Chapter 38: Winning Without a Fight, Entering the Top Eight

In an instant, everyone was so tense under this Gale Sword Technique that they could not catch their breath.

Only hearing a strange cry of "Ya!", Chen Sanying's momentum surged again, and he actually charged toward the Gale Sword Technique with his staff; everyone could see that his face was pale at this moment, and he had reached the point of being at the end of his rope, struggling in his final moments.

He leaped into the gale, his figure almost swallowed by the wind, making it impossible to see the situation inside at all.

Just a few seconds later, another miserable cry of "Ah!" rang out! Chen Sanying's body appeared once more, but he had been thrown out by the gale, crashing down onto the arena like a cannonball; his entire body was covered in severe injuries, not a single piece of his clothing remained intact, and though his life was not in danger, he had fallen into a coma.

Lin Jingyu was already incredibly astonished, completely unable to believe that his Senior Brother had not taken down Su Changqing in three moves; seeing Su Changqing defeat Chen Sanying in a single move now, he found it even harder to believe.

How could Su Changqing's strength be so great? Wasn't he only at Foundation Establishment Stage 1? How could he crush and defeat Senior Brother Chen, who was at the Foundation Establishment Stage 2 Peak?

Clearly, all of this had already transcended Lin Jingyu's understanding.

"Changqing, you!"

He shouted at Su Changqing with a stern voice.

After Su Changqing glanced at him indifferently, he leaped off the arena without saying a single word to him.

After Lin Jingyu gave Su Changqing a fierce look, he shouted to the followers beside him: "Hurry up and help Senior Brother Chen up!"

The second battle was, without suspense, another victory for Su Changqing.

The crowd came up one after another to congratulate him.

"Junior Brother, how can you be this strong? So you've been hiding it from us all along, right?"

"Yeah, yeah! Junior Brother, that sword move of yours just now was truly earth-shattering; I saw the shocked expressions of people from the other peaks—it really brought such glory to our Xiaozhu Peak!"

"Junior Brother."

Just then, Lu Xueqi, Ceng Shushu, and Zhang Xiaofan, the friends who had been cheering for Su Changqing on the sidelines, also gathered around.

"Junior Brother, you really were hiding your true strength."

Lu Xueqi said to Su Changqing with a smile.

She had watched the entire battle; Su Changqing had first parried three moves and then defeated his opponent in one. Others might not know how astonished they were by that Gale Sword Technique, but Lu Xueqi was incredibly shocked. She asked herself that if she were to encounter that sword move, she might not necessarily be able to fend it off. It turned out that the Junior Brother who had always been the one hiding the deepest was him.

"Fellow Daoist Changqing, you actually possess such strength; why haven't there been any rumors about you in the sect before?"

Ceng Shushu asked Su Changqing in surprise.

He had become acquainted with Su Changqing because of the little dragon-snake, but he had never imagined that Su Changqing's own strength would also make him highly praise him. Yet, there were absolutely no rumors about Su Changqing within the sect, and even if there were, they only mentioned trivial matters like him joining Xiaozhu Peak.

Fighting across realms—he could truly be considered a famous prodigy within the sect.

"Changqing, congratulations!"

Zhang Xiaofan offered his congratulations to Su Changqing with a wooden smile, his expression extremely sincere.

Su Changqing just waved his hands repeatedly and said modestly to them: "It was all just luck for Changqing. You all should stop praising me, otherwise, this Junior Brother will get carried away."

"I don't even know who my next opponent is yet. Perhaps I can only stop here; having you all worry like this actually puts more pressure on me." It could be said that Su Changqing had stirred up ripples on the water yesterday, and today's battle had caused waves; many people were passing on the word that Su Changqing had won by fighting across realms.

Of course, this battle was also seen in real-time by Shuiyue.

Until that Gale Sword Technique move of Su Changqing's appeared, Shuiyue, who had always been cold and calm, was so surprised she could not speak.

This was clearly the sword move used by that mysterious person who had intervened on Jiuyin Mountain.

Connecting it to the fact that Su Changqing was on Jiuyin Mountain that day and had not been seen since, it was highly likely that it was Su Changqing who had secretly intervened to save her and Tian Buyi, and then hidden himself away.

But thinking that the person who intervened was at the Foundation Establishment Realm, this also meant that Su Changqing had already reached Foundation Establishment six months ago, only he had used methods to hide his true cultivation level. Looking at it now, this was truly something Su Changqing would do.

Foundation Establishment in six months?! This was something that Shuiyue, as a Peak Master of the Qingyun Sect, could not even imagine; it was simply unheard of from ancient times to the present! "The world is vast, and there are all sorts of wonders; perhaps Changqing is that fated person?"

Daoxuan also suppressed the shock in his heart and slowly explained to Shuiyue: "It seems our Qingyun Sect is about to produce a peerless powerhouse. Shuiyue, it was truly fortunate that you were able to take in Su Changqing back then!"

Su Changqing did not know that a single battle of his could draw such praise from the Sect Leader, Daoxuan Zhenren, as he was sitting at the arena where Lu Xueqi was competing, observing the matches.

Unsurprisingly, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Ceng Shushu also advanced to the next round.

All the results of the matches were out, and it was another round of random opponent selection; Su Changqing had actually drawn his own Senior Sister Liu from Xiaozhu Peak—the very same Senior Sister who had taken him to the sword peak that day.

Just as Su Changqing was thinking about how to stop here and yield the victory to Senior Sister Liu without any flaws, who would have thought that this Senior Sister Liu would take the initiative to come to him.

"Junior Brother, for this match, Senior Sister is voluntarily withdrawing."

Before Su Changqing could even speak, Liu Ling took the initiative and said directly to Su Changqing.

"Huh?"

Su Changqing was slightly stunned. He hadn't even figured out how to yield the victory to her, and who knew Liu Ling would voluntarily withdraw. He asked Liu Ling in confusion: "Senior Sister, why are you doing this? Please don't hand the victory over to me just because I am your Junior Brother."

"Junior Brother, that is not the reason. I have seen your strength with my own eyes. That day you were able to fight to a draw with Junior Sister Lu, and today you unleashed that biting Gale Sword Technique; Senior Sister already knows it is difficult to defeat you."

"Being able to enter the top sixteen, Senior Sister is already satisfied. Rather than standing on the arena to fight you, it is better to withdraw early, so as to avoid wasting your strength, allowing you to fight those who are stronger with your full power."

"Besides, we are both from Xiaozhu Peak; whoever wins or loses, isn't it all the glory of our Xiaozhu Peak? Compared to me, you can go further and add more luster to our Xiaozhu Peak."

Liu Ling slowly explained to Su Changqing.

"Senior Sister, but you..."

Su Changqing was about to say something more, but was interrupted by Liu Ling: "Alright, I have already made up my mind on this matter. Junior Brother, don't say anything more. I only hope you can continue to fight and achieve a better ranking to bring glory to our Xiaozhu Peak."

After saying this, Liu Ling hurried away, not giving Su Changqing any chance to refuse.

Sure enough, not long after, news came that Liu Ling had voluntarily withdrawn, and Su Changqing won without a fight, directly entering the top eight.

Everything caught Su Changqing off guard. He had clearly already decided to stop at the Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament; who could have thought his rhythm would be disrupted like this.

This is truly distressing!

(End of chapter)