Jiang Chen wasn't very sure about it.
It wasn't that he wasn't confident about defeating Gao Tiange, but he wasn't sure he could control himself and not kill Gao Tiange while defeating him.
He hadn't yet completely mastered the first movement of the Sword Method of Ksana. Under such tricky conditions, it would be extremely difficult for him to defeat his rival without killing him.
No one had ever been killed in the competition of the Sacred Institute. Such fights usually ended when one of the two was defeated.
Even Gao Tiange only had the will to fight, not the will to kill.
It would be against his beliefs to exert a killing movement in order to win a fight. It wouldn't do him any good, either.
Most importantly, even if he won that way, it wouldn't be a victory he was proud of.
Unless they both agreed to a life-or-death fight, if he made an all-out attack while Gao Tiange was holding back, people would regard him as a dirty fighter.
He wouldn't get an apology from Fang Yi, either, and she would go mad because of her son's death.
But if he didn't attack, he would lose!
He had mingled the creation of wind, the creation of metal, and the elevation of the sword. The creation of metal could do nothing to fire. He was relying on the creation of wind.
Fine. I'll just try my best!
Jiang Chen decided to stop overthinking. He calmed down and exerted the creation of nature and martial arts techniques. He was completely focused on the fight.
The sudden change had brought him good results. Gao Tiange's fire weakened after he had managed to stand steadily.
"The Rainbow Sword Method: Three Movements in One!"
Jiang Chen seized the momentary chance to attack with his sword.
The three dazzling sword attacks pierced into the sea of fire from three separate angles, posing a threat to Gao Tiange.
Among the Gaos, Fang Yi stood up, anxious.
Gao Tiange was hanging by a thread, but suddenly, the flames closed to envelop him.
Jiang Chen's hand holding the sword felt hot, but he chose to ignore it and went on with the attack.
After three cracking sounds, Gao Tiange, who had turned into a man made of flames, retreated to the opposite corner of the platform. When the flames had disappeared, people saw two startling sword wounds, one on his arm and another on his cheek.
"Tiange!" Fang Yi was heartbroken. If there hadn't been so many people present, she would have started to curse Jiang Chen.
However, Jiang Chen's left hand was burned black, too.
The Redcloud Sword was so hot that he had to throw it onto the ground for a moment.
"All right. You two are tied." The Dean of Students went onto the platform to announce the result.
If Gao Tiange and Jiang Chen insisted on continuing the fight, no matter who won, both of them would have to pay a heavy price. That wasn't something the Sacred Institute wanted to see.
"Both of you have received outstanding grades," Shi Wengong said.
"Dean of Students, please don't interrupt the fight. I haven't been taking it seriously, but now I'll try my best. He'll soon lose." Gao Tiange wiped the blood off his face. Fortunately, the wound wasn't so deep that it deformed him.
"I've been enjoying the fight, too," Jiang Chen said.
Shi Wengong frowned. He wasn't very happy. He thought the two were being senseless, but he couldn't stop them under the gaze of so many people, so he said, "I'll give you fifteen minutes. If the fight doesn't end in fifteen minutes, it will be declared a tie. In these fifteen minutes, no killing movements will be allowed."
"Okay," Gao Tiange agreed quickly.
So Shi Wengong let the fight continue.
"I was being too careless. You almost got me. Now that you're being stubborn, I'll teach you a lesson!"
The angry fire of Gao Tiange's spiritual sword was rising higher and higher, while his eyes were becoming colder and colder.
"Fire Phoenix Stands in Air!"
He finally stopped chasing Jiang Chen like a ball of fire and exerted his sword movement.
It was like a flame that had been given a soul. It actively blocked all of Jiang Chen's retreating routes.
"Great!"
Jiang Chen suddenly cheered up. A gale was gathering around him, but the wind direction was changed by the influence of the fire.
In the end, the gale assembled on his finger tip.
"Wind!"
He used his finger as a sword. With a pointing gesture, a gust of wind split the flame like it was cutting a river in two.
With some hooting in the background, the flame disappeared completely.
"He's broken through!"
His creation of wind had leveled up. He had achieved the half great doctrine of wind!
"How?!" Crimson Moon and the other four from the Fire Field couldn't help but shout. Jiang Chen had broken through to the minor doctrine of wind right under their noses, and he had attained another achievement so quickly.
"This is even better than learning a movement in a fight. He's managed to break through the martial arts technique of creation during a fight. Awesome!"
"If Jiang Chen wasn't a short-term disciple, he would definitely be second to none in the Sacred Institute."
There was a huge difference between the great doctrine of wind and the minor doctrine of wind.
"Huh!" Gao Tiange didn't say anything, instead launching another sword attack.
Jiang Chen picked up the Redcloud Sword again. It was still hot, but he could deal with the heat.
He threw the sword out. The wind and the fire met.
Gao Tiange had managed to achieve the radiance of the sword with fire. The constant strong winds kept blowing the fire in other directions.
"Hum, you won't get anywhere in fifteen minutes thanks to this movement."
Gao Tiange had never thought he could lose the fight; he was only worried about a tie, but the enhancement of the creation of wind had also affected Jiang Chen's swordsmanship. Gao Tiange's swordsmanship was worse than his. In Jiang Chen's eyes, his sword movement had as little to do with technique as the moment before when he had been breathing fire with his sword.
"The Sword Method of Ksana: The First Movement!"
Most importantly, he had mastered the first movement more. At that moment, he was confident that he wouldn't endanger Gao Tiange's life with his attack.
Gao Tiange, who was trying his best, had been about to beat Jiang Chen up, when he suddenly found Jiang Chen had disappeared. In an instant, the energy of his sword became boundless. It reached every corner of the space.
If people could watch it in slow motion, they would find most of the spectators hadn't realized what had happened, and only the powerful ones had sensed anything unusual.
"Stop…"
Fang Yi was shocked, extremely nervous.
At the same time, a few shadows appeared.
When all of this was happening, Jiang Chen had already launched his sword attacks.
Twenty sword attacks had been completed in a single instant. The flames were extinguished. The hot Redcloud Sword had been put at Gao Tiange's throat.
Gao Tiange had the blood of the phoenix, so the heat wasn't a problem for him, but he didn't dare move under the Redcloud Sword, which had been burnt by the fire but hadn't lost any of its sharpness.
"Don't worry. This isn't a killing movement."
Jiang Chen glanced at the people around.
Along with Gao Tiange and him, some elders of the Sacred Institute were also on the platform. They had thought Jiang Chen had exerted a killing movement, so they had come to Gao Tiange's rescue.
Although Gao Tiange was fine, they couldn't calm down, because they had been too slow. If Jiang Chen hadn't pulled his sword back himself, he could have killed Gao Tiange in their presence.
"What a sword attack!" people exclaimed.
"Gao Tiange, defeated," Shi Wengong said.
This announcement woke many people up.
It was interesting that it was supposed to be a tie, but Gao Tiange had refused to accept the outcome. Unexpectedly, he had lost it so soon.
"I don't buy it!" Gao Tiange shouted.
It was easy to tell that this was Jiang Chen's only chance to defeat him. If he had done something to stop Jiang Chen from launching this attack, Jiang Chen would have lost.
But, it would be ridiculous to count on so many variables in a fight.
"If you don't buy it, blame yourself. You didn't try your best at the beginning, which gave Jiang Chen the opportunity to break through. You never used your unique movement, and you failed to launch an attack before his. You relied too much on your flames!" Shi Wengong scolded him seriously.