Chapter 434: Testing Battle Prowess
Translator: _Dark_Angel_ Editor: Kurisu
Ao Xing Lai smiled arrogantly and drew a long sword from the weapons rack. However, he did not make any kind of preparation beforehand, and instead directly struck forth with his sword.
Weng, weng, weng . Similarly, the letters on the fifth row lit up in close succession. One, two, three, four, five; five of them lit up!
Five Stars of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier.
However, compared with Ao Yuan Wei, one had to prepare for three breaths before he could strike out a blow worth five Battle Stars of Spiritual Pedestal Tier, whereas a casual strike from the other possessed such might. There was an extremely obvious gap between the two of them.
Ao Yuan Wei could not help his expression darkening, and none of the other five Ao Sons looked any better, either. The gap between them and Ao Xing Lai was increasing further and further.
"Please come here to fill in your information," one of the people in charge of registration said with a smile. Although the other five Sons of the Ao Clan were all participants of the last tournament, they did not manage to enter the ranks. Thus, they would be considered new entries every year.
The five Ao Sons advanced to fill their information. There would be another test of age later on, whereas Ao Xing Lai and Ao Yuan Wei were invited into the resting room.
Everyone else continued to stand in the queue.
"Yi, isn't that Yu Kun Lun?" A commotion arose among the crowd. All turned in its direction, whereupon they saw a slender, tall young man's figure appear. He exuded a powerful aura that was absolutely incredible.
But there was another slender, shapely, extremely gorgeous beauty beside him who was actually not suppressed by Yu Kun Lun's overwhelming aura at all. Not only did her standing by his side not result in her paling in colour. Instead, the comparison made her even more shiningly brilliant.
"Who is that girl?"
"So beautiful, my soul is about to leave my body just from the sight of her!"
"She's not inferior to Fairy Zhu at all, is she?"
"Pei, that's because you've never seen Fairy Zhu. If anyone who has ever seen Fairy Zhu sees any other woman after that, they would think that she was as ugly as a pig."
"Hey, hey, hey. Is Fairy Zhu really that beautiful?"
When she heard the spectators' discussion, Hua Ying Han had at first been rather pleased with herself, but the more she heard, the more her beautiful face froze over. For a beauty, the thing that she most hated was hearing that her beauty was inferior to someone else, what more when she was being looked down upon by others as if she were nothing.
'Zhu Xuan'er, during the Prodigy Tournament, I will disfigure your beautiful face; let's see how you will be beautiful then!' she thought venomously.
Yu Kun Lun advanced with big strides. His cultivation level at the ninth layer of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier was considered invincible among the current younger generation. Merely his aura was enough to cause one to collapse. As long as he had yet to break through to the Flower Blossom Tier, he was still mortal. Breaching that step was really much too difficult. Perhaps, ten years or even twenty years later, he would still be at the same level he was now.
However, for now, Yu Kun Lun was much too powerful. As he passed, everyone could not help but lower their heads. Firstly, it was because they were suppressed by the former's aura, and secondly, it was out of respect for someone who had once been the strongest on the Prodigy Roll.
He brought Hua Ying Han to the area for testing, smiling, and asked, "Do you mind if I cut into the queue?"
"Of course not! Of course not!" How could the first place holder on the last tournament not have some special privileges?
"Junior Sister, please," Yu Kun Lun said, smiling.
Hua Ying Han nodded and drew a sword from the weapons rack. She focused her attention and her almond eyes shone, obviously planning to make a powerful move.
Originally, with her cultivation at the Spiritual Pedestal Tier, a casual slash would be good enough. She would definitely be capable of entering into the actual tournament, but she had obviously received some provocation and intended to amaze all the spectators with a single feat.
After a few breaths, she suddenly leaped forwards. Her sword struck out, and hong , uncountable flashes of golden light actually flickered behind her figure, making a great number of the spectators turn away from the dazzling sight.
Hong , her strike hit its target and the letters on the fifth row of the Testing Stone Plaque immediately lit up.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.
Thirteen Stars of the Spiritual Pedestual Tier!
Hiss. Everyone gasped in shock. There was a black horse again in this tournament. Someone with battle prowess at thirteen Stars of Spiritual Pedestal Tier; she'd probably even be able to squeeze into the top ten, wouldn't she?
Hua Ying Han smiled proudly. Truly, she was not willing to concede to Zhu Xuan'er. What 'greatest beauty of the Northern region' or 'greatest genius'? She had come this time to pull the latter from her high horse!
"Passed, please come here for registration!" the person in charge of registration quickly said.
Yu Kun Lun smiled and asked, "Do you mind if I test myself as well?"
"No problem. Of course there's no problem."
When they heard the strongest person on the Prodigy Roll who had just left the Roll express the wish to test his battle prowess, the spectators were all excited. What kind of battle prowess would the man who had once been the strongest have? Last year, it was estimated that his battle prowess had reached seventeen Stars. Would he now have eighteen Stars, or even nineteen?
Yu Kun Lun very quickly struck out with a slash. The letters on the fifth row lit up consecutively, and finally, eighteen had lit up.
Eighteen Stars of the Spiritual Pedestal Tier!
This was the strongest battle prowess that had appeared so far. All of the crowd exclaimed in surprise. A gap of a single Star of battle prowess was enough to decide the battle, so how awesome was this battle prowess of eighteen Battle Stars?
No wonder he was the strongest on the last tournament's Prodigy Roll; he was powerful!
This was the result that Yu Kun Lun was aiming for. Though he had left the Roll, he still could not let go of that kind of glory, and no matter what, wanted to show his presence.
After a bout of noise and commotion, the testing continued. This time, there did not appear any more monsters. The majority were mercilessly disqualified after testing. After all, only the top two hundred in battle prowess would qualify for the actual tournament.
Finally, it was the turn of Gu Feng Hua and the others. They all stepped forwards to be tested, and the result was good. At least they had all stayed in the top two hundred. The most pitiful was Gu Feng Hua. After three rounds of testing, the results of the first two times were not good enough for him to enter into the top two hundred, and it was only the last time when he exploded. However, he was later forced out of the ranks by someone else's results.
There were only two hundred places, and at least fifty or sixty would still be disqualified in the end.
…During the testing, one could strike a total of three times; the best result would be taken into account to avoid the situation in which one was overcome with nerves, leading to a below-standard performance.
"I'll go first!" Zhu Wu Jiu said and strode to stand in front of the Testing Stone Plaque. He drew out a long sword, and used the Four Seasons Sword Technique. When his sword technique circulated to its maximum, he struck forth with a slash.
Zhi!
Bright sparks flickered upon the stone plaque, and the letters on the fourth row gradually lit up.
Fifteen Stars of the Spiritual Ocean Tier!
"Pass!"
"Come here for registration."
Zhu Wu Jiu instantly looked happily surprised. Who would have thought that one year ago, he was still an unremarkable diciple of Hu Yang Academy, yet now he was actually able to appear on the stage of the Prodigy Tournament of the north region?
Furthermore, he only needed to win once and he would be able to qualify as a genius on the Prodigy Roll!
All this was because of that man; everything was brought to him by that young man who was even a few years younger than himself!
Zhu Wu Jiu could not help but glance back at Ling Han. He somberly bowed in his direction, his heart filled with gratitude. He internally swore that he would use his whole lifetime to repay Ling Han.
Hiss, a cold sweat appeared on Diao Wen De's body. He was also on the ninth layer of the Spiritual Ocean Tier, but his battle prowess was only fourteen Stars.
Can Ye was second.
"What, even a handicap came?"
"This is the Prodigy Roll, not the Handicap Roll!"
"Hahahaha!"
Some unkind spectators immediately erupted in loud laughter, but Can Ye was not the slightest bit angry. He merely drew a long saber, and shua , struck out with a slash. Weng, weng, weng , the letters on the fourth row of the Testing Stone Plaque instantly lit up.
Fifteen Stars of the Spiritual Ocean Tier.
His result was the same as Zhu Wu Jiu, but this wasn't taking into account the fact that the Heavenly Luck Stone in his body had yet to take effect. Thus, if he was even one minor cultivation layer higher than Zhu Wu Jiu, his talent was still much, much better than Zhu Wu Jiu.
"Pass!"
Can Ye similarly bowed to Ling Han before heading over to fill in his information.
The people who had mocked Can Ye previously were immediately silenced, their expressions looking horrible. Those who could enter into the actual tournmament were all incredible people who could definitely break through to the Flower Blossom Tier as long as they took one more step further!
Was it really a good thing to offend a Flower Blossom Tier cultivator?
There was a number of those already planning to apologize to Can Ye later on. How could they allow someone who might break through to the Flower Blossom Tier in the future to bear a grudge against them? And Diao Wen De's face was beginning to turn green.