Chapter 39: I Want To Fight Ten!
Not only was the venue deathly silent, even Tian Yongle on the stands was stunned.
“What sorcery did he use? I’ve never seen it before.”
Tian Yongle instinctively looked toward Xiao Lin. He knew that Xiao Lin was most skilled in spirit-related sorcery, so he suspected in his heart: could it be that Xiao Lin not only valued Jiang Ce highly, but even taught him spirit-based attack methods?
“Don’t look at me.” Xiao Lin glanced at Tian Yongle: “It’s not any sorcery. As far as I know, he only knows Ye Lu Feng’s Soul Soothing Technique, which isn’t applicable to this situation at all. He merely used spiritual energy to impact Liang Zhi Zhou.”
Upon hearing this, Tian Yongle was even more stunned, but he quickly retorted:
“He’s only Seventh Rank. How could he possibly suppress an Eighth Rank purely with spiritual energy? And it wasn’t even a sneak attack—he shattered Liang Zhi Zhou’s sorcery head-on first, then knocked him out. Unless he’s three realms higher than Liang Zhi Zhou, it’s impossible!”
“But that’s exactly what happened.” Xiao Lin’s expression also turned serious: “He is indeed only Seventh Rank. This can only mean that the density of his spiritual energy has reached an exaggerated, inconceivable level. Both in quality and quantity, it crushes Liang Zhi Zhou. It’s like having a terrifying amount of ammunition—no need for a gun, much less a cannon. Without even firing, just piling it on with sheer quantity is enough to smother an entire army.”
“This defies reason!”
Xiao Lin ignored Tian Yongle’s disarray and continued: “And you’re wrong about one thing. He didn’t shatter Liang Zhi Zhou’s sorcery first. Liang Zhi Zhou lost the ability to act first, causing his sorcery to break on its own. It’s just that Liang Zhi Zhou’s physical feedback couldn’t keep up with his consciousness, so visually, it looked like the sorcery broke first and then he fell.
Jiang Ce’s spiritual energy is colorless and formless. If I weren’t standing as an observer, even I probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all. Even so, I only vaguely caught some traces.”
He pursed his lips, raising his appreciation for Jiang Ce by another level.
“The only thing I’m certain of is that his attack targets the person—sorcery can’t block it. In other words, unless one’s cultivation is higher than his, enough to crush him outright, and one hard-clashes with spiritual energy, otherwise”
Xiao Lin didn’t say the second half, but Tian Yongle understood his meaning.
“This…” Tian Yongle couldn’t accept it: “Isn’t this cheating? What meaning does sorcery even have against him? As long as one’s cultivation is lower than his, no method works. Isn’t this unbeatable?”
“This isn’t unbeatable.” Xiao Lin shook his head: “Pure spiritual energy suppression can’t kill enemies. When he faces true life-and-death combat, there won’t be such fair one-on-one opportunities. If he exhausts his spiritual energy without the ability to end it quickly, that’s when he’s most vulnerable and weakest.”
“Do you know what truly unbeatable is?”
“What?” Tian Yongle showed confusion.
Xiao Lin slightly raised his chin: “Wait until he masters the sorcery he got from us gatekeepers last night, then you’ll know.”
“He got sorcery from you all too?” Tian Yongle nearly dropped his jaw in shock.
“Wei Lao’s one red manual, one purple manual each from me, Hong Xingzhi, and Jie Tan, plus Ye Lu Feng’s one blue manual. If he grasps the essence, it’s enough to fight above his rank. If he fully masters them all, even if his cultivation stays the same, even a lower-cultivation Blue Talisman would have to give him some leeway.”
Below the stands, the surrounding White Talisman Eighth and Ninth Rank gatekeepers lacked Xiao Lin’s insight and weren’t even as perceptive as Tian Yongle, so they couldn’t see the profundity of Jiang Ce’s methods at all.
In their eyes, Jiang Ce had merely stretched out his hand, shouted something like building momentum, and Liang Zhi Zhou fell.
After a brief daze, they finally, with great difficulty, accepted a fact—
Liang Zhi Zhou lost, and lost very badly.
Instant-killed in one move!
“How is this possible? He’s so lacking in quality, how could he…”
“Didn’t Liang Zhi Zhou even block a Seventh Rank vengeful spirit?”
The crowd buzzed with discussion, their earlier spectator mentality suddenly turning to shock and disbelief.
In their view, only Sixth Ranks could suppress Liang Zhi Zhou. Even the stern Xiao Lin had once publicly expressed admiration for him, so pinching a connections guy should be effortless.
But the result was the exact opposite.
He got pinched by the connections guy.
Whether in verbal sparring or strength, Liang Zhi Zhou, the Confucian Path genius, was utterly defeated.
As for the Confucian Cultivators who followed Liang Zhi Zhou, they were even more grief-stricken, their faith on the verge of collapse.
Jiang Ce raised both hands: “OK brothers, all eyes on me. I have an announcement. Earlier, I thought I could learn something from you, so one thousand bucks to duel you. But now it seems really boring, so starting now, price hike—three thousand bucks, three thousand per time, ten thousand all-night!”
“He’s…” Tian Yongle looked at Xiao Lin.
Xiao Lin smiled confidently: “This is to bluff. He’s raising the bar while acting arrogant to find a reason to end the duels. Otherwise, he probably couldn’t sustain such consumption.”
And those in the arena who had some trepidation toward him exploded upon hearing this, their brief return of reason instantly zeroed out, heads clouded by anger.
“Beating Liang Zhi Zhou and thinking he’s invincible?”
“Hmph, if not for those Seventh Ranks being out and Sixth Ranks focusing on cultivation, what right do you have to be so rampant?”
Jiang Ce sneered, pointing at the one shouting loudest: “You, the most jumping one. Dare to come up for a try?”
That person was even worse than Liang Zhi Zhou. He felt some trepidation inside but put on a disdainful face on the surface, making excuses: “Hmph, three thousand per time? Raising duel prices like this—you treating us like fools? Even if I win, what do I get? Just lose three thousand bucks for nothing.”
Jiang Ce exaggeratedly went “Ohhh,” dragging the sound long on purpose, full of mockery.
“Turns out it’s a little broke person.”
“In that case, to avoid some people having the heart but not the money, I’ll add another rule. I accept group buys—one thousand per person, minimum five, maximum ten!”
Jiang Ce smiled maliciously:
“Also, I’ll let you in on something. I’m Seventh Rank, so don’t think beating an Eighth Rank is that hard to accept—it’s totally normal. I’m just an ordinary person. Those who don’t like me, come on—I want to fight ten!”
With that, everything unreasonable became reasonable. The crowd not only instantly calmed down, the shock from Jiang Ce crushing Liang Zhi Zhou vanished from their hearts, while their disgust toward Jiang Ce rose another level, the hatred he stirred burning even stronger.
“Too despicable! Bullying Eighth Ranks as a Seventh Rank—this is scamming people!”
“Confucian Cultivators aren’t people? Confucian Cultivators are idiots? Confucian Cultivators deserve to be tricked by you?!”
The crowd condemned Jiang Ce while quickly forming a team of ten.
At this point, they just wanted to teach this arrogant guy a lesson. Fairness or not was no longer in their considerations.
Seeing this, Tian Yongle doubted Xiao Lin’s judgment: “Didn’t you say he was bluffing?”
Xiao Lin was also baffled, muttering nonstop: “This isn’t right…”
After signing the contract, even the arena manager, who had never encountered such a situation, nervously asked Jiang Ce: “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Jiang Ce, having collected the money, wasn’t panicked at all. Six Ninth Ranks and four Eighth Ranks—together, they weren’t much stronger than Liang Zhi Zhou.
The leeks were jumping to be harvested—how could he let them go? Did they know his bros were short on cash and came to farm merit?
The manager looked toward Xiao Lin, who hadn’t spoken up. Though puzzled, he still nodded.
Seeing even Xiao Lin acquiesce, those unlucky persons in the group buy grew more confident, casting aside their faint guilt.
Beat him to death!
The instant the manager announced the duel start, sorceries manifested from spiritual energy of varying strengths flew from all directions, all fiercely attacking Jiang Ce.
But Jiang Ce didn’t even change his stance.
“Little weaklings, all die for me!”
Bang!
All sorceries shattered, and the ten surrounding Jiang Ce fell simultaneously.
Jiang Ce gazed disdainfully at everyone: “Anyone else!!”
