True Martial World - Chapter 316: Defeating Viper

Hum Hum Hum...

That toxic green gas seemed to take on a life of its own as it began to wail like a ghost.

The toxic gas was extremely thick, as if it was made from that of a snake's bile. It emitted a putrid smell that assailed one’s nostrils.

Hiss–

The Heart Piercing Snake puppet began to sound out as it flew in the air. It stared on with its dark green pair of eyes as it silently approached Yi Yun. Not only did this toxic gas not affect this venomous snake puppet, but it even supplemented it with energy!

Aspect Totems could originally fly, so this venomous snake puppet also had the ability to fly.

It could actually be considered a doppelganger of Viper, and although it was a puppet, it had a life of its own.

"So what if you don’t use a weapon. Be it a saber or this metallic blunt weapon, it will not be able to withstand the poison! In this toxic area, I dominate absolutely everything!"

Viper laughed sardonically. With the metallic claw in hand, he started to rapidly move!

Amidst poison, a typical warrior could only power up his protective Yuan Qi to withstand the poison's corrosive properties.

However, by doing so, not only would their Yuan Qi be quickly consumed due to using a large portion of their Yuan Qi to withstand the poison, the amount left to block Viper and the Heart Piercing Snake puppet's attack would also be reduced.

Only one could be handled, leaving the other free to reign!

As such, Viper could maximize his combat power within this toxic mist.

"Chi! Chi! Chi!"

Upon coming into contact with the toxic mist, Yi Yun's protective Yuan Qi began to corrode and shrink.

Yi Yun was after all only at the peak of the Purple Blood realm, the amount of Yuan Qi he had was much lower than that of a Yuan Foundation realm warrior. As a result, it would be harder for him to withstand the toxic mist as time went on.

Many people were worried for Yi Yun, but there were also Yang Haoran and company who were looking forward to seeing Yi Yun turn into a skeleton after being corroded by the toxic mist.

"Die!"

Viper roared as he and the Heart Piercing Snake puppet split into two different directions. One came from the front while the other came from the back, attacking Yi Yun who was in the middle of the toxic mist!

"Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!"

Viper's body began to flash our tens of after-images, preventing others from telling where he was. As for the Heart Piercing Snake, it was like lightning, turning its airborne body into a blur.

Against Viper's attack, Yi Yun's mind was as still as water. He gathered his Yuan Qi to an extreme with the brick in hand.

"Weng–

With a clear sound, the Purple Crystal Origins within Yi Yun's heart shook.

At that moment, it was as if a volcano had erupted. Burning hot, pure Yang Qi gushed out from Yi Yun's body!

Second stage of the "Tai Ah Sacred Technique"!

Pure Yang Qi of the finest purity turned into the image of a Tang Valley image in the air. A thin mist covered the ghostly valley, shrouding the divine green trees within!

After absorbing the Golden Crow species's beast mark and having cultivated in the burning hell's Pure Yang Sword Palace for ten months, Yi Yun's 'Tai Ah Sacred Technique' was no longer comparable to what it once was!

The pure Yang flames burned and a large portion of the toxic mist was burned up by the pure Yang fire.

The poison-elemental law ranked on the same level as the five elemental laws. It could not withstand the burning of a higher grade pure Yang flame.

"Chi! Chi! Chi!"

Large swaths of green mist burned into green smoke. Even the purple tungsten metal beneath Yi Yun's feet had melted into a molten liquid!

"Huh!?"

Viper was great alarmed. To have such a thick pure Yang flame, Yi Yun's attainment in the pure Yang laws exceeded his own poison-elemental laws.

Although there was a difference in cultivation level, Yi Yun's pure Yang Qi came from the Pure Yang Sword Palace and the Golden Crow species. The quality was not something comparable to the poisonous elements Viper had extracted from desolate beasts like the Heart Piercing Snake.

This difference in quality reversed the deficits of his cultivation level!

At that moment, Yi Yun's eyes flashed, all his body's pure Yang Qi had been injected into the metallic brick. The metallic brick began to shine and burn with pure Yang flames!

This was no longer any typical metallic brick, but a pure Yang flaming brick!

Viper held his breath as he shuttled around. He pushed his snake-like movement technique to the limit. Even with the pure Yang laws, there was still a chance for one of his attacks to hit Yi Yun if he was to attack together with his Heart Piercing Snake puppet!

However, at that moment, Yi Yun moved. He opened his Purple Crystal energy vision and the after-images that covered the sky disappeared from his view. Yi Yun clearly locked onto Viper's actual position.

As for the lightning fast Heart Piercing Snake puppet, it could not hide in the Purple Crystal's vision.

Large success stage of Minute Subtlety!

Sou!

Yi Yun's body mysteriously disappeared. Viper felt felt his back turn cold and a chill arose from his heart. Without thinking, his claw attacked towards his back!

At that moment, the pure Yang flaming brick in Yi Yun's hand had been send slamming heavily downwards.

With the 'Tai Ah Sacred Technique' pushed to its limits, the slamming of the brick created fiery arc beams in the air.

"Ka-cha!"

Yi Yun's flaming brick smashed into Viper's metallic claw. The hot, pure Yang flames bent the claw, while the brick did not lose any of its momentum. After it pushed down the metallic claw, it went straight for Viper's head!

"Boom!"

When the pure Yang energy burst out, Viper's protective Yuan Qi shattered like glass. He felt his head buzz, as if his head had been smashed by a crazily charging near-horned beast. His mind went blank and his vision was completely covered by a golden color, he could no longer see anything else.

As for the Heart Piercing Snake puppet, the Aspect Totem within it dissipated when its owner was severely injured. It lost its combat power and its speed rapidly decreased. At that moment, Yi Yun grabbed the snake three inches away from its head!

With one hand grabbing the Heart Piercing Snake, and the other hand holding the pure Yang flaming brick, Yi Yun saw Viper's body sway. Viper was delirious and Yi Yun did not hesitate in raising his brick to smash down on him again!

At that moment, Viper was like an immobile target. So Yi Yun's brick attack smacked right into the right side of Viper's face!

"Peng!"

Viper began spinning in the air like a top, his body revolving while he threw up blood, the blood smeared the air into a red spiral. Even a few blood-stained teeth were spat out by Viper.

Seeing Viper fall to the ground, Yi Yun quickly rushed forward and sent out another brick attack.

This brick attack reversed its direction and hit the left side of Viper's face. Viper, who was like a spinning top, was spinning clockwise, but after this hit, he began spinning counter-clockwise.

Viper's face was completely mangled. Again, he threw up blood in a spiral.

Following that, Yi Yun leaped up with the brick in hand, and curving his body, he sent out a heavy third brick attack, as if he was smashing a ball.

Ka-cha!

Yi Yun's brick hit Viper's back and with the sound of a broken spine, Viper heavily fell to the ground!

Viper's mind was completely in a daze.

However, at that moment, Yi Yun did not carry on minding Viper. Instead, he threw the Heart Piercing Snake in his hand down on the purple tungsten ground. Without Viper's commanding it, the Heart Piercing Snake had lost its combat strength. Upon being thrown to the ground like this, it merely sprawled on the ground.

Following that, Yi Yun aimed right at the Heart Piercing Snake's triangular shaped head and smashed down at it.

"Pfft!"

The Heart Piercing Snake's head turned into bloody meat paste. Although this snake now lacked a head, its body was still struggling.

Wen Yu and company were completely stupefied on seeing what happened during this duel. Only one word appeared in their minds, brutal!

With the brick in hand, Yi Yun was a brutal erratic demon.

Sun Long and Viper, who had both gone up against him, were both smashed beyond recognition with just a few brick attacks!

After taking care of the Heart Piercing Snake, Yi Yun walked towards Viper with the brick in hand.

Although Viper had not fainted, the bone on both sides of his face could be seen. His eyes were completely covered in blood and he could not see anything, but he could still hear Yi Yun's footsteps.

The footsteps for him sounded as if Death was approaching, making him horrified.

This person was a demon!

Viper, who had always abused others, had suddenly gone from being the abuser, to becoming the abused. His fear reached an extreme point.

"Are you not admitting defeat?" At that moment, Yi Yun's voice reached Viper's ears.

Viper felt as if he had been granted amnesty. His jaw had been beaten off so he was still unable to speak. He quickly sent a Yuan Qi voice transmission to Yi Yun, "Sto… Stop… I admit defeat..."

"Oh? Still not admitting defeat?" Yi Yun ignored Viper's Yuan Qi transmission. How could it be admitting defeat without saying it personally?

Yi Yun firmly raised the metallic brick.

Viper was frightened out of his wits. If this brick were to slam down, such as hitting his head, he would die.

He did not wish to die here.

"Stop… Stop! I… I will tell you about the people who want to harm you!" Viper pleaded with a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

"Oh?"

Upon hearing Viper's words, Yi Yun slowed down his attack, "Speak!"

"It was two black-cloaked people. They conceal… concealed their looks. Their voice… voice also changed, but… one of them only had one arm..."

Viper used his Yuan Qi to intermittently describe the characteristics of the two cloaked people from yesterday.

After Yi Yun heard this, the corners of his mouth curled upwards.

One arm...

Yi Yun already knew who the cultivator with one arm that had a feud with him was.

As for the other person, although he was not sure about exactly who it was, he could make an educated guess that it was none other than either Li Hong or Yang Yuefeng.

Yi Yun kept the brick and stopped brutally attacking Viper.

According to the competition's rules, he could not purposely cause the death of others and could not purposely cause the person to become permanently disabled.

Now, Viper had lost all ability to resist. If he were to continue abusing him, it would not be against the rules, but he could not kill or permanently disable Viper.

If so, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom would not turn a blind eye to it. It would also not be easy for the Tai Ah Divine City to protect him.

As such, Yi Yun decided to leave it as it was.

"Stage Eight, Yi Yun wins! He defeated the opponent's leader, winning two seats!"

The law-enforcer announced the battle's outcome.

This was the first round that ended in the alliance competition. It was also the first seats that got an owner.

The speed at which this battle ended was so fast that it felt like it was an exaggeration.

As Yi Yun walked down the stage, Wen Yu and company were still in a daze. They felt like all that happened just now was a dream.

They knew that Yi Yun was not simple, but they never expected that Yi Yun would be so violent. To finish Viper with a brick!

And the 'Tai Ah Sacred Technique' that Yi Yun displayed at the end stunned them even more.

True Martial World - Chapter 315: Poison-elemental Laws

"Yi Yun, meeting me is bad luck on your part. I will make you remember this battle for your entire life!" Viper said in a Yuan Qi voice transmission to Yi Yun before the battle began.

Yi Yun slightly frowned. Viper had been aiming at him from the beginning. It was definitely not because he had beaten up Sun Long, otherwise he would not have taken the initiative to set up the challenge.

"Why are you targeting me?" Yi Yun asked with a Yuan Qi transmission. He did not believe that Viper was interested in him solely because he was the last rookie ranking competition's champion. Viper was obviously a very arrogant person, so he would never have taken interest in a person that was a level lower than him.

Yi Yun was suspecting that there was someone behind Viper deliberately targeting him.

"Hehe, you still have time to think about this. It seems that you still do not know your situation. In a while, it will be me torturing you. If you were to admit defeat now, there would still be time. If you don’t, I will first make you unable to speak, then I will make you suffer a hundred times worse than Sun Long!"

As Viper said this, a law-enforcer who was made referee especially for the battles between the leaders asked the two of them if they were ready.

This law-enforcer was a Tai Ah Divine City person. He was mainly asking Yi Yun because he realized that Yi Yun had yet to take his weapon out noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

"I am ready."

Yi Yun nodded and casually loosened his wrists, waving the brick which was still dripping with blood.

Oh?

The law-enforcer became momentarily stunned. Yi Yun was planning to fight like that?

Not only the law-enforcer, even the people behind Yi Yun, like Wen Yu and company were stunned as well. They felt that, due to the difference in cultivation level, Yi Yun would find it difficult to win against Viper, yet he chose to not take out a weapon?

"This kid sure makes one worry!"

Not far away, Cang Yan was at a loss of whether to laugh or cry. This kid, Yi Yun, had chosen the 'Myriad Beast Totem' as his totem mystic technique and went into the sword tomb after learning from the saber tomb. Now, he was using a brick to go against a Yun Long Divine Kingdom genius whose cultivation was a level higher than his.

Were these things a normal person would do?

Viper laughed heartily upon hearing Yi Yun, "Is your brain normal? You actually do not want to use a weapon to go against me?"

Yi Yun said with a smile, "Who told you that this isn't my weapon? I've said it before, my saber is only to be used against opponents that are worthy of respect or formidable. Against scum or retards, the brick is sufficient."

Yi Yun's words made Wen Yu and company hold their breaths. Viper was already a lunatic, yet Yi Yun purposely provoked him. If Viper were to really get mad, the outcome would be unpredictable.

Viper's face started to tense up as his pupils turned into the shape of a spindle, like that of a snake. "I see… you wish for me to send you to the netherworld!"

"Whew!"

Viper charged forward. His speed was extremely fast and his body seemed to lack bones as he moved forward while sticking close to the ground. He was like a python that was moving forward quickly!

It was the first time for many to see such a weird movement technique.

"Die!"

Viper swiped forward with his claw. His weapon was also a metallic claw and his swipe came from the top heading downwards. His attack’s target was Yi Yun's chin!

If it were to dig in, the metallic claw would pierce through the chin, stabbing into Yi Yun's mouth and tearing apart his tongue. This would naturally prevent Yi Yun from speaking.

Viper was fulfilling his words, attempting to prevent Yi Yun from admitting defeat.

Yi Yun's gaze turned cold as he raised the brick in his hand and smashed it at Viper's claw!

For a brick to go against a metallic claw, a blunt weapon like the brick would naturally hold a greater advantage. However, at that moment, the venomous snake that was resting on Viper's shoulders suddenly flew out towards Yi Yun’s chest in an attack.

Heart Piercing Snake!

Yi Yun had a deep impression of this snake. A few days before he went out into the Divine Wilderness, about a year ago, a three-man cultivator team had been completely obliterated because they had misidentified a Heart Piercing Snake as a Golden Line Snake.

This Heart Piercing Snake was an extremely dangerous desolate beast. Yet, how could Viper control a desolate beast? Yi Yun had the impression that it was extremely difficult for humans to tame desolate beasts!

Yi Yun did not have time to think about it too deeply. Just as the Heart Piercing Snake was about to bite at his heart, he quickly retreated.

However, Viper swiftly followed him as a grin flashed from the corner of his lips, "You're finished!"

Viper's murderous Qi exploded and then merged into one with his Yuan Qi, turning into a visible black air flow. This air flow covered Yi Yun's surroundings like a lock, sealing every direction that Yi Yun could use to dodge!

"Let me see how you will dodge this!"

Viper thrust his claw at Yi Yun and at the same time, the Heart Piercing Snake on his shoulders went straight for Yi Yun's mouth. It wanted to swallow Yi Yun's tongue!

Almost at the same moment as the Heart Piercing Snake was about to bite Yi Yun, his body suddenly twisted bizarrely and thick layers of after-images appeared. Yi Yun's body seemed to suddenly transform into a flexible swift, shuttling through the air without any resistance.

Large success stage of Minute Subtlety!

"Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!"

Yi Yun abruptly changed directions in the air and went through the murderous Qi lock using an incredulous trajectory! He dodged more than ten of them continuously, upon reaching the last few that he could not dodge, he smashed at them with his brick.

"Peng Peng Peng!"

Three of the murderous Qi locks were broken by Yi Yun!

"Hiss!"

Suddenly, the hissing sound of the venomous snake came from behind Yi Yun!

This Heart Piercing Snake was like a maggot, following Yi Yun without being shaken off.

Its speed was extremely fast, almost like a beam of light. However, Yi Yun did not even look at it, for in his energy vision, he could perfectly grasp the Heart Piercing Snake's attack trajectory!

Yi Yun sent out a brick attack!

"Peng!"

Yi Yun's brick heavily hit the Heart Piercing Snake's triangular-shaped head!

With a loud moan, the Heart Piercing Snake was sent flying by Yi Yun!

"What?"

Seeing the Heart Piercing Snake fly out and how most of his murderous Qi had been dispersed by Yi Yun, Viper was greatly alarmed.

By using such a blunt weapon in hand, Yi Yun's attack speed should have been greatly limited, so with the Heart Piercing Snake being as quick as lightning it was completely unexpected that it would be smashed by Yi Yun's brick!

Viper's spindle-shaped pupils stared at Yi Yun, a flash of shock appeared in his eyes.

The two of them had only exchanged blows for a few seconds. Many of those watching did not even have time to react to what was going on, it was so fast that people like Wen Yu and company did not even see the process of them exchanging blows.

They could only feel that the battle was intense enough to take their breaths away.

"Senior Yi is amazing. He isn't at a disadvantage at all!" To Wen Yu and company, to not be disadvantaged against a Yuan Foundation realm expert was an extremely amazing feat.

"Senior Yi hasn't even used his saber!"

Yi Yun's team of rookies were all bright-eyed.

It was a great mistake to think that Yi Yun would be weak with the brick, even though he did not use his saber to deal with Viper.

As Yi Yun had said, the brick was also his weapon.

Viper's expression turned sullen from this first exchange of blows. He originally thought that victory was his, he never expected that Yi Yun would be able to counter attack and even injure his Heart Piercing Snake.

He felt that it was humiliating that despite him being at the Yuan Foundation realm when going against a peak Purple Blood realm opponent, who was one year younger than him, he could not brutally kill him in one move.

"Hiss–"

The Heart Piercing Snake, who had been hit to the ground by Yi Yun, climbed back onto Viper's shoulders while spitting out its tongue.

Upon seeing this, Yi Yun was alarmed. The Heart Piercing Snake had received a heavy blow on its head, yet it was able to withstand it and did not die.

This snake was stronger than a typical Heart Piercing Snake!

"Phew–"

At that moment, the Heart Piercing Snake emitted green Yuan Qi. It was like the miasma that arose from a swamp. The Heart Piercing Snake's body began to emit crackling explosive sounds as a layer of scales grew on its body. This layer of scales were extremely sharp looking almost like blades.

"This is..." Yi Yun was shocked. How could the Heart Piercing Snake transform?

And this feeling was as if it was… an Aspect Totem!

"Kid, the Heart Piercing Snake on Viper is actually a puppet made from the corpse of a Heart Piercing Snake. And Viper's Aspect Totem is also in the shape of a snake. He has combined his Aspect Totem and puppet into one body. He is going to use his real abilities now, be careful!"

At that moment, Cang Yan's Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in Yi Yun's ears.

Heart Piercing Snake puppet? Combined with an Aspect Totem? There was such a technique?

Yi Yun was alarmed. The path of martial arts did indeed have many roads. There was no lack of different sorts of battle techniques.

Viper roared as green smoke appeared from his body. The purple tungsten stage below his feet began to emit "chi chi" sounds the moment they were stained by the green gas. Holes were eroded out where the gas met the stage.

Such a powerful poison?

Many people held their breaths. Even the purple tungsten metal corroded from it. If it touched a person's body, everything would have been burnt off before it even reached the bone!

"Yi Yun, you are indeed very strong. To force me to use my Aspect Totem and poison laws is impressive." Viper approached Yi Yun step by step as he planned to use the poison to corrode Yi Yun's body.

Yi Yun remained silent as he loosened his wrists and turned the metallic brick in his hand.

"You still aren't using your saber. You really are courting death!" Viper raged. For him, as a Yuan Foundation realm warrior, to fight against Yi Yun's who was at the peak of Purple Blood realm, it was undermining his title of a genius. He never expected that even after he used his Aspect Totem, Yi Yun would still not use his saber. Even if he were to win, it would be disgraceful.

"I've said before. My saber is only to be used against opponents that are worthy of respect or formidable. You, as a scum, are only worthy of a brick."

Yi Yun's voice was nonchalant. Around the stage, Wen Yu and company gaped when they heard him, they were speechless. At that moment, Viper had presented all of his techniques, yet not only did Yi Yun not use his saber, he was also repeatedly cursing Viper as a scum.

"Stop provoking him any further..." Wen Yu said in her mind. She had seen Viper's complete information and knew of his character. This person was perverted and cruel. She was afraid that Viper would use some sort of cheap shot in this battle, causing Yi Yun an incurable injury.

"I will corrode your flesh and blood cleanly, bit by bit!"

Viper roared as both of his metallic claws turned into a misty green. The entire eight stage was covered in green smoke.

This green smoke was ten times stronger than the miasma of Blackwater swamp!

Warriors could endure the swamp's miasma for short periods of time, but in this green smoke, even weapons refined by masters would start to corrode.

Those who practiced the poison-elemental laws would have to swallow all sorts of poisonous things, changing their Yuan Qi into a highly toxic Qi.

There were even legends that said that when the poison-elemental laws reached the highest levels, they could make all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the world become an extremely toxic Qi, corroding an entire world, transforming it into large tracks of toxic marshes that caused death!

All the toxic gas gathered towards Yi Yun. This was an attack a metallic brick could not block against!

True Martial World - Chapter 314: Against Viper

"Ah, ah, ah..."

Sun Long rolled on the ground. A warrior's strong mentality usually prevented him from fainting, but Sun Long was not far from doing so.

His left hand and leg were not much different from a frog's limbs. They had been completely flattened.

Being smashed by a metallic brick like that was much more painful than being slashed by a claw's blade. Also, the injuries were ten times more severe. Even if he was to be healed with various good medicines, it would take at least half a year for Sun Long's hand and leg to regain their Yuan Qi.

To young geniuses, half a year of time was too precious. It would, to a certain extent, affect Sun Long's future growth.

"You actually dare to say that you cultivate the laws of killing. That is an insult to this Great Dao!" Yi Yun sneered.

The Dao of Killing was one of the Great Dao and it ranked high amongst the 3000 Great Dao. It was ranked above the five element laws, and it was not weaker than the pure Yang Dao.

Sun Long had only gathered some killing Qi, he could at best be described to have a killing aura. He was far from the actual Dao of Killing!

Behind Yi Yun, Wen Yu, Xiao Zhen and company were too shocked for words. What just happened only took a few seconds. The mighty Sun Long was turned into something like a dead dog in a few seconds, so they could not react in time.

"This..."

Xiao Zhen swallowed mouthfuls of saliva. He had even forgotten the pain of his own body.

Yi Yun had returned everything Sun Long had done to him in a more severe manner. Everything had been done cleanly and easily.

"Senior Yi… is very strong!" A youth said, with an idolatry face.

One year ago, Yi Yun had taken first place in the rookie ranking competition and then, he disappeared. About ten months later, many people doubted if Yi Yun's strength had increased by leaps and bounds, or if it had stagnated over time.

As he had not fought in a long time, people inevitably had their doubts. That was to be expected, but now, they knew that their worries had been completely unfounded.

"He's not only strong, he's also ruthless!" Another youth said. It was not right for a warrior to kill the innocent indiscriminately, but against an enemy, one had to be ruthless, or one would only end up suffering.

"Senior Wen, Senior Yi's battle sure allows one to vent off one’s anger!" A youth said to Wen Yu. Wen Yu was in a daze, she was still unsure of what to say at that moment.

Beside Wen Yu, Xiao Zhen was tightly clenching his good left fist, as his eyes sparkled.

When people were in their weakest and most vulnerable state, it is easy for them to suffer a setback. However, at the same time, they are also easily inspired. This short battle had left an unforgettable impression in his heart.

Xiao Zhen was in such a stage. At the lowest point in his life, Yi Yun's relentless beating of Sun Long unquestionably left a long lasting image in Xiao Zhen's heart.

Xiao Zhen gritted his teeth and secretly made a resolution.

"Thank you, Senior Yi. I will work hard, and one day, I will use my own hands and be like you. Beating those who want to step on me until they turn bloody!"

However, Yi Yun, who was still on stage, did not pay attention to the psychological changes that Xiao Zhen was experiencing.

He was looking straight at Viper while nonchalantly wiping the blood off the brick. After he came to this world, he was getting more and more used to the rules of the warrior world.

Viper had an extremely ugly expression on his face. His amber eyes were filled with killing intent.

"You… have guts! I will let you know the cost of ignoring my words!"

Just now when he shouted, "Stop it", not only did Yi Yun not listen to him, he had even looked back at him as if nothing happened, after he beat Sun Long up.

The look he gave provoked Viper!

Even though he had his services bought by someone with desolate bone relics, he would still go all out to cripple Yi Yun, hopefully killing him.

"You sure speak a lot of nonsense. Are you going to fight personally? Or are you going to send some more henchmen up here to die?"

Yi Yun was still on the stage, looking down on Viper. The Yun Long 72 Pagodas cultivators sitting besides Viper were all enraged. They seemed like they all wanted to rush up and dice him up.

However, they could only look fierce. If push came to shove, they all knew that they would suffer a crushing defeat in less than two moves.

Yi Yun was very strong!

Although they all despised the Tai Ah Divine City's cultivators, they had no choice but to admit that this was true.

Viper's pupils constricted. The snake on his body spit out its tongue as it hissed.

"Interesting!" Viper grinned as he walked up on stage.

The audience around the eighth stage became dumbfounded.

It was too exaggerating for the eighth stage's matches. The other stages had not even finished their first two battles, but the eighth stage had already finished fighting two battles, and the leaders were already going up to fight against each other!

It was too fast.

Although Yi Yun's performance just now was outstanding, Wen Yu and company were worried for Yi Yun as he went up against Viper.

The reason was because of the difference in cultivation level!

According to the competition's rules, if the gap in their ages exceeded a year, the older person had to suppress his cultivation level. If the difference was larger than two years, the cultivation level had to be suppressed even more.

For every full year, the cultivation level had to be suppressed by one grade. Only then would it be a balanced competition.

Yi Yun was slightly over 14 years of age and Viper had just turned 15. The difference in their age was just one month short of a year.

As a result, Viper did not need to suppress his cultivation level. And between the two of them, there was the border that separated the peak of the Purple Blood realm and the Yuan Foundation realm, which made this match extremely unfair!

For a warrior at the peak of the Purple Blood realm to fight a Yuan Foundation realm warrior, it would be nothing if the other party was mediocre. Many of the Tai Ah Divine City disciples would be able to do so.

However, the opponent was Viper!

Not only was he a genius, he was also extremely ruthless! With the dispute from before, there was no doubt that Viper would be attacking Yi Yun with death blows.

The hearts of Wen Yu and company were pounding.

"Senior Yi, be careful." Wen Yu said silently below the stage. Her hands were clasped tightly together, indicating how nervous she was.

At that moment, people from not far away had begun to pay attention to the match of the eighth stage.

"What's this? They are going to start just like that...?"

Cang Yan was originally sitting at a table drinking wine.

Seeing Yi Yun take on Viper, he put his cup of wine down.

Yi Yun's talent was shocking, but he lacked time. Cang Yan was very concerned about this match. He pushed away his chair and walked towards the eighth stage.

Cang Yan did not know how Yi Yun's fight would end. After all, his opponent was a Yuan Foundation realm genius. He went closer to the eighth stage, so that, in the event of Yi Yun losing, he could save him.

As for the rules, old man Cang couldn't care less about them. Protecting Yi Yun was of the utmost importance.

Not only Cang Yan paid special attention to this battle, not far away, Li Hong, Yang Haoran and company had also noticed the match on stage eight. The leaders were beginning their duel.

"It has begun! Yi Yun against Viper!" Li Hong sent Yang Haoran a Yuan Qi transmission. Yang Haoran grinned because he had been waiting for this moment.

Yesterday, he had taken the huge risk of looking for Viper because he valued Viper's ruthlessness and strength.

Viper could bypass the limitations of the rules while fighting against Yi Yun, so it was just right.

"So what if Yi Yun is a genius. Without the time to develop, it is pointless! Viper will definitely leave an unforgettable mark on Yi Yun!"

True Martial World - Chapter 313: Taste of Your Own Medicine

"What the heck?"

Xiao Zhen's team members below the stage were extremely alarmed. Xiao Zhen supposedly dodged Sun Long's attack, so how did he get hit?

This slash on his face by the claws was too terrible. His face had been ripped open, it looked like even his bones might have been slashed through.

And behind these people was a sullen Yi Yun.

Sun Long was stronger than Xiao Zhen and could have easily defeat him, only leaving him with slight injuries.

However, that was not what he did. Instead, he first indicated where was going to attack, allowing Xiao Zhen to be prepared, yet the attack still connected.

This was extremely shameful for warriors.

And to have one’s face ripped open, to the point of being disfigured, was a great humiliation.

Such humiliation happening at such an important occasion, under the attentive gazes of the various factions' important figures, was equivalent to stamping Xiao Zhen's face onto the ground.

It could even destroy Xiao Zhen's confidence in martial arts, giving his mind demons in the future.

Even if Xiao Zhen's wounds were to completely heal, the psychological impact would be hard to get rid off. Doing it like this was an extremely evil act!

"Xiao Zhen, admit defeat and come down here!"

Yi Yun stood up. The battle’s result was already obvious.

Originally, getting these young masters and mistresses, who had never experienced the cruelty of battles, to experience a little bloodshed was a good thing, but going beyond the limit was no good. If this carried on, it would cause demons to appear in Xiao Zhen’s mind, and these mind demons could cause Xiao Zhen to fail in breaking through in the future.

Xiao Zhen covered his face. His mouth and the right side of his face had been ripped open. He could not speak, yet he tried to open his mouth with great difficulty.

However, at that moment, he saw a blur in front of him and suddenly his right leg and right arm felt cold. Following that was an intense pain.

"Ah!"

Blood once more appeared as Xiao Zhen tumbled out. His right hand and right leg's tendons had all been cut apart!

Sun Long licked the blood off his metal claws and wantonly laughed, "Hahaha, I said that I would break the tendons of your right leg and hand, how can I break my promise? I am a man of my words."

Xiao Zhen's team members fumed with anger when they heard Sun Long. He was going too far by bullying others to such an extreme!

According to the alliance ranking competition's rules, as long as there was no intent to cause death to the other party, or to deliberately cause permanent disability to the other person, it would not be breaking the rules.

However, "deliberately" was something which was hard to define.

This rule was filled with loopholes. Besides, Sun Long cutting Xiao Zhen's tendons would not create a permanent disability as they could be healed with good medicine.

However, the damage inflicted to Xiao Zhen's psyche and the humiliation he experienced would be hard to cure.

"What a pathetic sight!"

Sun Long shook his head as the cultivators from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom behind him all began to laugh.

"This is a Tai Ah Divine City warrior? He’s no different from a dog. Being placed on par with us from the Yun Long 72 Pagodas is a great humiliation!"

As these harsh words reached Yi Yun's small team, Viper pointed a thumbs down towards Yi Yun.

"Weak!"

The team members present were all teenagers and they were all at the age where their self-esteem was at their highest. Being humiliated like this made them feel an understandable amount of humiliation and anger.

Especially Xiao Zhen, who had been seriously injured. His body was shaking. He really wished he could die in exchange for a victory in battle.

Yi Yun turned silent. He calmly looked at Sun Long on the stage, "Your name is Sun Long?"

"Yes, you better remember my name!" Sun Long smiled willfully. His chin raised slightly as he looked at Yi Yun with contempt.

Yi Yun lightly touched the ring on his hand and calmly said, "I already made him throw in the towel. Why did you carry on attacking him?"

"You made him throw in the towel? I need to stop just because of that? Who do you think you are? What a joke!" Sun Long looked at Yi Yun as if he was looking at a retard. "Just because you are a leader? Don't you know that in the competition's rules, only the opponent's own concession counts. Too bad he couldn't open his mouth just now! Hahaha!"

Sun Long laughed and behind him, Viper and company also laughed.

"Tsk, your gaze looks terrifying."

Sun Long looked at Yi Yun and knew that there was killing intent in Yi Yun's calm eyes. Yet, he did not feel any fear, "Who's the next one? Come on up. Should I rip the left side or the right side of your face?"

"You are courting death! I will seek revenge for Xiao Zhen!"

The Tai Ah Divine City's youths were weaker in their stance, but being hot-blooded and because of Sun Long's provocation, they could no longer endure it.

A youth pressed the edge of the stage and was about to jump on up but was stopped by Wen Yu.

"You are not his match. Going up will just make him show off more!"

Wen Yu gritted her teeth. She was prepared to go up to fight Sun Long herself. Actually Wen Yu also felt immense pressure, her opponent was also older than her.

"Tsk! What a pretty girl. You want to come up? If I were to rip open such a pretty face, it will be an interesting event."

Wen Yu became even more enraged at Sun Long's words.

However, at that moment a voice transmission from Yi Yun reached her ears, "Your mind is already in chaos due to his provocative words, even before going on stage. If you were to fight like this, the chances of winning will be lower than losing."

"I..."

Wen Yu looked towards Yi Yun and felt some grievance. She felt that if he had not accepted the challenge from such a abnormal team, they would never have been in such a state in the first place.

"Stay put below the stage."

With that said, Yi Yun walked up the stage.

"Senior Yi!"

Wen Yu froze. A team’s leader was supposed to be the last to go on stage. If they went on stage early and was defeated, they would lose completely. It was similar to using the King piece to charge into battle in chess.

She did not have time to stop Yi Yun. At that moment, Yi Yun had already walked before Sun Long.

Sun Long looked derisively at Yi Yun, "To think you can be a leader. You can't even hold your own temper. Once you are up here, you can't leave!"

Viper, who was behind Sun Long, also looked dismissively at Yi Yun. As a leader, he was not supposed to be so irrational as to go up on stage like this. The two cloaked men yesterday were actually jealous over such an idiot. That bag of desolate bone relics sure was easy to earn.

Facing Yi Yun, Sun Long casually loosened his wrists. The metal claws on his hands were gleaming coldly. Although he seemed to look down on Yi Yun, he was actually on high alert.

The two cloaked men yesterday had given them precise information on Yi Yun. Sun Long knew that Yi Yun was very strong, he also knew the various moves Yi Yun had.

Sun Long wished to fight against Yi Yun. It didn't mean much to defeat some random fish. Only defeating Yi Yun and obtaining the seats was meritorious!

"Where is your saber? Take it out!"

"Oh? You seem to understand me very well. To know that I use a saber, but… My saber is only used against opponents that are worthy of respect or formidable. Against scum or retards, I will usually only use another weapon..."

Yi Yun gently rubbed his interspatial ring, the corners of his mouth curled upwards, revealing a sinister smile.

This smile made Sun Long feel his heart thump. This smile looked familiar to him because he often smiled like that.

His face sank and gritted his teeth, saying, "I will let you know who’s the real retard!"

He was guessing on whether Yi Yun's other weapon was a bow or not. The information the cloaked men gave did mention that Yi Yun's two strongest weapons were the bow and the saber. It did not say anything else.

Yi Yun did not bother with Sun Long's retort and suddenly recalled, saying, "Right… Just now, you said that the competition's rules only allows for the opponents to concede defeat personally. If not, it will not be counted, right?"

Yi Yun asked, and before Sun Long could even reply, Yi Yun had extended three fingers, "Three moves. I will smash your face's left side, your left hand and your left leg!"

"You! You are courting death!" Sun Long turned furious. Yi Yun sure did not know what it meant to die, to use the words he used against him. Did he think he could do anything to him!?

Sun Long's body surged with murderous intent as his eyes locked on to Yi Yun. His body rushed forward like a cheetah!

However, just after rushing forward a few steps, the Yi Yun he saw disappeared suddenly!

Oh!?

Sun Long was greatly alarmed and at the next moment, he felt a cold feeling spread through his whole body. Yi Yun had suddenly appeared on the left side of his body like a ghost!

He subconsciously stabbed at Yi Yun's chest with his claw, but at that moment, he felt his head being pressed down by a hand.

This hand forcefully locked his head, and at that moment, another hand appeared. It was unknown when this other hand suddenly started holding a metallic, rectangular object in it.

Sun Long did not have time to tell what it was as he saw the metallic object grow in size till it covered his entire vision.

"Peng!"

There was a loud rumble. Yi Yun had used one hand to grab Sun Long's head and the other hand to ferociously smash the left side of Sun Long's face with a metal brick!

Yi Yun did not hold back with this brick. He slammed it down like he was using a ripe watermelon, smashing Sun Long's bones apart!

Sun Long's body trembled. He felt as if his head had been hit by a ten thousand pound sledgehammer. His eyes turned black as his ears rang and his mind went blank, and as if at that moment, he was isolated from this world. It was like his soul had been stripped from his body. noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

Shortly thereafter, an excruciating pain brought him back to reality.

Yi Yun had released his grip, and Sun Long was kneeling on the floor, vomiting.

"Puah!"

The food Sun Long ate and about a dozen blood-stained teeth were vomited out by him.

His teeth had all been knocked out by Yi Yun.

His limbs went cold while his ears and nostrils bled. The left side of his face had been completely smashed. A large portion of his facial bone now sank inwards.

Yi Yun coldly looked at Sun Long. "When mortals receive a heavy blow to their head, they will feel nauseous and vomit. I didn't expect you to be the same. Do you admit defeat?"

Yi Yun asked. Sun Long tried to open his mouth, but his chin's left joint had been broken and with his mouth that was completely smashed in, how could he speak?

"Oh? You don't admit defeat?" Yi Yun nodded, "I understand."

"Stop it!"

At that moment, Viper's cold voice rang in Yi Yun's ears.

However, why would Yi Yun care about him?

Yi Yun kicked Sun Long up as if it was a dead dog, sending him sprawling to the ground. Yi Yun raised the brick in this hand and smashed down, hitting Sun Long's left hand and then Sun Long's left ankle!

Sun Long gave a shrill. His hand and foot had been completely smashed into a bloody mess by Yi Yun!

It was an explosive fracture that turned it to smithereens!

True Martial World - Chapter 312: Humiliation

"You are asking about the guy whose body is full of tattoos?"

Yi Yun glanced at Wen Yu who was half a year younger than him. She looked a little weak, and since Yi Yun had little contact with her, he had the impression that she was just a very quiet girl.

Wen Yu nodded as she stared on with her watery, dark eyes. She looked at Yi Yun with hope, "Yes, Senior Yi, his name is Viper. You must have looked up his information before the battle, right?"

The opponent was just too terrifying, so she could now only hope that Yi Yun was stronger, even by just a bit. She was really hoping that Yi Yun had carefully researched their opponents, and that he only took on Viper's challenge because he had confidence in winning against him.

After all, Yi Yun was rumored to be the strongest person amongst the second year cultivators, at least a year ago. With such a halo around him, he should be reliable, right…?

Wen Yu thoughts were like this, but clearly Yi Yun was unaware of them. He shook his head, "Viper? Never heard of him. Is he famous?"

Yi Yun was not being arrogant. He had just been informed of the alliance competition the night before. Although Cang Yan had given Yi Yun some information, Yi Yun had only paid attention to the strongest people from the Yun Long 72 Pagodas.

There were a few people that Yi Yun really needed to pay attention to, or even be alert against!

As for Viper, he was clearly not within the circle that Yi Yun chose to pay close attention to.

Upon hearing Yi Yun's response, Wen Yu became dumbfounded. He accepted the challenge without even knowing anything about the other party?

She really felt speechless. She was together with Yi Yun in this match, and was there to shield Yi Yun from the challenges from others. As he was the leader, Yi Yun had the final say in who were the first and the last to go on stage.

As a leader, Yi Yun was crucial. Yet, he had not done any research on his opponent’s information, and accepted an opponent’s challenge casually, without even knowing how strong he was.

This way of doing things made Wen Yu sad to the point where she couldn’t even shed tears.

She opened her mouth, but the words she wanted to say would not come out. She had an extremely ominous feeling...

She turned over to look at Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu's groups. These two groups were having their own small meetings, discussing the choice of opponents.

As for Li Hong, this group that had practically already been given up, were choosing their opponents very carefully.

As Li Hong could not come to a consensus with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom in the choice of opponents, it had to be decided by drawing lots eventually.

Only on her side was it decided in a second by Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun, the leader who was supposed to be facing a mortal enemy, was closing his eyes while sitting at the participant benches. From the looks of it, it was good that he was not sitting at the birthday banquet's feast tables, or he would probably have begun eating.

Encountering this situation, Wen Yu felt as if her heart was being trampled by 10,000 near-horned beasts with mud-stained hoofs.

At that moment, the three juniors beside Wen Yu gathered over and apprehensively asked, "Senior Wen, Senior Yi should be very strong, correct...?"

These three juniors were in the same group as Yi Yun.

They were weaker than Wen Yu and were there just to make the numbers. They knew where they stood, so they were especially nervous with such a looming huge battle.

Wen Yu bitterly smiled. She could not impact the original tiny confidence these few juniors had. She bit the bullet and said, "Senior Yi should not be too bad. After all, he was the last rookie competition's champion. Juniors, do not worry. Let us do our best later."

After Wen Yu said this the three juniors seemed to ease up a little. They were however still lacking confidence needed to face the Yun Long Divine Kingdom opponents.

"Ah! Kid, you sure are confident!"

While Yi Yun was meditating, he heard a wretched voice transmission. Without even looking, he knew that it was Cang Yan, that unscrupulous old man.

"It is Senior Cang Yan who is confident. To give me such troops is to make me be the vanguard. That is also looking up to me."

"Hehe, do not try to take advantage of me. Do you want to use the pretext of forcing you to do something you are unwilling to do to gain some advantages from me? Don't keep thinking about me. If you fight well, the benefits given by the City Lord will be much more than I am able to give! He's so rich that oil flows out from him."

After saying a few words, Cang Yan became serious again, "Kid, do not think too lightly of your opponents. Your opponent is not weak. This snake kid is a tough person. Do not fail miserably at an easy task!"

"Got it." Yi Yun laughed. He was watching the competition's main referee walk up the Divine Wilderness Stage as he announced the beginning of the competition!

The few smaller group's competitions were held concurrently!

Yi Yun's side was just the younger group, so he could not go onto the Divine Wilderness Stage.

They were sent to the eighth stage.

At that moment, Viper seemed as if he was a cat looking at mice. He looked at Yi Yun with great interest. Indeed, he had the rights to being arrogant. These few batches of Yun Long 72 Pagodas disciples were filled with talents, and the quality of them exceeded those of the past!

And him, Viper, was still as outstanding as ever, even amongst all these experts.

If not for the 72 Pagodas recently having extremely strong batches, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner would never have suggested the condition of letting these juniors decide on the Yun Long Divine Kingdom's future.

"Sun Long, go on up. Take care of those small fish, and force Yi Yun's hand. I will then go on up to have a great time."

Viper laughed and completely did not take Yi Yun to heart. He was one year older than Yi Yun and his cultivation level was an entire realm higher than Yi Yun's, how could he lose?

"Haha! My hands have been itching for a long time. I can finally see blood once again. Who knows, maybe I will even get rid of Yi Yun!"

Sun Long put on his black iron claws and jumped up on stage. He was one of the backbones of the Viper clan, and usually followed Viper around, so his style was very similar to Viper's!

"Who's my opponent? Come on up!"

Sun Long grinned. He stretched out his tongue and gently licked the blades of his black iron claws. His expression was that of extreme evil.

For warriors, their stance was important. Sun Long's ominous stance made people feel fear just from standing before him.

"Senior Yi, who are we sending up?"

Seeing Sun Long, Wen Yu's heart thumped. It seemed that even Viper's henchmen were not to be trifled with!

This person was filled with murderous intent. He was more terrifying than any other person they had ever seen by a lot!

The cultivators present were mostly children in their teens. Although they were strong, they had not killed many in real battles.

"Up to you all. Pay attention to safety."

Yi Yun exhorted them. He also felt that Sun Long was not a person to be trifled with, but warriors who practiced martial arts would meet enemies in the future that were far more malicious than Sun Long.

These Tai Ah Divine City young seedlings had to go through slaughters to grow up too.

Ignoring other things, just the possible beast horde that might happen soon would be a baptism of blood. Unknown numbers of people would die in it.

It was best to suffer a bit now rather than losing one’s life in the future.

However, Yi Yun's orders made Wen Yu angry. What did he mean by "Up to you, pay attention to safety"?

Was this something a leader should say?

"Xiao Zhen, go on up!"

Wen Yu ordered angrily. Since the leader did not care, she had to take over.

Xiao Zhen was a youth of short stature. Hearing Wen Yu's words, he grit his teeth and jumped up onto the stage.

Before Xiao Zhen was Sun Long who was laughing sinisterly. "Tsk, sure is fresh. Let me taste… your blood!"

As Sun Long spoke, his body surged with murderous intent. With his Yuan Qi exploding, the claws on his arms turned blood-red in color. It was as if he had suddenly turned into an evil demon.

"I practice the laws of killing! The more I kill, the more my hands are stained with blood, the stronger I become! I have already forgotten how many people or desolate beasts I have killed up to this day. Even in a tournament, I am afraid that I cannot curb my urge to kill."

Sun Long laughed manically while Xiao Zhen's face turned pale.

He was a young master from a family clan. He had lived a pampered life since he was young. When had he ever encountered such a twisted person his own age before?

Yi Yun who was watching below the stage began to secretly shake his head.

To him, Sun Long was not big a deal, but the difference between his stance and Xiao Zhen's was huge. noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

This was because Sun Long and Xiao Zhen had different growing experiences. Secondly, the recent Tai Ah Divine City's batches were weaker than those of the past. As a result, when the Divine City's warriors faced the Yun Long 72 Pagodas' warriors, they naturally lacked confidence.

In this situation, even if their strengths were similar, it would be a completely one-sided battle.

Furthermore, Xiao Zhen's strength really was weaker than Sun Long's.

"Three moves!" Sun Long extended three fingers. "In three moves, I will open up the right side of your face! Then I will break your right hand and right leg's tendons! I like to attack my opponent's' right side, tearing their right side to shreds while leaving the left side in a good condition. Isn't that very interesting? Ahahahaha!"

Sun Long was extremely arrogant. After hearing this, Xiao Zhen turned angry. Did he think I am a weak and soft lamb to be slaughtered?

"This is going too far!"

Wen Yu clenched her small fist as her face filled with anger.

At that moment, Sun Long moved. He was extremely fast and appeared right before Xiao Zhen in an instant. He swiped at the right side of Xiao Zhen's face with a claw!

Xiao Zhen was greatly alarmed, but he was after all one of the best amongst this batch of rookies. Although his stance was weaker at the beginning of the battle, he was able to reveal his real strength due to his anger.

How could he let this opponent hit him wherever he liked? It was too shameful!

He retreated and at the same time stabbed his sword at Sun Long's palm.

A claw was considered a short-range weapon and was shorter than a sword. The longer it was, the stronger it was. Xiao Zhen believed that by stabbing like this, his opponent would either pull back his hand or his palm would be pierced right through by his sword!

However, as Xiao Zhen was stabbing, a grin flashed across Sun Long's face. His body twisted in an incredulous fashion and three claw beams appeared from nowhere.

"Ah!"

Xiao Zhen let out a blood-curling scream as blood splattered out!

These three claw beams had slashed across the right side of Xiao Zhen's face. His cheek, nose, ears and the corner of his eye had been ripped open by the claw blades. Three deep claw marks appeared on his face!

Xiao Zhen clutched his face. His hand was filled with blood and his eyes were bloodshot!

The flesh on his right face had sank downwards. Sun Long's attack was too ruthless!

True Martial World - Chapter 311: Leader

"What is the matter, Yi Yun?" Seeing Yi Yun stop for a while, Chu Xiaoran asked.

"No matter, it's just that some people are focusing on me." Yi Yun said without much thought to it.

"Focusing on you is understandable. The people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom probably know about your performance at last year's rookie ranking competition."

The main opponent of the Tai Ah Divine City was the Yun Long Kingdom’s 72 Pagodas. As for the Southern 10 countries, they were mainly facing off against the other smaller factions.

Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran walked to their seats and sat down. All the relevant Tai Ah Divine City's cultivators were gathered together, filling four large tables.

And Elder Cang Yan was sitting amongst them.

Yi Yun glanced at the people around the tables and he noticed Wen Yu, Qiuniu, Yang Qian and Yao Dao...

There were also Yi Yun's rivals, Li Hong, Yang Dingkun and Yang Haoran.

Yang Haoran may have lost an arm, but his strength was still ranked near the top of the the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators, so he was naturally selected.

But Yi Yun did not see Luo Huo'er...

"Oh? Luo Huo'er did not come?" From Yi Yun's point of view, with Luo Huo'er's absolute talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, her strength should not be too bad.

"Luo Huo'er said that she lacks talent in fighting, so she would not embarrass herself for the Tai Ah Divine City." Someone in the know said by the side.

Yi Yun was shocked when he heard this. Were these words that a girl like Luo Huo'er would say?

Yi Yun did not have time to think too carefully about it before Cang Yan started speaking at that moment, "Everyone listen up. I will be mentioning the rules of the big battle ahead."

"All the people fighting in our battle with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom will be split into eight groups. There will be four groups for those below the age of fifteen, and another four groups for those above the age of fifteen. A leader will be chosen for each group, while the remaining group members are forerunners."

"Each group's leader will hold on to two seats. Once the leader is defeated, the seats will be taken! Therefore, the leader's position is of utmost importance. As for the forerunners… their main role is to protect the leader. They are to take on challenges for the leader or used to probe the opponents' strength."

"Everyone can only fail once. Once defeated, they will not be able to fight again."

"Besides defeating the opponent’s leader and obtaining the seats, if you obtain first place in the under-fifteen groups, above-fifteen groups, and the overall group by defeating all opponents, then we will obtain additional seats!" Cang Yan finishing explaining the rules in a few words. Everyone could tell that only the leader could easily make meritorious contributions.

The others, although called "forerunners" euphemistically, they were, in actual fact, cannon fodder or stones used to scout ahead.

"First, I will announce the people who are leaders!" Cang Yan took out a scroll while the young elites present held their breaths.

The matches ahead meant a lot to them. It was far greater importance than challenging the Heaven or Earth rolls of honor.

"For the under-fifteen groups, the leaders are, Chu Xiaoran! Qiuniu! Yi Yun! And Li Hong!"

Cang Yan paused briefly after mentioning each name. When Yi Yun's name was mentioned, Yang Haoran clenched his fist. That kid was made a leader!

Although he hated Yi Yun, he knew that Yi Yun becoming a leader was a reasonable decision.

Amongst the four leaders, Li Hong was the weakest. But they really had no one else to choose from. They could not get Wen Yu or Lu Jie to be leaders.

Li Hong was after all, the best person amongst the Tai Ah Divine City's third year cultivators.

"Next will the above-fifteen groups' leaders, Yao Dao! Hua Yue! Fang Hai! And Yang Haoran!"

When Cang Yan announced the four leaders' names, everyone was shocked. What was going on?

Yang Qian's strength was just slightly inferior to Yao Dao and he was outstanding in the Earth roll of honor. It was surprising that he was not made a leader.

What was the reason behind Hua Yue, Fang Hai and Yang Haoran?

"I'm a leader, haha, I'm also a leader!" Yang Haoran was ecstatic. He felt that if he had not lost his arm, it would have been no problem becoming a leader. But after he lost an arm, it was impossible to become a leader.

Now, Cang Yan had chosen Yang Haoran to be a leader, allowing him, who felt gloom in his life, to finally gain some spirit.

As everyone was still trying to understand the reasoning behind the leader selection, Cang Yan took out another bunch of scrolls, "The leaders have been decided. Now, I will announce each group's forerunners..."

After Yang Haoran took his subordinate name list, he was dumbfounded.

There was no other reason. The people on his list were weaker than any of the other groups’!

They were practically people with average talent and they only managed to enter the top 30-40 of the Earth roll of honor with difficulty due to their age advantage.

These people were in other words, cannon fodder!

He, as a leader, was leading a group of cannon fodder?

Then wasn't he also cannon fodder?

After Yang Haoran looked at the other name lists, he realized that the strongest people amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s above-fifteen cultivators such as Yang Qian were all in Yao Dao's group.

The other groups were all given cannon fodder. And even though they were considered cannon fodder, the cannon fodder given to him were the worst!

He suddenly realized that he had been given up.

The upper echelons of the Tai Ah Divine City had placed all their bets on Yao Dao's group. Yang Qian and company may not have obtained the position of leaders, but they were able to guarantee Yao Dao's group a victory.

As for the rest, due to the rules, they were only here to make up the numbers...

"Actually treating me like cannon fodder!"

Yang Haoran clenched his fist, as the veins on his forehead went taut. The hate for Yi Yun became stronger after receiving this name list. If it wasn’t for his missing arm, how could he have ended up as cannon fodder!?

He swallowed his anger because with Cang Yan here, he didn’t dare show it. He was only hoping that the two people he found the other day would be able to cripple Yi Yun or even kill him.

While at that moment, Yi Yun had also obtained the name list of his group. The four forerunners were all first year cultivators. Besides Wen Yu being not that bad, the rest were only there to make up the numbers.

Cang Yan had purposely placed the stronger people under the age of fifteen with Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, strengthening their group's strength.

As for Li Hong, his group's strength was also not that great, it was on par with Yi Yun's. Clearly, it was another of those groups that had been given up.

As for why the slight stronger ones were placed in Li Hong's group, it was probably due to the Tai Ah Divine City's upper echelons fear of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom using similar tactics. If they were all cannon fodder, then if their own cannon fodder was too weak, losing to the opponent's average weak cannon fodder would be a huge waste.

In general, the upper echelons of the Tai Ah Divine City were confident in the under-fifteen groups, so they hoped that they would win more seats this way.

As for the above-fifteen groups, they only wished for one group to win. As for the other groups, they were completely given up on them without a second thought.

Li Hong felt gloomy seeing the names he had. He looked at Yi Yun's name list and his subordinates were not that great either.

But Li Hong did not gain any satisfaction from that. He had guessed the intentions of the Tai Ah Divine City's upper echelons. They probably trusted Yi Yun, so they sent weaker forerunners to Yi Yun, hoping that Yi Yun could turn the tide just by himself.

Li Hong gritted his teeth. "Those old fools sure look down on people! To treat us as cannon fodder and let Yi Yun be the hero. Heh! It's not so easy to be a hero!"

Li Hong looked at the Yun Long Divine Kingdom's side.

There, the snake youth was discussing something with people and looked to be talking jovially.

Seeing the calm snake youth, Li Hong insidiously laughed twice. "The Tai Ah Divine City's arrangements suit my wishes. Now my plan will be even easier to be carried out. Yi Yun, just you wait..."

After the groups were formed, the birthday banquet began.

The Tai Ah Divine City's City Lord was dressed in a blue shirt and he was seated beside the Seven Star Pagoda Owner in the seats of honor. He looked with a smile at the youths from the various factions.

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner was already informed of the Tai Ah Divine City's grouping methods and laughed, saying,"City Lord Yang sure has a strong nerve. You can still smile so naturally even at that moment."

"Same to you." The Tai Ah Divine City's City Lord responded.

"It seems City Lord Yang has gathered all the experts in one group. This method sure is clever."

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner's words sounded like praise, but it was clearly mocking the City Lord.

This tactic was not considered honorable.

The City Lord faintly smiled as if he never heard the Seven Star Pagoda Owner's mockery, and simply went with the flow by saying, "Thank you for your compliments. Everything is for victory, so there has to be some strategy in the assignment of troops."

"Unfortunately, against absolute power, any strategy is useless." The Seven Star Pagoda Owner's smile turned cold. "You will see my Yun Long 72 Pagodas' disciples sweeping the arena."

"Oh? Then I look forward to that!"

...

The atmosphere in the arena was all set for a showdown. The birthday banquet only had some symbolic dishes. Not many people actually used their chopsticks as all their thoughts were on the alliance competition.

Yi Yun took his group's four people to sit on the participant's benches.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom's people were sitting next to them.

At that moment, a youth whose body was filled with tattoos and had a snake wrapped around him walked towards Yi Yun.

"Yi Yun, right!? You are the leader, and so am I. This will be fun. I will be taking the 2 seats you have!"

Both sides could freely challenge each other in the match. The decision to accept the match was decided by the leaders from both sides.

If there was no agreement, then the opponents would be decided by drawing lots.

Yi Yun had already expected that the snake youth would challenge him, as for who to fight, he did not care.

Since someone had challenged him, he accepted it.

"Oh? Then let's see if you have the ability to take it over!"

When Yi Yun said this, Wen Yu, who was behind him, jumped up. Her expression looked bitter. You sure accepted the challenge too easily!

"That...Senior Yi, do you know who that is?"

As they were to fight in an alliance battle, people like Wen Yu had long did their preparatory work. They had sought information on their opponents.

This tattooed youth was nicknamed Viper. He was ruthless and very strong.

He had just reached the age of fifteen and his cultivation level had broken through to the Yuan Foundation realm. He was one of the toughest guys under the age of fifteen from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.

Wen Yu did not want to fight a sinister-like person like him as she felt that in front of him, she was like a mouse in front of a venomous snake. But her leader had agreed immediately to Viper's challenge.

This made Wen Yu sad enough that she couldn’t shed tears.

True Martial World - Chapter 310: Venomous Snake

The white gown that Yi Yun had changed into before entering the sword tomb was now tattered.

The gown was not dirty, but it seemed to have been cut by a sword's blade. Cut after cut made it look like rags.

Yi Yun's long hair was hanging loose while his face seemed to exude a faint smile. His eyes were bright they shone in the dark sword tomb as if they were stars in the sky, which gave a strange feeling.

It seemed the Yi Yun, who entered the sword tomb entered 9 days ago, was now different once again.

This difference was not easily described. It seemed like there was a change in his disposition as if a sword Qi had merged right into his bones, making it as if Yi Yun himself was a sword.

"Kid, you finally came out!" Cang Yan said disgruntledly.

"Uh…I was too immersed and lost track of time. How long have I been in there?"

"It has nearly been nine days. Kid, you really are planning on learning the sword?"

Cang Yan looked inquisitively at Yi Yun and he was wondering how much sword comprehension Yi Yun had gained in the past few days. But to Cang Yan, even if Yi Yun had gained some insight into a few sword moves, it was useless. A saber could do the same amount of damage as a sword could do, so there was no point learning both the sword and saber. It was a really pointless endeavor.

Yi Yun did not want to continue on this topic and he interrupted, "Senior Cang Yan, you previously said that you will let me challenge the Earth roll and as long as I get to the top 300, I can carry on cultivating the way of the sword and the 'Myriad Beast Totem'?"

Yi Yun indeed had plans to challenge the Earth roll. The people at the top of the Earth roll would receive dragon scale runes rewards monthly.

Cang Yan rolled his eyes at Yi Yun and sighed, "You sure have lots to challenge now. Alas, you still may not know that our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is on the brink of destruction…"

Cang Yan carried on by describing the situation of the Shepherd Boy to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was stunned when he heard this.

Shepherd Boy?

Cang Yan's description of the Shepherd Boy's appearance made Yi Yun recall the mysterious youth he met at the blackwater swamp back when he went out into the Divine Wilderness for training.

The youth was riding a cow and he was blowing a piccolo. The piccolo's sound seemed to contain a magical power that would affect one's state of mind.

This mysterious youth traversed the Divine Wilderness and the blackwater swamp, yet all the desolate beasts seemed to turn a blind eye. It was a leisure stroll to him in the Divine Wilderness as if he was entering and exiting a flower garden.

This youth, who looked amiable and even seemed to be likable, had actually stirred up a bloody storm in the western regions, killing countless people, and nearly destroyed the extremely powerful Shentu family clan?

Yi Yun was extremely shocked. Hearing Cang Yan's description, the Shentu family clan was stronger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

A family clan was stronger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom…

What sort of family clan was this?

And where were these so-called "western regions"?

Yi Yun sighed silently. Having come to this world, it seemed like he had some form of results, but compared to all those massive behemoths, he was still small.

Of course, this was not something he should think about now. He had to think about the big battle tomorrow.

Yi Yun was indebted to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. All his cultivation resources and cultivation techniques were mostly provided by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Yi Yun was a grateful person, so with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom facing a major crisis, he naturally would help as much as he could!

"Senior Cang Yan, does the Tai Ah Divine City have an armory? I want to choose a sword and a saber, to handle tomorrow's big battle."

Yi Yun's Thousand Army Saber could no longer be used, and the broken sword he obtained from the Pure Yang Sword Palace was of great importance, so he could not use it unless his life was in danger. It was best to choose a sword and a saber in the Tai Ah Divine City.

The Tai Ah Divine City's armory's swords and sabers would definitely be better in quality than the Jin Long Wei armory's.

Cang Yan looked at Yi Yun's harmless-looking smile and his heart thumped. He snapped, "Rotten kid, you are trying to take advantage of old me once again. You can choose some weapons, but it will only be a loan. If you were to win tomorrow's big battle, the weapons will be yours. If you don't win, hehe, it will be charged accordingly! Don't try grabbing my stuff just because of the big battle ahead."

Yi Yun grinned, "Okay!"

That night, elites from all over were gathered in the Tai Ah Divine City. They were saving their strength and adjusting their conditions, in preparation for the battle tomorrow.

However, while everyone was trying to condition themselves, in a corner of the Divine City, there were a few people who took advantage of the dark and gathered in a small courtyard.

"It's this person?"

Despite the night being dark, some warriors could still easily see in the dark.

At that moment, two men covered in cloaks were holding onto a portrait. On the portrait, there was a youth in linen clothes wielding a saber.

This youth was none other than Yi Yun.

"It's him…" The cloaked man's voice was hoarse, preventing others from recognizing his original voice. "Break his meridians. It would be best if you made him permanently disabled. If you can do that, we will give you great rewards."

As the cloaked man said, he flipped his hands and a black bag appeared in his hands. "This is the down payment."

"Ah!" A youth with a venomous serpent around his body took over a little black bag.

This youth was lanky and his ears were full of skull earrings. His face and body were covered in tattoos, which made him look extremely odd.

The youth's pupils were also amber in color and oval like a snake. Whenever he smiled, sharp teeth would appear in the corners of his mouth, giving a chilly feeling.

Standing beside the youth with the snake, there was a yellow-clad fat person. He noted with interest as he stroked his chin and reached into the black bag.

Shiny objects rolled out. They were like gemstones that glowed in the night.

They were all desolate bone relics!

"Top grade desolate bone relics!"

The yellow-clad fatty licked his lips, "Interesting. I am very curious about your identities. You guys cannot be people from our Yun Long Divine Kingdom. Could it be that you are from the same faction as this Yi Yun? Tsk, he sure is unpopular, to the point that even people from his own faction would buy a rival faction's people to maim him…"

"Don't worry about us." The two cloaked men's voice turned cold, going on high alert.

If this deal they struck was found out by the Tai Ah Divine City's upper echelons, there was a high possibility of them being crippled of their cultivation levels or even the death sentence.

"I warn you, this Yi Yun is not easy to deal with. Take care not to fail miserably at an easy task!" One of the cloaked men said.

"Hehe…do not think that we from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom are at the same level as your Tai Ah Divine Kingdom trash. He is just a kid that did not even enter the top 1000 amongst you people a year ago." The snake youth laughed sinisterly and kept the desolate bone relics.

"You…"

When one of the cloaked men heard the snake youth's arrogant mocking, he clenched his fists, almost to the point of getting to blows. However, he was stopped by the other.

"Then, we will rely on the two of you." That cloaked man said.

"Ha! This anger means that you are indeed people from the Tai Ah Divine City. Don't worry, I, Viper, am best at making vicious blows. I'll take on this business!"

In this competitive battle, death or disability was not uncommon. After all, in a duel with real sabers and swords, many of the moves were made with full strength!

Even in the internal battles of the Tai Ah Divine City, even when people tried their best to avoid a death battle, there would still be deaths in the arena.

In this battle against rival factions, the battles would be even more intense and more brutal.

"It's a deal!" The two cloaked men left silently.

The yellow-clad fatty was chewing on a bamboo stick as he picked his teeth, "These Tai Ah Divine City's cultivators sure are terrible. With a foreign enemy in front of them, they are still having their internal fights!"

"Hehe, jealousy and hatred are terrifying forces. They can cause a person to go mad, making them do things without considering the consequences. But this is for the best.

"Of course, it's up to you." The yellow-clad fatty did not mind.

"But who are these two people? They sure are cunning. They even disguised their voices." The snake man said.

"Hehe! One of them is one-armed. He thought that he had disguised himself well, but that fake limb did not have any Yuan Qi fluctuations, so how could that trick me? The Tai Ah Divine City may have many cultivators, but there are only a few of them with one arm. It would be definitely easy to find him."

As the fatty said, his lips curled into a sinister smile…

…

The next morning, the sky lit up and early winter snow fluttered above the Tai Ah Divine City. People from all over began to gather in the arena to participate in the City Lord's birthday banquet and also, the alliance competition. noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

The arena had been cleared up and tables for ten were placed all over the arena.

At the seats of honor, there were small tables prepared for the various large faction's legendary figures.

Fine wine and delicacies were placed on the tables. The scale of the birthday banquet was more than ten times better than the one seven days ago.

However, the arena had an additional deathly aura to it that lacked the elegance of the Splendid Room. Even the cutlery was made of black iron. They gave off a chilling feeling as if this was not a birthday banquet.

A special array was set up in the Divine Wilderness Stage in the middle. No matter how violent the battles were on the Divine Wilderness Stage, it would not affect the surrounding birthday banquet one bit.

But at that moment, many of the young elites present were not at ease enough to eat.

Of course, there were exceptions.

On the Yun Long Divine Kingdom side, there was a yellow-clad fatty who was grabbing roasted meat and tucking in, disregarding the fact that the birthday banquet had not officially begun.

Since all ties had nearly been broken, there was no point maintaining etiquette. Besides, how was he going to go on stage to fight if he did not have his fill?

Sitting beside the yellow-clad fatty was a lanky tattooed youth. A venomous snake was wrapped around his body. His eyes were like that of a serpent while he was in search of his prey.

Only when he noticed a youth in linen clothes walk into the arena did he faintly smile, with pick-like sharp teeth appearing at the ends of his mouth.

"Tsk, the prey is here. He sure is fresh and delicious."

As he said this, the fatty beside him raised his head and looked at Yi Yun.

"Eh! Indeed. Poor child, he still doesn't know that his own company has stabbed him in the back, hahaha!" The fatty laughed without control as his mouth was covered in oil.

While walking in the crowd, Yi Yun's eyebrows wrinkled. He felt that people were staring at him.

He did not need to turn his head. Just by opening his energy vision, he could lock on to the yellow-clad fatty and the snake youth in an instant.

"Oh? I don't know these two people. What are they staring at me for?"

Yi Yun subconsciously touched his interspatial ring, and in it were the weapons that Yi Yun had chosen yesterday!