Amidst the rising and falling clamor, Li Ang sighed deeply. He swung his right hand in a flourish, sheathing the dagger back into its scabbard. With a gentle hook of his left hand, the Mind Threads that covered the whole arena began to retract, from slow to fast, winding around the hook on the left side of his belt. The scattered arrows were also put back into the quiver.
He nodded toward Quan Jingfeng, who was slowly standing up, jumped down from the arena, and walked into the spectator seats along the stairs.
Voices of discussion continued to emanate from both sides.
"Li Ang... won? He won against soone two levels higher?"
"That was a Postnatal Perfection, and he didn’t even last seven and a half minutes!"
"Did he cheat? Using talismans and Telekinesis, how can soone at the Initial Stage of the Rain Listening Realm have such a large capacity Qi Sea?"
"How could it be cheating? Do you think the referees down there are fake or sothing? Besides, people from Jing Country are watching. If there was cheating, it would have been discovered on the spot."
Li Ang ignored those questioning or envious gazes and returned to his original spot, saying to his friends with a smile, "I was lucky and won. Now I should be able to advance."
"This wasn’t just luck,"
Li Wei swung his arm, mouth ajar, searching his mind for an adjective, "it was like... magic!"
As a fellow practitioner of the Body Refining Path, he could better appreciate what it ant to defeat a Martial Artist two levels higher.
It wasn’t just a gap in strength, but a comprehensive difference in reaction speed, agility, and other aspects.
Quan Jingfeng, fully armored and wielding a Horse-slaying Saber, could still sprint at the speed of a charging horse.
His thick armor could disregard the slashes of ordinary swords,
and his Horse-slaying Saber, infused with Red Maple Qi Blood, could pierce the defenses of a Telekinesis Master of the sa realm with a single strike.
Even so, Li Ang had still won, and won... quite spectacularly.
Ren Xin smacked his lips and said slowly, "Winning by outmaneuvering the enemy, a single fatal blow. First, you used a talisman to create smoke and conceal your intentions. Then, you used a Shock Sound Talisman to draw the opponent in and set up Mind Silk traps. Finally, you used crossbow arrows to lure the enemy into a lethal strike. If I didn’t know, Risheng, that you were a born-and-bred Yizhou person, I would really suspect you’d trained in the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains or sowhere similar for a decade or two to gain such combat experience."
"Ah..."
Li Ang rubbed his palms sowhat guiltily and confessed, "It was alright. Mainly, I really didn’t have confidence in defeating my opponent head-on. That set of armor he was wearing was indeed too sturdy. The crossbow arrow fired by the chanical Crossbow couldn’t penetrate it at all, only creating a tiny dent. Stabbing directly with the Triangular Spear would most likely only cause the surface of the armor to cave in, not injuring the armor’s inner lining."
This was on the arena stage, with countless eyes watching. Li Ang couldn’t use Mo Si. All the abilities he displayed were within the scope of the Initial Stage of the Rain Listening Realm.
"That’s right."
Ren Xin nodded and said, "That set of Hundred-forged Steel Armor is equipnt from the Imperial Army of Jing Country. The only two vulnerable spots are at the connection between the helt and the neck, and the palms. Other than that, there’s probably just the slit for the eyes in the helt. You throwing the Vibration Talisman into that slit to directly stun your opponent was quite..."
Ren Xin, like Li Wei, racked his brains for an adjective, finally adding after a pause, "ingenious."
"I prefer to call it efficient."
Li Ang gave a slight smile and sat back down beside Chai Chai.
In the following competitions, a few competitors particularly stood out:
Pei Jing, whose Canghai Sword technique had beco increasingly refined, defeated a stronger opponent and smoothly advanced.
Bian Chenpei, a High-level Telekinesis Master in the Rain Listening Realm, easily defeated his opponent to secure a spot in the next round.
And in the matches for the Cloud Patrol Realm level:
Galuo’s brother, Ashina Que Teqin, sent his opponent flying out of the arena with a single blade strike, winning instantly.
Senior Brother Ren Xin and Senior Sister Sui Yi also took the stage, defeating their opponents within three moves and winning with ease.
After the afternoon’s matches ended, Ren Xin and Sui Yi had to leave early for other matters.
Li Wei watched their departing figures, scratching his head. "Senior Brother Ren Xin and Senior Sister Sui Yi are so strong. It feels like even the comntators can’t quite follow their movents."
"After all, they are Instructors who have served in the Supervision Departnt and have slain countless demons and monsters. In terms of actual combat ability, they might surpass most of the Doctors in the Academic Palace."
Yong Hongzhong paused, then said hesitantly, "I once heard my grandfather ntion that among Yu Country’s younger generation, Senior Sister Sui Yi is the second most likely to advance to the Candle Cloud Realm."
"Oh?"
Yang Yu was quite surprised. Yong Hongzhong’s maternal grandfather was Cai Zong, Duke Xing, who had served as the Right Martial Guard General and the Wangzhou Governor. His military status was second only to Yan Yundang, Duke Yan, so he wouldn’t make such assessnts lightly.
But if Sui Yi was second, who was first?
Yang Yu pondered for a mont, his gaze instinctively turning towards He Fanshuang.
Among Yu Country’s entire younger generation, the most famous and the one carrying the highest expectations was naturally He Siping. He was a High-level Cloud Patrol Realm cultivator who, upon graduation, had been appointed as the Left Spring Palace Middle Officer.
He was also He Fanshuang’s elder brother.
SNAP.
Feeling the gaze upon her, He Fanshuang closed her book and looked towards Yang Yu, speaking indifferently, "Is there sothing?"
"No!"
Yang Yu imdiately realized. Perhaps because she disliked being compared to her brother, He Fanshuang didn’t like anyone ntioning He Siping in her presence.
"I was just saying, the fights between Cloud Patrol Realm cultivators are already so intense. I wonder what it would look like when Candle Cloud Cultivators fight with their full power," Yang Yu said with a sheepish smile.
I know this. It’s probably like cutting through half of Taihu Lake’s surface with a single sword strike.
Li Ang silently comnted to himself. He used Telekinesis to clean up the lon seed husks and paper scraps from his seat, tossed them into a wooden bucket, and left the Martial Arts Arena with his friends.
Yong Hongzhong was going to the Book Collection Pavilion to read, Yang Yu was headed ho for dinner, Li Wei was off to play ball with friends, and Song Shaoyuan... cough, was going ho to accompany his wife.
Previously, when Aunt Song was in Yizhou, Song Shaoyuan and You Xiao living together had inevitably led to so improper talk.
Now that Aunt Song had co to Chang’an, they planned to hold the wedding within the year.
Probably by this ti next year, they would have a child.
The thought of possibly becoming Uncle Risheng made Li Ang shake his head. He also needed to go back and compile dical textbooks—Qiu Feng had been visiting him every evening lately to discuss the dical textbooks with him.
The Doctors of the Imperial dical Bureau had quickly divided into two camps, supporters and opponents of the new textbooks. How they would be further promoted and taught still needed more discussion.
They passed through the tree-lined path, preparing to go their separate ways, when they happened to et a group of young n and won from Jing Country walking from a side path.
Leading them was none other than Quan Jingfeng.
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