Chapter 574 - Approaching Storm
As time had elapsed to this phase, the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament had already entered its final period of the contention for hegemony. More and more powerful groups continued to emerge, before continuing to constantly change the Top 16 with new names.
Therefore, under the premise of such large changes, other than the few groups that truly possessed astonishing strength, the other groups all felt alarmed, anxious and afraid that there would be a powerful group emerging and defeating them at any moment, before standing on their heads and spreading their fame and reputation across the entire competition.
Even under such a period of great change, the defeat of Lu Tian and Wang Jiang, the originally 10th place and 8th place respectively, had still caused quite the big ripples in the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament.
That was due to the similarity in the group that had led to the defeat of the these two powerful groups, which was precisely the one from the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy that had Mu Chen as their captain.
Furthermore, those people with more informed sources knew about an additional piece of information, which was that Lu Tian and Wang Jiang were both part of Ji Xuan’s alliance… as for Mu Chen, he didn’t find anyone else, but had specifically targeted those groups that were in an alliance with Ji Xuan. The intent of targeting the latter was already clear and obvious.
Such targeting caused quite a few people to feel amazed and stunned. As of now, Ji Xuan’s fame and reputation was too extensive and widespread within the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament. This heaven-gifted son of the Spiritual Road was still as dazzling as the sun, even in a place like this, where numerous geniuses were present, causing people be only able to look up to him.
Quite a few powerful groups had all suffered defeat in the hands of Ji Xuan and the group he led, successfully becoming his stepping stones to reach greater heights. Therefore, in the current phase of the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament, the number of groups that were able to send a challenge towards Ji Xuan and his group might not even exceed one hand.
It was also this reason that caused everyone to feel that stunned and amazed upon hearing that Mu Chen had actually dared to target Ji Xuan at this current phase of time. After all, regardless of anything, there was a clear, hard-to-surmount disparity between Mu Chen’s fame and reputation, when compared to Ji Xuan.
Therefore, everyone was waiting for the response of Ji Xuan towards such targeting by Mu Chen.
However, what made many people astonished was that after Lu Tian and Wang Jiang’s groups were defeated, Ji Xuan had unexpectedly not made any retaliatory actions. Such feelings appeared as if he had forgotten about the focus Mu Chen had made against him.
Such a response by Ji Xuan had seemingly exceeded everyone’s expectations. They were completely unable to understand why Ji Xuan, who had always been exceedingly fierce in his actions, would not invoke any retaliatory response. This was clearly unlike his usual mannerisms and attitude.
Nevertheless, regardless of how much Ji Xuan’s actions had caused voices of doubt to rise within the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament, he did not make any changes to his actions. Appearing to still continue calmly defeating group after group, obtaining more points and steadying his position as the Numero Uno on the rankings.
It was within those blanketing voices of doubt that yet another attention-grabbing matter happened, which was a new group that had rushed into the Top 16. Generally speaking, it was a common occurrence for powerful groups to suddenly rise into the Top 16 during this period of time. Other than causing everyone to feel astonished for a moment, things quickly calmed down.
That was because it wouldn’t take long for this dark horse that had emerged to be brought down by yet another dark horse, something that was common in this current situation.
Therefore, what made people interested was that this emerging group wasn’t a dark horse, but a group that was unexpectedly from the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy.
Ranked 16th on the point rankings. Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. Captain, Shen Cangsheng,
With the addition of this group in the points ranking, the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy had become the only Spiritual Academy within the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament to occupy two places within the Top 16.
That’s because after defeating Wang Jiang, the group led by Mu Chen had rose to the 10th rank on the rankings.
“Ji Xuan’s really able to endure.”
Standing on a hill, Mu Chen looked towards a small town present before him. From time-to-time, there would be streaks of light descending from the skies, before landing within. This was a small transaction base within this region, and was also their temporary resting ground, for now.
“Why won’t Ji Xuan take direct action against us? As of now, we’ve already stepped into the Top 16, with Ji Xuan being able to find our location,” asked Xu Huang, standing behind Mu Chen in doubt. This question had been bugging him for the past few days, as he was guarding against Ji Xuan sending an attack. However, what made him suspicious was that for the past few days, Ji Xuan, who should be getting angry and furious at them for such targeting had not shone any movement at all.
“That’s because Ji Xuan’s also afraid,” replied Luo Li in a soft voice.
“You guys underestimate your Captain too much,” added Wen Qingxuan with a smile. “Within the Spiritual Road, he and Ji Xuan are old opponents. Furthermore, in such a confrontation, Ji Xuan doesn’t have any obvious advantage over him.”
Hearing that, Xu Huang and the others gave embarrassed laughs in response, with shock and astonishment appearing in their eyes as they looked towards Mu Chen. As Ji Xuan gradually increased in fame and reputation, they had also started to know about the frightening strength the latter possessed. Such a character would absolutely be rated as a heaven-gifted child, and was more than sufficient to cause countless geniuses to pale in colour when compared to him.
However, even this heaven-gifted child seemed to not be able to obtain much of an advantage in Mu Chen’s hands. One could see from this that the latter similarly possessed the methods and capability that was not inferior to Ji Xuan.
“That’s why there’s no one that could obstruct Mu Chen’s path in our Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. So, it turns out that he's a top-class big shot…” said Zhao Qingshan with a bitter laugh. In the past, they were still brooding about the fact that Mu Chen was a Freshman, with them being his Seniors. However, now, they had no choice but to respect and admire the former.
“You guys better not praise me.” Mu Chen could not help laughing. “The accurate reason why Ji Xuan didn’t take action is due to fearing the three of us.”
His fingers were pointing at himself, Luo Li and Wen Qingxuan.
Among the three of them, other than him, the other two beautiful and soul-stirring girls were also not ordinary people. Within the Spiritual Road, Luo Li forced Ji Xuan to the point of him losing the chance of obtaining the Spiritual Crown, while Wen Qingxuan had obtained it in one sweep, suppressing the outstanding geniuses present there with her skills.
Among the two girls, the fame and reputation of Wen Qingxuan wasn’t inferior to Ji Xuan, with her also being the only person in many people’s eyes that could contend with Ji Xuan for the number one spot. As for Luo Li, she was the one who had the lowest profile. Even Mu Chen was not clear exactly how much power this future Empress of the Luo God Clan was concealing. Every single time he had probed her out, the young girl would only give a smile in response without answering, causing Mu Chen to feel itchy all over about it.
With these two heavyweight figures beside him, no matter how prideful or confident Ji Xuan was, he would not dare to carelessly take action.
Furthermore, there were also other reasons behind his decision to not attack them. That’s because if Ji Xuan really wanted to launch an all-out battle with Mu Chen and his group, it would definitely result in a heaven-shaking battle. At that time, regardless of who would win or lose in the end, both parties would get seriously hurt and injured.
At this moment in the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament, there were other heavyweight existences within other groups. To Ji Xuan, those groups had similarly possessed extreme threat to him.
Perhaps, in ordinary circumstances, those few heavyweight groups would not dare to recklessly confront Ji Xuan in battle. However, once he had crossed hands with Mu Chen and suffer serious injuries as a result, those heavyweight groups might be the first to deal with him, who was the opponent with the greatest threat to them.
It was precisely due to such a reason that caused Ji Xuan to not recklessly take action in response to Mu Chen purposefully targeting him, despite knowing that the latter had removed his claws being Lu Tian and Wang Jiang completely away.
This fellow clearly possessed a rather strong level of patience and fortitude.
Hearing that, Xu Huang and the other two quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Not requiring to faces the strongest group in the current Great Spiritual Academy Tournament was something worth relaxing a bit for them.
“You guys are celebrating too early.”
Seeing that, Mu Chen gave a faint smile as he spoke out. Crossing his fingers gently, he continued speaking. “With my understanding of Ji Xuan, he would not completely endure this matter without doing anything. As of now, the reason why he doesn’t make any action is due to him not having absolute assurance.”
“Ji Xuan’s cautious and prudent, and won’t recklessly take action. Once he takes action, it would definitely a lightning-quick method.”
“Therefore…” Mu Chen raised his head and looked into the distance. As chilling intent surfaced within his black pupils, he continued speaking, “The current tranquility is just the prelude of the storm. Once Ji Xuan takes action, what comes next… would be the true assault of the storm.”
Hearing Mu Chen’s words, the faces of Xu Huang and the other two turned sluggish. Although Mu Chen sounded calm and neutral, they were still able to hear the chilling intent hidden beneath it.
“Cough… let’s not care about him. In any case, we’ve you three heavyweights. If he really takes action, we aren’t afraid of him.”
Xu Huang gave a dry cough, before looking at his Academy Plaque. With a smile, he said, “I never would have imagined that Shen Cangsheng and the others would also be able to rush up into the rankings. Those fellows truly are not simple, too.”
Hearing that, Mu Chen smiled and nodded his head. Looking at the group at the 16th place, which was now occupied by Shen Cangsheng’s group, this clearly showed that their strength had progressed by leaps and bounds compared to before. From the looks of it, they had similarly obtained quite a huge benefit from this Shattered Continent. This caused Mu Chen to feel quite relieved and gratified.
“It truly has been a long time since we’ve seen them. I don’t know how they are doing right now,” said Mu Chen with a faint smile. He also wanted to see and meet up with Shen Cangsheng, Li Xuantong, Su Xuan and the others again.
“Why not we go and find them?” suggested Xu Huang.
Hearing that, Mu Chen shook his head and replied. “As of now, we’ve already brought the fight to Ji Xuan. If Shen Cangsheng and the others are to move together with us, we’d bring trouble for them.”
“Oh?”
Suddenly, Luo Li cried out, her beautiful eyes slightly contracting as she pointed towards the 1st place on the point rankings, before saying in a deep tone, “Ji Xuan’s position is changing.”
Hearing that, Mu Chen and the others instantly looked over. Indeed, Ji Xuan’s location was changing extremely quickly. Clearly, they were currently moving at an extremely quick pace.
“Could they be rushing towards us?” asked Luo Li in astonishment.
Hearing that, faint wrinkles appeared on Mu Chen’s forehead as he stared at Ji Xuan’s changing location. After an instant, his eyes furiously contracted, while chilling intent gushed from the depths his black pupils.
“He’s not rushing towards us…”
Mu Chen’s handsome face appeared exceedingly dark at this instant, with his hands abruptly, tightly clenched, while the killing intent within his eyes soaring.
“He’s planning on taking action towards Shen Cangsheng and the others!”
Hearing those words, the faces of Xu Huang and the others instantly contorted.