Thanks for the chapter!
Agree Duster probably is cheating. Not sure if arranged to have his sword made out of a special wood while MC has regular training sword or if it has a metal core or something but considering he mentioned the weight of his sword while MC didn't means that the swords are different. That and his sword easily broke through the MC's without cracking. Also, too arrogant and believing sect will protect him from any trouble gets into from embarrassing the emperor. MC having a hard time is either because trying to appear weak while learning all of Duster's moves before crushing him or having a hard time compensating for the difference in blades along with not being able to use various things due to the arena rules. In any case Duster is going down.
