novelHalf a Year in the Blink of an Eye
| ← Ch.1760 | Ch.1762 → |
Huangpu Qi showed a sullen expression, his face entirely stiff.
He was stupefied.
Earlier, Huangpu Qi had still retained some pride. After all, he had not used his will of soul or activated his Great Desolate Eon bloodline.
He believed that even if he lost, that was because he had not put in his full effort and brought out all his trump cards.
However, right now, Xiao Chen had shattered the combined wills of soul of Senior Ma and Senior Liu in front of everyone, demonstrating that he also had the will of soul.
Furthermore, Xiao Chen's will of soul was not weak, easily shattering the combined wills of soul of two Star Venerates.
Huangpu Qi did not think much of Senior Ma and Senior Liu at all. They were merely Star Venerates with ordinary talents.
However, to normal people, these two Star Venerates were very mighty.
Huangpu Qi was experienced and knowledgeable. In the depths of a Rank 5 sect, he had already seen many Star Venerates, Holy Venerates, and Sovereign Personages.
In the Snow Sword Palace, Senior Ma and Senior Liu would be equivalent to only outside sect administrators at best with their cultivation, unlikely to become Elders.
Huangpu Qi believed that he, too, could break the combined wills of soul from the two old men working together—but not as easily as Xiao Chen did.
"Senior Brother, what's wrong?" a Snow Sword Palace disciple quickly asked when he saw something off with Huangpu Qi's expression.
Huangpu Qi felt a little empty inside. He showed a dismayed expression, appearing somewhat embarrassed as well. Then, he said weakly, "I'm fine. Let's go. Let's go."
Huangpu Qi said the same thing twice. Clearly, he was not in the right state. His footsteps felt unsteady, and he suddenly seemed to have aged drastically.
As Xiao Chen looked at Senior Ma and Senior Liu, he ignored their pleas.
He extended his finger, and the two, who were suppressed with the will of soul, flew into the air.
When the two old men landed, their expressions were stiff, and their eyes were listless.
The two's souls in their Soul Pools already shattered. Now, they were two soulless bodies, completely dead already.
Xiao Chen had always found vile people, who attacked when one's back was turned, the most shameless.
He coldly waved his hand and said to the people who came here to cause trouble, "Fix my door and scram!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
The people of Senior Ma's and Senior Liu's teams startled in fright. Then, they picked up the two's corpses and quickly ran off.
The people who watched the battle from hiding remained silent for a long time. They never expected such a result.
With two Star Venerates attacking, this should have been in the bag. However, Xiao Chen actually managed to turn the situation around.
Who could have expected that it would not go as anticipated? Xiao Chen used only one finger strike, catching a flower between his fingers, to break Huangpu Qi's mysterious phenomenon.
—
One day later, the news of this battle rocked the entire city.
Previously, everyone had already heard about White Robed Xiao Chen. Now, he became even more famous in Dragon Flame City. People discussed not only the ancient Dragon Race totem and his many other treasures but also his strength.
Some even thought that Xiao Chen's strength could rank among the top ten bladesmen of Dragon Flame City.
Aside from Xiao Chen's rather low cultivation, he had no shortcomings.
Right now, the hottest topic was how strong exactly White Robed Xiao Chen was.
The next hottest after that was a line that Xiao Chen said.
Xiao Chen would give all the treasures on him to anyone who could defeat the saber in his hand.
This line could be interpreted as Xiao Chen challenging all the experts of Dragon Flame City.
Everyone knew that the Dragon Flame Ancient Land was the place where the most outstanding talents and geniuses within the dozens of nearby astral clusters gathered.
Every day, sect elites and outstanding talents from the various astral clusters would arrive here on experiential training.
This was especially so now. Even the ten great sects of the Yanwu Dynasty's Soaring Dragon Marquisate sent their true inheritors to lead teams on experiential training.
Some people felt that Xiao Chen's words were overly arrogant.
There would be trouble sooner or later.
Indeed, on the second day after Xiao Chen defeated Huangpu Qi, someone went and sought him out.
"It's Bai Yan, an old expert of Dragon Flame City. The team under him is ranked third in the city."
"He lost!"
"Bai Yan lost! After one hundred moves, Xiao Chen sent him flying with a saber strike. Without any combat prowess left, he fled in a sorry state."
However, news of Bai Yan's defeat could not stop this commotion. Of all the things that Dragon Flame City lacked, ruthless people were not one of them.
"Did you hear? Fang Luo, nicknamed the Ten Thousand Demon Executor in the northern city, sought out Xiao Chen the moment he returned from exploring the depths of the Dragon Flame Ancient Land."
"Is that Fang Luo? I heard that he killed more than ten thousand Flame Demons. He's a very ruthless person. He comprehended the will of soul even before breaking through to Star Venerate. His combat experience is scarily rich."
"That's right; he is the one. On his return this time, he already broke through to Star Venerate. When he heard that Xiao Chen has an ancient Dragon Race totem, he immediately charged over without saying anything."
"What happened?"
"Defeated. Xiao Chen defeated him in fifty moves, even worse than Bai Yan..."
"Ah! That can't be, right?"
No one expected that defeating Huangpu Qi was just the start for Xiao Chen.
In a mere two months, more than twenty people went to challenge him.
Dragon Flame City experts or outstanding talents here on experiential training sought out Xiao Chen nearly every three days.
In the end, the results were identical; they all suffered defeat.
However, there would always be people who did not believe in this. They did not believe that a person who had not broken through to Star Venerate could be that strong.
There had to be a limit to strength.
However, despite an endless stream of these people launching themselves over, they could not defeat Xiao Chen. They even found lasting more than one hundred moves somewhat difficult.
In the end, the cultivators of Dragon Flame City were shocked to discover that Xiao Chen seemed to grow stronger the more he fought. After each battle ended, he would be one level stronger the next time he appeared.
Hence, something strange happened.
Originally, every time Xiao Chen fought, there would be more than one hundred people coming to learn from the battle, curious about the result.
Three months later, only a few people would show up to watch.
This was because Xiao Chen's opponents were getting defeated increasingly faster.
From the initial one hundred moves, no one could last more than ten moves against Xiao Chen now.
"Defeated again. The Vast Sea Cluster's strongest outstanding talent, Nangong Ming, who broke through to Star Venerate at the age of thirty, lost to Xiao Chen in five moves."
"That is to be expected. I finally understand now. This Xiao Chen is purposely using this to temper and train himself."
"He is really ruthless to himself. I think that only the dynasty's Noble Clan scions or the top hundred strongest of the Great Desolate Eon bloodlines can suppress him."
"That's right. At such a level, he can already go to the Central Great Realm and make a name for himself there."
"That is hard to say. People who have never entered the Central Great Realm will never know how narrow their worldview is."
"That's right. In the dynasties, Rank 5 sects are like bottom feeders. Furthermore, there are the Rank 6 sects and the holy sects that rank above Rank 6."
"That world is too far from us. Just think about it: just a Cluster Lord Gou Yu could have a great realm as her own personal conferred land. The worldview of the people from the Central Great Realm is completely different from ours."
Right now, the discussions about Xiao Chen were no longer about how strong he was in Dragon Flame City. Instead, it was about whether a demonic genius like him could make a name for himself in the Central Great Realm.
However, few went to the Central Great Realm, after all. The arguments over this never ended; everyone participated.
Some people said that Xiao Chen could join a holy sect.
Others argued that he was not strong enough, that when he went to the Central Great Realm, he would definitely end up humiliating himself.
It was just like how the many outstanding talents were the strongest or second strongest in their clusters.
However, after these people went to the Central Great Realm, they all became soured by the loss of their hopes. When they returned to their home clusters many years later, they all refused to speak of their experiences in the Central Great Realm.
With one look, it was clear that they could not bear to revisit their past.
These people definitely suffered humiliation and were unwilling to recall that.
Another three months passed, which brought the total to half a year since Xiao Chen returned.
Xiao Chen stood on the roof of his courtyard and looked at the man below. He said softly, "Senior, you lost."
Outside the courtyard, an old man gazed at a broken saber on the ground.
This old man kept muttering to himself, appearing very dispirited.
This old man was Feng Yuqiang, the strongest of Dragon Flame City's ten great bladesmen. He had come because of the ancient Dragon Race totem.
A totem was not simply a piece of carved wood.
A totem required a race to make offerings to it, to have countless people worship it and offer up their sincere faith.
A totem could only be formed after thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
The totems of some small races were already priceless treasures. Furthermore, this was an ancient Dragon Race totem. Naturally, it attracted countless experts, tempting them.
Feng Yuqiang had already been tempted long ago. However, due to concerns over his own status, he had not taken action.
Half a year later, as more and more people lost to Xiao Chen, Feng Yuqiang finally could no longer resist.
However, after one fight, exchanging ten moves, Xiao Chen broke Feng Yuqiang's saber.
This was an utter loss, a very miserable loss.
Xiao Chen sheathed his saber and looked at the old man at the courtyard's door, appearing slightly distracted.
In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed. To think that no one in Dragon Flame City was a match for him.
Or perhaps, Xiao Chen had set his sights somewhat too low from the very beginning.
| ← Ch. 1760 | Ch. 1762 → |