"Oh!" Ning was a little surprised. "Are you not trying to have some fun?"
"Why would I want to have fun?" the man asked. "I came here to complete my mission. Anyone who stands in my way will be defeated."
"Oh, okay," Ning said. 'Weird, I thought he would want to have fun like me. Maybe I misunderstood.'
The man in front of him used a sword to slash at Ning. The sword threw out a brilliant glow of golden light that destroyed space as it traveled.
Ning noticed the power behind the attack and it wasn't something the people he was fighting against earlier could have survived at all.
'Well, he isn't holding back alright,' Ning thought. However, just because the other person didn't want to have fun didn't mean he wasn't going to continue.
Ning pulled out his spear and swung it as well, sending an attack that was of almost the same strength as the attack he was countering.
The two forces collided and neither one of them came out victorious.
The man in front of Ning was surprised. He hadn't expected Ning to be so strong at all. "You are hiding your strength too?" he asked.
"Hey, don't go spoiling the fun. Just fight," Ning said.
"Are you here for him?" the man asked.
"Here for who?" Ning asked.
"The champion," the man said.
Ning looked a little surprised. "How did you know?" he asked.
"Of course," the man said to himself. "We were stupid enough to think only we noticed."
Ning's eyes narrowed. "What are you planning exactly?" he asked.
"Don't act innocent, bastard! You know exactly what we want," the man said and prepared his next attack.
A fiery bird appeared in the sky, one that burned with blue flames and came diving down towards Ning.
Ning smiled a little and snapped his fingers. A fiery bird of his own appeared one that burned with blue flames as well, looking eerily similar to the man's attack.
The man was surprised how Ning knew their signature skill, but the truth was Ning was forcing his way into making the bird with all the Qi he had.
The two birds collided, and flames rained from the sky all around them.
The referee who was much weaker than the two had to quickly get off the stage and go far away. The fire burned the stage beneath the two, leaving holes of molten rock behind.
The man Ning was fighting looked shocked once again to see how easily Ning was fighting him.
"Too strong," the man said softly under his breath. "I will need help."
Ning's eyes narrowed when he heard that and increased his senses. Just then, he caught a divine sense falling onto the man and intercepted the words that came in through the sense.
"Fall back for now."
The man's face looked conflicted, but he accepted. "I give up," he said and walked away. Ning remained on the stage, victorious as ever, but he no longer gave any thought to his victory.
The people came to mend the stage while the referee announced his victory, but Ning's sense remained on the one that had just left.
He followed the man with his sense and saw where he went. The man went to meet with 2 more people that wore similar robes as his own.
"I'm sorry, I failed," the man said.
"It's fine. Even without you, our plan will go accordingly," a gruff voice spoke.
"Let's just wait for that man to win it all."
Ning couldn't help but wonder what exactly their plan was, but he was going to be here for all of it. There was no way he was going to miss so much fun.
The next couple of opponents were easy for him and after the fight with the mysterious man he felt no need to continue fighting them to have fun. He just wanted to see their end goal now.
After fighting 10 or more different fighters, Ning was approaching the moment when he no longer had any opponents to fight.
Then finally, after beating one more person, he had defeated all but the champion.
The crowd started chanting his name loudly as they now believed they were finally going to have a new champion.
Ning waited quietly, preparing for his final opponent in the arena. The Champion.
The doors opened on the other side and a young-looking man with a maniacal look on his face walked out.
The champion wore no clothes for his upper body and which showed off his dark-skinned body that looked almost chiseled out from a block of marble. His long hair curled slightly as it fell to his shoulders and his eyes looked like they were craving for a fight.
He jumped from where he was and landed on the stage with a bang, sending dust flying everywhere.
The ground shook at his arrival and the crowd went silent for a moment.
He took a deep breath and raised his hands, stretching them out wide. "Your champion is here!"
With those four words, everyone forgot about Ning and started chanting for the champion.
"BLUE! BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!"
Ning smiled as he watched the blue-haired humanoid dragon in front of him. He was happy to see the silly flood dragon doing quite well for himself.
'High Immortal 2nd Realm. That's not bad,' Ning thought as he sensed Blue's cultivation base. Unlike Aegis, Blue descended from the True Dragons, so his bloodline had knowledge of how a dragon could reach the pinnacle of cultivation.
As such, he didn't have to be unable to cultivate once he reached the Immortal realm, unlike many others.
"My friend, you have done well getting here," Blue spoke. "But this is the end of your journey, for your opponent is me, Blue!"
Ning couldn't help but smile even wider when he heard that. Blue didn't recognize him at all.
How even could he? After all, Ning had changed his name and appearance entirely before coming to the arena.
Everyone chanted for Blue and soon enough there was no one on Ning's side at all. Still, they weren't here to see two people, but to see them fight, so the referee started the match immediately.
"Let us fight until one of us can no longer," Blue said and moved his arms. Suddenly, water burst out from all around him and covered the entire stage. The referee who was used to his fighting style moved away immediately and let the stage fill with water.
Ning started flying and looked around at the water that filled the stage. Blue did well in water and could even heal in it, and now he had made a place for himself where he could fight to his heart's content.
"Not bad," Ning said softly and looked toward Blue. "You've certainly improved."
Blue got a little confused by the comment, but with the spirit of fighting burning in him, he quickly forgot about it and charged with an attack.
Streams of water flowed out from the water domain Blue had created and slammed upward. Ning dodged what he could and punched the others to destroy them.
"Oh!" he thought with a surprised look on his face. The attacks while coming from a High Immortal cultivator, had the power of a True Immortal cultivation base.
Ning's smile widened when he realized what had happened. 'He's finally a True Dragon,' he thought.
Blue no longer had the blood of a True Dragon but had evolved to become a True Dragon. Ning could not be any happier at the news.
"Hahaha! Good! Great!" he shouted back as Blue continued attacking him with plumes of water sprouts.
Blue continued attacking but soon realized that he wasn't getting anywhere. Ning was destroying or evading every single one of his attacks.
"You're good, my friend. It seems I will have to get serious as well," Blue said. A blue halo started appearing around him.
Ning was prepared for whatever attack was going to come next when he heard something crack.
Both he and Blue stopped and turned to the side to see the barrier that was protecting the audience crack open.
The 3 mysterious figures from before entered the stage and surrounded Blue.
"Hey, we're fighting. What are you doing?" Blue asked.
The 3 didn't answer Blue. One of them turned towards Ning and said, "this fight is over. You can leave."
Ning stayed where he was with his arms crossed and was going to see how this would play out.
"Who are you three? Why are you messing with my fight?" Blue asked.
"We are here to confirm something," one of them said. He brought out some sort of device and dropped it to the ground. The device fell into the water the Blue had created, and suddenly a pulse of energy was shot out from it.
Ning felt his concealment being attacked when the pulse passed through him. At the same time, Blue was attacked by the pulse as well.
However, instead of his concealment being targeted, it was his transformation.
Blue scales appeared all around his face as his fingers grew longer and sharp nails appeared around them. His back bulged a bit and his clothes threatened to rip.
The pulse came once again and the changes became even more apparent.
The continuous pulse kept forcing Blue to change but even just the start of it was enough to convince the three that they were here for the right cause.
"As expected!" the older man with the gruff voice said. "You really are a Dragon."
