"Outer sect top 10 disciple… Damn."
Guan Peng was around in the audience stands too.
During the time in Yunwu City, he abhorred Li Fuchen and looked down upon at him.
Even though he was defeated by him during the genius contest. He still looked down upon at Li Fuchen, thinking that his normal bone frame body couldn't achieve much.
Now that Li Fuchen became a top 10 disciple of the outer sect, Guan Peng felt conflicted.
He didn't know if he still had the confidence to look at Li Fuchen in disdain.
'Hmph, I shall temporary not bother these minute details with you. Wait till I break through the Origin Realm and catch up to you.' Guan Peng thought while clenching his fist tightly.
In the front row of the audience stands, Guan Hong and Guan Yan were seated together.
Over a year had passed since the genius contest, Guan Hong has attained the second level of the Origin Realm and Guan Yan the third level.
Being able to progress in one level within the period of a year and few months, also meant that they belonged to the average disciples group within the inner sect.
"A mere Li Clan's clansmen could actually be an outer sect top 10 disciple. Unforgivable!" Guan Hong frowed and appeared extremely unsatisfied.
Guan Yan snorted, "This is just glory of the moment. With his bone frame, he wouldn't be able to progress to the Origin Realm before the age of 18."
As the quality of the bone frame decreases, the time stuck at the ninth level of the Qi Realm would increase. This was just the first obstacle, when at the ninth level of the Origin Realm, it wouldn't be surprising to get stuck for 10 or 20 years.
***
With the top 10 having emerged, now was the time to determine the top 5.
The matches were still arranged with the drawing of lots. This time Li Fuchen drew lot number 4.
Lot number 1, Yu Wen Tian against Gao Changtian.
No matter how hardworking Gao Changtian was, his gap between Yu Wen Tian was too drastic. He was weaker in all aspects, be it physical strength, cultivation, technique, or sword skill.
Two sword moves resulted in the defeat of Gao Changtian.
"Yu Wen Tian is too good." Many of the spectators spoke out softly.
Lot number 2, Zhao Mingyue won.
Lot number 3, Shang Guan Hong versus Guan Xue.
Shang Guan Hong was already 17 years old and had cultivated two more years than Guan Xue. Just based on these 2 years of additional cultivation, it was enough for him to defeat Guan Xue without any hiccups.
Lot number 4, Li Fuchen too defeated his opposition with ease.
……
With the 5 matches ending, the top 5 disciples were determined.
They were: Yu Wen Tian, Zhao Mingyue, Shang Guan Hong, Li Fuchen, and Cao Yun who was also one of the 10 Prodigies.
Only two pairs were going to fight.
The first match was Yu Wen Tian against Cao Yun.
The second match was Li Fuchen against Zhao Mingyue.
Shang Guan Hong got to skip this round.
The first match had no suspense at all, Yu Wen Tian easily won.
The second match was an exciting match right off the bat when Li Fuchen and Zhao Mingyue came onto the stage.
Zhao Mingyue was better than what the audience thought she would be. With a single exchange, Li Fuchen understood how fearsome Zhao Mingyue's foundation work was.
This ability didn't originate from the physical strength but from inner qi.
"Eighth rank of the Bright Jade Mystic Technique?"
It was the only possibility that Li Fuchen could think of.
Bright Jade Mystic Technique was the advancement technique of the Elder Jade Technique, and at the seventh rank it was equivalent to the ninth rank Elder Jade Technique. It was obvious how fearsome the eight rank of the Bright Jade Mystic Technique would be.
Li Fuchen wouldn't have known that the reason why Zhao Mingyue could attain eighth rank of Bright Jade Mystic Technique was because she consumed a Bright Jade technique pill. She who was the granddaughter of the inner sect grand elder could still afford this kind of luxury.
Facing against Li Fuchen, Zhao Mingyue was even more surprised. She had already used her full power but couldn't deal with Li Fuchen at all. She was instead forced to go into defense by her opponent.
"Careful now."
Li Fuchen suppressed his own physical strength to match his opponent's and relied purely on sword arts cultivation to oppress his opponent.
"Li Fuchen, you may be strong. But this is not enough."
Zhao Mingyue's sword presence continued to increase, cloaking the wooden sword with qi. There was slight consistent change in the colour of the qi, and under the sunlight, it emitted rays of sunset-like view stretching across the sky.
Low-tier, mystic class sword art - Sunset Sword Style.
Focusing his eyes, Li Fuchen saw in his eyes, the rays of the Sunset Sword Style.
"Li Fuchen, against the Sunset Sword Style, you will never win. Admit defeat!"
With the execution of the Sunset Sword Style, not only did Zhao Mingyue turn the odds around, but it was also her first chance of oppressing Li Fuchen.
"It's the low-tier, mystic class, Sunset Sword Style. How did Mingyue shimei cultivate it? Qi Realm practitioners shouldn't be able to activate low-tier, mystic class sword arts."
"It is true that Qi Realm martial artists wouldn't be able to wield low-tier, mystic class sword arts. But Mingyue shimei is different."
"How different is she?"
"Mingyue shimei has already attained the eighth rank of the Bright Jade Mystic Technique. Her qi is already much higher than an ordinary Qi Realm martial artists at the ninth level. To a certain degree, her qi can be considered to be same as first level, Origin Realm practitioners."
"That does sounds logical with the way you put it."
"The last tournament's Dominion Sword shixiong and the three shixiong from the tournament before, Sword Maniac, Tiger Sword, and Emotionless Sword, all cultivated low-tier, mystic class sword arts when they were still at the Qi Realm. You had doubts because you didn't hear this news before."
The inner sect disciples seated in the front rows started gossiping in soft voices.
Outside of the stage, Yu Wen Tian saw Zhao Mingyue's display of the Sunset Sword Style. He wasn't overly surprised and just gave a light laugh.
Yu Wen Tian mocked, "So this is a low-tier, mystic class sword art? Doesn't seem to be much."
Li Fuchen changed his sword stances and displayed his peak-tier, yellow class, Scarlet Fire Sword Style for the first time.
Blaze!
It was as though a firestorm during the eruption of the volcano.
Li Fuchen's sword presence displayed a never seen before kind of domineering heat.
If Zhao Mingyue's Sunset Sword Style were rays of sunset shine, then Li Fuchen's Scarlet Fire Sword Style were waves of crushing fire, incinerating everything in its path.
Zhao Mingyue was petrified when facing Li Fuchen's Scarlet Fire Sword Style. It was as though her Sunset Sword Style turned into the winter's snow while trying to go against the burning sun, slowing melting with no way of fighting back.
"Impossible, is the Scarlet Fire Sword Style just a peak-tier, yellow class sword art?"
Zhao Mingyue was biting on her lips.
"This child has a frightening perception. He actually achieved the trance stage of the Scarlet Fire Sword Style. He obviously has the makings of the second coming of Sword Maniac."
On the main podium, an inner sect elder gasped.
"This indeed is the trance stage, how did he do it?"
"Perception is a very vague topic. It is somehow related to bone frames but yet not entirely so. Previously the 4 star bone framed Sword Maniac used his exceptional perceptive ability to oppress both Tiger Sword and Emotionless Sword who were 5 star bone frames."
Amateurs looked just at the appearance, only true experts knew their stuff.
Be it the outer sect or inner sect disciples, they just know that Li Fuchen's sword style was incredible, but they are unable to judge what stage Li Fuchen's sword style was at.
But the Cang Lan Sect's elders could differentiate it in an instant.
In general terms, outer sect disciples who were able to attain sub-completion in peak-tier, yellow class sword styles were considered talented. Only prodigies were able to reach completion for peak-tier, yellow class sword styles.
But most prodigies could only attain sub-perfection at best, it was only on very rare occasions could a prodigy attain the perfection stage.
So don't even mention the trance stage.
Zhao Mingyue's Sunset Sword Style wasn't even at sub-completion, thus it was naturally not a match for Li Fuchen's trance stage Scarlet Fire Sword Style.
With a sword presence like fire and sword arts blazing. Li Fuchen took 3 moves to force Zhao Mingyue off the stage.
"You win this time. I will settle this with you next time." Zhao Mingyue furrowed her brows and left.
Li Fuchen remained indifferent, as though he did nothing that was praiseworthy.
Zhao Mingyue may have been strong, but it was just a normal sight. For this match, he didn't even utilize 50% of his true ability.