One by one the seventeen Inner Disciples walked up the stage to draw their lots.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that almost all of them were wearing the Sword Pavilion’s white robes or the Blade Pavilion’s blood-red robes.
There was one though who was wearing the Blacksmith’s Division’s black robes, but he had only managed to reach this round because he had battled a newcomer who had chosen to join the Alchemy Division like Bai Xiaofung.
Just like in the previous round, there was someone who had the possibility to move on to the next round without battling.
Looking down at the piece of paper in his hand that had the number 1 on it, Yang Su figured he wasn’t as lucky as last time.
While doing breathing exercises Yang Su jumped a little when heard the elder suddenly shout for numbers 1 and 16 to come up to the stage.
Yang Su stepped forward and everyone’s eyes suddenly landed on his figure. Yang Su gulped, but his steps didn’t falter as he reached the stage and leaped up.
As soon as he stepped onto the stage, the figure of Renxiang stepped from the crowd, which immediately illicit a noisy reaction from the disciple.
Renxiang casually leaped up to the stage, which caused her white robes to flutter in the wind giving her an elegantly bearing.
Renxiang wasn’t from one of the major clans but from a somewhat influential aristocratic family.
Even so, her talents could be compared to those from the seven Major Clans, as seen from her opening 49 of her meridians.
“START THE MATCH!!”
As the elder shouted that, the crowd went silent a bit while staring at Yang Su and Renxiang waiting for them to start the battle, but they only stared at each other without moving.
After what felt like forever, Renxiang's melodious voice suddenly echoed in Yang Su’s ears.
“You should just forfeit. Even though you’ve opened 50 of your meridians, you're still a few years away from beating me. I’m sure in the future when you get more experience you’ll eventually go on to win the next Freshmen Competitions with your cultivation.”
As Renxiang said that, most of the disciples weren’t that surprised that she told him that.
They even suspected that Yang Su would agree to Renxiang's words and come off the stage. However, they frown a bit when they heard Yang Su’s response, and even stare at him with contempt.
“I’m sorry senior sister Renxiang, but my young master instructed me to get first place in this competition so I can’t just do as you requested.”
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Most of, if not everyone in the crowd as well as the experts above, have not one shred of doubt that Yang Su wouldn’t even be placed in the top ten.
Aside from him, the only newcomer left in the competition was Ming Shiming and Sun Donghai. None of the newcomers had to manage to make it to this round as all of them were matched up with the senior Inner Disciples. If Yang Su hadn’t drawn that lot that allowed him to move on to the next round, he would have likely been knocked out like everyone else.
The reason why everyone was thinking this way despite Yang Su having opened 50 of his meridians was simple, his cultivation was a result of medicinal pills.
Everyone thought that since Xi Shen was the second prince, in order to not lose face he had used the help of his family to secure pills for his assistant Yang Su to consume and increase his cultivation.
They knew that Yang Su must have had a decent amount of talent originally, and with the pills added to the mix, he was able to reach such a high cultivation level in only four months.
That was the conclusion all of them had come to when they had seen his results. That’s why despite the absurd number of meridians, it was still within logic to assume that with the powerful Li Royal Family’s assistance, Yang Su would be able to cultivate to such a level so quickly.
This also made them look down on him because if he had indeed used pills to reach his current cultivation level, then he likely had no combat experience and would definitely lose against someone as talented as Renxiang.
That’s why Renxiang suggested he forfeit since she did not want to offend the second prince by beating his assistant and causing him to lose face in front of so many people.
However, hearing Yang Su’s response she realized that she could not persuade Yang Su to forfeit the match.
After sighing in her heart, Renxiang said, “Very well, if that is what you wish.”
With that, she suddenly formed multiple hand seals in front of her chest before she push her smooth white palm towards Yang Su.
Immediately after, the entire stage on Renxiang's side was suddenly filled with raging winds, that even batted against the disciples' faces down below. With the push of her hand, the raging winds shot towards Yang Su with enough power to topple the tallest trees rooted deep in the ground.
Within moments, the winds engulfed Yang Su and obscured him from everyone’s sight.
The crowd below suddenly cheered at Renxiang's victory, but not because she had beaten a weak Yang Su with one move, but because they had gotten to see her signature Divine Ability Ravishing The Heavens.
The Divine Ability was from her family’s number 1 cultivation method, Melodious Wind Storm.
Renxiang had chosen to cultivate her family’s cultivation method instead of any of the more powerful ones from the Academy. But even so, her talents and affinity for the Wind Element allowed her to draw out the full potential of her family’s cultivation method, which no one had ever seen before.
With this, she could even battle and beat cultivators who had trained in the Academy’s more powerful cultivation methods and techniques.
“Wow, senior sister Renxiang is really talented! She was able to reach the sixth stage of her family’s cultivation method, that no one else before she had reached!”
“Did you see how easily she cast her Divine Ability?! I bet she was still holding back against that kid!”
“Of course she was! Do you think senior sister Renxiang would have put in any effort to beat that useless fool that only knows how to consume pills?!”
Comments like these echoed from the crowd as Renxiang turn to leave the stage. She was thinking to herself that hopefully, she didn’t offend the second prince too much. Even though the attack looked extremely strong, she had purposely held back her power since she didn’t want to hurt Yang Su and only wanted to knock him off the stage.
However, as Renxiang reached the edge of the stage ready to leap down, a surprised shout suddenly echoed into everyone’s ears.
“What?!! That kid is still on the stage!”
Hearing that, everyone including Renxiang turned to look in bewilderment.
They all saw the wind storm dying down to reveal Yang Su’s figure standing upright like a heavenly tree that no amount of wind could uproot. In fact, he hadn’t moved an inch from his position, neither his clothes nor his slightly unkempt hair, he was in the exact same position he was in before Renxiang’s attack engulfed him.
Everyone upon seeing this was completely taken aback. They were 100% sure that Renxiang's attack had knocked him off the stage, but here he was showing that he wasn’t even fazed.
With a slightly confused expression, Yang Su said, “Is that it?”
Yang Su wasn’t trying to be disrespectful when he said that, but compared to Xi Shen’s attacks during his training, this was nothing.
Still, everyone’s eyes bulged when they heard his words and one word came into their mind to describe Yang Su at this moment, ARROGANT!! Completely and utterly arrogant!!.