Chapter 147 – Championship Stage
Translator: Mr Voltaire
Editor: Phoobiee
Early in the morning, when the first ray of sunlight passed through the Heaven Origin Hunting Grounds’ barrier, Xiao Yun had already reached the bottom of the mountain.
“3900 points, still in first place!” After he looked at the Points Medallion in his hand, Xiao Yun smiled and gazed into the distance. “Time to head to the Championship Stage and see if I can find the Qiu family’s people on the way. If I do, I definitely won’t spare those who tried to kill me before.”
After descending from the mountain, Xiao Yun killed a few demonic beasts, and after solidifying his ranking, he did not dally anymore.
“With this Lord, none of them will be able to escape,” the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow muttered as it narrowed its eyes, looking like a fire burned within its eyes. After spreading its wings, they spanned around seven meters, and the flames that burned on them seemed to be able to incinerate the air. Xiao Yun jumped on, completely unharmed. After all, these flames were controlled by the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow, so they would not harm him.
In the depths of the hunting ground, there was a stage that was around thirty metres tall that gave off an incredibly ancient aura, seeming incredibly powerful. This was evidently the hunting ground’s Championship Stage.
At the edge of the Championship Stage was a throne stage, on which a golden, flashing throne was placed. This throne was covered by runes, which was a barrier created by the Heaven Origin Sect. in order to sit on the Champion Throne, a person would have to attack it with an attack that could rival the True Essence realm three times. Only then would the barrier be opened – this was a way of measuring a person’s strength.
If they could not break through that barrier, even if someone arrived first, they would not be able to take the title of champion.
Moreover, these three strikes gave others the opportunity to stop the challenger. As such, this Championship battle was much more exciting.
Currently, there were many youths from different families fighting in front of the Champion Throne. There were people from the Cloudsea Merchant Alliance, as well as the Liu family and Zhou family. All of them were from the large families.
The crowd chaotically fought together, wanting to open up a path and reach the Champion Throne ahead. As long as they could take the title of Champion, they would undoubtedly place first, while the others would be ranked according to their points from killing demonic beasts.
By now, the fight had reached its climax, because time to gain points was running out.
At this moment, Yuan Ming was fighting with a few of the Liu family’s geniuses. All of them were True Essence realm cultivators, and their attacks created massive gusts of wind and gave off shocking auras. Innate realm cultivators did not dare to come close at all, for fear that even the shockwaves could injure them. Even some of the True Essence realm cultivators from the smaller families did not dare to come close to the Championship Stage.
Cultivators from smaller families were quite rare, but the large families usually had at least two True Essence realm cultivators. In fact, the Liu family had three people in the True Essence realm, and they possessed an absolute advantage.
Bang!
An explosion sounded out as Yuan Ming and Yuan Tao’s bodies trembled and were blown back meters by the Liu family’s youths’ attacks.
“Haha Yuan Ming, Yuan Tao, this Champion Throne is destined to belong to me, Liu Wu Long. Don’t even think about touching it.” This Liu family’s youth was tall and muscular and had extremely piercing eyes. He calmly looked at the Yuan family youths who were stumbling back. He took a step forwards as he moved his hands, creating a large vortex that caused Yuan Tao’s body to tremble.
Heavenly Whirlpool Hands!
Liu Wu Long smirked as a savage gaze appeared in his eyes. As Yuan Tao’s body trembled, a large hand stretched out from within the vortex, looking like a vicious dragon erupting out of the sea as it slammed into him.
This attack was seamless and did not give the stumbling Yuan Tao an opportunity to react at all. He could only watch as the massive hand landed on his chest and cause a muffled explosion as it broke two of his bones. The qi and blood within his body tossed and turned, and he flew backwards like a broken kite.
Yuan Tao fell to the ground and coughed up a mouthful of blood, looking like he was in a sorry state.
“Yuan Tao!” Yuan Ming deeply frowned and ran over to him, helping him up. Yuan Tao’s face was incredibly pale and he had evidently been injured quite badly.
“Haha, it’s best for you to just stay by the side and watch.” After injuring Yuan Tao, Liu Wu Long laughed and strode towards the throne stage. There were two True Essence realm youths by his side to protect him, and they gave off a powerful aura. They were evidently there to fend off any attacks from the other youths.
The other family’s youths frowned. Only the Liu family had three True Essence realm cultivators here, so winning would be hard for other families.
Trying to work together with other families was also difficult – after all, everyone wanted to take the title of Champion, so they would all have to fight at some point. If they worked together to kill the Liu family’s cultivators, their losses might not make up for their gains – after all, no one knew who would take the title of Champion, and if they gained the hatred of the Liu family, it simply would not be worth it.
“Brother Wu Long, please wait!” Just as Liu Wu Long was about to walk towards the throne stage, a cold voice suddenly sounded out.
“It’s Qiu Yu Hao!” As they heard his voice, the faces of the youths on the Championship Stage fell.
“Qiu Yu Hao!” Yuan Ming and the others deeply frowned as they looked towards the location the voice came from. After seeing the youth walking up to the Championship Stage step by step, their gazes became cold. Just yesterday, they had heard that Qiu Yu Hao had used his Monster-Controlling Bone Flute to drive Xiao Yun into the Heaven Dread Chasm. This youth that the Yuan family had greatly favoured had fallen, just like that.
The Cloudsea Merchant Alliance had placed great hopes in Xiao Yun!
On the stage, Qiu Yu Hao brought forty-three of the Qiu family’s youths over; all of them gave off an air of violence and ruthlessness. The aura they gave off caused all of the other cultivators to shiver – most of them had heard about Xiao Yun.
All those present felt their hearts tremble as they thought about Qiu Yu Hao’s ruthless actions.
The youths who were fighting on the Championship Stage stopped fighting and stared at Qiu Yu Hao. He looked like a domineering overlord, and the fear within everyone’s eyes was evident.
“Qiu Yu Hao!” As Liu Wu Long looked over, he deeply frowned. Beside Qiu Yu Hao were four True Essence realm cultivators, and even though a few of them had stepped into the True Essence realm using medicinal pills, their power was still not to be looked down on. What was even more dreadful were the magic items that Qiu Yu Hao had.
“Brother Wu Long, I would like this Champion Throne, so can you please step back?” Qiu Yu Hao smiled as he spoke in an amicable tone; it made one feel as if they were bathed by a spring breeze. As he walked forwards, the people around him took the initiative to make way for him.
Liu Wu Long’s eyes twitched as he looked at the youth and his warm smile. He knew how insidious Qiu Yu Hao was, but once he retreated, he would miss out on this opportunity! After all, the person who took the title of Champion and placed first would be greatly nurtured by the Heaven Origin Sect.
“Looks like you’re not willing to step back?” Qiu Yu Hao’s gaze darkened as he said, “Very well, let’s fight then.” After saying this, he flipped his palm and a spear appeared in his hand.
Liu Wu Long frowned as he exclaimed, “A magic item! Aren’t you disobeying the Heaven Origin Sect’s examination rules?”
“Haha, the Heaven Origin Sect indeed has set rules that seniors are not to give juniors weapons to use. However, I obtained this Dark Origin Spear from an ancient cultivator when I was out training one time, so it belongs to me. As such, it’s not against the examination rules,” Qiu Yu Hao said with narrowed eyes. “If I have to fight with brother Wu Long, I won’t be holding back.”
“Hmph, what training? I bet he’s lying.”
One of the Liu family’s youths said angrily, “He must be, just look at them – most of them forcefully broke through to the True Essence realm to deal with Xiao Yun, and even that Qiu Ming Hao had a magic item. Why have we never heard of them having magic items before?” Everyone else continued to discuss; anyone who wasn’t blind could tell that Qiu Yu Hao was lying.
It was a pity that these things were difficult to prove; who could provide evidence that these magic items were from the Qiu family’s elders? Qiu Yu Hao completely ignored the discussions and sent his True Essence into the spear. The runes on the spear started to move as a powerful aura erupted from the spear and cause the hearts of those nearby to tremble.
“This magic item’s aura is so powerful!” The Liu family’s other two True Essence realm youths frowned as serious looks appeared on their faces.
Liu Wu Long’s expression was extremely dark – the aura that that magic item gave off caused chills within his heart.
“So? Do you want to fight?” Qiu Yu Hao gave a smileless smile.
“Qiu Yu Hao, you’ve had your way this time, but this isn’t the end of the matter. I’ll report this to the Heaven Origin Sect’s Managers afterwards; your Qiu family isn’t strong enough to cover the sky with one hand,” Liu Wu Long said as his eyelids twitched. He gritted his teeth as he waved his sleeve and brought the Liu family’s people away.
“Haha, even if you tell the Heaven Origin Sect, the result will be the same,” Qiu Yu Hao said as he grinned and walked forwards. “Without any evidence, who can do anything to me? As long as I can obtain the Heaven Origin Sect’s nurturing, I’ll become a powerful expert.”
Qiu Yu Hao felt incredibly happy as he looked at the throne stage and forgot all about not being able to obtain Xiao Yun’s treasures.
Qiu Yu Hao came to the throne stage and looked ahead of him as he muttered, “A barrier? That’s nothing to me.” The Qiu family’s True Essence realm cultivators stood by his side, ready to stop anyone who interfered.
All of the other True Essence realm cultivators sighed, “Ai, what a pity; it’s him who’s going to take the title of Champion.”
“We can’t let this matter go!” The Yan family’s people arrived right after Qiu Yu Hao came in front of the throne stage. Yan Zhen and Yan Mo’s gazes darkened as they clenched their fists, feeling incredibly furious over what had happened to Xiao Yun.
At this moment, Qiu Yu Hao circulated his True Essence, smashing his fist towards the barrier.
Bang!
After punching out, the barrier rippled and its light became dimmer. Qiu Yu Hao smirked – if he could hit it another two times, he would take the position of Champion.
The other families’ cultivators looked incredibly displeased but could only keep their anger within them.
Just as Qiu Yu Hao was about to punch out a second time, a cold voice roared out, “Hold it!” This voice was low and furious and seemed to shake the heavens. It contained a subtle might that caused everyone’s hearts to tremble.
Everyone asked as they looked over, “Who is it?”
Even Qiu Yu Hao, who was about to punch out a second time, was stunned by that voice.
“Who is that?” Qiu Yu Hao’s gaze darkened and looked over. That voice made him feel quite uneasy.
Whoosh!
As everyone looked over, a ray of flaming light shot over like a meteor, and a searing heat descended like a flood and enveloped the Championship Stage.