Chapter 122: Fighting the Fourth Ranked
The killing intent that rose from Xu Min was so thick that the temperature around him started plummeting. A few experts in the audience started shivering while others got goosebumps. A chill ran down their spines, and their eyes were filled with uncertainty and discomfort.
How could a young man like this possibly send out such a killing intent? How could such a young man be as if he was a beast? The ferociousness he displayed was one they only knew from the demonic beasts that one encountered within the Immortal Valley. However, it was one thing to see this ferociousness with beasts, but another thing to see it with a human being.
The Immortal who was judging the battle was able to see the hostility in the eyes of the elf.He could also feel the immense killing intent that was bursting out from Xu Min's body, but he said nothing. All he did was look at the two with a thinking expression on his face. Looking at Xu Min, his eyes were complex, but he did nothing more than call out, "Let the battle begin!"
However, prior to the yell, the battle had already begun. The energy of the two experts had already intersected. Every time the two energies came into contact with one small explosion could be heard. One energy was the spiritual energy of the elf; the other was the cold and ruthless killing intent of Xu Min. Although killing intent was not something which could be used directly in battle, it still had a great influence on a fight.
The purpose of killing is to lay itself like a blanket over anyone present. Unless they were strong enough to shake this energy off them, it would make them unable to use their full potential in a fight. It would, whether the opponent wanted to or not, influence their bodies and make them incapable of fully controlling their strength.
Although the killing intent had been released a few times at the academy so far, Xu Min had never used it like this before. Everyone felt shocked and scared since they were being affected by this killing intent. It was not before now that they understood just how important real combat ability was when it came to fighting. Had Xu Min not battled through multiple life and death situations he would not have such a strong killing intent. Without this strong killing intent, how could he not possibly be a dangerous opponent?
Everyone held their breaths. The moment that the Immortal judge called out, both Xu Min and the elf shot forward like two bolts of lightning. A screech could be heard in the air as Xu Min unsheathed his sword, and a swoosh could be heard from the elf's spirit weapon.
The swoosh and the screech collided with a massive explosion. The swift advance was halted as they faced off against one another. Their swords landed against each other; both were forced backward, and both took three steps backward before they stopped. Clearly, they were evenly matched.
Everyone watching gasped in shock upon seeing this. Xu Min, who was new to the academy was already able to fight equally with the guy who had ranked fourth the previous year! Although none of them had used their inner energy, still the fight was already intense. Right now they were relying fully on their respective strength in the previous clash.
"You're not bad," Xu Min praised the elf. Instead of getting told anything in return, the elf that was standing in front of him roared out loud before he lifted his sword above his head. He charged towards Xu Min once more.
The hostility in the eyes of this opponent was so dense that even the audience felt rather uncomfortable about it. Although Xu Min was different from them and they did not like him that much, none of them felt such a strong hostility towards him as this elf did. What was behind this hostility, Xu Min had no idea. However, he did not care as to why his opponent hated him to this degree. The fact was the elf did hate Xu Min, and he was not one to let the tiger back into the mountain. He was going to use this opportunity to get rid of this elf. Killing was not accepted, so crippling him was the only thing Xu Min could do.
His gaze turned cold, the hands clenched on the handle of his sword; he observed the expert in front of him with his frosty glance.
The elf was moving towards him at speed close to lightning, but to Xu Min, who had become one with the world, it was rather slow. Relying on his connection with the wind, every single movement from this elf was visible to Xu Min. He gracefully turned to the side, dodging the sword which came crashing down from above. The sword cut a deep cut into the stone beneath them.
Xu Min narrowed his eyes. It was clear that this elf was using finishing moves which would instantly kill Xu Min if it landed on him, but the judge was pretending not to notice. Realizing this Xu Min's entire body started heating up with anger. The anger which always burned inside him started erupting, and a strength he had never felt before filled his entire being. It was as if he was going berserk again.
"Let us see who can handle all of this energy the most," Xu Min sneered at the elf. He allowed his sword to start devouring the spiritual energy which was present in the air where the sword strike had just appeared.
The devouring ability followed the spiritual energy in the air to the expert that was standing beside Xu Min. It greedily started to absorb the energy that belonged to this expert.
The more energy which entered Xu Min, the more energy he needed to use. Xu Min's action was truly a berserker stance as he poured all the energy from the spiritual energy he absorbed into the sword in his hand. A silvery shine appeared on top of it.
No longer waiting, Xu Min attacked the elf. He pulled out the sword and at the same time created a hundred wind blades, all of which containing his swordlight.
The more he created, the better he felt. He was currently like a balloon which was filled with energy and the more he used, the less likely he was to explode.
The elf, on the other hand, had noticed that something was wrong. Xu Min's opponent was feeling depleted. His spiritual energy within his body was being dragged out of him, and he saw Xu Min’s wanton use of his spiritual energy that Xu Min. Consequently,d he could guess that this was the so-called devouring ability Xu Min possessed. How to stop this devouring was, however, not something he knew how to do.
"Seems like I need to rush and kill you off instantly," The elf said with viciousness in his voice. Even though he said he was going to kill Xu Min, the judge still did not act. Even the other Immortals were watching this match with doubt on their faces. Furthermore, the headmaster was also watching it. Nevertheless, he said nothing to the strange venomous person Xu Min was up against, so no one else dared say anything either.
Xu Min's anger rose instantly. He had been told that killing moves were not permitted in this battle; he had been told it was a friendly spar, and he had to remember that the opponent was a fellow disciple.
Right now, this fellow disciple was breaking every rule that he had been told to follow; even though he was fighting like this, no one said anything. They could all see it, but they all collectively did nothing. The only one who was seemingly uncomfortable about it was his master Mu Jianyao. Even she did nothing as she looked at her father who was not breaking in to stop the fight.
"So that's how it will be?" Xu Min sneered to himself. "Right, just because I joined this academy doesn't mean they would like me. I am a human, who did I think would step up to assist me when an elf is my opponent? In that case, let us see how they react when I pay back with the same hostility that I am being shown!"
Suddenly an enormous amount of spiritual energy erupted from Xu Min's body. Thousands of swordlights appeared around him, all of which were going straight for the elf.
Just as the swordlights shot forward, Xu Min took a stance. The stance he made was a stance he had not made for a long time; it was a stance he had learned from his master a long time ago. It was the Radiant Jade Shower that his master had taught him. Thousands upon thousands of small jade arrowheads appeared. They all glittered in the light. Their appearance was filled with beauty. Many of the students sighed in praise as they saw this attack while the Immortals all jolted with fear and confusion.
Pointing at the elf, these many thousands of jade arrowheads all headed for the elf who was already struggling to try and block the swordlights that had been hidden within the wind blades.
The elf was good at offense, but rather bad at defense. He could use his sword to cut down the swordlights. Nonetheless, when thousands of them were being shot at him at the same time, he was only capable of protecting himself against the most crucial attacks. He was able to deflect the swordlights aiming at his vital areas, but he allowed others to cut his arms and legs.
When he saw the many thousands of jade arrowheads heading to his head, he went numb. He was uncomfortable as he looked at all these arrowheads. What kind of attack was this? Were humans able to use their internal energy to create such a scary attack while being as weak as this young man? If he was so deadly now already then how would he be when he became an Immortal?
The elf's heart filled with jealousy as he thought this; he refused to give up and continued to use his sword to try and stand against the many attacks. The more he swung his sword, the less spiritual energy he had left. Whereas Xu Min was constantly absorbing more and more of his spiritual energy, causing him to be drained quickly, yet also allowing Xu Min to push out a lot of attacks in one go. The more of his energy he used, the more he could absorb.
The fight had not gone on for long. The two opponents had exchanged blows a few times, but now Xu Min was fully dominating the elf. He was bombarding him with attacks; he continued to use his wind blades with swordlight.
Soon the elf which was filled with hate was running low on energy. Xu Min, on the other hand, was so radiant his body was almost bursting with energy. The change between the two was so outstanding that the students had problems believing what they were seeing.
Even the Immortals were shocked. Seeing Xu Min dominate the fight the way he did shock them all. Even more so when they saw Xu Min was seemingly still bursting with energy even though he was using so much that energy fluctuations could be seen coming from his body.
Xu Min's clothes were a little disorderly after the first clash, but the elf was in a terrible shape.
His clothes had all been cut to shreds; his skin filled with small wounds; blood was flowing from all over. Even his handsome face had cuts on the cheeks, forehead and just above one eye.
"Don't think I will give up this easily!" The elf spat out with some blood before he waved his hand and a red pill appeared in his hand. "I never thought I needed to use this on you, but here we go! I will rip you to shreds. I will make you suffer a fate far worse than death! Prepare to beg for forgiveness!" he growled as he threw the pill into his mouth. All the energy in the area rushed into his body.
