Chapter 657: Chapter 656 Winning in Numbers
The square of the Yiling Clan dips in the middle and rises around the edges, much like a gigantic flat-bottomed pan.
However, the center of the pan is square-shaped and surprisingly spans a thousand meters lengthwise and widthwise. The distance from the edge of the pan to the outermost part of the square extends several kilometers, and is separated by steps. Rows of elongated stone tables are set up as spectator stands.
Early in the morning, every seat in the square is occupied—all eyes are upon the stage. The noise level is so high that people seated next to each other must shout to make themselves heard.
"The last time, Ninth Elder’s team won. Who do you think will win this year?"
"This is Qi Sina’s last time participating in the Divine Stone competition. I believe she is still the top young talent in the Yiling Clan."
"I’m not so sure about that! Don’t forget, Gao Kun is the first genius in our clan’s history. His talent even exceeds that of the Three-flower Ancestor. Who can predict his abilities?"
The highlight of the Divine Stone Competition is undoubtedly the showdown between the two greatest talents in the Yiling Clan. Everyone is debating about who is stronger.
As the day proceeds.
A line of people emerges from the pathway.
The leader is a short, wrinkly old man with a dried wood cane in his hand. However, the arena suddenly falls silent, and countless people look at the old man with respect.
Three Eyes Ancestor.
He is notably the current leader of the Yiling Clan, the Three Eyes Ancestor.
"Everyone, please relax."
Seated in the front row, the Three Eyes Ancestor kindly stated. His voice was quiet but mysteriously reached everyone’s ears. Then, the place became lively again.
Not long after, two groups appeared, led by the Seventh Elder and Ninth Elder, respectively.
"Heh, Ninth Elder, please show mercy this time."
The Seventh Elder spoke with a smiling face.
"I should be the one saying that. Who doesn’t know that Kun’s talent is peerless, unmatched?"
Ninth Elder stepped forward, his face full of praise.
Both elders exchanged courtesies while chatting casually. As they looked away, a fleeting, imperceptible cold gleam flashed in their eyes.
At the first glance, Shi Xiaole noticed a young man on the opposite side. His clear eyes were calm and steady, as bright as lightning. When he looked at people, it was like a celestial light sweeping over the earth.
If the eyes are the window to the soul, this man was indifferent to the world.
"Gao Kun!"
Qi Sina couldn’t take her eyes off him.
The last time they met was two years ago, she swore that Gao Kun didn’t have an aura like this. Now, it’s like he’s stripped of all human emotions, inducing a natural reverence.
To a certain extent, the change in spiritual power can cause a change in aura. It seems Gao Kun is stronger than she imagined, she absolutely can’t be careless!
Gao Kun glanced at Qi Sina, a hint of a mysterious smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
As he walked by the crowd, unexpectedly, Zhao Sen and the others instinctively made way for him. By the time they reacted, their faces changed color.
"Such a strong oppressive force!"
Ninth Elder’s face was somber, a bad premonition rising in his heart.
What Zhao Sen and the others did was purely instinctive, indicating that even their subconscious had yielded to Gao Kun. Usually, only when the disparity in strength is two to three levels or even more, would this happen.
Just how powerful is this Gao Kun?
Hiding his shock, Ninth Elder and Seventh Elder each led their respective teams, firstly bowing to the Three Eyes Ancestor. Only when he signaled, did they sit in their arranged places.
Shi Xiaole somehow felt that the Three Eyes Ancestor seemed to look at him a few more times just now.
The referee was the Third Elder of the Yiling Clan. He came to the center, cleared his throat, and waited for the noise in the venue to die down before saying, "In the Divine Stone competition, intentional injury is prohibited and violators will be punished according to clan rules. Let’s cut the chitchat. Now, I announce that the competition begins!"
Whoa!
Amid the cheers of everyone, two figures leaped into the arena, standing twenty feet apart.
"Zhao Sen, it’s unfortunate that it’s you."
The representative from the Seventh Elder’s team is a young man named Lu Miao, who is bald and seemingly has low momentum. However, to Shi Xiaole’s senses, this man’s spiritual power is three parts stronger than Zhao Sen, ranking fourth among the six competing contestants.
In fact, among all the top talents in the Yiling Clan, Lu Miao is indeed the third-best, only second to Gao Kun and Qi Sina.
Zhao Sen didn’t utter a word, and rushed out aggressively. His palm skill overlaid Lu Miao’s head first.
"Rushing Palm!"
Lu Miao stood still on the spot and responded with the same palm skill. The palm strength condensed from the spiritual power was like a wisp of smoke, floating over and then suddenly erupting.
Zhao Sen kicked the empty space and narrowly avoided the erupting spiritual force. Using the rebound force, he unexpectedly rose to the sky, and attacked Lu Miao with both palms in the air.
"Angry Waves Finger!"
Lu Miao traded blows with Zhao Sen many times. He knew that Zhao Sen’s offense and defense were not extraordinary, but they are very balanced. Therefore, defeating such a person required a war of attrition.
As his finger thrusted forward, it collided fiercely with the palm attack. The two spiritual powers surged in all directions, but did not harm any bystanders.
This is the difference between spiritual power and vigorous air. Each thread is controlled by the human body. Although this leads to a limited range of damage, it ensures no waste.
After a fierce fight, they went beyond three hundred moves.
Lu Miao grew fiercer as the battle waged on, gradually seizing the initiative. Often, he was able to attack twice in three rounds. Coupled with the roaring cheers from the crowd, his momentum was unstoppable, like a rainbow unstoppable.
Shi Xiaole watched Zhao Sen’s footwork and nodded slightly.
Although Zhao Sen appears to be at a disadvantage now, he clearly still has some strength reserves. He’s biding his chance to strike back fiercely, waiting for Lu Miao to let her guard down. This strike would decide the victor and the loser.
As expected, after six hundred moves, Zhao Sen roared fiercely and rushed forward instead of continuing to retreat, driving a torrent of spiritual power forwards.
"I’ve been waiting for this."
Lu Miao sneered coldly, jabbing her two fingers forward. Two inordinately heavy spiritual light beams stabbed brutally into the spiritual torrent. The spiritual torrent did not split, instead, it surged forward with greater intensity.
Bang!
Wham!
Zhao Sen turned pale as he was scraped by the light beams, stumbling backward.
By contrast, Lu Miao swiftly retreated, successfully avoiding the spiritual shock and only getting her sleeve slightly damaged.
"Lu Miao wins!"
The Third Elder immediately stood up to announce the result.
This is the rule of the Spirit Stone Tournament. As soon as one party is injured, it is considered a loss.
Unlike the competition of vigorous air, injuries from spiritual power affect the Sea of Consciousness, which is far more difficult to recover than physical injuries. In this sense, this rule is designed to protect the participants.
"Elder Nine, I lost."
Zhao Sen left the arena somewhat dispiritedly.
Elder Nine smiled and said, "You’ve done your best, it’s not your fault."
Lu Miao’s strength was already a notch above Zhao Sen’s. Her loss was not surprising. In terms of style, only Han Bolin could restrict the opponent, but that doesn’t matter anymore.
Elder Nine’s eyes were set on the rising teenager in blue clothing, his smile widening.
This youngster should be able to force out Gao Kun, and might even wear down most of Gao Kun’s strength. When Qi Sina enters the arena then, she would have a huge advantage from the start.
"I heard you’re a foreigner, I would like to see what a foreigner is capable of."
Having won the first match, Lu Miao was decidedly in high spirits, leisurely fixing her gaze on Shi Xiaole.
Not just her, most of the people present were also in doubt. As he appeared after Zhao Sen, his ability should be stronger than Zhao Sen’s. They all wondered if he could fight Lu Miao off the stage.
"What I’m capable of? You’ll see soon."
Shi Xiaole stretched out both hands in a bow drawing gesture, then loosened his right hand.
With a crackling sound!
An invisible arrow shot out.
The scene suddenly stirred, and Gu Mu and Gu Shui looked on, dumbstruck.
Shi Xiaole was using the Soul Extinguishing Arrow. Though potent, it’s a mere second-rate martial skill and not fit to appear in the Spirit Stone Tournament. What on earth was he doing?
Lu Miao’s face turned red. Under this arrow, she felt an intense humiliation. How dare he humiliate her, he would pay for this!
"Angry Waves in Bloom!"
Boosting her spiritual power to the extreme, Lu Miao jabbed her two fingers forward – the same killer move she used to defeat Zhao Sen.
The invisible arrow endured the onslaught of the two thick spiritual light beams for a moment before it collapsed. But then something jaw-dropping happened.
The teenager in blue didn’t change his left hand, but he drew his right hand forward again in a bow-drawing motion and casually let it fly, firing the second spiritual arrow.
The crowd went berserk. His movements didn’t look fast, but the second spiritual arrow struck the light beam two-thirds of the way along its path, slowing it down.
Then came the third, the fourth, and the fifth...it seemed endless. Amid the thunderous sounds, the two light beams kept getting weaker until they abruptly shattered five feet away from Shi Xiaole.
Even by this point, the afterimage of Shi Xiaole drawing his bow was still visible, as if he had sprouted countless arms.
"It’s not that his actions are slow, but they’re extremely fast, creating an optical illusion. Those dozens of arrows were all shot out in a blink of an eye."
Elder Seven’s eyes were blazing, he was taking Shi Xiaole seriously for the first time. He never could have imagined that this foreign teenager could outperform so peculiarly, breaking Lu Miao’s killer move with the Soul Extinguishing Arrow.
Using quantity to defeat quality, he wasn’t playing by the rules at all!
Without leaving any time for people to think, Shi Xiaole kept drawing and releasing his imaginary bow.
Ten arrows.
Twenty arrows.
A total of thirty Soul Extinguishing Arrows were shot out in a flash, blending into a crisp snapping sound that shocked the soul of every person present.
Actually, Shi Xiaole’s speed was not as exaggerated as the crowd could imagine. He simply divided his spiritual energy evenly into thirty parts then consciously released them at intervals.
The Soul Extinguishing Arrow might not be considered high-quality, but precisely because of its low quality, Shi Xiaole only needed to use a fraction of his spiritual power to maximize its potential. To avoid waste, he came up with the trick of firing thirty arrows continuously.
This was just a flash of his brilliance, but for the Yiling Clan people present, the shock was immense.
"No...."
The speed of the arrows was too fast. Lu Miao only managed to gather sixty percent of her spiritual energy, barely destroying more than half of the assault, when she saw the teenager in blue extending his arm elegantly in the distance, leisurely releasing his thumb on his long right hand.
Whoosh!
At the same moment, Lu Miao felt a sharp pain in her chest and flew backward without any control.
