Chapter : 8 : Xiao Ming Vs Xiao Zhan ( Part : 1 ) :
Location : Xiao Clan Training Ground :
At this moment sometime had past since the second elder's interference and everything calm down afterwards .
After sometime the second elder Xiao Peng decided to announce rules of the competitions which were simple and straight forward .
The battle will be one versus one unarmed combat and if someone is unable to battle or falls to the ground he or she will lose .
Additionally if someone wishes to surrender or leave the match they can do that as well - either by calling it out or stepping out of the arena .
In fact stepping out of the arena or falling out of the arena will automatically mean elimination from the competition .
Moreover if the second elder believed that someone is incapable of continuing he will personally stop the match and decide the out come of the battle .
But announcing the rules of the competition the second elder announce something bigger .
He announced that after the competition was over soon a new Dou Qi test will be conducted and in that test they will also conduct the Dou Qi affinity test .
This brought a new shock followed by a rush of excitement through the crowd of young cultivators .
This is perhaps the second most important step for any new cultivator after unlocking their Dou Qi .
It is the moment when a new cultivator finally understands what kind of Dou Qi affinity he or she has which is very important for their future cultivation path .
For example if someone has strong Dou Qi affinity for fire type Dou Qi but doesn't know that and instead practice water type Dou Qi he would be wasting his opportunities and potentials .
At the what kind of Dou Qi affinity you would have would also decide much about your cultivation path and the techniques you learn .
If you get a fire type Dou Qi affinity then your offensive capabilities will increase exponentially and you would excel at combat and if you get wood type Dou Qi affinity you would excel at healing techniques which are considered far more rare and precious .
At the same time if you get unique and rare Dou Qi affinity like Ice affinity or Megma affinity then it would mean that your chances of growing stronger would be even more but at the same time you would find difficulty at controlling your power .
Normally cultivators only have one type of Dou Qi affinity but they can also have two or more types of Dou Qi affinity if they are lucky .
At most of the time young cultivators wait very eagerly for the day when they can learn about there Dou Qi affinity .
It is much like bow many gamers do when they choose their first character class in RPG games .
They don't know what they will get and that's what makes it interesting and exciting .
After letting the importance of the announcement to set in the the second elder continued with the third piece of announcement - regarding the prize of the competition .
Here even Xiao Ming must say that the Xiao family is quite generous .
Everyone participating in the compitition no matter if he or she wins or not will get an 1st tier Body Refinement pill and 1000 gold coins .
For the person who will become the first in this competition he or she will get a tier 3 Alchemist pill and alongside that an Earth Grade item and a low tier purple grade cultivation technique and 20,000 gold coins .
For the second place price it is a third tier alchemist pill and 14,000 gold coins . Furthermore they can either choose between an earth grade item or a low tier purple grade cultivation technique .
For the third position the monetary price is around 10,000 gold coins . Furthermore they also get a tier 3 Alchemist pill and a high tier blue grade cultivation technique .
With the announcement of the prize every one's enthusiasm reached a new hight .
Although everyone knew that they had no way of actually getting the first and second position since they will almost certainly belong to Xiao Yun and Xiao Zhan , they can still go for the third position .
If Xiao Wuya had participated then even the third position would have been out of reach .
However fortunately for them he wasn't participating in this competition because apparently he was on a personal training trip with his father .
This meant that the third place was open for taking .
And Xiao Ming also had his eyes for this spot .
" Sigh ! It's not like I don't want to be number one or two but it's just too difficult . "
Both Xiao Yun and Xiao Zhan are extraordinary cultivators of his generation and are stronger than him .
For Xiao Yun no introduction is required .
Just in the last Dou Qi test she had already reached complete Qi sensing stage and with her talents it's quite normal for her to quickly stabilize her realm and improve further .
Xiao Ming even estimated that by now she must have already reached the initial core formation stage and if that's true he has no way of defeating her .
" Moreover if she is indeed the same mysterious lady from that day then I am afraid I won't last more than 10 rounds of strikes against her . " - thinking about what happened that day still brought some bad memories .
That day even though he wasn't on full alert he still should have heard footsteps of someone suddenly appearing right behind him .
But he didn't ! he didn't notice a thing until the last moment .
This already put much pressure on him .
Then when he tried sensing or judging the cultivation level of the mysterious lady he couldn't feel anything .
Whether or not it was because of her cultivation level being too high or an item that masked her cultivation level he didn't knew but neither of the two sounded anything good for him .
And if she is truly Xiao Yun then we all know how how slim Xiao Ming's winning chances are .
And as for Xiao Zhan he was not weak either .
" During the last Dou Qi exam Xiao Zhan had already reached the mid Qi sensing stage and unlike me who just reached the same level he has been at that stage for some time and already solidified his control over it . " - he thought with a troubled expression .
Just now when Xiao Zhan had an argument with Xiao Yun he was already preparing his technique to attack .
Xiao Ming who saw this scene clearly felt a massive difference between his and Xiao Zhan's power level as unlike the mysterious lady from that day Xiao Zhan never even tried to hide his true strength .
" And there's also the possibility of him already reaching the complete Qi sensing stage . " - and this wasn't an over estimation on Xiao Ming's part .
While Xiao Zhan lost continuously to Xiao Yun that doesn't erase the fact that he was a hard working prodigy himself .
One can question his actions , his behaviour but no one can question that fact the Xiao Zhan was a genius who worked hard .
Moreover he was the grandson of the fourth elder with access to a lot of resources that Xiao Ming can't even think about .
For example for Xiao Ming even the evading fist technique a mid yellow grade technique is considered a good option that he might not have gotten if not for the system .
And here he doesn't have any other choice as he only has one option .
But for Xiao Zhan he can simply choose from dozens of such techniques and pick the one best suited for him .
And this is just the beginning of the differences .
His grandfather can just bring higher level Alchemist pills and other resources for him to use without thinking about its cost .
This gives Xiao Zhan a massive advantage over the other's .
Did this make Xiao Ming envious : Yes it did .
But this also fuled his determination to become stronger because he understood what his disadvantages are and once you understand your disadvantages you learn how to use your advantages .
( Author's Note : Hello guys I hope you all are doing well . Here I made this compression between Xiao Ming's and Xiao Zhan's conditions because I wanted to depict the various differences that comes with birth and power in this cultivation world .
At the same time Xiao Ming's reaction to his disadvantages and his choices to move forward without blaming his fate and his luck shows his maturity and gives encouragement .
So I hope you will understand my point of view and share your ideas about the matter at the comment section . )
For the past few days Xiao Ming has been diligently studying Xiao Zhan's fighting styles and capabilities .
Since he did not get much information from the life simulation last time he had to use other ways to find information .
To this and the recording crystals of the clan where of much help to him .
While only limited battles were recorded in those crystals these battles often included the one's between Xiao Yun and Xiao Zhan .
Although it costed him some money to see the recording crystals the information he gained was totally worth it .
" According to data I collected for past days Xiao Zhan's fighting style is that ' the strongest offence is the best defence ' .
" Xiao Zhan uses an aggressive martial art technique style which should be at least a mid or high tier blue grade technique . "
" His fighting style is based on a continuous offensive movements where he always takes the momentum first himself not waiting for his opponent to strike him . "
" This allows him to control the flow of the battle and dictate the early terms of the fight . "
However this style of combat is not totally flawless either .
" In this offensive style he often sacrifices his defense which is something that led to his numerous defeats against Xiao Yun and once against Xiao Wuya . "
" Moreover his constant offensive style requires a lot of stamina and it is exhausting . "
So theoretically speaking one can take advantage of this flowers in his defence and stamina to defeat Xiao Zhan .
But here comes the biggest difficulty .
" Knowing that something is possible in theory and actually implementing at practically is a lot harder than it looks . "
Xiao Zhan is not a setting target he is a genius and he must know his weakness more than anyone else .
And certainly he will not give his opponents the chance to use his weakness against him willingly .
So while it was indeed possible to defeat Xiao Zhan it certainly wasn't an easy task either .
And as the things stands now Xiao Zhan was certainly stronger than Xiao Ming .
But will that mean that Xiao Ming will give up : No .
While that might be the best option if he wants to stay low key like main characters from various novels he read in his previous life , he was not like them .
" If Xiao Zhan had worked hard to get to where he is now then so have I . " - at this moment Xiao Ming thought of all he had went through since coming to this world .
All the training and efforts over the years, all those days when he came back home his body in pain from the relentless training have led him to this day .
If he backed down now it would be an insult to every effort he has done so far .
Then he looked into the sky with determination and resolve fealing his eyes .
" Mother ... Father ... Today I will fight not simply to win any price in this competition . "
" Today I will not fight because I need to prove anything to anyone else . Not to my opponents not to the clan . "
" But today I will fight and do not back down because this is what I want to do . " - he said his fist clenching in determination .
" Today your son will choose his own path . "
To Be Continued .