Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
After four rounds of competition, the top eight had emerged. Three from the line of the Head Palace Master and two from the Second Palace Master. The remaining three Palace Masters took one spot each.
The distribution of this list was the same as the one from last year. Even the names did not change much. Besides Lü Teng from the line of the Second Palace Master who had lost and with Qin Wushuang taking over last year’s Number Seven’s spot, the list was the same as last year.
Currently, no one had any objection to Qin Wushuang being labelled as a dark horse.
Everyone knew that for even Wei Yi had not made it to the top ten when he had just entered the Core ranking competition. And this time, Qin Wushuang’s result was within the top eight.
Regardless of whether he could keep advancing, he had undoubtedly created history. Just with this record alone, he had surpassed Wei Yi.
Previously, some people had thought Qin Wushuang’s advancment had been a fluke. He did not meet strong opponents during the first and the second round. And in the third round, it hadn’t been very convincing either since the opponent had immediately admitted defeat.
However, during the fourth round, Qin Wushuang’s performance had slapped those people who had doubted his ability. He had used his true strength to tell people why he deserved to his title of the winner of the Advanced disciple exam, and how he had acquired perfect scores in all six categories!
He did not get it by luck, but by his true strength by taking each little step.
Hong Li ranked fourth in the line of the Head Palace Master. Regarding his offensive strength, even those top five elite warriors besides Wei Yi would not face him head on. After all, it was troublesome and life-threatening to fight an elite warrior that wielded the herald.
However, Qin Wushuang’s control did not allow Hong Li the chance to act. From beginning to end, he had suppressed Hong Li’s proud attack power to the extreme until he had collapsed. He did not have any chance to perform.
Many elite warriors had already realized that Qin Wushuang’s most reliable weapon was his confusing and unpredictable foot movements.
It was that set of foot techniques, combined with his attack that had rendered Hong Li powerless.
Next, combined with the fight with Qin Wushuang and Xia Feihong, everyone came to an easy conclusion—Qin Wushuang was a master of controlling the tempo. One could say that he had reached a devilish stage in his control of the rhythm in the battlefield.
When Xia Feihong wanted to unleash fast moves, Qin Wushuang could force him to slow down. He could win through the slow tempo and any random sword he sent out had left Xia Feihong unprepared and humiliated.
And Hong Li loved majestic style combat. However, Qin Wushuang had sped up the tempo and did not give Hong Li any chance to distance himself. Thus, he used the method of close-combat to beat Hong Li to a poor state.
This was the rhythm. The perfect control of the rhythm during a battle.
Even someone like Wei Yi could not help but feel impressed by Qin Wushuang’s ability. It was as if he could always find the most favorable battle method. He would use his advantage to attack the opponent’s weakness.
To use one’s advantage to attack the enemy’s weakness. It would be strange if he could not win through this method.
This time, Tan Zhongchi was radiant with happiness. Basically, there should not be any problem for his disciples to get three spots in the top ten.
Not to mention the top eight, both Lü Teng and Jian Rui were double insurance. With both going for a spot, one of them would get a spot in the ninth or the tenth.
Currently, among the fights for the ranking between Number Nine and Sixteen, the most popular one was Hong Li, who had been defeated by Qin Wushuang. He was an elite warrior that had ranked seventh last year.
However, this Hong Li’s shoulder had been injured by Qin Wushuang’s sword intention. Although he had kept his arm, the sword Qi had penetrated deeply into his shoulder. Apparently, a day of rest would not allow him to recover completely.
Thus, even if Lü Teng met Hong Li, he would still have a chance to win. One could even say that the chance of winning was high.
After all, these two’s ranking was one after another from last year. One had ranked at seventh, and the other at eighth.
…
Up to this point, the atmosphere of the competition had increased tremendously. The entire atmosphere of the Stargaze Palace had become even more fanatical with the arrival of the final ranking competition.
Now, there were three causes of suspense—
The first one was whether someone would fight with all their efforts if they met with Wei Yi.
The second, was whether Qin Wushuang, the dark horse, would get top three.
The third was whether anyone else besides the line of the Head Palace Master would get three spots in the top ten.
For the first scenario, everyone felt it was unrealistic. Compared to others, Wei Yi’s strength was incomparable. Although he had the strength at the beginning of the Middle Spiritual Martial Force, no other Core disciple could match up to him.
On the contrary, people looked forward to the second suspense. In the history of the Stargaze Palace, none of the newly advance Core disciples had entered into the top three directly. It would be a new record! If Qin Wushuang could break this record, then it would not be as simple as surpassing Wei Yi. Instead, he would create a new historic record within the Stargaze Palace and become the record holder!
It was an extremely honorable accomplishment. For the thousand years since the Stargaze Palace had existed, and after generations of disciples had studied here, no one had broken this record. The difficulty of the achievement was quite apparent!
The third matter was also related to the lines of the Green Cloud Palace, and the Second Palace Master. Currently, besides the line of the Head Palace Master, only disciples to the Second Palace were qualified to aim for the top ten.
The situation was clear in the eyes of all.
Accompanied by the suspense, the fifth round of draws started again.
On the day of the fifth round, the weather continued to be nice.
In today’s competition, not only the top eight needed to fight, the people that had lost also needed to fight for their placement from the ninth to sixteenth. All the ranks after the top sixteen needed to be determined through a duel. And the process was the same as the duels between the top eight.
The Ninth place was like the victor from the top eight. The process was the same from beginning to the end.
Under the gazes of everyone, the Head Palace Master began to speak with a smile: “This time, among the top eight, there are two new faces. It is worthy of celebration. What does it represent? It means that our Stargaze Palace does not lack new blood and talent. Only through such competition can we get all disciples to remain alert at all times. You will all fight for your honor, for ranking and for your pride. Enough with the talk, back to topic, we will start with the draw for the top eight. Regardless of the matchups, we will have elite warriors fighting each other. The following duels will be even more exciting!”
The tens of thousand disciples of the Stargaze Palace became hot-blooded. All of them expressed fanatical looks as they stared at that drawing box. Each of them could not wait for the result of the draw.
They just wanted to know about the situation after the draw.
Some people detested dark horses. Those who harbored a strange hostility towards Qin Wushuang were even praying for him to meet Senior Brother Wei Yi to stop him from advancing…
Of course, it was the mindset from a small portion of people. Most disciples hoped that Qin Wushuang would not meet with Wei Yi. They wanted to see to what extent this dark horse would end up!
The Fifth Palace Master went up and drew a number. It was the number one disciple of the Third Palace Master—Zhao Muzhi.
And when he drew the second one, a strange expression appeared on the Fifth Palace Master’s face. He glanced at Tan Zhongchi and smiled: “Zhao Muzhi’s opponent is the great dark horse Qin.”
Zhao Muzhi against Qin Wushuang!
The result from the first matchup was out!
Still showing a calm face, a trace of playful smile emerged from the corner of his mouth. The Third Palace Master also showed no emotion. However, he mused: “The great dark horse? Ha ha, this is where the dark horse stops running.”
Yet, Tan Zhongchi said lightly: “Perhaps not. Third, this Zhao Muzhi is your proud disciple. However, it’s not easy to say who will win or lose.”
The second pair would be between the best disciples from the Second and the Fourth Palace Masters.
Zhou Fu against Deng Bohu!
Earlier, Deng Bohu had beaten Lü Teng who came from the Second Palace. Now, he was up against Zhou Fu. It seemed that there were traces of vengeance and would be a great show.
The third pair would be an internal conflict within the line of the Head Palace Master. It was Wei Yi against Huang Zhaoyang, the third disciple of Zhuo Buqun.
The fourth pair were the two people that had ranked last among the top eight. One of them was Miao Zhongxia, the number one disciple studying under the Fifth Palace Master. His opponent was Lu Shaonan, the second disciple of Zhuo Buqun, the Head Palace Master. For these two, with the ranking of fifth and sixth, they had fought before. At that time, Miao Zhongxia had barely won against the opponent. And this time, it seemed to be a predestined affinity for them to meet again.
For each the four groups, there were exciting things to see.
Besides Wei Yi’s duel that showed no suspense, the other three fights had a lot of good things to see. For example, whether Deng Bohu could win against Zhou Fu, or would something different occur with the predestined fight between Miao Zhongxiao and Lu Shaonan? Or another example, would Qin Wushuang, this dark horse keep running forward? Would he drag down Zhao Muzhi, the one that had ranked third last year?
After the drawing result, Qin Wushuang’s emotions remained calm as still water. He knew that it would be his toughest battle since the start of this Core ranking competition.
Regarding Zhao Muzhi, he had met him once when he had gone to pick up the rewards after the gambling competition had ended. At that time, Zhao Muzhi asked him about his teacher and Qin Wushuang had politely refused to answer.
Zhao Muzhi at that had revealed some animosity. Now, he saw that Qin Wushuang had become his opponent, he thought about the competition between his teacher and the Second Palace Master and the shame that his Junior Brother Qi Yinfeng had received at Qin Wushuang’s hand. He felt that regardless, he must use all he had to beat this dark horse off the stage.
Undoubtedly, Qin Wushuang had the same idea as him. He only had one goal. That was to go forward and to pass Zhao Muzhi and enter the top four and meet with his Senior Sister Zhou Fu!
Currently, different than his usual scholar dress from before, Zhao Muzhi put on a battle suit. A layer of coldness also covered his handsome face as he glared at Qin Wushuang.
“Junior Brother Qin, at the Nature Manifestation Valley, you once concealed your identity deliberately. Unexpectedly, a great dark horse like you has appeared. However, in the past, I had a graceless nickname, I am called the Dark horse killer. All the dark horses will stop moving forward at my place!”
Qin Wushuang could not help but laugh. Inwardly, he thought you could just speak the ruthless words, why would you speak it with grace?
Immediately, he smiled lightly: “Senior Brother Zhao, I don’t have a treacherous nickname like yours. But I do know that on the stage, we speak with our strength, and not our mouths. Just in case we overspeak and do not win, wouldn’t we lose the light?”
These two had already started to fight through the words.
For sure, this battle would be a difficult one that would test one’s strength and strategies. Qin Wushuang would not allow himself to lose his temperament over any aspects!
To fight for the upper hand at this time would most likely determine the entire battle field!
