Chapter 235: The first match’s opponent
With the sun high up in the sky, there was finally a trace of warmth flowing through the snow-covered Tai Ah Divine City.
It was midday on the ninth day of the rookie ranking competition!
There was a short lunch break at midday during the competition, but many spectators did not leave the venue. After all, as long as a warrior had a sufficient amount of Yuan Qi stored within his body, he would be fine without eating for a few days.
However, the most important reason why most of the spectators stayed was because there were two important matches in the afternoon.
The first match was Qiuniu challenging a veteran cultivator ranked at 2800 on the Earth ranking.
The next match was even more ridiculous. Chu Xiaoran was challenging someone ranked at 2600 on the Earth ranking!
Both of them had just entered the top 3000 and many of those veterans who were around this ranking had spent four years training in the Tai Ah Divine City!
These people were basically peak-Purple Blood experts and were outstanding compared to other warriors at the same level!
Going beyond 3000, it was not easy to proceed forward. The competition they faced became increasingly intense!
Of course, people wanted to see such a battle.
Compared to Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, the other rookies were only there to accentuate their prominence.
Actually in the last two days, there were not many rookie battles. Now, if one did not challenge someone ranked in the top 7000, one would feel embarrassed to go up on stage!
People were fighting against the top 3000, yet you are fighting someone ranked over 10,000. Would you have the face going up?
“I think Qiuniu can still win challenging the 2800 ranking. As for Chu Xiaoran, she is really bold to challenge the 2600 ranking. The chances of losing are high…” Someone expressed his view. Many had been discussing for a long time about the results of the two matches Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were taking part in. Everyone had their own view, which created a fiery atmosphere.
At this time, someone suddenly said, “Eh…Isn’t that Yi Yun over there?”
Everyone was shocked and they looked towards the direction of the voice. All they saw, nearby in the participant benches, was a youth in linen clothes walk to his seat before sitting down.
This youth was indeed Yi Yun!
“It’s really Yi Yun! He finally came!”
The rookie ranking competition was almost over. It was already the second to last day, yet Yi Yun was still ranked at 10,003.
People were speechless when they saw Yi Yun. He had no sense of urgency and he was sitting at his seat in a carefree manner!
It was alright if he did not have the capability, but he clearly had the chance at entering the top three.
“Yi Yun still has four matches. It can actually be in time…If I were him, my first match will be to battle someone in the top 8000. By securing the lowest ranking, he can next challenge the top 6000 and win it. The first battle on the last day can be used to directly challenge Gu Mu! If he were to win, then everything will be settled. If not, he still has one more match to secure his fourth place.” Someone said. Many people found this reasonable.
They were all weaker people. They had to go through more than ten matches to find their ranking.
But Yi Yun was strong, so he could be more wilful. He could use Gu Mu as his measuring stick. He could secure his ranking in three matches.
At this time, people saw Yi Yun take out his Thousand Army Saber from his interspatial ring. He unsheathed it and began polishing the shiny blade.
Seeing this made people speechless.
It sure was an unordinarily calm scene.
Yi Yun slowly polished his saber. Actually, only the blades of mortals had to be polished with a tarp to maintain its sharpness. But a treasure saber like the Thousand Army Saber did not need polishing.
But Yi Yun still polished it bit by bit in a careful manner. This was not a useless act. Yi Yun was actually reaffirming the knowledge gained from the saber tomb as he tidied up the thoughts in his mind.
Through polishing the saber, he could feel more compatible with the saber. At the same time, he could empty his mind and optimizing his understandings.
Yi Yun silently polished his saber for an hour. The afternoon competition was about to begin.
Yi Yun stood up and picked up a form. After filling it, he raised his head–
“Referee!” Yi Yun shouted out. Immediately, the surrounding people’s gaze was focused on Yi Yun.
They knew Yi Yun had most likely chosen his opponent!
In the first few days of the rookie ranking competition, Yi Yun was so popular that many people challenged him. So his matches had to be arranged in advance by handing out challenge tokens, so as to ensure that everyone did not fight more than twelve matches a day.
But in the last few days of the rookie ranking competition, this system was not needed. Those that wanted to fight were mostly done fighting.
As such, the timing for battles were freely chosen. It was not a problem to decide on fighting an opponent right at that moment. Once the opponent was up on stage, the battle could immediately begin.
“Guess who Yi Yun will be challenging in his first match?” Someone asked.
“The first person should be a veteran cultivator ranked in the top 7000-8000. This would be the more certain choice.”
“Heh, I think it is impossible. Yi Yun actually dared to use a brick to handle Liu Yuxing, this shows that he’s extremely confident. There’s no way his opponent’s ranking is at 7000-8000. He might be able to challenge the top 5000 straight away. He might even challenge Gu Mu!”
“Challenge Gu Mu? To set it in stone? This is impossible…Yi Yun has disappeared for the past few days. His first battle after appearing should logically be someone who he’s confident in beating. By securing his first match, he can build up his morale. After holding back for so long, if he were to lose his first match, it will be extremely embarrassing!”
Many felt that it was most appropriate to fight someone that guaranteed them victory in the first match.
But the previous speaker remained obstinate. He said, “Wait and see. Think about the glorious history of Yi Yun taking down Liu Yuxing with a brick. It is not impossible for Yi Yun to challenge Gu Mu in his first match…”
…
The referee looked at Yi Yun and asked, “You want to challenge someone?”
“Yes.” Yi Yun said as he handed the challenge form he had just completed.
The referee took it and with a sweeping glance, he gave an odd look, “Are you sure?”
“Yes!” Yi Yun nodded and returned to his seat.
The referee did not say anything else. It was the freedom of the participants to challenge whomever they wanted. He could not interfere in it.
The referee began to arrange the order of the battles.
Many were curious who Yi Yun’s first opponent would be,
Very soon, the referee gave the answer because the first battle in the afternoon was Yi Yun’s!
Having been absent from the rookie ranking competition for so many days, Yi Yun was first on stage the moment he came back! It seemed that even the referee wanted to see Yi Yun’s performance.
People raised their spirits. Besides Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran’s match, they anticipated Yi Yun’s first battle after his reappearance.
But when the referee announced Yi Yun’s opponent, everyone was shocked!
“Divine Wilderness Stage, 10,003, Yi Yun! Challenging 2980, Qiuniu!”
What!?
Challenging Qiuniu!
People were shocked. His first match was neither to secure a ranking, nor to challenge Gu Mu, but to challenge the second-placed rookie, Qiuniu!
Challenging Gu Mu was already quite an exaggeration, but he actually challenged Qiuniu. What was he thinking?
People were not able to react in time. Gu Mu who was ranked third amongst the rookies frowned.
In this rookie ranking competition, he had always treated Yi Yun as his greatest rival. When Yi Yun appeared, he had been mentally prepared to fight a bloody battle with Yi Yun. In the past few days, he had accumulated a lot of combat experience in his battles. He was confident he could beat Yi Yun.
But he did not expect Yi Yun to ignore him. Yi Yun had directly skipped over him to challenge Qiuniu.
This made Gu Mu peeved. He had been disregarded!
“This Yi Yun actually dares to disregard me. Does he think I am not qualified to be his opponent?” Gu Mu clenched his fists. Yi Yun was too disdainful!
Having made all the preparations to compete with Yi Yun, yet Yi Yun completely did not put him in his sights.
“He sure has guts…I’ll wait till you lose to Qiuniu. I’ll then battle you to show you the consequences of disregarding me!” With this thought in mind, Gu Mu looked at Yi Yun with strong fighting spirit.
…
“Challenging me…?” Qiuniu was also surprised. He glanced at Yi Yun and immediately smiled, “Interesting! It’s true the young are rash. I thought you would battle me only after you beat Gu Mu!”
Qiuniu stood up. He was always very interested in Yi Yun.
But he never expected that Yi Yun had the guts to challenge him in his first match.
“Since you are so confident, I’ll use the white metal armor to take you on. It is me giving you sufficient respect!” Saying this, Qiuniu took out a giant glove from his ring and wore it on his right hand.
“Ka-cha!”
Three steel claws shot out from the claw with a cold shimmer!
At the same time, Qiuniu’s left hand was equipped with a large shield.
Following that, with a thought, two circular metal pieces on Qiuniu’s chest and back began to shine. A set of white metal battle armor appeared, covering Qiuniu’s body!
In a few seconds, Qiuniu was covered in his white metal armor and he was fully armed!
“Ha!”
With a shout, Qiuniu leaped onto the stage!
He was wearing tens of thousands of pounds of white metal armor. He had leaped from more than thirty meters away from the stage and he was like a pouncing tiger!
“Boom!”
Qiuniu’s two legs squatted to cushion his landing as he put a hand on the ground. He was like a meteorite that landed on the stage!
The loud bang caused the entire arena to quiver! It made people exclaim!
Under Qiuniu’s feet, the thick purple tungsten tiles had clearly sunken in. It was obvious how strong Qiuniu’s leap was.
Ignoring Qiuniu’s attacks, just this leap was enough to break a person into pieces!
“Terrifying. He’s basically a humanoid primordial desolate beast!” Someone sighed. Seeing Qiuniu’s stance, one would lose 30% of their willpower. A typical person would not dare fight him.
Even the dark horse amongst the rookies, Gu Mu, did not have the guts to challenge Qiuniu. This was because Gu Mu knew that the gap between them was large. He was no match for Qiuniu at all!
Qiuniu stood up. After his 1.9 meter tall and burly figure was covered in heavy armor, all his muscles bulged out with worm-like veins. It was as if he was about to explode!