When the Lunar Palace’s judges saw this scene, they did not know what to say.
Could it be that these people could not even make the Azure Dragon King draw his saber?
Rage burned in the hearts of the Heavenly Starry Ocean’s cultivators, all of them feeling as sullen as they could be.
Xiao Chen’s performance embarrassed the many Heavenly Starry Ocean cultivators considerably. Rage blazed in their hearts, but they were powerless.
There were millions of people here, but no one dared to utter a single word. This was a very dismal scene.
In the arena, the top outstanding talent of the previous Four Seas Hero Gathering had just lost to Xiao Chen in a battle with spears, defeated in one move.
After losing in a battle with the weapon that was his forte, this particular outstanding talent could no longer contain his emotions. He shouted angrily, “You so-called Holy Scions, how long are you all going to hide like turtles?!”
This outstanding talent’s voice resounded throughout the vast and quiet Bright Moon Plaza, echoing many times and appearing very sorrowful.
Right then, all the rage and sullenness in everyone’s heart burst out after a moment of silence.
Everyone stood up at the same time and looked to the exquisite jade pavilions in the air. All of them could not hold back on shouting.
“Inherited Holy Lands, immortal for ten thousand years, if you do not go up now, when will you?!”
“Inherited Holy Lands, immortal for ten thousand years, if you do not go up now, when will you?!”
The ear-splitting outcry echoed throughout the plaza. This scene of several million people shouting at the same time had never happened before in any Four Seas Hero Gathering.
In the various jade pavilions, the Holy Scions of the Heavenly Province Academy, the Five Poison Sect, the Cyclic Astral Palace, and the Yinyang Paradise, as well as the Young Palace Lords of the Divine Dragon Palaces of the four seas all showed extremely unsightly expressions.
The words “Inherited Holy Lands, immortal for ten thousand years,” in particular, chagrined them.
Today, an outsider—the Azure Dragon King who was past his prime in their eyes—actually forced the millions of cultivators in Bright Moon Plaza to turn on them and pressure them.
As Xiao Chen stood on the arena, he entered deep thought. He had not expected such a scene before him, either.
However, this was fine. Since everyone had nothing to say, then he would remain high-profile to the end. He did not mind adding oil to the flames.
Xiao Chen said leisurely, “Inherited Holy Lands, immortal for ten thousand years, you are all Immortal Holy Lands. Today, this untalented Xiao is here to fight for the last mountain tablet of the Dragon’s Gate. Various Holy Scions, do you dare to come down and fight?!”
His voice was not loud. However, it carried to every corner, suppressing the cries of the millions.
Instantly, everyone in Bright Moon Plaza fell silent, leaving only Xiao Chen’s clear voice echoing everywhere.
Everyone was stunned at Xiao Chen’s words to the Holy Scions. Unexpectedly, he wanted to challenge all the Holy Scions alone. This was simply too arrogant.
With Xiao Chen mocking them directly, the various Holy Scions could no longer sit still. Anyone who had any courage at all would not be able to endure this, what more these extremely proud outstanding talents?
“Damn it, do you really think that there is no one in my Heavenly Starry Ocean that can challenge you? I, Young Master Qingshu, will challenge you!”
Young Master Qingshu flew out of the Heavenly Province Academy’s jade pavilion and landed gracefully on the arena. Then, he looked coldly at Xiao Chen.
Young Master Qingshu smiled coldly and said, “Azure Dragon King, you sure are arrogant. Do you dare to be even bolder? When you bullied the outstanding talents of the previous Four Seas Hero Gathering, you did not use your saber. Do you dare to continue doing that when you fight with me?”
After seeing Xiao Chen’s strength, Young Master Qingshu knew that he was not Xiao Chen’s match. So, he quickly came up with a clever idea and said this to agitate Xiao Chen.
Everyone immediately looked at Xiao Chen to see how he would reply. If Xiao Chen did not agree, then by Young Master Qingshu’s logic, he would become a person who only dared to bully the old outstanding talents.
“As you wish!”
Xiao Chen remained calm. With a flip of his hand, a white folding fan appeared in his palm.
In the palace where the Lunar Palace’s judges were, Yue Bingyun appeared somewhat distracted. Was this what Xiao Chen meant by making everyone unable to say a thing?
The world was rife with heroes. An endless stream of outstanding talents filled the four corners of the seas. There was never a lack.
However, the Azure Dragon King Xiao Chen only used one move and the weapon that his opponent excelled at to defeat them. With such style and elegance, if he could endure to the end, then indeed, no one could say anything; dispute would be impossible.
Even if the Lunar Palace’s judges wanted to make things difficult for Xiao Chen on purpose, they would have no choice but to let Xiao Chen take away the Dragon’s Gate’s mountain tablet without any protest.
However, could Xiao Chen really do it?
Earlier, he defeated the various old outstanding talents in one move. Now, he challenged all the Holy Scions alone; that was truly arrogant.
The cultivators in Bright Moon Plaza were all shocked. Unexpectedly, Xiao Chen dared to not draw his saber when fighting the Holy Scions of the Immortal Holy Lands despite it being the weapon that he was best at.
With such style and elegance, even if no one said it, they all had to submit in their hearts. At the very least, in the younger generation, no one else would dare to do what Xiao Chen did. In all the Four Seas Hero Gatherings of the past ten thousand years, no one else had been daring enough to do that.
Unprecedented and unrepeatable!
Young Master Qingshu smiled and said, “You are really boundlessly arrogant. To think that you dare to dabble with the folding fan before me, Young Master Qingshu! In that case, let’s decide this with one move. Do you dare to accept?!”
Previously, Xiao Chen defeated Young Master Qingshu with the unpredictable fist, claw, and palm. So, Young Master Qingshu did not dare to drag things out. As long as Xiao Chen dared to agree to decide the victory in one move and not use his saber, he believed that he could make Xiao Chen suffer an unsightly defeat.
Before Xiao Chen could say anything, Qi Wuxue, who was on a small arena below mocked, “A bona fide Holy Scion, and yet you have so many requests. Do you think that you are a small kid playing house? Why don’t you just ask Xiao Chen to stand still and not attack, let you just attack him?!”
The moment Qi Wuxue said that, no one could rebut. Young Master Qingshu’s requests were indeed somewhat shameless. Even the people who wanted to speak up for him were too embarrassed to say anything.
Young Master Qingshu’s expression did not change. He continued smiling coldly. The winner wrote history. As long as he defeated Xiao Chen, all this would vanish like smoke.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly and said, “Determining victory in one move, that suits me. Make your move.”
Upon Xiao Chen’s agreement, Young Master Qingshu rejoiced in his heart. He laughed loudly and said, “You are the Azure Dragon King indeed. Such boldness is admirable. However, there is no such thing as medicine for regret. I, Young Master Qingshu, will end your short-lived legend.
“Today, I will show you that not just anyone can use the folding fan!”
“Whoosh!”
Young Master Qingshu pushed off the floor and turned into an azure beam of light, charging straight at Xiao Chen.
Everywhere Young Master Qingshu passed, lush green bamboo sprouted, standing strong and tall while firmly planted in the ground.
Soon, the entire arena was filled with bamboo, so many that bamboo was all one saw. A strong and surging wood-attributed Spiritual Energy surfaced; it was so dense that it felt viscous.
Together with the Righteous Qi that Young Master Qingshu cultivated, his aura soared without restraint until it reached an incredible level, rivaling that of a Great Perfection quasi-Emperor.
“Soaring in the white clouds above the mountains, the holy one rides the wind while lushness follows below!”
A poem came from the lips of Young Master Qingshu. As a Confucian scholar, he was filled with Righteous Qi. The moment he uttered the verse, his aura changed entirely, merging with the noble bamboo.
Xiao Chen’s eyes lit up. This was different. Using a poem to temporarily change one’s aura, to allow one’s aura to fuse completely with a Martial Technique and mysterious phenomenon, amplified the might of the move so that it reached perfection.
However, no matter what, this aura was a sham. After all, there was no truth behind it; it was just a facade.
If Young Master Qingshu were truly noble like the lush green bamboo, it would be hard to say if Xiao Chen could defeat him with the folding fan.
As for now, Xiao Chen intended to watch Young Master Qingshu put on this show before dealing a critical strike. Amid the stands of green bamboo, he appeared at ease as he fanned himself with the folding fan in his hand.
“In one’s life, one must be confident when going through difficult tribulations.
“One must be open-minded and have strong integrity, so when one goes through wind and rain, one will not feel the cold.”
The profound and mighty poem echoed through the place, spreading out. Every cultivator in Bright Moon Plaza clearly felt a vast Righteous Qi.
Young Master Qingshu’s body flickered endlessly in the air. With each flash, there would be a line of the poem.
While in the air, Young Master Qingshu used the world as his ink and the folding fan in his hand as a brush. He wrote these verses in the air, forming a vast, eternal will.
With the bamboo-filled ground and the poem in the air, the entire arena seemed to turn into an ink painting filled with spirituality.
As for the person holding the brush, Young Master Qingshu looked ethereal. He became one with the world, making it difficult to distinguish where he would appear next.
One could only watch as he wrote the poem in the air, letting his Martial Technique slowly strengthen and become perfect.
“Peach blossoms fall outside the bamboo grove; when will the water of spring turn warm?!”
Peach blossoms fell outside where the bamboo was, adding some color to this elegant painting.
All the spectators were astounded. Although Young Master Qingshu’s methods were somewhat despicable, his Martial Technique was shocking, nearly unbreakable.
Indeed, when it came to the folding fan, no one could surpass him. No wonder Young Master Qingshu was so confident, declaring that Xiao Chen would lose before even fighting.
“Another red sun rises again; my heart will always remain with heaven!”
A dazzling morning sun soared out of Young Master Qingshu’s chest, allowing his aura to rival that of a peak Great Perfection quasi-Emperor. This aura was already sufficient to squash people to death. Then, he used this red sun to smash down on Xiao Chen.
From every direction, the eye-catching arena looked like a painting filled with bamboo, a poem, a river, and peach flowers. As for Xiao Chen, he looked like a caged beast trapped in the painting.
Many felt very happy. This is the result of being arrogant. We let you be arrogant first. Now that you are trapped, you can’t even cry.
“Inherited Holy Lands, immortal for ten thousand years, the Holy Son appears, and the Azure Dragon is defeated!”
Perhaps because the crowd felt repressed for too long, when they saw that Young Master Qingshu held such a great advantage, someone took the lead in shouting, inciting the entire plaza to follow. This cheer sent Young Master Qingshu’s reputation soaring at this moment.
In a small arena below, Qi Wuxue scolded, “This group of people is too shameless. Xiao Chen is also too stupid. Why did he agree? He should just beat that fellow up!”
The ten judges of the Lunar Palace exchanged glances. They had their answer.
Yue Bingyun understood. If Xiao Chen lost this, no matter how strong, outstanding, or elegant he was, the judges would not award the Dragon’s Gate’s mountain tablet to him.
“A bright full moon lights up the realm, the bridge crosses the river, and snow fills the sky. Who knows my heart like the moon? Whoever is the one laughing is the one trapped in the painting!”