Lin Tianyi suddenly heard a soft laugh, and the Vortex Force Field appeared.

A strong suction force appeared directly in front of the fist wind, pulling Lin Tianyi forward at an even faster speed.

Jiang Bu took a step to the side, raised his hand to strike, using the same move he used to deal with Qin Feng.

Lin Tianyi snorted coldly, exerted his strength to break free from the suction, and turned around, slamming an elbow into Jiang Bu, who was close at hand.

Jiang Bu didn’t move, but floated backwards, while raising his arm and waving the long sleeve to meet the attack.

There was a soft “pa” sound.

The tip of the elbow and the cuff collided, and the force of the impact rippled through the sleeve, layer upon layer, surging towards Jiang Bu’s arm.

But at this moment, Lin Tianyi secretly cried out that things were bad.

The sensation at the moment of contact with the sleeve told him that he had indeed hit something solid, but he didn’t feel any counterforce, as if he had hit empty air.

But the power gathered at the tip of his elbow was like a flood that had burst its banks, flowing out unimpeded, making his meridians feel empty and uncomfortable.

This overlapping and contradictory feeling of emptiness and solidity made Lin Tianyi feel so sick he wanted to vomit blood, and his body fell into a stiff state.

Jiang Bu had only taken two steps back when the long sleeve was folded near his fingertips.

He suddenly leaned backwards, raising his arm, and the ripples then pressed against the front of his palm, layering more and more against each other.

When he leaned back to a certain angle, Jiang Bu’s body snapped straight as if a rubber band had been bent to its limit and suddenly snapped back, and his raised palm slammed down heavily.

Bang!

A powerful force erupted, instantly straightening the long sleeve, which had been covered in wrinkles, and all the ripples bounced back, with the cuff heading straight for Lin Tianyi’s elbow.

Bang!

The sound of an explosion rang out at the point of impact, and Lin Tianyi was thrown backwards by the powerful force, landing safely after several somersaults in the air, with a trace of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

“So strong!”

This scene was seen by Qin Feng and the others at ringside, and they all looked at each other in dismay.

You should know that Lin Tianyi, who had cultivated the Body Tempering Art, was surprisingly durable.

In a head-on collision, he himself only took two steps back, but he sent Lin Tianyi flying and caused him internal bleeding. Jiang Bu’s strength was truly unexpected.

Reaching out to wipe away the blood remaining at the corner of his mouth, Lin Tianyi felt the fighting spirit ignite in his heart.

He didn’t expect Jiang Bu’s Force Field to not only be able to attract and restrain, but also to absorb and reflect power. Coupled with the influence the long sleeves had on him, he had suffered a considerable hidden loss.

“It seems this Force Field not only works on space, but can also be used on physical objects like sleeves. I have to find a way to break this technique of using the opponent’s power against them, otherwise I’ll be too passive.”

While he was thinking, Jiang Bu moved and took the initiative to attack.

Lin Tianyi’s eyes widened as he poured Mental Strength into them. After seeing the trajectory of the attack clearly, he stretched out his hands to grab Jiang Bu’s long sleeves.

“Watch me tear you apart!”

But the moment his hands grabbed the long sleeves, Lin Tianyi’s expression changed drastically. Jiang Bu’s long sleeves were smooth and soft, and covered with a thin Mental Strength film. The sleeves moved freely in his palms, making them impossible to hold.

Jiang Bu’s figure flickered erratically, moving so fast that it left behind afterimages. Coupled with the skillful manipulation of the long sleeves, it not only confused the vision, but also made the attacks even more unpredictable, dazzling the eyes. It was as if several people were attacking Lin Tianyi at the same time.

If he couldn’t break the sleeves, he could only respond to each move.

Facing the rapid attacks coming from all directions, Lin Tianyi waved his arms like an Eight-Armed Arhat, blocking each attack one by one, while restraining his True Energy to avoid Jiang Bu using the same trick again to use his power against him.

Just as the attacking and defending sides were at a stalemate.

Lin Tianyi suddenly felt Vortex Force Fields flashing around him, and complex pulling forces came from all directions.

Lin Tianyi was caught off guard in an instant, feeling like they had just taken off their training gear. He couldn’t accurately control his strength, and defending was even more mentally exhausting than before.

“No wonder Zhou Yi had so much trouble dealing with it. It really is troublesome.”

This was the move Jiang Bu used when he fought Zhou Yi!

The chaotic Force Field, which was sometimes light and sometimes heavy, combined with the elusive attacks of the long sleeves, made it impossible to defend against. Even though Lin Tianyi had Mental Strength to help him control his power, it was still quite difficult to deal with.

“If I defend for too long, I’m bound to lose. I can only try that move!”

Having made up his mind, Lin Tianyi blocked an attack and then stretched out his arms, using one foot as an axis to spin rapidly in place like a top.

As the speed of rotation increased, the outstretched arms drew afterimages. The afterimages were connected together, forming a shadow wall that blocked all of Jiang Bu’s attacks.

Moreover, after rotating in the center, he also successfully broke Jiang Bu’s move. The influence of the pulling forces coming from all directions on Lin Tianyi was already negligible.

Elder Fang, who was watching the battle from the sidelines, was stunned when he saw this scene. He turned to Qin Feng and the others and asked, “Is this the solution you guys came up with after the match, the one you told me was quite useful?”

“Yes, the Force Field is all around, pulling and pushing. This move can break free from the Force Field’s obstruction and defend against attacks, so isn’t it quite useful?” Seeing that Elder Fang seemed to have a displeased expression, Song Le, who was injured, stood up with a stiff face.

“Not to mention how long this rotation can last, it’s hard to say whether you can accurately grasp the direction of the attack to defend at this speed. Before the opponent even makes a move, you’ll faint from dizziness. Is this how I usually teach you to think about problems?”

Elder Fang glared at him, puffing out his beard.

Song Le shrank his head and replied, “The method we thought of wasn’t to spin like this. We just wanted to spin a little when the Force Field interfered to break the obstruction. Didn’t you say that Mental Strength is difficult to recover? Our idea was to win by exhausting his Mental Strength.”

“Not to spin like this? If it’s according to what you said before, then it might be feasible, but why is Tianyi doing this?” Elder Fang was stunned and asked again.

“We don’t know,” the three little ones looked at each other and answered in unison.

On the field, Lin Tianyi used the momentum of the rotation to approach Jiang Bu. Jiang Bu seemed to have discovered the shortcomings of the rotation as well, cautiously maintaining his distance and using the Vortex Force Field to change Lin Tianyi’s direction of advance, making him go around in circles and unable to get close.

After a long stalemate, Lin Tianyi seemed to realize that this kind of slow approach was ineffective. He kicked off with one foot and pounced towards Jiang Bu while rotating in the air. Having gotten rid of the interference of the Force Field, his speed increased a lot.

Jiang Bu smiled slightly and easily dodged, because he had noticed that the direction Lin Tianyi was pouncing in was slightly off, indicating that Lin Tianyi’s sense of direction had begun to blur under the rapid rotation.

Missing the first pounce, Lin Tianyi jumped up again, a second time, a third time. As the number of times increased, the deviation in direction also became larger and larger, but Jiang Bu always cautiously avoided him from a distance. Until the fifth time, Lin Tianyi had completely deviated. Even if Jiang Bu stood still, they would have missed each other by nearly half a meter.

After landing, Lin Tianyi stopped rotating, staggering around with dizziness, as if he were drunk, almost falling to the ground several times.

The comical posture drew laughter from the entire arena, and Qin Feng and the others covered their eyes in shame.

Just as everyone was laughing and Jiang Bu had relaxed his vigilance.

Lin Tianyi, who seemed about to fall to the ground, suddenly kicked off and rushed towards Jiang Bu along the ground. The speed was so fast that Jiang Bu didn’t even have time to react before he was hit. Lin Tianyi’s headbutt heavily struck Jiang Bu in the abdomen.

“Pfft!”

Jiang Bu’s body arched and flew out at an extremely fast speed, reaching the edge of the arena in the blink of an eye.

“He won!”