Chapter 328: A Small World Between Enemies
When the Flowing Wind Sect disciple was thrown off stage, one could have argue that it happened because he’d underestimated his opponent and hadn’t been fully prepared.
But the same couldn’t be said about Iron Chuanfeng, and what of him? The same result!
The same fate had befallen him without any tricks, or any beating about the bush. It’d even looked like Iron Chuanfeng had put himself forth willingly to accept the blow.
This scene was simply too bizarre.
Those who couldn’t keep themselves from jeering earlier found that they’d once again been slapped in the face. Pa pa pa. Clean and crisp slaps.
They all felt as disgusted as though they’d eaten flies.
They could curse at the Flowing Wind Sect disciple as trash, but Iron Chuanfeng was a second level candidate and of the Iron family in the Precious Tree Sect. He absolutely wasn’t trash.
The disciples who had been irresponsibly making sarcastic remarks all had to admit that they likely truly had underestimated this secular disciple.
It looked like they needed to sincerely reflect on their prejudices towards secular disciples as a whole after this. Put another way, would they have done any better than Iron Chuanfeng if they’d taken the stage?
When their thoughts arrived at that point, all the candidates who’d been booing silently faded back into the crowd, a bizarre fear rising in their hearts.
They didn’t want to admit that they were afraid, but one had to say, after two dominating victories, Jiang Chen had stoppered their mouths.
Dan Fei couldn’t help but applaud and cheer when she saw this scene.
This cheer stood out quite a great deal. All the sect disciples casted exceedingly complex, if bearing slight traces of hatred, looks at her.
Dan Fei knew that she was inviting hatred and grudges with her actions. These sect disciples would hate her from the depths of their hearts.
However, she didn’t care in the slightest. She liked seeing Jiang Chen show off his might and glory. She couldn’t stop herself from applauding him.
Not only did the looks shooting at her from all around not give her any pressure, but they made her more excited instead.
All the other secular disciples quite admired Jiang Chen’s performance, and were a bit jealous at the same time.
However, his performance gave them a bit of confidence. At least he’d won some face for them.
Up until now, even very few sect disciples had achieved two wins, much less than secular disciples.
There were also none who had won so easily and cleanly.
That Jiang Chen had swept his matches so easily naturally won him a lot of attention. Even the sect disciples who wouldn’t previously spare another thought for secular disciples began to silently size up Jiang Chen.
Some of the first level disciples had previously felt their ident.i.ties were too lofty and so hadn’t even bothered to observe the situation in the Arena. Only the quickly spreading whispers in the crowd disturbed them.
“Two in a row and in one second? Is it that his opponents are too weak or that this secular champion possesses strength well above the norm?” These kind of questions rose in a first level candidate’s heart.
“Humph. When has such a perverse genius appeared in the ordinary world? This fellow is spending too much time in the limelight. He better pray that his luck holds and that he doesn’t get me, or I’ll take him down a few pegs. Otherwise, these secular disciples will truly think that the sect disciples are all tras.h.!.+”
Even some of the first level pract.i.tioners with otherworldly mentalities were disturbed from their meditations and began to notice Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen actually also knew that his moves would arouse attention from many sides.
However, since he’d chosen to stand in the ring, he no longer had any hesitation.
Since he’d chosen the way of perverse strength, then he would fully demonstrate it to his heart’s content on this stage.
“Do you wish to continue your challenge?” The examiner looked at Jiang Chen and asked.
“Continue.” Jiang Chen didn’t even hesitate.
The examiner had also seemed to guess that he would choose to continue as he nodded and selected the next opponent.
His next opponent was a fourth level pract.i.tioner from the Flowing Wind Sect. Although this fellow didn’t wish to accept the situation, he was much more cautious compared to the two before him.
He seemed to guess that he would be defeated as well, but he didn’t want to be as bedraggled as the two before him. He didn’t want to become the backdrop for the secular champion’s victory. Therefore, he immediately put up his defenses when he set foot into the ring, putting on the posture of defending himself with everything he had.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly and moved forward, surprising everyone again with the same move.
This move seemed to have some kind of endless magic to it as no matter what they did, they couldn’t avoid it.
Even though this third opponent had struck a posture of hard defense, he still had nowhere to go in the face of this move and was hurled off the stage with a look of despair.
“Can you not be this cruel?” He was thrown off the stage with this sad sigh.
However, he was rather lucky in that he actually found himself landing on his feet, and landing solidly at that.
With this, it looked like he had voluntarily jumped down.
This fellow may have had a thick face, but he knew that this was a result of the other person showing mercy. He grinned and suddenly had a feeling of wanting to hold his head up high.
d.a.m.n straight, I lost too.
I was also defeated with one move.
But I looked good and lost with flair. At least I landed with both feet and my landing pose was d.a.m.n elegant.
Weren’t those two fellows before, a third level and a second level, also thrown off stage? They were so pitiful looking. How could they compare to me, someone who landed so das.h.i.+ngly and with such poise?
This fellow actually started beaming when he thought about this and strolled back to his own camp. He was rather unique to be able to hold such a mentality in defeat.
However, he was also well aware that this secular champion hadn’t relegated him to the same fate as the two before him because he’d maintained a humble posture after setting foot in the ring and hadn’t spoken arrogantly. Perhaps it was this att.i.tude of someone on the weaker footing that had enabled him to save this little bit of face?
As his thoughts travelled here, not only did this sect disciple not hate Jiang Chen, but he slightly admired and even felt grateful towards him. He felt that although he had been defeated, there was a lot more face retained in his defeat compared to the two poor sods before him.
In this regard, those with discerning eyes grew even more shocked.
They finally understood that there had been great meaning behind this secular disciple using the same move all along. And, judging from their posture, it was obvious that he was doing so with skill and ease. Everything was under his control.
When looking at his third opponent, it was obvious that the champion had shown mercy. Otherwise, with a mere fourth level candidate, how was it possible that he hadn’t suffered any harm after being thrown off stage?
To be able to extend and retract his strength so easily, this level of strength made all candidates present sink into deep contemplation.
The examiner sighed with admiration, “This secular champion is indeed a martial dao genius. To be able to use this technique to such a level, isn’t something just anyone can manage. To be able to turn the foul and rotten into the rare and ethereal is absolutely the hallmark of a genius.”
“Continue.” Jiang Chen said only this when faced with the examiner’s questioning gaze.
Another opponent came into the ring and was once again thrown out with one move.
The same thing repeated when the fifth person came up!
Five opponents, the same move, but no one was able to break through this nor avoid the awkward situation of being defeated with a single blow.
Dan Fei was incredibly excited and kept applauding madly.
In this moment, the sect disciples didn’t even have the effort to spare on hating Dan Fei. They were all worried about one thing now.
That was — if I went up, how would I handle this move? How could I avoid the awkward situation of being defeated in one move?”
“Is this secular champion purposefully coming to the mystic quadrant to make a mess of things? This style of battle is simply too domineering? How will the rest of us live after this?”
“d.a.m.n it, this fellow must be purposefully slapping the face of the sect disciples. A secular village b.u.mpkin cultivator who doesn’t understand how to quit while he’s ahead. The h.e.l.l!”
The Cheng brothers also had an ugly expression on their faces.
They also felt slight regret in this moment as well. Judging from this secular champion’s posture, it seemed that the strength of both brothers combined wouldn’t be enough to fight against him.
If they met in the ring, they would be taken care of mercilessly. In the span of an instant, a sense of terrified fear filled their hearts. They continuously prayed that they wouldn’t be picked to meet this guy.
However, sometimes this world was just that coincidental.
The sixth opponent selected for Jiang Chen was Cheng Zhen.
Cheng Zhen, Purple Sun Sect, first level in the mystic quadrant.
Although he was a first level candidate, he had the feeling of wanting to weep but being unable to shed a tear. When it came down to it, he was also a cultivator of the fourth level spirit realm.
His younger cousin Cheng Lan was also of the fourth level spirit realm, but that was because he’d had a fortuitous occurrence lately that had helped him break through.
But he, Cheng Zhen, had broken through a year ago and thus his strength was vastly stronger than his cousin’s. But in this moment, he truly didn’t possess any confidence.
It wasn’t that his opponent was overwhelmingly strong, but that they were too bizarre.
He’d fought five matches up until now, but likely even the examiner had yet to figure out what this fellow’s methods were.
He used that singular move from beginning to end, and it was such a domineering and strange move. To outsiders, it looked like there was nothing to it. It seemed quite ordinary.
But when one took to the ring, it seemed that all challengers were ripe for the picking and had no form of defense.
Cheng Zhen almost wanted to suspect that this fellow was using some sort of evil, fey way!
However, the victor was king in the ring. Who cared what methods were deployed? The methods weren’t important, the results were.
Cheng Zhen walked up with a complex jumble of emotions. Although he didn’t have a firm emotional footing, the mentality of a sect disciple was still strong.
Cheng Zhen suppressed his emotions with effort. He knew that he couldn’t become timid. Once his presence became weaker than his opponent, it’d be even more difficult to win.
“I don’t believe that there’s no flaws to this guy at all! And, why do people always wait for him to make the first move? Why can’t I act first?”
Cheng Zhen seemed to receive boundless inspiration in the span of a moment. That’s right, why didn’t he make the first move? He suddenly felt all the others were idiots. One knew full well that the secular champion’s move was hard to resolve, then why not take the initiative and attack?
Jiang Chen stood to one side of the ring, looking at Cheng Zhen with a supercilious smile.
Enemies certainly lived in a small world. They had met in the ring in such a short amount of time.