Chapter 411 - 150: Astonishing Skill
At the edge of the crowd not far away, Su Qingyue stood frozen, her eyes wide as saucers. She stared fixedly at Yang Jing, who had just stepped off the Cyan Qilin Platform, her gaze filled with shock and utter disbelief.
Liu Rou instantly guessed what Su Qingyue was feeling.
Although news of Yang Jing’s promotion to the Inner Sect and his brilliant performance at the Dragon Gate trials had spread like wildfire, Su Qingyue hadn’t witnessed it herself at the time.
Now, having seen him defeat the rather famous Zhang Han of Fen Yang Peak so cleanly on the Cyan Qilin Platform with her own eyes, the shock and impact she felt were immense.
But at this moment, Su Qingyue was far from the only one deeply shaken by the match.
Elsewhere in the crowd, Zhao Hongxiang and Cai He Kang also stared blankly at Yang Jing’s retreating figure, their mouths hanging slightly open, unable to close them for a long while.
The sight of Yang Jing so easily defeating Zhang Han on the Cyan Qilin Platform just now had been too great a shock for them.
In their minds, Yang Jing had always been a quiet, withdrawn loner who only knew how to bury his head in his training.
Even after learning he had passed the Dragon Gate trials and been promoted to the Inner Sect, their impression of him was still stuck on the image of that tongue-tied martial arts fanatic.
But seeing him in person today, they realized just how ridiculously wrong they had been.
Seeing the decisiveness and ferocity in his strikes, the tyrannical power of his fists, and his incredibly precise grasp of timing—every move crisp and clean, without a single wasted motion—they were both shaken to the core, a chill running down their spines.
Zhao Hongxiang took a deep breath, thinking to himself.
’I’d better stay as far away from this guy as possible from now on. I can’t afford to provoke him.’
’He’s not just some martial arts fanatic. When he fights, he’s terrifyingly ruthless. I really misjudged him before!’
Meanwhile, Yang Jing had already stepped off the Cyan Qilin Platform and returned to the ranks of the Lingxi Peak disciples.
Zhang Hengyi and Chen Xuexiang, who had also advanced to the top eighteen, were watching him with complicated expressions.
Before, they had known very little about Yang Jing’s strength, and had even harbored a hint of the disdain that veteran disciples often feel for newcomers.
But the strength Yang Jing had displayed in his fight against Zhang Han just now had truly astonished them.
They both knew in their hearts that Zhang Han had clearly hidden a good deal of his strength during the initial strength assessment; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been ranked only twentieth.
On the Cyan Qilin Platform, Zhang Han’s performance had been nearly on par with their own, yet he was still defeated cleanly by Yang Jing.
This alone was a clear testament to Yang Jing’s true power.
As soon as Yang Jing approached, Steward Zheng clapped him on the shoulder with a smile, his tone full of praise. "Well done, well done! A very disciplined fight!"
Zhang Hengyi and Chen Xuexiang also hurried forward, cupping their fists to greet Yang Jing. Their expressions were much more solemn, and their words carried a newfound respect. The disdain they had felt before was completely gone, without a trace.
...
The matches on the Cyan Qilin Platform did not stop.
After Yang Jing’s match concluded, it was time for the final bout: the eighteenth-ranked Xu Jie of the Main Peak versus the nineteenth-ranked Huang Yaohong of Celestial Derivation Peak.
The fight was a tense stalemate. The two were evenly matched, trading over a hundred blows before Xu Jie of the Main Peak finally gained the upper hand, securing a narrow victory.
With the conclusion of this match, all eighteen bouts of the first round were finished, and the list of the top eighteen was finalized.
However, according to the rules of the Cyan Qilin Battle, these top eighteen now had to be re-ranked based on their actual combat performance.
For a moment, a hush fell over the area around the Cyan Qilin Platform. The gazes of all the competing and spectating disciples turned in unison toward the judges’ area, waiting with bated breath for the Main Peak Elders to announce the final rankings for the top eighteen.