Chapter 162: Chapter 162: 50 Consecutive Wins (Part 2) (Thanks to the generous reward from Phantom-IceHeart!)
Shi Xiaole’s eleventh opponent was a man with a sharp presence.
From his eyes and eyebrows to his movements and gestures, even the shallow smile at the corner of his mouth, they all gave people a very sharp feeling, making one feel uneasy after longer observation.
"The Murderous Viper."
"It’s him."
The complexion of the martial artists who frequented the Gold Silver Jade Copper Platform changed, and even those who didn’t, seemed startled.
The Murderous Viper was the man’s alias, and also the way the martial world evaluated him.
No one knew the man’s name, only that he was more cunning and ruthless than a viper. In order to kill, he would use every method at his disposal.
He once battled with a warrior of equal power. When his strength was exhausted, he energetically consumed his last bit of food to restore his energy, then bit his opponent’s throat piece by piece, sucking out most of the fresh blood.
People who witnessed this scene were scared into fainting.
Since then, upon hearing the five words "The Murderous Viper", everyone in the martial world trembled in fear, in case they met this madman.
"Kid, running into me is the biggest misfortune of your life."
The man’s smile widened, squinting his eyes like a spectacled cobra, causing many martial artists behind Shi Xiaole to shudder all over.
As the target, Shi Xiaole frowned, not out of fear but inexplicable disgust.
Clang.
The dazzling sword tip tore through the void, leaving a long trace in midair.
With a plop!
"How dare you ambush me?"
The man was infuriated, and blood flowed from his hand holding the sword.
He found it more concerning that, although he had estimated Shi Xiaole’s strength from his previous ten matches and thought he could fight him, the last sword showed him that Shi Xiaole’s strength was deeper than he had imagined.
Without saying anything, Shi Xiaole twisted his wrist, and the long sword rose up diagonally from the bottom.
"Viper Slash!"
The man roared, swinging his sword at Shi Xiaole, and a gray light lit up on the blade, like a viper coiling in the air, baring its fangs from different angles.
Admittedly, this man did have true skills. The intricacy of his sword path and the lethality of his sword technique greatly surpassed the previous ten opponents.
But..
Without even looking, Shi Xiaole shook and flicked his long sword, and that distorted gray light was shattered clean. The next moment, the long sword swept over, and an arm flew into the air.
"Ahh..."
The man screamed as he flew, his eyes filled with resentment.
Shi Xiaole swung his hand again.
Screams resounded again, this time the man’s eyes bled, he could see nothing, he could only spin on the spot, in a tragic state of disorientation.
Hiss.
Many people gasped and trembled.
On one hand, they were happy that ’The Murderous Viper’ was crippled, eliminating one madman from the martial world. On the other hand, they were shocked by Shi Xiaole’s ruthless methods.
This gentle and indifferent young man had always been passive, but who would have thought that his first move would be so dominant.
Moreover, the sword technique he just used clearly showed no sign of unity between man and sword, he had already resorted to real secret sword moves.
"By the ninth match, his unity of man and sword was barely enough. After all, his realm is still too low. Now, naturally, he’s starting to use his strength."
"A fierce sword technique."
The swordsmen sang praises one after another.
It was clear that Shi Xiaole’s intention to enhance his unity of man and sword through several fights hadn’t materialized. Moreover, his upcoming opponents would only become stronger, not tolerating his previous approach.
However, no one in the field ridiculed him either. After all, anyone else would do the same unless they had deep prior skills.
The twelfth match.
Thirteenth match.
Shi Xiaole’s opponents were indeed getting stronger, but their strength had its limits, and they only varied in types. But for someone like Shi Xiaole, who had no weaknesses, any type of competition was the same unless the absolute strength was greater.
"Heavenly Collapse and Earth Shattering!"
With red eyes, the bulky man struck again with the strongest punch of his life. This punch was enough to easily crush ’The Murderous Viper.’
On the other side, Shi Xiaole concentrated about fifty percent of his power, slashing his long sword three times in succession.
Sword technique, Taiyue Three Green Peaks.
Bang, bang, bang.
The muscular man’s powerful punch was split into three parts, and his huge body was splattered with fresh blood, before he fell to the ground tumbling.
"It’s these three swords again and again."
"Twenty wins in a row."
People didn’t know what to say. What looked like a difficult series of wins to others, seemed incredibly easy in Shi Xiaole’s hands.
Originally, they thought Shi Xiaole would show more skills, but the later opponents turned out to be so ’weak’ that they couldn’t even force him to use a second sword technique.
Of course, everyone knew that it was not that the competitors were weak, but that Shi Xiaole was simply too strong, making them appear as if they were not in the same league.
"In the past few decades, to my recollections, there have only been five people who have achieved twenty consecutive victories, and today the sixth one has appeared."
"The martial arts experts ranked in the top twenty by Dark Alley are of one level, and those who come after are in another league. You’ll see, it won’t be so easy from now on."
There were those who marveled, others who refused to accept it, and the buzz of discussions filled the air. Even some veteran martial artists were looked puzzled.
How to put it, aside from Hu Baisheng, the nineteen martial arts experts dispatched by Dark Alley afterwards were undoubtedly strong, but some of them didn’t match the previous strength of Dark Alley.
However, rearranging the order of martial arts experts in Dark Alley also requires time. Furthermore, depending on the different opponents, differences in strength will occur inevitably. Perhaps they were overthinking it?
"It seems that intentionally starting weak was a bit redundant."
The white-haired elder was also silently surprised.
With his insight, how could he not see? Even if Dark Alley dispatched their top twenty experts according to the normal process, they wouldn’t be able to stop Shi Xiaole’s continuous victories. At most, it would simply make things more challenging for him.
Moreover, who knows how much of his actual strength Shi Xiaole has employed?
Invisibly, the white-haired elder was reminded of another genius, Wei Renhao, the ’Hero Among Men’ of the Red Sword Pavilion.
Of course, Wei Renhao did not achieve his forty-six consecutive victories in Dark Alley of Zhongshan City, but each Dark Alley is interconnected. Hence, finding out specific details is easy.
It was said that at that time, Wei Renhao won the first forty matches with overwhelming force and only used his full strength in the last six matches.
Wondering how far this young man could go facing Dark Alley’s all-out efforts, he asked himself.
"Thirty consecutive victories, or perhaps forty?"
When Wei Renhao was challenging, his cultivation had already reached the peak of Qi Absorption Threefold. Considering that Shi Xiaole was only at the peak of Qi Absorption Twofold, the white-haired elder believed that his prediction should be fairly accurate.
After winning the twentieth match, Shi Xiaole did not continue to fight, but returned to the inn with a large stack of banknotes.
He was not fighting for the sake of fighting, he had enough for today.
For seven days in a row.
Aside from eating meals, Shi Xiaole spent the rest of his time in his room practicing the Moon Concealing Sword Technique tirelessly. Sometimes he would stare blankly at the moonlight seeping through the window screen, sometimes frown in deep contemplation. With an unwavering focus, he was completely absorbed.
Meanwhile, because of Shi Xiaole’s record of achieving twenty consecutive victories at the Gold Silver Jade Copper Platform, combined with the heavy promotion of Dark Alley, things were slowly heating up on the outside.
Within an inn in Dark Alley, numerous experts gathered.
Present were Zhou Yilou, the Suzerain of the Iron Bone Sect, Shi Weiwei, the Sect Master of the Flying Flower Sect, Grand Elder of the Starry Sect, Grand Elder of the Will Sect, Elder of the Iron Spear Hall, and two elders seated at the main seat, looking stern. They were elders of the Xiaoxiang Gate and Red Sword Pavilion.
Apart from them, there were notable young talents such as Xiang Mingzhen.
"With the issuance of the Rivers and Lakes Assassination Order, if we let that kid continue his winning streak, it won’t look good on us."
The Red Sword Pavilion’s Elder was the first to speak.
He didn’t believe that Shi Xiaole could become the Copper Banner Master and survive this ordeal, but he also didn’t want the latter to continue his glorious streak, which would make it seem like the major sects were incompetent.
"Elder means..."
Zhou Yilou hesitated to speak.
"I believe that our major sects should take the initiative to dispatch people to take down that kid."
The Elder of the Red Sword Pavilion casually finished his cup of tea, and uttered casually.
Zhou Yilou’s eyes brightened upon hearing these words.
He had similar thoughts for a while, but since they would have to dispatch experts from other sects, it wasn’t easy to bring it up. But now since Red Sword Pavilion has taken the initiative, things would be much easier.
"Mingzhen, if you were to face off against Shi Xiaole, are you confident in your victory?"
At this moment, the Grand Elder of the Starry Sect suddenly asked Xiang Mingzhen, drawing everyone’s attention towards him.
Xiang Mingzhen thought for a moment and said cautiously, "In Dongfang Haoran’s cave, Shi Xiaole was somewhat stronger than me, but recently due to some fortuitous encounters, my Starry Technique has greatly improved. If Shi Xiaole has not made much progress after leaving Will Sect..."
The Grand Elder laughed, waved his hand, and said, "I see."
Xiang Mingzhen was humble, which was a virtue. However, his breakthrough during this period of time could be described as extraordinary, far exceeding his own expected level of attainment.
Even if Shi Xiaole is a top-notch genius, but accounting for this period of time, he may not be able to keep up.
Moreover, if Xiang Mingzhen defeats Shi Xiaole as a martial arts expert of Dark Alley, not only would he be doing a favor for the Iron Bone Sect, but he would also gain fame, completely overshadowing other excellent talents. It could be described as killing two birds with one stone.
Having thought of this, the Grand Elder of the Starry Sect bowed his hand towards the crowd, "Xiang Mingzhen can fight."
The Red Sword Pavilion’s Elder then looked at the Grand Elder of Will Sect and said, "I’ve heard a lot about the ’Lone Star Swordswoman’. I’ve heard she recently broke through a realm, so defeating Shi Xiaole should be easy for her, right?"
Although Shangguan Yan’s natural aptitude might not match Shi Xiaole’s, she was older and her cultivation had a significant advantage.
The Grand Elder of the Will Sect was secretly alarmed at the other party’s well-informed news, and said, "Miss Yan is in retreat, I’m afraid ..."
"Our major sects have always been closely allied. We can’t disregard everyone’s dignity just for our own personal gains, right? I heard that Shi Xiaole is the remaining disciple of one of Will Sect’s elders. Could it be that Will Sect is not willing to make a move?"
The Grand Elder of the Will Sect was filled with resentment, thinking, "There are countless experts in your Red Sword Pavilion, yet you refuse to step up. Instead, you’re trying to disrupt Miss Yan’s bitter practice. What are your intentions?"
But as the Will Sect had been seized by the collar, it had to make a stance. It wouldn’t work if they didn’t affirm, "Well, Shi Xiaole committed theft. We in Will Sect won’t just stand by. But dealing with him doesn’t require Miss Yan."
Among the various major sects, there are also countless experts below the level of Qi Absorption Sevenfold.
Unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, he was refuted by the Red Sword Pavilion’s Elder.
"Common people are not Shi Xiaole’s opponents. Will Sect, why are you avoiding my question, what exactly is the reason?"
Seeing everyone looking at him with suspicion, the Grand Elder of the Will Sect hesitantly said, "I will notify Miss Yan to leave her retreat."
