Chapter 347: A Stab That Turns the Complex, Simple
Ouyang Jian’s cultivation level was also at fourth level spirit realm.
But in terms of martial dao realm and vision, his fourth level spirit realm was completely different from Jiang Chen’s.
The speed of his Sixteen Blows of the Raging Python of Flames was indeed astounding, and the momentum of his sword quite overwhelming.
But for Jiang Chen, what he feared the least was the kind of physical attack that emphasized speed and momentum.
Speed?
To an ordinary cultivator of the fourth level, this strike was indeed fast. But to Jiang Chen, this speed was only ordinary.
Ferocious?
The momentum of a wild python was a bit ferocious to an ordinary cultivator, but to Jiang Chen, this kind of momentum was no different from randomly barging about.
At the heart of it all, this level of this technique was nothing compared to Jiang Chen’s level of knowledge.
Jiang Chen didn’t even want to bring out his nameless saber. Instead, he took out a feather from the Fire Raven King’s tail.
Light suddenly exploded in his eyes as the tail feather suddenly shot out, as if an agreement had been reached.
Ding.
A crisp collision rang out.
Jiang Chen had used this tail feather to stab directly at the other’s Fire Python Sword, despite the tens of thousands of sword shadows.
This seemingly careless stab had seemed simple, but it’d actually broken though all of the other’s complex sword movements with one move, making straight for the heart of the attack.
Even Master Shuiyue, who’d been wearing a distant expression up until now, frowned slightly at this move.
One’s true level of skill was revealed when one made a move.
In Master Shuiyue’s eyes, whether it’d been Ouyang Jian or the secular genius, they’d all been showing off and deploying overly flowery moves in previous battles, with no fatal blows that spoke to the heart of martial dao.
However, Jiang Chen’s ordinary stab had caught Master Shuiyue’s attentions.
This stab that had reduced the complex to the simple had absolutely grasped the true meaning of martial dao. There were no theatrics, and no flashy poses that looked cool.
There was only this one stab that had completely destroyed all the illusions arising from the Raging Python of Flames, and had directly pierced the core of Ouyang Jian’s stroke.
This stab was composed of absolute essence!
Countless sparks flew from the Flaming Python Sword as it connected with the feather. Ouyang Jian felt a surge of pressure pus.h.i.+ng rapidly down on him.
He couldn’t help but back up multiple steps in succession before finally managing to find his footing.
When he looked again at the Flaming Python Sword, he noticed with horror that a chip had appeared on its edge where the weapons had just clashed. The spirit weapon that he was so proud of, one that had been refined six times over, had seen such a horrifying wound form on it!
“This sounds like it was the trump card you were relying the most on? That’s all it amounted to.” Jiang Chen chuckled. “I’ve already taken the blow from your so-called Raging Python of Flames. Now, you take one of mine!”
Jiang Chen raised his arm as he spoke as a strange rhythm, a marvelous tempo, suddenly made the surroundings move to a bizarre beat.
Suddenly—
Jiang Chen’s body dashed forward as a bolt of lightning flashed through the air.
Ouyang Jian had discovered that the other’s strange weapon had already stabbed to his face.
“Ah!” Ouyang Jian hurriedly raised his sword and barely managed to defend himself.
Ding, ding, ding…
Crisp sounds of collision rang out ten times in a row.
Ouyang Jian’s Flaming Python Sword broke apart at every inch and fell to the ground piece by piece.
“Just about time now, hmm?” Jiang Chen whistled cleanly as he sent his arm forward, stabbing the Fire Raven King’s tail feather directly between Ouyang Jian’s eyebrows.
Ouyang Jian had no place to retreat to; all avenues of retreat had been blocked off. The only thing he could do was shut his eyes and wait for death.
Suddenly, a piece of snow white silk suddenly shot out connected with the tail feather in Jiang Chen’s hands with a flash of brilliant light.
Jiang Chen felt his arm go numb and his blood churn. The tail feather in his hand was knocked askew and didn’t connect with Ouyang Jian.
“That’s enough!” A cold, dignified, and dispa.s.sionate voice resounded.
Ouyang Jian had s.n.a.t.c.hed his life from the jaws of death, and cold sweat had broken out all over his body. When he heard the voice, he knew that it was Master Shuiyue who’d made a move to save him.
Jiang Chen knew that an expert had interfered when his strike failed. He snorted lightly and quickly adjusted his stance, looking at Master Shuiyue and asking frostily, “What does the master mean by this?”
Master Shuiyue responded noncommittal, “You’ve won. Why show no mercy?”
“I only ask, are the examiners allowed to interfere?” Jiang Chen asked faintly.
Jiang Chen seemed calm, but he was seething with rage inside. Why show no mercy since I’d won? How fake are these words? Would this old woman say this if Ouyang Jian had won?
However, Jiang Chen knew that the Purple Sun Sect had always been a domineering sort. It was pointless to reason with them.
This sect subscribed to the belief that strength was king. They only acknowledged power and strength. Therefore, Jiang Chen hadn’t the slightest desire to reason with them.
To do so for someone who didn’t accept logic at all was to preach to deaf ears, like playing a lute to a cow.
There was only one way to handle people like her, and that was to use a strength even more powerful than hers to beat, trample, and crush her until she submitted.
Although Jiang Chen was completely enraged, he also knew that there was no benefit to be gained in erupting in open hostilities with this old woman now. Therefore, even though his anger soared to the high heavens, he still didn’t curse loudly in open hostility.
Master Shuiyue said calmly, “As long as it doesn’t interfere with the win or loss, an examiner naturally has the authority to handle some unexpected incidents. Whyever not?”
She had spoken so shamelessly, so what else could Jiang Chen say?
He thought viciously, this old woman is much stronger than me at the moment; there’s temporarily no need to cast aside all considerations of face.
He snorted coldly and moved to the side, looking at Ouyang Jian with mockery, “Relying on the seniors of your sect to protect you, this is all you’ll ever amount to in this life.”
Ouyang Jian had nothing to say to this, and was beside himself with shame.
Jiang Chen naturally couldn’t continue his challenges after b.u.mping into something like this. He smiled coldly and flicked a glance at Master Shuiyue. He then glided down from the ring with a flip of his body, akin to a soaring eagle.
Master Shuiyue was enraged at heart as well. As an elder in the Purple Sun Sect, her position was high and authority immense. Now that she was the keeper of the earth quadrant, no one dared naysay her when she spoke.
All of the earth quadrant candidates acted like a mouse seeing a cat whenever they saw her.
However, this secular disciple had not only dared talk back to her, but that look in his eyes and that tone was completing dismissing her, a sect heavyweight!
Whether it was from the perspective of her power and influence, or from the perspective of her own looks and demeanor, Master Shuiyue was completely unable to accept being dismissed like this.
Jiang Chen alighted from the elevated ring and sat down cross legged in a patch of open ground with an indifferent expression.
He was the only secular disciple in the earth quadrant and as a result, stood out quite a bit.
Although he was a bit lonely without companions, he didn’t mind it that much.
However, with the momentum he’d displayed in destroying Ouyang Jian just now, no one dared overlook his existence in the earth quadrant now.
Although Jiang Chen was resting with his eyes closed, he could still feel the looks of judgement being levied upon him from all sides. He knew that his show of strength in that battle just now had likely aroused much interest.
This wasn’t a bad thing, but wasn’t a good thing either.
Jiang Chen didn’t pay it much heed. His strength would’ve been revealed sooner or later as the challenges went on. As long as his trump cards were enough, he feared nothing.
Thus, he had voluntarily given up further challenges. In this way, his score for the day was set at two successive victories.
“Brother, not a bad showing.”
Laughter came from behind Jiang Chen. A young man with all sorts of strange shapes drawn over his face walked up, greeting Jiang Chen with a kind tone.
Jiang Chen knew this person. He seemed to remember that the newcomer was from the Myriad Spirit Sect and was called Liu Wencai.
This person had been the seventh seed in the mystic quadrant and had once invited Jiang Chen to have a drink with him, but Jiang Chen had declined at that time.
Jiang Chen had a decent impression of this person. As the seventh seed, he hadn’t been afraid when faced with first seed Guo Ren.
This bit of backbone had made Jiang Chen think higher of him.
This fellow had ended up ranking at number eight in the mystic quadrant Hundred Challenges, entering the earth quadrant with Jiang Chen. However, his ident.i.ty was more ordinary in the earth quadrant.
He’d had a few hangers-on no matter where he had gone in the mystic quadrant. Now that he was in the earth quadrant, he was devoid of anyone by his side.
The earth quadrant was filled with preliminary first tier geniuses. They naturally wouldn’t be Liu Wencai’s followers.
Jiang Chen lightly raised his eyelid and asked faintly, “You want to invite me to have a drink again?”
Liu Wencai chuckled, “Things are regulated too strictly around here, I wouldn"t dare ask you for a drink. Everyone knows that Master Shuiyue isn’t someone to be trifled with. I don’t want to run afoul of her.”
Jiang Chen declined to comment and nodded carelessly.
“You were too cool just now when you trampled Ouyang Jian.” An excited light flashed through Liu Wencai’s eyes. “I underestimated you before. It looks like you’re still a fish in water in the earth quadrant.”
He seemed to then think of his own fate as he sighed lightly, “Not like me, I’m probably just going for a walk here. It’s likely that I’m going back to the mystic quadrant after this cycle.”
There was a large a.s.sembly of talents in the earth quadrant, with experts as common as the clouds. Liu Wencai had also discovered over these two days that even a seeded candidate like him ran into walls wherever he went in this quadrant. His own peers were indifferent to him.
This kind of feeling of defeat made him feel a great psychological drop from his expectations. He had a feeling of having nowhere to vent his feelings!
It was precisely this feeling of a setback and subsequent loneliness that made him feel close to Jiang Chen when he saw the latter displaying his prowess.
He didn’t have his own circle in the earth quadrant. His peers in the Myriad Spirit Sect hadn’t accepted him either because their friends.h.i.+ps were ordinary. So when he saw Jiang Chen, someone he was somewhat familiar with, crush Ouyang Jian, he also felt a shared sense of glory.
This was because he felt that everyone had risen from the spirit quadrant, so he genuinely felt happy for and proud of Jiang Chen.
In addition, the loneliness in his heart made him want to find someone that he could pour out his sorrows to, someone who he could chat to or even form a clique with.
Except, with his understanding of Jiang Chen before, this secular genius wasn’t the sort who would get along with anyone, so he’d gathered quite a bit of courage to approach Jiang Chen.
This mentality was completely different to how he was in the mystic quadrant. He’d been a seeded opponent in the mystic quadrant, full of confidence.
He’d received no end of a cold treatment wherever he went after arriving here for two days. This made some small cracks appear in his confidence.