HSSB328: The one who went turncoat
Yan Zhaoge looked calmly at the ongoing Extreme Yin Bout before him.
For the past few Bouts, he had watched the recordings brought back by the senior members of his clan. Now, watching it up close and comparing it with what he had seen, he had the most straight on and accurate evaluation regarding the prowess of the respective Maidens of Extreme Yin here.
Beside him, Ah Hu said curiously, Young Master, it looks like Meng Wan towers above them all ah.”
Yan Zhaoge said casually, “The evaluation of the strength of Maidens of Extreme Yin does not lie in a single area.”
“Generally speaking, the level of a Maiden of Extreme Yin’s cultivation base, the strength of their Extreme Yin Power, as well as the strength of the supreme Extreme Yin Art they have comprehended together decide the ability of the Maiden of Extreme Yin to unleash the power of the Extreme Yin Crown. In actual combat, this still involves combat prowess. Therefore, on the whole, there can be said to be four decisive factors.”
Yan Zhaoge looked at Meng Wan, seeing the phoenix above her head spread its wings, its aura soaring to the heavens.
What caused him to take more note of it was the fact that the silhouette phoenix was half black, half white.
This meant that the Sacred Sun Clan and Meng Wan had already seen tangible progress in analysing yin-yang coexistence to raise her strength a step further, as opposed to in the fourth Extreme Yin Bout the previous year when she had just stepped through the doorway, her foundation unstable, her strength instead regressing.
Having regressed a step back then had been for progressing three steps now-Meng Wan perfectly demonstrated this point.
It was because of this that her strength had skyrocketed, currently presiding over all the others.
“Meng Wan leads in all these areas, fully living up to the reputation of the current strongest Maiden of Extreme Yin,” Yan Zhaoge sighed emotionally.
In terms of cultivation base, originally already being a genius, also having received the full support of the Sacred Sun Clan, along with the two years she had held the Extreme Yin Crown being beneficial to her daily cultivation, at a young age, Meng Wan had already stepped into the early Xiantian stage, the highest of all the Maidens of Extreme Yin here.
In terms of the strength of her Extreme Yin Power, Meng Wan still presided over them all, her talent itself already great, with it also having been improved further by the yin-yang coexisting technique.
In terms of the strength of her supreme Extreme Yin Arts, from the experience of past years, Meng Wan also stood at the peak.
In terms of combat experience, while Meng Wan could not be said to have experienced a hundred battles, her combat experience was still extremely abundant.
That year, she had only lost the second Extreme Yin Bout because she had forcibly clashed against a Fire Devil King in the East Sea as she wielded the Extreme Yin Crown.
While Meng Wan had been injured, a Martial Scholar being able to survive in a great battle with an opponent of the Martial Saint realm, she had undoubtedly benefited greatly from it.
Feng Yunsheng had once said that as long no problem cropped up with Meng Wan, with her participating in the Extreme Yin Bout, the Extreme Yin Crown would definitely go to her.
These words had been said from the bottom of her heart, and definitely not casually.
Looking at everyone participating in the first round of competition here, Yan Zhaoge said neither hurriedly not slowly, “Infinite Boundless Mountain’s Ling Hui is the weakest, being the exact opposite from Meng Wan, rather ordinary and mediocre in all the areas. While this may be a little rude, unless a heaven-shaking, earth-overturning change happens to her, participating in this annually, this Junior Sister Ling can only be an accompaniment.”
“The Heavenly Thunder Hall’s Nian Lei…other things aside, from the time of the fourth Extreme Yin Bout till now, her Extreme Yin power has been increasing. While limited, it has indeed been increasing.”
Yan Zhaoge glanced at the great silhouetted drum above Nian Lei’s head, seeing that it was also vaguely coloured half black and half white.
However, it was not clear, being somewhat blurry and indistinct.
Yan Zhaoge nodded slightly, “The Heavenly Thunder Hall is indeed also attempting to develop a yin-yang coexisting technique to boost the strength of its Maiden of Extreme Yin. However, it is fully based upon their own research, and has only just begun. It still has a long way to go.”
Things like creating new techniques were always the most difficult at the start. Having gone on the right track, there would be rapid development, till a certain level was reached and a bottleneck was encountered whereupon one would slow down once more and prepare for that next breakthrough.
Hearing his words, Ah Hu curiously appraised the Maidens of Extreme Yin.
Yan Zhaoge looked to the other side, “Jade Sea City’s Chen Suting’s greatest advantage lies in her cultivation base. Other than that, the supreme Extreme Yin Arts Jade Sea City specifically created for her is also rather unordinary.”
Chen Suting was the oldest of all the competitors here, having spent the longest time cultivating, also having held the Extreme Yin Crown for a year.
Currently, she was the only one whose cultivation base was comparably to Meng Wan’s, also having broken through into the early Xiantian stage.
The supreme Extreme Yin Arts had to be comprehended by a Maiden of Extreme Yin herself, but with the assistance of seniors of the clan, they would also become more familiar with it.
On the six great Sacred Grounds, the martial arts of Jade Sea City and Turbid Wave Pavilion were originally also proficient in flexible, supple power.
In the first Extreme Yin Bout, Chen Suting had been Meng Wan’s greatest competitor. At that time, Meng Wan had still been young, only managing to barely secure victory.
In the second Extreme Yin Bout, Meng Wan had been injured, and Chen Suting had eventually obtained victory, winning the Extreme Yin Crown back for Jade Sea City.
In the war of the Eastern Tang, it had been Chen Suting who had brought the Extreme Yin Crown alongside Jade Sea City’s longtime Elders east to the Earth Domain, cooperating with Broad Creed Mountain to ambush the Sacred Sun Clan’s Great Sun Heaven Measuring Ruler.
Sadly, in the third Extreme Yin Bout, the recovered Meng Wan had performed a returned monarch reclaiming her throne.
In the fourth Extreme Yin Bout, Meng Wan had strategically chosen to give up, and it had been Turbid Wave Pavilion’s Fan Qiu rising up from nowhere to claim the victory.
However, even so, in the fifth Extreme Yin Bout, Chen Suting still possessed considerable fighting power.
As for Turbid Wave Pavilion’s Fan Qiu, as Yan Zhaoge saw it, she was also rather unordinary, seeming sort of like a slightly miniaturised Meng Wan.
She was extremely outstanding in all the areas, and it was especially worth mentioning that her Extreme Yin Power was extremely strong.
This rabbit-teethed girl might even be the most intrinsically talented Maiden of Extreme Yin of them all.
If Meng Wan had not undergone strengthening through the yin-yang coexisting technique, she might not even be able to beat Fan Qiu based on her intrinsic talents.
Also, Fan Qiu who hailed from Turbid Wave Pavilion had comprehended extremely remarkable supreme Extreme Yin Arts.
Seeing that small umbrella above Fan Qiu’s head, Yan Zhaoge nodded to himself in secret.
Other than these old opponents…
Yan Zhaoge’s gaze landed on another person, also someone participating in an Extreme Yin Bout for the first time.
From the Sacred Sun Clan, Yun Xiuqing.
While being from the same clan, Yun Xiuqing was greatly different from Meng Wan.
Currently, above her head was instead the image of a mountain peak.
It was a snowy mountain, yet flames and lava were constantly spurted out from its peak.
Yan Zhaoge stroked his lower chin, “Meng Wan began switching to cultivate in the yin-yang coexisting technique halfway, and this girl is obviously no exception. Her Extreme Yin power is rather exceptional.”
“Her comprehension is outstanding, and her supreme Extreme Yin Arts are also remarkable, just that she is still slightly inexperienced in them. Her cultivation base is comparatively lower, but her overall power is still extremely strong.”
Ah Hu blinked. Such an evaluation from Yan Zhaoge could be considered extremely rare.
Observing carefully, Ah Hu indeed saw some of what he said. Looking around, he saw that the faces of the leading Elder of both Infinite Boundless Mountain and the Heavenly Thunder Hall were rather ugly.
This rookie, Yun Xiuqing, was shockingly even stronger than Ling Hui and Nian Lei who had already participated in four Extreme Yin Bouts!
The expressions of those from Jade Sea City and Turbid Wave Pavilion were similarly solemn, because Yun Xiuqing clearly already possessed the power to threaten Chen Suting and Fan Qiu.
The Sacred Sun Clan’s Elder who had led their group, the Sunset Lord, was expressionless.
Some of the Sacred Sun Clan martial practitioners accompanying him here began to smile coldly, their gazes sweeping past Yan Zhaoge and Elder Mo before finally landing on Feng Yunsheng, “Four spots; Chen Suting and Fan Qiu may get them, but you traitorous disciple-hurry up and scurry back to Broad Creed Mountain already!”