1257: - Sick From Spinning
“vipin, that person is the Third Young Master of Sage Xue Clan, devendra!” Upon catching a closer glimpse of the person who had just stepped forward, vipin liaoshi hurriedly sent a telepathic message over to vipin. “Xue Clan?” “Un. Even though they are a Tier-3 Sage Clan, their prowess is still one that shouldn’t be underestimated. In terms of influence and power, they are on equal footing with chong Empire!”
vipin liaoshi continued. Even the weakest of the Sage Clans would have a long heritage behind them, as well as a set of cultivation techniques suited for their bloodlines. Ordinary empires wouldn’t come close to comparing to them. Even though this Third Young Master of the Xue Clan was only at HalfLeaving Aperture realm, his true fighting prowess could very well be on par with an average True Leaving Aperture realm expert!
“Thanks for your reminder.” vipin replied vipin liaoshi telepathically before lifting his gaze to look at devendra. “You are interested in drinking the Tianchen Brew too?” “At this point, it isn’t just for the Tianchen Brew anymore.” devendra harrumphed proudly. It might just be a cup of wine, but due to Pavilion Master chirayu’s proclamation of bestowing it upon the strongest of them all, the nature of this matter had changed altogether. It was now a matter of their dignity and honor as well!
It would be one thing if vipin was truly outstanding, but the two victories he had achieved were either by chance or through unacceptable means. Not to mention, that fellow’s cultivation was only at Primordial Spirit realm intermediate stage only… If even that fellow was qualified to drink this cup of wine, which was to be bestowed to the ‘strongest’, what would this mean of the rest of them? “What do you want then?” vipin asked warily. “The same as before. I’ll take out ten concentrated high-tier spirit stones to have a duel with you over the Tianchen Brew.” devendra said.
“This…” vipin paused for a brief moment. “I have just undergone two battles, and my zhenqi is nearly depleted at this point… Why don’t we do this instead? If you are willing to take out fifteen concentrated high-tier spirit stones, I’ll accept your duel!” “Your zhenqi is nearly depleted?” devendra’s eyelids twitched. All you have done earlier was to toss a cauldron out to crush your opponent… Please explain to me how you have managed to deplete your zhenqi doing that!
“Fine! I’ll take out fifteen concentrated high-tier spirit stones then!” devendra could tell that the other party had a way with his words, and arguing with him would be pointless. Thus, he waved his hands majestically and accepted the deal. Judging from the strength and reaction speed which vipin had displayed earlier on, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to achieve victory. Besides, there were close business ties between the Xue Clan and chong Empire, so fifteen concentrated high-tier spirit stones were still a sum they could afford to lose. “Very well!” vipin nodded.
“Will you be using any weapons?” “I won’t be using any weapons, so you shouldn’t use your cauldron either. Let’s have a fair duel using our own strength!” devendra quickly replied. As confident as he was in his strength, he could tell that he stood no chance against the young man’s cauldron at all. If they were going to compete with one another, the first thing he should do was to stop the other party from using his cauldron.
“This…” Hearing that they were not to use any weapon, vipin seemed to have become a little apprehensive. “Those who wish to enter the Sanctum of Sages should possess individual fighting prowess worthy of doing so. Relying on external tools is just a temporary measure; it might help you right now, but it won’t help you for life. Why? Are you afraid of having to fight a battle yourself?” Noting vipin’s hesitance, devendra mocked coldly. “If that’s the case, I advise you to put down the Tianchen Brew and step down. Someone as cowardly as you isn’t worthy of drinking it!”
“Very well then. I guess it would only be fair for me to not use a weapon if you aren’t using one…” Seemingly cornered by devendra’s words, vipin gritted his teeth forcefully in indignance before finally relenting. “Let’s start then!” devendra flicked his wrist and placed three jade containers filled with concentrated high-tier spirit stones on a table. At the same time, vipin also casually placed the cup of wine back on the table before walking back to the center of the hall.
“Hmph!” Without the slightest interest in wasting any more time on words, devendra immediately stepped off from the spot, and his figure suddenly turned illusory as he dashed toward vipin. Despite having suppressed his cultivation to Primordial Spirit realm intermediate stage, his speed was still as fast as lightning, making it highly difficult for one to accurate discern his figure. With tremendous speed, devendra’s five fingers swiftly appeared before vipin. “At the very least, he’s considerably stronger than that jigar and paresh!”
vipin thought as he took a step back before meeting the other party’s strike with a finger. Grand Constellation Finger! Upon catching sight of vipin’s move, devendra forcefully changed his move. From a powerful palm strike, his fingers suddenly began moving adeptly as if he was playing a zither. Saint intermediate-tier battle technique, Coy Pipa Finger Strokes! Pipa! Pipa! A series of resounding taps echoed as devendra’s adroit five fingers clashed together with the Grand Constellation Finger, inducing a series of sonic booms. Under the relentless assault of devendra’s fingers, vipin’s face paled, and he was forced to retreat again and again.
“Heh!” devendra smirked upon seeing that his attack was effective. He knew that this was a perfect opportunity to continue his assault, so he swiftly moved his fingers to draw out long strings of zhenqi to seal the area, preventing vipin from getting away. On the other hand, seeing how formidable devendra was, a hint of fear seemed to appear in vipin’s eyes. Flustered, he moved his hands and legs simultaneously at an extremely swift speed, forming a protective barrier around him.
Even though this set of action seemed to have been done in a state of panic, it did manage to help him effectively fend off devendra’s continued assault.
“Oh? It seems like he isn’t totally useless after all…” Seeing that his attack had been warded off, devendra’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. In the first round, it appeared that the other party had obtained victory by sheer luck. In the second round, the other party had relied completely on his artifact, not moving a single finger in the battle at all… As a result, in devendra’s eyes, vipin was nothing more than a fake, a person who had earned his reputation through trickery and luck.
However, this momentary encounter had made him realize that the other party’s weakness could very well be feigned. In any case, one thing was for sure. The other party was definitely not as weak as he appeared to be. Nevertheless… an opponent who could only defend himself was still nowhere on par with him!
Clenching his fingers into a fist, he gathered his full strength and launched a decisive blow toward vipin. Saint intermediate-tier battle technique, Contention of a Hundred Vessels! In terms of sheer might, this battle technique was above even that of jigar ’s Eight-armed Ape Form. Wasn’t the other party’s defense as resilient as a tortoise’s shell? Fine then, he would just have to forcefully break it apart! Pah pah pah pah pah!
Overwhelming might paired with incomparably swift movements, in the blink of an eye, devendra had already released more than a hundred punches. However, despite the immense might of his assault, he found that the young man’s defense was even more formidable. Even after so many strikes, he found that he still was nowhere close to breaking apart the young man’s tortoise shell!
“That fellow sure is scheming!” “Despite being considerably strong himself, he intentionally feigned weakness in order to get us to challenge him and earn our spirit stones!” “However, no matter how tough his defense is, it won’t be sufficient to bring him victory.
He might have withstood the barrage of punches from Third Young Master devendra, but he’s bound to take significant damage in the midst of doing so…” … At this point, it had become apparent to the others in the room that vipin wasn’t as easy as they had initially thought him out to be too. As elites amongst the master teachers, they might have been tricked the first two times vipin feigned weakness, but if they still couldn’t tell this much by the third time, they would really be unworthy of their titles as geniuses.
But while they realized that vipin wasn’t as weak as they had initially thought, they didn’t think that he would be too strong either. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have allowed himself to force into a state where he could only sustain his defense, unable to counterattack at all. As the old adage preached, ‘a sustained defense is bound to lead to defeat’. At this rate, it was just a matter of time before vipin caved in.
“Third Young Master devendra’s zhenqi capacity is really no joke. For him, a hundred punches is nothing but a warm up… Let’s see how long that lad can keep up his defenses for!” “I had a battle with Third Young Master devendra once, and the weight of his punches will only grow stronger throughout the course of the battle. While that lad over there isn’t too bad himself, it is nigh impossible for him to win against Third Young Master devendra!” Amidst the crowd, two of the young geniuses remarked.
At Quasi Leaving Aperture realm, these two young geniuses were the few stronger ones amidst the crowd, so naturally, their words held more weight and credibility. devendra’s strength might be nothing compared to them, but amidst the 33 candidates participating in the secondary selection, he could definitely be considered as one of the stronger ones. Given his strength, it was hard to believe that a Primordial Spirit realm intermediate stage nobody from rosaat Empire would be able to defeat him.
The battle proceeded on for some time, and another Quasi Leaving Aperture realm cultivator remarked, “devendra’s punches are growing faster and faster!” On the field, devendra was utilizing a particularly bizarre movement technique which made his movements seemed reminiscent of an intangible specter. At one moment, he would be at vipin’s left, and in the next moment, he would suddenly appear at the right. While flitting around vipin, his punches never stopped, causing a rampaging shockwave to diffuse into the surroundings and raise a powerful gale. devendra’s movements were so fast that just looking at it was giddying.
“He’s actually still able to defend against that?” This offense continued for quite a while, but despite seeming as if a weak candle flame in the midst of a raging storm, about to be extinguished at any moment, vipin still managed to withstand every wave of attack each time, not exposing the slightest opening for devendra’s punches to slip through. “Even if he’s able to defend against that, he’s bound to reach his limits very soon!”
Frowning, one of the Quasi Leaving Aperture realm young genius who spoke up earlier remarked once more. Even as a Quasi Leaving Aperture realm cultivator, under devendra’s rampaging barrage of attacks, he could only afford to maintain a defensive position for some time before his defense collapsed. The typical strategy against such relentless attacks was to bide one’s time until an ideal opportunity emerged to slip an attack in and turn the tables around.
Yet, vipin had already maintained his defensive position for a very long time now, and even more shockingly, he actually managed to perfectly ward off every single attack… Was he really a tortoise?! But even if vipin specialized in defense, this wasn’t a feasible plan in the long run. devendra’s punches didn’t just consist of mere brute strength—they were also infused with a hidden might 1 .
As the hidden might began accumulating, it would slowly wear down vipin’s body from the inside. Even someone of his cultivation wouldn’t be able to withstand something like that, let alone vipin! “vipin, I concede that I have really underestimated you. I haven’t thought that you would be able to survive so long under my offense. However, it’s about time to put an end to this farce!” Contrary to what the two Quasi Leaving Aperture realm young geniuses had thought, devendra’s attacks were completely ineffective against vipin, and he had realized this fact as well.
His failure to bring down the other party despite his sustained assault had caused him to start feeling a little panicked, so he decided to use his ultimate move. With a furious roar, the strength in his body began surging swiftly. devendra had intended to reserve this move as his trump card in the secondary selections, but at this point, he couldn’t care that much anymore. Hong long!
As his aura surged, devendra’s movements grew faster as well. Vaguely, seven to eight silhouettes of him seemed to appear all around vipin. Following which, a thin golden line forged of zhenqi was pulled in a circle before tightening around the tortoise-shelled vipin, slowly creeping its way into the shell an inch at a time.
“This is… the Xue Clan’s Golden Silk Thread!” The face of one of the Quasi Leaving Aperture realm young genius warped in astonishment. “He actually managed to grasp this technique?” “Golden Silk Thread?” the second Quasi Leaving Aperture realm young genius asked in confusion.
“That’s right! The Xue Clan’s Golden Silk Thread is similar a guillotine created by capitalizing on the superior speed of their movement techniques. If utilized well, it would be able to even sever a Saint intermediate-tier artifact into two!” The first young genius tightened his fists in agitation. “This battle technique is really powerful. If vipin persists on his defense, he could very well find the Golden Silk Thread wrapped tightly around him. Once that happens, even if he doesn’t die, he could very well find himself crippled for life!” “It’s that formidable?”
The second young genius gulped down a mouthful of saliva as he anxiously turned his gaze back to the battle. One look, and he suddenly froze in disbelief. “W-what… is vipin trying to do?” “Hm?” Turning his gaze over as well, the first young genius also froze on the spot as well. In this moment, the young man trapped in the middle of the Golden Silk Thread suddenly staggered on the spot, as if intoxicated on alcohol.
He did a series of extremely bizarre actions, a little reminiscent of an avant-garde dance, and a little reminiscent of a physical expression of his panic and helplessness as well. Hu la! As those movements were being conducted, devendra’s movements suddenly grew faster and faster, to the point which it seemed as if he was going to lose control of himself. And… he really did. From the sheer centripetal force 2 of his circular movement around vipin, he ended up flinging himself headfirst into a pillar of the hall.
Following which, his face suddenly flushed green, and he bent over and vomited… After vomiting, his legs suddenly twitched, and putong! He fainted. “This…” Not expecting the imposing devendra to suddenly vomit and pass out, the second young genius stared at the sight with bulging eyes as he muttered in disbelief, “Could it be that he ended up moving in circles too fast and too much that he ended up getting… nauseated?” ------oOo------
1258: - Please Guide Me Along
It was true that an ordinary human would find themselves dizzy after spinning around too much, resulting in nausea and vomiting. And devendra did spin quite a few times in order to execute his Golden Silk Thread, and quite quickly at that. Could it have been that he had been unable to withstand the resulting sensation, just like ordinary humans? “Of course not!” the first Quasi Leaving Aperture realm young genius exclaimed.
“If I’m not mistaken, vipin should have utilized a terpsichorean art, and in his moment of carelessness, Third Young Master devendra fell for it.” In the first place, it was already ridiculous to think that someone whose cultivation had reached Primordial Spirit realm pinnacle would actually be vulnerable to giddiness from spinning too much. Even if not for that, devendra surely would have undergone plenty of intensive training to cope with whatever side effects the battle technique would bring him.
Otherwise, if he started vomiting before his attack could land, that would literally be suicide! “Terpsichorean art? Speaking of which, the movements he carried out earlier were indeed a little peculiar. But vipin isn’t dressed in any elegant clothes, and there were no exaggerated movements. Were those awkward movements really enough to put Third Young Master devendra into a trance?”
The second young genius was still a little skeptical at that notion. devendra might not have been the strongest in their group, but he was definitely ranked in the upper half. His willpower and state of mind should have been flawless, so before a man who was neither dressed in beautiful clothes nor carrying out elegant and pleasing moves… why would he fall into a trance?
Didn’t terpsichores bewitch others through their beauty and grace? Or did this mean that devendra… was interested in men? “True terpsichores are able to draw others in with even the simplest of gestures. In normal circumstances, it would indeed be difficult to faze Third Young Master devendra using such means. However, Third Young Master devendra’s failure to break through the tortoise-like defense after an extended period of time left him deeply anxious, resulting in an opening in his state of mind.
It was by exploiting this opening that vipin managed to get him in a single move!” the first young genius explained. Even though the two of them were Quasi Leaving Aperture realm cultivators, he was more well-versed in the topic of terpsichores compared to the other. “To wear down Third Young Master devendra’s strength and patience through putting up an impeccable defense, biding his time for the perfect timing to down him in a single move. It is no wonder Pavilion Master chirayu said that vipin is the strongest among us.
There’s indeed more to him than meets the eye!” The second young genius turned his gaze toward vipin, who was delightfully stowing the concentrated high-tier spirit stones into his storage ring, and his face turned grim. Just like the others, he had thought that the young man had only won against jigar and paresh through sheer luck. However, after seeing this sight, it suddenly dawned on him—how could a person who had cleared kundan’s preliminary selection possibly be ordinary? “He really piques my interest. Brother Sun, let me challenge him first.
You can have him if I fail,” the second young genius said. As drawn to the Tianchen Brew as they were, they were not so desperate as to have to drink it at all cost. However, the various peculiarities that vipin had shown had left them rather intrigued. In this moment, he was like an enigma that they desired to look into. “Our fighting prowess is roughly equal. If you can’t defeat him, there’s no point in me going up there and embarrassing myself.” The first young genius shook his head. Nevertheless, he still offered some pointers. “During the battle with him, remember to propose a fight without weapons. Also, make sure to firm your state of mind.
Don’t grant him any openings to use his terpsichorean arts!” “Un!” The second young genius nodded. Following which, he stood up and clasped his fist. “vipin, I am Ma Minghai from the chong Empire. Please guide me along!” vipin was still feeling deeply thankful to Pavilion Master chirayu for granting him this precious opportunity to earn so many concentrated hightier spirit stones when he suddenly heard a voice. Turning to the young man who had just stood up, he asked, “You want to challenge me, too?” “That’s right!” Ma Minghai smiled. “Will you accept my challenge?”
“I won’t,” vipin replied as he sat back down on his seat. “…” Ma Minghai nearly fell to the ground after hearing those words. That is not how the script was supposed to go! Even if you don’t want to accept my challenge, do you have to be so smug about it? A little choked up within, Ma Minghai gritted his teeth and offered, “I’m willing to offer fifteen concentrated spirit stones as my stake for the battle!” “I have exerted myself too much earlier. I’m too exhausted to fight anymore.”
“Twenty! I can’t offer you any more th..” Ma Minghai clenched his fists tightly. However, before he could finish his words, the young man had suddenly materialized back in the middle of the hall. He flung his sleeves grandly, assuming the disposition of an unworldly expert. “You should have said so earlier! I have already recovered from my exertion, so let’s start now!”
“…” Ma Minghai was so stifled that he nearly failed to catch his breath. Shameless people, he had seen plenty of them in his life, but the young man before him was really in a whole different class! Just to up the stakes, he would use the same blatant lie again and again… Incorrigible! At that moment, Ma Minghai suddenly heard a voice in his ears. “Don’t be affected by him. He’s intentionally provoking you to affect your state of mind!” It was from the earlier ‘Brother Sun’.
“Un.” A glint flashed across Ma Minghai’s eyes, and he nodded in agreement. If not for Brother Sun’s reminder, he might have lost sight of himself there. It seemed like the clash between them had already begun, even before the battle itself. Taking a deep breath, Ma Minghai calmed his state of mind back to its unperturbed state before flicking his wrist to take out twenty concentrated high-tier spirit stones. With one quick movement, the jade containers storing the spirit stones flew straight toward vipin’s table. After which, he leaped to the center of the hall and raised his hand politely.
“I’ll be in your care.” “I’ll be in your care, too.” vipin nodded. Boom! Without wasting any time on words, Ma Minghai swiftly suppressed his cultivation to Primordial Spirit realm intermediate stage, and with a resounding burst of zhenqi flowing through his meridians, he dashed forward. Unlike the previous few opponents whom vipin had faced, Ma Minghai’s movements were simple and concise. There was no elegance or complexity in his moves, only ferocity and brutish violence.
Yet, it was such an offense that was extraordinarily difficult to cope with. A single lapse in attention could very well result in severe injuries. “Not bad!” vipin complimented. As expected of a genius from the chong Empire, this Ma Minghai was not a person to be underestimated. In the previous few battles, vipin had not used his full strength at all. Nevertheless, it seemed like his opponent had still noticed that something was amiss, so he had given up all attempts at testing him out, using his strongest moves from the start so as to gain control of the flow of the battle.
Under his relentless suppression, it would leave very few gaps for vipin to attempt anything. Nevertheless, in face of the ferocious offense, vipin calmly drove his zhenqi and flicked his palm. In an instant, it felt as if a river had appeared between the two of them. vipin had not used Spatial Seal, utilizing just his zhenqi. Even though it was less than a tenth of his true strength, the palm strike still harnessed strength that no ordinary Primordial Spirit realm cultivator would have been able to withstand.
“This…” The awoken jigar saw the sight before him, and he gulped fearfully. Previously, he had thought that vipin had only defeated him by sheer luck, and he had been filled with indignation at his defeat. But after seeing this, he realized that if the young man were to get serious on him, just this move would be more than enough to defeat him! “Good move!” Exclaiming in excitement, Ma Minghai focused his Sword Intent into his forefinger and sliced it downward. Si la! A burst of sword qi surged forward, and the river forged of zhenqi was instantaneously sliced in two. “What formidable Sword Intent!”
vipin’s eyes lit up in excitement. He had faced quite a few experts himself, but he had never encountered anyone with such pure Sword Intent! That was nearly on par with a fifth of his! Really, experts from the chong Empire were indeed extraordinary. With such thoughts in mind, vipin grabbed the sword qi in between his forefinger and middle finger, and with a flick, he sent it back at Ma Minghai. “What the… He actually managed to catch such a powerful burst of sword qi?”
Brother Sun widened his eyes in incredulity. Granted that Ma Minghai’s sword qi was already considerably worn down from slicing the river of zhenqi, its might and speed were still not at a level where it could be caught. Impeccable timing, superior strength, and a profound grasp of swordsmanship—all of these had to be met before a feat like this could become remotely possible!
Brother Sun knew that there was no way he could achieve a feat like that. Could it be that vipin was actually a wolf cloaked in sheep skin? Appearing weak and tame before them, an unparalleled expert was actually hidden beneath that exterior! “Incredible! Why don’t you try catching this one too?” Despite having his sword qi caught, Ma Minghai did not show the slightest apprehension or fear. Instead, his eyes glowed in excitement, as if a new world had appeared before him.
With a bellow, a powerful surge of Sword Intent burst forth from Ma Minghai. It swiftly morphed into countless swords around him, filling the area so densely that a large area was shrouded by an ominous shadow. Forged from sword qi, these swords could be considered mere masses of energy, but if they were to land, they would easily cut through one’s flesh just like sharp blades, inflicting grievous injuries upon their victim. “That’s Sea of a Thousand Blades!” “To be able to form so many swords with just his Sword Intent, Ma shi is really a frightening person!”
“I can’t even imagine standing against all of those swords simultaneously…” … The faces of the young geniuses in the hall swiftly turned grim. Due to the presence of the Sword Lagoon in the chong Empire, most of their experts had a profound mastery of swordsmanship. The Sword Lagoon had many swordsmanship heritages, and the Sea of a Thousand Blades was one of the strongest sword arts there.
It was impossible for any cultivator to defend themselves from the simultaneous assault of so many blades! Just like the rest of the crowd, vipin was also a little startled by the emergence of countless swords around Ma Minghai. To be able to form so many surges of sword qi around him in the blink of an eye, Ma Minghai was indubitably a powerful adversary.
While the other party was still a long distance away from matching up to him, against arav, roma, rohan…..Fine, at least mohan would not have been a match for him in a battle at the same cultivation realm! Standing before the imposing array of swords, a slight smile crept onto vipin’s lips. Instead of attempting any evasive maneuvers, he opened his mouth and inhaled deeply.
Huala! The countless swords immediately converged together into vipin’s mouth. Geji! Geji! Before anyone could process what was going on, the imposing array of swords was swallowed into vipin’s stomach. “This…” The faces of the surrounding crowd paled. While others would be desperately trying to escape from the onslaught of sword qi, that fellow actually opened his mouth and swallowed it. However, that was not the end of the shock yet. “Here, I’ll return them to you!”
The countless surges of sword qi that vipin had swallowed earlier were melded into a short sword inside his abdomen, and with a resounding roar, the short sword burst forth toward Ma Minghai. Along the trajectory of its movement, the short sword swiftly grew longer, reaching a length of a zhang 1 before it stopped growing. Even before reaching its target, the incomparably sharp aura that it emanated already left a sharp pain in the eyes of onlookers.
“Ahhh…” Not expecting such a move from vipin, Ma Minghai’s face paled. Understanding the deep peril that he was in, he unhesitatingly released the seal of his cultivation, and his aura quickly rose. Peng! Nevertheless, he was still forced to retreat a dozen steps to ward off the momentum from vipin’s assault. Only with the full might of his Quasi Leaving Aperture realm cultivation did he barely manage to withstand that attack, and even so, he still felt an aching pain gushing through his body.
At the same time, the lingering shockwave from the collision had caused his robe to be shredded, leaving behind a tattered rag that barely covered his body. “You are indeed very powerful…” Taking a deep breath, Ma Minghai was just about to suppress his cultivation once more to release his most powerful move when he suddenly heard a voice sounding from above.
“Enough. You aren’t a match for vipin.” Turning around, Ma Minghai saw Pavilion Master chirayu gesturing for him to back down with a wave of his hand. “Yes!” As indignant as Ma Minghai felt, he knew that Pavilion Master chirayu was right. Just the previous release of the seal on his cultivation was already enough to signify his defeat. “I believe that vipin should have proved his superior strength to everyone here, so let’s end the duels right here.” Pavilion Master chirayu waved his hand.
At that moment, he was feeling stifled inside. He had intended to use the hands of others to teach that brat a lesson, but not only did his plan fail tragically, it even became an opportunity for that brat to establish his dominance. “End the duels right here? Are you really thinking that you will be able to get away scot-free after attempting to bully me? How could there be something that convenient in the world?”
vipin raised his eyelids to glance at Pavilion Master chirayu, and his voice grew louder as he spoke. “I, rosaat Empire’s vipin, request to challenge the head of the chong Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, chirayu. Please guide me along!” 1. One zhang = ~3.33m ------oOo------
1259: - Give Him Plenty Of It
He’s challenging Pavilion Master chirayu to a duel?” “But Pavilion Master chirayu is a Half-Grand Dominion realm expert!” Everyone froze, unable to believe what they had just heard. chirayu was not only the head of the chong Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, he was also a Half-Grand Dominion realm expert. To challenge him to a duel… had vipin gone mad, or was he really that arrogant?
“You are challenging me?” Caught off guard by those words, Pavilion Master chirayu was visibly startled for a moment before his eyes gradually narrowed into thin slits. “That’s right!” vipin replied with a cold smirk. “Surely you wouldn’t shy away from a challenge from a junior, would you?” From the very start, that fellow had been trying to make things difficult for him at every turn, and this had left vipin deeply displeased.
The reason why he feigned weakness at the very start was to draw others to challenge him so that he could earn his fair share of concentrated high-tier spirit stones. Now that his strength was finally exposed, there should be no one so foolish to challenge him anymore. Since that was the case, it was about time for him to settle some personal grudges. You wanted to play politics with me?
Alright then. Let’s see if you have the strength to back up your actions! “Audacious!” An elder standing behind Pavilion Master chirayu stood up and roared. “vipin, mind your own standing! You are a mere 7-star master teacher from a Tier-1 Empire whereas Pavilion Master chirayu is a quasi 8-star master teacher. Do you think that you are qualified to challenge him?”
“You are questioning my qualifications?” vipin scoffed coldly as he flicked his wrist, and a token floated in the air. “Tell me, am I still unqualified now?” “That token! You are… an honorary elder of the Empire Alliance Master Teacher Pavilion?” “H-how can that be?” The revelation of the token left everyone in the room horrified, unable to believe what they were seeing. They understood very well just how powerful the Empire Alliance Master Teacher Pavilion was.
Even the most normal of managers there would be a top-notch expert at the very least, wielding unquestionable authority in his grasp. As for an honorary elder… that was a position so high that they couldn’t even begin to fathom it! Not only was the crowd astounded by this, Pavilion Master chirayu’s body had stiffened in horror as well. Very clearly, aaliim hadn’t informed him of this! If he had known this in advance, even if one were to inflate his guts tenfold, he still wouldn’t dare to provoke an elder from the Empire Alliance!
“Y-y-yes, you are qualified!” The face of the elder who had spoken earlier turned ghastly pale, and he fearfully replied with quivering lips. With his eye of discernment, he could tell that the token was real. In other words, despite the young man’s lacking cultivation and low master teacher rank, he was indeed a bona fide elder of the Empire Alliance Master Teacher Pavilion. A figure whom they could only look up to, not daring to offend in the slightest. “Good!” Retracting his emblem, vipin looked at Pavilion Master chirayu coldly and said, “Pavilion Master chirayu, are you going to turn down my challenge?
You used a cup of Tianchen Brew to turn everyone against me, all just to exact vengeance for your wife’s brother. Really, watching you play out your own act is truly cringeworthy. We are all master teachers here, do you think that your little ploys would really go unnoticed? Are you going to coward out after you have provoked me, an elder of the Empire Alliance Master Teacher Pavilion?” “This…” “Exact vengeance? Does anyone know what’s going on?”
“I arrived earlier, so I heard some news. It appears that there are some problems in the rosaat Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, so Pavilion Master chirayu sent his wife’s brother to deal with the matter. However, the latter failed to resolve the issue properly, abusing his authority even, so he ended up being crippled, and he’s currently awaiting punishment from the Empire Alliance Master Teacher Pavilion as well…” “There’s such a matter?
That explains why there’s something weird about Pavilion Master chirayu’s behavior today…” Hearing up to this point, there was no one else in the room who didn’t know what was going on. They turned to look at Pavilion Master chirayu once more, but this time, the nature of their gazes was very different. They had thought that Pavilion Master chirayu was an impartial and magnanimous person, and his personal charisma had also won them over for a while.
However, from the looks of it now, it seemed like he was nothing more than a hypocrite… To manipulate them to deal with vipin, doing in his enemy without soiling his hand, Pavilion Master chirayu sure knew how to play politics. “Since it’s a request from elder vipin, there’s no reason for me to turn you down!” Noticing the hostile looks from the surroundings, Pavilion Master chirayu clenched his fists tightly.
At this point, he knew that he couldn’t back out of this matter anymore. Those in this room wouldn’t allow him to retreat with his hands clean. Huala! Pavilion Master chirayu got to his feet and walked forward before stopping at the center of the hall. With a soft chuckle, he said, “elder vipin, you are an honorary elder of the Empire Alliance, a person of extraordinary standing. It’s an honor to have a duel with you, as well as a great learning experience. Considering that you are my senior, surely I don’t have to suppress my cultivation, right?” “Don’t have to suppress his cultivation?”
“Pavilion Master chirayu means to… fight against vipin with his HalfGrand Dominion realm cultivation?” “But vipin is only at Primordial Spirit realm intermediate stage! Even if he were to use his cauldron as well, it’s questionable whether he would be able to rival a Leaving Aperture realm expert or not, let alone a Half-Grand Dominion realm! Isn’t Pavilion Master chirayu clearly taking advantage of him?”
“This is really too much. I was still doubting the authenticity of vipin’s words earlier, but from the looks of it now, it’s clear that Pavilion Master chirayu is indeed intentionally trying to trip him over!” … A huge commotion broke out amidst the crowd. At the same time, vipin also narrowed his eyes menacingly. Indeed, those who were advanced in age tended to be more cunning. In his years of experience as the head of the chong Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, it seemed like Pavilion Master chirayu had become rather adept at playing within the rules.
He first intentionally addressed vipin as elder vipin so as to lower his standing, making vipin appear as if he was in a superior position… If it was a senior who had proposed the duel, the junior accepting the duel wouldn’t have to lower his cultivation. Such was the convention in the Master Teacher Pavilion, especially considering that there were nearly no circumstances where a senior master teacher would be weaker than a junior master teacher. And this was exactly the convention which Pavilion Master chirayu was building his argument upon.
Such conventions had already become something similar to unspoken rules, so from an ‘official’ stance, Pavilion Master chirayu would be safe as long as he were to insist on it. Despite the condemnation from the crowd, there was really nothing vipin could do to force Pavilion Master chirayu to lower his cultivation. So, in just a single move, vipin had been cornered instead.
It seemed like Pavilion Master chirayu had also realized that he wouldn’t be a match for vipin even with his cultivation suppressed, that was why he disregarded his reputation to propose something like this. “Sure. You don’t have to suppress your cultivation.” vipin nodded slightly. You want to thrash me with your full power? Sure, let’s see if you have enough teeth for me to knock out! From the point where I started my journey here from Tianxuan Kingdom, those who had attempted to do me in had all either suffered tragic fates or ended up becoming my students!
“I’ll be thanking elder vipin for your kind guidance then!” Pavilion Master chirayu chuckled politely, but the sharp glint that flickered across his eyes showed a very different story. As he stretched his body slightly, a domineering aura burst forth from his body, reminiscent of a massive dragon soaring into the clouds. At Half-Grand Dominion realm, Pavilion Master chirayu’s cultivation had already surpassed that of the other Vicious. With just a grasp of his hand, the surrounding space suddenly seemed to freeze on the spot, preventing anyone from making a move.
Hu la! After driving his aura to its strongest, Pavilion Master chirayu flicked his wrist and whipped out a sword. He drove his zhenqi into the sword, and a resounding metallic call echoed from it. With just one look, it was apparent that the sword was of superior tier, Saint intermediate-tier at the very minimum. A weapon of such caliber, paired with Pavilion Master chirayu’s cultivation and profound grasp of swordsmanship… There was no doubt that he was one of the strongest enemies that vipin had encountered so far!
“Pavilion Master chirayu has even taken out his sword?” “He’s clearly trying to quell vipin!” “Well, given that Pavilion Master chirayu was exposed and challenged in public, it’s a given that he would want to vie his dignity back!” “It seems like vipin is in a really dangerous position then…” The crowd frowned upon seeing this sight.
Pavilion Master chirayu was already a difficult adversary even without a sword, and now that he was equipped with one… it seemed unlikely for anyone beneath Grand Dominion realm to be able to match him. “Since you took our your weapon, can I take that to mean that you wish to have a clash of weapons with me?” vipin asked calmly. Pavilion Master chirayu nodded, “My specialty happens to be swordsmanship, so naturally, I hope to receive elder vipin’s pointers in that aspect.” “Since you have wielded a weapon, I won’t hold back either then.” vipin stated nonchalantly. “elder vipin, feel free.” Pavilion Master chirayu replied with an impeccably polite smile.
He had seen vipin’s cauldron, and with his eye of discernment, he had gauged its fighting prowess to be roughly on par with Leaving Aperture realm advanced stage cultivators. Naturally, to a Half-Grand Dominion realm expert like him, that cauldron wouldn’t pose any threat at all. “Very well then.” vipin nodded slowly. Then, he flicked his wrist. Huala! More than a hundred puppets suddenly appeared in the middle of the hall.
These were the puppets forged he had obtained from Vicious back at the Marshlands of the Northern Meadows. As these puppets were forged from the hands of celestial designers, they didn’t carry the aura of Otherworldly Demons. As such, there was no problem with vipin using them in public. “These are my weapons.” vipin replied calmly. “You guys, Pavilion Master chirayu over there seeks your guidance.
Make sure to give him plenty of it!” “Yes!” These puppets had all submitted to vipin, so upon hearing his order, they immediately roared furiously before charging at Pavilion Master chirayu. While their cultivations were only at Leaving Aperture realm intermediate stage to advanced stage, lower than the Half-Grand Dominion realm Pavilion Master chirayu, the issue lay in that there were more than a hundred of them! Watching as the hundred puppets charge toward him, Pavilion Master chirayu suddenly felt as if someone had opened the gates of hell and let the demons loose on him.
“You…” Pavilion Master chirayu could have never dreamed that vipin would have so many powerful puppets in his possession, and his face immediately warped in horror. He immediately flicked his sword to fend off the first incoming puppet, but in the next moment, two fists were already on their way to striking his back. Before he could even turn around, more punches and kicks were already on their way to him from all different direction. To make things worse, they were all accurately aimed for his blind spots.
It was as if those puppets knew the openings in his swordsmanship in advance, and they were exploiting them intentionally. “It’s a collaborative formation from the Combat Master Hall… and it seems like someone is guiding them too!” Pavilion Master chirayu’s body stiffened at the realization. If these puppets were to attack randomly, with his Half-Grand Dominion realm cultivation, even though it was still likely to end in his loss, at least his defeat wouldn’t have been too tragic.
However, that was clearly not the situation now. Somehow, it seemed like vipin knew where all of his openings were, and he was getting the puppets to attack him while cooperative with one another impeccably through using one of the most profound collaborative formation of the Combat Master Hall… Things were really dangerous for him then! And as expected, after trading a few blows, the puppets still remained completely unhurt whereas he was already covered with wounds. Peng peng peng peng!
As the battle went on, the number of blows that Pavilion Master chirayu received increased swiftly. From time to time, there would even be a kick landing squarely on his face. By ten minutes, his eyes were already swollen to the point where he had to squint to barely see what was before him. As powerful as he was, there was no way he could withstand the simultaneous assault of more than a hundred Leaving Aperture realm combat master level fighting prowess puppets!
“If only I knew this would happen, I would have never proposed using weapons…” In this moment, Pavilion Master chirayu really wanted to cry. It was just a moment ago which he deeply believed that as long as he didn’t suppress his cultivation, he would be able to destroy vipin easily… Who in the world was to know that that fellow would have so many puppets in his possession! Puppets were indeed considered to be weapons as well, so from that perspective, what vipin did couldn’t be considered to be against the rules… But what that had left him even more frustrated was how leisurely he had told the young man to ‘feel free’ previously!
The young man sure had taken his words at face value! “This…” On the other hand, the rest of the crowd gulped down a mouthful of saliva as they watched the sight before them fearfully. It was really fortunate that they didn’t propose to have a duel using weapons after the precedence with the cauldron, or else even if all of them were to go at him simultaneously, their forces would still be utterly devastated! “kundan, please! Save Pavilion Master chirayu!”
Seeing how pitiful Pavilion Master chirayu was being pummeled, the elder who had spoken earlier quickly turned to kundan and pleaded desperately. kundan shot a nonchalant glance at Pavilion Master chirayu as he casually picked up a piece of fatty meat and placed it into his mouth. After chewing and swallowing the piece of meat slowly, he calmly replied, “Pavilion Master chirayu has agreed to the duel, and he was the one to set the rules too. I don’t think that there’s anything I can do to help him.”
After witnessing everything with my own eyes, why should I bother helping someone like chirayu? If a student from the Sanctum of Sages couldn’t even stand up for himself after being bullied, he would be better of living a humble life as an ordinary master teacher! Besides… That fellow didn’t even hesitate to beat me up either! Why should I sacrifice myself to save you?
“Pavilion Master chirayu…” Seeing that kundan was reluctant to make a move, the elder could only panic helplessly by the side. By this moment, Pavilion Master chirayu was already lying feebly on the ground. His face was filled with footprints, and blood spouted out from his mouth as his body convulsed uncontrollably…
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