by Tinalynge
There were no real tournament rules for this debate, no order and no drawing of lots. One could enter the stage whenever they felt like it and leave the stage at whatever time they felt exhausted. These experts were also capable of later jumping onto the stage again.
The more people one could defeat or the more talent one had, the higher ranked they would be in the debate, and from the pool of talented youngsters a winner would be decided as the person who has the best command over their formations.
Hui Yue was in no rush to display his abilities. He was going to shock them all, so he thought that he might as well wait for a while and let the others bask in fame until then.
"Just you wait," Hui Yue mumbled as his eyes landed on the back of the genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate. It was clear that he had felt insulted earlier when they had conversed; insulted that the genius had called him a good for nothing. He wanted to prove that he was worth something, that he was able to control formations, and that he was not a weakling here just to gain face for the Celestial Sword Sect.
Huli, who was laying in Hui Yue's arms, licked his hand gently to calm him down as if she were capable of sensing his increasing annoyance with this person who thought too highly of himself.
Pei Bai also noticed the annoyance on Hui Yue's face, but he said nothing to the young man. He understood that Hui Yue needed this anger, this frustration, to truly display his abilities to their fullest and shock the entire audience. He wanted Hui Yue to prove that he was not just here because of his status, but that he was here because of his talent as a formation apprentice.
The first two youths appeared on stage. The first one was from the Heavenly Dragon Gate, and although he was not the young number one genius of the sect, he was still considered one of the more talented experts of the younger generation when it came to formations. Thus he displayed quite extraordinary abilities onstage.
He released a total of a hundred and two seals creating a full four formations at the same time. Some of these formations were defensive while others were offensive.
All the formations that he made were ten seals formations, and it seemed that his limit was controlling four ten seal formations at once. He was obviously able to create formations with hundred seals, but to control multiple formations at once was clearly not his forte.
His opponent was a young man from a lesser known sect, and his talent was not as great as his opponent’s. He had not even compressed a hundred seals, but he was better at controlling the seals he had already compressed. Thus this expert could control a full five ten seal formations at the same time. This made it possible for him to suppress his opponent even though he was overall controlling more seals.
Hui Yue frowned. These experts were simply easy opponents for Hui Yue. If he released all his seals and controlled all the formations that he could at once, then he would be able to wipe the floor with experts like these two.
Hui Yue did not have a lot of time to compress seals and learn formations, but his talent was so outstanding that he did not need a lot of time to flourish. His soul was strong, and his soulforce was outstanding because of all the energy he had absorbed in Diyu and the souls he had consumed.
His soul was many times stronger than other experts of the younger generation, and with a strong soul, it was easier to control multiple formations at once. The stronger one's soul became, the easier it would be to comprehend and control formations.
This was also one of the reasons that it had been so simple for Hui Yue to become a formidable formation apprentice after such a short amount of time.
These other experts also wished to consume souls, but consuming soul energy was a difficult thing if one had not comprehended the dao of devouring. Even if it was possible to consume some of the soul energy from soulstones, it was still impossible to absorb it at a rapid pace. Thus they had given up on boosting their student's soul strength by consuming external energy.
Hui Yue had consumed plenty of soul energy from Diyu, and now he was benefitting from it.
One expert after another went on stage, displaying their talents. When they felt that they had used all of their energy, they would withdraw from the stage for some time to rest and replenish their energy. Those who were defeated all gave up on continuing their quest to obtain a high rank in the debate.
"Young member of the Celestial Sword Sect, do you think that you will be allowed to be at this debate without displaying your ability?" Someone suddenly called out, and when Hui Yue looked at the stage, he saw a young member of the Heavenly Dragon Gate standing on stage taunting him with a sinister expression on his face.
It was clear that he had heard the argument between Hui Yue and the genius of his sect earlier, and now he wanted to take the chance to display his own ability and prove that he was many times better than this Celestial Sword Sect member. He wanted to prove that his elder brother was correct when he said that Hui Yue was not good with formations.
"No need to hide your strength; just explode forth with your power and prove to him what exactly you are capable of." Pei Bai said in a low voice, and Hui Yue nodded his head.
This was not a fight where he had to hide his abilities for the next battles; this was a debate where he had to display his abilities, and thus he would go all out.
Hui Yue did not show his annoyance on his face. He slowly handed Huli over to Pei Bai, patted her head, and placed a kiss on her forehead before he straightened his back and slowly made his way towards the stage.
Everyone looked at him curiously. Was this young man truly a monster that was able to control formations as well, or was he just here because of Diyu was backing him so no one would dare insult him?
No one truly knew why he was here, or what his skills were like. Under the gaze of the crowd, Hui Yue slowly made his way up the stage where he stretched his body slowly and smiled sinisterly at the one who had challenged him. This caused the challenger to feel uncomfortable. Why was he so calm and collected? Had his older brother been wrong? Was this young man actually capable of controlling formations?
Hui Yue said nothing, he just smiled casually and waited for the debate to begin.
The moment he saw his opponent summon forth a hundred and thirteen seals, he could not help but shake his head casually before he too summoned forth his seals.
Three hundred and nineteen seals appeared around Hui Yue. All of them shone brightly as they started to spin around his body. Everyone within the hall was stunned, but no one was more stunned than the genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate.
Only Pei Bai and Huli knew how strong Hui Yue was and they both grinned manically as they saw everyone turn slackjawed from shock upon seeing Hui Yue's display.
The one who had challenged him looked completely listless. His previously arrogant eyes turned dim, and his mouth constantly opened and closed as if he wanted to say something but was unable to.
So far the one who summoned the most seals was a youth from the Heavenly Dragon Gate, and he had a full hundred and ninety-seven seals.
Now this young man was in front of him, and he had even more seals; he was at a level where he feared that even his older brother from within the sect would feel pressured against someone with this many seals.
"Just because you have a lot of seals does not mean a lot! Show me how well you can actually control those seals of yours! Show me your talent!" the young man roared as light shone around him while six formations sprung to life from his hands.
Hui Yue chuckled as he also started moving his hands, weaving them, and creating a total of thirty-one formations at the same time. The entire stage was filled with the light of the seals that Hui Yue had released and the many formations he was controlling.
The first formation to explode forth was a simple Spacelock formation. This formation might seem simple, but, when Hui Yue touched the black figure and merged the formation with his comprehension of the dao of space, the stun effect of it lasted much longer than usual and also made everyone watching feel the
ancient dao of space surrounding them. They felt the mysteriousness of the dao descend and the dangers it possessed.
The moment the dao of space exploded forth, the opponent was stunned and unable to move before finally, the other formations completed. Three Blazing Tiger formations fortified by Lan Feng's daos of fire roared so loudly and with such power that the formation around the stage trembled.
The more Hui Yue displayed, the more shocked the audience became. Many were shocked stupid, and no one knew what to say anymore as they watched formation after formation complete and launch their attacks. The one fighting against the thirty formations suddenly slumped to the ground as the spacelock formation finally let go of him.
"I give up," he muttered with a low voice.
"This is inconceivable!" someone exclaimed finally after a long silence. "He was just here so that their sect could not lose face?! How could we be so stupid, he really is a monster! He might even be stronger than the expert of the Heavenly Dragon Gate! I cannot wait to see what exactly he will do in the future!"
"No one stands a chance against him in this debate. Only their genius has a chance, but if he loses then no one can dispute Pei Yue being the absolute ruler of the younger generation!"
Hui Yue smiled as he stepped down from the stage again, his eyes looking at the genius. As the two of them looked at each other, it seemed as if sparks flew in the air. Neither was happy with the other, but for once the genius started to feel threatened by Hui Yue. His talent was simply too monstrous.
"We will settle first place later," the genius said with a steady voice. "That will be the most brilliant battle in the debate, why not finish the debate with our fight?"
Hui Yue did not care and just nodded his head. The other participants were all eager to see the battle now but understood that both Hui Yue and the genius had come to an agreement, no one felt that it was their position to say anything about it.
"Later tonight we will settle our scores," Hui Yue agreed as he nodded his head. He too was willing to end their disagreement once and for all.
Chapter 629 - The Final Clash Begins
* * *
Chapter 629: The Final Clash Begins
As the genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate and Hui Yue reached an agreement, no one said anything about it, they all just accepted that they would have to wait to see the intense fight between the two later in the day.
It was still early in the day, and not many experts had been on stage yet to prove their worth. Everyone had given up on first and second place, but they fought vigorously for third.
Usually, all the top ranks would fall to the Heavenly Dragon Gate yet this time the Celestial Sword Sect appeared out of nowhere and had for sure claimed one of the top three spots. This made everyone feel as if they too had a chance to rank highly. At the same time, it made the Heavenly Dragon Gate's members even more certain that they wished to prove themselves and at least take the first and third place.
Hui Yue was completely unfazed by what was happening around him. He knew that Pei Bai just wanted him to rank second and get rid of the shame of the last Formation Master's debate and this goal had already been achieved.
But second place was not enough to satisfy Hui Yue. He understood that his opponent this time was not simple. He was a genius at using formations and someone who had spent years controlling formations and compressing seals. It was highly likely that he could control even more seals than Hui Yue.
Sighing, he stopped thinking about the fight that would happen later on. Instead, he focused on the fight that was currently ongoing on the stage, and he could not help but chuckle.
Ever since Hui Yue had used his Spacelock formation to such great extent earlier in the fights, everyone else also started using the formation.
The Spacelock formation was brilliant, but unlike most formations, it was impossible to stack this formation. One could not make two Spacelock formations at the same time and stop the person for a longer period of time. He had to make the formation once and then remake it again if he wished for the formation to last longer.
It was possible to link them, but without the dao of space, the stun effect would last only a fraction of a second while the creation of the formation would take a few seconds. Therefore, it was rather useless to stack these formations unless one was proficient in the dao of space and could prolong the stun to a few seconds.
The youngsters at first thought that the Spacelock formation was formidable, that it was a diamond in the rough that they had missed. After using it for a while they found that it was actually quite marvelous as it stunned one’s opponent and interrupted their creation of formations, but it was nowhere as marvelous as what Hui Yue had displayed.
"He must be comprehending the dao of space!" someone mumbled to their friends, and it was not just one person watching that had reached this conclusion.
"To think that he is able to comprehend such a marvelous dao. Although we also comprehend the dao to increase our formation’s strength, we are unable to comprehend any of the more powerful daos because we need to focus on compressing seals. Just how can he be so skilled?! Seals, formations, daos... He has them all!"
"I heard that he is a young man from the younger generation. How can he already have such accomplishments in the dao at such an age? He is simply too young! I don't believe he can be of the younger generation with such skills."
Everyone was talking about Hui Yue and his performance; many
even forgot the genius of the Heavenly Dragon Gate who was supposed to be the main focus of the debate, and this caused the person people forgot to be very uncomfortable.
He had participated in more than one debate, and every time he had been the most talked about and peerless figure there. He was viewed as the most talented youth in the last few thousand years.
The Heavenly Dragon Gate spared no effort in spoiling him, and he had always thought that his skills were a gift from the heavens themselves. To see the fame which was rightfully his being taken away from him, the genius felt very unsatisfied and wronged.
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, it was impossible for him to be unfazed with the current situation. Fortunately, the only one watching him was the old weasel from the Heavenly Dragon Gate.
He sighed deeply and shook his head in disappointment. It was clear that Hui Yue was the center of attention and this was something he had never had experienced before experienced, and while the weasel was certain that a small setback like this was beneficial for him, he still felt slightly worried about what it would do for him.
On stage, one expert after another stepped up and soon hours had gone by. Maids arrived in the big hall with food and placed it on tables making it possible for the guests to eat while watching the matches.
The matches started to get longer and longer; they became more and more bloody and desperate as time went on. The better experts were found later on, and the weaker people had given up trying to rank higher than the place they were already at.
In the Formation Master's debate, ten youths would be ranked as the top ten, but there were a lot of youths that would not get a ranking.
Even now after hours had gone past the top twenty had been found, but even so, they still needed to cut it down further. Everyone who was up against each other were around the same strength, and only Hui Yue and the genius were above the others. Thus the battles were quite desperate.
Although everyone used all the energy they had and fought with all their strength, there was always one that was weaker than the others and the rankings were slowly coming together.
Hui Yue watched curiously as one expert after another went onto the stage. He watched them to see which formations they knew, how they were being boosted by different daos, and how the different sects prioritized things.
Hui Yue stood still, petting the small fox in his arms and observing everyone around him. He was completely oblivious to the many gazes and conversations that evolved around him.
Afte
r hours of devastating battles and magnificent displays of formations, the third to tenth place had been decided. The Heavenly Dragon Gate was doing well. They had managed to get the third, seventh and eighth place. The rest of the sects had scrambled to even rank, and many were not even ranked in the top ten.
The Nightcrawler Sect had also made an appearance, but their highest ranked member was only in tenth place, but even so, it seemed as if they were satisfied.
It was clear that the most outstanding sects did not have a record of doing well in these debates, yet they still participated to try their hand at it. But this time the Celestial Sword Sect was doing well.
"Esteemed experts, it is our honor to announce the last eight spots in the Formation Master's debate for the younger generation have been filled, and now it is time for us to watch the two most outstanding talents in our midst. This is our very own Gao Li, the genius from our Heavenly Dragon Gate, and Pei Yue, also known as the Second Judge of Hell, from the Celestial Sword Sect."