12 Chapter 12- The Tournament (2)

Under the attentive gazes of the crowd, the sect examiner calmly proceeded towards the stage up and cupped his hands together as a sign of respect to the crowd. With a radiant smile, his horse devoid of excitement, said: "Today is the Royal Tournament to decide who gets to join the One Sword sect.Thank you everyone for coming to participate. Everyone here excited to watch the fights, so this old man shall not delay this competition any further, let us go straightaway to the main event."

As the last word fell from his mouth, Murong Juan, the genius with the highest cultivation base(middle Daitan Opening realm), looked at Xu Feng who was lining up to pick a opponent from the bamboo slips. He was interested in this genius with innate strength, and also some what jealous. Even he who's at the middle of the Daitan Opening realm can only muster a full force of 1000 pounds, but now this random commoner had 4/5 of his strength while he was a whole small realm under! Also, looking at how the women sent flirtatious glances towards this "pretty boy" caused great envy within him, usually whenever he went somewhere he'll be the centre of attention, but now this brat has taken it away from him.

"There are three platforms here, those who drew the front six numbers will pair up and start fighting.Remember to not go overboard and stop when your opponent admits defeat or faints." When all the participants had drawn a lot, the main examiner, a middle aged man releasing the aura of peak Core Reinforcement realm said with a voice filled with disdain and annoyance. Xu Feng knew how he felt, after all who would want to come to some backwater kingdom to find "geniuses" that barely exist...

Xu Feng glanced at the bamboo lot in his hand, painted on it was the black figure of the number 'four'. Without the slightest hesitation, he straightaway walked to the second fighting platform. After he had stepped onto the platform, a slim and curvy figure also climbed up, at which Xu Feng could not help but be somewhat surprised...

"Interesting, seeming like this shopkeeper from the Xiao family actually managed to flee to Inkstone city..." Xu Feng expressionlessly gazed at the breathtaking figure of Dongmei Xiao, who stood before him, with a smiling face.

"Sigh.. Why does my first opponent have to be this freak with innate strength...damn it" Dongmei Xiao thought miserably. After Xu Feng had punched with a force of over 800 pounds, she understood that the current Xu Feng is likely one of the top 3 strongest people in the competition. It was most likely that she was not even considered as an opponent for Xu Feng. Yet the lots had already been drawn, and Dongmei could only try her best.

Xu Feng shook his head, thinking: "She's already started to give up before the start of the match..."

Dongmei resigned herself to her rotten fate as she exchanged a glance, with this charming man in front of her. Below, seeing that the first batch were all on stage, the examiner waved his hand and shouted: "Let the competition begin!"

As the examiner's shout faded, the mood in the city square abruptly erupted into a frenzy. On the few stone platforms, figures flashed before finally colliding together with ferocity.

"He he! This is too easy!" thought Xu Feng.

Hearing the signal, Dongmei Xiao miserably chuckled as her body suddenly jolted. The jade like hands, hardened like rocks and emitted a icy aura. Following which she stamped ferociously off the ground and flew forward like a elegant swan.

As this amusing sight of a ant trying to stop a god was reflected in Xu Feng's eyes, he involuntarily broke into a laugh of disdain. In this moment, Dongmei Xiao's rapidly approaching body suddenly turned and a slender right arm rather violently lashed at Xu Feng.

"A low mortal grade martial art capable of turning Qi into ice?"

Xu Feng was somewhat taken back as he felt the wind from Dongmei's force. To think that a low grade martial art is capable of using elemental conversion! Yet to the current Xu Feng, just this little aura of ice was no threat. Even if the opponent practised peak grade god rank martial arts, it'll be weak in front of his Heavenly scripture...

Xu Feng's arm agilely stretched forward and unsheathed his sword, dodging his opponents palm before circling toward her back, placing the side of the sword towards her neck.

"Ah!"

Dongmei cried out as her now unstable self fell, but as she was about to land on the floor, Xu Feng wrapped his arm around her waist and carefully held her in place.

After a moment Dongmei stood up with a slight blush on her face, she had seen Xu Feng's dark crimson eyes, and had smelt the sweet fragrance of tea as he held her. But, nonetheless she had been defeated in a single sword strike. Dongmei Xiao then walked down the platform with a beating heart as the examiner announced Xu Feng to be the winner.

"As expected Xu Feng wins." though the examiner at the stage.

Below the stone platform, the main examiner grinned while shaking his head. Soon after, he shifted his somewhat excited gaze to look at Xu Feng. Although Dongmei could not be considered outstanding in the tournament, she had still managed to reach the peak of Qi Consolidation realm. Though the sword strike from Lin Dong had looked casual enough, the fact was that it had landed on the most vital spot of a person's weakness, showed Xu Feng's prowess at his sword skills.

After hearing the examiner's declaration, some of the gazes in the crowd also turned to rest upon Xu Feng. Although they were slightly flabbergasted, in the end they did not pay too much attention to what had happened. After all, Dongmei's strength was one of the best in the tournament, near the top. They all expected her to win, but now Xu Feng won. Not just that winning over her with a single strike is a very huge achievement.

Xu Feng did not take much notice of these gazes, his own eyes were calmly closed, he knew if he so wished he could easily trample upon anyone in the mid Core Formation realm, that's just one small realm away from the strength of the emperor...

Easily dispatching his opponent, Murong Juan also sent his gaze towards Xu Feng, while the corners of his mouth raised to form a sneer. His glance was filled with jealously as how Xu Feng attracted all the attention and how he held a beauty in his arms...

Xu Feng shot one glance at Murong Juan before withdrawing his gaze, in his mind Murong Juan was already a dead man.

When Dongmei left the stage, she also felt the glances of numerous envious women, who had wished to be caught by Xu Feng, the young man with the pretty boy of the younger generation. While noticing these glances, Dongmei sneaked a peek at Xu Feng with a reddened face, however when she saw how he peacefully stood there with his eyes closed, she felt somewhat disappointed.

Xu Feng did not meet any problematic opponents in the first round, thus after fighting 10 opponents, Xu Feng once again won all the matches with single sword strikes. Advancing to the top ten with nothing to write home about. Due to his easy victories in all the matches, Xu Feng did not reveal his excessively astonishing body strength, thus many people believed that he won with his seamlessly profound techniques.

In contrast to Xu Feng's quick and dull matches, Murong Juan and the princess had become the main stars in the tournament. From start to end, the two had beaten their opponents with dazzling moves. These overwhelming victories made everyone understand that the strength that these two possessed had by far exceeded the rest of the younger generation.

"I'm afraid that Xu Feng, this genius will loose, after all he even such a genius can't fight across realms" Seated in the front, the main examiner concluded inwardly.

While other's may not recognise the technique behind Xu Feng's sword strikes, he did as a late core formation realm expert he could clearly see how Xu Feng used the force from the rotation of his hips and transferred the power to his wrist before flicking his sword to gain momentum. This isn't some profound technique like what the masses thought, in fact its a simple sword strike perfected through hours of practise. Giving the examiner a favourable impression of Xu Feng, as he was a genius that is not only humble and modest, but also hard working. Nodding his head he smiled and glanced towards Xu Feng.

Xu Feng noticed this and returned the examiners smile. Then he smirked and thought "seems like my plan is working..." He was pleased that he had attracted the attention of the examiners, so now as long as he acted in the right manner, he would soon be able to find some backing. Everything Xu Feng did today has a reason. His single sword strikes are meant to show his determination and will towards the path of the sword, him holding Dongmei before she fell down like a gentlemen is meant to show his kind disposition, he closed eyes show his calm and humble state of mind... Everything was in his palms as soon as he stepped on the stage...