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Chapter 1173: Effortless with Ease

The next test was Movement Techniques. Like the first, it gave ten points.

Xia Yang did not perform very well in this test. The Thunder Fire Art’s tenth layer raised his explosive power far beyond that of his contemporaries. However, his Movement Technique was significantly weaker. In this test, he obtained only seven points, which was barely a passing grade.

Since the other party’s results were not that good, Xiao Chen took it easy and held back, using the Great Perfection Thunder Dragon Steps to obtain only eight points.

He had no specific target. All he wanted to do was get one point more than Xia Yang in every test.

For the first test, Xiao Chen had had no choice since Xia Yang had obtained nine points. If he did not bring out his full power, he would not have been able to surpass Xia Yang.

Since Xiao Chen could hide some of his strength in the second test, he naturally chose to do so.

Xiao Chen had discovered many experts in the audience. Based on the aura they leaked out, they were no weaker than Liu Yun.

Xiao Chen did not know what these people were up to; hence, if he could hide some of his strength, he would do so. This way, others could not tell exactly how strong he was.

The third test assessed one’s vision. There was no need to describe this test. Xiao Chen already cultivated the Heavenly Eye.

When Xiao Chen opened the Heavenly Eye, even half-step Martial Emperors would not be a match. However, he did not need to resort to the Heavenly Eye to deal with Xia Yang.

Hence, Xiao Chen easily surpassed Xia Yang’s six points with seven points.

The competition between the two seemed unpredictable. Every time it looked like Xia Yang had a chance to defeat Xiao Chen, Xiao Chen would surpass him by one point.

After three tests, the difference between the two was already three points. Liu Yun’s expression turned increasingly unsightly, while Ba Tu, whom he looked down on earlier, sported an increasingly wider smile.

For the fourth test of practical combat, Xiao Chen purposely held back. Xia Yang finally gained a victory over him, defeating Xiao Chen’s six points with his seven.

After the four tests, Xiao Chen’s total score was thirty-one points. Xia Yang gained twenty-nine points. With the two’s final scores, they both made it into the top fifty of the ranking.

On the Outstanding Talent Tokens that the two obtained, Xiao Chen’s had the number thirty carved on it, while Xia Yang’s had the number forty-nine.

This number indicated one’s ranking. With this, the winner of Ba Tu and Liu Yun’s bet was clear. The final result was already somewhat expected from the moment Xiao Chen chopped off the metal puppet’s head.

However, many of the onlookers found it somewhat unacceptable. How could a nameless person flip the tables and defeat Xia Yang, the Thunder Fire Sovereign’s descendant?

Haha! The ambition of youths is rather large. I wonder, how much of your strength did you bring out in the test for the Outstanding Talent Token?

The elder who earlier tested for strength astutely noticed that Xiao Chen had hidden his true strength in the latter tests. So he sent that voice projection to Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen ignored that elder. He had held back simply because he wanted to avoid some trouble. There was no wild ambition.

He could only say that this elder was overthinking things.

“Quickly hand over the two hundred Essence Stones!”

Now that the victor was already decided, Ba Tu led Xiao Chen over and demanded his winnings, not giving Liu Yun any face.

Liu Yun’s face turned black as he tossed out two hundred Essence Stones. He said coldly, “Let me tell you this: my Essence Stones are not that easy to earn. You better make sure you don’t run into me at the Outstanding Talent Summit Meeting!”

After saying that, Liu Yun felt too embarrassed to remain, so he left quickly. Xia Yang immediately followed behind without a word after glaring at Xiao Chen.

Ba Tu received the Essence Stones with an incredibly happy smile on his face as he called out loudly to Liu Yun, who already left far away.

“Is that so? I felt that it was rather easy. I just happened to be lacking in Essence Stones too. Many thanks, Brother Liu!”

“Come, let’s go have a drink. I feel really great.” Ba Tu promptly handed the Essence Stones to Xiao Chen, showing no intent to keep them for himself. Then, he led Xiao Chen out of the City Lord’s Residence.

The bustling crowd in the city affairs office slowly dispersed. However, the story of Xiao Chen chopping off the metal puppet’s head with a saber—something unprecedented—would spread throughout the entire Dark City within the shortest time possible.

As a bladesman, Xiao Chen obtained full points in the first test for the Outstanding Talent Token, displaying strength equal to a half-step Martial Emperor.

However, what caught the crowd by surprise was that Xiao Chen’s attempt at the Outstanding Talent Token test was just the start.

After this, in the following days, people kept clearing the test for the Outstanding Talent Token and breaking records one after another. Furthermore, these people were not local youths of Dark City; they were all outsiders, giving rise to the feeling of a storm brewing.

When news of the next Outstanding Talent Summit Meeting starting soon spread, the cultivators of Dark City realized that these strong outstanding youths from the other sea regions had come to participate in the Outstanding Talent Summit Meeting after hearing of its fame.

The originally tempestuous Dark City instantly became even more chaotic. Fights between powerful outstanding talents occurred nearly every day as they tried to establish their superiority before the Outstanding Talent Summit Meeting.

This resulted in several of these foreign cultivators gaining notoriety from the series of fierce battles, building their reputation in advance.

Dark City turned very chaotic, but Xiao Chen ignored all this chaos. He remained in the Flame Rock castle, anxiously working with Yue Bingyun to repair the Dragon Subduing Platform. He even cut back on his cultivation time.

With the Outstanding Talent Token, Xiao Chen successfully obtained all the divine materials he needed to repair the Dragon Subduing Platform. At the same time, he managed to save a large sum of Black Astral Coins, thoroughly experiencing the benefits of the Outstanding Talent Token.

Yue Bingyun did not go anywhere in Dark City. When she learned that Xiao Chen was going to repair the Dragon Subduing Platform, she took the initiative to offer her help. The project to restore the Dragon Subduing Platform was enormous; hence, additional help was welcome. Xiao Chen did not need much thought before agreeing.

On this particular day, when the repairs of the Dragon Subduing Platform were already almost done, Ba Tu quickly rushed over and passed on a piece of news to Xiao Chen.

“My first brother, Ba Yan, came out of closed-door cultivation and wants to meet you.”

Xiao Chen had heard of Ba Tu’s first brother, Ba Yan, before. This person was very strong, highly ranked among the many outstanding talents of Dark City.

Even Liu Yun once suffered greatly at Ba Yan’s hands.

After staying in this Flame Rock castle for such a long time, be it out of politeness or curiosity, Xiao Chen wanted to meet this person.

Xiao Chen stopped what he was doing and followed Ba Tu together with Yue Bingyun. They found Ba Yan at a drill ground in the castle, exchanging moves with some of the clan elders.

On the drill ground was a stocky man who resembled Ba Tu closely. This person exuded a strong vitality. With every punch, there would be loud sounds of mountains crumbling and surging flames.

Every move looked extremely mighty and ferocious. His style featured broad and powerful attacks.

However, there was a certain charm in these simple moves. After watching for some time, Xiao Chen discovered the mysteries behind them.

Ba Yan cultivated two wills: the will of fire and the will of rock. He comprehended these two wills to Great Perfection.

Furthermore, through some wondrous technique, he had fused them, forming the will of flame rock unique to the Flame Rock Sovereign’s line.

This will contained the explosive power of boundless surging fire and the toughness and resilience of rocks.

The old man fighting Ba Yan was a Consummation quasi-Emperor of the Flame Rock castle. Although the situation on the drill ground was not a battle to the death, it was extremely intense. Even though that old man used everything at his disposal, he still could not gain the upper hand.

When Ba Tu saw this, he revealed an expression of hero worship. “That is my first brother. He managed to cultivate the Flame Rock Art to the tenth layer during his most recent closed-door cultivation session. He has the greatest talent in my clan’s history. At the same age, even my grandfather had cultivated the Flame Rock Art only to the ninth layer.”

Yue Bingyun smiled and asked, “What layer have you cultivated to?”

Ba Tu smiled in chagrin and replied, “Can I keep it a secret? I am too embarrassed to say it.”

Although Ba Tu did not say it, with Xiao Chen’s insight, Xiao Chen could tell that Ba Tu’s Flame Rock Art should have reached only the peak of the sixth layer, not even the seventh layer.

Compared to his first brother, Ba Tu was far behind.

However, this was not because Ba Tu was that inferior. Actually, Ba Tu’s talent was pretty good. It was just that his first brother’s talent was too great, overly dazzling, which made Ba Tu look bad in contrast.

“Bang!”

The mountain rocks and fire merged as Ba Yan punched with a mighty roar. This attack forced the old man back ten steps. The duel in the drill ground ended with this, not continuing anymore.

“Haha! First Young Master, after coming out of closed-door cultivation this time, you will definitely shine brightly at the Outstanding Talent Summit Meeting. The other Great Bandits’ descendants will not expect that First Young Master has cultivated the Flame Rock Art to the tenth layer,” the old man training with Ba Yan said with a smile and a look of anticipation on his face.

Like Ba Tu, Ba Yan looked very carefree as well. His appearance suggested a straightforward character but with some caution and reservation.

A strong fighting spirit blazed in his eyes, showing boundless confidence. However, his tone hinted that he was still not content. “Our clan’s Flame Rock Art is a peak Inferior Grade Profound Cultivation Technique. There is indeed a huge advantage in cultivating it to the tenth layer. However, it would not be right to underestimate others because of this. There are no ordinary people among the descendants of the Great Bandits.”

After speaking, Ba Yan dismissed the old man. Then, he put on a smile and somewhat excitedly walked over to Xiao Chen at a fast pace.

“You must be the Azure Dragon King Xiao Chen that my younger brother mentioned. According to him, you are very powerful. You even managed to chop off the head of that metal testing puppet in the city affairs office. Let’s exchange a few moves!”

Ba Yan’s tone clearly sounded provocative!

Ba Tu said quickly, “Xiao Chen, don’t mind my elder brother. His temper is like that. Whenever he sees an expert, he would feel itchy and want to fight them. After being in closed-door cultivation for such a long time, this still has not changed.”

“It’s fine. I would very much like to experience Brother Ba Yan’s Martial Techniques as well.” Xiao Chen did not detest such people. In fact, he was rather similar. When he saw experts that interested him, he also could not help wanting to challenge them.

That way, he might learn something from the fight and improve himself. Or perhaps he felt like that so he could find himself a rival. If a cultivator simply cultivated alone without experiencing many battles, there would definitely be some regression.

Ba Yan smiled and said, “It looks like we are kindred spirits. How about this: let’s exchange three moves and stop when appropriate?”

Xiao Chen nodded and replied, “That sounds good!”

“Let’s go!”

Before Ba Tu’s and Yue Bingyun’s slightly stunned gazes, the two people who just met immediately went to the drill ground and prepared to fight.