Chapter 399: The Ranking Battles
In a secluded corner of the sky quadrant, not too far away.
Elder Shun witnessed all of what had transpired in the sky quadrant. The moment that Jiang Chen had ripped off his mask, a look that this result was in accordance with his expectations appeared on his face.
“Huang’er, I’ve discovered that old man Qian Ji’s divination seems to be more and more the real deal. Jiang Chen is very likely to be the fated person in his divination. Exactly as what I’d thought, Jiang Chen has chosen the Precious Tree Sect. His mind is not a simple one indeed.”
Huang’er’s limpid eyes moved slightly as she walked up gracefully with the posture of a refined lotus.
“Elder Shun, you’ve been observing this person from the shadows. Why don’t you just go to him?” Huang’er was also slightly curious about Elder Shun’s intentions.
“Haha, I will go to him, but the timing is not yet right. Huang’er, try putting yourself in his shoes, if you were a cultivator from a secular kingdom, and an enormous being obviously several times stronger than you suddenly came to you, asking you to diagnose an illness—would you agree, even if you were skilled with medicine?”
Elder Shun smiled faintly, the light of wisdom dancing in his eyes.
Huang’er’s eyelashes fluttered as a trace of understanding appeared in a smile on her face with unparalleled beauty.
“Huang’er understands.”
Elder Shun smiled, “I’ve observed him and he is greatly principled. Going at it in a brusque and hard manner will never do. This is why I saved him at the Second Crossing, so that he would remember my favor and slowly accept us. Jiang Chen is one who feels grat.i.tude. If we leave a good impression on him and strike up a good relations.h.i.+p, then he certainly won’t sit idly by. If I hold my ident.i.ty over him and use my strength to suppress him, it might actually backfire, given his personality. Even if he agrees, he might not act wholeheartedly.”
One had to say, Elder Shun had sharp insight into human nature.
To make an a.n.a.logy, this was as if someone of the royal household suddenly ran into a commoner’s house and asked the civilian to cure his ailment.
The commoner would absolutely harbor all sorts of suspicions and be afraid of being held liable for risk. They’d certainly think of an excuse to avoid this.
Once Elder Shun used his ident.i.ty to compel Jiang Chen and caused him to feel very reluctant, then all would be truly over then.
Elder Shun had absolute power, but he didn’t have absolute guarantee in controlling Jiang Chen and making him submit. And with Elder Shun’s personality, he didn’t want to bully anyone.
The most important thing was, he couldn’t risk it.
If Jiang Chen was someone who would rather die than give in and didn’t respond well to tough tactics, then everything would be beyond repair.
Therefore, Elder Shun had been observing Jiang Chen from the shadows, biding his time. He too wanted to take another step forward and verify whether old man Qian Ji’s divination would be fulfilled by Jiang Chen.
After seeing the events of today, Elder Shun finally had more than ninety percent certain of it.
He was now considering on how best to approach Jiang Chen in a manner that wouldn’t lead to contradiction, and how to entice him to act on their behalf with greatest effort.
Elder Shun knew that the difference was great when a healer didn’t exert themselves to fullest effort.
…...
The final sixteen had been settled in the sky quadrant.
What followed next was the ranking of the final sixteen.
“Everyone, although you have your own places, but it’s said that there is no runner up in martial dao. A ranking of the strongest must be determined amongst your martial dao geniuses. Therefore, the ranking matches to commence next are equally important. Who can ascend to the apex of the sixteen kingdom alliance? Who will reign over the other geniuses? Who will lead the future of the sixteen kingdoms?”
“Now, you have the opportunity to prove yourselves in the rings. Bring out all your potential and strength, your enthusiasm and courage, and unleash yourselves in the ring!”
Sunchaser’s words had an unstoppable momentum, with a thick sense of the intent to kill within them.
It was obvious that he wanted to regain all the face he’d lost when Ceng s.h.i.+ had betrayed him. He wished to reform the Purple Sun Sect’s dignity through the ranking matches!
With the two great insurance factors of Long Juxue and Lei Gangyang, he would definitely be able to suppress all the geniuses and sweep them all.
Forefather Sunchaser’s demeanor was awe inspiring, but the cultivators all had their own plans. It was obvious that they weren’t going to boil with enthusiasm just with a few words from forefather Sunchaser and forget all about their own plans.
Everyone had their own paths for their path of martial dao.
However, they weren’t exactly opposed to the idea of ranking battles.
Aside from the Purple Sun Sect, the one who was most looking forward to this was Jiang Chen.
The rules of the ranking battles were the same as the rules from before.
Number one would match up against number sixteen, two and fifteen, and so on and so forth.
The rankings were the ones previously determined in the selection.
Therefore, Liu Wencai was ranked number sixteen, and his opponent was Long Juxue.
Second place Lei Gangyang would be facing off against his peer Luo Huang.
Third place Luo Xi’s opponent was Luo Shuihan of the Flowing Wind Sect.
…...
Jiang Chen would be facing off against a Myriad Spirit Sect disciple.
Although Liu Wencai’s potential had been excavated, his starting point was far less than Long Juxue’s. So although he didn’t let Long Juxue easily win this match, he didn’t give her too much of a challenge either.
Ninelion also kept his eye on this match, obviously on his guard against Long Juxue dealing a fatal blow to Liu Wencai.
She did indeed have this intention, but Liu Wencai was quite smart and never gave her the chance to land a killing blow. When he knew full well that he couldn’t win out against his foe, he conceded the match with a das.h.i.+ng grace.
Jiang Chen also easily took home the victory for his match. The Myriad Spirit Sect disciple’s strength was alright, but far inferior to Liu Wencai or Tang Hong’s.
Jiang Chen also felt that this outcome was a bit of a pity for Liu Wencai. If he hadn’t met with Long Juxue, he absolutely would’ve had a chance to take another step forward.
The most fascinating match of this round was eighth place Ceng s.h.i.+ and ninth place Tang Hong.
Having just defected to the venerated Icemist, Ceng s.h.i.+ was of obvious mind to display his potential and strength. The two of them battled until they sank into utter darkness and chaos, but a victor still hadn’t been determined when time was called.
Finally, whoever held the advantage during the fight was used to determine the victor. With Tang Hong’s domineering style of fighting, he naturally held a bit more of the upper hand.
Ceng s.h.i.+ lost the match with resignation, but won the ratification of his peers in the Flowing Wind Sect as a result.
After all, even first genius s.h.i.+ Yunyun in the Flowing Wind Sect admitted honestly that if she met Tang Hong, she might not have been able to win.
This was because some changes had occurred in Tang Hong’s body. These changes had caused his strength to increase explosively in the last three months.
After the first round, the top eight made it into the upper half, and the lower eight was a.s.signed to the bottom half to continue and fight for a ranking.
The top eight were Long Juxue, Lei Gangyang, Luo Xi, s.h.i.+ Yunyun, Lian Canghai, Jiang Chen, Xie Yufan, and Tang Hong.
The Precious Tree Sect became the greatest winner all of a sudden.
The Purple Sun Sect had held the absolute advantage in the list of the final sixteen, as they’d had five spots.
After a round of placements, there were only two of them in the top eight, but four from the Precious Tree Sect.
That left one each for the Myriad Spirit Sect and Flowing Wind Sect.
Long Juxue’s opponent in the second round was Tang Hong.
Jiang Chen’s was now Luo Xi of the Myriad Spirit Sect.
As his sect’s top genius, Luo Xi had held the t.i.tle without a doubt before Liu Wencai’s appearance. He was at the peak of the sixth level spirit realm and was only a step away from setting foot into the sky spirit realm.
This kind of opponent was indeed the strongest Jiang Chen had met so far.
However, it was Luo Xi’s unlucky day to run into Jiang Chen. They were both a step away from the sky spirit realm, but Jiang Chen firmly suppressed him no matter in every aspect.
Therefore, when the battle commenced, even though Luo Xi used all of his trump cards and deployed his fighting strength to its utmost, he was still unable to defeat Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen defeated Luo Xi without having to call upon his trump cards.
However, he was so strong that Jiang Chen was almost forced to do so.
As for Tang Hong, although he was brave and fierce, he didn’t pose too much of a threat to Long Juxue. Rather, her azure phoenix freezing qi sealed off his blood vessels and almost took his life.
It was a good thing that forefather Thousandleaf was present to render timely aid.
When he saw Tang Hong injured thus by Long Juxue, Jiang Chen was also greatly incensed. He knew that this was Long Juxue demonstrating her might and prowess to him.
“Long Juxue, I’ll let you strut for another two days.” Unbounded killing intent surged in Jiang Chen’s heart.
Lei Gangyang and s.h.i.+ Yunyun also triumphed over their opponents in the other two matches.
In this way, apart from Jiang Chen taking out Luo Xi, the four great geniuses ranked in the top four all made it to the semi finals.
However, the greater picture was quite apparent now. Long Juxue and Lei Gangyang were both of the sky spirit realm, whereas s.h.i.+ Yunyun and Jiang Chen were peak of the sixth level spirit realm.
Therefore, everyone felt that the fight for champion would fall between the two Purple Sun Sect geniuses.
In the semi finals, s.h.i.+ Yunyun would be of no threat to Long Juxue.
Whereas Jiang Chen wasn’t favored to win out over Lei Gangyang either. Although Jiang Chen had had that one experience in resisting Lei Gangyang, he’d left promptly thereafter.
In the eyes of the outside world, Jiang Chen still failed to cross over into the sky spirit realm in the end, so his chances of victory in this match were scant.
“Gangyang, I hope Ceng s.h.i.+’s matter hasn’t casted a shadow over you. You must try your best and suppress that perverse animal Jiang Chen.” Forefather Sunchaser warned.
Lei Gangyang nodded, a frightful battle intent s.h.i.+ning out of his eyes. “Don’t worry forefather, I have my sights set on the champion. Jiang Chen is just a stepping stone on my path of martial dao. I will certainly stride over him and battle fairly and openly with junior sister Long to determine who is the better!”
There were two layers of meaning to Lei Gangyang’s words. One in that he was respecting old monster Sunchaser’s words and would seek to kill Jiang Chen with all his might, the second that he was also expressing his stance that I, Lei Gangyang, will not hand over the position of boss without a fight. I will fight openly and fairly with Long Juxue to determine who is the best amongst us.
This also meant that I hope you senior executives won’t be biased towards Long Juxue!
The birth of the semi-finalists also meant that the ranking battles were proceeding to the most delightful stages. Fascinating fights continued without end, and the last question was—would Long Juxue overcome all and successfully ascend to the top? Or will others turn by the tide through heroic efforts and halt her rise?
In terms of the general sentiment, whether open discussions or hushed whispers, almost all were favoring Long Juxue with her innate const.i.tution.