Chapter 392: The Second Round of Matches Begin
It was said that nothing was more lamentable than a dead heart.
Chu Xinghan suddenly felt that he had been turned into a p.a.w.n in the Shuiyue faction of the Purple Sun Sect, and the one who’d done so was the master who he’d always looked up to.
The path of martial dao was one of defying one’s fate. No one was born to be the p.a.w.n of another. That wouldn’t do, not even if the one casting the p.a.w.ns was one’s own master.
Seeing that Chu Xinghan had remained silent, Master Shuiyue’s brow furrowed. “Xinghan, your dao heart has been unstable lately and you’ve been thinking wild, random thoughts. Have you forgotten the debt of grat.i.tude that you owe to your master for raising you?”
“Junior brother Xinghan, you only need to drag Jiang Chen down a bit or force him to show his hand. That would be enough of an achievement. It’s a bit difficult to expect from you to kill that swine. You couldn’t do it that day in the Second Crossing, and you will likely be unable to do so now.”
Long Juxue had faced Jiang Chen that day and had nearly been killed. It was Chu Xinghan’s timely arrival that had saved Long Juxue.
But she’d wanted him to kill Jiang Chen, and Chu Xinghan hadn’t done so. He’d advocated his own agenda to take Jiang Chen alive.
He’d ended up pa.s.sing up the best timing to kill Jiang Chen and let him be saved by someone else instead.
Long Juxue had always held a grudge about this. What she remembered was how Chu Xinghan hadn’t respected her wishes and killed Jiang Chen when she wanted him to. She’d even forgotten that he’d saved her life.
She’d held a grudge against Chu Xinghan this whole time. She was also making use of this opportunity to vent her feelings and had actually called him “junior brother Xinghan” instead!
One had to know that Chu Xinghan was a full seven to eight years older than Long Juxue.
He’d hailed Master Shuiyue as his master for twenty years before Long Juxue. But now, she was actually calling him “junior brother Xinghan”!
The second disciple beneath Master Shuiyue, a top ten disciple in the Purple Sun Sect had now become a p.a.w.n, and a disposable one at that!
All for this woman? For this heartless woman?
Chu Xinghan’s eyes suddenly grew frosty as he looked coldly at Long Juxue without saying a word.
The phrase “junior brother Xinghan” had made his heart completely die inside.
Because when Long Juxue had voiced this hurtful t.i.tle, his honored master Shuiyue had had a wooden expression on her face, as if all of this was natural and a given.
Chu Xinghan was as insensate as wood. Like a walking corpse without a soul, standing there dumbly.
“Think carefully, don’t betray the expectations your master has of you.” Master Shuiyue also furrowed her brow when she saw Chu Xinghan’s display and walked away after these cold words.
Long Juxue laughed coldly and ran her gaze without restraint over Chu Xinghan’s body, the disdain and contempt in her gaze were as if she was looking at trash.
Chu Xinghan’s self-respect had vanished without a trace in front of his honored master and Long Juxue’s cruel, stone-hearted actions.
He could almost hear his heart drip with blood.
Chu Xinghan stood dumbly beneath the moonlight, his resolute dao heart struggling in the depths of mire.
“My grat.i.tude towards the master runs deep, but I must repay her with my life? It would be one thing if I had to lay down my life for the honored master. But for that faithless and heartless person, for that Long Juxue, the honored master wants me to be the p.a.w.n to kill Jiang Chen? This isn’t right!”
Chu Xinghan’s martial dao wasn’t as strong as Long Juxue’s, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have the will to pursue the boundless path of martial dao.
Even ants held on to their ign.o.ble existence, much less someone with flesh and blood like Chu Xinghan.
He wasn’t afraid of death, but he really didn’t want to die in such a stupid fas.h.i.+on. There was no worth in this death. He really didn’t want to die for someone he hated!
“Forget it, I cannot defy my master’s orders. I have my accomplishments of today because of my honored master. Junior brothers Hai Tian and He Yan all paid their lives for the honored master’s wishes as well. I, Chu Xinghan, am a true man. Can I be the sort to forget my debts of grat.i.tude? The honored master has given me my accomplishments of today and so I will repay her with my death.”
Chu Xinghan sighed lightly, “However, Jiang Chen has no grudge or feud with me. What am I detonating my own spirit ocean to take him with me for? Just for that heartless b*tch Long Juxue?”
Chu Xinghan was a real man alright, one with his own opinions of what was right or wrong. Although he’d only met Jiang Chen once, and under the guise of enemies, he truly admired Jiang Chen from the depths of his heart and admired his clear delineation of love and hate, of grat.i.tude and grudge.
Whereas Long Juxue had given Chu Xinghan an impression of selfishness and slipperiness, a villain out for her own gains, as well as a feeling of—b*tches will be b*tches.
He had to put his life on the line for someone he hated to take down someone he admired!
“Long Juxue, just how are you worthy of this? Should the entire sect fawn over you just because you have an innate const.i.tution? I, Chu Xinghan, am a fine man with a life ahead of me, why must I die for you? I can die and give this life back to my honored master, but I will never do something this stupid as to harm another without benefitting myself!”
Chu Xinghan had made up his mind in this moment.
He was going to fight with the faith of sure death. He wanted to die openly and justly beneath Jiang Chen’s hand, but he wouldn’t use a method as stupid as detonating his spirit ocean!
…….
His next opponent, Chu Xinghan?
Jiang Chen a.n.a.lyzed the compet.i.tion and discovered who his next opponent was as well.
Jiang Chen wasn’t unfamiliar with Chu Xinghan. A rather tall figure dressed in hemp with its eyes like the starry night with a vague hint of desolation within them, arose in Jiang Chen’s mind.
If he were to say that he had any bit of good feelings towards any of the Purple Sun Sect fellows, then Chu Xinghan would be the one.
That person, from beginning to end, had never given off the feeling of overwhelming arrogance nor of considering himself far above the ma.s.ses. He’d never treated those in the ordinary world as ants simply because he was a sect disciple.
According to Jiang Chen’s thoughts, he would kill all Purple Sun Sect disciples on sight.
However, he left a ray of hope for Chu Xinghan. He remembered when he’d saved Long Juxue at the Second Crossing.
Had he wanted to and used his full strength, he would’ve absolutely killed Jiang Chen.
But he hadn’t, and had given Jiang Chen a choice instead.
Although those choices had been meaningless to Jiang Chen, for someone with an absolute advantage in power to not abuse it, giving his opponents a choice instead, this at the very least depicted Chu Xinghan as a cultivator with a sense of morals and ethics.
“I, Jiang Chen, separate my grudges and favors well. You gave me a choice then, I will also give you a choice now.”
Jiang Chen had already come up with a strategy in his heart.
He threw all thoughts of the compet.i.tion to the side and started training seriously again. Although he still needed some time until he could break through to the sky spirit realm, Jiang Chen’s goal was set.
He’d always believed that on the path of martial dao, a bit more effort would lead to a bit more gain.
None of the candidates relaxed during the two days of rest.
The second round officially commenced after two days.
There were sixteen matches in the second round. With four matches a day, only four days would be needed to go through them all.
The matches of the second round would naturally not be as smooth-going as the first round.
After a round of eliminations, the ones left were the elites amongst the elite. The matches between closely ranked candidates gave birth to even greater sparks.
In the four matches on the first day, there were some who paid the price with their lives and others who were heavily injured.
But all of it was worthy it.
Because anyone who won directly advanced to the top 16, becoming someone that the forefathers would focus on training.
Within the ring.
Liu Wencai’s heart was as calm as still water. All that he’d experienced after entering the sect flashed before his eyes. His life until the mystic quadrant, the earth quadrant, and the turn his life had taken.
All because he’d met someone who’d changed his life, Brother Boulder from the mundane world.
Although he’d never asked about Brother Boulder’s ident.i.ty up until now, Liu Wencai had long since respected Brother Boulder as an elder brother, like a mentor and like a friend.
“I must win for Brother Boulder. Those who get in my way must die!”
Liu Wencai’s faith was resolute as he looked at his opponent calmly. This opponent was Iron Dazhi from the Precious Tree Sect.
Iron Dazhi had received the heritage of the Iron family and risen to sixth level spirit realm. He stood solidly in the top four of the Precious Tree Sect’s geniuses and felt that he would have no problem making it into the top 16.
As such, his confidence at the moment was incredibly inflated.
“You’re called Iron Dazhi? If you want to introduce yourself as the heir to the Iron family, then save it. I know everything about you, and am only considering one thing here.”
“What?” Iron Dazhi laughed coldly.
“How to kick you the h.e.l.l out of this ring!” Liu Wencai said faintly.
“Tsk, tsk. If I recall correctly, you’re just an ant who made his way up from the mystic quadrant. You know everything about me? So what? That traitor Tang Hong betrayed his own sect, but did he not tell you that an ant like you will never be able to go up against the strength of a sect genius?”
Iron Dazhi gave a long peal of laughter as he made a grasping motion and a long halberd appeared in his hand. This halberd was noticeably different from the one that Jiang Chen had seen in the Skylaurel Kingdom.
This halberd was bronze in color, with some indistinct glyphs leaping around the air as he waved it, giving one a spectacular feeling as the glyphs changed in countless ways.
For the geniuses of the sect, the greatest advantage they enjoyed, apart from high potential, was resources.
Iron Dazhi’s potential wasn’t the best, but he was a direct descendant in the Iron family and had absolute advantage in resources. This Bronze Dragon Ironthreaded Halberd was a family inheritance, and a spirit weapon that Iron Long had greatly treasured for long.
The Black Dragon Halberd that Iron Dazhi had used before was on a completely different level to this one.
The Bronze Dragon Ironthreaded Halberd was an eight times refined spirit weapon. If it completed the nine refinement, it would become a peak existence amongst spirit weapons.
“Iron Dazhi, you’ll very quickly know who’s the ant here.” Liu Wencai’s gaze was faint as his aura flared. “Make your move.”
Iron Dazhi leered. “Stubborn and refusing to see the errors of your ways. Then die!”
Iron Dazhi was highly confident with this battle. His goal was to charge into the top sixteen, and his very minimum goal in this selection.
He wanted to become a personal disciple of the origin realm forefathers!
Therefore, he wouldn’t tolerate any missteps in this fight. He immediately hauled out the legendary weapon handed down within his family and deployed it with his heritage of halberd techniques, transforming into an air current and charging towards Liu Wencai!