Chapter 13: Semi-finals! Tough Battle Against the Cute Cousin (1)
"Let's begin." Li Yaoyao got into a stance, her blazing hummingbird hovering beside her.
Nodding, Yu Tian laid Qiu Xue on his shoulder and also prepared to fight. "Come."
Li Yaoyao charged with incredible speed, a fierce look in her eyes. Yu Tian dodged her first punch with a sidestep, then ducked under a kick that was aiming for his head.
She then launched a flurry of strikes at Yu Tian. However, the former god easily dodged or blocked with smooth movements, causing Li Yaoyao to become frustrated.
Since Li Yaoyao did not have explosive strength like Li Gang, Yu Tian had confidence in withstanding her attacks. This continued to go on for about 12 more exchanges.
Finally, Li Yaoyao faked a kick upwards aiming for Yu Tian's head, causing him to raise his hands defensively.
"Got you!" She suddenly twisted around and launched another kick with the opposite foot.
Yu Tian merely smiled and caught onto her dainty feet, easily reading the feint. He retaliated with a leg sweep that caused Li Yaoyao to trip and land on her bottom.
"Ah!" The young girl cried out in annoyance.
"Haha." Yu Tian laughed goodnaturedly. "You have to try a bit harder."
Jumping back to gain distance, Yu Tian raised his hand to scratch the back of his head. A faint, pleasant fragrance filled his nostrils.
He couldn't help but start to sniff the hand that grabbed onto Li Yaoyao's foot. "Hm? So fragrant."
Li Yaoyao immediately flushed red again. She didn't know why, but seeing her younger cousin's actions and the look on his face made her feel uncomfortable.
"S-Stop that." Li Yaoyao stammered. She pouted and gave Yu Tian a dirty look.
"Huh?" Yu Tian blinked back innocently, realizing his actions were rather inappropriate. "Oh, sorry."
In all honesty, he was just curious. The scent was fresh and addicting, so Yu Tian couldn't help but sniff it more.
Girls smelled really nice.
...
Li Mei Ling facepalmed. She didn't know when her son has developed the qualities of a young master that chased flowers, but decided on giving him a lecture when the tournament ends.
"Excuse me." A voice said quietly from behind her, pulling on her sleeve.
Li Mei Ling turned around to see a little child of ambiguous gender, looking to be about the same age as Yu Tian. They were dressed in robes that she recognized to be from the Shan clan, but Li Mei Ling found that to be quite weird.
Normally, children of the other clans wouldn't be attending events such as these. They should be preparing for the inter-clan competition happening at the end of this year, supervised by the adults of their respective clans. However, this child seemed to be able to go wherever she wanted.
"Please make way for our family's young miss." A servant beside the child spoke as well.
Moving aside to give them space to pass, Li Mei Ling watched curiously as the boyish-looking girl and her servant moved past them. They were walking towards the front, where Li You Zi and Shan Dong Hai sat.
In the little tomgirl's hand, there was also a partially eaten baked potato with the skin still on.
"Grandpa, I'm here." Shan Qian Xue made her attention known when she reached Shan Dong Hai.
Thinking of the new kind of potato she would get to try, the girl's mouth began watering. Shan Qian Xue took another bite of the delicious baked potato.
The Shan patriarch looked down to find his granddaughter pulling on his sleeve. Smiling, he picked her up and sat her on his lap.
As usual, the little monster was snacking on a potato, which she obsessively loves to eat. If her parents didn't give her the name Shan Qian Xue, the old man felt that naming her Shan Tu Dou would've been more fitting.
His 8 year old granddaughter looked like a tomboy, with her short hair and slightly tanned skin. Most people would probably mistake her for a child from the villages, rather than a well-off family like the Shan clan.
In fact, if she kept eating potatoes like this while growing up, Shan Dong Hai was a bit nervous that his granddaughter would grow up to look like a potato. Not like he could do anything to stop Shan Qian Xue's habits though.
"Good child, you're finally here." Shan Dong Hai grinned sheepishly. "Now let's watch the tournament together."
Shan Qian Xue looked back, stunned. "Grandpa. Didn't you say that there was a new kind of potato here?"
Shan Dong Hai returned her look with an innocent demeanour. "Have I? Ah, I must've been mistaken in my words."
Being a smart child, Shan Qian Xue immediately grew annoyed and felt wronged. She began to punch Shan Dong Hai's chest with her small fists. "Bad Grandpa is a liar!"
The old man was thankful his cultivation was high enough, because behind each of his granddaughter's punches was unfathomable strength. Shan Qian Xue had monstrous talent in cultivation.
She would also be the Shan clan's trump card for this year's inter-clan competition.
"Watch that small boy closely, Qian Xue." Shan Dong Hai chuckled while bearing the brunt of his granddaughter's wrath.
...
Seeing that she was inferior to Yu Tian in martial techniques, Li Yaoyao decided to try her only other method. She was very surprised to see how good Yu Tian's martial arts were, especially in his skilled movements and blocks.
Her cousin usually ditched all of their martial practices and lessons, opting to read or play outside. Even when Yu Tian was caught and forced to participate, most of what he did was half-hearted and had no effort put in, frequently angering the invited instructors.
Yet right now in actual combat, Li Yaoyao was shocked to find out she couldn't get the upper hand against him. That didn't mean she was about to give up though, because the young girl wanted to win the entire tournament.
Li Yaoyao could only rely on using her martial spirit to suppress Yu Tian.
Putting her fair hands together, the young girl willed her blazing hummingbird to use its martial skill. Although it would consume large amounts of her internal Qi, Li Yaoyao had no other options left to gain the advantage.
"Go!" Li Yaoyao's blazing hummingbird began to glow and grow bigger, greedily absorbing all of the fire Qi. It flapped its wings furiously, launching out needles of flames at Yu Tian.
"Hold on, Qiu Xue." Using his left hand to support the kitten, Yu Tian activated his own ability.
[Eyes of Eternity]
Seeing the path of the attack, Yu Tian backflipped into the air with his free hand. He twisted around to avoid the hot projectiles, but was stunned when they suddenly curved backwards.
"Argh!" Crossing his arms to defend himself, Yu Tian was hit by the needles.
The attack wasn't very dangerous, but still extremely painful. Yu Tian's sleeves were partially burnt off from the flames, causing his arms to give off smoke. It was apparent that he suffered from some burns.
...
"Yu Tian!" Li Mei Ling controlled herself. As a mother, how could she not notice Yu Tian's expression of pain after being hit by Li Yaoyao's attack.
Li Chang and Li Cheung frowned, while Li You Zi continued to watch stoically. Li Yaoyao had gotten really strong these few months, and her manipulation of fire with her martial spirit might be equal to Li Hao Ran's control of flames.
They didn't know if Yu Tian would be able to succeed now. It seemed like the blazing hummingbird's attacks countered the boy's style of fighting, making them worry.
Meanwhile, Shan Qian Xue had finally calmed down. Forced to watch the tournament, she felt that there was no point once she took a glance at the two competitors.
Both were about her age, but the girl only had a mid tier high grade spirit. The boy was even worse. His martial spirit had no aura, meaning it was of the lowest grade.
Not only that, but she was also a level 8 Qi Novice while her opponent was only level 6. If even he could reach the semi-finals, Shan Qian Xue felt that the Li clan was far too weak for this generation.
Compared to her, both of them were mere insects in Shan Qian Xue's eyes.
"Stinky grandpa." The young girl muttered. Trying to take another bite of potato, her mood became even worse when she realized she had already finished it.
"Patience, child." Shan Dong Hai chuckled while patting her head softly.
He leaned in to whisper secretly to his granddaughter, who turned her head away in contempt. "If you keep watching that boy, you may be surprised."
...
"You should give up." Li Yaoyao told him calmly. "I don't want to hurt you meaninglessly."
She was happy that she could win thanks to her blazing hummingbird, but also felt pity for her younger cousin. Yu Tian's talents in martial arts were very apparent, but his martial spirit held him back from achieving great things.
Although his path to the semi-finals seemed brutal and vicious, Li Yaoyao knew that Yu Tian did so out of filial piety, taking revenge for their badmouthing of his mother. She truly respected her younger cousin in this manner.
"Beating Li Gang and coming to the semi-finals is already really impressive." Li Yaoyao comforted him. "You already did well. It's not embarrassing to give up when you've reached your limit."
"My limit?" Yu Tian questioned back. Shaking his arms to get rid of the ash, he looked defiantly toward Li Yaoyao.
It was troubling to know that his opponent could control those projectiles. Yu Tian's mind hasn't formulated a plan to counter this yet, but the battle must continue regardless.
"This isn't even close." He grinned confidently. "Bring it!"
Li Yaoyao's eyes narrowed. "Arrogant."
She charged her blazing hummingbird with more of her Qi. Her martial spirit launched another wave of flaming needles.
[Eyes of Eternity]
This time, Yu Tian was more prepared after he dodged them, keeping an eye on his back. Expecting the projectiles to curve, he preemptively lunged again, managing to avoid the needles a second time.
"How about this then?" Li Yaoyao willed the flames to converge in the air, surrounding Yu Tian.
Yu Tian looked up with his eyes and grimaced. If they all came down at once, he wouldn't be fast enough to get out of the ring in time.
If only his physique was better, or if he could use Qi techniques; then an attack like this wouldn't trouble him this much.
"Meow." Qiu Xue placed a paw gently on his cheek. His martial spirit was still on his shoulder.
Yu Tian smiled as he looked back at her. Li Yaoyao steeled her heart and swung her arm down, causing the flames to converge around them.
"Ugh." Yu Tian cried out when the needles struck him, causing a small cloud of smoke to surround his body.
When the smoke cleared, Yu Tian was on his knees, using his body to shield Qiu Xue. The kitten nuzzled him worriedly when she saw his expression of pain.
"I'm fine, Qiu Xue." Yu Tian smiled weakly, even though his back screamed in agony.
The former god used his Qi to surround himself, but it wasn't enough since he hasn't been able to convert it into an element yet. Yu Tian's cultivation still wasn't high enough.
Li Yaoyao's attack has burnt away the cloth on his back this time. White smoke still steamed and hissed from where the needles hit.
"You're already about to collapse." Li Yaoyao observed patiently. "Give up."
"Cousin, you're a great person and everything," Yu Tian slowly picked himself up from the ground, staring back at her.
He grinned defiantly. "But please shut up."
"Then I won't show any more mercy." Li Yaoyao's gaze turned cold.
The girl was already feeling fatigued from using so much Qi. Li Yaoyao knew she had to end the battle fast, or she might collapse from Qi deprivation.
Pouring out almost all of her remaining Qi to her blazing hummingbird, the needles of flame this time became twice the size and intensity.
"Go!" Li Yaoyao shot them towards the weakened Yu Tian without remorse.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Helldragon_xd
Helldragon_xd 1. Qian Xue = Thousand Snow
2. Tu Dou = potato
Compared to Yu Tian's [Eyes of Eternity], Li Yaoyao's flame attacks comes from her martial spirit, so there's no name between [ ] brackets. She is simply giving fire Qi to her blazing hummingbird, who creates the flaming needles out of them that Li Yaoyao can control, which is a martial skill.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone