Chapter 120: Rankers
The fight began, but neither Xu Min nor his opponent was eager to open up with the first attack. Both knew that once one attacked that person would also display their weaknesses. Neither of them wanted to let this occur.
Xu Min knew that this person was a student of an Immortal, making him a person Xu Min should not underestimate. He needed to use his full strength if he wanted to win this fight. Nevertheless, since the opponent did not take the initiative to attack, Xu Min went on the defensive. He lifted his finger and summoned a small red flame which flickered lively on his hand.
Much like how Xu Min had used the wind blades before, Xu Min now created one flame after another hovering in the air around him; these fire orbs all flickered with an amazing light.
Seeing the flames, many students turned sour with jealousy and bitterness. Everyone knew Xu Min could control the wind to some degree, but they had never before heard about him controlling fire. His sudden display showed that not only was he able to feel the elemental energy around him but he had an elemental affinity with more than one of the elements.
Some fairies were astonished instead of being jealous. It was not unnatural for fairies to connect with more than one element but it was the elements that Xu Min had managed to connect to.
The Air was powerful. Not only was it incredibly sharp and destructive, but it was also incredibly swift, able to increase the speed of the cultivator.
Fire was even more destructive than air. Where air was sharp, fire was volatile and explosive; it could cause incredible amounts of damage. The speed of the wind alongside the sharp wind blades and the destructive sharpness coupled with the fire's explosive nature, Xu Min could produce a lot of damage in a very short amount of time.
Unfortunately, he was still not at the domain level in the fire element so that he could create some fire orbs, but none of them were as powerful as they could be. Furthermore, he could control a little flame, but he could not turn the surrounding area into a flaming inferno.
Fortunately, he was up against an elf. Elves were not capable of controlling elements, so he could not control fire and overwhelm Xu Min's small fireballs. Thinking like this, a sinister grin appeared on Xu Min's face as he flicked his fingers and one fireball after another was shot at the ranker in front of him.
The ranker had summoned his spirit weapon, a longsword. Although these fireballs were incredibly easy to defeat, they required the ranker to use his sword to deflect them. It’s true Xu Min did not have great control over fire. However, these small fire orbs contained the element of fire; they were filled to the brim with a volatile inferno which would explode the moment it touched something. If it touched the skin of the elf, injuries would occur.
But this ranker was not dumb, he knew about the different levels of understanding the elements. Feeling the heat from Xu Min's fire orb, he could feel that this young man was not well versed in the element of fire. He could not help but sneer in disdain. Did this human think that some weak fire orbs were enough to attack him?
Lifting his longsword, he blocked every single one of the fire orbs; the smile on his face increased. He felt more and more comfortable in the fight. He was certain that he would be able to defeat this human quite easily, making him complacent.
The observers of the match felt like hitting their heads on the walls. Although the fire orbs were easy to deal with, these were clearly not the most dangerous attacks that Xu Min possessed. Everyone had heard about his outstanding wind element control, but his opponent against him completely forgot about Xu Min's other abilities and now was underestimating him badly. Even Xu Min was shocked about how lightly he was being taken.
Shrugging his shoulders, Xu Mi lifted his arm and summoned forth three wind blades. However, these wind blades were currently invisible. He had not merged them together but just summoned them to be ready to attack the opponent at any moment.
Xu Min did not stop here; he waved his hand and even more red fiery orbs appeared out of nowhere. They all shot towards his opponent in front of Xu Min.
Seeing the onslaught of fire orbs the ranker sneered at Xu Min, lifted his large sword, he blocked one after another. His full focus was on these fire orbs. While he focused on them, Xu Min leisurely moved his hand. The three wind blades solidified, shot forward at the speed of the wind, and paused just as they had bypassed the longsword and landed as a triangle around the rankers neck. Had Xu Min not stopped these wind blades, the fighter's head would have been cut off cleanly from the neck.
The elf was standing still. He dared not move even in the slightest since he feared that the wind blades would cut his throat. He was filled with unhappiness and mad at himself.
Now that the battle was over he was reminded of the wind control. Seeing how Xu Min had managed to mask the wind blades in the wind itself, it was clear that Xu Min had reached the domain level of the wind element. Every one of the elves felt uncomfortable about this. Every gust of wind could be turned into a wind blade; his performance had made them all worried.
Even the fairies felt discomforted. Xu Min had not shown many of his hidden cards; however, showing his ability to deal with this ranker as simply as he did, they all felt a chill run down their spine. The majority were feeling lucky that Xu Min was not in the same group as them. The ones who were in the same group felt less relieved. Though Xu Min had displayed his domain ability, as long as he did not have any more hidden secrets, then they could battle him.
A domain ability was frightening, but he was not the only student who had comprehended a domain; thus the other fighters felt that they could handle him. Nonetheless, thinking about the sword in Xu Min's hand and the ability to devour energy, they began to feel less secure.
None of these rankers had seen Xu Min battle before. All they knew was from what they had heard their followers say. They focused on describing his wind control and even more so on the absorption ability he had.
The fighters clearly understood and respected Xu Min’s wind domain, but the ability to devour was something they did not understand thus they were slightly nervous. They had hoped that the ranker he was up against at the first match would have forced him to reveal more of his abilities. Nevertheless, in the end, the battle had ended far too simply. Even though they had been able to know for certain that the control was at the domain level, they had already guessed this; in turn, they felt that the battle was a wasted opportunity. All of them looked rather sourly at the ranker who had been defeated.
"The battle is finished," The Immortal yelled out. The ranker had not given up or forfeited, but it was clear that his life was currently at risk. If Xu Min were to attack with the poor student, then he would be a head shorter.
Not only the student fighters felt uncomfortable with the easy win that Xu Min got, the Immortal which taught this student was severely disappointed as well. His student had lost his rank and was now going to be overcome by ordinary students on the heavenly ranking in the future year.
While the rankers were unhappy and some of the Immortals felt worried in their heart, a small group were filled with excitement for Xu Min. One of these was the light fairy which instantly went to Xu Min's side to congratulate him.
Even Mu Jianyao was smiling happily as she saw Xu Min's victory of the previous student. Her student had still not embarrassed her.
"You did well! You have hidden so many of your secrets well," the light fairy said excitedly as she looked at Xu Min, "you will be able to defeat at least a few other rankers, and soon you will shoot up the rankers chart and become a true leading power within the academy."
Seeing the excitement in the light fairy's face, Xu Min could not help but laugh a little. He was not willing to become a leader at this academy. All he wanted was to increase his strength and preferably become strong enough to battle the Zhong Family as soon as possible.
Thinking about this upcoming battle, killing intent billowed up within his body. Even though Xu Min tried to suppress it, he was incapable of fully killing it. The killing intent was seeping out from every single pore of his body.
The light fairy at the side was feeling uncomfortable when she felt this cold killing intent. She felt as if her body was being thrown into a frozen lake; her senses were assaulted by the cold atmosphere.
Everyone present realized this killing intent, but no one acted on it. They could feel that Xu Min was trying to suppressing it on his own. Every Immortal started asking themselves just what could have happened to this young man for him to release such a ferocious killing intent. A young man should not have such a heavy grudge, but here it was stunning everyone present.
"He needs to be careful," Mu Jianyao whispered to herself as she looked at Xu Min down on the ground. "Xu Min is still young, but he has such an urge to kill. If he is not careful, he will end up battling his inner demons, and fighting inner demons can be frightening, especially in his age. He might be trapped within his heart demon and unable to leave again."
Although Mu Jianyao was mumbling the words, every one of the Immortals could hear what she said. All of them felt that she was correct. They were Immortals, and all of them had gone through a battle with their heart demon at some point, but they had never before heard of such a young man having such a strong killing intent.
While the immortals were busy discussing and contemplating about heart demons and Xu Min, the young man had managed to control his killing intent without many of the students noticing it.
Seeing the light fairy's expression which was frightened, Xu Min smiled at her and patted her hair gently, "Sorry," he said with a wry smile, "Sometimes when I think about my past, I am unable to contain my killing intent. There is this family which I have to kill no matter what; whenever I think about it, I am unable to control myself. I'll try and keep the killing intent within me in the future, and no longer trouble you."
Feeling the hand which gently patted her hair, the light fairy's face turned red. She could not help but giggle a little bit. Many of the elves looked at this scene and felt their heart breaking in two or filled with jealousy. The light fairy was a very famous fairy within the academy. She was wooed by both rankers and normal students alike. Seeing her blush by the hand of a human, everyone was filled with indignation and wished to rip him to shreds on their own.