My Auto Cloning System-Chapter 107: The Mountain, and The Flying Bun

The bronze gong was still vibrating in the air. it was like a low, and heavy hum that seemed to rattle the teeth of everyone in the front row. (WUMMMMM...) The sound hung over the Iron Vein Spirit Palace like a heavy fog, which marked the end of the warm-ups and the beginning of violence.

On Platform 1, it felt like the world had shrunk down to just two people. It was Ren Tie, the human mountain, and Bao Zi, the steaming bun. The air between them was thick and heavy with tension, smelling of dust from crushed stone and nervous sweat.

Bao Zi didn't bother to wait. Because He knew he couldn't wait. While Fighting Against a moving fortress like Ren Tie, hesitation was just a fancy word for suicide. If he stopped moving, he would instantly be crushed into paste.

"HAA!" Bao Zi shrieked, and darted forward.

He didn't run like a normal fighter or cultivator; he glided. His feet barely seemed to touch the cracked stone tiles. White mist curled off his skin, trailing behind him like a wedding veil made of steam. (Whoosh!) He aimed a palm strike directly at Ren Tie's core essence. Which was the center of breath.

Ren Tie didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He is just breathing out while standing there, and his chest expanding like a wooden barrel. "Come."

(PAP!)

Bao Zi's palm hit Ren Tie's chest. But It then sounded like someone slapping a wet rock with a wet towel.

"Ow!" Bao Zi yelped, while pulling his hand back and shaking it wildly. "Your chest is harder than the floor! Do you drink liquid iron for breakfast?!"

Ren Tie quietly moved. For a guy who weighed as much as a small horse and even had muscles on top of his muscles, he was surprisingly terrifyingly fast. He swung his arm in a wide, and sweeping arc, his fingers curled into a fist that was the size of a ham. "Mountain Fist: Clearing the Forest!"

(SWOOOOOSH!)

The air pressure alone was enough to knock a normal person over. It created a vacuum that pulled at Bao Zi's clothes. Bao Zi's eyes widened until they looked like porcelain dinner plates. He instantly dropped to the ground, while doing the splits in a way that looked painful. The massive arm passed inches over his head, messing up his hair and creating a wind tunnel that chilled his scalp.

(Fwip!)

"Yikes! That would have actually taken my head off! You're actually trying to kill me!" Bao Zi screamed, while scrambling backward on his hands and feet like a panicked crab. (Scuttle-scuttle!)

"Stand up, Bao Zi," Ren Tie rumbled out loud, while stepping forward. (THUD. THUD.) Each step shook the platform, and sending vibrations up through Bao Zi's spine. "You wanted to prove your worth right? You told me you didn't want to be a sidekick anymore. You cannot prove it by running away like a rat. Show me your fangs!"

Bao Zi stopped scrambling away. He froze. He looked at Ren Tie, who was

looming over him like a storm cloud. He looked at the crowd. He saw people pointing and laughing at him. He saw the judges also looking bored, while checking their fingernails.

"No. Not today. I'm not the sidekick today," Bao Zi thought to him. "I am not just the guy who follows Yin Zhe around." He said He gritted his teeth until they squeaked. He stood up, while wiping the dust from his palms.

He took a deep breath. (Huuuu...) Then mist around him grew thicker, it began turning from a wisp into a dense fog bank that obscured his feet.

"Okay, Big Guy. You asked for it!" Bao Zi yelled, his voice cracking but firm. "Cloud-Misting Art: The Suffocating Embrace!"

Bao Zi vanished instantly.

He didn't teleport. He just moved so erratically, while shifting his weight and blending with the white vapor in the arena, that Ren Tie's eyes couldn't lock onto him. He was like a ghost.

(Bam!) Bao Zi gave A kick to Ren Tie's left knee.

(Pow!) Then

A punch to Ren Tie's right kidney.

(Smack!) And A double-palm strike to Ren Tie's lower back.

Ren Tie grunted. (Ugh!) Then He stumbled forward with one step. This made The entire crowd gasped. The Mountain had been moved!

"He hurt him!" someone in the crowd shouted. "The little guy actually moved the statue!"

Bao Zi was everywhere in the mist at once. He was a storm of small, and stinging attacks. He knew he couldn't break the rock, so he was trying to desperately erode it. He was trying to chip away at Ren Tie's stamina, bite by bite. Sweat poured down Ren Tie's face as he swatted at empty air.

Ren Tie closed his eyes. He stopped trying to look. He listened.

Swish... tap... breath...

Ren Tie heard the faint sound of Bao Zi's soft shoes squeaking on the stone to his left. He could actually feel the displacement of the air.

"Got you," Ren Tie whispered.

He didn't throw a punch. Instead He stomped.

"Mountain Fist: Earth Tremor!"

(BOOOOM!)

Ren Tie slammed down his foot

with everything he had. The stone platform didn't just crack from the intense pressure; it buckled. And A shockwave of dust, debris, and kinetic energy exploded outward in a perfect circle.

Bao Zi, who was mid-air while trying to kick Ren Tie's ear, he instantly lost his balance. The shockwave hit him like a solid wall of wind.

"Wahhh!" Bao Zi flailed, his mist scattering as he tumbled through the air.

Ren Tie opened his eyes. He quickly reached out with one massive hand and caught Bao Zi by the ankle while he was still upside down.

"I caught a cloud," Ren Tie said, with a tiny, but rare mocking smirk on his face.

Bao Zi hung there, while dangling upside down like a captured rabbit, his face turning bright red from the blood that was rushing to his head. He tried to wiggle free, but Ren Tie's grip felt like an iron shackle.

"Do you yield?" Ren Tie asked with a mocking tone, while not squeezing hard, just holding.

Bao Zi sighed, his arms flopping down in absolute defeat. (Sigh...) "I yield. You're a monster, Ren Tie. A literal monster. My ankle feels like it's in a vice."

Ren Tie gently lowered him to the ground, and setting him on his feet. "And you are fast, Bao Zi. You made me use the Earth Tremor. No one else in Group A made me do that."

The judge banged the gong. (BONG!)

"Winner: Ren Tie! Group A Champion!"

Bao Zi dusted himself off, grinning despite the loss. He had made the big guy sweat. And That at the very least counted for something.