The Legend of Futian

In the following battles, the Barren State continued to win at a great margin. The ones who were eliminated were all people who had not developed matured rules.

After a dozen rounds of battles. The ones from the Barren State fought hard again, with the eventual eight mighty ones who remained being Yu Sheng, Hua Jieyu, Ye Wuchen, Xu Que, Yi XIaoshi, Yuan Zhan, Phoenix, and Zui Qianchou. All eight of them were people who followed Ye Futian to train in the Sage Hall till that very day and had yet to become sages. All others had either been training in the Sage Hall as sages, or they had broken into Sage Plane while they were training in the Sage Hall.

There were many in the Barren State’s grandstand area who were great figures from the Barren State. Zhuge Qingfeng, Yan Jun, and the others looked at the remaining eight and felt rather surreal. The ones who had been with Ye Futian now all surpassed their peers back, slightly or considerably. Even the likes of Li Futu, who was Yan Jun’s heir, was surpassed by a considerable margin. It was more so in the case of Ye Futian himself.

“I wonder how many of them will be able to keep being in the game with rules like that,” Yan Jun said in a low voice. Those rules did seem to be a little too brutal for the ones from the Barren State.

“So long as there is even one who is able to hold out, those rules will be little more than a joke,” Xue Ye said coldly. If Yu Sheng is truly the only one left and goes on to overwhelm everyone till the very end, while there is no one else from the Barren State capable of going any further, what will they make of that?

“We’ll see,” Gu Dongliu said calmly. Yu Sheng won the next round of battles and he remained winning by overwhelming all he fought. Hua Jieyu and Ye Wuchen were too victorious.

Three out of the eight won three consecutive rounds while there was no one else from other states making it through. The scenario made the stage of the forum look rather odd.

If things are to go on like that, all the other states but the Barren State seem to be losing face.

“It was totally unexpected to see the Barren State with so many capable people. A voice was heard, and many turned in the direction of that voice. It was the corner where Qi State was assigned to. It was a silhouette in luxurious clothes, who exuded an exceptional air. The man looked to be in his 30s, yet he exuded a formless brilliance and looked rather mystical.

The man was a mighty one of Hall of Holy Light from Qi State, who was ranked at the forefront of the Sage Ranking of the Sage and Saint Rankings of the Nine States, which made him a very formidable figure.

“It is indeed a rare thing to see consecutive victories in such a place where sacred grounds of nine states gather,” a mighty one from Yue House nodded and said.

“But if things keep going like this, things will look pretty awkward for the rest of the sacred grounds of the nine states.” The mighty one of the Hall of Holy Light smiled and said, “Shi Xuan, how about you go see what the mighty ones from the nine states are capable of?”

“Indeed.” A young man nodded at the Qi State’s corner. Many turned to look at him. Shi Xuan of Hall of Holy Light, the student of the one who just spoke. He was a formidable one, capable enough to be ranked among the top three of the students from Hall of Holy Light who participated in the forum. In the next round where participants from the nine states emerged, Shi Xuan of Hall of Holy Light stood out.

The one who emerged from the Barren State was Xu Que.

“Hall of Holy Light,” Xu Que said to himself. He had some impression of the man. There was an extremely exceptional figure who sounded the Law Bell back at the bottom of Xihua Sacred Mountain, who moved like a beam of light, and it impressed Xu Que. That man was from the Hall of Holy Light.

It seems like this battle will be a tough one.

With a mighty one of the Hall of Holy Light of Qi State participating in that round, all the other states saw fit to be wary, refraining from fielding people who were too powerful in order to avoid a clash of titans situation. Furthermore, they knew that battle was targeted at the Barren State. Yet, it was not that the Hall of Holy Light had anything against the Barren State; it was just that the Barren State’s consecutive victories meant that there was no one else from other state’s sacred grounds going into the next round.

All nine of them introduced themselves and a burst of dazzling lights was seen on the battlefield. The eyes of everyone were on Shi Xuan. The golden lines flowing about his body seemed like holy light, shooting at the eyes of the other eight. The piercing light had some of them turn their eyes away, yet an incredible sense of danger loomed at the very next moment. They all retreated but then saw shafts of spears of light shooting out, streaking the space at breakneck speeds.

Boom, boom… Violent clashes were heard again and again. All eight of them were attacked at the same time. Their bodies were thrown off. At the same time, Shi Xuan slowly rose to the air, standing at the center of the eight. He came to be clad in holy light that was even more dazzling and blinding, shining on all the others. Everyone was able to feel that one thought was all it would take for him to launch an attack.

“Rules of light then?” Ye Futian said in a low voice on the grandstands where the Barren State was assigned to. Yet another rare power of rules.

“Indeed, the Hall of Holy Light’s ancestors created a new year all those years ago with the rules of light, making the status of the Hall of Holy Light surpass all the other old royalties and Jixia Holy Palace. Even to this very day, the Hall of Holy Light is still one extremely terrifying force of sacred grounds. However, there are few true core students of the Hall of Holy Light. Only those with very formidable talent are able to inherit the power of the Hall of Holy Light. The ones they picked to fill the ranks of the Hall of Holy Light were also core figures nurtured one in a thousand,” Sage Wanxiang elaborated.

Ye Futian nodded slightly. It would be a hard battle for Xu Que indeed.

The Sky Saint took only one student in all of the Eastern State, and one definite reason why was due to people with talents in manipulating space were incredibly rare.

Streaks of holy light crosses crisscrossed with each other on the battlefield. Rules of light were a type of very mystical rules. The rules themselves did not contain any offensive capacity at all, yet when used in conjunction with attacks, things would turn very terrifying for the one on the receiving end.

A sword would not have been threatening when pushed slowly with little to no power behind it. Yet, if the sword was thrust at the speed of light, it was anyone’s guess how powerful the thrust would have been. Even a leaf would have been enough to kill when backed with such power, let alone a sword.

“Holy light, judgment,” Shi Xuan said coldly. The holy light cross merged with the killing spears as soon as he finished. He sent it straight at the eight mighty ones. Stabbing noises were heard, and there were people who had their bodies penetrated in an instant.

“I yield.” Voices were heard one after another. Seven mighty ones fell soon enough, with only one left who was evading at extreme speeds. That person was Xu Que, who was also the one Shi Xuan targeted for that very battle. He was determined to end the Barren State’s winning streak.

The criss-crossing Holy Light of Judgment chased after Xu Que at terrifying speeds. It was as if beams of light were shooting down at him. However, Xu Que was just as quick with his evasion, as if he was a shadow. There were multiple times where his afterimage was pierced by the spear, and many thought that he had been hit.

“Some speed indeed.” Many gasped at the scene. The speed demonstrated was simply too much to take in.

“Hnggh,” Shi Xuan snorted coldly. He extended his hands and even more blinding holy lights covered all corners of the place. The beams shone right onto Xu Que’s body, exposing him from all angles.

“KIll,” Shi Xuan uttered coldly. Countless spears descended along the holy light, blocking out the sky above. Xu Que kept his eyes forward, and terrifying murderous intent filled the air around him. One killing sword after another was unleashed and lashed out at his front.

The killing art of light clashed with the killing swords. A devastating burst of power spread through the entire forum stage. Shi Xuan’s body was seen moving in that instant, descending like a beam of light. His dazzling, divine body was honed to extreme sharpness and penetrated Xu Que right below him.

That shadow of Xu Que exploded and dissipated, turning into streaks of grey aura. Shi Xuan frowned for a bit, and many auras flowed about behind his back, enveloping him within and turned into a shadow space. Shi Xuan’s body was frozen, and the mighty ones on the grandstands looked on with peculiar reactions.

“That is…” At the corner where Feng State was, the people of Si clan looked troubled. Streaks of holy light spears continued to be unleashed and went straight for the shadow space, yet they were quickly dissipated.

Countless killing swords burst within that shadow space and went streaking about in the air. Shi Xuan’s expression changed and his body turned into a beam of light, intending to leave that space. He quickly saw a silhouette emerging from the darkness. Immense amounts of murderous intent coalesced into a sword and appeared right before him, lashing out at the direction he moved in.

Shi Xuan’s speed was mystically fast, making that attack devastatingly lethal even if Shi Xuan was to crash into the sword itself. His opponent was using his own speed to lash out that attack.

The spear of light lashed out, and yet, it was quickly turned to dust by that sword attack. The killing sword went straight for the throat. Shi Xuan’s body was turning in different directions in the air at blinding speeds; however, the killing sword went right through his body nonetheless, piercing it hard. Shi Xuan appeared in another corner with a grunt. His shirt was blood-stained and his face looked unusually pale.

“Rules of darkness,” Shi Xuan said as he stared at Xu Que. It was a power directly opposite to his rules of light. When such rules were used in conjunction with the way of the killing sword, it made Xu Que a natural-born killer.

Many at the management platform could not help but look at the mighty one from Si clan. The main saint of Si Clan, Si Ming, was the Killing Saint of Feng State. The powers that Xu Que specialized in made him look as if he was a successor of Si Ming, yet the young man was from the Barren State, which apparently made it impossible for him to have any connection to the Killing Saint.

There was no saint in the Barren State, yet Xu Que had come to comprehend and develop such powers of rules on his own. If the Killing Saint had encountered him earlier, he would have been tempted to take him in.

“The rules of light. It is indeed dangerous fighting like that. As such, I went a little bit too hard,” Xu Que said lazily, looking at Shi Xuan.

“You won.” Shi Xuan said nothing else. He lost and that was all that mattered. He naturally would not have held it against Xu Que. If Xu Que was the one who was hit, the result would have been the same.

“Winner, Xu Que of the Barren State,” the elder announced. Many wore peculiar expressions on their faces. The Barren State went on to bag another victory, making it their fourth consecutive win.

The Barren State had only eight participants left. A mighty one of Luohou Palace of War State and a genius of Hall of Holy Light of Qi State were defeated by Ye Wuchen and Xu Que, one after another. Both had been not so eye-catching before. It seemed that not only did all of them from the Barren State develop the use of the power of rules, but all of them seemed to have developed exceptional ones as well.

“Is the Barren State really going to bag eight victories from here on out?” Some began to have rather ridiculous thoughts. If the Barren State was able to win all eight battles, it meant that the Barren State would win all of the eight Nine State Forum battles without anyone else from other states advancing. If that was the case, even Saint Xihua would have felt awkward to keep the ones from the Barren State from fighting in the qualifying rounds then.

If the Barren State had been weak, all of them would have been eliminated in no time, and no one would have felt anything about it. But if the Barren State was strong enough to keep avoiding elimination, the battles would apparently turn into tag matches, which the other states had to field their best in order to break.