Book 1: A New Lease on Life
Chapter 19: Aggressive Contest
And so, standing on the side, Nanbatian proceeded to explain the powers of the Kong Ling Gem. Once Nanbatian finished, everyone was extremely excited, staring at Tianxingzi thinking, Kong Ling Gem? A Magical Item?
Each person who watched the Grandmaster had a strong desire in their hearts, of course, only towards the Kong Ling Gem, and it was only better trained people, those whose training was insufficient or were too slow could only sigh in defeat.
“Now, we need to find the strongest three amongst you. However, for those who have not yet reached the fourth level of Xiantian but you feel that you are strong enough, you can also challenge them, and should you win, you are also in for a chance of winning the Kong ling Gem.” Said Tianxingzi whilst watching everyone.
At that moment, a young man dressed in white, suddenly walked out of the line and walked to the four people who had reached the fourth level of Xiantian. His hands were clenched into fists as he addressed the Grandmaster and Headmaster, saying, “I may have only reached the third level of Xiantian, but, I wish to fight with my all.”
“Alright.” called the Grandmaster Tianxingzi.
Following the man’s lead, Zhong Shan also carefully walked out.
“Disciple Zhong Shan also wishes to fight.” greeted Zhong Shan respectfully.
“Alright.” Said Tianxingzi again whilst watching Zhong Shan. His eyes glittered for a second as if thinking up a great idea.
After that no more people dared to come up, everyone who trained knew the implication of each level, and they each thought themselves unable to best the fourth level of Xiantian.
“You two are of the third level of Xiantian, choose your opponents. The remaining two of the fourth level of Xiantian shall fight between yourselves. This way we can finalise the positions.” Tianxingzi said.
“Yes master.” replied the six people simultaneously.
The man in white, immediately chose the female disciple amongst the four, as if thinking that even if the girl reached the fourth level of Xiantian, she wouldn’t be as strong as himself. Zhong Shan looked at the remaining three.
Zhong Shan didn’t know what type of manuals they trained from, nor did he understand any of the three people either. As such, he just randomly pointed at the one wielding the axe, because in Zhong Shan’s mind, an inch longer is an inch stronger, and the axe was not longer than his machete.
The guy was gleeful at being pointed out, as if he won the lottery. Fighting someone at the third level of Xiantian was a definite win.
“Alright, spread out, now begin.” Called Tianxingzi.
After he finished speaking, under the stare of everyone, the combatants split up into three groups. Zhong Shan and the axe guy walked to the west side while the other two groups, one was in the centre and one was on the east side.
Tianling-er and Nanbatian both walked near to Zhong Shan, as if encouraging him.
“Please.” said Zhong Shan as he readied his machete.
“You first.” laughed the axe man. Obviously, he held nothing but disdain for someone from a lower level than him.
“Then please excuse me.” Said Zhong Shan.
After he finished speaking, he leapt, fiercely striking at the man with his machete.
Mountain Splitter!
In one move, Zhong Shan used all his strength. Zhong Shan always uses all of his strength to fight, moreover the opponent is someone strong at the fourth level of Xiantian.
Seeing this attack, the man panicked, knowing that he was careless. He brought his giant axe up to meet the blade head on.
“Clang~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”
The blade, suffused with strong murderous intent, impacted the giant axe forcefully causing the man buckle slightly.
“Crack~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”
The stone beneath his foot cracked in a spider web pattern.
Zhong Shan, seeing that one strike would not be enough, let his ferocity show once more as he swung his machete again.
Annihilating Slash!
Immediately the second strike came crashing down.
Despite wielding an axe, the man was quite limber, he quickly blocked Zhong Shan’s strike and at the same time pushing back against it, causing the machete to swing wide. After all, people at the fourth level of Xiantian had more Zhenqi, a lot more than Zhong Shan.
“Hmph”
Zhong Shan harrumphed quietly as the blades danced. Using all his strength, he attacked ferociously, as if his life depended on it. His machete was like a hurricane, one strike after the other, like he was crazed. Their movements were very fast and to the spectators, it seemed like Zhong Shan went berserk, far too aggressive. He was at the third level of Xiantian but had anyone else of that level fought him, they could only admit defeat.
However, the opponent was at the fourth level of Xiantian, his power was stronger than Zhong Shan’s and he was faster as well. However, his only shortcoming was that he wasn’t as aggressive as Zhong Shan. Zhong Shan seemed to permeate killing intent. It seemed that to him, this was a fight to the death.
However, was aggression alone enough? The man had been only defending, but he was slowly starting to counterattack as well, no longer letting Zhong Shan be the only one to attack.
The ground beneath their feet was already cracked, however the fight was getting more and more exciting, their wild movements represented each of their abilities and techniques.
Zhong Shan felt that, should this continue, he wouldn’t last. His understanding of the machete form as well as his own momentum could go even against the opponent, however, his Zhenqi was not as strong. The longer the fight the more disadvantaged he became.
Demonic Body Toning Method!
“Mountain Splitter!” Yelled Zhong Shan with his muscles expanding. The aura of murderous intent in his machete likewise suddenly exploded. With fire in his eyes, he slashed down ferociously at his opponent.
His opponent noticed the danger and using all his strength, met the blade with his axe.
“Clang~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”
The sound of the metal clashing reverberated through the air. His opponent was thrown back, and his axe was also sent clattering to the ground by Zhong Shan’s attack. Zhong Shan landed with a face of rage as he looked upon the hand of his fallen opponent. The area between his thumb and index finger was bleeding profusely as two streams of blood shot forth.
Defeated. His opponent was defeated. A wound like that will take at least half a month to heal.
Zhong Shan let out a long exhale of breath, calming himself down, and slowly turned and walked away.
When he turned around, Zhong Shan found the crowd of new disciples, each staring at him incredulously. Third level of Xiantian? Beating someone at the fourth level of Xiantian?
The other two had already left their battleground, the winner was decided a while ago. The other one from the third level of Xiantian had lost, and one other person from the fourth level of Xiantian also lost from the third battle.
Seeing this event, Tianling-er immediately congratulated Zhong Shan quietly, “Good job.”
Nanbatian was laughing without speaking a word. Obviously he was surprised, however, the power of the people at the third and fourth levels of Xiantian were not all that different in his eyes.
Elsewhere, the Kaiyang school’s second generation of disciples frowned at Zhong Shan, showing a hint of shock and unease in their eyes.
The Grandmaster and the two Headmasters looked at each other oddly. Finally, the Grandmaster Tianxingzi, smiled strangely. As he looked at Zhong Shan, his eyes lit up.
The three who were defeated, naturally returned to the crowd of new disciples.
Zhong Shan as well as the other two walked before Grandmaster.
“Good. Then you are the top three of this batch of new disciples. Here are three Kong Ling Gems.” presented Tianxingzi.
Finishing his words, in front of Tianxingzi, three transparent orbs, the size of a fist, appeared. Lightly grabbing the gem, Zhong Shan noticed that the gem was actually quite soft.
Resisting to inspect it now, Zhong Shan held it in both hands and decided to inspect it once he returns.
“Alright, the Kong Ling Gems have been awarded. Now then, fifteen days from now, you three will go to the Kaiyang Hall. There will be a job for you.” said Tianxingzi.
“Yes master.” replied Zhong Shan along with the other two, with suspicion.
“You’re all dismissed. Or you can choose another manual to learn.” Said Tianxingzi.
“Yes, Grandmaster.” replied every disciple, immediately.
And so, every disciple made their way to the second generation of disciples behind the Grandmaster and discussed their training situations with them. Even the champion of the Golden Core Stage gave them some advice.
“Zhong Shan, congratulations!” Nanbatian said whilst smiling at Zhong Shan. Tianling-er also smiled as she walked to Zhong Shan’s front.
“Yeah, I’m going to go look at some more manuals, tonight, come to my Ting Shui Xie, we’ll talk there.” Zhong Shan said to the other two.
“Alright.” They agreed as they nodded.
Zhong Shan immediately walked to the Scripture Library.
Seeing Zhong Shan leave, the Grandmaster’s eyebrows arched slightly. His eyes flashed with a hint of interest and then he flew away with the two Headmasters.
Inside the Scripture Library, Zhong Shan found a Xiantian Manual.
“Shadow a.s.sault Techniques”
Zhong Shan saw this secret manual the last time he was here. From the name, it was obvious that these techniques were sneak attacks. Zhong Shan found this secret manual, not for himself to learn, but for gifting to someone else.
Three hours later, he finished copying this book down and went back to Ting Shui Xie. Last time the reason why he didn’t copy it down was because he wanted the experience of reciting it for the first time. Zhong Shan knew that memorising a line for the first time had a very different feeling to it than trying to figure it out in the future. Copying it down first and then recited it all at once, and memorising it line by line made little difference in understanding, however, the smallest difference in detail can made it more sentimental for him.
Returning to Ting Shui Xie, he carefully brought out the Kong Ling Gem.