Volume 1, Chapter 393 – Difference

Shi Lan had not shown her true appearance, and no one could recognize her.

“It’s hard to say whether Shi Lan is even here today. If she takes the stage, then with her current ranking on the list, her odds definitely won’t be very high.”

The bookmaker sized Shi Lan up and replied casually.

After all, Shi Lan was currently ranked twenty-seventh on the three-race Prodigy Ranking. Among the human race, she was in the top five. If she was present today, her chances of taking first place were not small.

Hearing the bookmaker’s answer, Shi Lan felt a little disappointed. She raised her hand and was just about to place a bet when an uproar suddenly exploded beside her.

“Tang You!”

“He used to be thirteenth on the Heaven Ranking! Even on the current three-race Prodigy Ranking, he could still make the top forty!”

A black shadow flew sideways off the arena and slammed into the light screen. It was Liang Yi, who had been the first to take the stage.

He had already fainted. A striking blade wound ran across his chest, almost splitting it open and killing him. It was only because a thread of clear light flowing from the imperial mirror had protected his heart meridians that he survived.

Two middle-aged men came to Liang Yi’s side and silently carried him away without the slightest trace of resentment.

For martial artists, so long as the source of life was not damaged, this was not considered a major matter. There were always ways to restore the body completely.

Fairy Lan Meng stood upon the arena, her long blade still unsheathed. On the arena before her, another figure had appeared.

He was a youth who looked eighteen or nineteen, dressed in a silver-lined robe, with a jade belt threaded with golden silk in a spiderweb pattern around his waist. His hair was perfectly neat, combed straight behind him without a single strand out of place. Beneath his brows was a pair of golden eyes tinged with a faint blue, and his aura was steady and profound like an abyss, as if he were a deity.

That burst of shocked cries just now had been caused by this very youth.

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Shi Lan listened for a few moments and gained a rough understanding. This Tang You had no great power protecting him from behind. He was a true lone prodigy.

He had already risen to fame at the age of fifteen, then journeyed alone to the bitter cold lands of the far north. It was said that he had joined the Demon-Hunting Camp by himself and had been bathing in devil blood at the border ever since, tempering himself.

The reason everyone was so astonished was because this seemed to be Tang You’s first appearance at an occasion like this.

Shi Lan examined him twice, a faint red glimmer flashing through her pupils, and immediately understood.

Tang You’s blood and qi fluctuated unsteadily. Much like her own condition, he was already on the verge of a breakthrough and was about to become a great cultivator of the Nascent Soul Realm.

No wonder he needed to enter the secret realm.

…

“Do you need time to adjust your breathing?”

On the arena, Tang You slowly spoke, his voice clear and cold like a winter spring.

“No.”

Fairy Lan Meng shifted her feet and slid half a foot forward. Slowly, she raised her long blade until it was pressed against her cheek, then lightly exhaled, killing intent sharp in her eyes.

Divine radiance flowed across the long, narrow blade, and its momentum grew increasingly keener.

Buzz…

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The air split apart with a muffled thunderous roar that shook the ears. A giant blade slashed out from the void, its force incomparably overbearing as it chopped forward with unstoppable momentum.

Tang You’s expression did not change, but a trace of cold light overflowed into his eyes as well. He held nothing back, suddenly stepping forward, forming a fist seal in hand. His figure seemed to stretch in an instant, turning into a blur of afterimages as he chose to meet the attack head-on.

Boom!

The barrier surrounding the arena shuddered violently. The terrifying shockwave crushed the arena and swept up clouds of dust that rolled and fell in great waves.

Within the dust, countless blade lights crisscrossed. A few breaths later, a figure was sent flying out of the arena and crashed heavily to the ground.

Fairy Lan Meng’s long dress had been shredded. Her right arm, the one holding the blade, was bent at an inconceivable angle, nearly broken clean through. White bone fragments pierced through flesh, and blood ran everywhere.

When the dust on the arena cleared, Tang You’s figure appeared. His clothes were tattered and marked by quite a few blade wounds, but his body itself was completely unharmed.

“Today, you had the advantage in cultivation. I will ask for another lesson in the future.”

Lan Meng struggled to her feet. After glancing at Tang You on the arena, she left the edge of the arena with the support of a maid carrying a long blade.

The rankings on the Prodigy Record were mostly built up little by little through real fights, and there was no room for even the slightest falsification. Lan Meng had made the Heaven Ranking, so she had naturally gone through no small number of bloody battles. To her, this degree of injury was still nothing serious.

“It ended so quickly!”

“Tang You’s cultivation is much higher. If they fought at the same realm, Fairy Lan Meng might not have lost!”

“Fairy Lan Meng didn’t even stir her Human Emperor bloodline. Otherwise, who would live and who would die would still be hard to say!”

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“Ever since entering the world, she has never used the power of her imperial bloodline to suppress others. Otherwise, her ranking back then would have been much higher!”

Discussion broke out around the arena, and most people were speaking in Lan Meng’s favor. Clearly, compared to Tang You, who had spent years at the border, Lan Meng, who was active in the Central Heaven Domain, had won far more people over.

Below the arena, Shi Lan gave a slight nod. Tang You’s strength was quite good. Most likely, even ordinary martial artists at the initial stage of the Nascent Soul Realm would not be his match.

Lan Meng’s cultivation was only at the middle stage of the Myriad Phenomena Realm. Though she could fight above her level, when facing another prodigy equally capable of fighting across realms, she had many shortcomings.

As Shi Lan’s gaze passed over the other arenas, her eyes suddenly paused, and she could not help frowning slightly.

…

Meeting Shi Feng here was something Shi Lan had never expected. She had thought there would be no further intersection between them. That bond that should never have existed had already been cut off by her own hand.

On the arena stood a young man in black, a black long blade strapped across his back, standing tall against the wind.

Opposite him stood an inner sect disciple of Yunlai Immortal Palace.

Perhaps because there was a fellow disciple on the arena, most of the people gathered below it were disciples of Yunlai Immortal Palace.

“Who’s that guy?”

“Never heard of him. He just announced himself and said he’s from the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect in Chengtian Domain. His name’s Shi Feng.”

“Sacred Martial Immortal Sect? Isn’t Chengtian Domain that borderland?”

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“What kind of figure could come out of a barbaric wasteland at the border?”

“The Sacred Martial Immortal Sect is still a second-grade force. Maybe he has some ability.”

“Tch, he’s only at the middle stage of the Heavenly Astral Realm. I think Senior Brother Qin can beat him within ten moves!”

“That’s a certainty. Senior Brother Qin has already advanced to true inheritance. How could some nobody possibly compare!”

Shi Lan had some impression of the disciple standing opposite Shi Feng on the arena. His name was Qin Qingshan. In this grand competition, he had ranked seventh among the inner sect.

Listening to the sarcastic discussion coming from around her, Shi Lan was left momentarily speechless.

The discussion here was somewhat different from what she had heard at the other arenas. Not only was the malice much heavier, the words were full of contempt as well.

Any neutral opinions were quickly drowned out beneath the flood of ridicule, as if Shi Feng and these people had some old grudge between them.

…

On the arena, Shi Feng remained entirely focused, his eyes fixed on his opponent and deaf to the discussion around him.

The fingers gripping his long blade trembled slightly as a thrilling excitement surged uncontrollably through him.

His cultivation had already advanced by leaps and bounds. To challenge the prodigies of the martial gathering and test his sword against the world was his greatest purpose for coming here.

Shi Lan’s progress had been so rapid that he could scarcely hope to catch up, but all he wanted to know was where his current strength stood among his peers and just how far he still was from Shi Lan.