Whoosh... whoosh...whoosh...
In a little square courtyard, a human figure was seen practicing fist arts on a wooden post while standing in the horse stance. A wind was forcefully brought out by the powerful punches, blowing the dust around like a little tornado.
"Hea!"
After one movement, the punches suddenly got stronger. Two punches in a row had landed on the huge waist-sized post before a sudden sound came out. Snap! The post could not handle the force of the punches, and snapped in two at the middle, with the top part blown at least seven meters into the air, before breaking apart into shreds.
"Finally! The Unity Stage!"
With one last day before the Mu Ren Gang competition, the idea of slacking off never occurred to Ye Chen, as he focused on training his King Kong Fist with all his heart. He could feel and combine the power coming from every inch of his body, which created a higher level of explosive power, which was also why he could master the King Kong Fist to its highest stage.
The person who created this King Kong Fist manual probably had not mastered it to the Unity Stage, so I am definitely better in that regards; however, I could never invent my own style of martial art like he did at this moment, so I am inferior in that regard.
Ye Chen laughed and shook his head as he walked towards the stone table nearby.
On that round stone table, there was a white china jar with a red wooden plug on top. That was exactly that body boosting ointment he bought before.
Pop!
He unplugged the bottle and turned it upside down, a milky yellow colored liquid slowly dripped onto his palm releasing a strong pleasant medicinal scent.
Taking off his clothes, Ye Chen slowly rubbed the ointment over his whole body.
"Ah...so relaxing..." Shortly after, Ye Chen could feel a burning sensation that slowly soaked into his skin then into his muscle, blood and bones. It almost felt like there were ants crawling into his body, itchy, and a bit tingly.
Looking down, he could see that his body was outlined with muscles like a furious cheetah, a streamlined body shape that looked extremely powerful, that did not resemble a fourteen year old boy in any way. But, compared to Xu Jing's extremely fit body that was able to explosively burst forth, Ye Chen was still miles away.
After soaking for a bit longer, Ye Chen got up, put on his clothes and picked up his great steel sword. After walking out of the yard, he walked towards the message center on the west side of the Sky Cloud Martial School.
The message center was where the Sky Cloud Martial School announced big news, and the ceremony of Mu Ren Gang contest would be announced here tomorrow as well. It was quite useful, especially for those new disciples who had no idea what was happening yet, like Ye Chen when he first started.
In fact, Ye Chen did not really have to be there, because the customs for the Mu Ren Gang contest had not changed for a long while and Ye Chen knew everything that he needed to know. However, he was not the old Ye Chen anymore and realized that he could not just brainlessly follow instructions anymore, he had to have everything under control and understand all the details before the event because sometimes it was the minute details that made all the difference.
Plus, with only one day to go, the message center must be full of people, making it a good opportunity to see what he would be up against.
After observing the crowd, Ye Chen realized that he did not have any real friends in the two years he spent in Sky Cloud Martial School.
He forced a smile. Watching people talking and laughing together, Ye Chen couldn't help but envy those outer disciples.
Finally arriving in the message center, in front of Ye Chen was a three-hundred-meter squared marble plaza. At the entrance of the plaza, there was a huge wall standing, on which there was a large piece of paper with black ink writings "The Challenge of Mu Ren Gang" written on it.
Following the crowd, Ye Chen entered the plaza, his ears filled with all sorts of sounds. "The champion of the Mu Ren Gang challenge last year was the number one outer disciple Wu Zongming, I wonder who would win this year?"
"I think that it will still be Wu Zongming, no one knows how much he has improved."
"That makes sense. But I think the genius outer disciple - Zhang Haoran would win!"
"Zhang Haoran! That thirteen-year-old rare genius who had already reached the Mortal Realm Rank 10!"
"That's the one! I heard that when he joined the Sky Cloud Martial School at the age of twelve, he had already reached the Mortal Realm Stage 7. And within a year, he had already jumped from rank 7 to rank 10, what an incredible speed!"
One man sneered: "No matter how much of a genius that Zhang Haoran is, he has only reached the Mortal Realm Stage 10. Did you guys forget? Wu Zongming had already reached the same level half an year ago, and right now he is probably just one step away from the Condensing Reality Realm."
"Haha, 'one step away'? Didn't you mean to say that, he had already failed to breakthrough. Otherwise instead of 'one step away' it would be, he is a Condensing Reality Realm cultivator." The person who made the speech had a squared face and thin lips, looking extremely evil.
"How dare you to insult Wu Zongming?" The outer disciple who defended Wu Zongming said angrily.
The guy with the squared face wouldn't back down, "I know you are a friend of Wu Zongming, but I am not, besides I only have stated the fact. Ask anyone, is what I said false?"
"Hmph, what did you say?"
Out of nowhere, there was a bright voice, then a powerful aura suddenly appeared like a tornado.
Everyone turned towards the new speaker. Just ten steps away was a teenager in blue with a long sword on his back standing there, staring at the people who had unknowingly mocked him.
It was the number one outer disciple - Wu Zongming.
Ye Chen stood to the side observing with interest, as he waited for the drama to unfold.
The square-faced disciple who just insulted Wu Zongming, frightened by his strong aura stammered, "I...I... Isn't the thing I said...the truth?"
Wu Zongming smiled cheekily, "You know what kind of people I hate the most? Cowards. Cowards who only will have the balls to say stuff behind people's back. Now I offer you a chance of redemption: if you could take a punch of mine, I would let everything go. Do you dare?"
One punch! The square-faced disciple thought. My power level is at Mortal Realm Rank 8, with two ranks between us, taking a punch should not be too bad, a small wound at most, but if I refuse this offer, then I really will be the coward, I will be the butt of people's joke forever!
"Okay! One punch it is! What's there to be afraid?"
He arched his back as he lifted his his right arm, his clothing started to whip back and forth even though there was no wind, a clear sign of the man gathering all his Qi to his right arm.
"This is the beginning of the Little Yasha Palm!" Someone who recognized the movement couldn't help but yell it out.
The square-faced disciple smiled complacently. Little Yasha Palm was a top ranked mortal realm martial art. Normally with his status as an outer disciple, he would never be able to obtain this. But his father was an elder of outer disciples at the Sky Cloud Martial School. So he was able to get any kind of martial arts.
With the Little Yasha Palm, he was confident that he could handle Wu Zongming's punch, and secretly hoped that with this conflict, he would gain some fame.
Wu Zongming looked the same, and didn't seem to be affected by the commotion from the crowd, and said quietly: "Ready?"
"Anytime."
Everyone in the crowd held their breath, staring at those two without any distraction. The number one disciple versus a Mortal Realm Rank 8 cultivator, although they would only attack once, but from the brief contact, they should be able to see part of their actual power. And even if they couldn't tell the difference, it will still be worthwhile to just be able to witness such an event.
Wu Zongming stared and laughed at the other disciple gathering his Qi. Wu Zongming slowly walked towards that square-faced apprentice without a sign of Qi gathering.
Ten, nine, eight, ... five more steps to go!
Surprisingly, it was not Wu Zongming that attacked first, but the square-faced apprentice. His legs bounced up from the ground as he took a huge step, his hanging right arm drew a strange curve in the air to attack Wu Zongming from below.
Poonn!
With an air breaking sound, there was a vague dark colored light around that square-faced apprentice's right hand signifying that, his Qi was about to break out of his body.
"Hmph. Useless!"
Wu Zongming yelled in a low voice, as he thrusted one of his palm at that square-faced apprentice's right hand.
Boom!
The square-faced apprentice was sent flying with both of his feet up in the air to exactly where he started from, and had to back up for another ten steps, almost falling on the ground.
Gahg! Spitting out a huge chunk of clotted blood, the square-faced apprentice pointed at Wu Zongming, "You, you..." He only managed to squeeze out one word before he passed out.
All of a sudden, the plaza was filled with clamor.
Everyone knew that the square-faced apprentice could not match up to Wu Zongming, but no one actually expected that the gap between the two to be that large, especially since Wu Zongming did not even use any martial art or Qi. He only used the most basic movement of a palm thrust. Everyone could not help but sigh in amazement at the power of the number one outer disciple.
Unlike the rest of the crowd, Ye Chen had his own opinion. The gap between Mortal Realm Rank 8 and Rank 10 should not be this big, plus that square-faced apprentice used a top ranking Mortal Realm martial art - Little Yasha Palm which boosted his power level to the threshold of Mortal Realm Stage 10. Even if he is not as good as Wu Zongming, it is highly unlikely for him to pass out. There must be another reason.
If Ye Chen guessed right, the martial art Wu Zongming utilized was much higher ranked than that square-faced apprentice, in addition, his Qi controlling skills was much, much higher than the other disciple as well.
Ye Chen could not help but be forced to smile.
The world he lived in was called the Land of Souls, its land covered countless miles without any borders. No one knew how big it actually was nor how many people or demonic beasts that lived in it. But only one thing was certain. It was a world filled with martial arts and warriors.
On this land, there were only two things that mattered to warriors: skills and arts.
However, compared to skills, the arts were few times more important.
A low rank Mortal Realm art could be even more valuable than a middle rank Mortal Realm skill.
If a warrior could master a new skill, it could unleash power about three times stronger; on the other hand, arts were considered to be the core of warriors. A strong core gave the warriors a better advantage to master martial arts.
Normally, when the warriors mastered a higher level of art, their total Qi would increase by about thirty percent, that meant if there were two warriors with the same cultivation, but one of them trained in a low ranked Mortal Realm art, while the other one trained in a middle ranking one, the total amount of Qi in the latter person would be thirty percent more than the former; if the latter trained in a high ranked Mortal Realm art, then they would have seventy percent more, and if it was a top rank Mortal Realm art, then it would be two times plus ten percent more Qi. This kind of gap was almost insurmountable.
Besides, with a higher level of Mortal Realm art, the quality of Qi would have a noticeably large improvement. For example, if you looked at the Qi that was produced by training low ranked art as a chunk of wood, then the Qi from a high ranked art would be like a stone, or maybe even a metal. Wood can never compete with stone or metal in density, because obviously they were not on the same level.
Wu Zongming as the number one outer disciple, the art he trained in must have been at least middle ranked Mortal Realm level. Ye Chen's art was low ranked Mortal Realm. So even if Wu Zongming's cultivation was the same as his Mortal Realm Rank 6, Wu Zongming would still have thirty percent more Qi than him, not to mention that Wu Zongming's power level was actually higher than him.
Thankfully, Ye Chen was fairly confident about the quality of his Qi, even if he had to compare, he was sure that it would not lose to Wu Zongming's. He had already trained his Lone Peak of Thirteen Swords to its highest stage which was one stage higher than it was described in the manual which was equivalent to a common middle rank Mortal Realm art.
After beating that square-faced apprentice in one move, Wu Zongming did not show any complacency at all. For him, that square-faced apprentice was just a clown, beating him did not bring him any satisfaction. He was just trying to send a message that even if he failed to breakthrough to the next realm, he was still invincible to them.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
A young, pretty teenager applauded as he walked closer, "Bravo! Number one outer disciple indeed. Wu Zongming, you are qualified to be my opponent."
Wu Zongming turned his head before he caught sight of the newcomer, "Zhang Haoran."
Although Zhang Haoran's appearance seemed young, he had a very mature temperament. He smiled, "I wonder which stage you are right now at that high ranked Mortal Realm art - Over Sky and Clouds of yours."
"Not too great, just the peak of the fourth stage."
Ye Chen was shocked, no wonder Wu Zongming could knock out that square-faced apprentice with only one punch, it turned out that he had trained in the Over Sky and Clouds art. As a high ranked Mortal Realm art, the Over Sky and Clouds was not considered the best but had one extremely strong point: the Qi from training the Over Sky and Clouds was extremely thick. Plus, the Over Sky and Clouds had only five stages, so being able to reach the peak of the fourth stage was quite impressive.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Haoran laughed proudly, "Compare to a normal person, you are indeed a genius. However, right now, I am way out of your league."
Wu Zongming sneered: "Arrogant people never have happy endings."
"Oh yeah? I was afraid to shock your ego, but truthfully, I trained in the 'Clouds and Beyond' high ranked Mortal Realm art and have already reached the fifth stage, highest stage. This is the gap between us."
Hearing this, the plaza was immediately filled with discussions.
"No way! arts are very hard to train in! Zhang Haoran received that manual just four months ago, and has already reached the fifth stage?! How is that possible?"
"Yes, high ranked Mortal Realm arts normally have five different stages. For a normal person, to get to the first stage would take at least three or four days; the second stage would need ten days and the third would need a month, the fourth stage three months, and for the fifth level it would take at least an year. I remember there were some inner disciples that just gave up on finishing a high ranked Mortal Realm art when they were transferring to the top rank arts."
"Speaking of talent, it seemed that Zhang Haoran is even more talented than Wu Zongming."
Unlike other people people, Ye Chen thought it was quite reasonable. Wu Zongming was definitely not bad, especially that he was only one step away from the fifth stage which would only take him at least half a month to reach it.
Wu Zongming was truly surprised, he got the Over Sky and Clouds manual half a year ago when he won the champion of Mu Ren Gang. He thought it was already quite impressive to reach the fourth stage in six months since a normal person would need about five months time to go from the first stage to the fourth stage and plus another five months to reach the peak of the fourth stage. He never expected that Zhang Haoran was an even greater genius than him, spending only four months to reach the highest fifth stage.
Taking a deep breath, Wu Zongming said calmly: "Needless to say more, I will see you at the challenge."
Zhang Haoran gave him a smile, "That's right. And I will be the champion of this coming Mu Ren Gang challenge."
Finished talking, he walked away, leaving the crowd staring at his back.
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