"Umm…" Lin Mu wanted to greet his opponent but was interrupted before that.
"I, Chang Fa, shall end your journey here today!" The man said with great confidence slapping his chest in a taunt.
It only made Lin Mu find the man absurder. He looked towards the referee whose lips were pressed in a thin line.
"Ahahah! I like him already!"
"What confidence! Does anyone know where he's from or something?"
"Nah, he seems like a new contestant too. I don't see him in any information booklets."
The people in the audience found Chang Fa rather funny. One could say that this was one of the other methods to quickly gain a reputation. It might not last very long, but it was quick to pull everyone's attention.
Of course, it was yet to be proven whether this was intentional on Chang Fa's part or not.
"Both contestants ready?" The referee spoke up.
Seeing that the match was going to start now, Lin Mu simply cupped his fists perfunctorily before spreading his immortal sense. He wasn't one to get caught off guard, and the first step to avoiding that was to be alert.
Chang Fa's cultivation base seemed to be at the Second Tribulation stage of the immortal realm, the highest so far in this ring as even Lin Mu's Qi cultivation base was just at the first stage.
Others couldn't sense his body cultivation after all, since all energy fluctuations were contained within his body. Even his aura was suppressed, making it seem like he was just a normal First Tribulation Stage immortal.
~huu~
Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu's expression became still as the effects of the Calming heart sutra appeared. He wasn't particularly wary about his opponent and certainly didn't think he'd lose here, but he had an inkling of a belief that his opponent was not simple.
At the very least, Lin Mu reckoned he'd get to see and learn something new.
"Ready." Lin Mu calmly said.
"Ready!" Chang Fa said as well, bringing his hands to his forehead.
Lin Mu watched as the man extended his index fingers, tucking them under the rim of his hat.
"FIGHT!" As soon as the referee said that, Chang Fa flicked his fingers upward.
~WHOOSH~
His tall hat directly flew out, revealing what was hidden underneath.
"What the…"
"Is that…"
"Hair?"
The people in the audience were caught off guard. They had thought Chang Fa was simply wearing a strangely tall hat, but they now realized it was only the start of the strangeness.
The man didn't just have a tall hat, his hair was also just as tall!
Lin Mu stared at the man with meter-long hair that stood straight up like a pillar. And before he could think much, Chang Fa spoke.
"Iron Pillar Mane Arts! First art, Iron Bow!"
The tall hair on top of Chang Fa's head suddenly elongated, turning from one meter tall to nearly eight meters tall!
~WHOOSH~
Then in the next moment, it descended towards Lin Mu.
Lin Mu's eyes were locked onto it from the start and he tracked the trajectory of the hair pillar. It fell towards him at a great speed, but Lin Mu reacted at a greater speed.
~step~
~CLANG~
The eight meter tall hair pillar crashed into the ground, making a sound similar to an iron rod being struck. But even if it had hit the ground, there was no damage to the ground and neither to the intended target.
Lin Mu had simply side stepped the incoming hair pillar. While it seemed like he had narrowly dodged it to others, it was a calculated move on his part.
"Now that's new." Lin Mu couldn't help but say, a slight smile appearing on his face.
"Be prepared to face the power of the 13th generation heir of the Iron Pillar Mane clan!" Chang Fa said, raising his head again.
~WHOOSH~
This time he moved it horizontally, intending to slam Lin Mu away, but the man simply leaped into the air, rising twenty meters effortlessly.
During the entire process, Lin Mu's sight was locked on the man's movements while his immortal sense constantly analyzed it all.
"You… are a body cultivator?" Lin Mu finally realized.
"So what if I am? You're gonna mock me?" Chang Fa said while whipping his head around.
The hair pillar moved in a circle, but Lin Mu simply leaped again.
"No, rather I'd like to see more." Lin Mu said, his smile widening.
"You wanna see more? Sure!" Chang Fa straightend his head, the hair pillar starting to split. "Iron Pillar Mane Arts! Second art, Iron Star!"
The hair pillar split into hundreds of spikes, making Chang Fa's head look like a bottle brush.
With the hair split like this, Lin Mu had less space to maneuver around, especially since flying was still not possible. This was one of the major constraints of the Tournament that everyone had to follow or rather was forced to follow.
Though it also served as a way to show just how well the experts could show their skills despite being weighed down by the limitations.
"Alright, this feels a bit concerning now." Lin Mu said, seeing that the area he could now move had reduced.
The ring was roughly a hundred meters in diameter and now Chang Fa was occupying twenty meters of that with his hair extended.
~step~
Lin Mu landed ten meters from the man, and watched his next move.
Chang Fa brought his arms close to himself before twisting around rapidly. In the next second, his body started to spin like a top, his hair acting like a deadly blender. He tilted towards Lin Mu, moving in his direction.
~SPARK~
~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~
His hair struck the ground, creating sparks and leaving scratches on it. The speed of the man only increased more, as he neared Lin Mu.
And for Lin Mu, the area to dodge was only getting smaller.
The audience watched with bated breaths as the man/hair/top threatened to shred Lin Mu.