AGM 421 Different Face?
Han Qing could be considered exceedingly famous throughout the Yan Continent. With a cultivation base at the second level of the Heavenly Dipper realm, he excelled in sword arts, and the speed of his sword was as fast as the wind.
He had four Astral Souls: the first two were both speed-type Astral Souls, while the last two were both sword-type Astral Souls. What he sought was speed, extreme speed.
The attack power of sword-type Astral Souls was redoubtable. Coupled with extreme speed, Han Qing would be able to strike out at his opponents far more often than they would be able to defend against, thus easily able to achieve victory.
At this moment, the young man facing Han Qing only had a cultivation base at the first level of Heavenly Dipper. Although his combat prowess was noteworthy, Han Qing was still brimming with confidence. His opponent wouldn’t be able to last ten moves under the quickness of his sword.
That young man facing Han Qing could clearly see the smirk on Han Qing’s face. Yet, he remained expressionless. No one could tell what he was thinking about in his heart.
As for the other participants, they too had already found their opponents. Forty-eight participants meant a total of twenty-four battles. Luckily, the space at the peak of the heaven-ascending steps was vast enough for everyone to battle at the same time.
“Please guide me.”
The young man, wielding the ancient halberd, calmly stated. As the sound of his voice faded, Han Qing smiled, “Please be careful then.”
The next moment, Han Qing’s sword lashed out like the wind. His silhouette concealed itself in the middle of a cyclone, and he transformed into a series of blurry after-images that moved with the speed of lightning. His sword moved so fast that his attacks were like an illusive phantom, most of the spectators couldn’t tell which attacks were real and which were illusions.
With a single sword strike, the retreat path of the halberd user was sealed off by Han Qing. His sword covered all angles. No matter where his opponent wanted to retreat to, as long as Han Qing made some variation in his attack, his attack would land for sure.
However, the halberd user seemed to have no intentions of dodging.
With a stomp on the ground, just a single step, the entire earth seemed to move with the halberd user. He was like the sovereign of this space, barging forward with immense might. The ancient halberd in his hands brutally smashed out, as tyrannical as a dragon, pressing relentlessly forward.
“Wind Shadow.” Han Qing unleashed the will of his second level Mandate. His body vanished from sight, transforming into shadows of the wind, all traces of his presence were hidden within while the sword qi exuded got stronger and stronger.
With a flash of cold light, a lightning-quick sword stabbed towards the young man using the ancient halberd. The dangerous scene made people sigh in admiration as they witnessed the profoundness of the sword technique that was augmented by the will of Han Qing’s second level insight. Such speed totally rendered the halberd user defenceless.
However, right at this moment, a resounding boom thundered out.
The ancient halberd actually collided with Han Qing’s sword head on. There were no traces of hesitation in the halberd user movement, his strike was cleanly executed to perfection.
“This…” Those spectators who were paying attention to this battle were all stunned. How had the young man wielding the halberd accomplished that? Han Qing had merged himself together with the wind, his attacks were unpredictable and extremely rapid. Although the halberd user moved later, his weapon actually came into contact with Han Qing’s sword at the exact moment of impact. How had he done that?
Of course, there were also spectators who had clearly seen the young man’s actions. What amazed them was that the instant Han Qing disappeared, the halberd was already in motion. There were no traces of hesitation, and it also possessed unerring accuracy, arriving at the point of impact an instant before Han Qing’s sword appeared there.
It was as if the young man could predict where Han Qing’s sword would land. This caused the hearts of those spectating to shiver with coldness. Han Qing’s Wind Shadow had no form to it, and that was quite a powerful second level Mandate. Yet his opponent had actually struck out directly and with absolute certainty.
Han Qing initially believed that even if this strike of his couldn’t completely defeat his opponent; at the very least, it would cause him to fumble. And right after that, he could increase his attack speed and bestow a miserable defeat to the young man. Yet reality was as such, things happened contrary to his wishes. When the ancient halberd collided with his sword, he felt an overwhelming force directly blasting into his chest. It was like a vibration of force that endlessly created waves after waves of devastation in his body.
“Chi…” Han Qing explosively retreated as he spat out fresh blood. However, his opponent similarly stepped forward, chasing after him with the speed of lightning. Han Qing paled as he roared, “I CONCEDE!”
As the sound of his voice faded, the ancient halberd stopped an inch from his throat. The young man had no fluctuations to his countenance, appearing utterly unperturbed.
This battle between them, out of all the twenty-four battles, was the battle that ended the fastest. It caused several spectators to glance over as they mused in their hearts. This young man merely had a cultivation base at the first level of Heavenly Dipper, yet he had the strength to make Han Qing spit out blood with just a single move. He must have an extraordinary background, yet…who was he? Nobody seemed to know him.
In the entire Grand Xia, they had never heard of someone in the younger generations that was talented with the halberd.
Unless, this young man wasn’t someone from the nine continents and had never appeared here in Grand Xia before this. There was a remote possibility that this might be the case. Did this young man want to use the marriage selection to catapult himself to fame with a single battle?
After some time, the first round of battles ended. There were only twenty-four participants remaining.
“The majority of these twenty-four are all talents from the various transcendent powers.”
Would Mo Qingcheng’s future husband be among these twenty-four participants?
Who would be the one selected when the entire selection concluded?
“Continue, find your next opponent and defeat them to advance.” Luo He’s voice was as serene as ever, as though she was talking about something insignificant. The instant her voice faded, other than a few characters, the other participants all started to move. They wanted to find the weakest among them to defeat before the weakest was selected by others.
Although the halberd wielding young man defeated Han Qing, his cultivation base was merely at the first level of Heavenly Dipper after all. Compared to those who were still remaining, it was obvious that the other participants felt that this young man should be one of the weakest. In fact, there were three who dashed at him right away, only to be thwarted by one of the participants who was closer to the halberd wielding young man.
He didn’t want to give others any chance to snatch his prey away, hence, he directly struck out at the halberd wielding young man.
The instant he attacked indicated his opponent was already selected. Others couldn’t interfere in an one on one battle.
But at the very moment he struck out, the halberd wielding young man moved as well, just like a beam of lightning, fast beyond belief. The speed of the halberd user didn’t lose out to Han Qing in the slightest. And with a flash of light, his ancient halberd erupted forwards. There were no variations, no twist and turns, no profoundness to his strike. A simple, direct, tyrannical strike. That was all to it.
In fact, that strike of his couldn’t even be considered an innate technique. It was just a halberd strike, as simple as that.
Yet, when this ordinary looking halberd attack erupted forth. It gave off a sense that made the spectators feel as though in the entire world, only this single halberd remained.
The attacker was someone at the second level of Heavenly Dipper. And when he gathered his strength to counter attack, the howl of a terrifying demonic flood dragon echoed in the void. The physique of the attacker transformed, dashing ahead, and issued a palm strike, clashing head on with the halberd strike, with the strength of his current flood dragon body.
“ARGHH!” A voice filled with agony rang out, the arm of the attacker was directly shattered into pieces. The ancient halberd penetrated right through and pierced right into the centre of the attacker’s brow.
This battle was similar to the last one, the halberd wielding young man only used a single move to end the battle. Also, he was, once again, the fastest winner.
Although his cultivation base was one of the lowest among the participants, his almost instantaneous conclusion of two battles attracted the most attention.
However, the remaining participants after this round of battle would all be third level Heavenly Dipper Sovereigns. Many feared that the halberd wielding young man had already reached the end of his path.
And indeed, to no one’s surprise, after this round was concluded, only twelve participants remained. As for the other eleven, all of them had a cultivation base at the third level of Heavenly Dipper.
Not only that, each and every one of those eleven were extremely famous throughout Grand Xia. The halberd wielding young man poses no threat in comparison.
Chen Lie, Wang Yifei, Hua Cheng, Shi Kuang, Xiao Yu and the rest…none of them were unknown in Grand Xia.
Luo He glanced at the twelve remaining participants with a calm expression. Although these people could be considered extraordinary characters by the masses, when it came to marrying Mo Qingcheng, Luo He wasn’t satisfied with any one of them. After all, these characters weren’t the most outstanding ones among the younger generation in their various transcendent powers.
But right now, what she wanted wasn’t to choose a good son-in-law for their Pill Emperor Hall.
Her gaze shifted onto the demon sword erected outside.
He hadn’t appeared yet.
She truly wanted to see how long he could bide his time.
“Continue.”
Luo He’s voice had no emotions in it. She didn’t even set any rules; the next round continued onwards.
There would only be three participants remaining and as to who would win the selection, she have actually decided. But this was no longer important, because it was not her original purpose when she organised the marriage selection event.
“This Luo He actually used such a method to eliminate the participants. Strange.” Many had some suspicions in their heart. This method of elimination was extremely brutal, the strong would be eliminated by someone stronger.
For this third round, the participants didn’t instantly erupt into battle right after Luo He’s words. They were looking around, in deep contemplation. After some moments, one of the participants decided on his selection and started walking towards his opponent.
“Xiao Yu has chosen the halberd wielding young man as his opponent. Seems like the end result of this battle is already concluded. Xiao Yu was one of the top three Heavenly Dipper Sovereigns of the younger generation in terms of strength and talent in the Star-Seizing Manor. The might of his Star-Seizing Palms can’t be belittled.”
The young man wielding the ancient halberd looked as composed as ever, as though there was nothing that could ever shake his heart.
“Bang!” Xiao Yu stepped out, blasting forwards with his Star-Seizing Palms. The air around him vibrated as his palms shone with resplendent light. He wanted to smash the halberd user into nothingness with a single strike.
The young man struck out with his halberd, the same move as before. It was as if he only knew a single move. Yet when the ancient halberd collided with the Star-Seizing Palm imprint, both of them actually shattered at the same instant.
Xiao Yu coldly snorted. Someone merely at the first level of Heavenly Dipper also wanted to stand against him?
With a flick of his sleeve, Xiao Yu’s palms suddenly grew in size before yet another palm imprint was blasted out. This time around, the young man was enveloped by a cage of astral light. That palm of Xiao Yu seemed as though it wanted to seize the stars of that astral cage and, at the same time, seize the halberd user’s life away.
“BOOOM!” An immense burst of astral energy erupted at the location the halberd wielding young man was standing. The instant the Star-Seizing Palm imprint smashed over, a thunderous boomed resounded and caused those from the Star-Seizing Manor to stiffen, as their eyes widened at the sight before them.
An ancient halberd was currently lodged in the throat of Xiao Yu!
That palm imprint of Xiao Yu should have concluded the battle, but the instant before that Star-Seizing palm exploded the cage, his opponent actually appeared right in front of him as an ancient halberd appeared in his hands, smashing right through his throat.
The young man slayed Xiao Yu of the Star-Seizing Manor. Not only that, he did so in a domineering manner.
“Did the Venerate Heavens Sect also send out someone to participate in this selection?” Those from the Star-Seizing Manor had ashen expressions on their faces.
That movement technique the young man used right at the end was none other than Stellar Transposition, one of the nine ultimate arts of Grand Xia. Back then when the nine grand clans joined in rebellion, the art that was eventually claimed by the Venerate Heavens Sect was none other than the Stellar Transposition.
The young man then pulled out his halberd, as Xiao Yu’s body fell down on the ground. He then coldly regarded those from the Star-Seizing Manor, not bothering to reply them.
Of course, he wasn’t anyone from the Venerate Heavens Sect. He was Qin Wentian!
He suppressed his rage up till this point because he hadn’t seen Mo Qingcheng. His perception also failed to sense Mo Qingcheng’s location.
Hence, Qin Wentian could only use the Facial Transformation Art he obtained from Di Feng’s interspatial ring in the Vermilion Bird Formation to disguise himself. He had no choice but to take the risk of appearing at the marriage selection event in front of Luo He. All of this, in order to wait for a chance to save Mo Qingcheng!