Chapter 190 - 95: Xia He: Jiang Xuan, First Place? My Little Junior Brother Is That Strong?

Chapter 190: Chapter 95: Xia He: Jiang Xuan, First Place? My Little Junior Brother Is That Strong?

"Crushing you in an instant? Is that supposed to be difficult?"

Before Yun Shengjie could finish, a lazy, nonchalant voice suddenly sounded in his ear. The words had barely faded when Yun Shengjie felt his mind grow hazy and distant. The scene before his eyes changed in an instant.

When he came to his senses and his vision cleared, he was stunned to find himself standing above a vast, boundless sea of clouds.

What made his pupils shrink was a massive screen hanging in the sky above the Cloud Sea, replaying his entire battle against Jiang Xuan in real time.

The images were so lifelike they were indistinguishable from reality. Even the auras of their Cultivation and the fluctuations of Dao Rhyme were perfectly replicated, as if the scene were truly happening all over again.

Upon seeing this, Yun Shengjie instantly understood. He had been dragged into a dream. And within the Daozi Courtyard, there was one person who was a master of the dreamscape.

As this thought crossed his mind, he turned to the side. There, standing beside the Cloud Sea, was Zhong Ming—the very same person who always appeared to be in a lazy, unending slumber in the outside world. He was staring at the battle on the screen with keen interest.

At this moment, the footage sped up to three times its normal speed, seamlessly transitioning from his duel with Jiang Xuan to the clash between Chen Qianjun and Jiang Xuan.

"You’re awake."

Zhong Ming spoke without even turning his head, his eyes still glued to the screen. When he saw Chen Qianjun’s Blazing Soul Life-Burning technique and the moment Jiang Xuan manipulated the earth, his expression was... utterly placid, even a little bored.

It was only when Jiang Xuan unleashed Chang’s World that his brow twitched slightly, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

"A little interesting."

After that brief assessment, he finally addressed Yun Shengjie. "This Jiang Xuan you spoke of is indeed quite strong. But don’t worry, he won’t be able to make any big waves. There are at least nine people in our class who can defeat him."

The moment he finished speaking, the Illusory Cloud Sea shattered with a ROAR. In the blink of an eye, Yun Shengjie was back in the courtyard’s training ground.

Back in the real world, Yun Shengjie, who had just been pulled into a dream and awakened, found himself surrounded.

Before, no one had paid any mind to his warning. But now that he had been pulled into a dream and then awakened, he had suddenly piqued everyone’s curiosity.

"What did Zhong Ming say?"

"..." The fact that his heartfelt plea was less effective than a single, casual action from Zhong Ming left a complicated taste in Yun Shengjie’s mouth. Still, he repeated Zhong Ming’s evaluation. "He said that in our Daozi Courtyard, there are nine people who can reliably defeat Jiang Xuan."

"What?!"

These words did not put the students of the Daozi Courtyard at ease. On the contrary, they all looked at him in stunned disbelief, their expressions changing drastically.

"Nine people? Are you sure you heard him right? Only nine people can beat him?"

"Zhong Ming couldn’t have misjudged, could he?"

"Impossible. You know what he’s capable of. If he says nine, then it’s very likely that there are truly only nine people in our class who can best him..."

There weren’t many students in the Daozi Courtyard—fewer than a hundred in total—and every single one was a prodigy, guaranteed to become at least an Inner Sect Disciple of a Middle-Class Dharma Vein.

But this didn’t mean that competition within the Daozi Courtyard wasn’t fierce.

Barring a few exceptions, everyone there was aiming for an Upper Vein. And while the Upper Veins did recruit, they were extremely stingy with their slots for Inner Sect Disciples. Each year, only the top ten had a chance to enter one.

Jiang Xuan’s current power ranking placed him right on the razor’s edge of that top-ten cutoff.

’This is trouble...’

’A real prodigy has actually appeared in the Lower Court this time.’

...

Thanks to Zhong Ming’s evaluation, Jiang Xuan was finally getting some attention.

However, when Yun Shengjie saw that the few students at the very top of the rankings remained as aloof and unconcerned as ever, clearly not viewing Jiang Xuan as a threat, a hint of worry still surfaced in his eyes.

Having faced Jiang Xuan head-on and experienced the power of those Dharma Eyes, he had a nagging feeling. ’In two months, Jiang Xuan’s strength won’t just stop here.’

But he also knew that getting his classmates to take Jiang Xuan seriously as a threat for the tenth spot was the most he could possibly do.

If he tried to claim that Jiang Xuan was an even greater threat—that he could take a top-three spot, or even aim for number one—no one would believe him. They would just think he’d been scared out of his wits, or that he’d gone mad.

’Sigh, I can only hope that the siblings, Guan Shaogang and Guan Nianzhen, will make a move,’ he thought.

The Guan Brothers and Sisters happened to be ranked ninth and tenth in the Daozi Courtyard, on par with Zhong Ming’s evaluation of Jiang Xuan’s strength.

He believed that to secure their positions, the two of them would surely have to probe Jiang Xuan’s true capabilities.

And in fact, the siblings Guan Shaogang and Guan Nianzhen were indeed discussing Jiang Xuan.

"Sister, Zhong Ming seems to think one of us isn’t a match for Jiang Xuan."

"Hmph." Guan Nianzhen snorted at his words. "Aren’t those guys always like that? Arrogant snobs, looking down on us for working together, thinking it’s not the ’proper path.’"

"But the Shenxiao Sect only forbids giving your spot to someone else; they never forbid teamwork. In the hundred-day assessment, if we work together as one, we can even put up a fight against the top prodigies in the courtyard!"

"Jiang Xuan is nothing to worry about."

Between the two, it was the younger sister, Guan Nianzhen, who was the more aggressive one. Convinced that their combined power could defeat even those ranked higher than them, she had no intention of looking into Jiang Xuan.

Her brother, Guan Shaogang, on the other hand, was more prudent. He planned to secretly gather information on Jiang Xuan and, if possible, fight him personally to uncover his true trump cards, just to be on the safe side.

And so, the ripples from Yun Shengjie’s defeat at Jiang Xuan’s hands spread no further than the ninth and tenth-ranked students of the Daozi Courtyard.

Those ranked higher didn’t consider Jiang Xuan a threat at all and paid him no mind whatsoever.