Chapter 230: The one gathering of the elites
Bai Mingwu’s face turned red. After all these years, taking part in numerous battles, big and small, he had never encountered such a situation. It was absolutely shameful.
This Qiuniu’s methods were unpredictable!
Bai Mingwu grit his teeth. With an abrupt slip of his hands, he moved down the polearm’s shaft towards Qiuniu!
By circulating the “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra”, all of his Yuan Qi was now concentrated within his feet!
He aimed for Quiniu’s head as he kicked out with his feet!
Bai Mingwu had pretty good leg techniques.
However, all Qiuniu did was sneer before raising his shield.
“Dang!”
Bai Mingwu’s feet landed heavily on the shield. The Yuan Qi from the “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra” burst out, causing Bai Mingwu’s feet to turn numb. However, it did not affect Qiuniu at all. The thick and heavy shield was like a solid metal wall, warding off all sorts of attacks!
Bai Mingwu felt helpless. He had used his polearm to attack Qiuniu, but it was blocked by Qiuniu’s shield. The same happened when he used his feet!
After blocking Bai Mingwu’s strike, Qiuniu smiled. With his right hand pulling on the polearm, and his left hand holding his shield, his body suddenly jerked forward.
Shield bash!
“Peng!”
With a loud clang, Bai Mingwu’s entire body was sent flying by Qiuniu’s shield bash!
His body tumbled a few times in the air before he landed. The great impact had caused him to take more than ten steps backwards before he managed to steady his body again. The blood flowing within his body was now in chaos.
He pressed his hand against his chest and looked over at Qiuniu. Qiuniu was still standing in his original spot. In fact, throughout the whole battle, Qiuniu had not moved more than just a few steps.
As Bai Mingwu was sent flying backwards, his polearm was still in Qiuniu’s hand.
His weapon had been taken away!
There was no way of describing what thoughts were going through Bai Mingwu’s mind. He had only used one move during this battle. After his weapon was grabbed by his opponent, he could not take it back and now he was in this embarrassing situation.
It was too aggravating.
There were still a lot of moves he did not get the chance to use. However, all of these moves required the polearm. Without his weapon, his battle prowess would drop greatly, leaving him with just his leg techniques!
He still had a low quality polearm in his interspatial ring.
But, not only was that polearm unable to bring out his greatest potential, the crux of the matter was that Qiuniu might take that polearm as well!
He did not have any methods of preventing Qiuniu from taking away his weapon. If he lost another one, it would be too embarrassing!
Standing before Qiuniu, Bai Mingwu was now in a dilemma.
Qiuniu was wearing a heavy armor and he had a huge shield. It was impossible for Bai Mingwu to break those apart with just his fists and feet!
“Your polearm… I’m returning it to you!” As Qiuniu said that, he casually weighed the polearm in his hand. Following that, he grabbed the polearm and slightly leaned back, his right foot on the ground, while lifting his left foot.
“Ha!” Qiuniu shouted out, and as his left foot landed, his right arm sent the polearm flying!
“Sou!”
The heavy polearm let out an ear-piercing screech that sounded like an explosion. The polearm flew through the air, flying straight at Bai Mingwu!
With Qiuniu’s strength, the polearm’s speed was now completely terrifying!
Bai Mingwu constricted his pupils. Facing his weapon, which was now flying straight at him, he… did not dare to try and grab it!
At the moment the polearm was about to strike Bai Mingwu, he gritted his teeth and used his movement technique to dodge it.
“Dang!”
With a loud metallic clang, the polearm embedded itself into a purple tungsten protective wall beside the Divine Wilderness Stage.
The three foot thick purple tungsten wall tremored from this huge impact. Even the tiles on the ground trembled!
The polearm was also vibrating non stop!
Upon seeing this, many were at loss for words. Qiuniu’s strength was too terrifying!
Bai Mingwu stood on the stage with a pale face. He really did not know what to do!
Did he really need to run down the stage to pick up his polearm?
Not only was it embarrassing, but even after retrieving the polearm, he was not confident in his ability of beating Qiuniu. Also, what if Qiuniu attacked him as he retrieved the polearm?
After his deliberating, Bai Mingwu had to admit that he had lost the moment Qiuniu grabbed his polearm.
He was inferior!
Gritting his teeth, Bai Mingwu shook his head and said, “I admit defeat…”
He was not a sore loser. There was no point in resisting on stage when it had already reached such a situation.
“Thank you!” Qiuniu cupped his hands.
Qiuniu won this battle!
People’s moods were indescribable seeing Bai Mingwu sadly walking down the stage and him using all his strength to pull out his polearm.
This battle was quite ridiculous. Qiuniu’s battle strategy was quite different from others, but it was extremely effective. Bai Mingwu had been defeated by Qiuniu to the point that he conceded the battle on his own accord.
“Bai Mingwu admitted defeat… A person ranked in the 3900s on the Earth roll was defeated by Qiuniu, just like that…”
“There’s no other way. The difference in strength was too great. After his weapon was taken away, Bai Mingwu lost his confidence. If that did not happen, Bai Mingwu could have fought another few more rounds. In fact, upon reaching the Yuan foundation realm, a warrior’s connection with his weapon would greatly increase. It wouldn’t reach the point of easily having the weapon stolen.”
Once a warrior reached the Yuan foundation, or a realm beyond the Yuan foundation, they could use their Yuan Qi to grow their weapons. They could even keep their weapon inside of their Dantian, slowly nourishing it.
As such, it would not be easy to take away another person’s weapon.
But it was not impossible either. If someone was strong enough, they could erase the opponent’s soul mark on a weapon and steal it.
“This Qiuniu sure is difficult to handle. Once he grabs your weapon, it’s over!”
Seeing Qiuniu’s attire, many felt powerless.
Qiuniu’s glove was also armored. He could easily grab other weapons as well, such as sabers or swords!
If it was a low quality weapon, he could probably even snap it!
Not only that, Qiuniu’s defense was extremely perverse. With his body covered in armor, together with that heavy shield, it was like he had a thick tortoise shell. A weak attack would only be equivalent to scratching an itch for Qiuniu!
As for Qiuniu’s attack power, it was irrefutable. When Qiuniu threw the polearm at the end, Bai Mingwu did not even dare to grab it, even though he was its owner. How could Qiuniu’s attack power be weak?
How could one handle him, when his defence and attacking power were that strong and he could grab their weapons easily?
He was too difficult to handle!
Many of the veteran cultivators, who had spent 2-3 years in the Tai Ah Divine City, placed themselves in Bai Mingwu’s shoes. If they had fought Qiuniu, they had to admit that they would also lose!
“This batch of rookies sure is crazy… Now, it seems there’s an extremely high chance Qiuniu and that Chu Xiaoran can enter the top 1000 within a year!” A veteran cultivator said with mixed emotions.
But another veteran cultivator shook his head, “You are exaggerating by saying there is an extremely high chance. The top 1000 isn’t easy to reach. It is basically the world of Yuan foundation realm cultivators amongst the top 1000. Without being at the Yuan foundation realm, it will be impossible to hold one’s ground! And if a rookie were to rise up there, many veterans would pay close attention to him. Who would wish to be lorded over by a rookie? At that point, there would be numerous challengers wishing to pull you down. To establish yourself in the top 1000? It is difficult!”
Although this veteran cultivator was unwilling to admit that Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran could establish themselves in the top 1000 within a year, he was very well aware of the fact that Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were absolute monsters amongst monsters. Their potentials were no weaker than Qin Haotian’s!
It was extremely rare for two such figures to appear in a single batch of rookies!
…
The fifth day of the rookie rankings ended. Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran performed outstandingly. Soon, the news of it spread throughout the Tai Ah Divine City. Their names became famous, not only with the rookies, even amongst the veteran cultivators circles.
All of the major factions began to pay close attention to Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran. However, it was impossible to draw them in. The two of them had their own family clans and they were destined to serve their own families.
The cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City debated about who amongst the two was the strongest one.
Both of them had their own supporters and they expressed their views based on inferences and conjectures. Their debates became very heated.
As such, some associations even opened up a betting pool, deciding who amongst the two would win first place amongst the rookies.
The odds between the two were very close. However, Chu Xiaoran had slightly more supporters. How could a beautiful girl be less popular than a stout man?
With the betting pools opened, many had also included Yi Yun into them.
Yi Yun was compared to Gu Mu, who had shocked everyone on the fifth day of the competition.
Yi Yun and Gu Mu were of similar backgrounds. They were both strong and were dark horses before appearing on stage. Many were interested to know who was the strongest one amongst the two.
…
“Haha, they are opening another betting pool! Brother Yi, I bought the bet that you would win.” Zhou Kui said excitedly. During dinner time, he found Yi Yun at the cook house. He had complete confidence in Yi Yun and he felt that Yi Yun was sure to beat Gu Mu.
Yi Yun smiled without saying anything. He had watched all the matches in the past five days. Gu Mu was indeed a noteworthy opponent, but he was much worse than both Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran.
Yi Yun paid special attention only to Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran. Both of them had their own specialities. Chu Xiaoran had techniques, while Qiuniu had absolute strength. Both of them had powers that were on a completely different level than the other rookies.
“How is it? Brother Yi, did you bet on yourself?” Zhou Kui asked excitedly.
Yi Yun shook his head. He had previously heard about these betting pools. Ever since the Hongdao Association suffered a great loss due to Yi Yun, many of the associations learned their lesson. The bet limit was only up to 500 dragon scale runes.
The odds against him beating Gu Mu was not very high. Together with the high tax on gambling by the Tai Ah Divine City, there was nothing much to be earned. Yi Yun could not be bothered to bet. Only poor rookies like Zhou Kui would find interest in making a small gamble.
“Brother Yi, keep it up. Although the Tai Ah Divine City is only giving away glory points and other cultivation privileges to the person in first place, you will still be well rewarded at third place. Brother Yi, I look up to you!”