Chapter 684: Chapter 683: Concealed Strength
The number of talents participating in the Ghost Guards selection wasn’t much, possibly less than one hundred.
But among these one hundred, each had the power to challenge a hundred opponents. The moment they took to the skies, their terrifying auras clashed, instantly creating the grandeur of a ten thousand-strong gathering.
"A bunch of trash, what a waste of time."
Fu Ying, hands clasped behind his back, walked leisurely in midair. His eyes shot out two tangible rays of light, and any trace of Vigorous Air touched by this light was instantly incinerated like cotton paper, unable to withstand even a moment.
With a light drift of his body, Fu Ying landed on the nearest platform.
"Streamlight Fist!"
A muscular young man punched forward with his left arm, which was as solid as an iron pillar. The fist’s brilliance sparked like a flame, stinging the eyes of a few of the Devil Path talents near him, causing them to shut their eyes. Taking advantage of this, he occupied a platform.
Although the two of them were quite intimidating, they were overshadowed by a brunette girl.
Without being seen in action, she suddenly emitted countless dazzling lines of light from her body. Each of these light lines was as chilling as a blade, clearing the surroundings instantly.
"What a terrifying knife technique!"
Even the Elders of the Ghost Lethal Sect’s Left Sect were impressed.
One glimpse gives you the whole leopard. In the Divine Border Realm, one’s martial arts aptitude could be roughly judged by their abilities. Without a doubt, the brunette girl was in the top tier,
On par with a few of the headquarter elites, showing not an inch of weakness.
Keep in mind, the brunette girl isn’t from the headquarters, and her potential might not have been fully exerted yet.
The fragrance of flowers next to Yun Chuoxi turned her head and found her mistress’ face flushed with a touch of excitement, causing her to smile. After all, Yun Chuoxi was still young.
"Step off!"
"Retreat!"
Maybe due to Mo Wan’s influence, those talented individuals from the headquarters unwilling to show weakness on their home turf, took the competition more seriously and quickly claimed a platform each.
During this process, Shi Xiaole kept his strength hidden, using his Illusion Martial Way and clever adaptability to outsmart opponents despite his lower attack power, and miraculously got the upper hand in the face of many adversaries.
Soon, each of the ten platforms had an occupant, leaving the rest to land on the ground.
"Let me have a go at you!"
A young talent sprang up and challenged a spear-wielding youth on the third platform.
Many recognized this young talent to have demonstrated first-tier attack power in yesterday’s stone tablet test.
"Ten shock spear attacks!"
The spear-wielding youth revealed a cold expression.
Being challenged first indicated that he was seen as an easy target. Clearly, he had been too gentle before. Along with the flick of his wrist, his spear began to shake rapidly, releasing speckle-like spear points aiming to kill his opponent.
Bang, bang, bang.
Merely three moves later, the spear-wielding youth shook his right arm, sending the challenger flying. The challenger spewed out a mouthful of blood and struggled to get up for quite a while.
Seeing this, many who were ready to go suddenly halted their steps.
Just because someone isn’t intimidating doesn’t mean they are weak. They suddenly realized that in this setting, they couldn’t judge others solely based on their aura. After all, those who were able to contest the platforms weren’t just lucky, their skills also played an important role.
After scouring over Mo Wan, Fu Ying, the robust young man, and several calm elites from the headquarters who clearly weren’t touchable, not to mention the spear-wielding guy, they could only make three choices:
A long-faced youth swiftly took a position opposite Shi Xiaole with a smile, "Sir, we’ve met before. Why don’t you step down yourself and spare yourself from getting hurt?"
This long-faced youth was Fu Ying’s companion, who had previously passed Shi Xiaole without taking notice of him, treating him like air.
During the previous platform contest, the long-faced youth didn’t use his full strength but was observing in secrecy. After some comparison, he figured that Shi Xiaole, who practiced the Illusion Martial Way, was his best choice.
It wasn’t that he thought Shi Xiaole was the weakest, but rather, his style directly countered the Illusion Martial Way.
"The one stepping down could be you instead," Shi Xiaole replied.
The long-faced youth flicked his finger toward Shi Xiaole with a faint smile.
The finger brilliance started as a tiny point, but it swelled dramatically in an instant, transforming into a wide light that darted out. The aura it emitted caused chills to run down the spines of the young talents below the platform.
There was no doubt that among all the participants, this long-faced youth ranked in the top.
Unfortunately, nobody knew that with Shi Xiaole’s true strength, he could easily defeat this opponent. But due to his identity, he had to hide his strength.
Zong Yue’s power roughly run above Twice Tier Earth Immortal, but was far from reaching the level of Third Tier Earth Immortal. Besides, Shi Xiaole couldn’t use the Waning Moon Divine Skill, leaving him no choice but to use power to overpower his opponent and outsmart him.
Quickly elevating his Dragon Gate Divine Skill to 80 percent, Shi Xiaole dodged the finger brilliance narrowly with his agility.
"Tyrant Devil Finger!"
A domineering and sinister aura rushed through from behind, with a finger brilliance that arrived faster than the voice, charging fiercely at Shi Xiaole.
Without turning his head, invisible ripples spread out from Shi Xiaole as the center, extending in all directions, making the entire platform seem as though it had been moved to a mirror’s reflection, appearing surreal.
The finger brilliance inexplicably deflected at a right angle, grazing past Shi Xiaole’s body. The reality was, Shi Xiaole, with his fast reaction, had moved to the other side.
This powerful and pure Illusion Martial Way made many people’s eyes shine.
"Not bad."
Zong Xingnan nodded in approval.
Zong Yue’s Illusion Martial Way was even more powerful than Shi Xiaole had imagined. It seemed that he had underestimated this guy.
"Such illusions won’t work on me."
A cold snicker sliced through the silent sky. Suddenly, a layer of white light surrounded the guy with a long face. The illusory sensation that attacked this layer was quickly broken down and only a few strands managed to penetrate into his body, but they barely affected him at all.
"Tyrant Heart Martial Way, unaffected by external interference, particularly capable of restraining the Illusion Martial Way, the outcome is already decided."
On another stage, Fu Ying stood with his arms crossed, watching coldly.
Tyrant Heart Martial Way is merely the top among the first-rate martial ways and, in principle, does not rank as high as the Illusion Martial Way.
However, this tall man had an unusual experience. He accidentally swallowed a type of Exotic Fruit with the ability to withstand the illusions to a greater extent. Along with his Tyrant Heart Martial Way, illusions on his level were entirely ineffective against him.
And once he removed the impacts of the illusions, the strength of an Illusion Martial practitioner was even worse than that of an average martial artist. Therefore, Shi Xiaole was absolutely doomed to lose.
"He can restrain the Illusion Martial Way? Impressive."
"This guy has been observing all along without using his full power. He only shows his true strength after selecting the target. He is a tough opponent."
The numerous Elders of the Ghost Lethal Sect thought in secret, harboring a trace of admiration.
"What a trouble."
On the stage, Shi Xiaole felt helpless.
The Illusion Martial Way varies in power. In order to match Zong Yue’s identity, he deliberately suppressed his Illusion Martial Way to half of his power. Otherwise, how could this tall face guy be so defiant?
Shi Xiaole rushed forward, a move that made many people widen their eyes. The move he used was Cat Crosses the Wall, a move that any third-tier martial artist can use.
Previously, the long-faced man was the main attacker while Shi Xiaole dodged and deliberately closed the distance between them, so they were only about ten feet apart.
After Shi Xiaole jumped, he swung his long arm violently. Eighty percent of the Dragon Gate Divine Skill accumulated in his palm, remained restrained and suppressed his opponent severely. The move he used was White Ape Probing Hand, a third-tier technique.
"You want to compete with me with brute strength? You’re courting death!"
The youth with the long face laughed at his fury, his fingers glowing and unyieldingly pointing out.
Luring him with a third-rate move will make Shi Xiaole realize what regret is.
Bang!
A dull noise!
Shi Xiaole deliberately condensed the Dragon Gate Divine Skill to prevent leakage of Vigorous Air.
Still, in an instant, the youth with the long face grimaced in pain, his fingers made crackling noises like firecrackers, and blood sprayed out. He was thrown off the stage like a rag doll, staggered back dozens of steps, and almost fell to the ground.
"What...?"
The whole audience was shocked.
Wasn’t it said that Illusion Martial artists have a weak attack? What just happened?"
"You may not know this, but that young man is Zong Yue, the grandson of Zong Xingnan. His Waning Moon Divine Skill not only contains illusions but also has a strong attacking power. However, his attainments far exceed those of Zong Xingnan back then."
Someone said that it was another external Elder from Left Sect.
Zong Xingnan’s strength is well-known among the external Elders, so many people nodded in agreement upon hearing this.
"Hahaha..."
Having seen Shi Xiaole not using his final move for a long while, Zong Xingnan had been puzzled. But now he understood.
Indeed, defeating the opponent with a third-tier technique is far more impressive than using the ultimate move. This kid is really plotting something.
"Humph!"
Fu Ying wasn’t looking too pleased.
Not because his good friend was defeated, but because Shi Xiaole made his judgement wrong, he should be taught a lesson.
The owners of the other stages also glanced over at Shi Xiaole.
Just because that long-faced youth could ignore illusions doesn’t mean they could too, especially when Shi Xiaole’s attack was so strong. He was undeniably an opponent not to be taken lightly.
Of course, if they had to face him in a face-to-face battle, they were confident of ultimately prevailing; they’d just have to put in more effort.
With the previous example as a reference, the people under the stage all gave up the idea of challenging Shi Xiaole and turned to challenge the last two stage hosts instead.
Those two people were both angry and annoyed. Although their strength was indeed weaker than the other eight stage holders, they started feeling the pressure after successive battles.
"Get out!"
The youth with the long face injured his right hand and used his left instead. With one finger, he sent the ninth stage host flying. After successfully seizing a stage, his gloomy gaze landed on Shi Xiaole, full with a provocative taste.
Shi Xiaole paid him no mind, not even giving him a glance.
This guy wasn’t worth his attention.
The Ghost Guard selection test went on for about two 2-hour periods. In the end, as the tenth stage host emerged, the new generation of the top ten Ghost Guards was officially announced.
Countless pairs of eyes looked at the ten people on the stage. They were envious, jealous, and admiring.
Every Ghost Guard of the Ghost Lethal Sect’s Left Sect, besides those who died halfway through, no doubt ended up becoming mainstays. Including some of the current inner Elder, who once were also Ghost Guards, hence they felt particularly emotional.
However, for Shi Xiaole, he didn’t care about the identity of the Ghost Guard.
The only important thing for him was that he had put one foot into the core circle of the Ghost Lethal Sect after this event, and he could carry on his next step.
