17 Chapter 17

It had been 10 days since the beginning of the tournament. The 5th to 8th place rankings were decided in the morning, and it ended with Xiao sect coming fifth, Burning Heaven Clan coming sixth, a disciple of Frozen Cloud Asgard was seventh and a disciple of Heavenly Sword Villa was eighth.

But since Frozen Cloud Asgard and Heavenly Sword Villa had secured places in the semifinals, they were guaranteed a finish above Xiao sect and Burning Heaven Clan. The one who had gone into the semifinals without being a part of any major sect was Yun Che, the dark horse.

The first semifinal began between Yun Che and Ling Jie. Everyone was very interested in this match. Ling Jie was the youngest participant, only 16 years old, and had made his senior from Heavenly Sword Villa give up without a fight in the quarterfinal. On the other hand, Yun Che was the one with second highest cultivation in this tournament but had not come from any major sect.

Would Ling Jie be able to use some superior profound art to close the gap in profound strength level and defeat Yun Che? Everyone was curious to see that.

Ling Jie smiled at Yun Che cheekily, "You are a genius, no doubt about it. But I won't give up so easily! I will give this my best and try to defeat you. Because I have someone to impress." He said the last sentence with a low voice, looking at where Cang Yue was sitting.

Yun Che smiled, chuckling inside, "I will also take this seriously then. And don't worry, I will personally play matchmaker for you both." He too said the last sentence with a low voice, winking at the end.

Ling Jie was overjoyed upon hearing this and looked at Yun Che in a new light. Then his eyes grew serious and he began emanating an aura of fierce determination. He took out a golden orange thin sword around 5 feet and 5 inches from a white jade sword case.

This sword released an extremely high sword force upon touching the ground, which was neither too fierce nor too aggressive, but brought along an incomparable piercing strength. The audience was startled upon seeing this and began paying close attention to the sword.

Finally they recognised it. It was the Celestial Yang sword, a Sky Profound weapon and one of the two most powerful swords of Heavenly Sword Villa. Ling Yun had made the other sword – Celestial Yuan sword – submit at the age of 17 years, but Ling Jie had made this one submit when he was 16!

The audience thought that Ling Jie had indeed closed the cultivation gap through this divine sword, and now the battle was in Ling Jie's favor.

Yun Che smiled at this and said, "I said I will take this seriously, so that's what I will do. Don't think you are the only one with a Sky Profound weapon." He took out the Dragon Fault from the Sky Poison Pearl and held it in both hands, taking the stance he had learnt from the Heavenly Wolf Hell God's Tome.

It was a colossal sword with a completely grey body. The sword's shape was twisted, as if it was an oddly shaped dragon bone. The sword's tip impressively displayed the shape of a ferocious roaring dragon. There was a young dragon's soul inside the sword, which made it give off a draconic aura.

Everyone was startled upon the appearance of this sword; they weren't expecting another Sky Profound weapon to make an appearance. The elders of Heavenly Sword Villa recognized the weapon and were the most startled of all.

"Isn't that Dragon Fault? It was the weapon of one of our elders who died a long time ago, right?"

"Indeed, it is the same one. How did he get it?"

"Dragon Fault is even more powerful than Celestial Yang sword. This match may be our loss after all."

Ling Jie was also staring at the heavy sword in stunned silence. Seeing this and hearing all the voices, Yun Che gave an explanation which was not false, but not completely true either, "I had been training in the Wasteland of Death for the past few months. I found this heavy sword there in the lair of a beast. The elder must have died there."

This was a reasonable explanation, but still shocked many people. Did Yun Che defeat the profound beast that was able to kill an elder of Heavenly Sword Villa?

Without further ado, the battle began. Ling Jie used various sword techniques of the Heavenly Sword Villa, but was unable to break past Yun Che's solid defense. Not that he would have been able to harm Yun Che even if he had broken past his defense...

After a few minutes of Ling Jie showing off his impressive sword skills and Yun Che constantly being on the defensive, he decided to end the match. When Ling Jie was at the perfect distance, he executed his Heavenly Wolf Slash, making sure to control his strength so that he didn't injure Ling Jie too severely.

The ones from Blue Wind Profound Palace had already seen this technique, but it was something new for everyone else. Ling Kun in particular found that he neither recognised this technique, nor could he see through its intricacies despite being an elder of Mighty Heavenly Sword Region.

The attack easily broke through Ling Jie's defense and sent him flying out of the arena, unconscious. Yun Che had won the round.

After being congratulated on making it to the final, Ling Kun gave him an invitation to Mighty Heavenly Sword Region as a disciple. He recognised Yun Che's genius talent, and was also interested in the sword technique he displayed just then.

Everyone was now looking at Yun Che with envious eyes. He was going to become a disciple of one of the Four Sacred Grounds of Profound Sky Continent, something they could only dream of.

But to everyone's shock and Ling Kun's dismay, Yun actually turned down the offer. He turned down an invitation to become a disciple of one of the Four Sacred Grounds – something unbelievable.

His reason? He of course gave a reason which was not only reasonable, but also satisfied one of the people he wanted to satisfy, "I already have a master. I cannot possibly worship someone else as a master, and for that reason I cannot join any sect. Blue Wind Profound Palace is alright since I don't have a master there."

"Hmph. You are very smooth, aren't you?" Jasmine snorted from within the Sky Poison Pearl. She was feeling very happy and satisfied though.

The next semifinal took place. Everyone had already assumed that Ling Yun was going to win. No matter how talented Qingyue was, she couldn't close such a significant gap in cultivation, something that was proven in the previous semifinal.

Qingyue however surprised everyone by revealing her real cultivation level at Earth Profound realm. She had been concealing her cultivation the entire time! Everyone had already seen an unprecedented genius in the form of Yun Che, who had reached 10th level Spirit Profound realm at 17, but Qingyue broke that record being at Earth Profound realm, also at 17 years of age.

Ling Yun was still in the lead even after this, but what happened next shocked everyone – Qingyue used a domain!

A domain was something only Emperor Profound realm beings could use, so everyone was indeed shocked when Qingyue used a domain at only Earth Profound realm. The battle was a very close one, but finally ended in Qingyue's favor.

Jasmine was also impressed, "Not bad, Yun Che. You have a talented wife. Even after gaining so many treasures and legacies, she still has a higher cultivation speed than you. But I guess this is to be expected from someone with a divine physique."

Qingyue's veil had been lifted during the battle and her face had been revealed. Upon seeing her beauty, Ling Yun had fallen in love. Just like his father, he too had fallen for an unattainable beauty from Frozen Cloud Asgard.

Unfortunately for him, Qingyue was not only from Frozen Cloud Asgard, but also was already married.

The final took place the next day between the dark horse Yun Che and the unprecedented genius Xia Qingyue.