บท 181: Yaan Takes the Stage
Much of the excitement died down after Xuqi Laila left the stage. She was the last of the early stage competitors, so now, only those at the initial stage remained…
And of course there was Yaan, the sole participant in this examination who was not at the Origin Soul Realm.
The initial stage matches did not hold much tension, unlike the previous early and mid stage matches. As expected, each of the initial stage participants, of which there were only seven, lost their bouts. They would all get the chance to battle once again after the first round of matches was over, but based on the performances displayed by these seven, most people speculated that none of them would pass this first stage. In the end, they did not possess Mid Origin Soul Realm combat power, they were either entering to test their luck or to temper their abilities against the Xuqi Sect Elders.
Whilst the Xuqi Sect wasn't too fond of people entering the examination just to temper themselves, there also wasn't much they could do about it. So long as a person showed abilities somewhat close to the level needed to pass the first stage, they would be permitted to enter the examination regardless of their motivations.
Those who had lost their battles would get a second chance to showcase their abilities, but before that, there was one final competitor.
Yaan silently flew away from the immortals, planning his approach to this battle in his mind.
'In the end, the Immortal Ancestor only said that I need to do sufficiently well in the Tower of Mortal Dao. There's no need to showcase my true abilities in this battle, there's no purpose in needlessly drawing even more attention to myself. So long as I pass the first stage, it is enough.'
However, this line of thought was broken very quickly. Yaan paused in midair as the Immortal Ancestor's voice entered his mind.
'If you defeat your opponent, I will gift you the abyssal blood sword.'
Well…that changed everything.
Yaan had never heard the name 'abyssal blood sword' before now, but it was clearly the sword that he used back in the grey mist pressure chamber to deal with the captured Origin Soul Realm cultivators. Yaan had a deep impression of this sword, and honestly, he tried to keep it for himself back then. He even placed the sword into his spatial ring at one point, but it ended up returning to the Immortal Ancestor's hands before he even realised it. Yaan had no idea how or when the immortal took this treasure back, but the fact that he had bothered to retrieve it in the first place showed its value.
Yaan did not want to draw attention to himself…but this was likely an immortal treasure!
For an immortal treasure, for a treasure that could clearly boost his strength by a large margin, he was willing to do what needed to be done here.
After landing on the podium, Yaan assessed his opponent. Unknowingly, the surroundings had become silent, all eyes landed on this one stage.
There were no other battles remaining. Only the second-attempt battles were left, but the examination rules dictated that those battles would only begin once the first set of battles ended.
Xuqi Laila did not draw so much attention as Yaan, mostly because the Xuqi Sect Immortal Lord had kept her existence a secret, more or less, so many people didn't realise that she was an immortal's disciple.
However, Yaan was different. His participation in this examination had been widely publicised. In fact, many people from the various superpower groups had come to spectate this time solely because they wished to see this new rumoured prodigy for themselves.
Yaan could only feel bitter about this…he knew that this was Brase's doing, even though Brase was only trying to help. As a member of the righteous faction, he believed that he was doing Yaan a favour by deliberately spreading his name and building him a reputation in the Southern Continent. This was a normal way of thinking for those in the Southern Continent. Only Yaan knew that he didn't want this at all.
'How should I handle this…if possible, I'd like to hide as many of my abilities as possible, but I still need to win this battle. A Late Origin Soul Realm cultivator shouldn't be looked down upon, especially not when they're a member of the Xuqi Sect. Hmm…'
Yaan silently stared forward at his opponent. He faced a young looking man. He was clearly a talented individual based on his appearance of someone in his mid twenties. The young man had a clean shaven face and neatly tied up black hair, his eyebrows were sharp and his expression was firm. He wore a black plain robe, and overall, he looked like a very serious individual. Even though his opponent appeared to be young and was clearly only at the 'Spirit Core Realm', he did not show any disdain, nor did he relax.
The man brought out a thin sword, then took his stance and pointed the blade towards Yaan.
Without any change to his expression, Yaan took out his own sword and faced his opponent, Xuqi Omar.
The blade in Yaan's hand was a spiritual treasure, something he had become accustomed to using recently. It was a high quality treasure, but it was nothing heaven shaking…in fact, his sword was definitely not as good as his opponent's own weapon.
Xuqi Omar found this strange…wasn't this person the disciple of an immortal?
Indeed, it was unusual, many others had this thought as they silently watched on.
Truthfully, Yaan possessed better swords than this, but he wasn't all that familiar with using spiritual treasures and couldn't make good use of them anyway. He was more accustomed to using heavy swords, the types used by body temperers, but he decided to hide this fact for now. Using a heavy blade would give away clues regarding his cultivation, but it would also give away his typical fighting style, which was not what he wanted.
Of course, nobody would ever expect that Yaan would still be thinking about hiding his abilities in this situation. He was facing off against a Late Origin Soul Realm powerhouse, whilst he himself only possessed 'Spirit Core Realm' cultivation!
That was how others saw things. Even the immortals, who knew that Yaan actually possessed Vital Qi Core Realm cultivation, felt dubious about his chances in this battle.
No, calling people's expectations 'dubious' was not quite right. In the eyes of nearly everyone watching, it would already be a miracle if Yaan could even hold his own for a few exchanges, whilst it would be too shocking if he actually displayed Mid Origin Soul Realm battle power!
As for winning this fight? Practically nobody believed that he had the slightest chance.
Only the Immortal Ancestor and Zue Yin believed that it might be possible.
Zue Yin knew that logically, Yaan had no chance here. But even so, she had witnessed Yaan exceed everyone's expectations time and time again. When she saw his calm expression, her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't help but feel that this match…was already Yaan's victory…
There was no bell, nor any sort of officiator to manage the beginning of the match. It was based on an honour system; the match started and finished when the two fighters agreed between themselves.
Seeing that Yaan was standing still and not moving, yet clearly ready to fight, Xuqi Omar took a step forwards, narrowing his eyes and blurring across the stage.
'Fast!' Many people thought at the same time. Xuqi Omar's instantaneous movement speed was extremely fast, amongst the highest of the examiners! His body seemed to blur before it reappeared in front of Yaan in an instant. His sword was already raised and slicing down towards Yaan's head!
His blade was surrounded by countless vortexes of air. These vortexes were invisible, but they released an extremely heavy pressure towards both Yaan and the surroundings.
"It seems that this match will be over quite quickly." The Xuqi Sect Immortal Lord spoke with a sigh.
"Indeed." The Hukon Clan Ancestor nodded lightly. "It is a shame that your disciple faced this person, Pristine Qi. This little elder actually went all out right from the start, not giving him the chance to fight back."
The Immortal Ancestor remained silent, his gaze entirely focussed on Yaan.
"Junior brother…" Keasal muttered as soon as he saw Xuqi Omar make his move.
"Not good." Brase shook his head and sighed lightly. He did not feel hopeful about Yaan's chances of success here. The way that he, and everyone else saw things, Yaan would certainly be defeated by this move.
That would only be normal, nobody could look down on him for this. It was disappointing that they would not get to see his true capabilities in this first match, but his loss had been assured all along…right?
Only Zue Yin's expression changed for a different reason.
'This expression…' Her heart shook again. After seeing Yaan's calm, but eerily focussed gaze, she couldn't help but subconsciously take a step back.
She had seen that gaze many times before…that calm look, that look of absolute confidence in himself!
'There's no way!' She widened her eyes and stared forwards, not daring to believe in her own speculation until she saw this fight play out for herself.
Yaan did not care about the stares of those around him. He no longer cared about what they all thought. He had already devised his plan for this fight, so he would follow through with this plan, without caring about anything else.
Whoosh…
Just as Xuqi Omar's blade was about to make contact with his skull, everything seemed to slow down. The sword stopped above his head, but that wasn't all - it was as if the entire surroundings, or perhaps the entire world, had slowed down to a crawl.
This was Yaan's Agile Illusion Art; the newly devised second step!
All three immortals showed shocked gazes at the same time. Whilst the spectators had the feeling that everything had slowed down, the immortals clearly knew that this was not true; it was an illusion. The truth of the matter was that Yaan had sped up, and his increased speed had reflected the illusion of his environment slowing down!
Xuqi Omar's blade was moving so slowly that it looked as if it was stuck in sand.
Yaan didn't even move his feet. Seemingly unhurriedly, he raised his sword up. This was a very simple action and it did not even look to be very fast…and yet, Xuqi Omar found that he was completely unable to move fast enough to block this movement, whilst the casual movement exerted a huge amount of pressure on his body!
Yaan gently flicked the blade downwards, tapping the metal edge against the point of his opponent's weapon.
Cling…
The moment the faint metal on metal sound echoed outwards, time seemed to return to normal. Only, nothing about the following scene could be described as normal.
BOOM!
Xuqi Omar was thrown backwards at a shocking speed, carried back by a tremendous shockwave which actually tore some of the tiles away from the podium beneath him! The shockwave was like a giant hand gripping him tightly, thrusting him backwards and dragging him across the air.
Before anyone could process what had happened, the shockwave had spread out into the surroundings, travelling outwards for hundreds of feet in every direction! The residual air currents travelled out even further, but the wave was stopped by the formations set up around the podiums.
Bang!
Xuqi Omar slammed into the formation shield around the podium, then dropped to the floor, his robes tattered and his body covered in blood. His breathing was ragged and he was only barely alive.
Yaan stood there silently. From the start of the battle until now, he had not taken a single step.
It was only after a long while that anybody was able to react, hurriedly sending the healing cultivators down to tend to his injuries.
Step, step, step…
Each step Yaan took covered tens of feet. He was quiet as he left, but even so, all eyes were on him.
Nobody could even discuss this battle. Aside from the immortals, nobody even properly understood what had happened.
Even Xuqi Laila stared at Yaan with an expression of interest, an expression that she had not shown for many years.
Every member of the Fragment Sect, Keasal and Brase included, felt stunned to the core.
Every member of the other superpowers felt pressured, realising that a new powerhouse had just made his entry into the Southern Continent.
Nobody said anything, but everyone felt a similar emotion as they stared down at this child who wore a serene expression.
They felt afraid.
Something in his aura made all of these powerhouses feel afraid!
This was not merely caused by Yaan's strength, but by something else that these righteous individuals could not quite discern.
The outcome of the fight, this battle where everyone expected Yaan to lose…was Yaan's complete and overwhelming victory!
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