AGM 0121 – A smile melting away hatred and grievances

“Qin Wentian.” Lin Yue’s face kept fluctuating, her countenance unsightly. How had this happened?

Based on Luo Kaiyang’s battle ability, he originally should’ve been able to get very far. She had hoped that Luo Kaiyang would encounter Qin Wentian and the other monsters as late as possible. Yet this was only the second round, and Luo Kaiyang would have to face against Qin Wentian.

“It’s Lin Yue.” Qin Yao looked at Luo Kaiyang, who was standing next to Lin Yue. Qin Wentian’s gaze also s.h.i.+fted over as a strange expression was displayed on his face.

A year ago when he’d still been in Sky Harmony City, he’d had some minor conflicts with Lin Yue.

“Kaiyang, you have to be more careful.” Lin Yue reminded. She also hadn’t imagined that she and Qin Wentian would meet after a year’s time, moreover, in this kind of situation.

The people all proceeded to their respective platforms. Qin Wentian and Luo Kaiyang also went to the 9th platform.

Luo Kaiyang’s expression was filled with concentration as he looked at Qin Wentian, releasing both of his Astral Souls with no hesitation.

His first Astral Soul was actually a suit of armor, as a layer of Astral Light coated his body.

Luo Kaiyang’s first Astral Soul was actually a defensive-type Astral Soul, which would enable his body’s defensive abilities to become extremely formidable. It could even reduce vibrations from the any impacts.

The second Astral Soul was a bit brighter, and was a large Axe. It was a powerful attack-type Astral Soul.

Luo Kaiyang had clearly chosen his Astral Souls after much consideration. The large Axe was for attack and the armor was for defense, resulting in attack and defense combined as one; it was extremely balanced.

“Please, go ahead.” Luo Kaiyang was rather poised. With the Astral Axe in his hand, he gestured at Qin Wentian to go.

“Please&h.e.l.lip;” Qin Wentian returned the gesture, and an Astral Greathammer appeared in his hand.

Luo Kaiyang was an expert in attack and defense. Since that was the case, Qin Wentian would use all out attacking as defense. After all, his Astral Soul clearly possessed an advantage over Luo Kaiyang’s, it was just that his cultivation base was slightly weaker.

However, today, the crowd seemed to have already forgotten the truth of Qin Wentian’s cultivation base. They completely treated him as if he was in the 9th level of Arterial Circulation.

All because he’d defeated Jiang Xiu, one of the ten prodigies.

In this battle, Qin Wentian had won because of the advantages he had in his movement technique, as well as his innate ability to make judgments in battles. Furthermore, there was still that last, well-timed sword strike earlier. It was unknown exactly what Qin Wentian’s true level of strength was.

Hence, a lot of the people were focused on this battle. Would Qin Wentian continue to obtain victory and and solidify his position in the hearts of the crowd?

Luo Kaiyang erupted into motion. Although he didn’t have an agility type Astral Soul, his speed could still be considered as extremely fast.

But no matter how fast he was, his speed still couldn’t be compared to that of Qin Wentian’s Garuda Movement Technique. Abruptly, a hammer filled with incomparable tyrannical force explosively blasted downwards with a boom.

The Divine Energy within his body erupted., This source of energy was the Astral Energy originating from the 5th Heavenly Layer that was condensed into Divine Energy. Incorporating the divine energy within his attack, the hammer smashed down as it reverberated with a low boom.

Luo Kaiyang wasn’t to be outdone. He wildly hacked down with his Axe,  executing the beginning stance of the Nine Stance of Mountain Breaker with boundless might.

“Bang!” When the two frightening forces collided with each other, the Astral Energies that gushed out transformed into a savage storm. As their gazes locked onto each other, Luo Kaiyang only felt a ray of light shooting out from Qin Wentian’s eyes. And at that exact instant, he was. .h.i.t by sleepiness and entered into a trance-like dream state. In that dream, it was as though Qin Wentian was an ancient giant, equipped with inexhaustible strength.

“What’s going on?” Luo Kaiyang felt a will invading his consciousness as he saw Qin Wentian’s great hammer smas.h.i.+ng down again. His Nine Stances of Mountain Breaker was in disarray and he could only lift his Axe to resist.

“Bang, bang, bang&h.e.l.lip;” The frenzy of attacks wildly burst out and pounded downwards, making the entire crowd of spectators freeze. How had this battle suddenly become so filled with explosive violence?

At the moment, Qin Wentian’s attacks were filled with incredible violence as he advanced, his attack speed so fast to the point where everyone was stunned. Luo Kaiyang had lost his momentum and had no way to redeem it. Be it in terms of attack or movement speed, he was far inferior to Qin Wentian. Not only that, Luo Kaiyang’s strength was insufficient to turn the tables in an instant, and he currently had sunken into an extremely awkward position.

Upon witnessing this, the countenance of Lin Yue turned pale as she shouted, “Kaiyang, admit defeat.”

Luo Kaiyang gritted his teeth, unwillingness apparent in his heart.. But that instant, the mountain-like greathammer came cras.h.i.+ng down, and the Astral Great Axe in his hand dispersed upon meeting that attack.

Luo Kaiyang’s complexion turned deathly pale. As he watched the greathammer cras.h.i.+ng down towards him, his mind went blank. Despite his body’s powerful defense, the greathammer’s descent was enough to smash his head into pieces.

“No&h.e.l.lip;” Lin Yue’s complexion was just as pale. Her eyes instantly began to redden, not daring to imagine what would happen next.

The powerful greathammer continued to descend, but then, just when it was about to collide with Luo Kaiyang’s head, it suddenly transformed into radiant starlight that filled the sky, before completely dissipating without a trace.

Time seemed to have stopped in that instant. Beads of sweat were dripping down from Luo Kaiyang’s forehead.

His gaze was fixated on Qin Wentian, only to see a sunny smile on the countenance of his opponent. In Luo Kaiyang’s heart, he slowly came to accept the fact that he wasn’t a match for Qin Wentian.

Luo Kaiyang slightly bowed to Qin Wentain as he gazed at him, “I can’t be compared to you. I believe that your name will definitely be on the top nine rankings in the Jun Lin Banquet.”                                                                                                                                                                                              

 “Thank you.” Qin Wentian nodded with a smile, as Luo Kaiyang walked off the platform. The victor of this battle was Qin Wentian.

Qin Wentian watched Luo Kaiyang depart with an expression as tranquil as water. Unconsciously, he looked over in Lin Yue’s direction.

Currently, Lin Yue’s heart was palpitating wildly. When she saw the smiling youth, she suddenly felt ashamed of her own inferiority. Underneath the platform, with a great distance separating both of them, she rose from her seat and bowed towards Qin Wentian. “I’m sorry for the matters in the past.”

Qin Wentian smiled lightly as he nodded. That smile melted away any previous feelings of hatred and grievances. Although the words of Lin Yue previously were unpleasant to the ear, Qin Wentian understood that she’d said that because of a moment of youthful willfullness. It wasn’t really worth nursing the grudge.

“It looks like this girl has had conflicts with Qin Wentian before.” The people watching silently speculated at the sight.

“Using a smile to melt away feelings of hatred and grievances, not bad.” Mustang nodded with a grin from the area designated to the Emperor Star Academy. He was becoming more and more satisfied with this student of his.

Qin Wentian exited the platform. At this moment, the crowd had already considered him as someone with the power to vie for the top nine rankings of this Jun Lin Banquet.

Luo Kaiyang’s strength could actually be considered as above average. But when faced against Qin Wentian, he had absolutely no way of fighting back. Moreover, just as before, no one was able to see through Qin Wentian’s actual strength.

In the two battles he’d fought, the spectators had only seen his martial prowess. It was as though Qin Wentian was naturally born with the ability to grasp the rhythm of the battle situation perfectly.

Although those two earlier battles had appeared to be rather simple, it had only been because Qin Wentian was a heaven-defying genius.

As for the following battles, they were just as fascinating. Occasionally, there would be fierce collisions, but Qin Wentian didn’t meet any opponent that was particularly powerful. With only the Astral Greathammer in his hand and his incredible movement technique, he firmly suppressed all his opponents.

Time flowed slowly. The battles at the nine towering platform gradually turned increasingly ferocious. The referees for each platform seemed to be purposely scheduling the fiercest battles at the end. The 18 people that obtained the highest level of recognition earlier were also put into challenging situations, but other than Jiang Xiu, none of the other 17 were eliminated,. However,  it wasn’t that easy for them to obtain victory.

Only Liu Qianqiu, Sikong Mingyue, the 2nd Sword, the 3rd Night, defeated their opponents with absurd ease.

The winter sun s.h.i.+fted from the east to the west, its warmth enshrouding the ground. At this moment, the battles on three platforms had already concluded. There were only a few other contestants left for the various remaining platforms. Not only that, to hasten the process, the judges made the remaining contestants of each respective platform to enter together.

The Jun Lin Banquest’s first round of combat was going to end soon.

“The 8th platform, 6th Night, Luo Huan, Ye Zhi, Yu Fei, come up together.” Just then, the judge on the 8th platform instructed.

The 6th Night and Ye Zhi, who was ranked seventh among the ten prodigies, were the two of the original 18 that had obtained the highest recognition. Heaven’s Wonder had also a.s.signed betting rates for Luo Huan and Yu Fei, however, the odds of them entering the top nine didn’t seem that high.

Follow which, if nothing unexpected happened, the 6th Night and Ye Zhi would most probably deal with Luo Huan and Yu Fei respectively.

Moreover, it was somewhat regretful that Luo Huan and Yu Fei were both from the Emperor Star Academy..

“On the 9th platform, 7th Night, Qin Wentian, Luo Cheng, come on up.”

The judge on the 9th platform slowly declared. Currently, the 9th platform only had three contestants remaining. Before this round, there had been a total of six contestants and thus, after defeating their respective opponents, the remaining three contestants ended up in this situation.

Following this, between the 7th Night, Qin Wentian, and Luo Cheng, one of them would have to be eliminated.

“Although the Seventh Night is a female, her martial prowess is extremely formidable, and she will most likely be able to advance. Luo Cheng’s sabre techniques are extremely sharp and fierce, his strength should not be below that of Jiang Xiu. He should have a 30% chance of winning if he fights against Qin Wentian.”

Involuntarily, many people silently speculated that Qin Wentian had a high chance of advancing, but if he wanted to deal with the seemingly crazed Luo Cheng, it wasn’t going to be so easy either.

The battles that occurred each time was closely watched by the crowd. Naturally, they had seen Luo Cheng’s level of martial prowess as well.

“The 8th platform, 6th Night versus Yu Fei, Ye Zhi versus Luo Huan. The platform is large enough to hold two battles simultaneously.” The judge on the 8th platform stated, causing a sharp glow to flicker in the eyes of the crowd. To think that they would witness two very interesting showdowns at the same time.

Indeed, it was as they had expected; the 6th Night and Yu Fei were going to have a showdown between males, while the two beauties, Ye Zhi and Luo Huan, would be fighting each other. This was a highly antic.i.p.ated fight.

“The 9th platform, all three of you fight together at the same time. Whoever leaves the platform first is eliminated.” A voice abruptly rang out. Expressions of interest were displayed on the faces of the spectators. Was this judge for real? He actually wanted Qin Wentian, Luo Cheng and 7th Night to engage in a battle royale!

What if, among them, two of the contestants decided to work together and eliminate the 3rd party? Would that even be allowed?

This judge was interesting indeed!

Maybe, he just didn’t like the idea of someone advancing without fighting, and thus, he had thought of such an idea!