Chapter 106: Lunatic
Looking at this young man, Xu Min started to become a little alert. He could feel great hostility emitting from this person, and a vague feeling of danger resided in the back of his head.
Still, he stood as he had been standing so far. He closed his eyes for a brief moment. By his side, Ye Ling was seated, and around his neck, Cao Cao was hanging. The snake was not talking; the lion was equally not making a sound.
Before the duels had started, Xu Min had ordered them only to interfere if he was on the verge of being crippled. He needed to prove his strength, and he could only do so by relying on his personal power. If he did not, others would question whether or not he was worthy of respect or if it was solely his contracted beasts which they should acknowledge.
Xu Min opened his eyes once more and took a deep breath. He was completely balanced. He was in the state of being one with the world, and the sword in his hands hummed as though it was screaming out to battle. Xu Min felt how this lust for battle permeated from the sword into him; it sparked his killing intent as it spread through his body.
These elves had lived in the academy since they were six years old; although they had been out on missions in the Immortal Valley before, where they had to kill specific beasts, they were not used to true life and death battles. In many ways, they were similar to the geniuses of the high-ranked sects and families that belonged to the Immortal Ruins. Their hearts started to quiver as they felt the cold killing intent spreading from Xu Min. Xu Min, who was standing in front of them, turned from being an innocent-looking young man into an asura, a devil.
The Immortals all nodded their heads in approval. The higher-ranked experts, who had been allowed to leave the Immortal Valley and enter the world outside knew as well what it meant to have such an outstanding killing intent; they too nodded their heads in approval. This young man might not have been born as an elf or a fairy, but he had some amazing abilities that made him stand as equals to the elves and the fairies. The fact that he could control the wind and understood its domain, alongside the fact that Elder Mu Zi had said he also controlled spiritual energy, these immortals had already approved of Xu Min.
The ones below the seven-star Warrior rank were unaware of these thoughts from the upper echelon. Instead, they exhibited indignation at these turns of events. They were the exalted races of elves and fairies. They were born gifted by the world; their training talent was better than the humans and their comprehension even more so. They could do anything humans could do and even more. Nonetheless, here was a human who was said to have everything they possessed and, maybe, even more. It was hard for them to acknowledge this fact. If anything, they felt jealousy.
"Are you ready?" The man who had jumped onto the stage asked. Xu Min casually nodded his head. Hundreds of wind blades appeared. However, while they were appearing, the elf did not allow for Xu Min to infuse them with his swordlight. He created a spear from his spiritual energy and with a sweep of his spear, he managed to clear more than half of the blades in one move, catching Xu Min off guard.
Xu Min was surprised, but he was not shocked to the point of flinching. He had expected this elf to be different from the others. The moment he had summoned forth the many wind blades, he had already started the next part of his offense, merging swordlight into the wind.
This time, Xu Min was not only merging the light into the wind blades but also he merged swordlight into a few of the normal gusts of wind that were gently flowing about the stage. This was to catch the opponent off guard. It was clear that he would defend against the many wind blades and avoid the swordlight in them, but could he guard against the wind? The wind was everywhere at once, guarding against it would require a tremendous amount of effort even for a six-star Warrior. This guy was only a mere five-star Warrior, and Xu Min knew the fighter was incapable of doing so.
Being aware of this, Xu Min's eyes turned cold as he lifted the sword in his hand and swung it out. A massive, visible line of swordlight shot forward at the speed of the wind, almost impossible to dodge.
This elf was no normal elf, however. The moment the elf sensed the incoming swordlight, he lifted his spear, enveloping himself in spearlight.
Xu Min smiled while watching how the spearlight, which, although not as strong as the swordlight, carried with it an immense force and strength and was used to defend against his attack. He felt enlightened as he had only thought that swordlight could be used to attack. The thought of using it for defense never really crossed his mind. Now, looking at this spearlight, he understood that he had been wrong.
These duels, although easy so far, had been of great help to Xu Min. He had seen spiritual energy used in other shapes than just the bow that he knew how to use. As well, he had seen spearlight used defensively. His mind was filled with new knowledge, and he could not wait to rush back to his small cottage and start contemplating on these two subjects.
Still, he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind. He did not entertain his newfound excitement. He was currently in the middle of a battle, and he needed to continue, so he could preferably win.
A loud boom resounded through the sparring field as the swordlight collided with the defensive spearlight. The energy forced the elf a few steps backward. The elf felt as if a sledgehammer had struck him straight in the chest. The spearlight around his body faltered and vanished. The remaining fifty wind blades swished in the air as they descended upon him.
Gritting his teeth, the young elf refused to give up and gathered all the spearlight he could in front of him to block the assault of the incoming wind blades. However,t a gentle wind came from the back while he was preparing for the attack in front of him. The surprise attack from behind carried with it the most fearsome of all the swordlights.
A soft sound could be heard before the elf on the stage collapsed on the ground. Blood spurted from his mouth as he had been stabbed in the side.
Xu Min had made sure to avoid vital areas and important organs, but the stab was so deep that it went straight through his body. It had come so suddenly and so unexpectedly that no one understood what had happened for a brief moment.
The eyes of the elf were filled with unwillingness and also hate as he looked at Xu Min. Nevertheless, the young man did not attack. The elf knew he had lost.
No more of the five-star Warriors stood up to challenge Xu Min as they helped the wounded elf off the stage. Silence descended on the stage. How had he won? Everyone was certain that there had been no wind blades behind their compatriot’s back, but he still had been stabbed right through the body.
"He is a freak," a beautiful fairy whispered to the other fairies, who followed behind her in single file. All of them listened intently to her whisper. It was clear that the followers had no idea how Xu Min had done it. This woman, nevertheless, the young six-star Warrior ranked Fairy, smiled as she gently caressed her cheek, "to think that a human has gained insight into the wind domain," she said in a low voice audible only to her followers. All of them gasped at the mere thought of this.
They were fairies. Their dream was to gain insight into a domain one day. The reason that this six-star Warrior fairy who whispered this news was their leader was not only because of her beauty or high rank as a six-star Warrior but because she had gained insight into two domains. ] She was a well-known figure in the academy and a very popular woman as well.
Xu Min was aware that his movement caused a few people to have seen through his secret. Nonetheless, he also knew that those who had seen through it were all exalted experts who would not lower themselves to fight an expert weaker than themselves by a whole rank. They would gain nothing if they won, and losing would only make them a fool. Almost no one was willing to take on such a task.
"To think that senior brother would lose!" A girl said.She was shocked as she looked at the elf who was being ferried off from the stage. The battle had been too swift. No one had seen what had wounded him. Everything had been too mysterious. Suddenly someone started calling out in protest, "he cheated!" One of the elves had yelled this petty assumption.
His words resounded in the silence; soon an uproar began. Everyone felt that he must have cheated to have won the way he had. Everyone was yelling out that Xu Min must have cheated somehow.
"Better pacify them," a tired voice sounded next to the ears of all Immortals. An old man appeared next to Xu Min moments after. Xu Min had never seen this man before, but every elf and fairy became completely quiet as he appeared.
The old man looked at Xu Min curiously before he winked his eye and said in a voice that was not hidden at all, "your master might be a lunatic, but he did produce quite a talented student!"
Hearing this, Xu Min's face turned slightly sour. He understood that Wang Li was clearly not just an old man who worked at the docks in Honghe City. Xu Min was reminded once again of just how much he owed this old man and to hear him being called a lunatic was something that did not sit well with Xu Min. However, Xu Min was not suicidal; he just passively looked at the Immortal instead without saying anything.
The many students once more started gossiping amongst each other. The Immortals knew of Xu Min's master? Could it be that he was the student of some elven Immortal from their sect who had left the academy to travel the world? Or perhaps it was a beautiful fairy who wished to see the world of man? In their minds, it made sense that his master was an elf or a fairy for him to be able to control the two energies exclusive to these races.
"Xu Min has not used any form of cheating during these sparring matches; he has relied solely on his personal ability and will continue to do so. I will stand as the judge to ensure that this battle will go out of hand."
The man paused for a moment. Xu Min secretly hoped no more experts would step up. He was fairly certain in his ability to deal with every single five-star Warrior, but anything above that would turn into a desperate battle.
Just as Xu Min thought this, the old man looked around before a cackling laughter escaped his lips. He said with his high-pitched voice, "It seems there is no five-star Warrior who can compete against him. Thus why don't you six-star Warriors give it a try?"
An explosion of voices swept through the Sparring Field as the words made it to all ears, but Xu Min’s face turned rather stern as a result. Was it in this Immortal's place to decide which opponents Xu Min could battle against? Sighing, he knew he could do nothing about it now, but looking at Ye Ling and Cao Cao brought him a sliver of comfort. At least he would be able to keep his life if he was going to lose badly.