Li Jiye tuned out the voices of the audience and relied on displaying the full strength of Shadow Wind Steps to instantly break through the stalemate.
He hadn’t used his full strength against the Tier 2 senior yesterday, but William probably watched that match and gained an understanding of Li Jiye’s behavior and style. However, Li Jiye’s speed was now twice yesterday’s, so even with advance preparation, William still couldn’t help but be at a disadvantage.
“Hehe. I’ve already tried my best to predict your strength, but I guess I still underestimated you… But don’t tell me you think you can defeat me with just Storm Fist?”
Although Li Jiye was using Shadow Wind Steps and coming at him from different directions, William was still able to use his rapier to block all his attacks.
The defensive circle created by the rapier gleaming with a blue light seemed impeccable.
Li Jiye could only think that Polar Star Academy really had a lot of talents. It was only the second day of the knockout round, but he had already met a master. It seemed his wish to hide his strength all the way through to the championship wouldn’t come true now.
The azure brilliance on his feet suddenly converged at this moment.
When William saw Li Jiye abruptly stop in the midst of their continuous violent clashes, he couldn’t help but feel curious.
“Oh? Have you realized that your attacks are useless on me?”
Li Jiye chuckled lightly when he heard these words. He glanced at the sword in William’s hand and immediately understood something.
“You were able to predict the direction of my attack every time. Is that due to this magic weapon?”
William shook his head.
“My skill is a C-level Sword Specialization. I also have a hidden talent acquired through training. It’s called ‘Third Eye’. I can predict your every attack not because of this magic weapon, but because of this skill.”
While talking, he had closed his eyes and raised his palm.
This almost provocative action caused not just Li Jiye, but even the audience members, to suck in a deep breath.
“Interesting… Since you said Storm Fist can’t harm you, how about you get a taste of this…”
Seeing this turn of events, Li Jiye bit his lip. The corner of his lips rose slightly in the next second as he gathered his palms to his chest. A flash of azure brilliance accompanied this movement, and in the next second, a long knife was condensed out of thin air with the power of the elements.
This was one way of using his B-level Falling Leaves Deadly Knives.
However, the martial art he wanted to display wasn’t Falling Leaves Deadly Knives, even though it could finish his opponent off in an instant. He wanted to make use of the sword move he had replicated not long ago.
“Mad Knife Slash!” shouted Li Jiye, and his whole person seemed to turn into a gust of wind, stirring the audience. Li Jiye seemed to split into three figures carrying three blue sword lights from three different directions in a simultaneous attack on William.
William’s eyes widened in disbelief. Perceiving this move with his Third Eye skill, Li Jiye seemed to have truly become three clones. He hurriedly tried to intercept him with his sword set in a defensive move.
However, Li Jiye’s speed was simply too fast. Even though William’s “Third Eye” could predict the point of impact of the three swords, his speed couldn’t match up to three Li Jiyes. After blocking Li Jiye’s attacks twice with his sharp blade, a third attack superficially slashed his back as expected.
William immediately felt pain explode there. Fortunately, the slash had been made by the back of the long knife condensed in Li Jiye’s hand. Otherwise, if he had been hit by the sharp tip of this Wind Element knife, William would have been severely injured.
“You… you’re using the C-level of the martial art Mad Knife Slash?”
William’s eyes widened, and he stared at Li Jiye, flabbergasted. Before the match, he had heard from someone that Li Jiye was rather capable, so he had collected information on him in advance.
But now, to his surprise, Li Jiye, who only had a C-level Wind Element according to the database, actually used a sword technique that could only be learned by the knife-specialization martial artists.
“How could you have this martial art? Aren’t you a Wind Element master?”
Li Jiye paused upon hearing this and rolled his eyes while trying to quickly find an answer.
But before he could answer, the referee at the side coughed and broke his thoughts.
“William, you’ve lost. If Li Jiye hadn’t held back just now, you would have been seriously injured. I declare Li Jiye the winner of this round!”
Taking this opportunity, Li Jiye quickly bowed to William and the referee. Then, he quickly jumped off the ring without explaining to William how he knew Mad Knife Slash.
He made a beeline for the periphery area, past the crowd. Unexpectedly, a tall figure blocked his path.
“Huh…? Teacher Grasse?”
It was none other than Grasse, who had introduced him to Teacher Daphne.
At this time, Grasse was looking at Li Jiye with eyes full of surprise. He pursed his lips and frowned.
“Come with me. I have something to ask you.”
Grasse turned and gestured for Li Jiye to follow. Cursing inwardly, Li Jiye followed him closely, his thoughts surging wildly. By the time the two eventually entered Grasse’s exclusive office in Polar Star Academy, he had already formulated an idea in his mind.
“Tell me, what was going on with the Mad Knife Slash skill just now?”
Grasse closed the door and stared at him critically.
This was as Li Jiye expected. He remained silent for a moment and then calmly spoke.
“I’m sorry, Teacher Grasse… Actually, I’ve been hiding something from you.”
Grasse frowned and raised his chin to signal him to continue.
“Actually, I don’t only have one kind of Wind Element affinity… You’re one of the teachers who led the team to Falling Maple City a few days ago, so you should have heard of how I exhausted my elemental energy after rushing to assist in several battle zones.”
“Actually, apart from the Wind Element skill, I also have the Knife Mastery skill…”
He quickly raised his left and right hands separately, revealing two completely different cyclones condensed in his palms. One side was the turquoise Wind Element, while the other was the shadow of a long translucent knife.
Grasse was extremely surprised to see this.
It was extremely rare to see someone with dual skills. At this point, Grasse was feeling delighted to see Li Jiye’s dual-element skills.
But he quickly frowned again.
“Your… Knife Mastery is also a C-level skill?”
Li Jiye nodded, and Grasse sighed inevitably.
“I see. You can go back now… There’s no need to tell the others about your dual skill…”
The disappointment in his tone could hardly be concealed. Although dual-element skills were rare, possessing them only at C-level meant Li Jiye’s limit would be Tier 4. Every skill limited the martial artist at every level. Thus, he didn’t have high expectations for Li Jiye’s future.