Chapter 590: Kingship
First Elder Jiang Chi asked, “Xiao Chen, how is your practice of the Lightning Tribulation Saber Technique’s last move going?”
Xiao Chen thought awhile before answering, “I don’t dare to say that it is comparable to the ancestor’s but I can bring out seventy or eighty percent of that might.”
Jiang Chi smiled and nodded. Then, he seemed to feel some regret. “The Lightning Tribulation Saber Technique was created by the founding ancestor of our sect. If you could comprehend the state of wind, state of clouds, and state of thunder, you might be able to fight on equal terms with this Bai Qi.
“Ha ha! However, that is fine as well. If you are able to get into the top ten, that would already be the best result in the history of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion. Xiao Chen, there is no need to be too dejected.”
Xiao Chen gripped his Lunar Shadow Saber while smiling gently, not saying a word.
“Match fifty: Sima Lingxuan versus Gong Yangyu!”
This was now the ninety-second round since the start of the ranking matches. This match would be the last one for the day—a fight between favorites for the top ten, which made the crowd rather excited.
“Gong Yangyu is pretty strong; his golden dragon is now twenty meters long. He has lost only three times in the ranking matches. Even if he loses this match, he still has a good chance of making it into the ninth or tenth rank.”
“I wonder, how much of Sima Lingxuan’s strength can he force out? Since the start, Sima Lingxuan has been winning rather easily.”
“Indeed, just his overwhelming self-confidence makes others feel like they can’t breathe. How can they be confident of fighting him?”
No one doubted the result of this match. The only question that the crowd had was, how much of Sima Lingxuan’s strength could Gong Yangyu draw out?
After all, no matter what, Gong Yangyu was still quite strong.
This was especially so for Gong Yangyu’s Tossing Heaven and Earth; it could even shatter space. Several of the giants of the competition would not even dare to clash head-on with it. How would Sima Lingxuan deal with this move?
Sima Lingxuan’s clothes fluttered in the wind as he stood on the Wind Cloud Platform. There were no discernable expression on his handsome face. The self-confidence that he exuded seemed very natural.
When one looked, there was an indistinct glow around Sima Lingxuan. It flickered occasionally, allowing one to know that he was extraordinary with one glance.
Under the suppression of Sima Lingxuan’s strong self-confidence, Gong Yangyu took a deep breath. He stopped thinking of negative things. Then, without speaking any nonsense, he twirled his black staff and charged at Sima Lingxuan.
One step…two steps…three steps…seven steps!
With every step Gong Yangyu took, another afterimage would appear. The posture of each afterimage holding the staff was different every time. By the seventh step, his momentum was already raised to the peak.
The pressure that Gong Yangyu felt from Sima Lingxuan was swept away. His gaze turned sharp as his staff moved about like a snake, whistling in the wind.
This was one of Gong Yangyu’s best moves. When the seven peak staff strikes merged together, its absolute offensive power would pressure his opponent.
Back then, Xiao Chen had not faced this move head-on. Because it was actually extremely strong, he would have had to risk everything to clash head-on against it; he had not considered it worth the risk.
Sima Lingxuan had a calm expression. He took a step forward as he looked at the staff strike that could shatter mountains.
One step—just that one step—and the situation immediately reversed.
A boundless wind blew from Sima Lingxuan. The clouds in the sky churned without pause, like a storm gathering. The boundless state of kingship poured out from Sima Lingxuan. It rushed into the clouds and exploded.
The state of kingship was tyrannical, honorable, unrivaled, exceptional, and imposing. Unexpectedly, the state that Sima Lingxuan comprehended was the state of kingship.
There was a saying, “all the land under the sky belongs to the king, all the land in the state belongs to the officials.” Unexpectedly, Sima Lingxuan already had the aura of a king and used it as the state for his main cultivation.
Gong Yangyu had taken seven steps to gather the might of heaven and earth. Yet, it was immediately suppressed by Sima Lingxuan with one step.
“Ka ca!”
Sima Lingxuan grasped his sword with his right hand and drew it. Using the momentum of a king, he gave off a brilliance that was unrivaled and imposing.
When the sword and staff clashed, cracks appeared in the Wind Cloud Platform underfoot. The two strong forces clashed continuously. Gong Yangyu clenched his teeth and endured. Unexpectedly, he was not pushed back.
“Weng! Weng! Weng!”
The sword started to vibrate quickly. A majestic sword intent poured out, increasing the sword’s might. Gong Yangyu’s resistance instantly collapsed. He took nine steps back and vomited a mouthful of blood.
“King Ruling the World!” Sima Lingxuan shouted and took another step forward. The vast state of kingship pressed forward ruthlessly, like an ancient mountain river.
He swung his sword, very much like a king ruling over the world. The wind-attributed Essence in the surroundings all surged over to the sword, as if they were worshiping the king.
With the support of the boundless strong wind, this sword strike was unimaginably fast. Gong Yangyu could only react instinctively and use his staff to shield his chest.
“Bang!”
Despite doing all that was mentioned, Gong Yangyu did not have enough time to focus all his Essence into his defence. The sword strike landed on his staff and hacked it in half.
After being struck by the sword wind, Gong Yangyu flew backwards like a kite with a broken string. He crashed into the Wind Cloud Barrier and bounced off heavily before falling to the floor.
Gong Yangyu knelt on one knee. Horrifying sword cuts all over his chest were visible through his tattered clothes. The sword intent on the wounds had not faded away yet, appearing to prevent healing.
He knew that he had lost already. He had barely managed to block two moves; the gap was too large. He smiled bitterly to himself, wondering if there was anyone who could defeat Sima Lingxuan.
“My skills are not up to par. I, Gong Yangyu, admit defeat.” Gong Yangyu got up and conceded the match, opting not to continue fighting.
Sima Lingxuan sheathed his sword. After his golden dragon took a bite out of Gong Yangyu’s golden dragon, it grew to 29.5 meters. It was just half a meter away from reaching thirty meters.
“This is probably Sima Lingxuan’s true power. Unexpectedly, he was able to comprehend the higher-level state of kingship from the state of wind and cloud.”
“Sima Lingxuan is much stronger, compared to how he was in the last Five Nation Youth Competition. His growth rate is too horrifying.”
“Now, we finally know what gives him the confidence to not fear the Four Season Saber Technique. By using the state of kingship to execute a peak Sword Technique, he should be strong enough to resist the power of the seasons cycling.”
“However, we will only truly know if it is enough after they fight. The two of them have not shown their full power yet. There will definitely be an exciting battle of the giants tomorrow.”
“However, I think Sima Lingxuan is more likely to be the winner. What we have seen is only the tip of the iceberg, while Bai Qi has revealed at least sixty percent of his strength.”
In the final match of this day, Sima Lingxuan finally revealed the strength that made him the first seed. Gong Yangyu, who was ranked tenth in the previous Five Nation Youth Competition, was defeated by him in two moves; he could not resist at all.
Li Tianhua looked at the golden dragon above Sima Lingxuan’s head. Then, he shook his head and smiled bitterly. “Being in the same generation as him is really a tragedy. It feels like all the stars in the sky are focused on him. The rest of us have become supporting characters to complement him.”
Xuanyuan Zhantian revealed a grave expression on his arrogant and unyielding face. After a while, he laughed and said, “State of kingship…what a coincidence.”
Ninety-two rounds had already finished but the eight giants had yet to fight one another. That meant they would definitely meet in tomorrow’s eight rounds.
From the start of the ranking matches, the eight giants had maintained a winning streak. Right now, Sima Lingxuan, Li Tianhua, Bai Qi, Wang Quan, Chu Chaoyun, Xuanyuan Zhantian, Yue Chenxi, and Xiao Chen were ranked at the top.
Since ancient times, it had been acknowledged that while it was hard to make out the top for academics, the results would be clear for the martial arts. How could there be a situation where eight people all shared the first rank?
In the battle of the giants tomorrow, the victories and defeats between these eight would be decided. The True Dragon Ranking would also finally be fixed. Who would rank at the top and seize the Luck of the world, becoming the main character of this era?
Before tomorrow ended, the curtains would fall on this prelude. The era of genius would truly begin at that moment.
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The long night finally passed amidst the loud discussions of the crowd.
Cultivators packed the spectator stands. The noise from the crowd was very loud. Before the matches started, the atmosphere was already very heated. Everyone was waiting for the battles of the giants.
The crowd anticipated the moment when the true heroes reached the peak, wanting to witness who would be the main character of this era.
“First match: Liu Xiaoyun versus Lin Fei.”
The first match of the ninety-third round officially began. However, it was not the match of the giants that the crowd was waiting for, disappointing everyone.
However, the two people on the Wind Cloud Platform were experts of their respective fields. Their match would not be boring.
Liu Xiaoyun did not dare to be careless before the genius bladesman Lin Fei. He would not make the same mistake as he had with Chu Chaoyun; he started off with his full power.
A cold wind howled and the platform become covered in frost. As his sword intent poured out, snow drifted down. Liu Xiaoyun perfectly executed the various skills of the Drifting Snow Sword Sect.
At this moment, Lin Fei had already become much more mature than he was at the start of the Five Nation Youth Competition. That look of arrogance he had had in his eyes was now replaced with seriousness and caution; he had grown very patient.
“Dang! Dang! Dang!”
Saber lights shone everywhere; sword images filled the place. Sword Qi and saber Qi clashed in the air. The strength that the two presented appeared to be equal. When the saber intent and the sword intent clashed, neither gave way to the other.
However, Liu Xiaoyun’s state of ice was somewhat stronger than Lin Fei’s state of earth. From a broad perspective, Liu Xiaoyun seemed to have the advantage.
However, all this was temporary. Everyone knew that Lin Fei still had his Earth Vein Saber Technique.
If Liu Xiaoyun could block that unpredictable Earth Vein Saber Technique, he would be able clinch victory. If he could not block it, the result would be hard to guess.
“Xiu!”
While the battle continued, the silent Lin Fei finally found a opportune moment to execute the difficult-to-deal-with Earth Vein Saber Technique.
A strand of cold saber Qi broke through the ice on the ground before quickly flying towards Liu Xiaoyun’s chest.
Liu Xiaoyun smiled gently without panicking. He said, “I have waited for very long already. Icy Vanishing Sword!”
The surrounding temperature plummeted. Liu Xiaoyun’s upper body wavered and before everyone’s astonished gaze, he split into two, sending out two flickering sword lights.
One figure blocked Lin Fei’s attack and the other blocked the saber Qi that came from below. When the two figures merged together, the cold state of ice turned into a snow-white sword Qi that fired out from Liu Xiaoyun’s sword and forced Lin Fei back.
The Earth Vein Saber Technique was broken, the saber intent could not gain an advantage, and Lin Fei’s state was slightly weaker. After a hundred moves, Lin Fei could only helplessly admit defeat.
Liu Xiaoyun sheathed his sword and said softly, “You went easy!”
Liu Xiaoyun had redeemed himself with this match. His defeat to Chu Chaoyun had not been due to his weakness or a great difference in their strengths. It had simply been his carelessness.