3 Battle stage
Wang Xuan's POV
If you were to ask Wang Xuan who he hates most in all of Sun City, the answer would undoubtedly be Shen Ming. But if you were to inquire whom he admires and respects the most, the answer would remain the same.
Wang Xuan used to be an arrogant and narcissistic young boy two years ago, always considering himself the unbeatable genius among his peers and boasting about it.
However, during the Clan exchange competition conducted by the three Clans three years ago, Shen Ming defeated Wang Xuan single-handedly, without any hint of resistance, and made him the laughingstock until he couldn't even stand up for a week.
Since that competition, every time he achieved something in cultivation and martial arts skills, he was always compared to Shen Ming by his father.
Resentment!
The resentment that Wang Xuan holds towards Shen Ming is great, but he also admires his hard work and patience when they trained together for a month during the 'Young generation practice program', where all teenagers below the age of 18 were trained together at the City Lord's place.
*******
In Sun City, three types of battle platforms were built long ago in the Inner area of the City and operated by the City Lord.
The first one is called the Arctic platform for young people who want to have practice matches with each other.
The second one is called the Polar Platform for adults who have some conflicts but are not serious enough to kill each other. Both individuals sign an 'Equity contract', where the loser of the battle will grant the terms written by the winner in the contract.
The third one is called the Life and Death platform, where both individuals sign a 'Death contract'. Once they enter the battle stage, even if they kill their opponent, they wouldn't receive any punishment from the City Lord.
Since everyone living in the Inner area of Sun City has achieved some cultivation and has a population of more than one hundred thousand, there are bound to be some conflicts that are unavoidable.
Thus, the Founding Emperor of the Evergreen Empire built battle platforms in every City and divided his Empire into thirty-six main cities, excluding the Imperial City, which is ten times larger than other cities.
Every Main City is ranked based on its overall combat power, and the Imperial City allocates resources, rights, and privileges based on it.
At this moment, two youngsters walked onto the Battle stage of the Arctic platform.
The Arctic platform was large enough to comfortably accommodate more than ten thousand people, with chairs lined up in rows around the perimeter of the stage. When everyone in the hall saw the young masters of the three powerful families, there was an uproar.
"Isn't that Young Master Wang? Why would he come here?"
"Yeah, Last time he was almost beaten until his bones broke by Young Master Shen. So it looks like he wants to regain his reputation?"
"Hmph, no matter what, he can never defeat Young Master Shen."
"Although Young Master Wang is not bad, he is simply incomparable to Young Master Shen!"
At this moment, Shen Ming sensed an intense gaze directed at him; his eyes scoured around to find the source, and he saw Chen Xiuying sitting on the opposite side.
Their eyes met in midair – her gaze was full of love toward him as if she wanted to hug him immediately, which made him shiver for a second.
Sitting beside her was Shen Yao, the only daughter of the First Elder of the Shen Family. She had a deadpan, expressionless face when she looked at her best friend's gaze towards her cousin.
"Sister Chen! A girl shouldn't be too proactive. You are acting almost like a licking dog towards my brother."
"It doesn't matter," said Chen Xiuying, her face as red as a tomato in a blush when she met Shen Ming's gaze.
'Brother Shen, good luck!' thought Chen Xiuying.
Not long after the two of them arrived on the platform, a hearty laughter rang out from below the battle arena.
At this moment, a high-spirited old man with a head full of white hair stepped onto the platform.
Shen Ming knew this Old Man who was in charge of the Arctic platform and would only come when someone from the Three Families entered the Arena to act as the referee.
"Old Man Lu!"
Both Shen Ming and Wang Xuan greeted Old Man Lu, who was said to be in the Advanced Rank 4th Stage in the Energy Qi cultivation path.
Old Man Lu looked at both of them up and down with appreciation and said, "Good, good. Both of you have reached Novice Rank 6th stage. During my time, I was only at 3rd stage! Ah," sighed Old Man Lu and declared,
"You can start fighting when I count up to three numbers."
"3"
The surrounding teenagers all had excited expressions as they stared at the two individuals facing off.
"2"
Especially some teenagers belonging to the Wang and Chen families who had always been suppressed by the Shen Family and could not lift their heads up.
"1"
"Start!"
Wang Xuan stood in the middle of the stage and said with a laugh, "Brother Shen! Don't stop the fight until I admit defeat."
Shen Ming did not say anything more. He nodded his head seriously and answered, "Alright."
And then-
"Whoosh!"
A burst of red light erupted from Shen Ming's hands, his sword moving like lightning and almost imperceptible.
Clang!
A clash rang out, the vibrations causing everyone's ears to ring.
In the next moment, Wang Xuan felt as if he was being attacked by an enormous hammer. He forgot that Brother Shen also practices the Body refining path. His hands, which gripped the sword, felt an enormous force and lost all sense for a moment.
Bang!
The hustle and bustle in the hall suddenly stopped.
Wang Xuan felt a chill emanating from the sword and pulled away his body three steps from the sword.
'Thank god! Brother Shen doesn't use the aura energy stored in the cells of his body by the cultivation of the Body refining art. Since the fight is purely on Energy Qi cultivation.' thought Wang Xuan avoiding the attack.
Two powerful energies seemed to have erupted from the stage at the same time and brought forth bursts of winds spiraling.
The two figures also rushed out at this moment. They did not show any signs of dodging and collided with each other at the center of the stage in a couple of seconds.
Dong!
A violent Energy Qi shockwave erupted out during the instant they collided.
The intensity of their energy and its manipulation was not something an ordinary Novice 6th stage could compare with.
"As expected of these two." Old Man Lu's eyes glowed as if he was looking at a precious treasure when he looked at Wang Xuan, who had the bearing of a prodigy.
But when his eyes gazed at Shen Ming and met his gaze; his body shivered as if looking at a monster, and cold sweat dripped as if he had met a Predator who came to hunt monsters.
'Why am I feeling fear from a young child when I am the stronger one?'
'And this fight is more like Shen Ming teaching Wang Xuan how to fight than a real battle.'
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
After many successive clashes, Wang Xuan was flustered and wiped the blood that flowed out from his mouth.
Shen Ming's Sword was so fast that he couldn't withstand them, and he was forced into an embarrassing situation with many injuries on his body.
At this moment, Shen Ming had quickly moved in front of Wang Xuan, and his sword had gone straight for his right shoulder.
Just at the moment the sword was about to cut through his shoulder, Wang Xuan suddenly moved backward, but the sword still slashed his right shoulder, cutting off his tendons; blood gushed out, staining the ground red.
Puchi!
Wang Xuan felt a stinging pain emerging from within his right arm. He could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
"Hahaha! As expected of Brother Shen, then let me also show you my new battle skill!" said Wang Xuan with his pale face, completely releasing his Qi of the 6th stage, and six gray energy Qi blossomed from the back of his body.
Although he felt immense pain, Wang Xuan ignored it completely and charged forward to defeat his only rival.
"Roar!"
A majestic beast roar exploded forth; a gigantic and ferocious white serpent blurry figure slowly manifested behind Wang Xuan's back. Wang Xuan abandoned his sword and took a stance.
In the next instant, his eyes turned purple, and a purple energy wrapped around his legs like lightning. With the sound of an explosion coming out from beneath his feet, he charged out.
This speed was just like a lightning bolt and caused countless cries to appear from the surroundings.
As Wang Xuan struck out, those present immediately erupted.
"It turns out to be the 'White Serpent Roar'; the unique martial arts of the Wang family. According to legends, this martial art was the reason that the Wang family was able to maintain its position among the three powerful families."
"Even though Young Master Wang has only practiced the Mortal grade part of it; it is the hardest one to practice among Mortal Grade, and when you reach the highest proficiency in it, a blurry image of the White Serpent appears."
"Hmph! No matter what; no one can defeat my brother Shen," murmured Chen Xiuying, listening to the chatter of others.
In a split second, everyone felt a chill run through their bodies from head to toe.
Powerful!
Domineering!
Wang Xuan smiled when he saw the shock in others' gazes except for the person in front of him; who still had a nonchalant face.
His previous performance was all for this one moment to execute this one lethal move!
Gotcha!
