Chapter 823: Destroyed in a Move
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"It"s the Nine Pinnacles Mountain!"
"The Nine Pinnacles Mountain has picked the number 2!"
"The first match will be between Yin Yang Hall and Nine Pinnacles Mountain? Well, I"m looking forward to the great show!"
There were many responses to Dao Hun"s words because the number on the tablet chosen by the Nine Pinnacles Mountain had been shown to the crowd. The first match was going to take place.
This elicited some mixed feelings from the members of the other sects.
After all, they had all heard about what happened to the Nine Pinnacles Mountain a few months back.
The previous leader of the Nine Pinnacles Mountain Tian Xing had met with a mishap.
Following that, the Nine Pinnacles Mountain had formed an alliance with Yin Yang Hall.
Now, a new leader had appeared out of nowhere in the Nine Pinnacles Mountain.
Everyone got the feeling that these happenings were somehow related to each other but no one knew for sure the stories behind them.
The various sects were waiting to find out if the answers to their questions would be revealed in the match.
"The Nine Pinnacles Mountain?" Dao Hun looked towards the Nine Pinnacles Mountain camp where the masked youth Bai Fei was seated, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng.
Everyone probably thought that Yin Yang Hall and Nine Pinnacles Mountain were collaborating on a huge project.
In fact, if Mu Qingfeng had not sent out a sudden invitation to the Heaven Alliance Meeting, Dao Hun would not be at the Heaven Zen Mountain but the Nine Pinnacles Mountain.
A new leader of Nine Pinnacles Mountain who had been a virtual unknown?
A masked youth!
Additionally, Sixth Elder, who had been sent to Nine Pinnacles Mountain to cultivate medicinal pills, had not yet returned.
Dao Hun did not know what was happening but he was sure of one thing.
The affairs of the Nine Pinnacles Mountain were not within his control.
Following the confirmation of the battle between Nine Pinnacles Mountain and Yin Yang Hall, the disciples of Ling Yun Tower and Fu Xi Valley flashed the numbers they had drawn as well.
Ling Yun Tower had drawn the number 3 while Fu Xi Valley had drawn the number 4.
The outcome made Valley Master Mo Shans.h.i.+ grimace slightly before he recovered himself.
His lips curled up into a cold smile.
No one knew what was on Mo Shans.h.i.+"s mind but one thing was for sure.
He did not fear nor was unhappy with this arrangement.
The two remaining jade tablets lay quietly in the hands of the disciple from the Heaven Dao Pavilion.
A disciple from the Shadow Sect stepped forward and walked slowly towards the Heaven Dao Pavilion disciple.
"7, I must draw the 7!" The Shadow Sect disciple muttered to himself as he put a hand on one of the jade tablets.
Wu Yuer, leader of the Shadow Sect, regarded the whole process with a nonchalant look on her face while Zu Lian, leader of the Xuanji Sect, was getting agitated.
"Don"t draw the number 7, don"t…" Zu Lian muttered under his breath.
If the Shadow Sect picked out the number 7, Xuanji Sect"s opponent in the first stage would be the Heaven Dao Pavilion.
Zu Lian did not want that to happen.
"6!"
"The Shadow Sect drew the number 6!"
"The Heaven Dao Pavilion will progress straight on to the second stage!" The members of the various sects began to call out when they saw the number 6 flas.h.i.+ng on the tablet.
This was going to be a fight between fierce rivals.
"6?! Hahaha… I, Zu Lian, will show the Shadow Sect that biscuits aren"t that easy to sell. Listen up, the few of you. Give them a terrible beating from me or you won"t have to bother returning to Xuanji Sect!" Zu Lian was stunned for a moment before he recovered himself.
"Yes, Sect Leader. We won"t give them the chance to tap out until we reduce them to cripples!" The three Xuanji Sect disciples standing behind Zu Lian responded to his orders.
"Good, very good, hahaha…" Zu Lian burst out into merry laughter.
He could not wait to see the disciples of the Shadow Sect lie on the ground in pools of blood.
The people in the crowd looked around at each other.
They knew that the Xuanji Sect had a long-standing feud with the Shadow Sect but they could not make sense of Zu Lian"s words about biscuits being hard to sell.
Of course, it was not possible for Zu Lian to explain this to the crowd.
The rest could only continue to speculate.
The order of the fight matches in the first stage was out.
The Yin Yang Hall would face Nine Pinnacles Mountain in the first match.
It was Ling Yun Tower against Fu Xi Valley in the second match.
In the third match, Xuanji Sect would battle it out with the Shadow Sect.
As the sect that had called for this Heaven Alliance Meeting, the Heaven Dao Pavilion was fortunate enough to have obtained a bye into the second stage.
Had the results been rigged in any way?
For instance, no one could know for sure if the jade tablets had been tampered with.
Nevertheless, these considerations were no longer important.
The most important thing was that the Heaven Dao Pavilion had successfully picked ou the number 7, which would bring them directly into the second stage of the tournament.
"All the lots have been drawn in a fair process. Everyone here has borne witness to that. Any objections to this outcome?" Mu Qingfeng tried his best to suppress his elation.
"The Xuanji Sect has no objections!" Zu Lian was the first to speak.
"No."
"We don"t have any objections."
"…"
Before long, everyone present had expressed their approval of the lot-drawing process.
"Alright, let us begin. The first battle will be between Yin Yang Hall and Nine Pinnacles Mountain." Mu Qingfeng nodded his head and let out a sigh of relief.
Following Mu Qingfeng"s announcement, the masked youth Bai Fei, the current leader of Nine Pinnacles Mountain, got to his feet.
He turned to look at the dark figure behind him and nodded his head.
The dark figure remained silent and glided out from the crowd.
The sect leaders who were present, including the Valley Master of Fu Xi Valley Mo Shans.h.i.+, were mildly surprised.
They had noticed that Bai Feng had chosen his contender without consulting any of the elders in his sect.
All the elders of the Nine Pinnacles Mountain had held their tongues as well.
This could only mean that Bai Fei was truly the premier authority figure in Nine Pinnacles Mountain and not a puppet that had been raised to the leaders.h.i.+p of the sect by the sect elders.
"Who is he exactly? Could it be that the masked youth Bai Feng was really the closed door disciple of the previous sect leader Tian Xing?" The same question popped up in the minds of everyone present but no one dared to ask aloud.
Everyone knew that the biggest problem affecting the Nine Pinnacles Mountain was not the lack of strength but internal strife.
As long as the sect managed to keep their internal politics in check, they were still one of the powerful Five Sects of the Holy Region.
Of course, this upcoming battle would be fought among members of the younger generation.
This gave the Nine Pinnacles Mountain a significant advantage.
At this point in time, no one knew who was going to win or lose.
… The dark figure had walked out from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain camp.
He stopped beneath the altar at the dead centre of Heaven"s Peak.
It was apparent that the dark figure was skinny but there was a sort of sharpness in his movements.
He did not take off the hood that he wore but slid out a long knife from his sleeves.
The knife had a blade that was black with a hint of blood-red on it.
"I am Black Knife from Nine Pinnacles Mountain, 28 years old." The dark figure introduced himself curtly.
"Black Knife?"
"Why hasn"t anyone mentioned this name before?"
"If no one has ever heard of him, it probably means that he had just managed to achieve a breakthrough.
It seems that this Black Knife fellow has mastered a formidable technique of some sort!"
"Mm, that"s possible!" The members of the other sects began to murmur among themselves.
After all, this tournament was an opportunity for unknown martial artists to achieve overnight fame.
The crowd observed Black Knife curiously.
The Hallmaster of Yin Yang Hall Dao Hun turned to look at the person wearing the Yin-Yang mask standing behind Dao Xin.
He s.h.i.+fted his gaze to another disciple who was standing behind a few Yin Yang Hall elders and gave him a slight nod of his head.
This chosen disciple strode out quickly and leapt to a position where he stood facing Black Knife.
There were bright flashes as he unsheathed a pair of swords, black and white.
"I am a disciple from Yin Yang Hall, Fang Miao, also 28 years old. My powers are at the peak of the Rebirth State!" The Yin Yang Hall disciple introduced himself quickly.
"It"s Fang Miao?!"
"I did not expect Yin Yang Hall to send out Fang Miao for the first battle. I"ve heard that this Fang Miao was a prodigy of the Radiant Moon Empire. Later, he joined the Yin Yang Hall and further developed his skills under the wing of Hallmaster Dao Hun. He is probably the most powerful among the younger generation of disciples in Yin Yang Hall!"
"It seems that Yin Yang Hall is going to put up a fine display of their prowess in the first battle!" The disciples from the other sects got excited upon hearing Fang Miao"s name.
After all, Fang Miao was quite an influential figure in the martial arts fraternity.
"The first round, Fang Miao from Yin Yang Hall versus Black Knife from Nine Pinnacles Mountain, begin!" A Heaven Dao Pavilion disciple who had been tasked with emceeing the event announced loudly.
Following the cue to begin, Black Knife moved before Fang Miao in a flash.
"Close combat?" Fang Miao had been taken by surprise but he recovered himself.
He dipped the ground gently with his right feet and retreated backwards like a swallow.
There were several prodigious disciples in Yin Yang Hall and yet Dao Hun had sent Fang Miao out first.
The key reason for this was that while Fang Miao was highly skilled, he was also good at keeping his cool.
Upon seeing that Black Knife was getting closer to him, he made a quick decision to move backwards.
He was by no means weak in close combat but he did not want to attack yet.
It has often been said that the fighting spirit aroused by the first roll of drums is depleted by the second and exhausted by the third.
Fang Miao would refrain from acting before studying his opponent.
However, just as Fang Miao retreated backwards, he felt a chill coming at him from behind his back.
The feeling made him feel uncomfortable and carried with it an urgent sense of danger.
Fang Miao found it very strange.
Black Knife was in front of him, so where was the chill a.s.sailing him from behind his back coming from?
Could it be that there was someone from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain making use of underhand tactics?
Impossible!
The leaders of the Five Sects themselves formed the judging panel of the tournament.
Attempts to cheat would never escape their eyes no matter how well-concealed these attempts were.
Despite his surety, Fang Miao still thrust out the white sword he was holding in his left hand towards his back and defended himself from the front with the black sword.
All for the sake of certainty!
"Crack!" A crisp sound rang out as a disembodied arm flew up into the air, still gripping tightly onto a white sword.
Blood spurted everywhere.
It was a gory sight indeed.
What made it more shocking was that another disembodied arm had flown up into the air as well, this time holding onto a black sword.
"Ahh!" Fang Miao screamed in agony but it was not enough to prevent Black Knife from drawing blood with his weapon.
His knife dripped with blood and dazed the crowd.
At this point, all everyone could see was countless shadows encircling Fang Miao, each one holding onto a bloodied knife.
"Black Knife, stop!" The Valley Master of Fu Xi Valley Mo Shans.h.i.+ roared at the figure dressed in black.
He himself was dumbfounded at the sight that met his eyes.
The shadows scattered.
Black Knife stood at where he was and held his knife to Fang Miao"s throat.
Blood continued to drip from the blade.
"HIss!" Many of the disciples from the various sect sucked in breaths of cold air.
They had been curious to find out more about Black Knife but now, they were beginning to fear him.
It had happened so quickly!
With only one move, Black Knife had inflicted a complete defeat on the Yin Yang Hall prodigy Fang Miao.
Who exactly was this Black Knife person?!
"Interesting!" Dao Hun got to his feet and looked at Fang Miao, who was covered in blood and half kneeling on the ground.
Dao Hun clenched his fists involuntarily.
This was a disciple that he had trained personally for three whole months and yet he had been crippled in the first round by a single move.
Also, it had been the work of the Nine Pinnacles Mountain.
Dao Hun was finding it difficult to hold in his anger.
"It seems that the Sixth Elder must have met with an accident." Dao Xin, who had been sitting beside Dao Hun, opened her mouth to speak.
She turned around to look at the figure wearing the Yin-Yang mask and nodded gently.