“The three-year term is up!
Father, I’m leaving.
Believe me, I will definitely win!”
Father smiled helplessly.
Over these three years, he had been very surprised by Koda’s growth and had gained a new understanding of his perseverance.
Even though he was only eight years old, his application of the Water Control Divine Art was already quite proficient, but it was limited to just being proficient.
To become even stronger next, it wasn’t something that could be solved simply by practicing.
It required a deeper understanding of the Water Control Divine Art and years of hard work to truly become stronger at the core.
“En, I believe you can definitely defeat A Fu.”
These words were meant to encourage the child.
Father knew that although Koda’s Water Control Divine Art was already very proficient, such strength was far from enough to defeat A Fu.
After all, A Fu was a veteran Water Control Divine Art user in the tribe, and it wasn’t just about his understanding of the technique.
He had hidden a lot of his strength during his usual sparring sessions with Koda, a point he had never mentioned to the boy.
Perhaps subconsciously, he didn’t want Koda to leave either.
After all, the tribe hadn’t had this much laughter and joy in the past.
The happiness everyone had experienced over the last few years was largely due to Koda’s presence.
“A Fu!
Get out here.
I’m here.
Let’s go fulfill our three-year promise!”
Koda stood outside A Fu’s tree hollow and shouted loudly.
“What’s all the noise for?
Which time in these three years have you ever won?”
Despite saying that, Koda’s growth was obvious to everyone.
From being completely dominated at the start to the hard-fought battles now, he had truly grown a lot in three years.
A Fu looked over with the admiration an elder has for a junior.
Koda and A Fu locked eyes.
Koda wanted to shout to build momentum, but then he saw that look in A Fu’s eyes.
A wave of resentment rose in his heart.
Have you forgotten how you used to beat me up?
Doesn’t your conscience hurt?
A Fu withdrew his gaze and said disdainfully, “Just two days ago you were beaten to the ground by me, and now you have the confidence to defeat me?
If I don’t beat you, how can I go out and play?
I’ve really had enough of this broken place.
There’s nothing here.
It’s so boring.”
“You brat, we’ve lived here for decades and never said it was boring.
You’ve only lived a few years and you’re already calling it boring?”
“Forget it.
After today anyway, you’ll just be a fish-roaster under my command.
Wouldn’t that be even more boring?
Hahaha!!!!”
Koda was left speechless by his words.
“Stop talking big.
It’s not certain who will win or lose yet.
Losing a few days ago was a matter of a few days ago.
Who’s to say I haven’t researched a way to beat you in these last two days?”
A Fu felt a moment of doubt.
Could this kid really have found a way, which is why he’s so confident?
Whatever.
Don’t I know what kind of character this kid has?
It’s most likely a bluff.
“We’ll fight at the tribe entrance so the people can see.
Don’t go back on your word and play foul when you lose, you little brat.”
“Bullshit.
I’m a good loser.
On the contrary, I’m afraid you’ll lose and not admit it.”
“Stop the trash talk.
Let’s do this for real.
Come on, to the entrance.”
Koda followed behind A Fu, thinking about whether he should give him a strike to the back now to gain a bit of an advantage later.
Ultimately, he gave up on the idea.
It wasn’t because he felt it was too shameless—he had abandoned things like ‘face’ long ago.
Rather, he was surprised to find that A Fu’s forearms were tense, looking like he was ready to use his abilities.
It seemed he was already on guard.
A Fu also breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Koda making no sneaky moves.
Koda’s shamelessness had left a deep impression on him, and he had been pranked by him many times in the past.
He remembered the most vivid time: Koda had stealthily changed the texture and taste of a small fish to that of a rotten tree root.
He usually ate those small fish in one bite, and it had absolutely disgusted him.
Another time, Koda had brought Lao Huatou along, trying to stealthily find his novel.
That novel had been traded for with rare fish, and opportunities to encounter a merchant caravan were rare.
Naturally, he cherished it in every way and wouldn’t let anyone see it.
Relying on Lao Huatou’s natural animal sense of smell, Koda had almost found it.
Because of that, Koda suffered experiences he shouldn’t have at his age.
A Fu had been a bit more ‘caring’ than usual when training him.
Incidents like these were too many to count.
He had a profound understanding of Koda’s usual antics, so being a little cautious never hurt.
The two of them walked to the tribe entrance, both on their guard.
“Everyone come out and see!
Come out quickly!
Watch me pummel A Fu!!”
A Fu forced himself not to hit Koda right then and didn’t stop his behavior, but instead noted it down in his ‘little notebook’.
Hearing Koda’s shouts, the tribe members slowly emerged from their tents.
“Kid Koda, looking for a beating again today?
If your skin is itchy, you can come to us.
We’d like to practice with you too.”
A Shou walked to the village entrance looking disheveled, picking his nose as he spoke.
“No thanks.
Today is my duel with A Fu.
Some other day.”
“Fine, it’s a deal.
Remember to find me.
I heard from A Fu that your butt is quite soft.”
“…” Koda didn’t know what to say, so he decided to ignore A Shou.
He cleared his throat and got down to business.
“Three years ago, A Fu and I made a pact to have a fight here today.
If I lose, I’ll roast fish for him for a year.
If he loses, that precious novel of his belongs to me.
You all are here to witness today.
I’m afraid A Fu will cheat and not admit it if he loses.”
Before he could finish, A Fu cut in from the side.
“You really have the nerve to say that!
Stop the nonsense and let me give you a quick beating.”
The people around also chimed in.
“Right, hurry up and start.
Usually we’re too lazy to watch you get beaten, but today you’re fighting so close.
We can see just how far you’ve practiced the Water Control Divine Art.”
They usually watched Koda get beaten because they knew A Fu wouldn’t hurt him.
As the youngest member of the tribe, they were still very concerned about Koda’s growth.
Precisely because his Father was A Shou, the strongest in the tribe, they weren’t too worried.
Instead, they were quite curious to see how far A Shou could train their little genius.
“3”
“2”
“1”
“Start!”
A Shou shouted from outside the field acting as the referee.
The instant he heard “start,” Koda, with lightning speed, condensed a Water Blade from the nearby river water and sent it flying rapidly toward the opposite side.
A Fu also reacted, lifting both hands from bottom to top.
A wall of water rose out of thin air, blocking the incoming Water Blade.
“Hehe, kid, you’re still a bit green to try a sneak attack.
These tricks are things I’ve moved past long ago.
Back in the day—What!”
The circulating Water Wall actually began to freeze from the spot where it blocked the Water Blade.
In a short while, the Water Wall had turned into an Ice Wall, and behind the Ice Wall, a figure could be vaguely seen rapidly approaching.
Holy crap, what’s going on?
How did he do it?
How did the Water Blade he fired turn into an Ice Blade?
Everyone gasped in amazement.
This was something impossible to do.
Many people present were masters of the Water Control Divine Art, so they could naturally see why the Water Wall turned into an Ice Wall.
But truly no one could manage to turn a Water Blade into an Ice Blade while it was in flight.
Because once it leaves your hand, you can no longer perform any morphological changes on the projectile unless there is a medium for connection.
But it was clearly visible that there was no connection between the fired Water Blade and Koda.
This kind of attack method was something no one present could achieve.
At the moment the Ice Wall formed, Koda rushed close.
With a leap, he propped one hand on the top of the Ice Wall.
In his other hand, a spinning water ball formed, which he forcefully threw out.
Here’s a surprise for you, A Fu!
The color of the rotating water ball was deep blue rather than the color of normal water, and its power was clearly several times greater.
Seeing Koda flip onto the Ice Wall, A Fu also recovered from his shock just now.
Seeing the water ball about to hit him, it was too late to draw water from the river.
He pressed his palm against the Ice Wall, and the ice turned back into water, forming a shield in front of him.
The power of this strike was no small matter.
A Fu could feel that this wasn’t just the impact force from being thrown by arm strength.
It was inherent to the water ball itself.
Not only had its color changed, but the area around this water ball was radiating energy, striving to maximize its power.
Koda also stood up from his one-handed propping position.
Just throwing that water ball made him feel like his arm was about to dislocate.
Furthermore, those two moves just now seemed simple, but they had consumed a lot of physical strength and energy.
He wanted to rest for a moment now rather than pressing the advantage.
That’s right.
Koda could now place energy outside his body, albeit only for a short while.
For example, in the case of the Water Blade turning into an Ice Blade just now, he had injected energy into the Water Blade beforehand.
Controlling the thinness of the energy could determine the time it took for the energy to dissipate.
The energy was like a film, wrapping around the icy air inside.
As soon as the energy film disappeared and the icy air was released, the Water Blade would turn into an Ice Blade during flight.
However, he was still not very proficient in the use of energy.
He had made it a bit too thick, causing the freezing to happen within the Water Wall rather than during flight.
If there hadn’t been a mistake this time, the formed Ice Blade could have relied on its morphological advantage to break through the Water Wall and hit A Fu’s chest.
Since it didn’t succeed, he could only change his strategy.
Koda guessed that if he used a Water Blade, the opponent would also use a Water Wall to block it.
If an Ice Wall were used, it would consume more physical strength.
Based on his understanding of A Fu’s character, if he could save effort, he definitely would.
Although he guessed right, it was of no use.
Plan A was discarded directly, and Plan B was implemented.
By throwing the water ball at close range to prevent it from being dodged, the appearance of the Ice Wall had precisely created this opportunity.
Injecting a large mass of Life Energy into the water ball, the resulting destructive power had once shattered a large rock.
Not only that, it had also left a large crater in the ground.
This way of using energy had also been gradually figured out over the three years.
Not a single day of energy cultivation had been missed.
If the upper limit of energy storage three years ago was 100 and Koda had cultivated to 6, then now he had already cultivated to 13!
It wasn’t just a doubling in quantity.
That was just the surface.
The greater progress was in his way of using this Life Energy and its refinement.
Three years ago, changing the texture and taste of a fish required 2.
Now, after refinement, his control over energy injection could be meticulous.
Now it only required 1 or even less.
Although in actual combat he couldn’t achieve such precision, this was indeed a huge step forward.
Gaze returning to the field once more, everyone was watching A Fu, who was struggling to resist with waterbending.
Just from the expression on his face, one could see that this special water ball was certainly not as ordinary as it looked on the surface.
The muscles on A Fu’s hands bulged, and his steps were involuntarily retreating.
With a loud shout from A Fu, the attacking water ball finally began to shrink slowly, gradually losing its original sense of pressure.
Just when everyone thought the impact of this water ball had reached its end…