Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 14: Sweeping Through
Du Dahai sneered. “It’s good that you know. Rest assured and forget about leaving since you’ve already come up here. The price of daring to move against the Third Young Master is… death!”
The word death was uttered through his teeth.
With a handgun in his left hand and a battle axe in his right, he was well equipped for both melee and ranged combat. This was also the standard gear for most arena matches. Du Dahai raised his battle axe and spun it around his wrist in a display of might. He then strode forth in a straight line and began to charge with surging killing intent.
But he was still separated from Qianye by a gap of ten meters when Du Dahai came to a sudden halt as if he had struck an invisible wall and stared fixedly at the front with his cheeks trembling ever so slightly.
Meanwhile, amidst the action, Qianye was still calmly standing at his original spot. He had no intention to even draw his sword and only took on a simple combat stance, his right hand raised high like a blade.
Within an instant, the entire world vanished within Du Dahai’s vision—there was only the radiance of a completely unsheathed blade suspended high in the air. Under the draw of an invisible force, Du Dahai involuntary took another step forward.
The moment he stepped forward, the fragile confrontation was immediately shattered.
Qianye’s figure moved and immediately arrived in front of Du Dahai. A thunderous boom resounded in the air as the palm blade slashed toward the latter’s head.
Du Dahai was terrified and his hair all stood on end. He utilized his full potential at the moment of life or death, letting out a frantic shout as he crossed his raised arms in an attempt to defend against this single strike which seemed to be accompanied by the force of an entire world.
Only a muffled thump was heard akin to the beating of a war drum. Qianye’s palm blade halted in mid-air for a moment—it was actually resisted.
But the very next moment, Du Dahai’s knees gave in—he fell kneeling with a plop, and the ground underneath his knees caved in with cracks extending in every direction. Afterwards, his entire body sunk half a meter into the floor.
Qianye held his hand and pulled back a step. East Peak was still firmly grasped in his left hand, and it seemed there was never any intention for it to leave its sheath since the very beginning.
The focus within Du Dahai’s eyes dispersed as he gradually collapsed forward without even the chance to cough up blood. A deep pit several meters in diameter had appeared in the arena with Du Dahai lying at its center, his fate unknown.
“… This battle is An Renyi’s victory!” The elder in charge of judging the match gazed blankly for a moment before he remembered to announce the results.
The other two matches had just begun, and the contestants from the third were still standing in a confrontation. Yet, the battle here had already ended?
On the high platform, Duchess An was still napping, but this battle was so unexpected that over half the elders were visibly moved, and a number of them couldn’t help discussing this matter as Qianye turned to leave the site.
“That strike drew upon the worldly origin power? But that’s clearly a champion level ability!”
“I believe I only saw eight origin nodes on his body unless my old eyes are failing me.”
“This young man is able to use a champion level skill at rank-eight. His future is boundless, boundless I say!”
“Little Seven’s foresight is pretty good.”
There were also other voices mixed in with the praise and astonishment.
“Humph! The enemy is just too weak, and the defeated fellow underestimated his enemy!” The elder who had spoken was Song Xiuwen, Song Ziqi’s great uncle. Naturally, he felt as if he had lost a lot of face.
Immediately, another elder who was always at odds with him sneered. “I wonder if Brother Xiuwen was able to slap a rank-nine warrior half dead when you were rank-eight?”
Song Xiuwen’s old face immediately turned red. He let out a deep snort but couldn’t retort.
When Qianye returned to his seat, Gao Junyi’s gaze toward him was filled with astonishment and admiration. Song Zining’s personal guards were even more deferential.
Within another spectator’s area, Song Zicheng withdrew his gaze from Qianye and exhaled lightly. He had suddenly understood the odd meaning behind his seventh brother’s departing smile. He couldn’t help but secretly congratulate himself for not taking that small advantage.
He also knew that the arrangement of this battle involved no small influence from his third brother. Du Dahai was Song Ziqi’s capable subordinate. The latter had perhaps hoped to gain a cheap advantage by sending him to face Qianye in the first battle and, at the same time, wash away the previous humiliation. But he had never imagined things would turn out quite contrary to his expectations or that he would lose a powerful general right off the bat.
Qianye paid no heed to everyone’s attention as he walked toward Song Zining and sat down at his side.
Song Zining sized up Qianye with an astonished expression and said, “I suddenly have an unpleasant premonition that I won’t be able to beat you anymore.”
Qianye replied with a smile, “It’s been quite some time since you can no longer beat me. Not just now.”
Song Zining responded with a light snort. He then moved near Qianye and said in a whisper, “You don’t think you can beat me with just this?”
Qianye responded in a soft voice, “And you don’t think I only have this much, do you?”
“Is that so? Then let me see your other methods in a while.”
“You should worry about yourself first. Don’t let others beat you down.”
The two exchanged a few words but then they stopped the debate at the same time after finding that neither held a solid advantage. At this time, the first round had finally come to an end. With the addition of the vacant lots, there were now 32 guest warriors remaining.
The second round began according to schedule. Half of the warriors would be eliminated here, and the victors would battle 16 participating Song clan descendants.
Gao Junyi encountered a formidable foe during this round, and the two evenly-matched opponents fought an extremely thrilling battle and every blade drew blood. In the end, he won by a hair’s breadth.
Next, it was Qianye’s turn once again.
From the opposite spectator’s area, Song Ziqi gazed at the distant figure of Qianye’s back, his expression as gloomy and dark as a low-lying cloud. He gripped his fist tightly, emitting a series of crackling sounds from his joints. Apparently, he was extremely furious.
Du Dahai wasn’t only one of his strongest warriors, but also rather knowledgeable in leading troops in battle. All of Song Ziqi’s calculations had fallen into chaos now that the man was defeated and half-dead from the severe injuries. Not only would the loss of such an assistant cause his martial assessment rankings to plummet, but it would also deeply affect his future strategic assessment. Now, it was almost impossible for him to fight for the second successor’s position.
There was never a Song Ziqi in Qianye’s eyes—the current opponent was the only one he saw.
Qianye’s opponent couldn’t be considered powerful and was also wounded. It appeared this opponent was arranged for Du Dahai after he had gained victory over Qianye, allowing him to win two easy battles and move up to fight against the Song clan descendants. He would then clear the way for Song Ziqi by removing the obstructions posed by those successor candidates.
Standing before Qianye was a female warrior who, at this moment, was wearing a bandage on her leg and glancing at him with a flustered expression. Although she hadn’t witnessed Qianye’s battle in person, her companions had, of course, informed her about it.
As such, the female warrior didn’t use her origin gun and instead drew a pair of blades. The intention was to avoid his terrifying strength by utilizing agility and flexible techniques to circle around him.
Just as the elder announced the beginning of the fight, the female warrior let out a shrill cry and pounced toward Qianye like a cheetah! The two blades were tucked tightly beneath her ribs like a poisonous snake that would erupt at any moment to injure the prey.
Qianye stood motionless just as he did in the first battle, and only when the opponent arrived within a certain distance did he take one step forward. The arena floor suddenly shook—the female warrior let out a muffled groan as if she were struck by an invisible hammer and staggered toward Qianye due to the sudden disruption of her footwork.
Qianye raised his hand vertically like a blade and slashed down amidst a thunderous boom!
The female warrior wanted to evade but suddenly realized that there was a certain attractive force coming from the palm blade in front of her. She simply couldn’t change the direction of her forward momentum no matter how she struggled. Desperation flashed in her eyes as she let out a shrill scream and crossed her blades to resist the incoming blow. And, at this moment, the sharp edge of her blades was aimed upward.
She had not hoped this clamping movement would stop Qianye’s palm blade. Her only hope was that the other party would worry about the sharp blade edge and slightly modify his trajectory, hence missing the vital parts of her head and face. As for the rest, she could only hope the follow-up blow wouldn’t cause too severe an injury.
However, the female warrior’s speculations never came true. Qianye completely ignored the blade edge and chopped down directly without the slightest deviation.
As palm and blade intersected, the female warrior’s twin blades were flung away. Her entire body was also knocked flying with a bang as if she were struck by lightning and could no longer clamber up. However, the cracks on the ground beneath her were much fewer than the previous round and she could still move her limbs. Apparently, her injuries were much lighter than Du Dahai’s. On the other hand, Du Dahai, despite being much stronger than this lady, was still receiving emergency treatment after being dragged off the arena. There was still no news of his fate.
This battle was won without much suspense, and it was obvious that Qianye had been lenient. By the time he returned to Song Zining’s side, the attention and comments he was receiving had lessened quite a bit.
After Qianye sat down, Song Zining said, “Let me see your hands.”
Qianye extended his right hand. There were two long red marks at the edge of his palm and the center was starting to turn purple. However, that was the extent of it—the blades raised by a rank-nine warrior with all-out effort had actually failed to even cut through his skin.
Although origin power defense was also a reason, this was still an exchange between flesh and an origin power weapon. This went to show that the sturdiness of Qianye’s physique had reached an astonishing level.
Song Zining was momentarily dumbfounded. He then tossed the medicine he had prepared back to his personal guard and squeezed out the words, “Are you still human?”
“No,” Qianye replied truthfully with great sincerity.
The examination came to a halt for the day after the 16 guest warriors were decided. Both of Song Zining’s warriors had made it to the next round, and this attracted quite a bit of attention from the elders.
The Song clan descendants took the stage in succession the following day.
Unexpectedly, Duchess An was present once again. This raised the spirits of all the participating Song clan descendants since this meant that they could enter the old ancestor’s eyes even if they didn’t reach the finals and might even receive the opportunity to gain her favor and be promoted. Hence, everyone’s fighting spirits were raised by a great deal.
The old lady glanced around with a benevolent expression. There were a number of fresh fruits and various snacks beside her. Apparently, she was in a rather good mood today and was ready to observe her great-grandchildren’s generation in earnest. The elders were also in high spirits and were doing their best to shoot meaningful glances at the successor candidates from their branch.
From this moment on, every battle would affect certain groups of people.
Qianye appeared on stage with the first batch, and his opponent was a young man in his twenties. He was tall, slender, and somewhat elegant. This person’s name was Song Zize—he was actually fourth in seniority among the direct line of descent, but was actually ranked third as successor, surpassing the third brother Song Ziqi. Apparently, he was a fairly outstanding individual.
Song Zize glanced at Qianye and said with a smile, “It’s indeed astonishing for a rank-eight fighter to reach this stage. However, this is as far as you’ll go. The remainder of the arena belongs to our Song clan descendants. Will you admit defeat yourself or do you want me to send you down?”
Qianye glanced at this bragging fourth young master and said calmly, “If your skills are as eloquent as your words, the battle should’ve ended by now.”
Song Zize’s expression turned vacant. He then drew his sword and sneered. “I had wanted to leave some face for Little Seven at first, but since you’re courting death, I can only chop off your hands and feet to teach you a lesson in his stead!”
Qianye couldn’t understand the opponent’s logic at all. Did the man think a few words could make him forfeit?
In truth, Song Zize had the qualifications to be so arrogant. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to suppress Song Ziqi. He had already been polishing himself at rank-nine for quite some time. He wanted to form a solid foundation and then break through to become a brilliant champion in one go.
Qianye turned back to glance at Song Zining. The latter more or less understood his fourth brother’s attitude and really wanted to laugh after seeing Qianye’s helpless expression. He shrugged in response, indicating that Qianye could do as he wished and had no need to fear anything.
Qianye nodded and gradually drew the East Peak. This underwhelming long sword had finally left its sheath after sleeping for two rounds.