Chapter 628: First Debate for Hui Yue
Just as the words were spoken, everyone cheered. This was an event they had been looking forward to, and now it was finally starting.
Hui Yue stood at the side with Huli in his arms as he observed the many different people who were moving towards the stage.
Some moved towards the stage for the sake of watching the upcoming matches while others moved forward because they wished to be the first ones to display their abilities.
It was on a first come, first serve basis; the first person who went onto the stage would be the first person to compete.
There were no real tournament rules for this debate, no order and no drawing of lots. One could enter the stage whenever they felt like it and leave the stage at whatever time they felt exhausted. These experts were also capable of later jumping onto the stage again.
The more people one could defeat or the more talent one had, the higher ranked they would be in the debate, and from the pool of talented youngsters a winner would be decided as the person who has the best command over their formations.
Hui Yue was in no rush to display his abilities. He was going to shock them all, so he thought that he might as well wait for a while and let the others bask in fame until then.
"Just you wait," Hui Yue mumbled as his eyes landed on the back of the genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate. It was clear that he had felt insulted earlier when they had conversed; insulted that the genius had called him a good for nothing. He wanted to prove that he was worth something, that he was able to control formations, and that he was not a weakling here just to gain face for the Celestial Sword Sect.
Huli, who was laying in Hui Yue's arms, licked his hand gently to calm him down as if she were capable of sensing his increasing annoyance with this person who thought too highly of himself.
Pei Bai also noticed the annoyance on Hui Yue's face, but he said nothing to the young man. He understood that Hui Yue needed this anger, this frustration, to truly display his abilities to their fullest and shock the entire audience. He wanted Hui Yue to prove that he was not just here because of his status, but that he was here because of his talent as a formation apprentice.
The first two youths appeared on stage. The first one was from the Heavenly Dragon Gate, and although he was not the young number one genius of the sect, he was still considered one of the more talented experts of the younger generation when it came to formations. Thus he displayed quite extraordinary abilities onstage.
He released a total of a hundred and two seals creating a full four formations at the same time. Some of these formations were defensive while others were offensive.
All the formations that he made were ten seals formations, and it seemed that his limit was controlling four ten seal formations at once. He was obviously able to create formations with hundred seals, but to control multiple formations at once was clearly not his forte.
His opponent was a young man from a lesser known sect, and his talent was not as great as his opponent’s. He had not even compressed a hundred seals, but he was better at controlling the seals he had already compressed. Thus this expert could control a full five ten seal formations at the same time. This made it possible for him to suppress his opponent even though he was overall controlling more seals.
Hui Yue frowned. These experts were simply easy opponents for Hui Yue. If he released all his seals and controlled all the formations that he could at once, then he would be able to wipe the floor with experts like these two.
Hui Yue did not have a lot of time to compress seals and learn formations, but his talent was so outstanding that he did not need a lot of time to flourish. His soul was strong, and his soulforce was outstanding because of all the energy he had absorbed in Diyu and the souls he had consumed.
His soul was many times stronger than other experts of the younger generation, and with a strong soul, it was easier to control multiple formations at once. The stronger one's soul became, the easier it would be to comprehend and control formations.
This was also one of the reasons that it had been so simple for Hui Yue to become a formidable formation apprentice after such a short amount of time.
These other experts also wished to consume souls, but consuming soul energy was a difficult thing if one had not comprehended the dao of devouring. Even if it was possible to consume some of the soul energy from soulstones, it was still impossible to absorb it at a rapid pace. Thus they had given up on boosting their student's soul strength by consuming external energy.
Hui Yue had consumed plenty of soul energy from Diyu, and now he was benefitting from it.
One expert after another went on stage, displaying their talents. When they felt that they had used all of their energy, they would withdraw from the stage for some time to rest and replenish their energy. Those who were defeated all gave up on continuing their quest to obtain a high rank in the debate.
"Young member of the Celestial Sword Sect, do you think that you will be allowed to be at this debate without displaying your ability?" Someone suddenly called out, and when Hui Yue looked at the stage, he saw a young member of the Heavenly Dragon Gate standing on stage taunting him with a sinister expression on his face.
It was clear that he had heard the argument between Hui Yue and the genius of his sect earlier, and now he wanted to take the chance to display his own ability and prove that he was many times better than this Celestial Sword Sect member. He wanted to prove that his elder brother was correct when he said that Hui Yue was not good with formations.
"No need to hide your strength; just explode forth with your power and prove to him what exactly you are capable of." Pei Bai said in a low voice, and Hui Yue nodded his head.
This was not a fight where he had to hide his abilities for the next battles; this was a debate where he had to display his abilities, and thus he would go all out.
Hui Yue did not show his annoyance on his face. He slowly handed Huli over to Pei Bai, patted her head, and placed a kiss on her forehead before he straightened his back and slowly made his way towards the stage.
Everyone looked at him curiously. Was this young man truly a monster that was able to control formations as well, or was he just here because of Diyu was backing him so no one would dare insult him?
No one truly knew why he was here, or what his skills were like. Under the gaze of the crowd, Hui Yue slowly made his way up the stage where he stretched his body slowly and smiled sinisterly at the one who had challenged him. This caused the challenger to feel uncomfortable. Why was he so calm and collected? Had his older brother been wrong? Was this young man actually capable of controlling formations?
Hui Yue said nothing, he just smiled casually and waited for the debate to begin.
The moment he saw his opponent summon forth a hundred and thirteen seals, he could not help but shake his head casually before he too summoned forth his seals.
Three hundred and nineteen seals appeared around Hui Yue. All of them shone brightly as they started to spin around his body. Everyone within the hall was stunned, but no one was more stunned than the genius from the Heavenly Dragon Gate.
Only Pei Bai and Huli knew how strong Hui Yue was and they both grinned manically as they saw everyone turn slackjawed from shock upon seeing Hui Yue's display.
The one who had challenged him looked completely listless. His previously arrogant eyes turned dim, and his mouth constantly opened and closed as if he wanted to say something but was unable to.
So far the one who summoned the most seals was a youth from the Heavenly Dragon Gate, and he had a full hundred and ninety-seven seals.
Now this young man was in front of him, and he had even more seals; he was at a level where he feared that even his older brother from within the sect would feel pressured against someone with this many seals.
"Just because you have a lot of seals does not mean a lot! Show me how well you can actually control those seals of yours! Show me your talent!" the young man roared as light shone around him while six formations sprung to life from his hands.
Hui Yue chuckled as he also started moving his hands, weaving them, and creating a total of thirty-one formations at the same time. The entire stage was filled with the light of the seals that Hui Yue had released and the many formations he was controlling.
The first formation to explode forth was a simple Spacelock formation. This formation might seem simple, but, when Hui Yue touched the black figure and merged the formation with his comprehension of the dao of space, the stun effect of it lasted much longer than usual and also made everyone watching feel the ancient dao of space surrounding them. They felt the mysteriousness of the dao descend and the dangers it possessed.
The moment the dao of space exploded forth, the opponent was stunned and unable to move before finally, the other formations completed. Three Blazing Tiger formations fortified by Lan Feng's daos of fire roared so loudly and with such power that the formation around the stage trembled.
The more Hui Yue displayed, the more shocked the audience became. Many were shocked stupid, and no one knew what to say anymore as they watched formation after formation complete and launch their attacks. The one fighting against the thirty formations suddenly slumped to the ground as the spacelock formation finally let go of him.
"I give up," he muttered with a low voice.
"This is inconceivable!" someone exclaimed finally after a long silence. "He was just here so that their sect could not lose face?! How could we be so stupid, he really is a monster! He might even be stronger than the expert of the Heavenly Dragon Gate! I cannot wait to see what exactly he will do in the future!"
"No one stands a chance against him in this debate. Only their genius has a chance, but if he loses then no one can dispute Pei Yue being the absolute ruler of the younger generation!"
Hui Yue smiled as he stepped down from the stage again, his eyes looking at the genius. As the two of them looked at each other, it seemed as if sparks flew in the air. Neither was happy with the other, but for once the genius started to feel threatened by Hui Yue. His talent was simply too monstrous.
"We will settle first place later," the genius said with a steady voice. "That will be the most brilliant battle in the debate, why not finish the debate with our fight?"
Hui Yue did not care and just nodded his head. The other participants were all eager to see the battle now but understood that both Hui Yue and the genius had come to an agreement, no one felt that it was their position to say anything about it.
"Later tonight we will settle our scores," Hui Yue agreed as he nodded his head. He too was willing to end their disagreement once and for all.