Chapter 234: Another Arrogant Genius
Most disciples of Cloud Sect agreed with Zen's tit for tat as it was clear that Mack had gone too far and deserved that misfortune.
They were also deeply impressed and intimidated by Zen's cruel means.
Zen was quite ferocious for his age.
While the powerful disciples remained calm, the less powerful ones were looking at Zen with awe in their eyes. In their mind, they were thinking that if they met Zen in the battle ring, they would lose their momentum and confidence in an instant.
After all, that kind of thing that had happened to a disciple at the second-grade nature level was truly incredible.
It was known that the disciples taking part in today's All Peaks Competition were at least at the seventh-grade or eighth-grade of nature level. A half of these disciples were already at the consummation grade, while a few of them were masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm.
The Illuminating Soul Realm warriors hadn't seen the real strength of Zen as he chose not to show it so early. Thus, they simply noticed his cruel means and looked down upon him. After all, the gap between nature level disciples and the masters of Illuminating Soul Realm was still too big.
Apart from the rare geniuses like Rocher, it was impossible for the other disciples to compete with the Illuminating Soul Realm warriors. Rocher was already at the consummation grade, while Zen was quite far behind him. Zen's nature level was only at second-grade which wouldn't warrant the slight attention from any Illuminating Soul Realm warriors.
It was known to all that top inner disciples from each Peak seldom participated in the trial of killing demons. And although Zen had attended the trial and even showcased a remarkable performance, it wasn't a big deal like what happened to Lenard. Lenard was known for his great skills, but he could still not qualify to represent Skytop Peak in the All Peaks Competition.
So Zen's performance was insignificant for those highly-skilled legendary figures of each peak at that time.
As Zen walked out of the ring, Master Wen was thrilled. He wanted to run to Zen and hug him tight, but he held the urge.
Winning this match meant that the young disciple would stand out in the group competition. More importantly, Zen had avenged Yehudi's defeat and helped Drizzle Peak win after a longtime of humiliation.
If one would ask why Cloud Sect was divided into many Peaks, the answer was very simple. The purpose was to create competitions among the Peaks.
All Peaks Competition could be watched on site and through a live broadcast shown in a large Picture Slab.
If Zen didn't avenge Yehudi's defeat, it would be a big blow to Drizzle Peak's confidence. The disciples of Drizzle Peak would be ashamed and discouraged to cultivate their skills.
The Drizzle Peak's representatives in the Competition didn't know that the disciples left in the peak were tensed but fired up at the same time.
In the Drizzle Peak's main practice area, some of the disciples were practicing hard, while most of them were gathered around the Picture Slab to watch the live broadcast of the Competition.
In fact, when Mack hit Yehudi earlier, they had already been tensed and fired up.
They felt the pain of Mack's attack as if they were hit directly. They were filled with fury and even started planning to protest Mack's uncalled-for behavior.
Yet, when they saw Zen made Mack's head swell with his powerful punches, their indignation gradually faded, and they burst into loud cheers.
To be more exact, Zen's actions washed away their resentment and somehow brought back their Peak's pride.
“Zen has the power to defeat all the disciples from Blackrock Peak!” one of them even cried out.
Witnessing Zen's back-to-back wins, most disciples totally forgot Zen's current level and started to believe that he could make it to the top 100.
Getting to the top 100 was a breakthrough for the Drizzle Peak and it could be their best win in a long time.
However, there were still a few disciples who were not confident that Zen could defeat the other more powerful participants in the Competition.
“Let's not forget that Zen is only at the second-grade of nature level. But those in the top 100 are basically the masters of Illuminating Soul Realm. I'm afraid that Zen may not have the chance—,” one of them said in a concerned tone.
But before the disciple finished sharing his thoughts, one of the thrilled disciples from Drizzle Peak interrupted him immediately and bellowed, “What are you talking about? Zen is the rare genius that we haven't seen in Drizzle Peak for a thousand years. Who cares if they are the masters of Illuminating Soul Realm? I have faith that Zen can defeat all of them!”
“That's right! We haven't seen his real potential yet. Who knows? Maybe his real strength is greater than the Illuminating Soul Realm,” another disciple added proudly.
It might be that the disciples were blindly optimistic about Zen's strength. But since Yehudi was defeated, Zen had become the only hope for Drizzle Peak. Although they knew that Zen might find it hard to defeat the disciples at the Illuminating Soul Realm, they wanted to keep their hopes high.
The round of group competitions continued.
It was only through actual combat could the true strength and potential of a disciple be examined.
The winners would be qualified to enter the succeeding competitions, while the losers' journey in the competition would end.
As expected, there were new geniuses being discovered at the ongoing competitions.
To name a few, there were Jill Quan from Lady Peak, Rocher Hua from Skytop Peak, and Jason Zhu from Azure Peak.
After three rounds, the referee announced another key competition.
“Jeff from Skytop Peak versus Kim from Jade Peak!”
They were the two top-ranked disciples in the Cloud Sect List.
Not everyone could be part of the Cloud Sect List. Only those among the top 1000 strongest disciples could be included on the list.
However, this list would only be updated according to the regular competition performance of the major disciples in the battle ring. However, considering the progress that the disciples were making in cultivating their strength everyday, it was safe to assume that the list was not reflecting the actual strength of each disciple.
Given this circumstance, the Cloud Sect would make minor adjustments to the list every month. But the major significant adjustments happened every three years when the disciples' performance would be reevaluated through the All Peaks Competition. This way, the disciples would be accurately ranked based on the competition results.
All Peaks Competition attracted the participation of almost all the best disciples from Cloud Sect, except for a small number of those who chose to practice in their respective secret practice rooms or outside Cloud Sect.
There were more than 700 disciples participating in the Competition, so almost all of them were on the list.
Except Zen.
Although his improvement was rapid and he defeated some disciples on the battle like Fren and the outer disciples from Vulture Peak, his performances weren't recorded because none of them were from the list.
Moreover, the strength gaps of those disciples on the list were quite big.
To be included among the Top 1000 might be easy. The strongest Peaks could get their top 30 into the list, while the weaker Peaks like Sea Peak and Drizzle Peak could only get their top ten qualified disciples into the list.
However, to be included in the Top 400 would be more challenging. Most of the top 400 on the list were those whose nature level was at consummation grade, while the Top 100 disciples on the list were basically the masters of Illuminating Soul Realm.
The two people fighting on the battle ring now was Jeff Mu who ranked ninety-nine, while the other one was Kim Yue who ranked seventy-two.
Before the said battle, the disciples of Illuminating Soul Realm who participated in the group competitions either had beaten their opponents or their opponents admitted defeats the instant they came up to the ring. It was obvious that the disciples at consummation-grade of nature level would lose to those of Illuminating Soul Realm, so the former didn't bother to fight the latter. In other words, the common disciples with consummation grade didn't have such guts or the power at all.
Unless they were the freak geniuses like Rocher, they wouldn't mind losing to a greater opponent.
Mack, an array technique genius who had challenged Zen earlier, had the ability to challenge the disciples of Illuminating Soul Realm. His magic array was so powerful that even the masters of Illuminating Soul Realm would be trapped in it and it wouldn't be easy for them to get out of it.
It was only a pity that he had met Zen. Because of Zen's special body, he could completely endure Mack's fire and Mack had no way to defeat him. As a result, Mack was beaten up furiously. Even though he applied pills from Blackrock Peak, there was a high chance that he could not recover fast and that he would be disqualified to attend the All Peaks Competition.
Both Jeff and Kim were new entrants of the Illuminating Soul Realm.
There was a big realm gap between Illuminating Soul Realm and consummation-grade of nature level. When that gap narrowed, the disciples could be able to grasp the method of burning life vitality, and their fighting power would soar sharply.
Therefore, their competition naturally received a lot of earnest attention.
Jeff was the representative of Skytop Peak, the number one Peak among the 33 Peaks, which started increasing influence in recent years, while Kim represented the Jade Peak, a well-established Peak. The Jade Peak once occupied the top place of 33 peaks for a long time but in recent years, it gradually had a decline in its strength and gradually had been caught up and surpassed by these powerful peaks like Skytop Peak, Blackrock Peak, and Azure Peak.
But that didn't mean Jade Peak could be underestimated.
After all, it had gained many resource and benefit from Cloud Sect. It had the largest number of secret practice places amongst the 33 Peaks. Although these six secret places were not as good as those within Cloud Sect that charged points for practice, they were at least open to their disciples for free. Many of its disciples got great benefits, and they would practice day and night continuously. It was hoped that some day its disciples would make a difference and bring the peak back to its original place.
Kim ranked second place among all the disciples of Jade Peak.
Despite being in the second place, he had been cultivating for a few years so no one knew what level he had already reached. After all, the disciples of Illuminating Soul Realm rarely competed on the battle ring, and the Top 100 ranking had rarely been changed and would only be readjusted every three years.
And Jeff just broke through the consummation grade of nature level a year ago and entered the Illuminating Soul Realm. When at the consummation-grade of nature level, he was already on the top, and now his strength was even more unfathomable.
It was a crucial fight between two disciples of the Illuminating Soul Realm; thus, it received a lot of attention.
Both of them were willing to give their all in the competition.
As a matter of fact, neither Jeff nor Kim had failed in their previous competitions. Even if one of them lost today, it wouldn't be much of an impact to them and they would still stand out from the group competition because they were masters of Illuminating Soul Realm.
Yet, both were the top and powerful figures, how could they tolerate losing to another? The disciple's firm resolve and outstanding talent were the keys to enter such a high realm. While the talent was one thing that could not be improved, the will of martial arts was more important. Only those who had a strong resolve to never lose to other people could further improve in their martial arts.
If only for the sake of gaining an advantage, one could deliberately preserve his strength and made a compromise. This kind of trick might help a disciple win for a while, but he was doomed to go not very far along the road of martial arts.
While the two disciples of Illuminating Soul Realm were fighting against each other, their fighting scene was quite impressive, with a huge sound caused by the combustion and explosion of life vitality. The aftermath of the battle shocked a lot of disciples.
Jeff practiced the life vitality of the wind system with unpredictable movements. Kim, on the other hand, practiced the life vitality of the earth system that was steady and slow. Their fighting movements were changing rapidly, which was rather dazzling and breathtaking.
In the end, Kim had defeated Jeff by using a highly risky attack.
Witnessing Kim's victory, everyone was gasping in admiration. But despite Kim's marvelous strength, he only ranked the second place on Jade Peak. With the current strength of its disciples, Jade Peak could once again rise to the top of the 33 Peaks.
After six rounds, Kim was assigned to fight with a Skytop Peak disciple again, and this time he was to fight against Rocher.
It was Rocher whose nature level was at consummation grade versus Kim at the Illuminating Soul Realm.
Normally, any competition between disciples of such two different levels would be predictable. But because it was Rocher fighting, the result would be a mystery until the battle ended.
It was said that Rocher had the strength to defeat the disciples of Illuminating Soul Realm, but no one had ever seen it. Today was the first time that everyone would witness Rocher's strength.
“Aren't you going to draw your sword?” Kim asked in a cold tone. Since their match began, Rocher hadn't pulled out his sword. His hands remained clasped behind his back.
Rocher's action was an intolerable insult for Kim, and it was starting to irritate the latter. Any disciple at consummation grade of nature level fighting a disciple at the Illuminating Soul Realm without drawing his sword was deemed arrogant and crazy.
Insulting the master of Illuminating Soul Realm was the stupidest thing to do.
And everyone was shocked when they heard Rocher's response. “Why would I? I can beat you without it.”
“Buzz...”
All the other disciples of Cloud Sect went wild and began to murmur to each other as they couldn't believe that Rocher had dared to insult the master of the Illuminating Soul Realm.
But the disciples of Illuminating Soul Realm from Skytop Peak were not surprised with what they heard. Some of them were wearing a smile of confidence in their faces.
“Rocher is going to defeat Kim with his bare hands!” one of them said in a proud tone.
“I agree! With his current strength, he doesn't need to use his sword,” another disciple added immediately.
“Let's see how far he can stick to not using his sword. I know that with his current strength, he can go on with the competition without using his sword and still end up in the top 80. Maybe, when he faces one of the top 60 disciples, he will need to draw that sword!” one disciple shared his detailed analysis.
If others heard Skytop Peak's Illuminating Soul Realm disciples' evaluation of Rocher's chance, they would be surprised.
Rocher, a disciple at the consummation grade of nature level, would be included among the top 80 without using his sword? That would sound very ambitious and unreal.
Of course, those were the thoughts from Skytop Peak's disciples. But the disciples from other Peaks, especially Jade Peak, didn't think the same.
Although Jade Peak ranked only in the sixth place now, they still regarded themselves as a well-established peak and the senior peak amongst the other peaks.
“Rocher is too arrogant! We must teach him a good lesson!” one disciple roared angrily.
“I could only hope that Kim will not show any mercy to Rocher. He should give that arrogant man a taste of his most deadly attack so that Rocher will learn his lessons the hard way! That way, he can learn to be humble and modest!” another disciple said pointedly.
“It is true that Rocher is a rare genius. But does that mean he is a strong and powerful disciple? I don't think so. Let's see how he will take it after Kim defeats him! For sure he will meet his inner demon if he gets defeated in this match. It will be impossible for him to cultivate his strength in the future!” one more disciple suggested sharply.
The offensive and harsh reproaches and curses from the disciples of Jade Peak were clearly heard as they didn't intend to keep their voices down.
All the saints, the respectable elders, and even Kenneth had heard their dirty words, but they did not stop them. On one hand, Cloud Sect was not a place to cultivate elegant and refined scholars, but warriors, while on the other hand, by making the atmosphere competitive, the hidden potentials of each disciple would surely come out.
Just when Jade Peak's disciples were resentful and disturbed, the rest of the other peaks were in a much better mood. Indeed, Rocher was arrogant. As for the match result, they were looking forward to him being defeated by Kim. This way, Rocher would learn how to behave later.
Zen was standing behind Master Wen, looking at the next match on the ring. He was wearing a poker face, but his eyes were glued to Rocher who he believed was not an easy one to deal with.
His gut told him that he would soon face Rocher in the competition.
At the moment, the match between Rocher and Kim was about to start.