The Mountain River Stage was bustling with the young elites of the entire southern sector. There were those who were well-acquainted with each other; those who disliked each other; those who could not wait to unsheathe their swords at each other; those who fanned the flames; and those who calmly sat in the boat sailing through a storm. At this moment, the young elites of the southern region had formed a little community of their own.
From the east, a cold air a.s.saulted their faces. Everybody immediately stopped whatever they were doing and looked over.
From the isle by the lake, a peerless beauty with a slender figure, dense black hair like a waterfall, and eyebrows going inside the hair at her temples was seen walking over. She was wearing an azure long skirt, and had rather broad shoulders. Her aura seemed tranquil and gave off a gentle allure. However, in this gentleness was hidden a fierce and b.l.o.o.d.y aggressiveness. To really describe this aggressiveness, one could say that she seemed like a Valkyrie or an empress- a conflicting amalgamation of gentleness and aggressiveness. Every male could find at least one thing of their liking from her body.
Who could she be if not the Thunder Princess- the hostess of this Martial Tea Gathering, whose fame had gradually surpa.s.sed even the Edict Prince.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I, Jing Aoxuan, am a little late. Please accept my apologies." Wearing an azure colored long skirt, Thunder Princess ascended the stage and cupped her hands.
"What a fine female elite! An empress!"
After coming to Mountain River Stage Ye Chen had only praised two things: first being the stage, and second Thunder Princess. It could be seen that she clearly gave off a powerful impression.
"How could that be? We"ve also arrived just now."
"Princess Jing need not be apologetic."
"Since the hostess has arrived, let"s begin the Martial Tea Gathering!"
Everybody was polite as they properly exchanged greetings. But of course, they were impatient as well.
Thunder Princess faintly nodded and said, "It"ll be like previous years. Ladies and gentlemen, please take seats according to your regions."
The stage had over a hundred pavilions, each of which had eccentric furniture and training grounds, as well as beautiful waiters. The young elites selected their pavilions and sat down. Ye Chen"s group selected the third pavilion in the south-east to settle down.
He gazed around and saw Sikong Sheng and his two companions select the pavilion adjacent to them. Gu Youyun also sat together with them. Li Jie didn"t have the qualifications to enter. Thus, including Sikong Sheng and excluding his two companions, there were only seventeen people from the South Rudra Region; evidently, the lowest number of all.
Right next to South Rudra Region was Slas.h.i.+ng Mountain Region with twenty people. Amongst these twenty, the two eye-grabbing individuals were the youngster wearing a white-moon robe and the leader, who wore translucent clothes. The others were somewhat lacking.
Apart from these two regions, the other regions exhibited a higher level. Amongst these, the Black Gold Region, Cloud Billow Region, and Misty Snow Region comprised one level, with each having thirty five, forty, and thirty eight members respectively. In this level were also two regions at the outskirts of the southern sector- the Fire Pool Region and Thunder Iron Region, with thirty six and forty two members respectively.
Then was the next level.
Astral Spirit son"s Gold Sand Region with fifty five members.
Edict Prince"s Floating Light Region with sixty members.
But, of course, the number one was Thunder Region, with seventy eight members, occupying a total of fifteen pavilions.
Overall, this Martial Gathering comprised the young elites of ten regions. However, it wasn"t precise information, since Sikong Sheng"s two companions evidently didn"t belong to any of these regions. It was unknown as to which region they represented.
There were only three individuals at Ye Chen"s pavilion: Ye Chen, Tuo Baku, and a newly emerged peak genius from South Rudra called Mu Lingfeng. He actually emerged from a seventh grade sect and shocked the entire region by gaining third rank in the Hidden Rank List. From then on, he was considered as the representative of the next generation which was three years apart from Ye Chen"s. As for Murong Qingcheng, she was sitting at a different pavilion. After all, she was a disciple of Sky Demonic Sect, and needed to sit with them. Moreover, Ye Chen and Mo Yan didn"t get along that well.
Despite being the representative of the new generation, Mu Lingfeng didn"t show the slightest bit of arrogance before Ye Chen. Instead, he even seemed to be somewhat uneasy. It should be known that the age difference between him and Ye Chen wasn"t much. It was merely about a year or year and a half. It was just that Ye Chen made his appearance public a bit earlier.
Tuo Baku bitterly smiled at Mu Lingfeng and said, "Relax a little! He isn"t going to eat you."
The latter smiled awkwardly. He himself didn"t seem to know what was happening. Sitting together with Ye Chen was giving him an immense pressure, but others didn"t seem to be feeling this pressure.
Ye Chen simply smiled at him.
There were all kinds of light refreshments and fruits spread out on the table, some of which were simply never seen and unheard of. Beside them all were beautiful waitresses brewing tea. Just the smell was enough to leave a rich aftertaste and calm one"s mind and spirit.
At this moment, the Thunder Princess" voice came from afar.
"The Martial Tea Gathering is a chance for everybody to gather together every two years. I hope you will not be too reserved. Sipping tea while watching others exchange pointers, wouldn"t that be wonderful?"
The previous gathering"s host Edict Prince sounded his agreement, "Princess Jing is correct. Those who can join the gathering are elites of their regions. Thus, there is no need to bother too much about winning and losing. What everybody needs to be concerned about is whether you were enlightened or able to make any improvement."
"Since both Edict Prince and Thunder Princess have spoken so, let me begin. I am Black Gold Region"s Hua Feng. Is there anyone willing to exchange pointers with me?"
He was not worried that someone with much higher strength than him would go up. This was where subtlety of the gathering lied. If the challenger felt that their strength was more or less the same as the former, only then they would go up. If they felt that they were much stronger, there was no point in going up. There was nothing to gain from beating a much weaker opponent. He was no Edict Prince or Thunder Princess, so there was nothing to be gained from beating him.
"I, Misty Snow Region"s Lin Yinghao, will accept your challenge."
Rustle!
A figure shot up from the Misty Snow Regions" pavilions.
"Please advise!"
"Please advise!"
The two individuals stood a few dozen meters apart and cupped their hands. Immediately afterwards, their gazes turned sharp, unblinkingly staring at their opponents and looking for any opportunity to strike.
"Ha!"
In the next second, Hua Feng took the initiative to attack. Ling Ying didn"t dare to be neglectful and raised her sword to meet the incoming attack.
One was using a hammer while the other was maneuvering a sword. The air was shaking; there was no conclusion to the battle for the time being.
However, Hua Feng"s skill turned out to be a little better in the end, and he claimed the first victory of the Martial Tea Gathering.
After the first battle, the next battles went on without a hitch. Young elites from every region went on one by one, even fighting two to three consecutive battles occasionally. Beautiful Zhen Yuan was reflecting seven-colored radiance as all sorts of martial skills flew about in the air. The spectators in the pavilion watched the beautiful display of skill while sipping tea, feeling extremely content.
During these battles, several individuals from South Rudra Region went up as well. They were quite reputed geniuses, but compared to other regions, the disparity was simply too great, and all of them lost without exception. Seeing this made Yan Chihuo and the others faintly crease their brows.
"Hehe… Is there n.o.body in your South Rudra Region? Send your most powerful person here! I"ll defeat you all by myself." The youngster who had just defeated a South Rudra Region genius and had a yellowish hair pointed in their direction. His appearance seemed quite arrogant.
Suddenly, everybody"s gaze turned towards South Rudra Region.
"There really isn"t anyone in South Rudra Region, heh! Out of seventeen, five are already defeated one after other. What could the remaining twelve possibly do?"
"Dong Haoxiong is a well-known genius of Gold Sand Region. Who knows he really might sweep the entire South Rudra Region by himself."
Many people discussed in low voices.
Mo Lingfeng couldn"t endure anymore. He leaped on his feet and shouted, "You wish to fight the strongest person of South Rudra Region just by relying on this much strength? Dream on! I, Mo Lingfeng, would be enough for you."
Just as he was about to go up, Ye Chen sent a Zhen Yuan transmission to him. "Just now, he had only displayed eighty percent of his strength. Besides that, be careful of his blade techniques. If I"m not guessing wrong, he ought to be left-handed."
Mo Lingfeng was astonished inwardly. He didn"t know how Ye Chen could see through so many things. However, considering the latter"s ident.i.ty, he couldn"t possibly ignore his advice.
Shua!
Mo Lingfeng charged forth.
Clang Clang!
He used a blade as well. As the two blades unceasingly collided, glaring sparks shrouded their bodies.
"Eat my blade!"
Dong Haoxiong took a step back and switched the blade in his left hand as he charged forth. The reverse strike made the youngster somewhat unable to adapt.
Deng!
Mo Lingfeng resisted, but only because he knew beforehand. If Ye Chen hadn"t warned him, he quite possibly would have ended up overpowered right then.
Dong Haoxiong was completely stunned. Even in Golden Sand Region, not many people knew about his left-handed strike. He was convinced that Mo Lingfeng would be completely crushed once his left-handed strike came into play. Why did the latter seem already prepared for it? Not only that, he had even planned a counterattack, taking advantage of his momentary stupor.
The two were equally matched in strength, but Mo Lingfeng"s skill was a bit better. Thus, once Dong Haoxiong"s left-handed strike failed, he gradually fell into a disadvantage.
"Give up!"
A blade light flickered as Mo Lingfeng"s strike flew off the blade in Dong Haoxiong"s hands.
"Eh? He won!" Somebody said in an astonished voice.
Beating Dong Haoxiong, Mo Lingfeng sheathed his blade and thundered, "There may be not many of us from South Rudra, just you don"t have the qualifications to challenge us."
Dong Haoxiong coldly glanced at him and jumped off the stage.
"Don"t be too arrogant kid! Let me have a taste of your superior skills." Gold Sand Region couldn"t lose face here, so a man walked out from their side.
Mo Lingfeng wasn"t too afraid. He knew that his chances of winning the next match were quite slim, since his opponent must have a strength higher than Dong Haoxiong.
"Mo Lingfeng, don"t panic! When this guy walks, his right leg seems thirty percent heavier than left leg, with intentionally relaxed muscles. He ought to be cultivating a skill focused on right leg. His hands also seem much more vigorous than usual… He probably isn"t weak in hand techniques either. You just need to focus on his left side with all of your might. Don"t let him figure out your tempo. Your blade technique is not completely smooth in the end, probably because your feet technique is slightly disharmonized. So, don"t go trying to win through speed if you don"t want to get caught and torn apart."
The voice was Ye Chen"s yet again.
Mo Lingfeng sucked in a deep breath, then turned his head and gazed at him with a somewhat dazed expression.