Chapter 40

Jiang Mang was the next challenger after Chu Lingxin. His first opponent was a veteran who had to only defeat one more opponent before being set free. The veteran was an early saint stage cultivator who used a saber and had comprehended power intent to initial mastery. This intent allows him to double his power equal to the mid saint stage.

Jiang was quite happy to face this opponent as he was a perfect replacement for a weak mid saint stage opponent. The match began with Jiang Mang backing away while playing his leaf. This allowed him to activate his inner view and enable a physical match as he could directly win with illusions. The veteran tried to approach Jiang Mang, but he was using Fox dance with the speed intent to avoid the veteran. This continued for several exchanges until the veteran started launching saber slashes as range attacks. Unfortunately, they were all easily avoided. Jiang Mang didn't approach as his opponent never showed a weak spot after only dodging for the entire match, Jiang Mang attacked by conjuring some flying dagger with his qi. These were too weak to endanger the veteran, but he still defended with his saber. After defending, Jiang Mang had approached him unexpectedly with double the speed of what he had previously shown. The veteran wanted to attack but was too late as Jiang Mang had prepared a destructive claw attack that landed on his right arm. This interrupted his saber attack and allowed Jiang Mang to continue attacking, which allowed him to kill the veteran with his second attack.

The crowd was surprised by the young boy's speed and claw attacks. They had never expected the pretty boy to be so ferocious, but they couldn't understand why he played that leaf. Jiang Mang stayed in the arena to continue battling and won another two matches against a sword wielder who specialized in defense and a dagger wielder who specialized in speed. His last opponent had also comprehended the speed intent and was the toughest battle for Jiang Mang, who didn't want to expose his other intents. He had won after half an hour through overpowering his opponent with his claw's ferociousness.

Jiang Mang wanted to have one last match and was waiting for his opponent. Chu Lingxin who was spectating was proud and happy for her friend's power, which was just below hers while training for only a short amount of time. There was also another person spectating this was the genius ranked 96th on the rankings, Hua Ye. Hua Ye was a bit surprised by the duo's combat power as they were just below those on the rankings but above most other young talents.

Jiang Mang was the one which had startled him the most as he was too young. He also liked the duo's beauty, not just Chu Lingxin but even Jiang Mang. He thought that having such a pretty boy next to him would be a feast for the eye if properly trained while conquering the beauty would be a proud achievement.

When Hua Ye was having these thoughts, he had already made his mind up to capture the duo. He wanted to capture them now, but he had already found out that they were followed by two peak saint stage cultivators. This meant that they came from an equally strong power as his sea serpent group, which couldn't be offended for no reason.

This meant that he had to either capture them in secret when they left for the recruitment or during the recruitment itself. He decided to capture them himself during the recruitment as he was confident of his power. The only problem then laid with finding them. He would have to leave a mark or imprint on them so that he can find them during the recruitment.

He sent one of his servants to find a way to mark them before they leave the city. Once he was done making his preparations and plans, he turned his sight back to the arena where he saw Jiang Mang killing his opponent with a claw through the throat while avoiding a sword by tilting his head while he still played a tune on the leaf. This view impressed him as it showed the boy's decisiveness and combat experience which made him want to have the boy even more as his follower as he would make for an incredible fighter and eye candy.

Hua Ye then left the colosseum to start making preparations for both the recruitment and capturing the duo. Jiang Mang and Chu Lingxin, however, left the colosseum completely oblivious about a ranker's interest in them. They returned to their inn and started packing to leave Sea city for their next destination. When they were heading towards senior thunder eagle, they were stopped by the sea serpent group guards. A servant approached them before they could ask for their reasons and brought an apology message for Jiang Mang and Chu Lingxin. This was an apology for Hua Long's behavior in the restaurant and they were given a box that contained a qi breaking pill which Chu Lingxin was in the need for.

Their group was startled before graciously accepting the gift as they were in the need of it. Chu Lingxin was extremely polite while accepting the apologies before continuing towards senior thunder eagle. She was extremely happy with the pill and felt lucky for the fortune after having such a bad encounter. She thought that the group didn't want the chu empire as their enemy and could thus understand their apology.

Jiang Mang, on the other hand, was puzzled as it was not a big deal. He suspected that something was amiss but he couldn't find anything wrong. He even tested the pill for toxins but that was also a failure. This made him apprehensive but helpless as she truly needed to use the pill before the recruitment as she would become equally strong as the bottom rankers if she increased her cultivation.

They eventually reached senior thunder eagle before setting off towards Sword empire's capital where many sword cultivators traveled to seek comprehension. Sword capital has a sword wall filled with sword slashes on their main square. This sword wall is rumored to be able to increase a swordsmen's comprehension of sword intent if they can comprehend the sword slashes. They would stay for a night at the Sword capital for Chu Lingxin. The wall is of no interest to Jiang Mang but at that square, there is a tea house famous for its music which has piqued his interest.