Chapter 649: A Bizarre Match
“w.a.n.g Jing of the Sacred Sword Palace versus Mu Gaoqi of the Regal Pill Palace!” The match officially began with the referee’s announcement.
“Kid, are you going to kneel down politely and accept death, or do you want Master Jing to torture you to death?” w.a.n.g Jing took large strides forward as his qi of peak eighth level origin realm radiated out like a whale king. Akin to tremendous waves smas.h.i.+ng onto the coast, the aura was pure domination given form, cras.h.i.+ng down on Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen couldn’t help but laugh. Are those of the Sacred Sword Palace always so naive? They’re always so self righteous when bullying others.
If it’d truly been Mu Gaoqi standing here today, he’d have been in for a rough time. Sadly, it was not; it was Jiang Chen. He stood with both hands clasped behind his back, proudly upright in the face of the surging wind. One didn’t know if his posture came from being scared out of his wits due to the stunning whale king qi current, or whether it came from his deep confidence in his skills. Those watching beneath the stage were all immensely startled by the situation. They’d all heard of Mu Gaoqi’s reputation, but only of his potential in pill dao. No one thought much of his potential in martial dao. Yet here he was, standing with such posture!
“Sect Head, has Mu Gaoqi been scared witless?” A Sacred Sword Palace elder asked under his breath beside w.a.n.g Jianyu.
w.a.n.g Jianyu wasn’t some sort of mediocre flop. His vision was exceedingly sharp and a frown creased his face as he spoke, “This match won’t be easy. Everyone’s underestimated Mu Gaoqi.”
“Oh?”
“Let’s watch the match, there’s no need for further speculation.” w.a.n.g Jianyu waved his hands.
w.a.n.g Jing was a proud man, and when he saw how Mu Gaoqi stood there, unmoving in front of him, as he just accepted the whale king qi current wash over him, w.a.n.g Jing felt deeply offended. “Kid, your bravery comes from your complete lack of sense. Let’s see if I don’t knock some into you today!” w.a.n.g Jing rubbed his hands together as he worked himself up into a towering rage.
Multiple air currents coalesced around him to form ghastly corporeal white waves and roiled through the ring, as if an enormous whale weaving powerfully through the ocean.White capped waves churned as if whipped by a storm, instantly drowning the ring and swallowing Jiang Chen’s figure.
“Ai!” A crowd of sighs emanated from beneath the stage. When they’d seen ‘Mu Gaoqi’ stand there with such composed leisure, they’d thought he would have some stunning move. But to think that he would actually stand there like a wooden dummy, swallowed whole by the whale king qi current without even attempting to dodge! No matter how great his potential might be, what the heck could he do now that he’d been devoured by the whale king qi current and thoroughly trapped by the other’s tempo?
Rumble, rumble!
The momentum from the enormous waves of whale king qi was as if the rivers of heaven cascading down into the deep abyss below, as if m.u.f.fled thunder rolling over the sky on a clear day, each wave stronger than the one before and all churning towards that central area! Each wave was tremendously heavy and backed with great strength. w.a.n.g Jing had sent out at least five hundred waves with his furious move, if not a thousand. The destructive force of five hundred layered waves and the crus.h.i.+ng force they formed would crush even a mountain, much less a body of flesh and blood.
Judging from Mu Gaoqi’s strength, he was at most seventh level origin realm. Under such strong momentum from the waves, he would snap all his bones and tendons, if not pounded into meat paste. His organs might also be completely crushed, and his dantian and qi sea in tattered fragments.
“Sigh, this is so sad!”
“What a pity! I heard that Mu Gaoqi was an innate wood const.i.tution!”
“The Regal Pill Palace really made a misstep this time. What’s a pill dao genius doing here?”
“Right, it’s always been said that Palace Head Dan Chi’s wisdom has no failings. He’s truly made a mistake this time. How would he not know that the Sacred Sword Palace and their Regal Pill Palace are sworn enemies? They would have even more of a reason to destroy a genius of the Regal Pill Palace!”
“Right, Mu Gaoqi even offended w.a.n.g Han with his words earlier, so the disciples of the Sacred Sword Palace will have even less of a reason to let him off easily.”
“This was a moth to the flames, suicide!”
“Tsk tsk, I heard that Mu Gaoqi was already being hailed as the future pill king in the Regal Pill Palace, they were tooting their horn much too early, hmm?”
Out of the ma.s.s of sighs beneath the stage, some were delighting in the misery of others, some were feeling deeply regretful, and yet others didn’t care at all. Even Elder Lian Cheng couldn’t help but sneak a peek at Palace Head Dan Chi. He really wanted to see what expression that confident palace head would have on his face now. However, Elder Lian Cheng was disappointed to see that Dan Chi had an unconcerned expression on his face. There was even a hint of a meaningful smile playing on his lips, quite baffling Elder Lian Cheng. He almost couldn’t help but suspect that Palace Head Dan Chi had purposefully sent Mu Gaoqi off to his death! Although this suspicion was ludicrous, it appeared to be the most reasonable when everything was viewed holistically, and was the most apt explanation for the matters at hand.
The matches in the other rings had already ended by this time, and almost all sage realm geniuses had instantly defeated their opponents. w.a.n.g Han of the Sacred Sword Palace had already returned to w.a.n.g Jianyu’s side and was watching the frothing whale king qi current on stage with unspeakable glee. If it wasn’t for a matter of appearances, he almost wanted to crow to the sky.
“This kid is all talk. His true colors have come out once he’s set foot in the ring.” w.a.n.g Han flung a frosty look at Shen Qinghong as he snorted coldly. He was obviously telling Shen Qinghong that Mu Gaoqi’s current predicament was Shen Qinghong’s future.
Shen Qinghong snorted dismissively and looked at the ring with mixed emotions. He hadn’t liked Mu Gaoqi much before, but he’d suddenly understood after the trip to Mt. Rippling Mirage just how important unity was in a sect! It was such a pity for Mu Gaoqi to be destroyed in the ring with all his pill dao potential.
Bam, bam, bam, bam!
The sounds from the waves of whale king true qi slowly dissipated. They were powered by origin energy after all, so if their source of energy slowly vanished, so would the waves. All eyes were on the stage. Everyone wanted to see just how tragic Mu Gaoqi would be after this devastation. Some even suspected that he was likely a puddle of gory meat at this point in time. But, all their expressions froze int he next second.
When the overwhelming layers of waves disappeared and the scene on the stage cleared, a figure suddenly appeared in the center. It was standing there lazily and stretched even more indolently.
Mu Gaoqi!
At this moment, surprised flashed through even a heavyweight such as w.a.n.g Jianyu. Mu Gaoqi was actually standing in place and stretching lazily. He looked like he’d just had a good dream and still wanted to linger in it. How was this the demeanor of someone who"d just been crushed by waves of whale king qi?
Everyone watching the match was filled with baffled confusion. This completely upended everyone’s understanding of martial dao. Some even wondered if w.a.n.g Jiang had purposefully gone easy on his opponent, that he’d only looked domineering, but hadn’t used any true origin power at all? Otherwise, how could Mu Gaoqi be standing there so lazily, so at ease? How had he been subjected to a fatal attack at all? He looked like he’d just woken up!
“How can this be?” The previously strutting w.a.n.g Han was now slack jawed, his mouth open so wide that an entire bun could fit inside. He wouldn’t have been surprised at all if the other had been reduced to meat paste. He would’ve accepted it if the other’s bones and tendons had all been broken, and he was crawling on the ground. And yet, Mu Gaoqi stood there completely unharmed. That lazy stretch had been a crisp slap to the Sacred Sword Palace, and one that caught everyone in the sect completely off guard!
The step seemed to echo around the entire arena, everyone seemed to be able to hear it. Shen Qinghong’s originally tense nerves suddenly relaxed. This immense rise and fall had also greatly affected his mindset as well. He couldn’t understand it at all, how could junior brother Mu Gaoqi have become so heaven defying all of a sudden? His thoughts were different from others as he felt that there was no way anyone from the Sacred Sword Palace would show mercy to the Regal Pill Palace. There must be something going on here that he didn’t know!
Equally baffled was Shen Qinghong’s martial dao master, Elder Lian Cheng. Contrary to Shen Qinghong, Elder Lian Cheng felt a hint of something else in addition to his stunned astonishment. He couldn’t help but sneak another glance at Dan Chi, and saw that that unconcerned smile still clung on Dan Chi’s face. However, that meaningful lilt to his lips was even more obvious now. Could it be that Palace Head Dan Chi had long since antic.i.p.ated this scene?
Those of the other sects were even more taken aback. It was obvious that the immense rises and falls of this unexpected scene had caused everyone’s emotions to soar and plummet accordingly. They were unable to calm themselves after a long while.
“This is crazy! How strong is Mu Gaoqi, or did w.a.n.g Jing go easy?”
“Even a sage realm genius wouldn’t be completely unharmed after such a strong impact, right?”
“Isn’t Mu Gaoqi a pill dao genius? When was he so accomplished in terms of martial dao?”
“Tsk tsk, it looks like the Regal Pill Palace is still superior in the end!”
“Who knows, perhaps Mu Gaoqi had some special treasure that just so happened to counter the whale king qi currents? There is always a counter for something in the world of martial dao, this isn’t outside the realm of possibilities.”
“Ah, right. It’s not impossible that Mu Gaoqi’s used some strong defense talisman to block this blow!”
Those who were watching concluded that this must be the case, whereas w.a.n.g Jing was staring with eyes as wide as copper coins, staring fixedly at Jiang Chen and unable to return to his previous state of mind. He’d thought of many possible outcomes, but not this one!”
“Kid, your Regal Pill Palace is rather generous huh, to give you such a strong defense talisman! But, no matter how strong it is, it will only protect you once!”
Jiang Chen lightly flicked off some dust on his sleeve and laughed softly. “What defense talisman? Don’t delude yourself.”
“What do you mean?” w.a.n.g Jing’s tone sank.
“Do you want to blame it on your opponent using a talisman everytime you fail? Is this the logic of the Sacred Sword Palace?” Jiang Chen smiled superciliously.
w.a.n.g Jing was immensely enraged and roared out, “Still putting on an act huh!? You won’t admit to what you’ve done?! Alright, let’s see how Master Jing beats you down to your true form with my next blow!”
Whale king qi currents were just the appetizer, his technique of Whale King Sword Aura was the main course!