109. Disciple Jiang
.
"Have none of you read the 'New Rules'?" A smirking Disciple Jiang asked, holding up a scroll.
"These rules state that anyone, even an elder, can challenge anyone else!" He sneered wickedly at Weiyan. "Even a junior disciple!"
"Nonsense!" Tao Yun brought out an identical scroll. "There's no such rule!"
But a citizen suddenly stood up. "Yes there is!" He held open yet another identical scroll. "It's written right here!"
What appeared on the scroll was complete jargon, and the disciples were about to laugh it off as some elaborate joke.
But the citizen looked dead serious, and soon, almost the entire crowd of citizens rose up and displayed their own scrolls of jargon.
'What is happening here?!' Most of the guests wondered.
Up in the viewing boxes, Sect Leader Xu fisted his hands in annoyance, and so did several others.
Weiyan's brows furrowed prettily, but she calmly stared at Disciple Jiang.
"Then I refuse the challenge." She said, and the guests held their breath as Weiyan turned and headed towards the sides of the stage, but then the yellow barrier suddenly pulsed and turned red.
"Ho ho, did I forget to mention?" Disciple Jiang grinned wider than ever, holding up the same scroll. "The New Rules state that one can't refuse a challenge as long as they are standing on this platform."
"Then I forfeit. You win."
"Heh! The New Rules also state that no one can forfeit unless mortally wounded!"
There were shocked murmurs from the numerous Sects present, as Xu Min and the rest instantly attempted to rescue Weiyan from the platform.
But none of them could get past the red barrier.
"Little Sister! Hang in there!" Xu Min called out, as he, Xu Wen, and Tao Yun all directed their strongest attacks at the unrelenting barrier.
Meanwhile, Sect Leader Huo scowled down at Disciple Jiang.
"Little Jiang heir, you're from my sect, so I'll give you a chance. Get off that platform now, and you might lessen your punishment afterwards." Sect Leader Huo warned, but Disciple Jiang simply smirked.
"Forgive my disrespect, Sect Leader." He didn't even bother bowing. "But Zhang Cheng of Yueyan Sect is a junior close to my heart. Considering recent events, must I swallow this foul breath?"
"You're farting through your mouth!" Li San yelled, shocking Xu Min and the rest. It was Zhang Cheng and his current wife who were wrong! What do you know?! Don't hear of 'one and two', then go out and speak of 'three and four'!
Disciple Jiang shrugged. "I don't care who was right or wrong! My junior was offended, so Xu Weiyan is my enemy...! And I've also been promised glorious rewards for taking her down! No one will stop me today!"
Sect Leader Huo said nothing, but his powerful aura suddenly shot out towards Disciple Jiang.
However, it dissolved upon hitting the red barrier, and a soft voice thundered.
"No one is permitted to interfere from outside the platform." They could not see him, but knew the voice. It was the strange and elegant Gatekeeper.
"Oh? Then I challenge this Disciple Jiang." Sect Leader Xu said.
But the Gatekeeper replied. "No one from the elevated seats are permitted to duel."
"Nonsense!" Sect Leader Ju of Yunchi Sect shot to his feet. "This is deliberately making things difficult for us! Are we expected to simply watch while shameless seniors challenge the juniors?!"
"Exactly!" Sect Leader Kang challenged, a pissed look on her face. "Are you taking us all for wall hangings?!"
"City Master..." Sect Leader Xu spoke calmly, but his voice thundered, "We have swallowed Yu Shui's insults for a while, from being forced to journey here, to this ridiculous seating arrangements which won't even let us see your faces...
"Do you also expect us to sit and watch our children fall into danger?!"
This caused an uproar, and more Sect Leaders and Elders flew from their seats to confront the City Master, while others directed their energies to breaking the platform's barrier.
A few remained seated however, watching the chaos with barely concealed smirks, till...
"Hmph. Who do you think you are?" The Gatekeeper calmly asked, and with a single swish of his brush, every last one of them were suddenly back in their seats, a new barrier surrounding them.
This included Sect Leader Huo, with a few notable Wulin Elders stronger than him, and there was instant silence in the Arena.
"We offered you seats, so be grateful and 'sit' in them." The Gatekeeper finished.
A member of the Wulin tried breaking the new barrier at once, but his attempts failed, and all hope fizzled from their faces as they watched him suffer an instant backlash which nearly knocked him out, causing him to spew out worrying amounts of blood.
If the most powerful amongst them could not break out, then what hope was there for them?!
"Begin." The Gatekeeper calmly thundered, and Sect Leader Xu watched in horror as Disciple Jiang approached Weiyan...
Meanwhile, in the crowd below, shadowy wraiths were slowly weaving around the feet of the unsuspecting spectators, and a large red formation glowed beneath the entire arena.
Back at the platform, Disciple Jiang suddenly attacked Weiyan with a large spiked meteor hammer.
(*spiky metal ball swung around with chains. I know it as a spiky meteor hammer... not sure about the correct name!)
At first, it was simple enough for Weiyan to evade, but then a soft woosh sounded behind her, and she only narrowly evaded, leaping some distance away.
Disciple Jiang stood to one side, but the spiky ball which had nearly hit Weiyan hung on the other side from a chain dangling in...
'Mid air...?' Weiyan stared in confusion. It was as if an invisible entity held the chains.
But then she quickly leapt again as another ball of spikes hurtled towards her.
More and more of the balls shot at her, forcing her to evade, and whenever she darted to attack Disciple Jiang, a spiked ball would block her path, cutting off her attack.
Disciple Jiang laughed from where he stood. "Heh! Good luck evading my 'Meteor Shower'! They can appear wherever I want!
"After you're reborn, pray you don't run into me or Xiaocheng (Zhang Cheng)!" He yelled as Weiyan evaded a particularly violent hammer. "Xiaocheng decided to marry a nameless orphan like you! That's a blessing you acquired over several lifetimes!
"Instead of being grateful, you embarrassed him with that Zhang trash?! Ha! Let me tell you, I've been honing my skills specially to destroy you, so don't bother!
"My meteor hammers grow stronger and faster each time your aura flares, so you have no chance at surprising me!"
"Ummm..." Weiyan landed on the other side of the platform. "I thought it was odd that they could predict my moves. So you're reading my aura. But to do that, you must be using something personal of mine as an aura talisman.
"Explain yourself. You see, my husband is a bit jealous... I can't have it being said that I gifted you a personal keepsake." She wrinkled her nose. "He'll also question my taste. You're too unpleasant to the eyes..."
"You-!" Disciple Jiang took a threatening step forward, but halted. "Hmph! open your eyes and see! I indeed have a 'gift' from you!" He held out a hand, revealing a beautiful white jade hairpin.
He smirked as it hovered in place. "Can we call this a 'Love Token'?!"
Weiyan's brows bent into a pretty scowl, and her white flames swirled around her feet.
Luoyin had personally placed that jade hairpin in her hair, the day after they had confirmed their love, but it had mysteriously vanished during a mission, leaving her surly and sleepless for the days following its disappearance.
It had taken Luoyin's cajoling and a new hairpin from him to cheer her up a bit, so it was with no small annoyance that her eyes presently narrowed at the hovering hairpin, especially on the dark talisman lines on one small edge.
"So you aren't just ugly, you're also a thief..."
"You-!!!" Disciple Jiang's aura rose around him in a dense, deep purple cloud. He had shown the hairpin to annoy Xu Weiyan, so why should he be the angry one?!
"Since you have no respect for seniors, then die for me!" He yelled, and his hands moved swiftly in a number of seals.
A criss-cross of chains and spikes suddenly appeared flying towards Weiyan, their deathly reflections growing bigger in her irises.
But...
"Hmph." She vanished suddenly, appearing right before Disciple Jiang.
Disciple Jiang only escaped the swing of that elegant white sword by a hair's breadth, and sweat now dripped from his brow. "What did you-?!" There was a spray of blood, and the hand holding the pendant was suddenly separated from his body.
Weiyan landed a distance away, the white jade hairpin in her hand, though now decorated by bright red splatters.
"Such an important item... Who permitted you to touch it?!"
"Aaargh!!" Disciple Jiang had fallen to his knees, and his agonized scream rang through the arena as he grasped his bloody stump of a forearm. "You nameless Bxxch! I'm going to end you!"
His aura raged and the platform was suddenly filled with a gridlock of spiky chains rising from ground to sky, restrained only by the gleaming red barrier, and the entirety of spiky chains were closing in around Weiyan, leaving barely any space for escape.
"Ahahahaha!" Disciple Jiang's deranged laughter filled the air as Weiyan appeared here and there, trying to evade the spiky chains. "I'm going to rip you to shreds and send you back to the nothingness of your origins!"
He let go of his bloody stump and held out his remaining hand, then closed it into a sudden fist.
And in a split second, the spiky chains completely constricted into a knot of endless spikes, seemingly impaling and crushing Weiyan within...
.