Chapter 685: Who will win and who will lose?
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The Great Way of the Heavenly Master Sword of the Heavenly Master Sword Sect, the Shaoze Sword of the Mount Shu Sword Sect, and the Instant Sword Teleportation of the Sword of Radiance Sect, are hailed as the three fastest swordplay techniques in existence throughout the Divine Lands and are among the speediest Abhijina in the Human Cultivation World.
Kang Hai's Instant Sword Teleportation Technique may not match the Great Way of the Heavenly Master Sword in speed, but with all the participating cultivators in this Spiritual Conference being either at the Aurous Core Stage or the Foundation Establishment Stage and everyone's mastery levels suppressed to Advanced Foundation Establishment levels, Kang Hai's speed was now one of the highest.
Judging by the look of things, Kang Hai dominated everyone based on speed alone and quickly caught up with Chu Yang. But at this moment, Chu Yang's question threw a curveball at Kang Hai.
"Do you have three Golden Rings with you now?" Chu Yang asked smilingly. Kang Hai furrowed his eyebrows but blatantly replied, "A pity indeed. I only have three with me now, a long way to go before I meet the required quota."
Chu Yang laughed, "This cannot get any better. I only need two of the nine Golden Rings I obtained. I'll leave the remaining seven all for you. This way, you'll hit the necessary quantity."
When Chu Yang asked him initially, Kang Hai's heart already wavered slightly as he considered the possibility of such an offer. But with Chu Yang making such a prompt decision, it garnered a little admiration from Kang Hai. "Mastery levels aside, such kindness is truly hard to come by."
Chu Yang was the oriole waiting behind Fan Xuefeng's mantis, having audaciously stolen a whooping total of nine Golden Rings from Fan Xuefeng, as if plucking fangs from the mouth of a ferocious tiger. The collected number would almost satisfy an individual's required quota, but Chu Yang tossed out seven for Kang Hai without even batting an eyelid.
This was because, after scanning through the entire arena, only Kang Hai posed a realistic threat to him. As for the others, regardless whether it was Fan Xuefeng or the duo of Shi Jingyun and Shi Shaogan, neither could rival Chu Yang's speed. Whether Chu Yang wanted to battle them was another matter entirely, but if he did not want to fight, he could just walk off as they stared at him blankly.
Only Kang Hai could outmatch Chu Yang's speed with his Heavenly Sword Teleportation Technique. He did not need to duel with Chu Yang directly, and just needing to keep hard on Chu Yang's heels. Once the rest caught up, Chu Yang, yielding nine Golden Rings, would naturally become the target of attacks from all sides.
Chu Yang was not hesitant in the slightest, promptly counting seven Golden Rings and tossing them to Kang Hai. Kang Hai caught the rings and gazed at Chu Yang with a conflicted expression, but eventually uttered, "Thanks."
With that, he stopped chasing Chu Yang, and his sword radiance propelled away in another direction.
Chu Yang did not have high hopes of Kang Hai helping him either. Those seven Golden Rings were to ensure that Kang Hai would not interfere with his plans.
Fan Xuefeng might have been tailing far behind, but he could hear every word of Chu Yang's conversation with Kang Hai. When Chu Yang asked his first question, Fan Xuefeng already exclaimed to himself, "That's not good", as his heart sank right down.
Once Kang Hai received the Golden Rings, he had no idea what to do. Kang Hai's Heavenly Sword Teleportation Technique was simply too fast. Unless Fan Xuefeng trapped him earlier with a spell formation, no one could restrain Kang Hai once he made up his mind to leave.
Forging an alliance with Fan Xuefeng was purely to collect the necessary number of Golden Rings as quickly as possible. Now that Kang Hai has achieved his goal, he no longer needed to ally himself with Fan Xuefeng.
Kang Hai was also the only person in the arena who did not have to worry about taking on combined assaults from other competitors due to his stellar speed dominating the Conference. The other cultivators could forget about taking any of his ten Golden Rings and just admit defeat.
Fan Xuefeng frowned as he glared at Chu Yang. This was this man who wrecked all his plans.
"I'm sorry if I offended you." Chu Yang did not panic. Not only did he stop fleeing, he turned around to face Fan Xuefeng head-on.
Even with his plans all destroyed, Fan Xuefeng kept his cool and watched as Chu Yang advanced towards him aggressively. Fan Xuefeng's heart tremored with an ominous foreboding.
Just as expected, Chu Yang exclaimed, "My two friends from the Great Qin Empire, go ahead and avenge whatever grievances you have. This is your chance right here."
Fan Xuefeng's heart sank as the fears he bore came true. He suddenly found himself trapped in a highly disadvantageous situation. He turned back to see that both Shi Jingyun and Shi Shaogan have transformed into two dragon shadows, and had already caught up to him.
After hearing what Chu Yang shouted, Shi Jingyun's face contorted violently in displeasure as he grunted, "All of our Golden Rings fell into your hands, and you still offered them up to that scum Kang Hai!"
Chu Yang clapped his hands and grinned, "To my knowledge, our friend from the Great Void Sect already has seven Golden Rings, while I only have two. Even a fool can tell which target reaps a greater reward."
Shi Jingyun and Shi Shaogan's eyes instantly lit up. With Kang Hai long gone, only Fan Xuefeng was left. With their combined powers, it would be incredibly difficult for Fan Xuefeng to flee. On the other hand, if Chu Yang wanted to escape, he could easily do so as no one else could match his speed with Kang Hai out of the picture.
Kang Hai has already gathered ten Golden Rings and was on cloud nine as he departed the scene. After patiently waiting for fifteen minutes, he successfully made it past the second round. Hence, Chu Yang was in a position of absolute safety and could take both an offensive or a defensive stance with ease. On the contrary, Fan Xuefeng was now forced into a corner.
Shi Shaogan nodded and Shi Jingyun quickly understood what she was hinting at. The only thing they had to be wary of was not to let Chu Yang play the same tricks again and snatch all their Golden Rings away.
Chu Yang chuckled, "You two, the chance for revenge is right before you. Even without any Golden Rings, what else do you have to worry about?
Shi Shaogan looked at Fan Xuefeng and sneered, "You're right. Even if we don't have any Golden Rings, don't think of getting away with this, Fan Xuefeng!"
Shi Jingyun and Shi Shaogan were both coerced by Fan Xuefeng and forced to surrender their Golden Rings to save themselves. Even though this was a cheap trick, the duo were deeply humiliated. Yet, no one expected the tides of fortune to change so suddenly and that an opportunity for revenge would arise so soon.
Fan Xuefeng took a deep breath. His expression turned calm again as he stared Chu Yang dead in the eye.
To produce clouds with one hand and rain with the other - this saying appeared in Fan Xuefeng's mind after looking at Chu Yang. Everything was just as Chu Yang had planned. A few simple steps and the battle changed drastically, and Fan Xuefeng who was originally enjoying a great advantage, instantly descended into a gravely dangerous plight.
The level of Chu Yang's mastery did not matter. The important part was how Chu Yang gave up seven Golden Rings without hesitation and covertly sent Kang Hai out of the picture. It may sound simple, but he already possessed nine Golden Rings and was just one ring away from reaching the required quota, and yet he still gave up most of his rings and presented them to someone else while getting nothing in return. How many people would do such a thing?
Fan Xuefeng asserted that he could do the same but probably not with the same certainty and promptness as Chu Yang who did so without a second's delay.
If Chu Yang had hesitated for a moment longer and was snared by Kang Hai, allowing the rest to catch up and giving Fan Xuefeng ample time to set his spell formations, Chu Yang would not have been able to flee so easily. But now, Fan Xuefeng was the one in danger, flanked from the front and back by all three opponents.
Back in the Grand Heavens Pavilion, the crowd watched the scene unfold with immense interest. Yan Mingyue shook her head and chuckled, "Haha, Fan Xuefeng really took a huge fall here. I really never expected Chu Yang to be such a genius. He's a disciple from the Ethereal Mountain Sect, isn't he?"
Lin Daohan explained collectedly, "Chu Yang, the disciple under the Elder Meng Chaoran of the Ethereal Mountain Sect. He was once a guest official serving under Liang Gan in the Great Zhou Empire but he resigned three years ago and returned to the Ethereal Mountain Sect to continue his training."
After a brief pause, Lin Daohan continued, "Adding the time he spent cultivating in the alternate dimension where time flowed faster, he managed to leap from the Qi Training Stage to the Beginner Aurous Core Stage in less than ten years."
All the Immortal Soul cultivators present appeared slightly surprised. The Vivant Joy Holy Man from the Great Qin Empire stroked his long beard and smiled, "His talent for cultivation is also exceptional. The Ethereal Mountain Sect has produced a rare prodigy, but he should have also been nurtured by his own fortunes. Looking at the concealment spells and remarkably fast teleportation techniques he demonstrated just now, they may have been based off the Ethereal Mountain Sect's mantras but they surpass the latter by a huge extent."
The Dharma Hall was abuzz with comments and gossip from cultivators from every sect. Who would have thought that a black horse would emerge during this Spiritual Conference? The strength of the Ethereal Mountain Sect's delegation at this Spiritual Conference was not considered inferior, with many small and medium-sized sects from the Kunlun mountain ranges attending the conference.
However, these small and medium-sized sects knew their place and did not casually send representatives to participate without any exceptional talent. The Ethereal Mountain Sect sent Chu Yang to participate in the Spiritual Conference in order to train him further. There are numerous ways to increase one's knowledge beyond the interpretation of solely jostling with each of the larger sects.
After watching Chu Yang's performance, many of the Ethereal Mountain Sect's own cultivators were considerably stunned, pleasantly surprised albeit with plenty of doubts and concerns.
A few of their senior cultivators gazed at each other with conflicted expressions, revealing great uncertainty in their eyes. One elder projected his voice straightaway and exclaimed, "We must interrogate Chu Yang thoroughly once he returns!"
Wu Yunliang nodded gently and met Meng Chaoran's gaze. Both of their eyes concealed a hint of their complete grasp of the situation.
Inside the Celestial Small World, Chu Yang, who had just widened everyone's eyes with astonishment, stared straight at Fan Xuefeng and thought to himself, "What will he do? Would he minimize his losses and simply surrender seven Golden Rings to Shi Shaogan and Shi Jingyun from the Great Qin Empire?"
Fan Xuefeng looked at Chu Yang then glanced over at Shi Jingyun and Shi Shaogan, and burst into laughter. His phoenix-like eyes closed to form a thin line as he casually took out his Storage Bag filled with Golden Rings and poured them out. There were indeed seven of them.
The duo's eyes lit up. Claiming Fan Xuefeng's seven Golden Rings would remedy most of the losses that they had incurred.
Fan Xuefeng grinned and placed the rings back into the Storage Bag. However, he did not keep the bag and instead swung his arm and tossed the bag at Chu Yang!
This move blew everyone's expectations. Chu Yang may have displayed outstanding concealment and teleportation spells, but he was undoubtedly the weakest person in terms of pure strength among the three cultivators cornering Fan Xuefeng. Despite this, Fan Xuefeng still chose him to accept the rewards of their victory, clearly to draw the centre of the conflict away from himself and towards Chu Yang.
Fan Xuefeng watched as his Storage Bag arched across the air and dropped down towards Chu Yang, who simply reached out his hand to grab it almost subconsciously.
Upon witnessing this sight, Fan Xuefeng immediately cracked a smile and blurted, "Now is the critical moment that will decide who wins and who loses this game of chess!"