Princess Chaoyang, her eyes shining, also pointed and said, “This is good to watch, this fight is good to watch. Why is that person wearing a mask? Is it because he is very ugly?”
No one in the VIP seats answered her question.
The Empress also stared at the arena and nodded, agreeing with Li Chenghu’s opinion, “It is somewhat interesting.”
Li Chenghu immediately turned his head to look at her, “Sister-in-law, who do you think will win this match?”
The Empress: “Was not the winner and loser decided at the very beginning?”
Li Chenghu paused slightly and nodded, “True, that Zhang person sealed the throat with one sword strike. Drawing the sword was already a victory.”
The Empress: “Things in this world are unpredictable. You should be familiar with the people of the Longguang Sect. Do you think this person uses the Longguang Sect’s style?”
Li Chenghu chuckled, “I will ask them later.”
The Empress then glanced at the tea cups placed nearby.
Outside, Commander Mi Yunzhong quickly waved his hand, signalling for someone to remove them.
The Empress said faintly, “Forget it, I will not drink it.”
Although the dust that had explosively billowed from the centre of the fight had settled, and the figures of the two combatants could be seen clearly, the dispersed dust floated everywhere. It gradually enveloped the entire arena, making everything grey and hazy, causing many people to cover their mouths and noses to breathe.
Chan Shaoting’s offensive was simply too fierce. After that barrage of sword rain, he had probably unleashed over a thousand sword strikes.
Only because of such dense explosions did the dust cover the entire arena on this scale. Previous fights, no matter how fierce, had never created such a scene.
Gradually, a buzz of discussion emerged in the stands.
“Sword qi like rain, he definitely unleashed far more than a thousand strikes just now. Leaving other things aside, relying solely on his Initial Xuan realm cultivation, being able to condense so much sword qi in such a short time is already extraordinary. This Chaoyang Assembly is indeed a place where new talents emerge in large numbers.”
“What do you know? Did you not hear that his surname is Chan? He is the biological grandson of the Manor Lord of the Guijian Villa.”
“I am telling you, this is not a place to compare backgrounds, but a place to compare strength. That Zhang Zhichen stood completely still and took over a thousand sword strikes from him.”
“He did not actually bear the full force of a thousand strikes, did he? Look at the blasted ground all around. He probably only took a portion of it.”
“Although it was a blanket attack, the main target was him. He must have blocked at least several hundred strikes. To stand still and block hundreds of strikes in such a short time is not something an ordinary person could do. He is also an extraordinary expert!”
“Yes, sword qi like rain, yet he remained as immovable as a mountain. Just based on this skill, I fear his strength surpasses that of Chan Shaoting.”
Wen Xin and Xiao Hong had been quite frightened by that furious offensive earlier, both thinking Yu Qing was finished. When they saw the earth turned into a deep crater with a single pillar standing in the aftermath, and discovered Yu Qing was still standing proudly, that alone was enough to shock them both.
In their view, Chan Shaoting, with his relentless bombardment, was definitely superior. Hearing such discussions from others now, they realised it might not be the case.
Xiao Hong could not resist leaning close to Wen Xin and whispering, “A-Qing is so amazing.”
Wen Xin’s tense lips relaxed slightly, but she still remained silent.
Sitting upright in the stands, Xiang Zhen clenched his fists, staring intently at the masked figure amidst the swirling dust, and muttered to himself, “It seems I did not misjudge. So the Initial Xuan realm can also touch that threshold.”
When he had previously sought confirmation from Yu Qing about something, Yu Qing had denied it. Now he felt Yu Qing had deceived him.
Yet he was not angry about the deception. Instead, an unusual colour blossomed in his eyes, which shone brightly in the pervasive dust.
Also in the stands, Xiao Changdao was swallowing hard, staring at the person above the deep crater, his Adam’s apple bobbing continuously.
He finally understood now what Yu Qing had meant when he said there was no need to hold back. That was not an emotional outburst, but a genuine murderous intent towards him.
He had originally thought that voluntarily admitting defeat had granted Yu Qing a huge favour and saved him a lot of face. Now he realised…
Wu Ronggui, sitting beside him, suddenly whispered in his ear, “Brother Xiao, I am afraid you have dodged a bullet.”
He had personally experienced the entire process of the grievance between Xiao Changdao and Yu Qing, so he knew exactly what was going on.
Xiao Changdao did not know what to say. Of course he knew he had dodged a bullet.
Wu Ronggui’s injuries had not fully healed either. He had been beaten by Kui Kui simply because Kui Kui felt his politeness was too hypocritical and found him displeasing to look at. Kui Kui did not even give him a chance to surrender or admit defeat, nearly killing him on the spot.
The entire group from the Guijian Villa had already stood up. Even though they blocked the view of the people behind them and drew reproach, they had no mind to pay attention to it.
Yong Zexue seemed to have even stopped breathing, staring intently at the two confronting each other in the arena. She knew very well what her son’s recent outburst of a thousand swords like rain meant for him. She was extremely nervous, terrified that Yu Qing might make a move at this moment.
Chan Shaoyun’s fists were still clenched. Seeing Yu Qing still standing proudly and intact after such an attack from her brother, she was incredibly surprised. At the very least, she could no longer look down on him. Realising that the wretched person was actually that powerful, she also became nervous.
Wen Ruowei suddenly leaned close to her sister’s ear and giggled, whispering, “Who could have guessed he was a scholarly man playing with pen and ink back in the day? See? People like him will not be bad at anything. He is versed in both literature and martial arts. Where else can you find someone like this?”
Long Xingyun gripped his folding fan, staring motionlessly. The mocking, spectator-like expression was completely gone from his face.
Qin Fujun on the main stage was also dazed by the sight. Only those within the Initial Xuan realm themselves could understand what it meant to face an offensive of such power from Chan Shaoting. Yet that suspect had blocked it while standing completely still.
And precisely because of this, she felt even more strongly that Yu Qing might be that culprit.
Many people were discussing it, while many others stared in silence, watching intently to see when the two combatants would engage again in the next moment.
In the swirling dust that took a long time to completely settle, Chan Shaoting appeared to be standing motionless, but in reality, he was panting heavily. His face was deathly pale, yet a sickly flush appeared on his cheeks.
In order to save face and to show everyone his extraordinary strength, he had unleashed that previous strike with all his might. After that single strike, he felt as though his body had been completely hollowed out, making it difficult to recover for a time.
This did not matter. As long as he could also achieve victory in a single strike and wipe away his shame with one blow, that would be better than anything else.
However, the opponent before him was standing there completely unharmed. He stared with wide eyes, finding it somewhat unbelievable, and could hardly imagine how the other party had managed it.
Only now did he realise he had been too impulsive just now, leaving himself no room for retreat. He now had to urgently regulate his breathing, striving to let his exhausted magical power recover a little faster, otherwise he would be completely unable to block the opponent’s attack.
Fortunately, Yu Qing was in no hurry to attack him. He still stood quietly in the same spot, seemingly like a gentleman who does not take advantage of another’s precarious position, appearing to wait for Chan Shaoting to recover.
Just as he had clearly sealed his opponent’s throat with one sword strike earlier, yet still gave the other party another chance.
No one at the scene could see that the earthen pillar beneath his feet was on the verge of collapse. Only he himself could clearly feel that the interior of the pillar was already filled with countless cracks.
When he had previously endured Chan Shaoting’s fierce attack, his force had been channelled straight through, which actually kept his foothold suppressed and stable. Now, without that pressure, the situation was instead unfavourable. If his stance deviated even slightly, the ground beneath him would crumble. He was merely the thing maintaining the final balance of the earthen pillar.
When facing the attack earlier, it was not that he did not want to move, but that he dared not move. Chan Shaoting’s attacks were simply too dense. He could only concentrate on constructing an umbrella-like defensive counter-attack zone above his head. Facing such continuous, blanket-like comprehensive attacks, how could he dare to move a fraction of an inch?
Only in this exchange did he discover he had underestimated Chan Shaoting, realising that Chan Shaoting had not revealed his full strength in previous matches either. Under that sudden outburst, he had almost been caught off guard and nearly fallen into Chan Shaoting’s hands.
Thump, thump, thump, thump…
A rumbling drum sound suddenly rang out. The first drumbeat urging the battle had sounded. The two sides had been in a standoff for too long, and the organisers had no choice but to beat the drums to urge them to fight. It was impossible to let the two of them continue to waste time indefinitely.
Yu Qing also felt that maintaining the situation beneath his feet was too exhausting. Once the drum sound stopped, he spoke to Chan Shaoting, “Do you still want to fight?”
In the standoff, he was closer to Chan Shaoting than anyone else and could see the consequences of Chan Shaoting having exerted himself too forcefully just now. The reason he had not pushed him too hard was still due to the power of the other party’s family background. He wanted to give the other party some face as much as possible.
A person in the martial world must be realistic. If you cannot afford to offend someone, you should try your best not to offend them.
Chan Shaoting tilted his head slightly and easily saw his mother and the others. The people from the Guijian Villa in the stands were too obvious because they had all stood up and were looking at him.
He could understand everyone’s feelings. A sudden sadness welled up in his heart, knowing he had disappointed his mother.
He understood his opponent’s words. They were reminding him that the first time a winner was decided, he had let him off. The second time, he had not taken advantage of his weakness to attack, letting him off again. Such a match had already given him ample face. To be unaware of this would be going too far.
He thanked the other party for their kindness in his heart, but the other party simply did not know what this manner of defeat meant for someone of his background. If it were a normal defeat, being less skilled than another would be one thing. But losing both the formation and one’s dignity would mean losing face for the Guijian Villa, and the consequences of that were no child’s play.
If he had known earlier that attacking again would not help him overcome his opponent, he would have accepted it when his throat was sealed by that one sword strike.
Now, if he could not salvage the situation, how could he have the face to return?
Thus, he set aside the dignity of the duel and abandoned the big talk he had previously said to Yu Qing. With his magical power having recovered slightly, he took a deep, forceful breath, reached out, and gripped the hilt of his ancient, unadorned greatsword. With a swish, he drew the sword from its scabbard, holding it at a slant, making it clear he intended to fight again.
Seeing this, Yu Qing frowned. Was it not said that swords would not be used? However, if the other party went back on his word, there was nothing he could do about it. After all, their conversation could not dictate the result of the match.
Fine then. He also could not be bothered to maintain the balance of the earthen pillar beneath his feet any longer. Maintaining this facade was too exhausting. He suddenly leaped, soaring rapidly into the air.
The earthen pillar in the deep crater instantly collapsed with a loud rumble, sending dust and smoke billowing in all directions.
While in the air, Yu Qing flipped over, riding the qi to fly backwards and downwards, charging diagonally towards Chan Shaoting on the ground.
If he did not defeat the other party clearly and explicitly, the other party would refuse to admit defeat. How long would this drag on? Therefore, this time he would take the initiative to attack!