AGM 0109 – Overbearing
This abrupt change caused the expressions of many to freeze dumbfoundedly, revealing expressions of amazement on their faces. In that instant when the last move by Jiang Xiu swept out, Qin Wentian actually managed to pull off such an incredible movement technique. Even though it was not powered by Yuan Energy, just purely based on his movements alone, it could be said that he had reached the state akin to a fish in water.
What was even more shocking was that he even incorporated a perfect attack directly after; as though everything, including the reactions of his opponent, was pre-planned by him within his mind, ensuring the defeat of Jiang Xiu.
Jiang Xiu’s countenance at this moment was extremely unsightly to behold. This exchange without the use of their cultivation bases truly showcased the understanding of one’s proficiency in using their innate techniques, as well as their senses and talent. Since he was defeated, it meant that he was not at the level of Qin Wentian. Not only that, his arrogant words and impoliteness from earlier still resounded clearly in the ears of the crowd. This blinding contrast really caused him to lose all face today.
“My cultivation base is shallow, and I only have a slight understanding of a few innate techniques. Maybe my luck is good, hence winning by chance.” Qin Wentian smiled as he spoke to Jiang Xiu, his voice unperturbed. However, it was precisely the calmness of his voice that cause his words to sound extremely sarcastic in Jiang Xiu’s ears.
Shallow cultivation base, only knowing a few innate techniques? But the victor was Qin Wentian? Doesn’t that mean that he, the great Jiang Xiu, was even worse when compared to him?
Not only that, Qin Wentian still added a ‘maybe he was lucky’ reasoning at the end of his sentence. Wasn’t that also yet another slap in the face of Qiu Mo and Jiang Xiu. Both of them has been deliberately targeting Qin Wentian from the start, and according to their logic, the reason for Qin Wentian’s win now should be luck.
Jiang Xiu raised his hands and exerted his strength, forcefully pushing the ancient halberd away from his neck. The immense strength of the push caused Qin Wentian’s arms to tremble from the impact.
“Losing by one move, maybe it was luck, or maybe it was because of merely being careless. Both of your understandings are at a high level regarding innate techniques; especially Jiang Xiu, he comprehended the essences and insights of many mighty and mysterious greatsword techniques. If it were not for the restriction of this exchange, in a real battle he would win in merely a few moves. The dominating strength further bolstered by the power of his cultivation base would have long destroyed the pathetic defense of Junior Brother Qin.”
It was as if Qiu Mo had long prepared his speech, stepping out to save the day. From a certain viewpoint, his words weren’t without sense. Earlier, every attack by Jiang Xiu had the potential to kill, and the restriction of not being allowed to use their cultivation bases caused the power of his sword to diminish greatly. If not, even if their cultivation bases were at a similar level, Qin Wentian might not have been able to defend against it.
However, from yet another viewpoint, Jiang Xiu was obviously defeated. And despite that, Qiu Mo actually continued defending him, twisting words and obscuring logic.
At this moment, everyone who had eyes were able to tell that Qiu Mo was intentionally targeting Qin Wentian.
“Since the exchange has already concluded, we might as well have a real battle, what does Junior brother Qin thinks about this?” Qiu Mo smiled as he looked to Qin Wentian.
“Oi.” At this moment, a voice rang out within the crowd. Qiu Mo shifted his gaze over, only to see a fatty approaching the stone stage, halting at the steps of it. That figure planted his hands on his hips while looking at him.
“Senior Brother Qiu Mo, if the rankings between the 10 prodigies were to undergo a change, I believe that Senior would surely be ranked first.” The first sentence from the mouth of the fatty caused the crowd to become silent, as expressions of interested appeared on their faces.
Naturally, there were people in the crowd that recognised who this fatty was. The bosom buddy of Qin Wentian, Fan Le.
In the past, Qin Wentian and Fan Le stood together in the arena, the first time was the killing of Orfon, and the second was facing against Murong Feng and Du Hao. Naturally, there were many that recognised him.
Not only that, the fatty Fan Le’s talent was also extremely high. It was only because he kept appearing with Qin Wentian that the brilliance of his talent was masked. Many in the crowd knew that during this period of time, Fatty frequented the Dreamsky Forest, and the speed at which his martial prowess rose… even the word terrifying wasn’t sufficient to describe it.
And it was also rumored that Elder Mustang wouldn’t usually guide Qin Wentian on his cultivation, but paid strict attention to Fan Le instead. Because, Fan Le was just too lazy.
As for lazy people, of course they would need supervision.
“Why?” Luo Huan laughed as she looked at Fan Le.
“I heard that within the rankings of the 10 prodigies of the Royal Capital, Senior Qiu Mo was ranked 4th. There’s no need to speak about those that ranked behind him, and as for the three people ranked in front of him, if they were to fight against Senior Qiu Mo, they might also not win for certain. Even if they won, they definitely must have depended on luck, and thus the result wouldn’t be accurate. Not only that, they surely achieved their current cultivation base through many fortuitous and miraculous encounters, how could they be compared to Senior Qiu Mo, whose cultivation was obtained purely through hard work? Only Senior brother Qiu Mo deserves to be the undisputed number one, breaking into Yuanfu based on his own efforts. Who would dare to compare themselves with him?”
Fan Le spoke frankly with assurance, causing people to be stunned. This fellow… was speaking nonsense with a straight face. But still, the crowd naturally understood the meaning of Fan Le’s words.
“What logic is this?” Qiu Mo furrowed his brows. Naturally, he could feel the sarcasm behind the words of Fatty.
“You brushed it off as a fortuitous event, doubting the fact that Qin Wentian could create 3rd level Divine Inscriptions – obtaining the imprints by luck instead of his own creation. He only used the span of a year to reach the 6th level of Arterial Circulation, but you said that he was a fallen genius and wouldn’t be able to step into Yuanfu. He agreed to your proposal to have an exchange against Jiang Xiu and won, yet you refuted, saying that it was due to luck and carelessness of his opponent. Afterwards, you conveniently forgot that originally, their spar was supposed to be this way, without the use of their cultivation base – but after that you still shamelessly proposed a real battle. How amazing.”
Fan Le laughed as he spoke, looking at Qiu Mo. “In the entire Emperor Star Academy, only Senior Qiu Mo depended on his own efforts to achieve the cultivation base he has today. All the rest can only depend on miraculous events or fortuitous encounters to break through to Yuanfu. I don’t really understand Senior Qiu’s logic, where did he get his self-confidence from? But i know this for sure: if we were to compare the level of shamelessness, Senior Qiu Mo would definitely be ranked as the first among the 10 prodigies of the Royal Capital.”
After he finish his speech, Fan Le even pretentiously bowed in the direction of Qiu Mo. This level of sarcasm was so high that it was indescribable, and it caused the expression on Qiu Mo face to turn extremely ugly to behold.
“A win is a win, a loss is a loss. Qin Wentian’s mastery of his innate techniques surpassed that of Jiang Xiu, how can it be brushed off as luck? Obviously Jiang Xiu was not proficient enough. Since he was defeated, he should accept it with a big heart and learn from his mistakes.” Luo Cheng also involuntarily spoke out, as he couldn’t bear it anymore. It was not that he was helping Qin Wentian, but he was just acting in line to his personality.
The word was out on the street that Qin Wentian had enmity with Luo Qianqiu. As a person that hailed from the Asura Faction, Luo Cheng naturally wouldn’t intentionally help Qin Wentian. It was just that he couldn’t take it anymore either.
“If Jiang Xiu of the 10 prodigies could defeat Qin Wentian because of his higher cultivation base, is there anything to be proud of?” Luo Cheng was very direct, but to Jiang Xiu, it was undoubtedly a provocation filled with sarcasm.
“It seems as though after you made some progress in your cultivation, you actually dared to dream about stealing my position in the rankings of the 10 prodigies. If you really wish for it, there’s no need to wait for the Jun Lin Banquet. Today, I can give you a chance.” Jiang Xiu’s eyes were directed at Luo Cheng. His gaze was akin to swords, incomparably sharp. Although he was ranked last among the 10 prodigies, this ranking was given to him last year. After a year, he has already broken through to the peak level of Arterial Circulation, and had wanted to advance his ranking.
“What do I have to fear?” Luo Cheng’s countenance remained unchanged as he calmly spoke. He wasn’t like Jiang Xiu, who put too much emphasis on victory or defeat. His purpose of attending the Jun Lin Banquet was solely because he wanted to temper himself. It would be an added bonus if he were to rank among the first few places. However, if he could not, it wasn’t a bad thing either as his martial prowess would surely increase.
Since this time Jiang Xiu wanted to bring forward the battle date, why not?
“Fine, wait for me. Before our battle, I will personally teach Junior Brother Qin how to respect his seniors.” The gaze of Jiang Xiu shifted, as he stared at Qin Wentian again. At this moment, the sword in his hands shone with a blinding light, even colder and sharper when compared to earlier. Very obviously, this time round, Jiang Xiu infused his divine weapon with his Astral Yuan Energy.
Qin Wentian was speechless, from the beginning to the end, it has always been Qiu Mo and Jiang Xiu deliberately setting themselves against him. But now, Jiang Xiu actually still wanted to teach him how to ‘respect’ his seniors?
Simply putting, it was still what Qin Wentian had said earlier. Regardless of Qiu Mo or Jiang Xiu, the reason why they dared to be so overbearing was because they were currently stronger than Qin Wentian.
Pu…… A cold ray of swordlight as bright as the shining constellations pierced towards Qin Wentian.
The ancient halberd in Qin Wentian’s hands danced in response, as a Xuanwu Black Tortoise manifested again, while the sword light relentlessly stabbed at it, trying to break down his defense.
The sword moved like a graceful swan. This sword strike of his contained no technique, but rather was a direct stab. As the sound of the sword piercing through the air rang out, the Xuanwu Black Tortoise crumbled into pieces, the defense of the Xuanwu Stance was actually broken by the sword of Jiang Xiu! The cultivation base of Jiang Xiu was the 9th level of Arterial Circulation, while Qin Wentian was merely at the 6th. The disparity was too great, the Astral Energy transmitted through the 9 arterial circular pathways augmented the sword technique of Jiang Xiu’s exponentially, his attacks were naturally overwhelmingly tyrannical.
Qin Wentian’s silhouette was like a leaf drifting about in the wind, his steps incredibly exquisite, dodging the attack with ease.
“The Nine Heavenly Garuda Movement Technique.” At this moment, the spectators realised which movement technique Qin Wentian was using, as they revealed expressions of awe on their faces. Qin Wentian actually chose to cultivate a technique of such immense difficulty. Not only that, his level of mastery was actually at such an incredible stage, his whole person was akin to a real Garuda.
Jiang Xiu continually stabbed out two swords, but didn’t manage to hit his opponent. How could he lose his pride like this? His body flickered into motion as sword light flashed again – Sword Heart’s Lonely Shadow! In that instant, his whole person seemed to have become a sword, transforming into a phantom, while the mirage of a raging tornado of swords appeared on the stage.
Qin Wentian’s expression froze, as he executed the Xuanwu Stance once again to its utmost limit, but only to see it be broken by the sword technique again. This time, as the Xuanwu Manifestation exploded, a huge tear caused by the Sword Qi of Jiang Xiu could be seen on the robes of Qin Wentian.
“How shameless.” Luo Huan coldly snorted, as abruptly, the shadow of a whip appeared in midair. It was as though a thread of blinding light descended from the skies.
Jiang Xiu froze as his sword light transformed, piercing through the void, coming into contact with the long whip of Luo Huan.
Peesh. A crisp noise rang out, as the long whip danced around the sword with a movement akin to a python, coiling around the body of Jiang Xiu.
Jiang Xiu furrowed his brows, he didn’t realise that Luo Huan’s strength was at such a level. It seemed like during this past year, none of the elites had wasted their time.
A cold light flickered in the eyes of Qin Wentian, who was standing by the side. Jiang Xiu had pushed him to such an extent, torn off the mask of mock politeness, and completely disregarded decorum. Why would he bother holding back?