Chapter 127 - Breakthrough
Everyone instantly focused on Ye Chen.
All the leaders of powerful institutions who had watched the Inner Disciple Ranking Competition in the Sky Cloud Martial School already knew about Ye Chen. As for those who didn’t, they began talking about him.
“Ah, is he Ye Chen? He looks so young!”
“He comprehended half-step sword intent at such a young age, how magical is that!”
“His potential will allow him to directly catch up to young master Emerald once he gains the true sword intent. It is a shame as he is not quite there yet.”
“Hm, that young man who is top ranked inner disciple of the Emerald Martial Palace, Cheng Jun has such strong Zhen Qi vibration, it’s obvious that he has already reached the late Condensing Reality Realm. Since Zhuang Qingxian let him take on this fight, he must be quite powerful, perhaps he is now at the same stage as those top-ranked core disciples.”
“Hm, Emerald Martial Palace’s top-ranked core disciples are all quite talented, it would be reasonable even if Ye Chen was to lose this fight.”
Most people didn’t think Ye Chen would win this fight, it’s just that they all believed that he would definitely have a bright future. After all, he was the first among the younger generation warriors to comprehend the half-step sword intent. As long as he had enough time, there is a large chance that he would gain the true sword intent.
Ye Chen slowly stood up and directly walked into the arena without saying anything.
“You have comprehended the half-step sword intent, that is quite impressive, but you have to remember that this world is ruled by the ones who have the strength to rule. After all, no one really cares about what you have perceived or comprehended.” Seeing that Ye Chen had walked up so quickly, Cheng Jun gave a cold, scornful smirk and slightly raised his head, looking down on Ye Chen.
Ye Chen responded blandly, “You’re right, in the end strength is all that matters. You are barely worthy of me having to use my full strength.”
“Such a big mouth, don’t ever think that you can be compared to me just because you’re the top inner disciple of the Sky Cloud Martial School. With your current cultivation, you would only be an average inner disciple in our Emerald Martial Palace.” Without any concern for those elders from Sky Cloud Martial School, Cheng Jun tried hard to depreciate the average level of Sky Cloud Martial School’s disciples.
The Head Elder had an angry expression on his face. The Emerald Martial Place was becoming more and more arrogant and aggressive, even a small inner disciple dared to look down on them. Previously, they had talked such crap only behind their backs. But now, Cheng Jun had dared to do so right in front of the Head Elder’s face.
The Head Elder let out a cold snort, simultaneously sending out a great amount of Clasping Yuan Realm Zhen Qi, all the surrounding people immediately sensed the Head Elder's anger.
Zhuang Qingxian threw a sideways glance at the Head Elder, then yelled to Cheng Jun, “Everyone has their own evaluation, how dare you just talk like that?”
Although Cheng Jun didn’t realise that Zhuang Qingxiang was a bit annoyed, he clearly understood that one should not push anything too far, therefore, he instantly cupped his hands and slightly bowed to surrounding people and said, “I’m just a straight-talking young man, our honoured guests, please forgive me.”
After that, Cheng Jun turned back to Ye Chen, staring at him with a fierce look and continued, “Let's just let the results of this fight prove my words!”
Followed by a sudden buzzing noise, Ye Chen's storage ring sparkled, and the Hidden Cloud Sword appeared in his hand. He slowly pulled the sword out and pointed its tip at Cheng Jun. Ye Chen responded with a frosty tone, “If I can’t beat you up with less than five attacks, count it as my loss.”
Everyone was shocked once they heard Ye Chen make this declaration.
The Head Elder’s face instantly darkened. Before they came, he had particularly talked to Ye Chen about not acting on impulse without using due consideration. In this place, Ye Chen was not only representing himself as an individual, but also acting on behalf of the entire Sky Cloud Martial School, therefore, he had to think about the school first and foremost. How could he forget all of this immediately after stepping onto the arena?! Defeat Cheng Jun with less than five attacks? How could it be that easy? If he failed to do what he said, the others would definitely despise him, seeing him as an arrogant, boastful person.
“Junior brother Ye, don’t be so impulsive!” Luo Hanshan couldn’t help but speak out.
“He’s probably not.” Xu Jing let out a few simple words.
Fourth Elder said with a bitter grin, “You don’t really think that Ye Chen could win against that boy with less than five attacks, do you? If I’m not wrong, this Cheng Jun is at least at the same stage as those top core disciples of the Emerald Martial Palace. Although I don’t want to admit it, merely judging from his Zhen Qi vibration, he could easily compare to rank 6 or 7 amongst our Sky Cloud Martial School’s core disciples.”
Except for the leaders of a few powerful institutions, all the other younger generation warriors also shook their heads. They all thought that Ye Chen was being way too arrogant, especially Shi Potian, who even sneered silently. If he hadn't said this, losing the fight would still not have been much of a big deal to Ye Chen and the Sky Cloud Martial School. But since he already said it, it would be a great shame if he failed to achieve it. Shi Potian now believed that this Ye Chen was even more stupid and arrogant than he had imagined.
Ouyang Ming scornfully smiled and said, “What a reckless kid.”
On the Rudra Martial School’s side, Yuan Xuemei had been frowning at Cheng Jun since a long time. She seriously wished that Ye Chen could beat him up in less than five attacks, even though it didn’t seem possible at all.
“You asked for this!”
Cheng Jun’s clothes fluttered in the air even though there was no wind present. Meanwhile, beams of cyan-purple light darted out from his body. He slightly moved and the ground under his feet started cracking. In the next moment, he dashed out swiftly. It was as if his entire body was as sharp as a sword; he straightened his palm and fingers into a dagger shape and abruptly hacked down towards Ye Chen.
Followed by a puffing noise, the air was split apart by the dazzling, cyan-purple light blade that zipped out from Cheng Jun’s palm towards Ye Chen at lightning speed.
Ye Chen stood perfectly still not taking even a single step back. His flat expression suddenly became fierce and waves of faint yet powerful sword Qi swooshed out of his body; his body seemed to have transformed into a sword that was as light as a cloud, yet accumulated with power, it seemed as if it would soon burst out with an incredibly destructive attack.
“The first attack!”
Ye Chen lunged with his sword, right after which his entire body became hazy. The silhouette of the sword was hazy as well; both he and his sword now looked like drifting clouds in the sky that had broken free from the constraints of their former entity.
Crack!
The cyan-purple light blade darted through Ye Chen’s hazy silhouette and left a deep mark on the ground; at the same time, Ye Chen’s sword had almost reached Cheng Jun’s chest.
“What the hell is this?!”
Chen Jun was deeply shocked. He didn’t think that Ye Chen’s attacking method and sword skill would be so weird. He clearly saw his light blade dart right through Ye Chen’s body, but he failed to even touch Ye Chen with that powerful sword blade.
Both shame and anger flashed across Cheng Jun’s face, he almost madly began activating his Zhen Qi.
“[Natural purple crystal Qi]!”
Cyan-purple Qi began gathering towards Cheng Jun, forming a purple crystal like protective screen in front of him. The screen was crystal clear, and was formed by eight flat sections; every edge of that screen was releasing a faint purple light, firmly shrouding Cheng Jun’s body among the streams of coiling purple airwaves.
Ye Chen didn’t change his attacking method at all, he lunged with the Hidden Cloud sword once again. This time, the sword Qi contained the terrifying half-step sword intent, it made the sword silhouette to seem clearer than before.
Puff!
The purple crystal protective screen shattered almost immediately. It seemed as if that crystal screen couldn’t even slightly block the hazy sword silhouette.
“What?! The natural purple crystal Qi is broken?!” Shi Potian yelled as he tightly gripped the teacup that he had just lifted in his hand; the tea cup was instantly crushed in his hand and hot tea splashed everywhere.
The ‘[Natural Purple Crystal Qi]’ was a usage of the ‘[Natural Great Destructive Power]’, which was one of the low-grade Earth level martial arts of Emerald Martial Palace, it was as powerful as Liu Waxiang’s ‘[Blue Murderous Qi]’. In terms of destructive power, the ‘Natural Purple Crystal Qi’ was more powerful than the ‘Blue Murderous Qi’. Ordinary Condensing Reality Realm warriors might not be able to break the ‘Natural Purple Crystal Qi’ even if they were to use all of their power. But just now, ‘Natural Purple Crystal Qi’ was easily broken by Ye Chen with just a single attack.
Young master Emerald’s expression changed slightly, he was surprised by the power half-step sword intent had.
“Go to hell!”
Cheng Jun let out a loud roar, the ‘Purple Crystal Screen’ surrounding him grew thicker than before, and managed to slow down the hidden cloud sword; at the same time, Cheng Jun’s right hand swung towards Ye Chen’s head bringing along a fierce airwave, it seemed as if it could even cut the sky into two.
A sharp gust of wind raised Ye Chen’s hair, he growled out as well.
“Lone Domination!”
Boom!
Within a moment, Ye Chen absorbed all the surrounding Yuan Qi and injected it into his left fist. Along with an incomparably great and violent power, Ye Chen’s fist crashed against Cheng Jun’s palm.
The expected thunderous boom did not occur, nothing was shattered or sent flying by the great impact waves. Everyone only saw a stream of black light and a cyan-purple crystal light clash and devour each other.
Some relatively weaker young talents even felt a bit uncomfortable, as if they were clearly aware that the thunder was coming, but all they could see were the dazzling bolts of lightning, none of them could hear even the slightest bit of thunder. This feeling was so weird and it brought a sense of anxiety to these younger warriors.
At this very moment, the earth-shaking boom finally burst out.
Both the black light stream and the purple crystal screen suddenly shattered, countless fragments darting in every direction. It was an astonishing and terrifying scene.
“What a great power!” Leaders of those powerful institutions moved one after another, each releasing thick Qi to defend their own regions in order to prevent the strong explosion's waves from causing any further destruction. Instantly, huge amounts of air ripples emerged on all of those defensive walls.
Ye Chen and Cheng Jun swiftly darted away from each other once their bodies made the slightest contact. While still in the air, Ye Chen once again waved his sword.
“Limitless Fierce Cloud!”
A huge stream of sword Qi came swooshing out towards Cheng Jun, wherever it swept across, even the air itself was cleared out. This amazing Sword Qi seemed as if it would crush everything in its way.
“Damn it!”
Cheng Jun became enraged. He gathered all of his Zhen Qi into his right palm and then hit the stream of sword Qi.
Followed by a sudden series of sputters, the Zhen Qi gathered on the edge of Cheng Jun’s palm was completely wiped out. The fierce sword Qi had even damaged his meridians, making him spurt out a mouthful of blood.
“Incredible! Chen Jun is injured after only three attacks, will he really be defeat by that Ye Chen in less than five attacks?!”
“But Ye Chen only has two attacks left, Cheng Jun can certainly hold on, can’t he?”
“Well, it will be so embarrassing if he couldn't even hold on. Earlier he had ridiculed the Sky Cloud Martial School, if he got beaten by Ye Chen so soon after he said something like that… it would be the same as receiving a huge slap right on his face!”
Seeing that Ye Chen had hurt Cheng Jun, everyone was shocked.
“Ye Chen, are you still trying to beat me in only five attacks? In your dreams! I will make you regret even trying!” yelled Cheng Jun. His eyes had already turned blood-red at that moment. He forcibly used his Zhen Qi to crush the sword Qi which had intruded into his body; after that, he walked towards Ye Chen taking one step after another, a large area of cracked ground was left behind him with each step he took; and with every step forward, the natural purple crystal Qi that was surrounding his body continued to suddenly grow thicker than before. When he took the seventh step, the Natural Crystal Qi condensed into a blade like silhouette, with a dazzlingly sharp edge.
Cheng Jun had forcibly broken into the eighth level of the [Natural great destructive power]. It was beyond his current limits, but it allowed him to condense the Purple Crystal Qi into the silhouette of a blade.
“Break!!”
Facing Ye Chen, who stood far away from him, Cheng Jun raised his right hand high and then hacked down.
Woosh!
That blade silhouette darted out along with Cheng Jun’s movement. A violent airwave brought up by that blade's purple light cut a deep fissure in the arena; even the surrounding air was split by the shockwaves, it instantly rippled like water and then suddenly exploded into violent and sharp gusts of wind.
“The eighth-grade of the [Natural Great Destructive Power]! He can certainly beat that Ye Chen now!” Shi Potian fixed his eyes on the arena, he couldn’t wait to see the bloody scene of that Ye Chen being torn apart by that purple blade silhouette.
Ouyang Ming showed a complicated smile. He had always thought that Ye Chen who had gained the half step sword intent at such a young age would become a threat to him sooner or later. It would be a nice end to the story if Cheng Jun could take him out here in this arena.
Xu Jing and Luo Hanshan both slightly frowned. By now, she wasn’t so sure that Ye Chen could defeat Cheng Jun anymore. After all, Cheng Jun’s breakthrough had happened way too fast and in an unexpected manner. No one would have ever thought that the stress and the sense of shame he felt would push him to break into another stage.
Compared to him, it could be said that Ye Chen was really unlucky.
Facing this terrible attack, Ye Chen’s Zhen Qi automatically burst out from his body. He somehow felt that an invisible obstruction deep within his dantian had been broken, and his Zhen Qi began to gather at an amazing speed; the surrounding natural Yuan Qi poured into his body in huge streams.
Just like Cheng Jun, Ye Chen made a breakthrough as well! But unlike Cheng Jun, he broke into the Late Condensing Reality Realm.
Sensing the great amount of Zhen Qi fluctuations inside his body, Ye Chen raised his head and showed a fierce gaze. Sword Qi darted out from his body once again, and this time, everyone’s eyes felt a piercing pain.
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Translated by: Law
Edited by: Jaggerjakk, Jatz
From XianXiaWorld