Chapter 250: Top Ten New Stars
Translator: Sheryl Editor: AntiGod
Zhu Mei and Qin Yulian looked at each other and had no idea what to think now. They knew that Ye Chen was very powerful, but they could not believe he was that powerful. Half of a half would mean less than thirty percent of his real power. And his opponent was Yuanheng Ying, who was ranked fifty-nine in the last Hidden Dragon Rank. Right then, Ye Chen was almost like a stranger to them, but now, he had become someone so powerful that they would not imagine him to be their friend.
There was a kind of strangeness that was called talent gap.
Glancing at Lin Qi and Zhuang Fei, Qin Yulian forced a smile and thought to himself, ‘You guys had set Ye Chen as your target, but you don’t know how tiring and depressing it would be. The second he reached beyond us, the gap would be inevitable and insurmountable.’
Xu Jing’s fifth battle had ended in victory, after which she calmly walked off the battling platform. When she saw the looks on Zhu Mei and Qin Yulian’s face, she knew what exactly had happened. She shook her head unnoticeably because in her mind, Ye Chen was indeed a monster who had a calm and sharp mind that was unlike his age. Even she, who was always calm, could not compete with him. And with her sharp observation, she had never seen the same qualities in any other young man. Sometimes, she wondered if there was anything that could freak him out.
Unfortunately, besides Ye Chen himself, no one truly knew him.
In fact, even Ye Chen sometimes felt like he did not know himself that well. Ye Chen from the other world was an orphan, so he had to try his best and become a better person. Therefore, when kids from other families were playing and being spoiled, he was already living independently. In some ways, he was even more mature than some of the adults. And once he became an adult himself, his mind was even more outstanding; things could barely affect him. But of course, not every orphan would turn into Ye Chen since everyone had a different background.
After coming to this world, Ye Chen, who was considered a loser here, still had a strong mind, despite the fact that he had the weakness of having normal talent. When he was being bullied by his brothers, he knew when to keep quiet and think about the bigger picture. He did not want to put pressure on his father, so he tried extra hard in training, using ten times more effort than the others in exchange for that little progress. Otherwise, with this talent, it was almost impossible for him to become the outer disciple of the Sky Cloud Martial School.
Everything had its pros and cons. After years of not standing out for himself, Ye Chen from this world had lost some of his sharpness, a sharp spirit. And sometimes, losing that was even scarier than losing talent. If everything kept going on like it was, if the Ye Chen of the other life did not show up, the chance of him becoming an inner disciple was extremely low, not to mention becoming a core disciple or being where he was standing right now.
The good thing was that it had all happened. And the past was changed forever.
After fusing with the soul of Ye Chen from this world, his weakness had been infinitely reduced, and his merit had been expanded drastically, creating a monster in other people’s eyes.
“The fifth battle, Ye Chen verses Cui Qiang!”
“I give up!”
Ye Chen’s power was already witnessed by everyone, and the first contestant who gave up prior to the battle had appeared.
To this, Zhu Mei laughed, “You will have such an easy time now. Besides a few people in group three, basically no one is your opponent. Instead of wasting time to be beaten by you, they might as well save up their energy and mind to tackle opponents they could handle.”
Ye Chen did not really care for if people were giving up or not, since all he needed to do on the stage was to wave his sword once, which barely expended any energy. However, battles for Zhu Mei had not been easy, so he reminded her, “With my judgment regarding battles in your group, three to seven people would get the full score. Therefore, if you don’t lose any of the battles coming up, you would have one hundred percent chance of making it to the next level. Losing one, then you still have fifty percent chance; losing two, then you would have less than ten percent chance.”
Although Ye Chen’s data could not be one hundred percent accurate, it would not be too off from the reality. Comparing observation abilities, even Astral Reaching Realm warriors might not be as powerful as him. Every contestant’s data in Zhu Mei’s group had been memorized by Ye Chen, and even those hidden powers had also been taken into consideration, with him eventually coming up with that conclusion.
Zhu Mei did not doubt him and said, “So, I could only lose one battle in the next five battles? It will be a bit tricky, but I will try my best.” With her last battle ending in victory, her score had reached three wins and two losses so far.
“There is a factor of luck in the first stage of elimination battles. As long as you are lucky enough, it should be easy to make it to the second stage.”
In the first stage of the competitions, each group would contain more than fifty people, so each person would have to compete in ten battles, facing ten opponents. Therefore, there was no chance to face the rest of the forty people. Therefore, in case of an extremely good luck, contestants who had the weakest power would still have a chance of being ranked first three in the group. Zhu Mei’s power was around middle rank, and successfully making it to the next level was not entirely impossible.
“Eh? Lin Qi has an opponent!”
Right then, their attention was caught by the battles in the eleventh group. And the two contestants on the stage were indeed the “North Snow Quick Blade” Lin Qi and Wei Renjie, who was ranked thirty-seven in the last Hidden Dragon Rank.
On that battling platform, blade light shot out in every direction, even blurring the human figures as a result. The two were both powerful blade artists whose martial skills were similarly powerful, but with different style.
Ye Chen shook his head, feeling that Lin Qi was slightly unlucky. No matter if it was the cultivation or the blade intent, Wei Renjie was more powerful than him. The reason they could not have a winner now was that Wei Renjie did not use all of his power and obviously wanted to show off.
“Okay, not bad. I will give you one or two years of time, but I still doubt you will be able to beat me.” Wei Renjie laughed. His blade attacks suddenly intensified, pushing Lin Qi to the lower position.
“Snow Flies!”
There was no expression on Lin Qi’s face. He held his Sky Breaking Blade with both of his hands as his blade aura blew up into the sky. Suddenly, heavy snow fell down on that battling platform, reflecting all the blade lights.
“Break!”
Without any skills, Wei Renjie held his blade with only one hand. His body jumped high into the sky, throwing a blade attack.
Boom!
The snow-like blade light was shattered, and Lin Qi hit the dark blue light wall.
“Apologies.” Embracing his fists in front of his chest, Wei Renjie put away his great blade and stepped off the platform.
Off the stage, a lot of people were all watching this battle while discussing.
“Wei Renjie is indeed a young blade master. His blade intent has reached at least the entrance level, right?”
“Lin Qi was not that bad either. His blade art and skills are definitely not that weaker than Wei Renjie. The only thing he is lacking is his cultivation and blade intent. All he needs is time, and it will not be impossible for him to catch up with Wei Renjie.”
“Indeed. Normal blade artists would not even be considered by Wei Renjie as his opponents. Lin Qi was obviously interesting for him.”
“Oh right. Is Lin Qi going to make it in the top ten new stars this year?”
“It will be hard. And even if he makes it, he would still be at the bottom of the list.”
“There is just so much new talent for this year, it will be hard to stand out. Not to mention with Luo Baku and Qian Yun, those kinds of monsters… two places are taken already.”
“Do not forget Sikong Sheng’s younger sister disciple Gu Youyun should not be underestimated as well. Back in the days, the Life and Death Realm warrior of the Floating Mountain Marital School Stone King had messed with too many people, which led to the fall of his martial school. All of the disciples had been killed and his bloodline had been stopped. But people did not know that the Stone King had a bastard daughter outside, who was indeed Gu Youyun. She carried the bloodline of the Stone King. Even though the bloodline of the king warriors could have highs and lows, she would still be more powerful than most of the normal martial geniuses and would have a huge potential. As long as she did not have too bad of a talent, it would not be hard for her to make it.”
“Along with Gu Youyun, the top three of the top ten new stars have already been decided. The seven other new stars would still have to be explored.”
The top ten new stars was not an official title. In each Hidden Dragon Rank competition, there would be so many new talents appearing, and once they were outstanding enough, they would be put on the list. Once the competitions finished, those who did not come to watch the competitions would be able to catch up with the result by reading the top ten new stars’ list. They then would have a basic idea of the level of power they were at. Otherwise, there were so many contestants that it would be hard for the other people to know them all.
“The sixth battle, Ye Chen against Xue Qiuyan!”
“I give up!”
A fresh-looking young lady raised her hand, signaling a waiver.
“The seventh battle, Ye Chen against Guo Heng!”
“I give up!”
“The eighth battle, Ye Chen…”
“The ninth battle, Ye Chen…”
Maybe Ye Chen knocking out Yuanheng Ying with only one attack was too shocking that from the fifth battle onwards, all of the contestants who were assigned against Ye Chen had chosen to give up instead of wasting their time to get beaten.
As for the others from the Windy Nation, it seemed to be quite hard for them. In the nine battles so far, Xu Jing had won eight and lost one. The one she had lost was not due to her mistake. Her opponent was a young warrior who was ranked twenty-two in the last Hidden Dragon Rank and was extremely powerful. Even then, Xu Jing was still able to hold one for hundreds of attacks before losing, which surprised a lot of people. They had put her in the top ten new stars in advance.
After Lin Qi had lost to Wei Renjie, he had lost another battle. His opponent was also a young warrior who was ranked quite high up in the last Hidden Dragon Rank.
Zhuang Fei had won seven and lost two.
Su Wen had won six and lost three.
Qin Yulian had won six and lost three as well.
Zhu Mei seemed to have used up all of her luck. Since the eighth battle, she had kept losing. Without any surprises, she would not be able to make it to the next level.
If Zhu Mei said she was not disappointed, it would be a lie. But she also knew that being able to get where she was now was already very appraisable. She had one last battle coming up, and regardless how it turned out, she knew she would have to take everything she’d got and try to make a breakthrough, which would make this whole journey worth it.
“The tenth battle, Ye Chen against Chen Jie.”
Chen Jie did not choose to give up. After all, he was not a ‘nobody.' In the last Hidden Dragon Rank, he was ranked forty-three, and he did not think he would lose to Ye Chen.
“Take my attack! Tiger Breaking Kill!”
His aura was like a lion or a tiger. Chen Jie jumped across dozens of meters and attacked towards Ye Chen. With that intense aura, all of the air in front of him had been sucked out.
Chin!
Two sword lights flashed past. The first sword light had broken the aura while the second tore open Chen Jie’s defensive zhen Qi. The sword pressure instantly blew him away.
“Ye Chen won!”
The group-three judge was not surprised. He raised his hand in the air and signaled that Ye Chen had won his last battle for this stage.
“Impressive. Every single move of his is deadly.”
“Top ten new stars, he would be able to get ranked the fifth. That Xu Jing would be the eighth, and Gao Feng the ninth. Lin Qi’s cultivation is still a bit too weak, so I guess he would be out of this year’s top ten new star list.”
In everyone’s eyes, Tuo Baku would be no doubt the number one of the top ten new stars. Qian Yun, disciple of the rank 6 martial institution, the Sunset Martial School, and Yu Youyun from the rank 6 martial institution, the Floating Mountain Martial School, would be taking the second and the third place. The fourth would be that hidden genius from some rank 7 martial institution from the Ice Crystal Empire, and Ye Chen would be No.5. The sixth and seventh were be also some powerful disciples from some rank 6 martial schools while the eighth would be Xu Jing, with Gao Feng being the ninth. And the tenth would be another powerful disciple from a rank 6 martial institution.
Maybe this rank was not that accurate, but judging from the battles right now, it seemed to be the case. Since some of the people were hiding their true power, there was just no way of telling otherwise.