Chương 29: Martial Arts Tournament part 4
Chapter 29
A single person stood in a stage while the people down below silently watches. The imposing aura and the splendid view which show the woman's perfect figure at that instant was truly a picture-perfect moment, which could ignite one's passion in martial arts.
The silence was suddenly broken by a loud shout coming from a person below the platform. It was a young man with a bloody and somewhat disheveled robe. His aura began to rise as his cultivation essence broke through a single barrier which is insurmountable for some. Then the people around him suddenly stepped back as they unconsciously cleared a path towards the stage where the imposing figure of the woman awaits.
"Gold core realm!" someone exclaimed.
"Did Chen Je just broke through to the gold core realm? Damn, this is truly meeting a fortune in an unfortunate event."
"Gold core? No way!"
People murmured as they found it truly inconceivable for Chen Je to break through at this time. Although he was defeated his harvest is still great, many cultivators are stuck in core forming realm late-stages and no matter what they do they seem to be unable to break through that huge barrier. Some people find it was just a normal thing to break that barrier especially those genius cultivators like Qin Lou and the seeded participants, at their young age. But this is not true to most cultivators, as they can only make a breakthrough when they're already in their middle-age or even old age. Hence breaking through to gold core realm is one of the many dreams of common cultivators. That is why they are having this shocked, disbelieving or even envying reaction.
"I will kill you! You dare shame me! I will tear you apart with my bare hands!" Chen Je shouted as his now crimson red eyes stared at Qin Lou.
"This guy took a pill just to force a breakthrough temporarily, which is truly too dangerous." Shin Jiao thought as he had seen Chen Je put something on his mouth when he fell down the stage.
No one bothered to stop the fight even though it should have been over. The referee just took a blind eye to the situation which made Shin Jiao crest his brows. It seems that this show is turning for worse, and sooner or later he needs to make a move. He stealthily took out something from his ring and carefully hid it in his sleeves.
Chen Je madly rushed towards Qin Lou dragging his hands behind him as spiritual Qi began to condense on them. Then he swings his claws sideways making a howling sound, but still, he hit nothing as Qin Lou has already shifted to his blind spot. He never gave up and repeatedly attacked with each claw strike leaves visible claws after images.
"This is… her spiritual sense… it's like she can read the future. She clearly knows where the next strike is and is able to smoothly move. Did her spiritual sense reach the stage where it's like that of a nascent realm cultivator? It's like she already has the mind's eye." The old man sitting in the middle of the judges' platform said.
This old man is the main judge of this inter-school competitions as he also held the highest cultivation level in the group almost reaching the infant soul realm. He is one of the five lower elders of Er city who is the representative of the city council. His name is Zhan Fu.
"Senior Fu, what do you mean? Do you mean that this woman had reached that high level with her spiritual sense even though her cultivation had stagnated to gold core realm?" a middle-aged man who is wearing a blue robe with an insignia of a large lotus flower.
"Hmmm… this is just my assumption brother Ao. But if this is true then…" Senior Fu replied.
"She would be a good seed for our alchemy school… Hehe, since Snow Wind School doesn't value her, it would be our honor to have this student, right... Elder Xing?" The middle-aged man named Hu Ao from the Floating Lotus Alchemy School.
"Humph! Trying to poach our student from the Snow Wind School, do you think my school is blind?" Elder Xing glared at Elder Ao.
"Haha, it's not that you are blind, Elder Xing but it's a waste for her to cultivate martial arts when she could become a great alchemist. Think for her future Elder Xing, if you truly value her send her to our school." Hu Ao said although smiling but had seriousness in his tone.
As the elders are busily discussing on the judges' platform, down below Chen Je continued his flurry of attacks and Qin Lou would always successfully evade.
"Coward! Fight back! Is this all you can do? Run? Truly you have fallen low. Haha…" Chen Je shouted as he became angry as he truly could not hit Qin Lou.
"Hmmm… Okay, you mean this…" Qin Lou said calmly as she stepped forward and raise her palm.
Seeing her action Chen Je grinned as he knows that his plan worked. He is already at his limit if this fight drags on the effect of the pill would be gone and this is something that must not happen. Although he wasn't told of the side effect in taking the pill, as a cultivator he is aware that he would either feel weaken or would run out of spiritual Qi. Which either of the two must not happen as he would lose the deal with that person. But then his provocation was successful and with this move from Qin Lou, he is sure to counter it and beat her up.
So he quickly condenses a large amount of spiritual Qi into his palm and will meet her palm with his own palm strike.
"Stone hand palm strike!" he shouted.
This made Shin Jiao feel helpless, luckily he reminded Qin Lou to not shout each skill she uses which she resisted at first, but later she got used to it after practicing that night.
When the two palms traveled towards each other a shocking scene happened. Qin Lou's palm suddenly shifted along with her body as she suddenly appears on the side of Chen Je where his chest is exposed. Seeing this he quickly changes his palm strike to an eagle claw and swipe inwards. But he was once again shocked as she then shifted and went back to her original place and her palm is still traveling towards Chen Je's chest.
"Thud!"
A muffled sound echoed through the surrounding which was heard by everyone as they are watching intently on the exchange between Qin Lou and Chen Je. Then they saw someone suddenly flew out of the stage and crashed on a wall, then the figure of Chen Je fell on the ground and fainted. A loud cheer suddenly erupted from the spectators as they finally saw the real ability of the girl they deemed to be already trash. This awed every one, but not all became happy with this. From the fighter's waiting areas in the middle, most of the seeded participants have a dark and heavy expression on their faces.
"Elders since I've already won the match, I will now take my leave. Thank you!" Qin Lou calmly bowed and then she started to walk down the fighting stage.
"Wait, student! I want to reward you for showing such skills. You can ask for anything, if we are able to grant it, then it's yours." Elder Fu said as he stood up.
He truly was amazed at what Qin Lou showed, and wanted to at least give her some consolations. So he offered this as a form of a reward for her.
When she heard this she suddenly thought of Shin Jiao and his goal. Actually, it is possible for them to enter the alchemy contest but it would be a headache if Shin Jiao is to enter as her assistant, many questions and a long winding process will follow. So she decided to try her luck this time and request this as she thinks that her request would be easier to grant.
"This junior is truly humbled, I have just one request senior…" Qin Lou said as she paused and look at Shin Jiao below the stage.
"I wanted to join the alchemy contest tomorrow along with my mortal servant." She said frankly.
"Yes! You wanted to join my… Eh… What?" Elder Ao of the Floating Lotus Alchemy School suddenly stood up happily but was confused after realizing something.
"You wanted to join the alchemy contest with a mortal servant?" Elder Ao asked to confirm what he heard.
"Yes, senior."
"Haha! No problem, I myself will grant it. You can join the alchemy contest with your mortal servant. Haha!" Elder Ao shouted in excitement as this would also test her ability in alchemy hitting two birds in one stone.
"This junior thanks senior for being too magnanimous. This junior asked permission to leave then, thank you senior." Qin Lou said as she bowed.
"Haha, do you think you can leave so easily after hurting one of our students. Do you think our school is easy to bully?" a young man wearing an orange robe with a red dragon design on it slowly walks up to the stage where Qin Lou stood, it's Lo Bei Wang.
"I guess senior sister has already had her core healed, you've shown us all once again your formidable strength. Would you mind exchanging some pointers with me?" Lo Bei Wang asked with a smile.
"What's going on now?"
"Is the Soul Mountain School having a grudge match with Senior Qin Lou?"
"They are too arrogant for their own good. I hope she kicks their asses once again."
The people below had a mixed reaction as they found the situation truly chaotic. As they waited for Qin Lou to reply all eyes are on her. But everyone was astonished when she turns around and walks down the stage. Shin Jiao then followed her as they started to walk towards the exit of the arena.
"WAIT! Where are you going?" Lo Bei Wang shouted.
Qin Lou stopped walking and turns around, everyone is now expecting something to happen.
"Are you trying to run away?" Lo Bei Wang sneered in contempt.
"Sorry, I don't talk to stupid people."
BOOM!
It was like lightning that hits everyone to stupefaction as no one expected this insulting bomb to came from Qin Lou who is always silent.
After saying that, she and Shin Jiao walks out of the arena leaving everyone dumbfounded. When they were out of their sight everyone came back from their reverie and began to murmur. Lo Bei Wang's face is beet red in anger as he didn't expect for Qin Lou to berate him and calling him stupid in front of all the crowd. He felt that he truly lost his face this time and fury rose deep within.
"Haha! I really like that lass. Too domineering and straightforward. I truly found a good seed." Elder Ao said to himself as his face was full of smiles.
The inter-school martial arts tournament started as usual. Students started to face each other on the stage in a martial arts contest so that they could choose those who would enter the semi-finals and who would proceed to the finals. The seeded students also entered the fray at this time.
…
Meanwhile…
Xi Empire city…
The largest and most majestic city in the cultivation land, where the population reaches almost 5 million inhabitants. The city is not surrounded by tall walls but instead, an invisible barrier was erected to protect the city and its people. Thousands of years have passed since the founding of the Empire and they have gone stronger since then. All the empires in its surroundings are under the rule of the Imperial family, rumor has it that the emperor is already a nascent realm cultivator and the power behind the imperial family is a world nascent ancestor which is the reason why a lot of people fear and respects the imperial family.
On this day in a particular place high above a truly grandiose and beautiful palace inlaid with silvery walls and golden doors, with crystalline chandeliers and magical artifacts looming high above lighting the whole place, which makes this castle truly a sight to behold. In a small room, ten people are standing surrounding a round table. On the table lays an artifact which makes each person in the room scrunch up their foreheads in silent contemplation.
Then the man which stood above the rest with his regal presence wearing a red robe inlaid with golden patterns, and on his head is a golden circlet signifying his status. He then nods his head to a man on his side who is wearing a silver battle armor in his body looking like a god of death ready to go to war.
"I haven't seen this kind of artifact before, but according to my subordinate this is like a long crossbow without a string and it seems to carry a lot of power and it draws its power from the beast crystal in that small metal box." The man in silver armor said as he recites the words relayed to him by his subordinates and pointed out some facts they have learned.
If Shin Jiao was here he would know this thing in front of these people as this is his lost BARRETT. The one he lost while he was unconscious and was taken away by Cherry Lao while they were escaping. As in her panic, she forgot to take the item and they didn't dare to come back as powerful beast starts to circle the area at that time.
The war general looking man then told them the incident about the group of cultivators while training near the town of Dis. A female cultivator accidentally found the object and when they were attacked by a beast had used it to kill the beast in one shot. And when they found the beast's corpse they are shocked to see that its giant head was blasted clean along with almost half of its body as the young cultivator at that time was in a panic and just fired and fired emptying the whole magazine clip which only contains around 3 bullets. So judging from the damages and the beast level, plus its armor, this gave them a conclusion that the artifact may have the power of a nascent cultivator. But the thing that baffled them the most is the ease of its usage and its portability.
"Your majesty if our crafting team can study this and replicate this artifact it can bolster our forces more and may even be able to finally stop the advances of the beast people towards our lands and may even push them back." The man in silver armor suggested.
"…or invade their lands. Right? General Qian?" a man wearing a blue robe with an emblem of a lion in his chest.
"Haha! That is too funny chancellor… you city people are truly ignorant about things. Do you know why they are trying to invade us? It's not for greed or power… but survival. Their lands are becoming barren as time goes by. Extreme cold and extreme heat may forge their bodies and will, but their lives are in constant danger. While we live in paradise in this cultivation land. So do you think I'm crazy enough to invade a dying land?" the man wearing silver armor, general Qian said with a sneer.
While everyone is silent, a man spoke. "Everyone, his majesty has 2 tasks this time. General Qian, find a team of magical artifact crafters and try to duplicate this thing as soon as possible. The rest of you in here is to find the one who made this. It is very crucial to find this person. You have your command, everyone dismiss." A man wearing a white robe with a crest of a green dragon on his back said with an imposing aura as everyone bowed in agreement.
As everyone left the only ones that remain in the room is the man in a white robe with a green dragon crest and the one they call his majesty, the emperor of the current Xi empire.
"Your majesty, with regards to your command… is it to rope the crafter or…"
"Hmm… we are not sure about this yet. It's either he's an enemy or a friend, that is yet to be seen." The emperor said as a smile appears in his always calm and serious face.
"At least this time it won't be boring." He said with a grin.
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