Chapter 90: Chapter 83: Big Surprise
On the first day of the Sky Ring, Ye Chen and Qian Ming stood opposite each other.
Below their Sky Ring, the area was packed with members from the three clans. This match even drew more spectators than Qian Ming's previous bout against Bai Xiaodie!
Aside from the youths still competing on other rings and their families, the vast majority of the three great clans' members had gathered beneath the first Sky Ring.
The tournament had now reached the eighth round of the top ten rankings battle, and the positions were more or less determined.
The hot favorite to win the championship, Bai Xiaodie, was up against Bai Xiaofei, who was relatively weaker among the ten. There was no suspense in Bai Xiaodie's victory against Bai Xiaofei.
Another favorite for the championship, Ye Chen, now faced the equally formidable Qian Ming. Bai Xiaodie's previous fight against Qian Ming had triggered a tremendous battle, with both even deploying their ace Martial Skills. It wasn't until the very end that Bai Xiaodie defeated Qian Ming.
Now, as Ye Chen faced Qian Ming, no one knew whether Ye Chen would win or Qian Ming would prevail.
While the other matches lacked suspense, this one captivated everyone's attention!
Even Bai Xiaodie, who was fighting Bai Xiaofei on the second Sky Ring, defeated Bai Xiaofei in just two moves. Then she turned to watch the match between Ye Chen and Qian Ming.
Bai Xiaodie also wanted to see if Ye Chen could defeat Qian Ming and compete with her for the first place in the end.
After defeating Bai Xiaofei, Bai Xiaodie had achieved eight consecutive victories. If Ye Chen was weaker than Qian Ming, it meant that Bai Xiaodie could likely secure first place in the round before the last!
"Ye Chen, I hope you can continue your miraculous performance and defeat Qian Ming,"
"If so, maybe you could force me to reveal my true trump card, the one I have never even used against Qian Ming!"
Dressed in bright yellow robes, Bai Xiaodie sat cross-legged on the second Sky Ring, her beautiful eyes full of anticipation looking towards Ye Chen.
In the clan's grand competition, no one had ever pushed Bai Xiaodie to her utmost limit.
Bai Xiaodie hoped that Ye Chen would have the chance to engage in a truly exhilarating battle with her!
In the midst of universal anticipation, Ye Chen and Qian Ming, standing on the first Sky Ring, completed their pre-fight formalities and were about to start the real contest!
Boom!
Qian Ming, at the eleventh layer of True Qi, released a tremendous surge of True Qi from within his body, forming a towering seventeen to eighteen meters high aura of protective True Qi flames around him.
"Swish," Qian Ming swiftly drew out a massive blood-red treasure blade.
Blood Shadow Mad Blade!
This was Qian Ming's strongest weapon, forged specifically for his most powerful Xuan-level Martial Skill, the Blood Shadow Mad Blade!
The Blood Shadow Mad Blade was one meter seventy in length and weighed a staggering one hundred and thirty-six kilograms!
With this blade, when Qian Ming executed the Xuan-level lower-grade Blood Shadow Blade Skills, the blade light was like blood, the killing intent overwhelming, and its momentum frighteningly impressive.
Facing Ye Chen's strength, which was still an enigma, Qian Ming, just like in his fight against Bai Xiaodie, immediately brought out his weapon for a real battle with Ye Chen!
Boom!
After drawing the Blood Shadow Mad Blade, Qian Ming stomped on the Sky Ring, slashing forward with the treasure blade in his hand, sending a giant blade light of over thirty meters in length directly towards Ye Chen.
This strike was so fierce it even tore the void apart; if it were not for the Sky Ring made from special Yin Yang Mysterious Qi, the ground below would have been cleaved open by this blow!
"He's striking!"
"Qian Ming is making his move!"
"Qian Ming's blade skills are terrifying. Even Bai Xiaodie had to use a sword and execute Martial Skills to defend. How can Ye Chen remain barehanded?"
Everyone looked towards Ye Chen, who was about to be struck by the thirty-meter-wide blade light, and cried out in shock when they saw that he was still unarmed.
Previously, Ye Chen achieved seven consecutive victories with his powerful Martial Skills alone, but now he was up against Qian Ming, a strong wielder of eleventh layer True Qi!
Qian Ming's True Qi realm was even higher than that of Ye Chen, and his Martial Skills had also reached the Xuan-level!
Under such circumstances, how could Ye Chen possibly defend barehanded?
As everyone held their breath and wondered how Ye Chen would block Qian Ming's earth-shattering strike, Ye Chen made his move.
Boom!
Ye Chen reached out into the void with a powerful grasp, and in an instant, from the trees dozens of meters away from the first Sky Ring on the Martial Arts Plaza, leaves burst forth, shooting towards Ye Chen.
Suddenly, all of these leaves floated around Ye Chen's body, and on each leaf shone a dazzling Sword Intent.
As Qian Ming's tremendous blade light struck towards Ye Chen, the leaves floating around Ye Chen's body were like fierce torrents of rain, each glowing with piercing Sword Intents as they shot towards the massive blade light.
This was the display of Sword Intents!
This was none other than the Storm Rain Sword Intent, one of the three major Sword Intents Ye Chen had comprehended!
Facing the eleventh layer True Qi strong opponent Qian Ming, Ye Chen used Sword Intent techniques for the first time in the grand clan competition!
Boom!
In an instant, the leaf blades controlled by Ye Chen's Sword Intents clashed with the over thirty meters long earth-shaking blade light that Qian Ming slashed down.
As they clashed, the blood-red light on the blade light surged wildly, like the roaring shadow of a blood mad blade, furiously cutting towards the group of swords.
The leaf blades, governed by the Storm Rain Sword Intents, suddenly trembled and unleashed an endless series of clear sword cries, which even overpowered the roaring noise of the blade.
In the end, the myriad leaf blades tore all the blade light to shreds in this bout, thoroughly repelling Qian Ming's attack.
It even sent Qian Ming, who was wielding the Blood Shadow Mad Blade, flying three or four meters away!
After that, the myriad leaf blades flew back in retreat and re-suspended around Ye Chen's body, with the densely packed leaves, possibly numbering in the hundreds, hanging upside down like hundreds of sharp swords surrounding him.
This strange scene left all the clan members watching the competition below the first heaven's platform with their mouths agape.
They had never seen such a magical sight before, controlling thousands of leaves for attack? These thousands of leaves, each one like a sharp sword, floating around Ye Chen's body!
More so, they didn't sense any True Qi fluctuations around Ye Chen's body; they were completely baffled as to how Ye Chen was controlling those leaves, which allowed ordinary leaves to withstand the powerful blade light slashes from Qian Ming!
"This... Could this be?"
The patriarchs of the three clans, looking at the leaf blades suspended around Ye Chen, exchanged glances, their eyes filled with disbelief.
They had their presumptions but dared not voice them.
Because what they were thinking of was an event that had never happened within their three great families!
However, just then, Bai Xiaodie, who was seated cross-legged and watching the battle on the second heaven's platform, suddenly stood up and blurted out the two words the three clan leaders had suspected — "Sword Intent!"
"This is Sword Intent, Ye Chen has actually comprehended Sword Intent!"
Bai Xiaodie, a secret disciple of the sixth-rank Peach Blossom Valley, was of course aware of Sword Intents. Furthermore, her own trump card, which she had not yet revealed, was related to Sword Intents!
She had never imagined that among tens of thousands of Sword Cultivators, where it is rare for one to comprehend Sword Intents, it would emerge during the grand competition of the three clans, and on a young man about her own age!
Bai Xiaodie had heard that Ye Chen was merely a disciple from an eighth-rank sect, but his performance made her feel that even the genius disciples of a sixth-rank great sect were far inferior compared to him!
Bai Xiaodie, having suddenly stood up, was now brimming with immense fighting spirit. She couldn't wait to truly cross swords with Ye Chen!
She believed that Ye Chen was strong enough to push her to use her full strength and to fight with all her heart!
"Sword Intent!"
"It's Sword Intent!"
As Bai Xiaodie shouted out the words, Qian Ming, who was battling with Ye Chen, also underwent a drastic change in complexion.
He, too, from Taixuan Sect, a sixth-rank great sect, had seen this legendary realm of swordsmanship cultivation — the control over all as swords, the realm of Sword Intents!
Qian Ming had not expected Ye Chen to have kept such a profound technique hidden so deep, having achieved seven consecutive victories without using this powerful method and only revealing it now in their battle!
"Sword Intent!"
"It's really Sword Intent!"
The repeated exclamations from Bai Xiaodie and Qian Ming finally confirmed the three elders' suspicions.
The three elders felt as though a huge surprise had descended from the heavens!
They had hosted the grand competition among the clans facing the once-in-centuries opportunity of the ancestral lands opening.
Seeing the fifteen-year-old genius Bai Xiaodie sweep away all competition and even defeat the incredibly strong eleventh layer True Qi powerhouse Qian Ming had already filled them with immense joy!
They had never expected another even more surprising dark horse, Ye Chen, to not be at all weaker than Bai Xiaodie. In fact, in the earlier rounds, Ye Chen's performance was even more outstanding than hers!
Now, he had even brought out his hidden Sword Intents!
Those who could comprehend Sword Intents were undoubtedly geniuses with exceptional potential, characters that even sixth-rank great sects would compete madly over. Now such a person had appeared directly among the three great families, among the younger generation of their clans.
How could the three elders not be overjoyed?!
The three elders truly believed that with Ye Chen, Bai Xiaodie, Qian Ming, and the other formidable young generation, coupled with the grand opportunity of the ancestral lands opening, their clans were destined to prosper once more!
They were sure to give birth to Spirit Sea Realm powerhouses, and maybe even exceed that realm!
The fifteen-year-old Ye Chen and Bai Xiaodie had given them such hope!