by Mars Gravity
Mu Tianbei snorted loudly before flipping his sleeve to turn and leave. Mu Xiongyi and Mu Xiongyan followed right behind him. Right when they were about to leave the courtyard, Mu Xiongyan turned around to glance at Yun Che, and revealed a sinister smile.
Yun Che’s counter mockery naturally negated some of Qin Wushang’s great pleasure. He was extremely moved by Yun Che but he was even more worried than before. He sighed softly: “Yun Che, you were too impulsive earlier. You can straightforwardly refuse him, but there was absolutely no need for you to offend him. Since this happened, tomorrow’s match, sigh…”
“Rest assured Palace Chief Qin,” Yun Che indifferently laughed: “In this ranking tournament, I only have one true opponent. There is no way that I would lose before meeting this true opponent. As for tomorrow’s Mu Xiongyan, forget about him endangering me, he doesn’t even have the qualifications to make me use my true strength.”
————————————
After night had passed, a new day had begun. New matches were also imminent. It was early morning, but the entire Sword Discourse Arena was already jammed packed with people waiting for the Round of 16 to begin. As of now, this Blue Wind Ranking Tournament’s match progression still conformed with the norm. If one must speak of anything unusual that had happened, it would be Yun Che, the super dark horse.
As for the ranking tournament’s final results, that was already predestined inside everyone’s heart long ago, during the first day’s Profound Assessment Ceremony… First place would inevitably belong to Ling Yun. Second, third, and fourth place, would still be a fight between Frozen Cloud Asgard, the Xiao Sect, and Burning Heaven Clan. Any other sects simply did not have the qualifications to enter the rivalry.
The Round of 16 was destined to be much more exciting and tense than yesterday’s Round of 32.
Round of 16, first match: Blue Wind Imperial Family’s Yun Che —— versus —— Heavenly Spear Thunderfire Fortress’ Mu Xiongyan.
Before Mu Xiongyan went up on stage, Mu Tianbei ordered him in a low voice: “Cripple him Yan’er!” One night had passed but his fury still had not dissipated. After becoming Fort Master, Yun Che was the first person who dared to insult him out loud, and that made the grudge he bore be bone-deep.
“Rest assured Father. I won’t even let him think about standing up ever again.” Mu Xiongyan grinned as he casually said that.
On the Sword Discourse Arena, Yun Che and Mu Xiongyan stood on opposing sides. Mu Xiongyan slightly narrowed his eyes and sneered with a light casual stance, as if the Yun Che in front of him was a mere prey that was already in the clutches of his hands. Yun Che however, was a field of tranquility.
Last night, Qin Wushang had spoke to him in detail that the Heavenly Spear Thunderfire Fortress was divided into the Heavenly Spear Sect and the Thunderfire Sect. The Thunderfire Sect was capable of transforming profound energy into thunderfire, while simultaneously detonating it, bringing out an extremely tremendous lethality. At the same time, the Thunderfire Sect had also always passed on various different kinds of manufactured high grade firearms and controlling capabilities. More than a dozen different types of dangerous firearms were concealed on the bodies of every Thunderfire Sect disciple, even so much that there were probably more than several tens of incomparably dangerous types that one could not completely defend against.
In regards to transforming profound energy into thunderfire, Yun Che didn’t really care about that at all. But he was incapable of estimating how powerful the firearms on Mu Xiongyan’s body really were. His countless life and death experiences told him that if anything was unable to be discerned, especially one of dangerous origins, the safest move he could make when facing Mu Xiongyan would be to completely strangle something that could become dangerous in the shortest time possible.
So to him, this match was destined to be a match in which the outcome would be decided within the blink of an eye.
“Match start!!”
As soon as Ling Wugou’s voice fell, Mu Xiongyan raised both his hands and spread open all ten fingers. Ten purplish-red colored lightning balls instantly condensed atop his fingertips. The sound of its crackling discharge would make one shudder with fright. He looked at Yun Che with a ferocious smile: “Yun Che, prepare to howl a good one under my Thunderfire!! I’ll let you remember the price of insulting my Heavenly Spear Thunderfire Fortress for your entire lifetime!!”
Yun Che did not reply. While tightly holding onto the heavy sword, his silhouette flashed. Like a strong blast of wind, he charged straight at Mu Xiongyan.
Mu Xiongyan moved both his hands. The ten Thunderfire balls of condensed profound energy flew at Yun Che with different trajectories. Yun Che nevertheless did not dodge or flee, and directly forged onwards. This action caused Mu Xiongyan to sneer:
“Then die… Explode!!”
BOOM BOOM BOOM…
Ten Thunderfire balls simultaneously exploded, and the devastating Thunderfire’s radiance momentarily drowned out Yun Che’s silhouette. Before Mu Xiongyan had even begun to laugh, he unexpectedly discovered that in the instant the Thunderfire balls exploded, Yun Che’s silhouette had disappeared from that spot.
Afterimage!?
Right after that, he suddenly detected the flash of a shadow from the corner of his eye. Yun Che had suddenly appeared at his side, and was not even two steps away from him. If another person were to switch places with him, even if they could react quickly to guard against it, they would inevitably fumble. However, not only did Mu Xiongyan not panic, he instead, laughed grimly. He did not move at all as he suddenly instigated his profound energy. Three purplish-red colored arrows suddenly shot out from his shoulder, flying straight at Yun Che’s face.
“Ah——”
The entire Sword Discourse Arena erupted in cries of alarm. Cang Yue was even more nervous as she shrieked. It was at such a close distance, and was also a head-on collision that was completely unexpected which shot out three Thunderfire arrows. Even if one was an immortal, it was not definite as to whether or not it was possible to dodge past it.
Whoosh!!
While still in the radiance of the Thunderfire balls, three Thunderfire arrows had already launched straight at Yun Che, and completely passed through his face…
It was another afterimage!!
Mu Xiongyan immediately opened his eyes wide. Before he had yet to recover from his astonishment, an incomparably hot heatwave attacked from overhead…
“Empyrean Dance of the Phoenix Wing!!!”
Boom!!
Like a fierce hawk, Yun Che swooped down from the sky and ruthlessly attacked his back with a scorching berserk strike. A huge lump of flame exploded within the loud noise, blotting out the sky while covering the earth…
Up until now, this was the first time Yun Che had executed Star God’s Broken Shadow. The second stage’s triple shadow chaining could be said to be as unfathomable as ghosts and gods. Likewise, it was also the first time he had used a Phoenix Flame technique… They were all used to finish the battle in the shortest time possible to avoid any possible unstable factors.
Inside the blaze that soared to the sky, Mu Xiongyan’s protective profound energy was shattered as if thin ice. He spurted out a large mouthful of fresh blood and fiercely flew outwards. Then, he knocked against the profound energy barrier and rebounded back to the floor. The fire on his body did not die out. Instead, it continued to rage and burn, burning his clothes, flesh, and the various tens of hidden firearms on his body…
BANG BANG BANG BOOM BOOM BOOM…
When the firearms caught on fire, they all crazily exploded on Mu Xiongyan’s body, splitting his skin open and flesh apart, making his mutilated flesh hard to discern. His wretched scream was like the mournful shrill of a banshee. Yun Che withdrew his heavy sword and looked at him with a pitiful gaze as he secretly muttered to himself: These firearms that were supposed to be used against me, you should just go enjoy them yourself!
Chapter 219: I’m an
Expert in the Same Field
“Yan’er!!”
Mu Tianbei’s expression paled as he flew straight down towards the Sword Discourse Arena. Ling Wugou quickly stepped forward as well, extinguishing all the flames on Mu Xiongyan with his profound energy.
With the extinguishment of the flames, Mu Xiongyan’s tragic state was displayed to everyone’s eyes. His entire body was charred black, a large portion of his flesh erupted apart with blood splattering everywhere, his white bones were even revealed on his pair of shoulders and knees. A large half of his hair was burnt, and his face was even blurred from the blood and exposed flesh… ‘Tragic’ was not even a suitable word to describe his current state.
But since the firearms on Mu Xiongyan’s body self-destructed because they were ignited by flames, and not by profound energy, the power of the explosions were not really large. Although Mu Xiongyan suffered extremely serious external injuries, his internal injuries were actually quite light, at least, he would not be crippled. However, to fully recover his serious external injuries, it would probably take a very long time. And, there would be countless of ugly scars left around his entire body… including his face.
Mu Tianbei charged through the profound energy barrier, arriving in front of Mu Xiongyan’s body. After inspecting his wounds, he heaved a sigh of relief, and then, glared at Yun Che with extreme hatred. However, he did not utter a single word. Carrying Mu Xiongyan, whose entire body was dripping with fresh blood, he walked down the Sword Discourse Arena. Mu Xiongyan’s current tragic state, was basically caused by the hidden firearms on his body. Under everyone’s attentive eyes, if he were to cause Yun Che any trouble, he would simply be looked down upon by everyone on-site. And, Ling Wugou was on the stage as well, so he could not possibly do anything to Yun Che. Without a choice, his heart filled with silent rage and hatred as he went down the stage. However, the killing intent directed at Yun Che, was as cold as the freezing abyss.
“Blue Wind Imperial Family’s Yun Che wins! He shall advance to tomorrow’s Quarterfinals!”
After Mu Xiongyan was brought down the stage by Mu Tianbei, Ling Wugou loudly announced the outcome of the match.
According to the progression of the previous Blue Wind Ranking Tournaments, the further the progression of matches, the stronger the participating disciples were. Every battle would become even more intense, and the time taken for each match would naturally be longer as well. This was the first match of the Round of 16. Everyone wished to find out if this ultimate dark horse, Yun Che, could actually once again turn out victorious in this match, and dreamily enter the Quarterfinals. There were many people willing to believe that he would have the possibility of obtaining victory once again, however, they absolutely would not think that, he would actually win so quickly, and so easily.
This duel ended the moment it just began. It was so quick, they did not have the time to even react. Only after Ling Wugou announced the results, did they accept this unbelievable reality in the midst of their astonishment.
After defeating Xiao Nan, who was at the sixth level of the Spirit Profound Realm, the previous day, Yun Che had once again defeated Mu Xiongyan, who had strength of the eighth level of the Spirit Profound Realm, in just a few seconds the following day. Although Mu Xiongyan’s tragic state was due to the explosion of the firearms on his body, people who were wise enough were able to clearly see that even without the explosion of the firearms, Mu Xiongyan had already been thoroughly defeated.
Those two strange and unpredictable afterimages, and that surprising and overwhelming fire blast attack… The strong experts on-site, in their astonishment, had once again realized that they had completely and utterly underestimated Yun Che. Back then, when Yun Che was obtaining his consecutive level-skipping victories, he had actually been hiding his true abilities, and only until this match, did he reveal a tip of the iceberg, so as to obtain a quick and decisive victory.
“There’s actually such an individual within our Blue Wind Empire, who even I can’t clearly fathom the limits of. Every single time I thought he had already reached his limits, he would always once again astonish me.” Ling Yuefeng stood up with shock revealed on his calm face. “To actually be able to unleash such power while just being at the tenth level of the True Profound Realm, forget about the Blue Wind Empire, I have never heard of someone capable of doing this in the entire Profound Sky Continent. Just what kind of monster is he!? And just which supreme individual is his master? That master of his is actually capable of bringing up such a disciple!”
Ling Yuefeng’s exclamation, naturally gave Yun Che an extremely high evaluation. Ling Yun slightly frowned, and suddenly asked. “Father, the movement skill he used earlier, just how did he accomplish it? When one uses profound energy to move his body, it will not only bring about obvious ripples of profound energy, there will be obvious differences between the afterimage and the actual body as well. However, he formed three images, yet, I did not even feel a hint of any profound energy ripple, and, these three images were completely identical, and it was basically impossible to distinguish them from the real one. I have never seen such a strange profound movement skill.”
Ling Yun’s words caused Ling Yuefeng to momentarily enter a state of silence, and then, he shook his head. “Your father was not able to clearly distinguish them as well.”
“What!?” Ling Yun’s eyes turned towards Ling Yuefeng as a hint of shock flashed past his face.
“That guy actually won again, and he’s actually capable of manipulating fire! Big bro, were you able to distinguish what kind of flames he was playing with?” With a sway of his left hand, a ball of flames burned at top of Fen Juebi’s palm. Looking at the ball of flames, he slowly asked.
“Hmph, it’s nothing but the lowest level of profound flames. To actually play with fire in front of us, the Burning Heaven Clan, he’s basically underestimating us.” Fen Juecheng’s expression sank, saying with disdain.
Fen Juebi blew at his palm, directly extinguishing the ball of flames. He then said with a beaming smile. “Big bro, there’s no need to be angry. In contrast, this is actually a very good thing.”
“A good thing?” Fen Juecheng frowned.
“Did big bro forget? After claiming his victory in this match, who do you think is his opponent tomorrow?” Fen Juebi’s voice was low, and his smile had begun to grow even more sinister.
Fen Juecheng’s eyes turned, and then, his expression slightly changed. “It’s you!”
“That’s right, hahahaha.” Fen Juebi began to laugh wildly. “I didn’t expect that. I was not able to encounter him in the small group matches, but I’m actually going to encounter him in the elimination rounds. This world is simply too marvelous, it’s basically a present bestowed by the heavens to me and big bro. Let me personally end this so-called genius. I shall forever leave my shadow in the heart of the person who dares to offend big bro.”
The Round of 16 started off with a duel that exceeded everyone’s expectations, and immediately after, the second match was also one that shocked the audience. Ling Jie easily defeated an opponent who was two levels above him with just a few strikes, similarly ending the match with lightning speed. There were merely four to five exchanges of blows during the entire process.
Third Match: Fen Juebi easily obtained victory.
Fourth Match: Ling Fengyu won.
Fifth Match: The opponent surrendered, Ling Yun instantly obtained victory.
Sixth Match: Shui Wushuang fought with Wu Xuexin of the same sect, after an exciting battle, Shui Wushuang won by a slight margin.
Seventh Match: Xia Qingyue won.
Eighth Match: Xiao Kuanglei fought with Xiao Zhen of the same sect, and won by a slight margin.
Thus, the Round of 16 concluded, and the top eight in this Ranking Tournament were determined. The Quarterfinals’ match arrangements tomorrow were also revealed on the center of the profound stone after the conclusion of the Round of 16.
First match: Blue Wind Imperial
Family’s Yun Che vs Burning Heaven Clan’s Fen Juebi.
Second match: Heavenly Sword Villa’s Ling Jie vs Heavenly Sword Villa’s Ling Feiyu.
Third match: Heavenly Sword Villa’s Ling Yun vs Frozen Cloud Asgard’s Shui Wushuang.
Fourth match: Frozen Cloud Asgard’s Xia Qingyue vs Xiao Sect’s Xiao Kuanglei.
As the Ranking Tournament progressed, the eight people who were determined, represented the strongest powerhouses of the current young generation of the Blue Wind Empire. Among these eight, there were a total of seven disciples from the Four Major Sects. Yun Che, the only one who did not belong to the Four Major Sects, was evidently particularly dazzling.
The history of the finale of the Ranking Tournament turning into a power struggle between the Four Major Sects had once again recurred, while Yun Che had undoubtedly became the most unnatural existence in this Ranking Tournament. The moment he entered the top thirty two, his name was destined to be spread far and wide after the Ranking Tournament. And the Blue Wind Profound Palace was finally able to vent out their frustration because of him, allowing them to regain their honor, and drew more practitioners to join them.
“Entering the top eight also means that we have secured our qualifications to enter the Heaven Basin Secret Realm after the Ranking Tournament. This simply feels like a dream.” Returning to the courtyard, Qin Wushang looked towards the sky, and sighed continuously. This was indeed an outcome which he had never even dreamed of.
“Heaven Basin Secret Realm? What’s that?” Xia Yuanba asked curiously.
“It is rumored to be an independent space opened up by a mysterious expert from the Ancient Era. Countless of opportunities and treasures are hidden inside. It opens up once every three years, and people who enter the Secret Realm will always obtain great rewards.” Cang Yue said with great yearning. “Palace Chief Qin, after the Ranking Tournament concludes, you will be able to enter the Heaven Basin Secret Realm with Yun Che. That’s great.”