Chapter 0297: Someone Not Bound by Common Sense
All the people saw Ning Cheng bring out a long spear, before sounds of innumerable talismans exploding once again rang out. With the dense explosive sounds created from the explosions of the lower levelled talismans, the sounds of the two people’s weapons colliding or the burst created by the true essence explosions were completely drowned out.
Once the explosions created by the talismans started to die down, Ning Cheng once again took out a handful of talismans before he threw them out. Seeing this, the cultivators sitting on the sidelines were speechless as they thought, just how many of those lower levelled talismans does Ning Cheng have?
Then they saw Ning Cheng taking advantage of the countless exploding talismans, as he slipped behind Xi Yong, before he followed up by giving a casual sweep with the spear in his hand. Although it was an extremely simple move, however Xi Yong simply was not in a position to notice it.
“Bang.” Even if Xi Yong was wearing that silver armour that covered his entire body, that casual sweep from Ning Cheng’s spear had enough force in it that it had almost shattered his bones. Just like Lu Ruman, he was directly swept off the battle ring from this one move. Even the defensive magical weapons on him, all fell to his side once he crashed into the ground. However, Xi Yong still got up, just patted away the dust on his robes before he put away his magical weapons, with a seemingly calm expression on his face.
Some of the cultivators who knew him immediately came forward to inquire as to what happened; he simply shook his head and replied, “Was not careful enough allowing him to lay a sneak attack on me.”
However, only he knew in the depths of his heart that Ning Cheng was definitely not as simple as he looked on the surface. He was sure that Ning Cheng’s talismans did not have even half an effect on him, and also became aware that Ning Cheng was just using the talismans to cover up his powerful strength, otherwise no one would come up on stage to battle him.
Ning Cheng had shown mercy towards him, of that he was very clear in his heart.
As Xi Yong was thrown off the battle ring by Ning Cheng, it was also observed by all the cultivators who came to watch the tournament, and realised that Ning Cheng really did seemed to have a few means at his disposal to back him up.
Moreover, because Lu Ruman and Xi Yong were pushed out of the battle ring by Ning Cheng, they did not suffer much of an injury, causing more people to come up onto the battle ring to challenge Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng would always use a fixed set of moves to deal with all of them, at max he only had to bring out the ice type Profound Ice Spear Intent, coupled with numerous lower levelled talismans. If there was anyone powerful who came up to challenge, Ning Cheng just used the Profound Ice Spears to clash with the opposite party. Then used that opportunity to bring out a bunch of Profound Ice Talismans, before going up and sneak attacking them allowing him to sweep the opposite party out of the battle ring. Although he followed practically the same method in all the challenges and was quite boring to look at, but this set of his methods showed that he really had at least some capability for this tournament.
The one main reason that made people accept this kind of fighting was that they thought that Ning Cheng’s true essence was limited, causing him to act in this manner. Moreover, although all of his opponents were thrown out of the battle ring, none of them was really hurt.
This was already the 13th straight victory for Ning Cheng, but Ning Cheng discovered that something was not right, as the time lag between the challenges was getting longer and longer. He had initially planned to win 80 rounds in a row. But the current situation seems that it would be hard to win even 20 rounds in a row.
Red Star Sword Faction’s Jiang Jun stopped a Profound Core Cultivator from their side that seemed to be covered in a murderous aura, before he spoke, “Junior Apprentice Brother Jin Lin, its better if you did not go up. This person is playing the role of a pig to eat the tiger; you are absolutely not his match. The hatred between him and I is as vast as the oceans, so I will definitely find a chance to kill him.”
This Profound Core Cultivator spoke up with doubt, “Senior Apprentice Brother Jiang, I managed to secure the 9th rank in the preliminary round for the Profound Core Division. I have already looked at his fights, and up till now, on the stage, the cultivators who came up to challenge him were at max ranked in their thirties.”
A Crucible Transformation Elder seated on the side also spoke up, “What Jiang Jun said is correct. You are not Ning Cheng’s opponent. This Ning Cheng already has the skill to enter the top three easily, probably even take the first spot. Moreover, he simply doesn’t give even a single thought to the other academies’ face, and is only putting up a show of fighting. Rather than challenging others, he is someone who will always wait for some other people to come up and challenge him.”
Hearing the words from this Crucible Transformation Elder, the cultivator called Jin Lin forcibly reeled in his killing intent. Although he was not afraid of Ning Cheng, but towards the words of this Crucible Transformation Elder, he had no choice but to heed them.
Rainbow Fall Sword Sect’s Deputy Academy Tantei Fei laughed out, “Brilliant, this kind of substitution is absolutely brilliant; however Ning Cheng should also come down now. If I had known that he had the capability to win these many rounds, I wouldn’t have hidden a few details from him…..”
All the people around him also understood Tantei Fei’s meaning, Ning Cheng already possessed 14 points at this moment, even if he did not rake in any more points, just this score alone was enough to pull the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect out its disadvantage. As to regarding Ning Cheng coming down, this was something like an unspoken rule that everyone knew about except him.
Ning Cheng waited on the ring for a long while, however no one came up, but just as he was starting to get dejected from the wait, a young man wearing a blue robe descended onto the battle ring.
“Heavenly Dao Academy’s Leng Yu asks for guidance.” The blue robed cultivator, once arriving on the battle ring, held up his fists towards Ning Cheng, while he stood there with an indifferent manner.
Ning Cheng took a good look at this Leng Yu, and realised that this person was much stronger than all the other Profound Core Cultivators that he had fought against until now.
“The one ranked third in the preliminary round, Leng Yu, also an expert from the Heavenly Dao Academy. It seems that we’ll finally have a good show.”
“An even stronger expert might not block the interference from the talismans…”
“Humph, Talismans, you think that using lower levelled talismans could have an effect on my eyes? Only idiots would think that Ning Cheng would just rely on those talismans.”
Ning Cheng had a strong spiritual consciousness, as such when he heard those comments, rather than fighting he simply cupped his fists towards Leng Yu and spoke, “Elder Brother Leng, just a look at you and I can say that you are incomparably strong, I might not necessarily be your opponent, moreover I’m tired now, so I will be going down to take some rest.”
Finished saying that, Ning Cheng simply ignored Leng Yu’s surprised eyes, as he took the initiative to step down from the battle ring. Although he would not have any problems in gaining a victory against Leng Yu, but the problem would be that if he ended up defeating the cultivator ranked 3rd, who else would dare to come up and challenge him?
Ning Cheng, after raking in a 13 win streak, finally stepped down from the battle ring, causing many people to feel uncomfortable. It can be said that they were looking forward to see whom among Ning Cheng and Leng Yu was more powerful, however Ning Cheng unexpectedly took the initiative to step down.
As soon as Ning Cheng came down, Elder Bei immediately called Ning Cheng over.
“Ning Cheng, you did a really good job this time. I was afraid that you would not be aware of the main thing, as to when to advance and retreat from the battle ring.” Rui Baishan was very pleased with Ning Cheng’s performance on the battle ring.
“What do you mean by knowing about advancing and retreating?” Ning Cheng asked in a somewhat puzzled manner.
“The ten major academies, although there are some eligible to be ranked in the top ten major academies, however when it comes to cultivators participating in the competition, once they achieved a certain number of wins, they would take the initiative to step down, in order to leave some points to the others. The real competition amongst the Profound Core Realm will begin only when there is a dozen or so people left. The last to stand on the competition stage, can also be said to be the person at the first place who no one else wants to challenge. Although most of the time, the first ranked will have the highest score, but it is not absolute.” Elder Bei explained.
No wonder Liang Kexin said that about being ranked first, while also speaking about the rewards relating to the points. However, Ning Cheng still did not fully understand this and asked, “So why is there a reward set for winning 50 points, or that reward for 80 points?””
Rui Baishan shook his head and spoke, “Essence Birthing Bamboo Pith is something exceedingly precious, how something like that can be taken out as a reward? It is just a tiger’s roar to scare others in the end. It is not something to be taken seriously, not to mention that no cultivator here would be able to rake in 80 points, even if you had the ability to win it, you’ll simply end up being interrupted for a variety of reasons. However to win 50 rounds, that is still something that can be achievable albeit extreme difficult.”
Ning Cheng felt a bit defeated by such hypocritical rules, he was already ready to plough through to win that bottle of Essence Birthing Bamboo Pith, but unexpectedly ended up with being splashed with a basin full of cold water.
Elder Bei patted Ning Cheng’s shoulder and smiled before speaking, “This is very normal, you already had your winning streak on the stage; moreover the other nine major academies would also rarely send out their top experts early, this is something of a tacit understanding among all. Otherwise, if all the major academies sent in their top experts’ right at the beginning, then the rest of the rounds would simply be uninteresting to watch. Causing the major academies of the Great Meet to form a tacit understanding regarding it at present, moreover this tacit understanding is also something that is approved by everybody, therefore when the Academy Head spoke about coming down in time, it was a good thing. As for competing for the first position, it would only start when there are only a dozen people left in the end.”
“It seems that the reason Heavenly Dao Academy’s Leng Yu came up on stage, was because he felt a bit dissatisfied with you. It was a good thing that you stepped down in time, keeping everybody’s honour intact. Even if you have to fight with Leng Yu, I advise you to rest up for a while, once the other major academies obtain a certain score, you can then come forward once again to compete.” Tantei Fei smiled and spoke.
Ning Cheng had allowed the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect to rake in 14 points, transforming him into a sort of hero in their eyes, even all the Crucible Transformation Elders seated here, were behaving in an amiable manner towards Ning Cheng.
Leng Yu who was still on the stage won two rounds in a row, and was clearly close to winning his third round. Ning Cheng suddenly started to feel that his interest and enthusiasm was starting to wane in this kind of major competition. If the prize of Essence Birthing Bamboo Pith was something that can be considered as non-existent, then wasn’t it equivalent for him to have a high expectation for nothing.
Ning Cheng once again returned towards the bottom of the battle stage, seeing the competition turning somewhat sluggish once again, he spoke up, “This competition is simply akin to some lukewarm water, and it really is quite boring.”
“Just like lukewarm water? Wait for the competition for the final ten spots; then you will see what a life and death struggle is. As long as the cultivators on the stage did not die endlessly, they would use this time simply for the purpose of acquiring the qualifications for the last decisive battle nothing more.” Liang Kexin, standing next to Ning Cheng, explained.
Ning Cheng had just heard the words of the seniors from his academy a moment ago, but still spoke up, “In fact, it’s definitely hard for someone to score 50 points, but I still wish to obtain the Essence Birthing Bamboo Pith.”
“50 points might be difficult to get, but 30 points have definitely been made by others on more than one occasion.” Liang Kexin answered; before when Ning Cheng had rushed out, she simply did not have enough time to explain it to him.
Ning Cheng saw Leng Yu going through a seven win streak, before he chose to step down from the ring with a deadpan expression.
As Leng Yu stepped down, a gold robed cultivator flew onto the battle stage, “Red Star Sword Faction’s Jin Lin asks to be provided guidance.”
An asshole from the Red Star Sword Faction? Ning Cheng did not hesitate to fly onto the battle stage. It was already too late for Liang Kexin to react, let alone call him back.
Although many people were aware of the tacit understanding between the academies, however a majority of the cultivators spectating did not care about such an understanding, what they truly cared about was the degree of intensity of the matches. Now that Ning Cheng went on stage once again, it immediately drew a lot of enthusiasm from them.
“Why did Ning Cheng go up again?” Elder Bei had just talked to Ning Cheng, before he spoke up in a puzzling manner. Although Ning Cheng and the Red Star Sword Faction had some friction between them, however it was not a suitable time to deal with them.
“Humph, it seems that this guy really thinks that he is the best in the world.” Some of the top ranked Profound Core Cultivators thought, as they felt a bit uncomfortable in their hearts. They are not even evenly matched currently, yet this person had once again entered the stage, did he want to bestow his points upon others?
Even some of the elders in charge of the judgements were frowning. The Tian Continent’s Great Meet of the Academy was held mainly to elect the top ten academies. As such even the unwritten rules were passed down from innumerable years, allowing even the ordinary academies to know about it. It was with these kind of rules and regulations that made the competition something worth seeing, but at the same time helped build anticipation. The anticipation towards the final rounds, towards who would win the most, and finally who would take the first place.
But now they ended up meeting a person who did not play by the common sense or even by the rules on the card. The competition was still far from the final stages to see who was the most powerful, when Ning Cheng ended up breaking the unspoken rules. The problem was that although Ning Cheng had broken a rule, but it was an unspoken one, as such, there was actually no reason for them to stop others like him from coming out.
Although Ning Cheng did not know that he had ended up provoking an outrage, but he was aware that he had violated an unspoken rule. Even so, Ning Cheng was not afraid of it in the slightest. Anyways, after this tournament, he was going to escape immediately, why would he have to look in the four cardinal directions? No matter what happened after the tournament, he was only concerned about his award and his escape, as to the later events, it had nothing to do with him.