Volume 20, Chapter 181.1: The Sword Fanatic Ji Juechen

After another fifteen minute break, Huo Yuhao leaped up energetically and nodded at Xuan Ziwen, signaling that he was ready to continue.

Xuan Ziwen couldn’t help but wish that there was a metal as resistant as Huo Yuhao after he saw how energetic and competitive Huo Yuhao still was.

The third Class 6 soul engineer appeared. A male soul engineer, who appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. His long, black hair was tied behind his head. He seemed a little pale, but was extremely handsome. However, his eyes lacked energy, and even his movements looked very slow and lethargic.

Among all the guys that Huo Yuhao had ever met, only Wang Dong could match him in terms of charm. However, Wang Dong’s beauty carried a sense of tenderness, while this guy’s beauty stemmed from aloofness. Huo Yuhao couldn’t sense any emotions from this guy.

He held a sword in his hand, around four feet in length. The sword was entirely black, and had a simple pattern. Nothing seemed very special about it, it practically resembled a rod used to control a stove fire.

Huo Yuhao’s got goosebumps when he first saw him. Jing Ziyan posed a danger to him, but Huo Yuhao felt like this guy was even more dangerous.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual detection was still active, but it seemed to lose its effect on this guy. He couldn’t even sense this guy’s soul power.

“Ji Juechen.” Jing Ziyan’s introduction earlier was extremely concise, but this introduction was even more so.

“Huo Yuhao.” Huo Yuhao nodded as he looked at him.

But Huo Yuhao was surprised when Ji Juechen abruptly said, “I signed up at the last minute because of your fist. I saw something that I’ve been looking for in your fist. Please allow me to sense it fully. Thanks.”

As he spoke, he held his sword with both hands and slowly bowed towards Huo Yuhao. His eyes started to emit a bright light filled with passion. Right now, it seemed like only the sword existed in his eyes.

Two yellow, two purple, and two black soul rings rose from his feet.

When Huo Yuhao saw the look in his eyes, he only had one thought—this guy is crazy. However, his expression turned extremely serious in the next moment. Sometimes, a madman was scarier than a sane man.

“Can you wait an hour for me?” Huo Yuhao asked.

Ji Juechen’s eyes were already focused on his sword, but he shouted, “Please!”

Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged and straightened his body. He entered a meditative state once again.

Neither of them were speaking softly. Those with good ears could listen in on their conversation. Although Xuan Ziwen was the referee, he didn’t speak and stood to one side. He also thought that Ji Juechen was a madman. Even the academy and the Illustrious Virtue Hall’s students thought that way.

Ji Juechen was an anomaly in the Illustrious Virtue Hall. First off, he wasn’t a soul engineer. But neither was he purely a soul master. He was actually the chief disciple in the Active Control Soul Tool Department.

His martial soul was a Sword. Just an ordinary sword. One that didn’t possess any powerful capabilities, and his innate soul power was only Rank 3, he could barely cultivate when he was younger.

However, he fell in love with his sword when his martial soul awakened at age six. There was nothing except the sword in his eyes. He unleashed his martial soul to cultivate tirelessly every day. No one knew how he managed to increase his soul power. But, when he was eight, his soul power reached Rank 10. He entered an area filled with soul beasts alone, with only his sword, and only escaped three days later covered in blood. He obtained a hundred year soul ring from a soul beast that he’d personally killed. He obtained a soul skill that would help to enhance his soul power like a soul engineer.

The average soul power of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy’s students was above Shrek’s. That was because most of them consumed all kinds of medicine to increase their soul power. This was extremely effective before they reached six-ringed cultivations. But at least ninety-five percent of them couldn’t reach Rank 70 soul power because they consumed these medicines. Reaching Class 5 or Class 6 was already very sufficient for these soul engineers.

However, Ji Juechen was different from them. He didn’t consume any medicines. He only remained in the academy to challenge others, since there were many strong soul engineers in the academy.

His sword was crafted from a piece of Extraterrestrial Meteoric Steel. After obtaining a piece long ago, he used his own methods to grind and shape the Extraterrestrial Meteoric Steel. After more than ten years, it finally was in the shape of a sword. Using external materials as one’s weapon seemed to be the job of a soul engineer, but he did it anyways, like a blacksmith.

In the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, he was definitely an odd one out. Jing Hongchen had given him special permission to enter the Illustrious Virtue Hall. As the chief disciple of the Active Control Soul Tool Department, he had the right to choose his opponents. However, he was only allowed one challenge a month, because Jing Hongchen didn’t want the Illustrious Virtue Hall or the academy’s daily operations to be disrupted

The students and even the teachers gave him a nickname because of his trait—Sword Fanatic! Sword Fanatic Ji Juechen.

No one was willing to interact with him in the academy. That was because he was very antisocial excluding his challenges. He only cared about the sword. He would even talk to his sword sometimes. He only responded to those who challenged him.

He didn’t come yesterday because such a sparring competition was meaningless to him. But Jing Ziyan was one of the few friends he had. Jing Ziyan had defeated him before. She told him that there was a youth from Shrek Academy who was very strong and dragged him to watch today’s competition. In the end, she had lost. But Ji Juechen decided to sign up when he saw Huo Yuhao’s fist strike.

This wasn’t allowed. But Ji Juechen barged in anyways. The fourth person who was supposed to compete didn’t dare to resist when he saw the Extraterrestrial Meteoric Sword.

Ji Juechen also sat down, and placed his sword across his legs. He pressed his hands against his sword before entering a meditative state too.

The competitors silently meditated across from one another, with a hundred and fifty meter gap between them. The entire Soul Tool Experimentation Area went silent.

A few spectators in the stands, who knew about Ji Juechen, were gloating. To them, a wicked person would be afflicted by a similar personality. Ji Juechen was rumored to have defeated a Class 7 soul engineer! Huo Yuhao was in trouble against Ji Juechen.

Jing Hongchen looked pensive. What did Ji Juechen mean when he referred to Huo Yuhao’s fist?

He shut his eyes, and he recalled Huo Yuhao’s frightening fist. He couldn’t help but exclaim in his heart. No wonder he is the disciple of the Dragon Douluo, Elder Mu. Although the Dragon Douluo has passed, he left behind someone who could become an Ultimate Douluo. This young man is going to be something amazing in the future. It’s a pity he won’t be of use to me. When this exchange ends, our next encounter will be different.

Jing Hongchen’s eyes flashed with a cold light as he thought this. Shrek Academy’s position on the continent was very prominent. Shrek Academy had played an important role during the war thousands of years ago. If not for their help at the critical moment, everything would be different now. While the Crown Prince was disabled, he was much more capable than the other princes. Since he’d decided to aid the Crown Prince, he needed to do everything in his power to remove any of his obstacles.

“Jiayi, control the crowd.” After sensing some commotion from the spectators, Jing Hongchen furrowed his brows.

Lin Jiayi quickly picked up the sound-amplifying soul tool and said, “Silence. Please give the competitors a quiet audience.”

“This spar will be very exciting. Teachers, please maintain order.”

One hour wasn’t short. A layer of white gas drifted from Huo Yuhao’s body while he cultivated. This white gas was formed by the Mysterious Heaven Technique.

Xuan Ziwen sensed a refreshing coldness from this white gas. He was also wondering who would win between Huo Yuhao and Ji Juechen. If their cultivations were similar, Huo Yuhao would definitely come out ahead. Huo Yuhao’s twin martial souls gave him a huge advantage. Furthermore, he‘d demonstrated his spectacular close-combat abilities in the previous rounds. Xuan Ziwen had seen Ji Juechen’s sword before, and was equally amazed by it. But it was different from the amazement he experienced when he watched Huo Yuhao’s bouts. Ji Juechen wasn’t flexible enough, he only had a sword. He didn’t even possess any long-range capabilities. The soul engineers who have bested him had tried their best to widen the gap with him, and they used long-range soul tools to deplete his soul power. But only those who beat him in close-combat won Ji Juechen’s respect. For example, Jing Ziyan. She was once his target, but he lost to her outright.

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