Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
For those with the ability, getting first place using their luck was the worst. Luck was something fleeting, even those standing at the top couldn’t understand it.
However, for those not as strong, and those who didn’t believe that they would get number one or in the top ten, this maze challenge was a pleasant surprise. It was also their only hope, if they were lucky, they might pick a road that didn’t have anyone else in it.
You XiaoMo saw a few high grade mages with their faces all scrunched up, staring at the exquisite jade maze intensely and chuckled in his heart. Unless they had an incredible computing ability, they wouldn’t be able to decipher the subtlety of the maze from just the naked eye alone. Maybe for a normal maze, but the exquisite jade Maze was specially designed by the XiaoYao Institution for the competition, it was hundreds of times harder than a normal maze.
“No wonder Shifu told me to bring a hundred and twenty percent attention to this round. exquisite jade must be the hardest maze I have ever seen.” Qiao WuXing commented, from his smile one could sense a speechlessness from it.
Hearing his words, You XiaoMo smiled, “If it’s difficult for you, it’s even more difficult for others. Look over there, someone’s face is all messed up now.”
Both Qiao WuXing and Jiu Ye turned towards the direction at the same time. Every mage that made it this far was outstanding, but also pretty old, only a few looked young. Jiu Ye’s gaze landed on Su Lang. His appearance still had an immature feel to it, from his expression one could tell that he wasn’t too old, but he had a grade two level.
You XiaoMo noticed his gaze and looked over to see that he was staring at Su Lang.
On the side, Qiao WuXing exclaimed, “He’s so young, to think he would be this strong. His future is limitless. Did he come with Yan Hui?”
“They’re under the same Shifu.” You XiaoMo explained.
“You know him?” Qiao WuXing asked.
You XiaoMo chuckled to himself, catching the eyes of the other two. They knew instantly he must have thought of something interesting. “When Ling Xiao and I first went to Dong Zhou, we met them by accident once. It was later when I realized that Yan Hui approached me with a purpose, they are also from the Black Spider. Not only that, they were likely the leader’s disciple.”
The two of them both had a look of surprise.
With an expression that just said he was up to no good, You XiaoMo continued, “He’s called Su Lang. From what I heard, he’s twenty or so years old. According to the rumors, he is the number one genius of the TongTian Continent, unmatched by anyone.”
Finally the two understood what he was gloating over. So this was a number one genius. For someone twenty or so to reach rainbow level grade two, his ability to grasp knowledge and understand them was truly unmatched, but the spot of number, that’ll have to wait.
However, the true genius was right in front of them. Their age’s were similar but grade two and grade six weren’t even comparable. If You XiaoMo didn’t exist, he might be number one, but with You XiaoMo, it was just a sad story. The three started laughing knowingly.
Opposite to them, Su Lang had long noticed their gaze. After hearing their laughter, he couldn’t help but feel agitated. If eyes could kill, You XiaoMo would have been dead already.
“Shidi, calm down!” Yan Hui said as he noticed Su Lang’s turmoilous feelings. What he didn’t expect was for Su Lang to turn around and give him an evil eye.
Yan Hui paused for a second. After he saw You XiaoMo and the others on the opposite side, he more or less guessed what Su Lang was thinking and couldn’t help but shake his head. Su Lang, Su Lang, you’re still too young. Destroying you doesn’t even need any effort. However, he still knew when he should do things and now was not the time to agitate him.
After the XiaoYao Institution principal finished explaining the rules, everyone heard his shout, “I announce, the start of the last round begins now!”
At the same time, a hundred or so mages simultaneously exploded in power. One after another, their soul force tried to enter the maze before everyone else, but they all quickly felt the difficulty and their faces went pale.
As the principal had said before, the exquisite jade had a suppressing effect on a mage’s soul, thus they shouldn’t rush in, it’s not like they’d find the exit by being first.
You XiaoMo didn’t rush it, instead, he took his time and looked at the maze. Like everyone with experience, they simply watched in the beginning. If it was a normal maze then they could simply cover it with soul power and know where the exit was, but this was exquisite jade.
There was another issue. The competition didn’t restrict the separation of soul power, however that had its own issues. Thus, those with knowledge were all considering the option.
After fifteen minutes, people started moving. Some decided to split their soul power into three or four streams, others, who were smarter, kept only one. You XiaoMo also chose one entrance, he didn’t want to bite off more than he could chew. After all, with so many people on his heels, if he dared to split his soul power, they would be the first to cut him off.
Once his soul power entered the maze, he instantly felt the soul power he emitted become heavier. A stone like the exquisite jade was similar to heavy metal, but there was a difference. The gravity stone was used on the soul, but the exquisite jade only affected soul power, causing it to deplenish faster.
His soul power quickly started moving, because the exquisite jade was transparent, he could see his strand of soul power passing through the maze. Sometimes he would even scrape by another mage, but not touching the other as they were separated by a layer of exquisite jade.
You XiaoMo didn’t think much of it, but it scared the crap out of the other person.
As everyone knew, he was a grade six mage, only Zu Ma or You Quan were on his level, anyone else meeting him was asking for a death sentence. It didn’t take long before he met his first opponent, which he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about, because it was Jiu Ye. Like him, Jiu Ye didn’t split his soul power into multiples, so if he lost here, he wouldn’t have another chance.
Good thing was that this competition didn’t not say that you had to beat everyone you meet. This was mostly for those who were unfamiliar with each other, for those who knew each other, unless you really trust them, you wouldn’t normally let them go.
You XiaoMo’s soul power very naturally passed by Jiu Ye. The latter looked over and he returned a smile. Jiu Ye retracted his gaze and turned to another corner. Just then, from his side came a voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Needing your friend to give way for you, coward!”
You XiaoMo and Jiu Ye looked over at the same time, to find the one talking to be Su Lang, who had been annoyed since the beginning. As if he finally found the opportunity, his voice and eyes were full of malice, he was definitely just venting his anger!
After taking a look, they both turned back. Their casual expression got Su Lang fuming again, how dare they ignore him! But no matter how he barked, the two didn’t bother him again, as if that one look was already being charitable. The situation made his anger burn even brighter.
It didn’t take long for him to meet his first opponent too, Yan Hui!
They were disciples under the same master, by the looks of things, they should be closer than You XiaoMo and Jiu Ye, and also more trusting of each other. However, You XiaoMo knew that their relationship wasn’t good. Maybe not to the point of fire and water, but definitely not a trusting relationship either.
The two fell silent for a while before passing by each other. No matter how bad their relationship was, they didn’t dare turn against each other in public. If they fought amongst themselves, then they’d just be made a laughing stock.
Obviously the maze was very complicated, even after half an hour, everyone was still messing around in the maze, unable to even find one exit. During this time, many were kicked out of the maze, out of a hundred, only half were left and who was the powerhouses was getting more apparent.
You XiaoMo met a few mages, other than one who was overconfident and wanted to fight him, everyone else left before any fighting happened. If they were grade four or five, they might have some fight to them.
You XiaoMo’s gaze never left the maze. He looked around and the gears in his brain started to turn quickly. There was one low grade mage who, after making through multiple difficulties, finally made two-thirds of the way there, with almost no one around, he thought he was going to be first, but just as he was a few steps away from the exit, he went into a dead end.
Instantly his passion was drenched with cold water, and his backed off all withered.
That was what happened when you rushed things. The maze was very complicated, you had to take care of every step along the way. Once you made a wrong move, even if you can back out, more likely than not, you would lose your direction. If that happened, much less number one, even the top ten would be difficult.
With him as example, the others were even more cautious.
Slowly, You XiaoMo moved his soul power. He wasn’t inexperienced with mazes, in fact he was quite familiar with them, after he had two geniuses as brothers.
You Bo had a high IQ and liked things with a challenge, mazes was one of them. By his influence, he had a period where he really liked mazes too. Even though it was a long time ago, he still remembered a thing or two.
It wasn’t long before he met his first real opponent!
