Urban Super Medical Sage
Chapter 550 - 544 Stand Pat (1 Update)

Chapter 550: Chapter 544 Stand Pat (1 Update)

At the Great Cang Martial Training Ground,

Zhang Zhi’s situation had slightly improved, and the attention of the crowd gradually shifted away.

After all, in the hearts of many, a loser will always be a loser; they may attract momentary attention but not forever.

Slowly, those countless gazes turned towards Jun Luoying, Cheng Yue, Xuu Jian, and Wu Zhen.

Jun Luoying and Cheng Yue were the top talents among the fifteen contestants from Great Cang Academy, especially Jun Luoying, about whom there were innumerable rumors.

Xuu Jian was the strongest among the nine contestants from Fei Ming Academy. People from Great Cang City were not very familiar with him, but in the past few days, institutions such as the Information Pavilion had gathered information on all the contestants from the Four Great Academies’ Qiuqing Tournament, and the rumors had gradually spread.

Xuu Jian was one of them.

It was said that he had once managed to escape alive from the grasp of an adult Regrettable Golden Crow. The Regrettable Golden Crow, a Heavenly Fate Realm First Level Demon Beast, possessed the bloodline of one of the Ten Great Ancient Divine Beasts—the Fiery Golden Crow. An adult Regrettable Golden Crow was capable of killing a second-level of Heaven’s Mandate Realm Martial Cultivator in mere seconds and could easily withstand a fight against a Martial Cultivator from the third level of the same realm. Xuu Jian’s escape from it left no doubt as to his staggering strength.

Indeed, many predicted that in this Qiuqing Martial Tournament, Xuu Jian would at least make it into the top three, or even have the chance to challenge Jun Luoying.

As for Wu Zhen, he was the strongest among the eight contestants from Xuaanwu Academy and had gradually been given the title of the "Xuaanwu Reaper."

It was said that Wu Zhen had thrice ventured into the Blood God Cliff!!!

It was said that Wu Zhen once crushed a Half-Step Heavenly Fate Realm powerhouse using just his killing aura!

It was said that over a million Martial Cultivators had died at the hands of Wu Zhen!

Wu Zhen, too, was seen by many as one of the top three favorites in this Qiuqing Tournament.

In short, according to the rumors currently circulating, Jun Luoying was undisputedly first, while Wu Zhen and Xuu Jian both had chances of being second or third, with Cheng Yue securely in fourth place.

As for fifth to tenth places, contenders from Great Cang Academy like "Soul Reversing Blade" Fong Fan, "Shadowless Saint Hand" Qian Zang, and "Faceless Demon" Xue Jiu; from Fei Ming Academy, the "One-Eyed Scholar" Zhu Xie and "Blood Shocking Sword" Yao Xi; and from Xuaanwu Academy, "Giant Fist" Sui Zhi were all hot candidates.

The situation for Holy Spirit Academy ... insignificant!

The only bit of a splash was probably made by Su Chen, who had defeated Cheng Haohan in a matter of seconds the day before, but unfortunately, there hadn’t been enough time for the news to spread, and not many knew of Su Chen. Moreover, last night, Su Chen went to the Chasing Moon Pavilion and took two people up to the second level within ten breaths, which itself was a miracle among miracles. Sadly, Chasing Moon Pavilion is a private residence of the Third Prince. Not many knew about the events that took place there, and since it happened last night, the news didn’t even have the chance to ferment.

As for Jing Yuan and others, they were completely unknown.

Although Jing Yuan was a Half-Step Heavenly Fate Realm powerhouse and a prodigy among prodigies, a monster among monsters, he was overshadowed by the presence of other even more astonishing beings, destined to be overlooked.

A moment later,

Chu Jing Gang spoke again:

"The Four Great Academies have a total of twenty-eight contestants participating in the tournament. In the spirit of fairness and justice, the first round will eliminate fourteen contestants."

"The specific rule is that any contestant from the Four Great Academies can voluntarily step onto the platform to accept a challenge from any other contestant of the same realm."

"Of these two, one will be the challenger, and the other the challenged. The two will fight, with the winner advancing and the loser being eliminated."

"There will be a total of fourteen battles. After the fourteen battles, fourteen will be eliminated, and fourteen will advance."

...

After Chu Jing Gang finished stating the rules, Chen Jianqiong’s face turned grim.

The first round rules seemed simple, but they were extremely cruel.

Every Martial Cultivator must battle!

And yet, their opponent was uncertain!

The key issue is that Chu Jing Gang clearly counted Su Chen among the twenty-eight, otherwise, there would have been only twenty-seven.

Even though Su Chen hadn’t shown up, they counted him, which meant that Holy Spirit Academy had already lost the match that Su Chen was supposed to fight. With no one showing up, if that’s not a defeat, then what is?

"Now, all the young talents, please step down from the platform and get ready," Chu Jing Gang announced again.

After stepping down, Jing Yuan and the others quickly returned to Chen Jianqiong’s side.

"Dean, what should we do now?" Jing Yuan asked in a weighty tone.

As Jing Yuan asked the question, someone had already ascended the platform!!!

The One-Eyed Scholar Zhu Xie from Fei Ming City, a man with only one eye while the other was completely white, dressed in a long blue robe, emitted an aura of scholarly elegance, a smile on his face, holding an ancient-looking metal book.

Standing on the Martial Battle Platform, he slightly bowed and swept his gaze over Holy Spirit Academy, Great Cang Academy, and Xuaanwu Academy, "Zhu Xie is just throwing out a brick to attract jade. I wonder which genius would like to duel with me?"

"Hold your forces for now," Chen Jianqiong quietly said, "let’s see how things go first!"

The next second.

From the side of Great Cang Academy, a man wearing a mask took step by step onto the stage. He wasn’t very tall and the clothes on his body felt somewhat worn. The way he moved exuded a repressive aura. After he ascended the platform, he bowed to Zhu Xie, "My name is Xue Jiu, please instruct me!"

The Faceless Demon Xue Jiu?!!!

An absolute standout character.

At Half-Step Heavenly Fate Realm, yet his aura was so oppressively heavy it was as if he carried a Demon Mountain with him everywhere he went.

The reason why Xue Jiu is called the Faceless Demon is that he always wears a mask and almost no one has seen his true face.

The first bout is between the One-Eyed Scholar and the Faceless Demon? As the two stood on the Martial Battle Platform, the Martial Training Field fell silent for a moment, then, applause thundered with overwhelming momentum.

The tens of millions of Martial Cultivators watching onsite were thrilled; the opening match was going to be spectacular!

More and more Martial Cultivators shouted loudly:

"Xue Jiu, crush him!"

"Xue Jiu, you can do it!"

"Faceless Demon, roll over him!"

......

In Great Cang City, naturally, there were more cheers for Xue Jiu; it was quite one-sided.

However, in Fei Ming City, in front of the giant Black Xuan Stone screen, millions of Martial Cultivators had also gathered, and the number of onlookers was still increasing. Despite the vast distance, they too roared loudly and excitedly, cheering for Zhu Xie.

In an instant.

There were no meaningless words, nor any vicious words.

Xue Jiu simply acted.

Whoosh whoosh...

With his move, black fog surged like clouds, his hands flitted to and fro, his figure swaying, the entire person vanishing into the black fog, which radiated nausea-inducing, heart-trembling, suffocating Demonic Qi as pressure rolled out from the Martial Battle Platform, raising ripples of mixed Void and Real Space.

And within that black fog, one could vaguely discern numerous tenebrous hand seals.