"Do you think he can win this time?" Princess Fragrance asked on the sailing ship.
Yun Xiao and Liu Peng didn't answer right away. Huangfu Hua's defeat was like a hard slap in the face. The princess's attitude towards them had become much colder.
Yun Xiao knew they would be driven off the ship if he didn't do anything to defend himself.
"Princess!"
He said emotionally, "This guy was holding back intentionally so that his rivals would look down on him, then he took the opportunity to win. It was a scheme, but he definitely can't defeat his current rival in such a despicable manner. Wind Mark is ranked 29th on the Eternal Flame List."
Princess Fragrance nodded. Huangfu Hua was ranked 83rd, while Wind Mark was ranked 29th. There was a gap of fifty-odd places between them.
Besides, the higher one's rank was, the bigger the gap in ability was. In this sense, ten Huangfu Huas couldn't compare to Wind Mark, but Princess Fragrance couldn't help thinking about the slim chance.
What if Jiang Chen won?
If that happened, this masked man would definitely be a dark horse. Everyone would change their opinions towards him.
And she had trusted the wrong people. As a result, she had lost the chance to get acquainted with such an impressive guy. She was regretful.
Wind Mark held his sword in his right hand and kept his left hand behind his back. He said calmly, "Bring it on. I'll yield you three movements."
"Yeah?"
Jiang Chen was unhappy to see this guy being arrogant to this extent. In others' eyes, Wind Mark was elegant and confident, but if they were confronting him themselves, they wouldn't be comfortable with his attitude either.
"No, you've lost your chance to yield me any movements."
Jiang Chen knew the best way to deal with such guys was practically.
He manipulated his qi quietly and exerted Tai Ji Wan. A red light immediately appeared around his spiritual knife, circling around the sword from the tip of the blade to the handle.
"Eh?"
The spiritual knife's change in appearance attracted many people's attention. Wind Mark was the closest to the knife. The smile faded from his face.
"Conception of metal!"
Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows. The radiance of the spiritual knife became more than ten times stronger.
At first sight, the knife in his hand was like the cohesion of air and radiance. The spiritual knife itself was invisible.
Wind Mark had stopped smiling completely by then.
The Lost Soul!
Jiang Chen exerted his most formidable attack. That was the only knife movement he knew before he learned Ghost Strike to Kill.
However, Jiang Chen didn't shout the knife method's name loud. He changed the momentum of the knife intentionally. He had only ever used this knife movement with the Redcloud Sword, so not many people could recognize it.
If ten words in one was powerful, this attack was at least ten times more powerful.
It was correspondent to his rivals' level, worthy of being used against the 29th on the Eternal Flame List.
He wasn't fighting me with all his strength?!
It was a heavy blow for Huangfu Hua, who was recovering outside the ring. This fact was crueler than the knife attack he had received.
Not only did he not use all of his strength, he probably didn't use half of it!
When the knife was struck, a straight deep crack appeared in the ground in the ring towards Wind Mark, following the path where the knife had passed.
"This is bad!"
Wind Mark's elegance was completely gone. He threw his sword out in panic.
The knife and the sword's collision generated a strong energy that shattered the air.
The battered ring finally split into two, broken from the middle.
The two men were also pushed back, turning into two small shadows.
"Gosh!"
While some were still in shock of the power of Jiang Chen's attack, others were covering their heads with hands, their mouths opened wide, horror-struck.
"How could this be…"
When they came to themselves, none of them could accept what had happened.
Wind Mark had flown off the ground and was lying on the ground.
This wasn't the most important point; it was key that he had landed on the ground outside of the ring.
According to the rules, Jiang Chen had won.
He defeated Wind Mark with only one knife attack.
Everyone was dumbfounded. Some people didn't even have the time to stop their pitying looks to Jiang Chen.
It was a funny scene.
Wind Mark didn't realize it at first, not until he saw Jiang Chen standing higher than him. He immediately turned pale.
"I told you I wouldn't need three movements. You couldn't even take one."
Jiang Chen was overlooking him, imitating Wind Mark's tone. He even pointed at the latter.
Wind Mark was suddenly frozen there.
The aggression in what Jiang Chen said at that moment and what he had said before the fight was no worse than Wind Mark's comment.
The two of them, a swordsman and a knife expert, provided the perfect contrast.
"I've changed my opinion. He's a knife user. That knife attack was very pure," Lu Fei said.
After a long while, Wind Mark still couldn't accept the facts, but he managed to stand up and say to Jiang Chen, "Your name is?"
"You'll know when I take my mask off," Jiang Chen said.
Wind Mark gnashed his teeth. He left the square without looking back.
People held different opinions about this fight.
Some thought there was no honor in Jiang Chen's victory. He had intentionally held back his strength and exerted such a fierce knife movement when Wind Mark was off guard.
Although it was because Wind Mark had underestimated his enemy and been arrogant, his admirers and his female fans couldn't accept his failure.
Jiang Chen's mask became their target to attack.
"How treacherous he is."
"If Wind Mark had been careful enough, he would have won."
"Hiding behind a mask, not daring to show people his face. He must be a scoundrel!"
But of course, there were reasonable people around, too. They couldn't stand such remarks and started to argue with the others.
"The masked man never said he was weak, nor did his behavior show he was weak. He even acted tough to Wind Mark before the fight."
"Exactly. Wind Mark was too arrogant to pay respect to others. Does he need his opponents to show off to make him realize they're powerful?"
"You fans are so blind. Disgusting."
Those present split into two groups. One group was in favor of Jiang Chen, while the other supported Wind Mark.
"Why shouldn't he let Wind Mark know he's powerful? He should have declared his strength to others first. That would make him a respectable rival, but now, this is a victory without honor," a fat woman with pockmarks on her face was accusing Jiang Chen emotionally.
This was also the opinion most of Wind Mark's supporters held.
"You can't deny his strength. If this had been a life-and-death fight, Wind Mark could have died due to his stupidity!"
"But this wasn't a life-and-death fight!"
The two parties were arguing intensely. Some people were even close to blows.
"Enough!"
Chu Luo couldn't put up with the situation anymore. She came forward, looked towards those outside the square and said something surprising.
"Wind Mark doesn't deserve my apprentice brother's serious attention, even holding back his strength."
It was indeed a strong argument against Wind Mark's supporters.
What she meant was clear. Wind Mark wasn't comparable to Jiang Chen. Their strengths weren't on the same level. Of course, it was impossible for him to hold back his strength to fight against Wind Mark, but the thing was, was Jiang Chen really that powerful?
"Wasn't that knife attack the masked man's most powerful special movement?" people couldn't help but think.
"Chu Luo, you're going too far. You're claiming Wind Mark didn't rival the masked man in martial arts technique. If those people aren't convinced, they'll act even crazier!" Meng Feifei said worriedly.
It was true. Chu Luo's words didn't stop the quarrel in the square, even escalating it.
"They'll see apprentice brother's power later."