The boss turned to look beside him but Mo Huai was already a form of smoke, his form unravelling into a serpentine wisp that slithered across the arena floor. He followed the mark he had left on Hou to find him.
'Real cultivation! Maybe this young master is more than he seems... but I shan't let that alter my decision!'
He transformed into a wisp of miasma and moved through the air to where Hou was being carried. Hou woke up in a room adjacent to the room he met Zhi Fa in.
This room was much brighter, the walls glowing with a soothing light. He could feel he was in a jelly-like liquid. He could feel his mental exhaustion lessen.
The gel around him clung to his skin like ice, its menthol sting was gave his thoughts a boost. He could feel his mental energy was regenerating at an abnormal speed.
When he sat up, it peeled away without residue, leaving behind the scent of crushed herbs. He felt his body and despite the hits, there was no bruises.
Hou looked around and on the ground a string of purple smoke slithered in. Mo Huai formed from the single strand of miasma, it's spun up into his form then shattered, showing his physical body.
"Are you okay?"
Hou touched his head and winced,
"Other than my head hurting? No, I'm fine."
"That's good, I'll just ask you straightforwardly. What did you do just then, to end the fight? Do you know?"
"Umm I don't...know. This morning I vaguely membered a dream and then just before I was hit the dream came back to me. I mimicked the Heavenly Space Dragon's way to move long distances quickly and applied it with my space laws. I don't know... it's hard to think right now"
Mo Huai made a noise and touched his head, thinking what to do next. He let out a deep sigh and sat down on a floating cloud which appeared under him as he sat.
"What you did there was an external cultivation technique, and quite a strong one. Your spirit stone might be quite damaged now. What I suggest from now on, is to not use those space laws again until you form the Spirit Stone Soul. If you do, it could shatter and all the laws could tear you apart."
"I will, I didn't even realise it was an external technique... So that means that it used laws permanently, right? So now if I look, I will have less space laws?"
"That is exactly it, despite the danger you survived without help."
Mo Huai's lips quivered as he examined Hou's spirit stone with an eye technique, to bypass the Celestial Law Amplifying Physique's defenses he used many laws in the process.
'Reckless but still amazing. You mimicked a Heavenly Space Dragon's movement any guidance. You truly are worthy of being my disciple...'
"What happened with Shou? His arms seemed to really burn?"
"That's because they did, it's the downside of false cultivation. Without the spirit stone the laws are held in the body. This however means that without careful usage they can easily harm the body while being used. This is only exacerbated by his use of fire laws."
"Because they propagate easily?"
"Yes, it's the greatest advantage and disadvantage of fire laws. The advantage is that they can easily be gathered since fire so easily creates more fire. However, this means the fire can create wild fire laws in the body and burn the body. It can be stopped by refining as you use them or containing with mental energy but it is a hard skill to learn."
"So is he okay?"
"He should be, but his arms will be damaged without more professional, and expensive, help. And bot to mention, he lost many of the fire laws he had, False cultivation strains the body. Unlike real cultivation, the laws cannot be stimulated without using them easily. Shou has more than likely burned all of his fire laws away"
Hou nodded and looked down,
'Cultivation is a dangerous endeavour, I was safe this time but I should be more cautious'
"Although this can be a learning experience, you did another thing which I haven't taught you yet, albeit unintentionally. Something called law injection.
"Law injection?"
"At the end of the fight you were still releasing space laws but without any control, this when you punched Shou the laws were injected. They were released inside Shout and caused havoc inside him. Those space laws must've assimilating inside his body, perhaps swallowing parts of his insides and obliterating to. Or there's a chance he refined them in time or they worked with his body and helped him, but that is unlikely. Luckily the arena has these healing pads so in the likely scenario, he should be fine." Mo Huai pointed at the gel Hou was still sat up in.
"Talking of them, what are these 'healing pads'"
"In general they are just anything that heals you while sitting/laying on them. But in this case, the gel surrounds you and heals the body injuries, while it also releases cognition laws to increase mental energy restoration. It's definitely an expensive tool, but worth it for these arenas"
"Quite useful, I can see why the arena needs it so fighters aren't risking too much."
"That's enough of that though, let's get our winnings then go back. You've gotten sufficient experience, even using qi for fighting after only seeing it in Cloud Prism."
Hou nodded and exited the gel, somehow he was completely dry. The gel did not stick to Hou at all and he cleanly was released.
Mo Huai flicked his wrist and the outside noises could be heard. Since he had moved here, he had already placed an invisible privacy shield around the whole room.
The two walked out of the room, and into the armoury where Zhi Fa was talking to the boss.
"It was the scholar, he somehow teleported!"
"As if he could do that, what happened!?"
Mo Huai coughed, interrupting the boss' tirade on Zhi Fa. He put on his young master attitude and spoke,
"What do you mean? Are you suggesting that Daizi lost!?"
The boss was already sweating, and when he saw Mo Huai walk out of a private room he exploded,
"Money won't sway my arena's honor! If you've rigged this, even your status won't help! This is a legitimate arena! Let's see what others saw, if the story is the same then I will pay you off! All 20 gold!"
"If you can even afford that haha" Mo Huai adopted the rich young master attitude, he had bet 5 gold on Hou winning, winning five times that!
5 gold was worth 500 silver, 5000 copper! Each copper was a meal, and each silver was a lodging for a day. 5 gold was more than half a year living in relative luxury.
Wining 20 gold was a massive amount, it would let normal people live freely for more than year. Mo Huai could've gone higher of course, but he still maintained his disguise. He was rich but not that rich.
Mo Huai was an Elder, he did not need any of this money, it was all just a part of his act.