Chapter 633: Fighting with His Eyes Closed
Silence.
Everyone rubbed their eyes forcefully, thinking that their eyes might be playing tricks on them.
That was a Transcendent Mortal 5-dan Consonant Spirit realm advanced stage expert! Despite executing an attack utilizing his full might, he was actually sent flying back with a light flick of the other party’s finger...
How much strength did that flick harness?
"How could a Consonant Spirit realm expert be sent flying with a single flick..."
Hong shi widened his eyes, and he subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
To achieve that feat with a flick, one must have perfect understanding of the force and trajectory of the attack. Even Hong shi himself would find it hard to accomplish such a feat in a real battle!
Yet, the other party managed to do it so easily... Could the other party’s Clarifying Turbidity realm be feigned? Could the other party actually be at the Cosmos Bridge realm just like him?
But that couldn’t be! He was around when the other party achieved a breakthrough to Clarifying Turbidity realm pinnacle. To reach Cosmos Bridge realm within a short month? Impossible!
Bi Jianghai widened his eyes in shock at the scene as tears threatened to flow down his eyes.
"It seems like... he didn’t use his full strength when he fought with me back then. To think that I thought that I would be able to surpass him as long as I put in some hard work..."
He had thought that luck had played a huge factor in the other party’s victory over him, and as long as he cultivated diligently, he would be able to catch up very quickly. But at this moment, he realized that... he couldn’t be any more mistaken than that.
The other party probably didn’t even use a tenth of his true strength when fighting with him!
Putting everything aside, even ten of him wouldn’t survive that flick!
Luo Xuan also felt his throat turning dry.
He had bragged before his teacher, Luo Huang, that Zhang shi was nothing when the other party induced Ten Li of Vacuum with his Spirit Gathering Dictum at the next moment. Now, the other party even defeated a Transcendent Mortal 5-dan Consonant Spirit realm advanced stage expert with a single flick of his finger...
How could he ever match up to him?
It felt like they existed in completely different dimensions!
"How in the world did that fellow do it?" Crown Prince Ye Qian uttered in disbelief.
Narrowing his eyes, Wu Zhen analyzed the move.
"That single flick from Zhang shi... probably harnesses a might of at least 5,000,000 ding!"
"5,000,000 ding? This... Isn’t he just a Clarifying Turbidity realm cultivator?"
Ye Qian swayed feebly from astonishment.
A typical Clarifying Turbidity realm pinnacle cultivator should only possess 1,600,000 ding of strength. In fact, even a Consonant Spirit realm pinnacle cultivator would only possess 3,200,000 ding of strength. 5,000,000 ding, that was a might comparable to a Cosmos Bridge realm intermediate stage cultivator! How could a Transcendent Mortal 4-dan harness such force?
"I’ve no idea either. However, the Master Teacher Continent is extremely big, and there are many unique constitutions out there. Based on what I know, there are indeed some people who possess the talent of Herculean strength. While their cultivation may not be particularly high, they are able to exert strength far beyond their cultivation realm!" Wu Zhen said.
Ye Qian suddenly recalled something and asked, "Senior is saying that he might have a unique constitution that augments his strength? Then... could he be just like that person?"
"Indeed, he’s probably just like that senior!"
Wu Zhen nodded. Turning back to look at Zhang Xuan, he said, "Seems like a formidable figure is about to rise from your Huanyu Empire!"
"If he really does possess that kind of talent, then indeed!" Recalling ’that person’s’ extraordinary and fearsome abilities, Ye Qian couldn’t conceal his agitation.
Given that Zhang shi originated from Huanyu Empire, if he were to make it big, the standing of the empire would also rise proportionately.
Ignoring the other party’s agitation, Wu Zhen said, "It’s still a little too early to come to a conclusion now. Let’s watch on first!"
"Un!" Ye Qian replied as he turned his sight back to the dueling ring anxiously.
...
Zhang Xuan’s feat of defeating Xiulian gongzi in a single blow had left everyone flabbergasted. Luo shi and the others had their mouths widened, unable to utter a single word.
It took a while before Luo shi recovered, and he immediately instructed anxiously, "There is something unusual about this fellow. The rest of you should attack together!"
All of their slots for the Cleansing Lake, which came only once every decade, were at stake here. It might seem a little underhanded, but there was no other choice now!
Hu!
Hearing those words, the remaining eight members immediately stepped forth and surrounded Zhang Xuan.
"You’re all coming at me together? Good!"
Zhang Xuan stretched his back lazily.
Previously, when he offered instructions to Hong shi in his battle, he suddenly thought of something. This group of people came at a perfect moment; he could use them to verify his doubts.
Hu!
With a quick dash, Zhang Xuan immediately appeared before one of the eight. Without any intricate movements, he raised his palm and thrust it toward the man.
"Damn it!"
Seeing that he was the first one to be attacked, the young man’s face darkened. Howling furiously, he gathered his strength from every muscle in his body and struck back.
Just as the fist and palm were about to collide with one another, Zhang shi’s figure suddenly swayed before him. Before he knew it, a leg suddenly flew toward his abdomen.
"The heck!"
The young man’s eyes nearly popped out from his sockets upon seeing the leg. Before he could even exclaim in shock, he was sent flying. Huge mouthfuls of blood spewed from his mouth.
He was on the verge of tears. Wasn’t this way too underhanded! Given how the other party looked as though he had put all of his strength into that palm, he could have never guessed that it was only a feint, and that the real threat was lying beneath!
After sending one flying, Zhang Xuan immediately stepped backward. His movement had allowed him to dodge the fist of another master teacher who was attempting to backstab him while his attention was preoccupied. Following which, he jerked his arm and struck the other party’s lower jaw.
Hu!
That master teacher immediately saw his vision darken before he flew into the air.
Peng peng peng peng!
After dealing with the two, Zhang Xuan treaded around the remaining six as though a phantom. It was as if he could foresee how his opponents would collaborate with one another and how they would attack. Every single time he launched an attack, someone would surely be sent flying.
"As I expected!"
As the group was being cleared one by one, the gleam in Zhang Xuan’s eyes gradually brightened.
When he instructed Hong shi on how he should deal with Luo shi and the others, he attempted to use the Library of Heaven’s Path to see their flaws. He thought there would be a total of three books compiled on Luo Zhao, Feng Yu, and Chen Yue respectively, but to his surprise, only one was formed.
Written in it was the flaws of the collaboration among the trio.
In other words, the Library of Heaven’s Path had viewed their collaboration as an entirety and evaluated the three of them as a whole.
Through exploiting the flaws written on the book, not only would one be able to interrupt one’s opponents’ momentum, one would also be able to predict one’s opponents’ movements and defeat them easily.
In other words, with this ability, it mattered not to Zhang Xuan how many opponents he had to face.
This was precisely the reason why he wanted to challenge all nine of them at once to test it out.
And the effects really didn’t let him down. Despite fighting eight opponents whose cultivation bases were significantly higher than his, he didn’t feel the slightest pressure at all.
"Un. I’ll exploit this flaw this time. Move left by three chi and launch a back kick..."
While Zhang Xuan’s consciousness was immersed in the Library of Heaven’s Path, his body was moving accordingly to exploit the flaws written on the books, thus dodging every single attack of his opponents and counterattacking at every possible opportunity.
After kicking another one flying, Zhang Xuan rubbed his glabella stressfully.
"These fellows’ collaboration is really poor. There are flaws here and there. Sigh, I’m finding hard to decide which flaw I should exploit from this huge list... How frustrating!"
The other party had only formed a team on the spot, so there were a lot of flaws in their collaboration. There were several hundred listed throughout the entire book. It was fortunate that Zhang Xuan didn’t suffer from decidophobia or else he would surely faint from stress!
But even so, the huge range of possible flaws to exploit and counterattacks he could make still made him feel a little troubled.
Instead of getting tired from fighting, he was suffering due to the astounding number of ways to defeat his opponents. If his opponents were to learn of this, they would surely cry themselves to death.
"Forget it, I’ll just point randomly at the flaws. Whichever I point on would be the one I’ll exploit!"
Closing his eyes, Zhang Xuan randomly pointed at a part of the book, and the flaw he was pointing at immediately surfaced in his mind.
"Alright, this will be it!"
Having decided on the flaw to exploit, Zhang Xuan swiftly analyzed the way to best exploit it before diving into the crowd once more.
Peng peng peng peng!
Yet another scream of agony echoed in the hall.
...
In the royal palace located not too far away from the crown prince’s Eastern Palace.
Emperor Ye Wentian was seated on his high throne.
Standing before him was a green-robed elder with snowy-white beard. He carried an exceptional aura that reflected both erudition and composure.
If Hong shi were here, he would surely be able to recognize the other party as his teacher, the pavilion master of the Huanyu Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, 5-star high-tier Master Teacher Wei Jiang!
"The Cleansing Lake will be opening tomorrow, I wonder how the matter regarding the distribution of the slots is going on!" Ye Wentian muttered with a frown.
It was Ye Qian’s initiative to befriend the Sixth Princess and the others. As such, he decided to leave this entire matter for Ye Qian to handle. It had been awhile since the banquet had begun, so he began to wonder if the matter had been decided already or not.
"Your Majesty, there’s no need to worry. His Highness has always been a composed and reliable person, not to mention, he’s also a genius master teacher as well. A matter as small as this can’t possibly trip him up!"
Wei Jiang smiled. "Besides, didn’t you send someone to look into that matter? He should be coming back to report on the matter very soon."
"You’re right!" Ye Wentian smiled. "It might be my age catching up with me, I’m finding myself worrying over the smallest matters nowadays..."
Ye Wentian sighed deeply. At that moment, a guard suddenly walked into the room with a dumbstruck face.
"How is it? Is the matter regarding the distribution of slots confirmed yet?" Ye Wentian asked with a frown.
The guard hurriedly clasped his fist. "Reporting to Your Majesty, the matter has been settled..."
"Oh? How was it settled? Tell me about it!" Ye Wentian asked in curiosity.
"The matter regarding the slots to enter the Cleansing Lake was decided by a duel among the Four Great Vassal States," the guard said.
"A duel? That is a wise decision. It would indeed be good to have the young geniuses from each Vassal State interact with one another..." Ye Wentian chuckled.
"That’s not it... it was not the young geniuses from the Vassal States who fought with one another but... Hong shi from Hongfeng Empire singlehandedly facing Luo shi, Feng shi, and Chen shi! Furthermore..."
At which, the guard suddenly paused for a short moment. It seemed as though he was still trying to convince himself that he wasn’t dreaming. "Hong shi managed to defeat all three of the pavilion masters... And thus, the three slots are to be contributed by Hongfeng, Qianfeng, and Zhuyue Empire!"
"You mean that... Hong Qian singlehandedly defeated Luo Zhao, Feng Yu, and Chen Yue?" Jiang Wei widened his eyes in disbelief. "Describe the duel to me in detail!"
"Yes!" The guard hurriedly recounted what he had seen previously.
"H-how can this be?" Hearing the other party’s recount of the story, Jiang Wei and Ye Wentian trembled in shock.
They were well aware of how strong Hong Qian was. To singlehandedly defeat three opponents of the same fighting prowess... How could that be possible?
After a moment of shock, Ye Wentian suddenly thought of something and asked, "Putting that aside, so the matter regarding the slots have been decided... Then what about the five Lake Eyes?"
As the emperor, he also knew that the allocation of the Lake Eyes was the crux of this matter.
"The young master teacher from Hongfeng Empire that I just spoke of, Zhang shi, fought against all nine young master teachers from Fengyuan, Qianfeng, and Zhuyue simultaneously... and he emerged victorious. As such, Hongfeng Empire is now in possession of all of the Lake Eyes..." the guard said.
"He fought against nine master teachers simultaneously? Didn’t you just say that this Zhang shi only possesses a cultivation of Clarifying Turbidity realm pinnacle, and is the weakest among all of the master teachers there?"
Ye Wentian couldn’t help but exclaim. "Given that all nine opponents are stronger than him, how in the world did he fight? Did he use some kind of special means?"
A Clarifying Turbidity realm pinnacle fighting against nine Consonant Spirit realm experts? How could he possibly have won? How in the world did he fight against them? Did he use some kind of special trick?
"He... he..."
The guard swallowed his saliva, and a bizarre expression appeared on his face. "He fought with his eyes closed..."