Chapter 0518: Celestial Novice Genius Showdown
What was the most exciting today in the Revolving Jade City? It was not an auction, nor the Orchid Borough Celestial River’s genius tryouts, as it had not started yet. Instead, it was the match between Revolving Jade City’s two most prominent combat arenas. The challenger was Suo Qiaoye of the Gale Arena, and the other side was Wanderer, someone who recently shot to fame in the Celestial Forest Arena.
Yes, it was a fight between two Celestial Novice Cultivators.
If it were just a fight between two ordinary Celestial Novice Cultivators, the match would not have any meaning. However, these two Celestial Novice Cultivators were both extraordinary Celestial Novice Cultivators, someone who had undertaken several level-surpassing challenges.
One could find a few Celestial Novice Cultivators who could fight in level-surpassing challenges against Celestial Shatterer Cultivators; however, Celestial Novice Cultivators who could take on level-surpassing challenges against Celestial Gatherer Cultivators and even kill Celestial Gatherer Cultivators were rare. The two men duelling today were precisely those rare Celestial Novice Cultivators who have killed Celestial Gatherer Cultivators.
One was Wanderer, a perineal starry skies’ wanderer and the other one was the Premier Champion of the Gale Arena.
Almost every cultivator within the starry skies had a deep understanding of the difficulties relating to level-surpassing challenges. Within cultivation realms, challenging someone just a level above already proved challenging; however, for someone from a lower cultivation realm challenging someone at a higher cultivation realm, the difficulty was beyond imagination. For a Celestial Novice Cultivator undertaking level-surpassing challenges against Celestial Gatherer Cultivators, the term ‘level-surpassing’ could no longer apply to it. It even involved a difference in Attributes, Domains, Intent Fields, Spiritual Techniques and various other factors.
In addition to this, there was one other important thing. That is, one needed to have talent. Without talent, every other factor remained useless.
Without all these conditions, how could the two Celestial Novice Cultivators survive against challenges issued by Celestial Gatherer Cultivators? These factors were what made this match even more appealing and attracted some of the cultivators in the Celestial Bridge Realm to come to observe the game.
For the two combat arenas, this showdown was not only a gamble of Celestial Coins between the two sides; it also involved the reputation of the two combat arenas……
Celestial Forest Arena’s Steward Zeng accompanied Ning Cheng to the stadium. On reaching, Ning Cheng discovered that all the battle rings had vanished and the place had turned into a single huge auditorium. Only the 19th Battle Ring existed. Moreover, they even raised the 19th Battle Ring, apart from moving it to the centre, which made it even more conspicuous.
Ning Cheng did not overthink about this match. He had already seen Suo Qiaoye’s fight and had already concluded that he definitely was an expert. However, Ning Cheng was also not bad himself, how many cultivators had a Starry Skies’ Sea of Consciousness? How many cultivators had a Spiritual Consciousness like him? However, he also knew that he lacked a powerful Spiritual Consciousness Cultivation Method currently. If he had a powerful Spiritual Consciousness Cultivation Method, he could not help but think if he could use it to transform his Spiritual Consciousness into something tangible to attack.
Moreover, that was not his only advantage. After obtaining the Wishful Treasure Light Silk, he managed to upgrade his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds to four pairs of shimmering lights. The previous speed from having three pairs of glittering lights had already shocked him. Now that he had four pairs of glittering lights, even if he were not an opponent of Suo Qiaoye, the other party would also not have an easy time killing him.
The Man Lun Starry Skies had many geniuses, while Suo Qiaoye was only a single opponent on the long road ahead in the starry skies. If he cannot even overcome this minor opponent, Ning Cheng should not even think of reaching the level of tearing Planar Boundaries in the future. Also, he should also forget about meeting Eldest Brother Cang Wei, who usually roamed in the most active areas in the universe.
“Dao Friend Wanderer, you don’t have to worry too much. That Suo Qiaoye is not as terrible as the rumours.” Seeing Ning Cheng looking around, Zeng Chuxiong thought that Ning Cheng felt a little worried about Suo Qiaoye and tried to comfort him.
Zeng Chuxiong suspected that Suo Qiaoye had concealed some of his skills. However, all of his battles were straight, unlike Ning Cheng who thoroughly planned and prepared for each of his fights. Moreover, he also had speculations that Ning Cheng had also concealed a portion of his skills; as such, he felt somewhat optimistic of Ning Cheng’s chances.
Moreover, even if Celestial Forest Arena’s Wanderer lost, the impact on the Celestial Forest Arena would be far less than if the Gale Arena’s side lost. The Celestial Forest Arena had already discussed the issue and would respond appropriately. If Ning Cheng lost, they would immediately announce that Ning Cheng had never signed a contract with their arena, thereby minimising the impact on the combat arena. After all, Wanderer had only stayed at the Celestial Forest Arena for ten days, while the other party’s Suo Qiaoye had remained with them for several years.
However, at the same time, if Gale Arena’s Suo Qiaoye lost, the Gale Arena would take a massive hit to its reputation, while simultaneously enhancing Celestial Forest Arena’s reputation tremendously.
“Ladies and gentlemen, today is the match between two level-surpassing Celestial Novice Champions. Wanderer from the Celestial Forest Arena and Gale Arena’s Suo Qiaoye……”
A pretty-looking female cultivator’s words had not finished when a violent Celestial Essence Force slammed her back towards the end of the battle ring.
“Get out of the way. I am here to fight someone, not to hear you talk about it. Wanderer, get your ass out here. I’ve been waiting too long for this.” Just as the pretty-looking female cultivator skid to the edge of the battle ring, a rough voice immediately sounded out.
Although the sound felt as loud as flood bells, it was not harsh to the ears. However, the cultivator who spoke was actually a thin young man who did not look strong at all, giving everyone a feeling or disconnect.
This young man was not only thin but also fair-skinned. However, most of the spectating cultivators knew who this person was. It was the Premier Champion of Gale Arena, Suo Qiaoye.
Ning Cheng seeing Suo Qiaoye blatantly call out to him unhurriedly stood up and casually made his way to the battle ring.
The pretty-looking female cultivator, the one pushed aside by Suo Qiaoye, seeing that both the experts had made their way to the stage, immediately backed down from the scene.
“So you are Wanderer, huh? It looks like you had quite the rewarding experience wandering the starry skies, even managing to beat Celestial Gatherer Cultivators.” Suo Qiaoye looked at Ning Cheng and spoke in a dull tone; however, his voice remained loud.
Ning Cheng, however, replied in with a slightly hoarse voice, “That’s right, I am Wanderer. Let us finish this quickly. I don’t have much time to grind with you and have other matters to take care of.”
Although Ning Cheng spoke in an indifferent tone, he remained very cautious in his heart. Although Suo Qiaoye had a single Celestial Wheel behind him, this Celestial Wheel already looked very bright. Combined with stimulating his Celestial Essence, his Celestial Wheel had reached a level of dazzling brightness. To the point that it looked like a dazzling rainbow that hurt one’s eyes if they looked at it for too long, giving that fellow a very astonishing grandeur.
“Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha……” Suo Qiaoye suddenly laughed, “I’ve always been the one to say those words to my opponent; however, I did not expect that someone would spit back those same exact words to me today. All right, I’ll indulge you.”
After finishing, Suo Qiaoye brought out his chessboard, two of the chess pieces immediately smashed out towards Ning Cheng with sounds of cleaving through the air.
Ning Cheng raised his hand and brought out his Treasured Thunder Spear; although faint Thunder Wisps lingered around his hand, he did not immediately attack.
The moment those two chess pieces approached near to Ning Cheng, they immediately separated in opposite directions and began to circle around him. The chess pieces started rotating faster and faster and finally reached a point that even their shadows turned invisible. Only a vague ripple shape remained visible in the surroundings.
Ning Cheng remained expressionless. After ten days of fighting in the battle ring, he had encountered a variety of cultivators. Moreover, he had even seen Suo Qiaoye’s Battle Crystal Ball previously; as such, he knew that the ripples formed by these two chess pieces were actually his Domain. This kind of Domain was not similar to Gongxi Kui’s tangible Yellow Sands Domain, but was something in between tangible and intangible, and extremely difficult to bind.
While Suo Qiaoye’s chess pieces triggered his Domain, Ning Cheng also extended out his Domain. Ning Cheng’s Domain was something invisible, and half of his Domain’s strength originated from his powerful Starry Skies’ Sea of Consciousness.
Since the start of his cultivation, his Spiritual Consciousness had remained stronger than the Spiritual Consciousness of other average cultivators. Later, when entering the Tian Continent from the Le Continent, he had experienced the turbulent flows of the Chaotic Star Space, which allowed his Spiritual Consciousness to undergo quenching, turning it even more powerful. Because of this, he unknowingly managed to grasp a rudimentary understanding of Domains when in the Sea Opening Realm. Due to all these factors, the moment he advanced to the Domain Realm, his Domain had immediately reached grand completion.
When the two people’s Domain confronted each other, the surrounding space immediately burst with creaking-like sounds; it gave the feeling that space itself was twisting and distorting while reorganising at the same time. Ning Cheng felt slightly more confident in his heart that although this Suo Qiaoye had strength, he could still cope with it. Moreover, he had not wholly unleashed his Domain either as he felt that it would turn out better if he held back a few tricks.
“Somewhat interesting.” Suo Qiaoye could feel that Ning Cheng’s Domain had blocked his dual chess piece Domain and suddenly laughed. Flicking his hand slightly, another chess piece rushed out. From the looks of it, such moves came naturally to him through practice.
Ning Cheng did not pay much attention to Suo Qiaoye; instead, the Treasured Thunder Spear in his hand transformed into a faint Thunder Shadow as it shot out.
“Ka……” An ear-splitting explosion rang out over the battle ring. The spectating cultivators felt excited that these two fellows had begun fighting almost immediately. Moreover, from their viewpoint, it did not look like either of them was holding out. The thundering explosion from before instigated the spectators even more.
A powerful Celestial Essence Force counter-attack surged over. Ning Cheng could feel it immediately and thought that even the Celestial Gatherer Cultivators he fought against before did not have such a robust Celestial Essence Force. Fortunately, he had tempered himself in the arena for more than ten days, allowing his Celestial Essence Force to surge. Otherwise, he would have split a mouthful of blood during the last exchange.
Suo Qiaoye on seeing that Ning Cheng did not suffer anything felt surprised in his heart. With the strength of his Celestial Essence, even ordinary Celestial Gatherer Cultivators would find it difficult to resist, yet this minor Celestial Novice Cultivator had not only blocked it, but he also did not suffer any damage. Possessing such fame, it indeed was not just empty talk.
“If that is all that you have, then it is the end for you today.” Suo Qiaoye’s voice remained loud. Although those words were for Ning Cheng, the entire arena could hear it clearly.
Another three chess pieces descended at the same time. Two of those chess pieces rushed into Suo Qiaoye’s Domain, while the last chess piece combined forces with the other chess piece and transformed into two large chess peaks before smashing down towards Ning Cheng’s head.
It was a simple and straightforward move, but also very useful. Suo Qiaoye had used this very move to kill countless people without any exception. With the addition of two more chess pieces, the chess Domain immediately enhanced. Even if the opponent’s Domain could resist it previously, with his Domain improving in strength that resistance would quickly collapse. At least until now, he had not encountered anyone who could remain safe under his Domain created by four chess pieces.
His four chess piece Domain had directly locked down everything within its area. As long as one ended up bound by his Domain, they could only watch his chess peaks descend on them, smashing them into a pile of flesh and blood.
Suo Qiaoye very much loved this direct and effective method, and every time he used this method, his opponent would always turn into a bloody meat paste. This, in its own twisted way, made him feel happy and comfortable in his heart.
He had already paid enough attention to Ning Cheng, who had forced him to use six chess pieces. An opponent who could force him to use six chess pieces at the same time, Suo Qiaoye had never encountered one before, until today.
It was not that he had no choice to use such a method; he just did not want to drag things out with a Celestial Novice Cultivator as an opponent. Dragged down by a minor Celestial Novice Cultivator, it only felt as if he lost face. For him, other Celestial Novice Cultivators were nothing but weak ants and fakes, only his Celestial Novice Cultivation was the real Celestial Novice Cultivation.
However, at this instant, Suo Qiaoye felt as if something had gone horribly wrong. His chess Domain formed by four chess pieces had not bound the opponent even minutely. Nor did it occupy any advantage in the Domain confrontation between the two sides.