Chapter 353: What’s the Point of Keeping Trash?
The most ludicrous thing was that it was still the ring of ice this time.
As calm as Jiang Chen was, he too knew that someone was doing this all on purpose. Thinking back to the mystic quadrant, even someone as righteous as Master Fang had manipulated the matches, purposefully benching Jiang Chen.
Of course, he had done so to protect Jiang Chen.
However, with today’s situation, Jiang Chen would never believe that there wasn’t a human factor at play here.
Except, the manipulation this time wasn’t to protect him, but precisely the opposite. It was to suppress him.
He’d been challenged three times in a row and had barely had any time to rest. For all three times, the ring of ice had been selected.
What did this mean?
This meant that this was absolutely being arranged purposefully by someone. The two strong opponents beforehand had just been an introduction to exhaust him.
He Yan was the true main act.
Jiang Chen smiled coldly in his heart, and threw a sarcastic, meaningful flick towards Master Shuiyue. His lips curved slightly upwards, drawing out a mocking arc.
For a vaunted sect heavyweight and keeper of the earth quadrant to resort to such shameless tactics, this really made Jiang Chen look down on her.
“This old woman laid out a good plot alright. She first used two other people to exhaust me, and then sends her own prized disciple to challenge me. Wearing me down so that I can finally be defeated, how amazingly shameless.”
Jiang Chen quickly saw through Master Shuiyue’s scheme.
Actually, it wouldn’t even be called a scheme, but just blatant manipulation.
However, people could only guess in the absence of evidence and couldn’t actually accuse Master Shuiyue of anything.
When he saw Master Shuiyue’s noble and righteous expression, Jiang Chen only felt that this woman was unspeakably fake and disgusting.
“Trying to play me with these methods?” The pride in Jiang Chen’s bones started stirring as well. “The more you want to drag me down, the more I won’t let you succeed. You want to use your prized disciple to destroy me and help him along his path? I damn well won’t let you see your carefully laid plan play out!”
Jiang Chen had indeed purposefully kept his strength in check in the last two battles because he’d been the one challenged. He hadn’t used any ultimate moves at all.
The so-called drain on his energies was negligible. It had been feigned to confuse the enemy.
The fruits of his feint were apparent. He Yan deeply believed what he saw, and a bizarre hint of a smile was on his face. He looked like he was evaluating prey as he swept his eyes impertinently up and down at Jiang Chen.
The situation was like that of a fierce beast with his prey underfoot, debating on where to begin devouring it.
“Who comes? Report your name. I, He Yan, don’t kill nameless opponents.” He Yan laughed coldly and put on an air.
He knew more clearly than anyone who this opponent was. All of this had been prearranged.
However, he’d said this to raise his own morale and beat down on his opponent. These were the common tactics that sect disciples used.
To Jiang Chen, this was simply too trite.
He couldn’t even be bothered to look at He Yan as he said in an aloof tone, “Stop strutting around and get to it. Let me see if a so-called prized disciple is worthy of me truly putting forth some effort.”
He Yan had finally managed to create an atmosphere in which he ruled supreme, but Jiang Chen had wrecked it completely when he dumped this basin of cold water over him.
“Country bumpkins are ill mannered indeed.” He Yan controlled his anger with effort and cursed, “Kid, since you’ve come to the ring of ice, then let me customize an ice coffin for you!”
“You were taught by a female master alright. You’re loquacious, blathering, and noisy!” Jiang Chen frowned.
This basin of cold water was even worse than the previous one, and it completely doused He Yan’s second round of ambition.
He Yan realized dejectedly that since this savage kid was thoroughly uncivilized, it was impossible to use a sense of propriety, justice, honesty and honor to provoke him.
It looked like he could only use brute force to beat the other into submission.
A crease formed across his brow as He Yan spread out his arms, lightly waving the five fingers of each hand in time with a soft tempo.
Frost-white beams of starry sparkles began to emanate from his hands.
“Star Harvester, form!”
He Yan suddenly brought his two palms forward as his body charged forward like lightning. Beams of splendor formed a mass of icy frost and seemed to freeze the very air of the surroundings.
Jiang Chen only looked ahead of him, and saw translucent crystals form in every inch of the air like ice crystals.
He Yan’s “Star Harvester” had traveled to Jiang Chen’s chest in the next moment.
Once the Star Harvester connected, even the lightest touch would be enough to freeze one’s blood, and turn one into an icicle.
He Yan was full of confidence about this move. His years of practice with it were absolutely not empty bluster.
Jiang Chen remained firmly where he was standing as countless numbers of ice crystals formed in all directions, traveling to his feet in a second and freezing him up to his knees.
“Haha, kid, you’re dead meat!”
He Yan exulted in mad delight when he saw that his ice crystals had trapped the other’s feet.
He hadn’t thought that the secular genius would be so confident to not even move when facing his attack. Was he being stubborn? Or had he been exhausted too much in the previous two battles?
“You can’t hate me for this, you can only blame yourself for being idiotic!” He Yan didn’t have the slightest trace of mercy in his heart. The more pitiful his enemy was, the more excited he would be.
He leered as he pressed down his palm on Jiang Chen’s chest.
Bam!
A vicious palm was imprinted directly onto his chest as it sounded lowly.
In the next instant, the powerful power of ice concentrated in the “Star Harvester” started spreading from the palm and ice crystals formed along its path.
Jiang Chen seemed to be frozen solid.
This scene completely stunned everyone watching beneath the ring. Was this a fight? This was a one-sided slaughter!
They hadn’t seen the secular candidate move at all from beginning to end. Had the secular disciple been exhausted of all of his spirit power in the first two battles and had been frozen as soon as he’d set foot in the ring of ice?
“Brother Boulder!” Liu Wencai’s chest was about to explode from anger when he saw this. He was certain that Jiang Chen had expended too much energy in the first two battles, causing him to be be hit and frozen by the other’s move.
Fatty Lu also displayed a trace of surprise. He too was a bit hesitant in this moment. He’d thought all along that Jiang Chen was acting, that he was pretending to be tired.
But if this was the case, why had He Yan so easily hit him in this moment?
“Haha, this country bumpkin isn’t all powerful now, is he? The ring of ice is indeed his hell. Senior brother He, show your magnanimous mercy and make him an ice coffin!”
“It’s such an easy way out for him to be beaten to death like this! This kid shouldn’t die so easily like this after offending our Purple Sun Sect!”
“He dares offend Master Shuiyue, who’s courting for death if not him?”
A hubbub of discussion arose beneath the ring.
Mater Shuiyue hadn’t seemed to think that the match would go so successfully. She almost suspected in this moment that all of the strong performances the secular genius had put on were actually just a hoax.
Otherwise, how would he have fallen so easily? Or was it that he’d been truly emptied out in the previous two battles and had run out of tricks in the ring of ice?
“He Yan didn’t disappoint me alright. Although the forefather may admonish such a result, that’s nothing to be bothered about. There is life and death in the rings. Everything is normal.” A large stone hovering over Master Shuiyue’s heart could finally be set down as this time.
However, a beam of light shot out of her eyes just as she finished these thoughts, and a foreboding feeling assaulted her.
“He Yan, be careful!” Master Shuiyue blurted out.
He Yan was quite proud of himself and just about to admire his artwork when he suddenly realized that he couldn’t move his hand!
The palm that he’d placed on his opponent’s chest seemed to be stuck in place by an enormous power.
When he took a closer look, his own palm had actually been frozen as well along with his opponent’s chest.
“What’s going on?!” He Yan was scared witless by this. How could a cultivator who was adept at using ice techniques, freeze his own hand?
What a joke!
He jerked with all his strength, but couldn’t budge at all. He was truly panicking now, and was looking at the candidate in front of him with disbelief.
The pride he had previously had utterly vanished by now to be replaced by a coldness akin to falling into a cavern of ice.
The other’s stern face that’d seemed to be carved in stone suddenly revealed a trace of a mocking smile. “Star Harvester? Instead of harvesting the stars, it seems like you’ve trapped your own hand. I say, your hand wouldn’t be useful even if you went to harvest vegetables at a garden, much less than the stars. Trash indeed!”
A red light suddenly flashed around Jiang Chen’s body as all the ice crystals seemed to be melted in an instant, transforming into clouds of white mist and rising into the air.
“Since it’s trash, why bother keeping this hand?” Jiang Chen smiled cruelly as his body moved, his right hand on the other’s wrist.
He shouted as a powerful force surged forward, ripping off He Yan’s arm with a crack like he was harvesting lotus roots.
“Ah!!” He Yan cried out ghastly and almost fainted from the pain. His entire arm had been ripped off, flesh and bone. The magnitude of that pain was imaginable.
“Trash!”
Jiang Chen lifted a leg and connected solidly with He Yan’s chest like he was kicking a rubber ball. The latter drew a beautiful arc through the air as he flew off the ring.
Jiang Chen rubbed his hands over the arm in his hand and turned it to dust.
This gesture made Jiang Chen seem incredibly imposing and magnificent, shaking the observers beneath the ring so that they couldn’t help but tremble, true fear filling their eyes.
Jiang Chen’s actions had been exceedingly quick, not leaving any time for anyone to react. Even if Master Shuiyue had wanted to react, she would’ve been too late.
When she came to her senses, her prized disciple was already flying off the ring, his condition unknown. She dashed out and rushed for He Yan.
Killing intent abruptly exploded in Master Shuiyue’s eyes. The temperature around the ring descended rapidly, and even the skies seemed to turn dark.
