Chapter 91 - The Traits That Need To Go

The golden walls disappeared, and the trees returned. The only change to forest from before was the ground they stood on which was still black.

Frost stepped forward and ran towards Cheng Xiu, an Ice Lance forming in her left hand and a shield on the right.

Cheng Xiu created a whip made of the Ghost Flame and lashed it towards Frost.

The blue-clad woman side-stepped the attack.

Cheng Xiu dashed forward, her gaze still in the predatory trance she fell into.

Her Carp Sword met Frost's shield in the air.

The two tried with all their might to push the other away.

Frost was surprised by how hard it was for her to just push her opponent. She had underestimated the base points that Cheng Xiu had put in her Stats slots. That was the only way that her physical prowess could be so strong. Speed and strength had to be equal.

Frost backstepped.

Cheng Xiu charged forward, slashing against Frost left and right, as she circled the blue-clad woman.

Frost struggled just to shield herself and was unable to attack Cheng Xiu.

Frost had learned that the Lance was an extremely flexible fighting style but she realised that against an opponent like Cheng Xiu who learned her fighting style easily, having a theoretical understanding was not enough.

Frost glared, refusing to give in.

She jumped back.

Frost thrust her Lance down at Cheng Xiu.

Cheng Xiu deflected the weapon's trajectory by spinning away from its point and tried to chop Frost's head off.

Frost threw the shield in her had towards Cheng Xiu's wrist, making her lose her girp on the hilt of her sword and take her hand away from the shield's trajectory.

Frost used her free hand to create a second lance that she aimed towards Cheng Xiu's midriff.

Cheng Xiu ducked and grabbed the handle of her sword.

Frost aimed the lance down.

Cheng Xiu used the momentum to grab hold of Frost's thrown away shield and blocked the attack.

Cheng Xiu jumped to her feet, spinning her sword around in her hand.

Frost glared.

Cheng Xiu's flexibility and her agility the girl's greatest strength at the moment, and for Frost, they were the greatest obstacle. Even when she attacked the Qi Root as a distraction, the other girl's high reaction speed made it hard to use that advantage to its fullest potential.

Frost transformed the lance in her hand to a longsword, and rushed towards Cheng Xiu, an idea forming in her mind.

Cheng Xiu frowned. Why would Frost engage her in a direct conflict of swords? Did the woman forget that Cheng Xiu had good swordship? Cheng Xiu did not consider Frost to be such a person. She was sure that there was a reason for her movements.

Cheng Xiu's golden eyes dimmed as her thoughts turned. The trance state that she was in now was similar to that of how she was when she first fought with that old man in the grassland as she replaced her clone. She would react on instinct.

But Cheng Xiu could not allow herself to fall into the trance completely. She was fighting hard not to because, the way she learned to fight from the old man NPC was through multiple deaths, and in the arena, a single death meant that it was game over for her. Then she would have to listen to these Immortals, agree to their terms, accept their demands. And Cheng Xiu hated to be forced to do something.

So she couldn't die. She would not allow herself to die here, in the hands of this woman. She only had this one match, now was not the time for her to back down, to lose.

She side stepped Frost's attack.

Frost glared as she tried to thrust at Cheng Xiu's heart again.

Frost was trying to get closer to her.

Cheng Xiu took a step back as she thought so. She needed to figure out why the woman would-

Cheng Xiu's mind churned. Her senses went to the Qi Root below her feet underground.

She searched the Qi Root's Qi collection to find out if Frost had a tracking ability.

And there it was.

Cheng Xiu felt the small pulse of Frost's Qi in her creature's presence.

So this was how the woman kept tracking the Qi Frost, and kept attacking it. She used her own Qi to tag it.

Cheng Xiu thought so far, of how their fight has been going, all the attacks that Frost had used. From the Ice blades and Sickle Blades to the Longsword that she carried in her hand.

What were the chances that Frost would actually risk draining her Qi by attacking Cheng Xiu with repeated transformation of her weapons? Cheng Xiu did not think that the expert was so dense as to use a tactic that did not have a chance of succeeding. That meant, Frost had a plan to make use of her drained Qi to make Cheng Xiu weaker than her.

How?

Cheng Xiu stepped away from Frost even more, keeping a 5 meter radius between them.

Cheng Xiu could not think of a reason for Frost's thoughts and realised her error. She was thinking in terms of Frost's advantages and disadvantages.

Perhaps she needed to think about this fight from the point of view of herself. What advantage did SelaXiu had that Immortal Frost knew of?

Cheng Xiu's mind seemed to be lagging as it could not come up with a thought immediately.

Her swordsmanship? No. That couldn't be it. If it was that, the Expert would not engage her in a sword fight.

Her intelligence? Though Cheng Xiu liked to believe that was her greatest trait, she felt that could not be it either. The immortal had seen her fights until now, and knew her mind a bit.

Cheng Xiu's thoughts went to the one advantage that she had over everyone before.

Her Stats.

Cheng Xiu had a more balanced stat, and their total fighting capability was greater than that of the Immortals that she fought so far.

So her strength?

But how would the Immortal block her strength that was so innate to her?

Their power struggle with the shield and the sword must have triggered the thought process, if the Stats were the advantages that Frost was considering now.

As she pulled the ice shield in front of her to protect her front from Frost's thrust Cheng Xiu's mind went to the brief exchange that she had with Frost, right before the blue-clad woman summoned the longsword. She had taken the ice shield and used it to block the lance that came for her life.

What did this action show?

Speed? Quickness? Agility? Flexibility?

Cheng Xiu thought which one of these could Frost affect. Her thought process went on it circles until she realised something.

Why should it be just one? Why not all of them?

Cheng Xiu jumped away again.

Frost's blade thrust into the tree that Cheng Xiu had used to propel herself.

The tree turned into ice crystals and turned into dust.

Cheng Xiu frowned. What skill did Frost have that would allow her to attack all those attributes of Cheng Xiu?

Cheng Xiu's mind catalogued the skills Frost exposed until now, and finally her mind came up with a theory. A theory that Cheng Xiu was a bit excited and frightened by.. If it was that, she had to admit that Frost was the most dangerous person she had faced until now.