HSSB171: Want to spar a bit?
From a certain perspective, the martial legacies of Infinite Boundless Mountain and the Heavenly Thunder Hall were both rather extreme.
Before the matter of the Thunderbolt Soul Jade, the young disciples of both sides had already not liked the sight of one another.
The Heavenly Thunder Hall mocked Infinite Boundless Mountain as being a turtle shell, while Infinite Boundless Mountain mocked the Heavenly Thunder Hall as only having an axe which would break after three uses.
With the matter of the Thunderbolt Soul Jade having occurred now, enmity had officially arose between the two sides, causing the atmosphere between them to be even more tense than before.
At this moment, the people from both sides just happened to be meeting face-to-face, such that they even did not care to follow the bout between Xu Fei and Tang Yonghao over at the other side.
The Heavenly Thunder Hall’s direct disciples with Xie Ziyi at their head and Infinite Boundless Mountain’s direct disciples with Ji Hanru at their head stared at one another, sparks seemingly flying between them in the air.
However, the people of Infinite Boundless Mountain were very quickly defeated.
With Liu Shengfeng not there, no one could compete with Xie Ziyi.
Moreover, even if Liu Shengfeng were here, he most likely wouldn’t be Xie Ziyi’s match.
It was only Zhao Hao who held a cold and intractable gaze, not retreating in the slightest.
Shooting him a cold glance, Xie Ziyi didn’t say anything further, his gaze shifting away as he was clearly disdainful of competing for real with a mere inner aura Martial Scholar.
Behind him, a youth close to Zhao Hao’s age smiled coldly as he now stepped forward, “This Junior Brother of Infinite Boundless Mountain looks extremely unfamiliar; let us spar for a bit.”
The corners of his mouth revealing a mild, cold smile, Zhao Hao said nonchalantly, “That’s fine with me.”
Looking rather interestedly at this scene, Yan Zhaoge looked like he was smiling whilst also not.
The results were completely within Yan Zhaoge’s expectations, with Zhao Hao’s complete victory.
Zhao Hao’s performance also drew the attention of others, not just because Zhao Hao had displayed the cultivation base of a late inner aura Martial Scholar, but also because his victory had appeared extremely relaxed.
The gazes of Sikong Qing and Zhang Yao fell on Zhao Hao, whose age was similar to theirs.
“Half a year ago, seeing him in Infinite Boundless Mountain, he was still in the early inner aura stage,” Sikong Qing swivelled her head and asked Yan Zhaoge, “I heard that when we went to the Eastern Tang, he was only at the eighth or ninth level of the Body Refinement realm?”
As these words were said, Zhang Yao and the others by the side all jumped in shock, “Are you saying before the war of the Eastern Tang? In such a short time, his cultivation rose to this level?”
Yan Zhaoge replied like it was nothing, “Actually, a while before that, his cultivation base was even lower, perhaps not even having reached the fifth level of Body Refinement. In arriving at his current stage, he took around two years or maybe less to do so.”
Zhang Yao was rendered a little speechless while Li Jingwan knit her brows slightly, “Having a high cultivation speed is one thing; at the same cultivation level, his combat strength is very strong.”
Yan Zhaoge smiled but did not speak; all of these were within his predictions.
Because their various encounters and experiences differed, there would be the strong and the weak amongst those of the same cultivation level.
While Zhao Hao was an extremely proud person, his combat strength at the same cultivation level was indeed even stronger than Lin Zhou and Ye Jing.
The lower the threes’ cultivation bases, the more prominent Zhao Hao’s advantage would be, an advantage which would persist for a long time.
Even though Heavenly Thunder Hall suffered a loss at Zhao Hao’s hands, with his position, Xie Ziyi couldn’t personally make a move. Those similarly aged to Zhao Hao, after witnessing his strength and prowess, also lacked the confidence to do so.
With Lin Zhou and Yan Shan both not having come, there existed a small age gap amongst those Heavenly Thunder Hall direct disciples who had come this time, resulting in Infinite Boundless Mountain’s Ji Hanru also not having an opponent.
With the Heavenly Thunder Hall wanting to find back some face, the situation temporarily became extremely awkward.
Finally, it was still a female disciple of theirs known as Chen Lin who stepped forward, battling it out with Infinite Boundless Mountain’s Xiao Yu.
While Chen Lin was female, her personality was extremely brutal and her moves vicious as she was also rich in combat experience. While Xiao Yu was a natural born genius, he was someone who didn’t fight if words could do the trick. His experience being insufficient, he let Chen Lin gain the upper hand, allowing the Heavenly Thunder Hall to finally to get back some face at the very least.
While Ji Hanru and the others didn’t say anything, the gaze with which Zhao Hao looked at Xiao Yu was not at all friendly as it was filled with scorn.
On the other side, the showdown between Xu Fei and Tang Yonghao had already completely reached an impasse as both sides were locked deep in battle without a clear victor.
Although there was no enmity between them, with them even being appreciative of each other, both of them were currently going at it with full force, not holding anything back in the least.
The match between them instead became the one with the greatest smell of gunpowder in the air ever since the start of the Heavenly Connection Meet.
As they exchanged moves, there were several times where it seemed like both of them would come out from it with injuries, even to the point that the two sometimes looked dangerously close to simultaneously bringing each other down for good.
This was a battle between a dragon and a tiger where it was hard to determine the victor-while Broad Creed Mountain and the Sacred Sun Clan both hoped for their disciple to obtain victory in this match, if these two seedlings who both possessed shocking potential really fought it out to the point of both perishing together, it was a result that neither side would be happy to see.
Finally, this contest could only be ruled as a draw.
The battle between Xu and Tang having ended, most of the spectators could only retract their attentions before going off to find their own opponents. While having experienced this Xu-Tang battle was like having directly eaten a huge meal, with what remained being only the post-meal dessert, from here on out, the Heavenly Connection Meet finally really became bustling as it livened up.
While only the younger generation disciples participating in the Meet had ascended Hovering Island, the various bigwigs who had lead them to Clear Concealed Island were similarly focused on the progress of the Heavenly Connection Meet.
While their hearts also contained another matter, this didn’t keep them from observing the outstanding descendants of the various Sacred Grounds.
In every Heavenly Connection Meet, many geniuses and heroes would surface, coming out and shocking everyone.
However, Zhao Hao’s performance still drew many gazes.
“Fang Zhun, how is this old man’s disciple?” A black-bearded old man bragged proudly, “I told you, he is not any worse than your Broad Creed Mountain’s Yan Zhaoge!”
By the side, Infinite Boundless Mountain’s Elder Shan Shiweng appeared indifferent as some helplessness could be seen within his gaze.
He was the person in charge of bringing Infinite Boundless Mountain’s disciples here to Clear Concealed Lake this time, while this black-bearded old man, Elder Mo, recently having been moving in the vicinity of the Lake Domain, had run over to Clear Concealed Lake to join in the fun.
Upon coming here, this Elder who had a higher cultivation than him had showed the intent of usurping his position. Shan Shiweng could not really do anything about it.
Through whatever means earlier, Zhao Hao had somehow entered Elder Mo’s eye and been accepted as his personal disciple.
Although Zhao Hao had indeed displayed great strength as well as potential, this Elder Mo’s protection and navigation had been primary in allowing Zhao Hao to quickly get over the shadow of the matter of the Giant Spirit Magnetite vein.
Elder Mo shot a sidelong glance at Fang Zhun, “If you don’t believe me, you can ask your Broad Creed Mountain’s Yan Zhaoge to suppress his cultivation to the late inner aura stage and spar a bit with my disciple?”
Fang Zhun laughed mildly, “That will have to depend on Zhaoge’s own wishes.”
Receiving Fang Zhun’s sound transmission, Yan Zhaoge broke out into a smile as he was almost caught speechless, “His disciple’s cultivation is lower than mine and he blames me? Having a match is fine, but I am not the accompaniment to spar with his disciple for nothing. If this Elder really has the desire, will second apprentice-uncle ask for me if he would be happy to suppress his cultivation to the mid Xiantian Martial Scholar realm and have a spar with me?”
“If it is two matches, I do not mind to go and train a little.”
“Okay,” Fang Zhun answered slowly, “I’ll ask him.”
With that, an end was put to the matter.
Yan Zhaoge shrugged carelessly, then raised his head and looked up into the sky overhead.
That Elder surnamed Mo was one of the already known operatives of the Decimating Abyss Organisation, the highest of those planted in Infinite Boundless Mountain.