Boom¹…
Boom…
The dull sounds of the war drums echoed through the clouds, shaking the sky and the Earth.
Above the mountains, on the competition platform.
The place was full of voices, with waves after waves of screaming.
“It’s my win.”²
As the female voice landed, a figure was knocked off the platform, and the crowd was in turmoil again.
On the platform, the lady had an excellent and beautiful posture, clear, frosty eyebrows like the snow, and her lips formed a beautiful smile. She had hair that reached down to her waist and wore a purple robe. The tassel on her forehead swayed, and it was as if she was a fairy.
Her bright eyes swept across the bottom of the platform. “Senior brothers, is there anyone else that would enlighten me?”³
The originally noisy crowd instantly became silent, and no one dared to speak.
Seeing that no one answered, the gray cloak Taoist slowly walked onto the stage and cleared his throat.
“If there are no more challengers, then the winner of this sect election is the representative of the Sword Summit, Xiao Xiang Xue.”
No one was dissatisfied with this result.
“Senior Sister Xiao is really strong.”
“Isn’t she? Senior sister hasn’t lost once in this month-long competition; she is the pride of our Xuan Yun Sect.”
“It seems that Senior Sister Xiao will definitely be the head disciple this time.”
Everyone in the crowd continuously nodded when someone said that.
“Not necessarily.”
“What is senior brother’s explanation?”
The person didn’t beat around the bush and immediately started explaining.
“If we are talking about the position of the head disciple of Xuan Yun Sect, then it naturally belongs to our Senior Brother Xia Zheng.”
“Who is this Senior Brother Xia Zheng? Could you tell us?”
The junior brothers all showed some curiosity.
“Senior Brother Xia Zheng is a peerless genius. He hasn’t been defeated a single time after he entered the sect. In the past, he won by using a tree branch to break thousands of spells. Afterwards, he fought on even grounds with the 3 guest elders and even fought the sect master without losing ground. To this day, no one dared to say that they could see through Senior Brother Xia Zheng’s cultivation. So far, Senior Brother Xia Zheng isn’t even a hundred years old yet. He is the rightful owner of the position of the head disciple.”
Everyone was amazed after hearing the explanation.
Guest Elders were in the Nascent Soul Realm. In the same realm, most people couldn’t even fight two people at once, let alone three, not to mention that he could even spar with the sect master.
The scariest thing was that such a figure wasn’t even a hundred years old yet.
At this time, the disciples all had expressions of awe on their faces.
“Where can we see this Senior Brother Xia Zheng?”
“I’m not sure about that either,” the person said, shaking his head. “Senior Brother Zia Zheng isn’t someone we can see whenever we want to.”
“It’s our fault for being abrupt.” The crowd saluted.⁴
“Then what summit is Senior Brother Xia Zheng a disciple of?” Someone in the crowd asked.
After all, a summit with such an amazing senior brother has to be one of the strongest summits. Many of the disciples here haven’t chosen a summit yet, and if they could be in the same summit as this senior brother, then they could enjoy the benefits of being in a favorable position.⁵
Both male and female disciples were tempted.
This election was said to be done to elect the most outstanding person within the summits, but in reality, it was to let the newly admitted inner disciples decide which summit they want to go to.
Naturally, the people now wanted to know the answer.
“Senior Brother Xia Zheng belongs to the Dao Summit.”
“Can we join the Dao Summit?”
“This…” There seemed to be something stopping the person from speaking. He wanted to speak, but was hesitating.
“If senior brother has something to say, just say it. If it’s really impossible to do so, we won’t say much.”
“There are five summits in our Xuan Yun Sect, with the Sword Summit in the lead and the Dao Summit as the last. If it wasn’t because they have a peerless genius like Senior Brother Xia Zheng, the Dao Summit might not even have the value to exist.”
“How could that be?”
“Dao Summit’s cultivation method is to pursue the path of naturality. They let everything go with the flow. Their cultivation method is based purely on their own comprehension. Everyone, listen to me, if you don’t have an outstanding talent, do not choose that summit. You can’t gamble your path.”
Everyone in the crowd nodded their heads and thanked him.
At this point, everyone turned their attention back to the stage.
“As expected of a disciple of our Xuan Yun Sect to be this strong at such a young age. Given time, her future is limitless,” the sect master said while stroking his beard on the spectator platform. The summit masters on the side couldn’t help but nod their heads.
It was a great fortune for Xuan Yun Sect to have such an immortal seedling.
The gray robed taoist led Xiao Xiang Xue to the front of the spectator platform to receive her reward.
“What do you want as your reward? No need to be reserved, ask away.” The sect master was in a good mood, so he let Xiao Xiang Xue pick her own reward.
“Disciple…”Xiao Xiang Xue saluted respectfully, but her eyes looked in the direction of the Dao Summit. “Disciple wants…”
“Just speak, you deserve it,” the sect master said with a kind expression, seeing that Xiao Xiang Xue was a bit reserved.
“Disciple wants to challenge Senior Brother Xia Zheng! Please fulfill my request!”
As soon as Xiao Xiang Xue said that, the crowd was in turmoil. Everyone was talking.
Xiao Xiang Xiao frowned slightly. She had looked at the expression of the summit masters. When they heard Xia Zheng’s name, their whole face darkened.
Could there be an unknown secret? Although Xiao Xiang Xue was smart, she couldn’t guess the reason.
“How could you speak nonsense, sigh, Senior Brother Sect Master, I’m really…. sigh….” The Sword Summit’s summit master reproached her disciple in a panic, but in the end, she could only sigh.
Saying such words in this place couldn’t be brushed off with the words child’s play.
The sect master changed his kind expression and asked in a serious voice, “Do you know who Xia Zheng is?”
“I have heard a little. He is the publicly recognized number one genius of the younger generation of the Xuan Yun Sect.”
“Apart from that?”
Xiao Xiang Xue was speechless and didn’t know how to answer, so she shook her head.
The Sword Summit’s Summit Master flew down, and whispered in Xiao Xiang Xue’s ear. “That person is extremely scary. If you don’t have a strong and steady heart when fighting him, you might get a heart demon. Even your master I, in a previous year…”
“… Disciple will go all out, no matter win or lose. Sect Master promised me that I could choose any reward, disciple only has this wish, please fulfill it!”
“Sigh, you, are perfect in almost every aspect, but you’re too competitive, sigh…”
Seeing that even the Sword Summit’s Summit Master couldn’t dissuade Xiao Xiang Xue, the sect master could only nod his head.
“Then let her do what she wants. Sigh, after we finally got a good immortal seedling.”
Not only the sect master, but the summit masters at the side also shook their heads and sighed.
Even if there’s a difference in cultivation level, one person could suppress his cultivation. So why are they like this? Xiao Xiang Xue was very confused.
“You must never stray from your original ideals. Remember that there is always someone more talented than you are. A temporary defeat, can’t say… sigh, nevermind, you’re on your own now.”
…
Xiao Xiang Xue looked at her master fly back to the spectator platform with confusion. Her master had a dark expression and kept muttering something.
We haven’t fought yet. How could you be sure that the I will be the one to lose?
“Send someone to get Xia Zheng.” As soon as the sect master said that, someone immediately flew over to relay the order.
As soon as the order came out, the crowd was in turmoil. Most of them were newly admitted inner disciples. They had just heard about the deeds of Senior Brother Xia Zheng, and they naturally wanted to see such a legendary figure.
They all looked forward to it, staring in the direction of the Dao Summit
After a long time, a peerless teenage boy slowly walked over.
Translator’s Notes:
¹ Author wrote “dong”, but I feel like that’s not really an accurate drum sound.
² 承让了. In Chinese, the victor says this to the loser, which means something like, “Thank you for letting me win,” but not like taunting. It’s actually respectful, compared to saying thanks in games where it’s considered bad manners. I don’t think there’s an English equivalent or a way to say it in English with the same intentions, so please tell me if you know.
³ 赐教. Literally, instruct/enlighten. Basically just a way of saying, “fight me” or “spar with me”, but in a respectful way.
⁴ Not the military kind of salute but the martial arts one (the palm over fist salute). Most of you that read martial arts/cultivation novels probably know that already.
⁵ 近水楼台先得月. A phrase that means that you can be one of the first to receive benefits by being near certain people or things (because of the person’s status or whatever).
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