Boom!
Xu Xiaoshou landed on the first competition platform. “Who are you?”
“Qu Ming!”
The man named Qu Ming was instantly immobilized by Xu Xiaoshou’s oppressively large presence.
It was supposed to be a simple battle, yet he could spot an explosive presence emitting from his body.
“I don’t care about your name,” Xu Xiaoshou said. “Do you have a death wish to be challenging me today?”
Qu Ming’s eyebrows raised in fury. the young man was incredibly self-centered and selfish.
However, everything about Xu Xiaoshou was calling on him to teach him a lesson.
Qu Ming opened his mouth, but Xu Xiaoshou cut him off by waving his hand to signal the judges, who stood on an equal level with the elevated platforms.
“There’s no need to activate the barrier. It’ll only take a few breaths, so there’s no need to cause that much trouble.”
“I’m sure the audience is full of strong and able-bodied individuals that will not be eliminated by a few ripples of the battle.
The judge stared at him in a daze though he agreed with his logic internally.
The Competition Platform was not on the same level as those sparring platforms of the Tiansang Spirit Palace.
In Shengshen Continent, those who dared to step on these platforms had already signed their agreement with death.
Life, death, winning, or losing were all up to fate.
His sole objective as the judge was to ensure the safety of the audience members.
From the looks of it, those who were observing the match were stronger than those who were competing on stage.
‘If he put it like that, my presence seems to be slightly unneeded…’
‘But it is not right for me to leave…’
The judge turned to Fu Xing.
Fu Xing had not the slightest idea what Xu Xiaoshou was plotting, but he agreed that the presence or the lack of presence of the portal would not make much of a difference and nodded in agreement.
“Accepted.”
Qu Ming’s rage was boiling inside of him.
He knew he should have kept a cool head before the start of a fight, but who could remain calm and collected under these conditions?
“Xu Xiaoshou, what bad breath you have…”
“Can you smell my mouth?” Xu Xiaoshou cut him off.
“I…”
Qu Ming took a step back.
Cursed, Passive Points, +1.
He chose to go for a defense-based tactic for the fight. Qu Ming did not respond to Xu Xiaoshou’s retaliation. Instead, he spoke to himself, “Just a few breaths? You must be kidding.” He laughed coldly.
He was still at the mid-term of the Upper Spiritual Level, which was close to the peak of Innate Stage.
If nothing else, his spiritual source alone would out-pace the mid-term Origin Court Stage in front of him.
A few breaths?
Ho!
Xu Xiaoshou thought about the statement carefully and nodded in agreement. “Indeed, a few breaths was an exaggeration.”
Qu Ming huffed.
What he did not know was that Xu Xiaoshou meant the time was too exaggeratedly long.
At the peak of the higher Upper Spiritual Level, he did not fear even those of the Master Level Physique. How could Xu Xiaoshou pose a problem for him?
“Begin!”
The judge signaled the start and retreated hastily. He did not bother to activate the barrier either.
Qu Ming’s spiritual source expanded like an explosion. With a stomp of his feet, his figure was launched into the air.
“Fire.”
With a shout midair, black and phantom-like flames were burning through his body.
The flames resembled those found in the pits of hell. A glance at the black flames with one’s naked eye could illicit psychological damage on an individual.
“Pitch Black Flames!”
A member of the audience instinctively called out the name of the technique.
Those present at the banquet were all geniuses and gifted individuals of the Tiansang Prefecture with a good grasp of each other’s techniques.
Indeed, there still were others who were not as informed.
“What kind of flame is Pitch Black Flames? Is it famous?”
“Of course!”
“Qu Ming is the famous genius from the Qu family. They are all gifted with the fire-type Innate Elemental Power. With the training from the Qu family, and the heavy costs of obtaining the Pitch Black Flames…”
“This could be said as flames born from the Pitch Black tree, a truly expensive species. Aside from the legendary Ashvattha, it could withstand all types of natural flames.”
“I have never seen another fire-type Spiritual Cultivator who could maintain their cool under the Pitch Black Flames.”
“It’s over for Xu Xiaoshou.”
“Not only will his flesh burn, but his spirit will also be sent into a hell-like torture!”
Xu Xiaoshou listened in to the conversations and glanced at Qu Ming’s cold smile. As he approached him, he broke into a laugh.
“All of you live under a rock yet are full of arrogance.”
Slowly, he lifted his finger and shook it casually.
“One punch.”
Xu Xiaoshou instantly enclosed his fist and connected his punch to the figure of Qu Ming flying toward him.
Boom!
An explosion occurred in the void. The ripples of impact ignited like lightning in a thunderstorm. It sent all those who witnessed it into a daze.
Immediately following after were the black flames, which were splashed into all four directions. Drops of fresh blood were mixed into the flames.
The audience beneath the elevated platform was astounded.
“Where is he?”
He disappeared in just a split second.
“Where is Qu Ming?”
Almost like a response to the man’s question, there was a crashing sound that could be heard from the far end of the banquet hall.
Boom!
“Ah–”
In the spiritual senses of each audience member, they could hear the painful shatter of the bones and a desperate yell of anguish loud and clear.
The crowd stood still.
He could see with his spiritual senses that Qu Ming’s right arm had been broken and his ribs had protruded from his body.
After the yells of pain, the spiritual energy that surrounded him deflated like balloons and dissipated into the air.
With a softer wince, no other sound could be heard.
Suspected, Passive Points, +1,122.
Boom!
Instantly, a burst of power exploded around him and caught the man in a defenseless state. His body was covered in blood by the explosion.
The vigorous spray of blood resembled that of a burst pipe as it shot out in pulses. The scene evoked the pity of all audience members.
“Did he take him out with a punch?”
Stunned, Passive Points, +666.
A clearer picture of Qu Ming’s current state was taken in by the audience. The crowd immediately exploded with noises.
Since when was a strong individual of the Upper Spiritual Level unable to withstand a punch from someone of the Origin Court Stage?
Not even a Master Stage individual would be able to take one out from a single punch alone.
The audience was beyond startled. Had Xu Xiaoshou unlocked a higher potential than the others?
Even if he had, it would not have been as dramatic as it was in its current state.
Xu Xiaoshou clapped lightly and walked toward the blazing Pitch Black Flames. As he got closer, he extended his nose over them
“Sniff!”
The pain was unable to wear down much of his spirits. The flames were forcibly transformed into power by the Breathing Technique and merged with the rest of his energy reserve.
“Burp.”
He let out a burp of satisfaction.
High Spirits was activated and used a bit of his spiritual source to supplement his energy. With that, Xu Xiaoshou was back in top-notch condition.
The audience was quiet.
“Were the Pitch Black Flames swallowed?”
“Oh god, this guy is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. What just happened? How did he disappear from one punch?”
Suspected, Passive Points, +1,323.
Many people could not comprehend the situation that had unfolded before them.
Xu Xiaoshou was lazy to explain. He turned to the man who had last spoken.
“What do you mean by a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Do you think you’re a wolf?”
“Do you think you can handle it?”
“If you think you can handle it, why not step up and try?”
Cursed, Passive Points, +863.
The words had stirred up a series of emotions from the crowd. The young man was truly the most despicable individual. Everyone was holding back the urge to approach him and land a solid punch on him.
Qu Ming’s unfortunate state was still fresh in everyone’s minds.
He was at the Upper Spiritual Level.
How could the Pitch Black Flames be extinguished with one punch?
No one could explain the peculiarly of the situation. Naturally, no one was willing to step up.
Xu Xiaoshou grinned as he looked at the silent crowd beneath him.
He had held back his attack so the fellow would survive the punch.
However, the strength he had to display, he had certainly displayed.
No matter how crazy Xu Xiaoshou was, he knew he was not able to rely on High Spirits as an attack on hundreds of people in a round-robin tournament.
That was impossible.
Therefore, he had to choose to be showy for some and leave some form of impact behind.
Moreover, he knew the type of resolution with his punches would have left the most impact and leave others ages to recover from it.
The Information Bar continued to refresh.
It looked like the notifications were far from over.
In fact, the longer Xu Xiaoshou remained on the platform, the longer he would maintain the attention of all those around him. It was more likely that he would evoke more emotions in the audience.
Once again, Xu Xiaoshou reminded himself to make full use of the opportunity that presented itself to him.
Passive Points, 86,432.
He had 80,000…
He was already at 80,000…
Xu Xiaoshou looked up. His eyes glimmered with happiness. This was only the start to tonight.
Tonight was far from over.
“You.”
He turned to the next elevated platform.
“Are you ready, No.2?”
The man he had nicknamed No. 2 was turning purple.
He held his breath and could not recover for the longest time.
His previous drive to put on a magnificent battle with Xu Xiaoshou had been instantly pulverized by Xu Xiaoshou’s punch.
What kind of monster was Xu Xiaoshou?
How was it possible that someone of his level was present in the banquet hall?
He was supposed to be at the Origin Court Stage, right?
He had assumed that at his Voidness State, he would lose any opportunity to fight in the later rounds. Therefore, he had to show off his skills at the beginning while it was still possible.
How was an Origin Court individual more terrifying than a Master Stage individual?
“Are you at the Innate Level Physique?” he asked.
“Does that matter?”
Xu Xiaoshou smiled lightly. “If you decide to retreat because you were unsure of your opponent’s power…”
“How will you continue down the journey of Spiritual Cultivation?”
“If you’re afraid of fighting a person, how will you fight with the Path?”
“You would’ve wasted your future like that! Once these inner demons are born, it will be difficult to carry on!”
The young man felt as if something had yelled in his brain. He almost passed out on the ground.
“Inner demons?”
A man should know his own depths and advance or retreat accordingly. When the time came to surrender, he might as well do so.
If his opponent had talked about him in such a manner, and he dared to retreat now, he was afraid he would have lost the heart to advance.
He lifted his head. His eyes were filled with determination.
“Don’t be rash Xi Yusheng! Hold it!”
“That man must have the body of the Innate Stage or even a higher-level! You can’t take him!”
Although others were advising him against the fight, how could Xi Yusheng back off now?
He took to the skies and crossed over half of the Competition Platform.
The moment he crossed the barrier, Xi Yusheng’s body began to rumble. His clothing was pierced through by white feathers.
Instnatly, spiritual fog gathered. The white feathers on his body transformed into a shade of purplish black. All of it was dripping with poison.
“Tsunami of Poison Arrows!”
With a yell, purplish black poison arrows flew out from his body. Each was razor-sharp like flying knives, and all of them were headed for Xu Xiaoshou.
“Master Stage Spiritual Technique… That is the Xi family’s Master Stage Spiritual Technique!”
The audience below looked upon the attack in awe. “Who would’ve thought Xi Yusheng mastered a Master Stage Spiritual Technique while he was still in the Voidness State? No wonder he dared to step on stage.”
“No wonder he dared to challenge Xu…”
“Eh?”
The voice of the speaking individual suddenly hesitated. To his discovery, under the raining poison arrows, Xu Xiaoshou stood still.
However, the poison arrows seemed to move right past him and landed on the ground.
“What is going on?”
He was not alone. Those around him were unable to understand the situation as well.
“Is this man moving at a speed that I could not even keep up with?”
Someone blurted out.
As the point was raised, sounds of disbelief echoed through the crowd.
Under close observation, the audience discovered that Xu Xiaoshou was indeed moving.
The minute movement found on his clothing, the kind that required one to squint to catch the multiplying figures, all pointed to what the person had suggested.
Xu Xiaoshou was not just moving. He had evaded every one of the poisonous arrows.
“Impossible!” a voice in the crowd called out.
“It covered such a huge area and rained down in a tight formation. Does the guy know how to shrink his bones? How is it possible to evade all of them?”
“He has an Innate Stage body, but his speed was faster than that of a Master Stage technique.”
“It’s not about speed. Did you forget that his most terrifying trait is his lightning reaction time?”
“…”
The audience was dumbfounded.
Suspected, Passive Points, +1,420.
Stunned, Passive Points, +811.
In Awe, Passive Points, +1,333.
In Xu Xiaoshou’s original plan, he had thought to simply defeat the opponent in a punch, but the same ending would not provoke any bigger reaction from the audience.
If he wanted to make more money, he had to be prepared to keep up his despicable act.
The more chaos he created, and the more unexpected that chaos was, he would receive more and more feedback from the audience and joy about himself.
His Passive Points were going up by hundreds of thousands.
What Xu Xiaoshou was feeling at the moment was equivalent to what he experienced under the Black Cliff.
Although he was without the physical pain on his body, the gazes of the audience carried the same similar Sword Aura.
As long as he remained in the vision field of the masses, there was no stopping to his rising count of Passive Points.
“Time to end this.”
The poisonous arrows did not affect him. Xu Xiaoshou had over a million ways to end Xi Yushen where he stood, but he had not chosen to do so.
After all, he wanted to make money.
The poisonous arrows in the mile radius around him had long lost Xi Yusheng’s control.
On the contrary, with Xu Xiaoshou’s master-level Sword Will All Things are Swords, these arrows were already transformed into swords of his possession.
The hundreds and thousands of poisonous arrows were scattered across the platform floor like a tight bundle of needles. All of them pinned down the awe of the audience.
As Xu Xiaoshou finished his thought and fixed his gaze on the horizon, the masses caught a glimpse of a faint Sword Will in the air.
“This is…”
The younger members of the audience were speechless as their feet froze to the ground. None of them were aware of what was going to happen.
All of the swordsmen in the venue had felt something amiss.
The elders at the banquet stood up in shock. Even Red Coat Night Guardian was not spared. Hints of surprise showed in his eyes.
“This is…”
Gu Qingyi, a swordsman holding the sword, enlarged his eyes and slammed the table before him as he stood.
“Master swordsman?”
Following him tightly were two other slams.
“Master swordsman?”
“Master swordsman?”
Gu Qinger and Gu Qingsan exchanged looks. The awe in their eyes changed to respect as they looked back to Gu Qingyi.
“Elder brother is always the best! You were just a step faster than me! Incredible!” Gu Qinger commented with his hands folded.
“Elder brother is always the best! Second elder brother is always the best too! You both were two steps faster than me. Incredible!” Gu Qingsan commented in awe.
Gu Qingyi gave the two of them a slap, sending them both onto the floor.
He refocused his vision. In fact, he had concentrated all of his attention to the breathtaking move on the elevated platform.
Suspected, Passive Points, +1,420.
Blown Away, Passive Points, +996.
Xu Xiaoshou did not let the audience down. He watched as Xi Yusheng realized the situation was not in his favor and slowly lifted a finger.
“One sword.”
Calls from the sword echoed through the void and instantly filled the entire City Lord Mansion.
At that moment, the poisonous arrows that covered the elevated platform had received the command of the master and transformed into powerful flying swords. They were all pointing toward Xi Yusheng.
“All Swords to the Master, Master Sword Intent!”
The audience was completely blown away.
What kind of monster was Xu Xiaoshou? It was one thing to be accomplished even when the flesh body of an Innate stage…
No one could fantom how he was capable of possessing the powers of an elegant swordsman with the body of a demon. How did he link the two together?
The linkage was so perfect that the union of the two powers was almost natural.
“Stop!”
The head of the Xi family launched into the air in a jerk.
The two parties had too much of a distance in terms of skills.
For an individual of his caliber, he should he not be held back until the final rounds of the competition.
Why did he step out at such an early stage of the competition?
If he was facing a real master swordsman. He was not willing to watch his own disciple lose his life in such a setting.
He was merely a small fry of the Voidness State.
He knew nothing of the world yet, so it was not worth this level of attack from a master swordsman.
Xu Xiaoshou was already of the Origin Court, so why would he…
Huh?
The head of the Xi family stopped abruptly midair and staggered down. His face was twisting with multiple emotions. There was anger and bewilderment. The rush of emotions caused him to almost collapse onto the floor.
“Are you kidding?”
“Origin Court?”
“You’re a master swordsman, how can you just be at the Origin Court stage?”
