Even before many of the disciples finished their third round of the trial, Ye Chen had already started his fourth round.
This time, the white silhouette was at the early Clasping Yuan Realm, Ye Chen could clearly sense the strong and intense Zhen Qi vibrations from a long distance, even the air surrounding the white silhouette began rippling like water.
“Let’s begin!”
Ye Chen had already killed Hong Qianjun and fought against Yuanheng Ying, he would never be afraid of the white human-shaped silhouette. He slowly raised the Hidden Cloud Sword with his right hand, while streams of power quickly gathered at the sword tip.
Swoosh!
The white silhouette suddenly disappeared, and then showed up again right above Ye Chen, and swung its sword down towards Ye Chen’s head at lightning speed. A tremendous stream of sword Qi swooshed down like a rapidly flowing river, it roared across the air and darted right down towards Ye Chen. This attack that was launched was incredibly fierce, it was even beyond Ye Chen’s expectations.
Slightly surprised, Ye Chen immediately raised his sword with both of his arms, and blocked the roaring stream of sword Qi launched by the silhouette.
Crack!
The ground under Ye Chen’s feet began cracking and sinking, dark and thick cracks quickly spread out like a growing spider web.
“[Lone Domination]!”
Holding his tongue against his teeth, Ye Chen gave a resonant growl, he clenched his left fist and threw out a swift punch.
Without any hesitation, the white silhouette also threw a punch, and it directly thudded against Ye Chen’s fist.
Boom!
Ye Chen’s feet sank half a foot deep into the ground, while the white silhouette was sent flying backwards, slight cracks appeared on its left arm.
“Just as I thought, this thing’s defensive power is weaker than mine!”
As he leapt out of the pit, Ye Chen right away released a gigantic stream of sword Qi towards the white silhouette, the sword Qi was gliding in the air, intending to finish it with this single move.
After all, the white silhouette possessed the power of an early Clasping Yuan Realm martial artist; it nimbly twisted its body in the air and dodged the sharp, huge stream of sword Qi, and then let out another stream of white, thick sword Qi towards Ye Chen, with a weird gesture.
The white stream of sword Qi split the air as it swished towards Ye Chen like a dazzling electric bolt, it seemed to be more destructive than Ye Chen’s sword Qi.
“[Clear the Sky]!”
After Ye Chen stepped into the peak of Late Condensing Reality Realm, the total amount of his Zhen Qi was also vastly improved, therefore, he could now launch the [Clear the Sky] much more easily, and wouldn’t feet any difficulty like he had during his fight against Hong Quanjun.
A fierce stream of sword Qi, that contained the sword intent directly swished up into the air, it stirred the air violently into an enormous tornado, and smashed the white stream of sword Qi released by the silhouette; after that, the thunderous tornado swooshed further towards the white silhouette, while sharp, dazzling and piercing sword Qi streams darted out of it from time to time.
Crack, crack, crack!
Inside this sealed space, a mysterious power had been continuously fixing all the damages that were caused by the fight between Ye Chen and the white silhouette; however, no matter how fast it worked, it always fell behind Ye Chen’s speed of destruction. Within a single moment, tens, even hundreds of deep sword cuts appeared on the walls and the floor, and from every single one of those cuts, fierce power streams were spurting out.
The white silhouette madly swung its sword, it constructed a screen that condensed from the sword Qi stream to firmly shield itself; even though the screen blocked the tornado, the white silhouette began to slowly step back.
Boom!
When its back thudded against the wall, the white silhouette couldn’t step back any further. Its body sparkled in anxiety, and it abruptly launched another move.
Once the white silhouette launched another stream of white, shining sword Qi, a resonant, high-pitched dragon roar resounded throughout the entire space. The incredibly strong stream of sword Qi brought up the air and roared towards the tornado that had been rampantly sweeping across the entire room.
“You still won’t die? [Highly Condensed Sword Qi]!”
Ye Chen suddenly appeared in the air, he trod on a fierce airwave of the tornado, as his clothes fluttered in an intense manner.
As he growled out once again, Ye Chen swung his sword down.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Fire sparks darted out as the white silhouette raised its sword and held off Ye Chen’s sword Qi; it was suppressed by Ye Chen, and was now disabled from moving.
In just a single moment, Ye Chen’s sword Qi shattered the white silhouette’s sword, and in the next moment, the white silhouette transformed back into a stream of white light.
Buzz!
Once Ye Chen landed back on the ground, he felt a magical shaking in his body. With the vibrations from this gentle yet magical stream of power, Ye Chen only felt an itch to his bones; soon after, he felt that the circulation speed of his Zhen Qi started to increase, it was two times faster than usual, apart from this, his blood began boiling and even his face turned red.
“Such a magical power, it is actually improving my body’s condition and raising the flowing speed of my Zhen Qi.” After he went through the first three rounds of the trial, Ye Chen had already realised that this vibrating power could purify his body and improve the condition of his body, it also allowed him to absorb Yuan Qi faster, and cultivate more effectively than before.
However, compared to before, this vibrating power that was working on him now was much stronger.
After the vibrating power faded away, Ye Chen checked his body with his soul power, and found that the Zhen Qi swirl contained in his dantian began gathering inwards, and was gradually forming a sphere.
“I am now halfway into the Clasping Yuan Realm, I only need one more chance.”
Along with the improvement of a martial artist’s cultivation, the shape and form of his or her inner Qi would also have massive changes. In the Mortal Realm, a martial artist’s Zhen Qi was weak and thin, therefore, it looked like a cyclone inside the dantian; in the Condensing Reality Realm, the inner Qi would be condensed into Zhen Qi, and would be much more solid in quality, gradually, it would form into a Zhen Qi swirl; after the martial artist stepped into the Clasping Yuan Realm, the Zhen Qi swirl would gather inwards into a perfectly round Zhen Qi sphere.
Puff!
As he easily tore apart the air, Ye Chen found that his power had been improved once again. At this stage, even if his opponent was Yuanheng Ying, Ye Chen believed that the possibility of killing Yuanheng Ying had now raised to fifty percent.
At this moment, most of the others had just finished their third round of trial.
The number of disciples who had failed the trial raised swiftly. Five disciples failed in the first round, tens of disciples failed in the second round, while in the third round, over two-hundred and forty disciples had failed, and were teleported out of the palace immediately.
“Han Shan!”
Glancing at this new batch of disciples who had been teleported out, Head Elder of the Sky Cloud Martial School found Luo Hanshan in the crowd.
Lou Hanshan gave a bitter smile and said, “Sorry elder, I failed to break into the Clasping Yuan Realm.”
“No need to worry.” said the Head Elder while patting him on his shoulder, “With your talent, you will certainly break into that realm soon, no need to rush.”
“Hm,” Luo Hanshan nodded and said, “I have indeed gained some benefits in there. That Heavenly Dream Battle Palace is filled with dense and pure Yuan Qi, and my body was purified by the magical vibrating power during the trial. After three rounds of the trial, I found that my Zhen Qi swirl is slightly compressed, maybe I can truly achieve a breakthrough if I concentrate on my cultivation for a few days after we get back.”
“That would be the best. Ah, what about the others, are they all safe?” The Head Elder asked nervously. Every single one of the four disciples who had been sent into the ancient region was meant to become a pillar of the Sky Cloud Martial School in the future. Losing any one of them would be a severe loss to the school, especially Ye Chen. A genius who had comprehended the half step sword intent was way more valuable and rarer than any kind of treasure. If they lose Ye Chen this time, they might not find another kid as talented as him even after a long time.
As he glanced at the group of Purple Sun Martial School’s people, Luo Hanshan sent his voice to the Head Elder by the use of his Zhen Qi, “Head Elder, Brother Ye has already attained the true sword intent, he had also killed Ouyang Lie and Ouyang Ming. These two tried to kill us on the way, but finally, they were killed by Brother Ye.”
“Really?!” Head Elder’s voice sounded a bit shrill, fortunately, he was talking to Luo Hanshan by the use of his Zhen Qi, or else all the others might even laugh at him.
Luo Hanshan smiled and responded, “How could I say something that is not true?”
“Great! Ye Chen, this kid has actually gained the sword intent! He is indeed an extremely valuable genius of our Sky Cloud Martial School, ah, our Sky Cloud Martial School is meant to raise!” Head Elder gave a big grin and praised. If the Ye Chen who had gained the half step sword intent is a piece of raw jade, then this Ye Chen, who had managed to attain the true sword intent would be a piece of top-grade, perfectly pure jade, that was already astonishing, and didn’t need any further processing.
Lou Hanshan continued, “Zhu Mei and Sister Xu Jing are both fine as well, since they haven’t come out yet, they might be in the middle of their fourth round of trials, this means that they can probably achieve a breakthrough.”
He didn’t use his Zhen Qi this time, therefore, all the other inner elders, including the Fourth Elder heard this.
The fourth Elder laughed out loud and said, “Ha! Compared to our generation, you kids are much more wonderful! In just a few years, we can just let you have our positions!”
“Ah ha ha! That would be great! Nowadays, this world is being led by young people anyway!”
“Exactly, back then, many of our powerful martial artists fell in battles against the Nine Evil Cult, therefore, people like us became inner elders even before we have truly grown strong, we had to carry the responsibilities on our shoulders at that time. You’re much more talented than us, so you can certainly take good care of our institution.”
Unlike other groups, the Sky Cloud Martial School’s people seemed to be quite happy and delighted.
Among the Purple Sun Martial School’s group of people.
The Head Elder said to an inner elder with a darkened face, “I’m just wondering how Ouyang Lie and Ouyang Ming are, as for the others, they were all probably killed already.”
“Hm, Ouyang Lie and Ouyang Ming are both powerful, so they’re not likely to be killed. All the others are of relatively lower level, they might not be able to survive.”
The Head Elder glanced at Luo Hanshan, a fierce killing intent flashed across his eyes and then immediately vanished, he then said, “It seems like they failed to complete their mission, Luo Hanshan is still alive.”
“We shouldn’t worry about Luo Hanshan, he hasn't broken into the Clasping Yuan Realm Yet. But, we have to worry about that kid named Ye Chen, once he steps into the Clasping Yuan Realm, he would be powerful enough to evenly fight against mid Clasping Yuan Realm martial artists. He would certainly become a huge trouble for us, we can’t let him live, no matter how.”
“Whatever happens, let’s just wait until Ouyang Lie and Ouyang Ming come out, I have a bad feeling.”
Ah!
Suddenly, a raging growl came from the Multiple Mountain Martial School’s group of people. A powerful stream of Zhen Qi was let out along with that growl, even the sand within tens of zhang radius rose high, turning the sky grey.
“What did you say?!” The Head Elder of the Multiple Mountain Martial School stared at a disciple who had just been sent out of the palace and yelled.
This disciple was extremely frightened by that resonant growl, he hurriedly lowered his head and said, “Head, head Elder, I haven’t seen Senior Brother Hong Qianjun in the Heaven Dream Battle Palace, but, but I think he should be fine, after all, he is an early Clasping Yuan Realm martial artist, and all the other Hidden Dragon Ranking martial artists were in the palace, who else could kill him?”
“Then where is he now?! The ancient region will close in a quarter of an hour!” roared the Head Elder.
“If anything happened to Hong Qianjun, our Multiple Mountain Martial School would certainly dig out that person who might have done something to him, and then we will crush his entire family!”
Luo Hanshan hurriedly turned his eyes away from the Multiple Mountain Martial School’s group. Hong Qianjun died in Ye Chen’s hands, he saw it himself, so did Zhu Mei. Now, he couldn’t show any sign of suspiciousness, otherwise, if the Multiple Mountain Martial School knew about this, the Sky Cloud martial School would have endless troubles.
The Head Elder perceived Luo Hanshan’s abnormal reaction, and asked using his Zhen Qi, “Hanshan, what’s wrong? You should tell me if there is anything else that had happened back there, I am your uncle by blood, don’t you trust me?”
After hesitating briefly, Luo Hanshan decided to tell the truth. His father, Luo Xinglie and the Head Elder were the closest people to him among the entire Sky Cloud martial School, without a doubt, he trusted both of them.
“Head Elder, Hong Qianjun is dead, he was killed by Ye Chen. But it was started by Ouyang Ming and Ouyang Lie, if we hadn’t killed Hong Qianjun at that time, he would have killed us.”
“Ouyang Ming and Ouyang Lie instigated Hong Qianjun to kill you? They might have promised him some benefits. Ah, I thought something much worse happened. Just relax, it’s not a big deal. If you didn’t kill him, he would certainly kill you someday, this is a simple logic. However, don’t tell anyone else except me and your own father, although we’re not cowards, we don’t want a war against the Multiple Mountain Martial School.”
“I am aware of that.”
Edited by: Jaggerjakk