by Mars Gravity
On the Sword Discourse Arena, the profound strength assessments for all participating disciples were finally finished. Ling Wugou then used a very long time to read aloud the ranking tournament’s basic procedure and guidelines. After which, this year’s Blue Wind Ranking Tournament had finally, officially begun.
“…When fighting, a person loses when he falls onto the ground for more than ten breaths of time or when he concedes the match! No matter for what reason, any competitor who takes more than thirty breaths of time to go up on stage will be seen as admitting defeat… Now, this old man declares that the Blue Wind Ranking Tournament has officially begun!”
After Ling Wugou’s voice fell, a large area of profound energy fluctuation came from all around. On top of the thirty small Sword Discourse Arenas, transparent profound energy protective screens appeared simultaneously. These profound energy barriers could isolate the two competitors such that their profound energy would not affect the surroundings when both parties were in combat. At the same time, to a certain extent, it also sets a restriction on the area in which both parties would fight.
Thirty well prepared middle aged men also flew up and descended to the side of the thirty small Sword Discourse Arenas. These were the referees for the first round of small group matches. And these thirty people, could all use the “Profound Floating Technique”, which meant that they were all Sky Profound Realm experts. This fact made many observing disciples to immediately go slack-jawed.
The thirty small Sword Discourse Arenas were evenly spread out around the main Sword Discourse Arena. To the practitioners watching, from any seat, the circumstances of each small Sword Discourse Arena could be plainly visible just by shifting their gazes a little.
Following the appearance of the thirty judges and the profound energy barriers, the numbers of sixty disciples flashed brightly at the same time. Very quickly, sixty competitors climbed onto their respective Sword Discourse stage and the first match was officially begun.
“We’ve already checked through. Yun Che’s will be competing on Sword Discourse Stage 15, and his number is 1505. His next few opponents have all been briefed through. Under the circumstance that they can’t kill him, then will trash him as hard as they possibly can to ensure that he can’t hold on until the second round before he loses half his life…. No, he might even have lost a few limbs after the first stage for all we know.” Fen Juebi returned to his seat and spoke quietly in Fen Juecheng’s ear.
Fen Juecheng glanced at Sword Discourse Arena number fifteen and nodded slowly.
Yun Che was coincidentally sitting very close to the fifteenth Sword Discourse Arena. His first match was arranged to be the fifth match, so he did not immediately move beside the fifteenth Sword Discourse Arena. Rather, he sat at his seat and quietly observed the battles around him.
There were over five hundred sect forces, and some mainly used swords, while others mainly used knives, or axes, or even whips… All sorts of weapons could be seen, and even more so, all sorts of profound attributes made the scene messy and confusing. All the different heavy, light, and even gaudy profound skills displayed were enough to overwhelm a person.
At least, Xia Yuanba already felt deeply that two eyes just weren’t enough.
Currently, it was only the first round of the small group matches, which was also the most basic round of competition in the entire ranking tournament. However, each match there would be considered an extremely heroic showdown to the outside world, because both parties fighting were all below twenty, at the Spirit Profound Realm, and were all geniuses of the ultimate pinnacle to the letter! This was a match of the ranking tournament that only belonged to the most extremely talented geniuses.
“Quick look! It’s big sis!”
Xia Yuanba suddenly gave a surprised shout and pointed towards the ninth Sword Discourse Arena.
A quarter of an hour passed by, and the ninth Sword Discourse Arena had already finished three matches. During the fourth match, a completely veiled Xia Qingyue appeared on the Sword Discourse Arena and caused the ninth Sword Discourse Arena to become the center of attention through the entire arena… Whenever a disciple from any of the Four Major Sects appeared, they would definitely become the focal point.
Opposite Xia Qingyue, a twenty year old youth walked up. However, his expression was terrible. Within his heart, he was inwardly complaining about his bitter lot. His profound strength was at the fourth level of the Spirit Profound Realm, and within group nine, he was in the upper-middle tier, but never did he expect to get a disciple of the Frozen Cloud Asgard as his first opponent.
However, his opponent was only a young girl of seventeen. He simply could not lose face by admitting defeat, so he could only brace himself and pull out his sword, “Illusory Sword Clan’s Han Yunzhi requests this fairy to bestow unto him some guidance!”
As his voice fell, he stepped forward, and thrusted his sword outward. From the start, he was already using his strongest ultimate move, the “Sword of Three Lives”. The surging sword aura coagulated into three sword blossoms, and the power of each of the three points all attacking towards Xia Qingyue.
Xia Qingyue’s gaze was tranquil and calm. Her feet had not moved. Facing Han Yunzhi’s sword aura, her snow-like right hand moved gently…
Whoosh!
A cold wind breezed past and cut at Han Yunzhi’s face like numerous blades of knives. His sword aura was defeated in a matter of seconds and it was as if his entire body had been plunged into the extremities of a frozen prison. His four limbs were impossibly rigid and he was made to stagnate there, kept in his pose of wielding a sword and rushing forward. Let alone being able to continue brandishing his sword, he couldn’t even move his fingers at all.
In the blink of an eye, a layer of gorgeous hoar frost extended from his sword’s tip to cover his entire body.
All the sect disciples who were seeing the might of Frozen Cloud Asgard’s “Frozen Cloud Secret Art” for the first time were all stunned.
“I… admit… defeat…” Han Yunzhi’s mouth trembled as he squeezed out those three words. He had originally thought that even though there was a difference of four levels between them, he could at least withstand five to six moves… But he hadn’t thought that he wouldn’t even meet the criteria to meet face-to-face with his opponent.
“Illusory Sword Clan’s Han Yunzhi admits defeat, Frozen Cloud Asgard’s Xia Qingyue wins!”
At the loud verdict of the referee for the ninth Sword Discourse Arena, the ice on Han Yunzhi’s body disappeared. All at once, he fell to kneel on the ground. After taking in large gulps of air, he looked at Xia Qingyue with eyes filled with insurmountable respect before weakly walking off the Sword Discourse Arena.
The Heavenly Sword Villa, Frozen Cloud Asgard, Xiao Sect and Burning Heaven Clan comprised the highly acclaimed Four Major Sects, and there had never been a need for them to deign to accept another to form the “Five Major Sects”. This was because, apart from these four large sects, there had not even been any other sects that were qualified to make up for the shortfall in number. Their distance from all the other sects was practically akin to the distance between the skies and the earth. Heritage, resources, strength of skills… All these constituted for the fame and prestige of the Four Major Sects, and they also contributed to the reasons for the extremely large gap between them and the other sects. For several hundred years, the first ten spots for the individual rankings in the ranking tournaments had always been snatched up by disciples from the Four Major Sects, and no disciples from any other sect had ever dared to intrude… There had been no exceptions.
“So strong….. Big sister’s actually so strong.” Xia Yuanba stared with his eyes wide and did not blink until after Xia Qingyue had walked off the Sword Discourse Stage. After a while, he asked blankly, “Brother-in-law, did you see how strong big sister actually was… C… Can you beat big sis?”
“Hehe, of course that’s impossible.” Qin Wushang laughed and replied, “If my guess is no
t wrong, your sister should be a main disciple that Frozen Cloud Asgard has been nurturing these past few years. This sort of person who is spoiled by the heavens is definitely not someone our Blue Wind Profound Palace can match.”
Yun Che just watched the competition calmly without speaking.
At this time, a referee’s loud cry came from Sword Discourse Arena Number 15.
“Group 15, fifth match, Blue Wind Imperial Family’s ‘Yun Che’ —— versus —— Southern Jade Cloud Faction’s ‘Fu Yanjie’!”
Chapter 209: Establishing Dominance
Once the name “Yun Che” rang, Cang Yue’s reaction was quicker than Yun Che’s. She immediately grabbed Yun Che’s hand. Then she spoke with a nervous and excited manner: “Junior brother Yun, it’s your turn.”
“Brother-in-law, good luck! Go beat up all your opponents and show those people who mock us who’s boss!” Xia Yuanba said with clenched fists.
“I’ll be back soon.” Yun Che casually said that without thinking as he left his seat and walked up to the Sword Discourse Arena.
And the fifteenth Sword Discourse Arena suddenly became the focal point.
“Hurry, look! The kid from the Blue Wind Imperial Family’s up!”
“Tsk tsk, that Fu Yanjie’s truly lucky to be going against this guy in the first match. Why can’t I be that fortunate?”
“I think I remember that Fu Yanjie was at the second level of the Spirit Profound Realm. I’d reckon that he’ll beat him sprawling in three moves… HAHAHAHA! Why wasn’t I placed in the fifteenth group. Because even if I lose the eleven other matches, I’ll at least be able to pleasurably oppress this kid from the Blue Wind Imperial Family.”
The surroundings immediately echoed with roars of laughter.
Yun Che didn’t respond to the surrounding voices as they filled his ears. He was silently looking at the opponent before him. His first opponent had wide shoulders and a round waist, as well as a robust frame. A huge machete of eight feet in length was held in his hand. However, all of these were not the points that Yun Che was paying attention to. What Yun Che was paying attention to, was the slight sneer on the corner of this person’s mouth, as well as the unceasingly flickering cruelty in his eyes.
“Heh…” Yun Che’s brows lowered slightly as the corners of his mouth curled into an extremely light sneer.
“Match, start!!”
As the referee’s voice faded, the enormous blade in Fu Yanjie’s was ferociously swung out, carrying a gust of howling wind with it. He looked at Yun Che, and in midst of sneering, said with a very low voice: “Yun Che, consider it your misfortune to have met me. Obediently lay flat onto the ground for me!”
Amidst his sneer, Fu Yanjie did not wait for Yun Che to take out weapons and rushed forward with a brisk pace. His frame was robust and huge, and the blade in his hand was also quite enormous, but his speed was not slow in the slightest. With a low cry, he raised the enormous blade, and slashed down toward Yun Che’s left arm while utilizing profound energy.
In the seating area of Burning Heaven Clan, Fen Juebi said while laughing heartily: “Big bro, just wait and watch the show. This person had already been especially informed. He won’t give any chance for Yun Che to surrender, and will chop off one of his arms as fast as possible, and then give him a slice on the face along the way.”
“Very good.” Fen Juecheng’s mouth twitched as he laughed coldly.
The wind blade that came toward him was extremely vicious, without the slightest intent of holding back. Yun Che slightly shifted his body to the side and dodged the blade strike, yet Fu Yanjie’s blade then swept upwards in the next instant… The direction of its sweep, was clearly Yun Che’s face.
Yun Che’s gaze focused. Then, he flew into an extreme rage… I could forgive breaking my arm, and I can even endure losing half my life, but this mother f*cker actually wants to ruin my face!! This cannot be tolerated and forgiven by any means; even if an old uncle can endure and tolerate his wife, I still won’t tolerate this!
A glimmer of vicious light flashed through Yun Che’s eyes. He shifted his body down low, dodging this blade strike. Instead of retreating, he advanced; he suddenly rushed forward like a bolt of lightning, and his elbow violently smashed onto Fu Yanjie’s abdominal region.
“Holy crap! This guy’s looking to die!”
“Is this kid crazy? Fu Yanjie doesn’t even need to open his eyes. Just a convenient swing on the way downwards can directly end his life there. He really is young in the end. Not only is his profound strength low, his battle experience is also extremely trashy and lacking.”
However, the next scene made everyone freeze right then and there… Yun Che’s forcefully advanced and attacked Fu Yanjie’s abdomen, yet Fu Yanjie’s blade that was suspended above him did not conveniently swing down, but froze there. After Yun Che straightened his posture and took two step back, his arm still did not drop down.
Clang…
The blade in Fu Yanjie’s hand fell down onto the ground.
“Ugh… ug…” Hoarse sounds leaked out from his mouth. Fu Yanjie’s eyes fixedly stared wide and bulged out in an extremely exaggerated manner as if they were almost jumping out from their sockets. He slowly knelt down onto the ground, held his abdomen with both hands in agony, and curled up there like a baby shrimp. His entire body trembled, and the cold sweat on his head flowed down like a rainstorm. The fresh blood in his mouth mixed with white foam and flowed out together.
Even though that elbow blow of Yun Che’s earlier did not strike him backwards even half a step, the overbearing energy had already dispersed into countless streams and violently entered his body, making him lose his ability to fight in an instant amidst the immense pain. If not for that this was the arena, and Yun Che didn’t want any possibility of being disqualified because of this, just based on Fu Yanjie’s intentions of ruining face alone, he would’ve definitely crippled him thoroughly.
Yun Che looked down at the Fu Yanjie beside his feet who was in extreme agony, and coldly spoke with a overcast voice: “There are no prior grievances and grudges between you and I, and you don’t have any reason to viciously harm me; seems like you were used by someone like a marionette. I can’t guess who was the one that ordered you just yet, but I believe that I’ll find out soon enough. Go back and tell that person that I have received his provocations; I’m afraid however, that the consequences will be too much for him to take.”
Fu Yanjie was still curled up on the floor and could not even utter a distinct word.
“Fu Yanjie down for ten breaths of time! Blue Wind Imperial Family’s Yun Che wins!”
Yun Che leisurely walked down from the Sword Discourse Arena, while Fu Yanjie was still curled up there, unable to get up for a good while. Only after a long time had passed, did his two other clan members go up and drag him down with reddened faces.
The sect disciples who were originally expecting to see a one-sided show instantly became wide-eyed and slack-jawed as they looked at each other’s faces.
“What’s going on? Fu Yanjie actually lost?”
“It should be that Yun Che’s strike earlier had just happened hit Fu Yanjie’s dantian energy gate, and made Fu Yanjie lose all of his strength in an instant… It should be like that, right?”
“Hm, seems like that’s the only way it can be explained anyway. But this Fu Yanjie actually lost under the hand of someone of the True Profound Realm, it’s really just too humiliating.”
The pace at which Yun Che walked down was very slow. He narrowed his eyes halfway and concentrated his focus, perceiving the surrounding presences without any expression on his face. Not long after, he felt a slight hint of killing intent coming toward him… This hint of killing intent was extremely insignificant, however, Yun Che was truly way too familiar and sensitive to this kind of thing called killing intent. He turned his head in a flash, his gaze meeting the owner of the emitted killing intent… An instant after, he retracted his gaze, and returned to the seating area.
>
Fen Juecheng…. Ha, so it was him. Yun Che coldly smiled, thought about what happened last night in association, and instantly understood everything.
With merely an instant of their gazes meeting, and since it was flat out impossible for Fen Juecheng to possess the kind of frighteningly sharp sense Yun Che did, he naturally did not notice that Yun Che had already found out about him secretly pulling the strings. The result of this battle caused Fen Juecheng’s complexion to darken once more: “Seems like, we have underestimated this Yun Che.”
“Tsk.” Fen Juebi, however, was extremely disdainful: “No matter what, he’s only a laughable True Profound Realm. It’s obvious that Fu Yanjie lost because he underestimated the enemy too much and was too unlucky. If nothing out of expectation happens, Yun Che’s opponent for the next round, would coincidentally be Fu Yanjie’s twin brother. His profound strength is even one rank higher than Fu Yanjie, and would definitely not let Yun Che have anymore strokes of luck.”
The first round of group stage matches proceeded like a raging fire. Just as Cang Yue said, the pace of the group stage matches was very fast. A mere three hours had passed, and the average number of matches that proceeded in each Sword Discourse Arena had already surpassed thirty. There were matches that ended quickly, as well as matches with dragged on bitter battles. Yet when faced with someone from the Four Major Sects, most would forfeit right away. Especially when met with super raid bosses like Ling Yun, Xiao Kuanglei, Yan Jin, and Shui Wushuang; their opponents would directly forfeit without even having the thought of fighting… Otherwise, if the other side accidentally struck out a little too heavy, and one ends up being gravely injured or something, it would definitely affect their performance in other matches. It was better to forfeit directly and conserve strength.
“Group Fifteen’s thirty-fifth match: Blue Wind Imperial Family’s Yun Che —— versus —— Southern Jade Cloud Faction’s Fu Yinjie!”
Yun Che’s second match was about to start, but the opponent of this match made him stare blankly for a bit.