Chapter 53 - Ghuanyu’s Outburst… Matched Strength

“Y-you…”

A complete confused and disbelieving Shiming tried to say something but Yang Su’s right hand suddenly struck out. The metal pole that was gripped tightly in his hand danced like a snake as it connected against Shiming's exposed back.

Upon contact, the metal pole lit up with several multicolored runes that covered its entire surface.

Shiming’s eyes popped out of his head when the metal pole landed on his back. With veins bulging on his neck and one noticeable on his forehead, he held back his scream of pain and tried to retreat with his saber, but he soon realized that Yang Su’s vice-like grip prevented him from moving it an inch.

Making an ultra-fast decision that could have left a falling lightning bolt in the dust, he immediately retreated without his saber.

However, Yang Su’s hand moved in a strange trajectory that caused the metal pole to appear in front of his face all of a sudden.

Shiming had been training his saber techniques ever since he could walk, as such, he like many cultivators who had honed their battle instincts could sense an attack coming without even looking. It was like a sixth sense that any cultivator with sufficient battle experience could gain.

But to his horror, he couldn’t sense Yang Su’s attack coming until it was several inches away from making contact with him! And what was even worse was the attack was completely silent, even as he watched the metal pole approaching his face he still couldn’t sense the attack.

It’s as if it didn’t exist!

‘BANG!!’

‘cAcK!!’

After the metal pole landed squarely on Shiming’s face, a sickening crack echoed out in the disciples' ears that sent shivers down their spines.

Like before, the runes on the metal pole light up.

Being incapable of enduring the pain the metal pole was causing him upon impact, Shiming let out a wretched scream that echoed across the venue.

With Shiming rolling on the stage clutching at his face, his once overbearing and lofty demeanor was completely gone.

Walking up to the squirming Shiming on the stage, everyone watched silently with wide eyes as Yang Su raised the metal pole over his head, and mercilessly carried it down onto Shiming's body.

Without stopping Yang Su lifted the metal pole once again and carried it down over and over. The pitiful wails of Shiming echoed into everyone’s ears that sent another wave of chills down their spines.

In the Pavilion, Ghuanyu's face was completely red and it seemed as if steam was coming out of his ears.

As the wails of his nephew ceaselessly echoed in his ears, he finally seemed to snap before he bellowed out in rage, “Enough!!”

The Pavilion he was in shook uncontrollably before it suddenly burst apart like paper, sending wooden fragments everywhere.

The entire mountain that they were on suddenly started trembling as a portion of Ghuanyu’s aura leaked out into the surrounding area.

Now floating in mid-air, Ghuanyu glared down at Yang Su on the stage. That simple gaze of his caused Yang Su to be knocked backward before he could slap Shiming again with the metal pole.

Xi Shen upon seeing this had his eyes turn completely cold.

But luckily, the runes on the metal pole suddenly lit up, and created a small protective barrier that encapsulated Yang Su, keeping him from receiving any injury.

Everyone looked on at this scene with horror on their faces. None of them had thought that things would suddenly devolve into something like this, where Ghuanyu was actually attacking Yang Su.

‘Crack’

‘Crack’

‘Crack’

The metal pole in Yang Su’s hand suddenly had fishers covering its surface before it broke apart entirely.

Xi Shen's expression upon seeing this turn extremely ugly. That metal pole was something of his creation, and he had spent a good amount of time carving those pain-inducing inscriptions on it.

Now that bastard Ghuanyu went and broke it, which caused him to become extremely angry!

In the air, all the other Clan Leaders were floating motionlessly some distance away from Ghuanyu.

Seeing that his attack did nothing to Yang Su, his eyes flash a murderous light, but he immediately calmed his emotions and restrained his leaking aura.

All the disciples let out a sigh of relief when they felt the pressure on their shoulders suddenly lifting.

Even the elder in charge of the Freshmen Disciple Competition had been knocked out of the sky, to land next to the stage below.

However, mysteriously enough, even in his slightly blind outburst, Ghuangyu purposely restrained his aura from approaching the calmly sitting youth that was at the edge of the stage.

After calming down, Ghuanyu turned to the elder and said, “Excuse me esteem elder for interrupting the competition in such a rude manner. My Ming Clan will immediately make up for this incident in the future.”

After throwing out those words, Ghuanyu waved his hand in his nephew’s direction, who was currently out cold, and his figure suddenly disappeared from the stage to appear next to him floating in mid-air.

Both their figure then vanish soon after that.

Everyone in the venue was extremely silent after Ghuanyu left. It was rare that someone of Ghuanyu’s status would have such an outburst, and it was safe to say that it was extremely terrifying.

Even the Clan Leaders, who were supposed to be on the same level as Ghuanyu, held solemn expressions on their faces.

The thing about Ghuanyu was that among the Clan Leaders, he was the only one that had been the Clan Leader for his Ming Clan for seven generations. And the duration of each Clan Leader generation in a cultivation clan was around one hundred and fifty to three hundred years.

So he had been the Ming Clan Leader for over two thousand years! To give an example as to why that was strange, the previous Emperor of the Maple Continent that had stepped down from his throne several years ago had started his reign around the same time Ghuanyu had become the Clan Leader for his Ming Clan.

Meaning Ghuanyu had seen the reign of two Emperors while being the Ming Clan Leader

After being under the rule of two generations of Emperors, one could imagine how his experience with scheming and plotting had developed over the years.

Only Sun Wu Fen was closer in age with him having been the Clan Leader of the Sun Clan for two Generations. But even then, like everyone else, they were Ghuanyu’s junior by more than a few years.

No one knew exactly why he would stay as the Clan Leader for that long of a time, since at most the Clan Leader position would have been held for around three to four generations. But most people speculated that it was because there wasn’t a suitable heir for their main branch of the family, despite them retaining their position as the number one Clan all these years.

If that was the case, then one could understand Ghuanyu's sudden outburst a moment ago when Ming Shiming was being beaten by Yang Su.

Ming Shiming must be their prized possession as seen from his protective nature of him. And that was despite the fact that Ming Shiming was from their side branch family, being Ghuanyu’s great-great… Uhm, well, let’s just say his nephew, but Shiming had been adopted into the main family.

On the stage, the youth finally opened his eyes to see that Yang Su was the one he’ll fight.

Slowly getting up, the youth came closer towards Yang Su while saying, “You should be grateful that you get to battle me, maybe you and everyone here will be able to learn a thing or two from our the match. Consider it me being extremely generous to you Inner Disciples for coming here.”

The focus of the crowd now turned to the youth, and they couldn’t help but feel extremely offended upon hearing his words.

Who was this youth for him to be looking down on them and talking so arrogantly?

However, Yang Su, who had recovered from Ghuanyu's sudden attack, turned to look at this youth the same age as him before saying, “Yang Su appreciates senior brother for this opportunity.”

The disciples in the crowd upon hearing Yang Su’s address for the youth was slightly taken aback.

This address was mostly used to refer to disciples older than you, as well as if they were in a higher position than you in the Academy, for example, if an outer disciple and Inner Disciple were the same age, that Outer Disciple would refer to that Inner Disciple as senior brother or senior sister.

Judging by the fact that the youth and Yang Su were about the same age, then that must mean it was the latter case for him to call the youth that.

This caused most of the disciples to have surprised expressions because this youth was wearing the Inner Disciple robes of the Blade Pavilion. They never imagine he might have been from a higher position in the Academy given his age.

The youth however gave Yang Su an approving smile before he said, “So I guess unlike those clueless participants from before, you do have eyes.”

After saying that the youth look below Yang Su’s feet and saw the remains of the metal pole, afterward he said, “Since you don’t have a weapon, I’ll battle you with martial art techniques.”

Yang Su glanced down at the metal pole as well with a slightly downcast expression before he looked up and nodded at the youth.

Then, without any warning or signs of motion, the youth that was standing completely upright suddenly vanished from view to appear in front of Yang Su, his right palm casually heading for Yang Su’s chest.

The disciples below were flabbergasted at that sight.

The youth had just used a strange movement technique that made him look like a specter in the night.

However, just when it looked like Yang Su couldn’t react to the speed of his attack, his palm came out of nowhere to collided against the youth’s own, halfway before it reached him.

A loud bang suddenly echoed out, which was completely disproportionate to the way the youth and even Yang Su casually sent out their palms.

With slightly raised eyebrows, the youth looked at Yang Su who wasn’t sent flying by his palm attack but instead was standing completely still just looking back at him.