45 Unchained Emotions
Meng's group followed right after Frozen Cloud Asgard's group who were soon enough welcomed by the heavenly sword villa's current villa master, Ling Yuefeng, and his wife Xuanyuan Yufeng. Meng couldn't help but notice how Ling Yuefeng was obsessively looking at Chu Yuechan while his wife was standing near him. Meng could feel that she was aware of her husband's feelings which made him capable of sensing hatred inside her building up towards Chu Yuechan.
On one hand, he couldn't blame Chu Yuechan after all, she has never seduced anyone of her own volition but on another hand, he also couldn't blame Xuanyuan Yufeng for her resentment, after all, she was one in a thousand beauty yet her stupid husband was constantly chasing after another woman.
Meng could already feel trouble arising and just because of a stupid husband who can't even make his own wife happy...Seeing this, he swore to himself that if he is to marry someone in the future, he will make sure to make that person happy in that marriage. As their clan wasn't famous they were just to be welcomed by heavenly villa's disciple but...
'Huh? Is that boy...' Xuanyuan Yufeng noticed that Meng was looking at her with a slightly sad look in his eyes while passing by with his group.
'Did he realize...? Impossible!' Xuanyuan Yufeng was slightly started after seeing a random disciple from another sect looking at her with pity in his eyes, she was quite a proud person which means that receiving such a look would make her feel extremely offended but she could somehow feel that Meng felt genuinely sorry for the whole situation, however, her previous thoughts immediately changed when Meng transferred his sight to her husband and for a split second, he stared at him with indifferent cold eyes.
'He is aware! This is so shameful...What should I do? I will get to know his name naturally during the Profound Strength Assessment.' Xuanyuan Yufeng started panicking a bit which didn't go unnoticed by her husband who asked her if she is feeling alright and she quickly nodded her head a few times while exchanging a few more "pleasantries" with the Frozen Cloud Asgard group. When she was finally able to look back at Meng, she no longer could see him or his group which made her feel slightly nervous.
The first day was just meant for the welcoming hosts and the real tournament would start tomorrow so Hengjun and Meng decided to discuss some strategies and stabilize their cultivation base. Meng also gave Hengjun numerous Recovery Pills as he might find himself in need of them due to his lower Profound strength. He will most likely be forced to keep using the 4th move, Tempest, which will always leave him in a dead exhausted state with depleted profound energy. Meng also warned him not to use it with more than 50% of his profound energy still in reserves.
.
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The next day, Heavenly Sword Villa's Sword Discourse Arena...
The main stage of the Sword Discourse Arena and the 30 other small sword arenas were all circular in shape. The main stage was 300 meters long and the small stages were around 60 meters long.
There was a little show of floating swords above the main stage before an elder from Heavenly Sword Villa appeared.
"This old one is Heavenly Sword Villa's Sword Baptizing Pavilion's Elder Ling Wugou. I am glad to meet all the heroes and outstanding youths today. I represent our Villa..." Ling Wugou continued his polite introduction before he said something that caught Meng's attention.
"This year's Blue Wind Ranking Tournament's witness comes from Profound Sky Continent's Four Great Sacred Grounds, Mighty Heavenly Sword Region's Elder Ling Kun! With Elder Ling Kun's strength and birthplace, I believe no one would doubt Elder Ling Kun's qualifications and authority"
'?! That man...he might be a problem. Even I won't be able to fight him. Still, what is someone from a legendary place like Four Great Sacred Grounds doing here? From the information I have gathered, I discovered that they usually don't meddle with other smaller sects...Heavenly Sword Villa is definitely somehow related to Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, that much is clear. But even if they are related, why would they send an elder from there to attend this small tournament? This is all too suspicious.' Meng thought that this entire set-up is quite suspicious but even if he discovered what is going on, there was no way he could just stop it or interfere with that Elder Ling's strength.
Everyone had completely different reactions from Meng's calm reaction and even suspicious thoughts. Everyone was all shocked to hear the name Mighty Heavenly Sword Region and the air at Sword Discourse Arena immediately became tenser.
Then, the rewards for the first 3 places were revealed.
1st place - Dragonscale Armor, Sky Profound Artifact
2nd place - 3 drops of Purple Veined Marrow Quenching Fluid
3rd place - 1 Purple Striped Dragon Heart Pellet
Hearing the rewards, Meng wasn't that interested as nothing really caught his interest but once Ling Wugou mentioned Heaven Basin Secret Realm, Meng's eyes shone a bit as he was finally interested in another realm/dimension he could explore. To him, exploring such mysterious realms was a much better reward than some Dragonscale Armor.
"Brother Hengjun, you need to get to the top 10 so we can explore that secret realm together. We might be able to encounter a few fruitful events there." Meng whispered to Hengjun who was sitting next to him.
"Top 10...that's a bit...I will try my best but I will still be fighting people that are the whole realm above me...I am not sure if I will be capable of entering the top 10." Hengjun replied with a bit uncertain expression.
Seeing his expression, Meng hanged his arm around Hengjun's shoulder while staring at the main stage.
"Have more confidence in yourself and Profound Art that you have been cultivating for the whole 7 months. Just don't go too crazy, catching Mighty Heavenly Sword Region's attention would be pretty bad. If you think you won't be able to win against someone without using Tempest at 60% or more energy reserves, just surrender." Meng said in a serious tone.
"I understand...that move is simply heaven-defying despite having some weaknesses. I think Father will be pleasantly surprised to see me using new and much stronger profound techniques. Brother Meng, do you think we can...?" Hengjun firmly nodded his head and asked without finishing his question as he was sure Meng knew what he wanted to ask.
"We will give it to others to practice but without the 4th move, only truly worthy and loyal to the clan may learn it, which means someone like your father will get the whole version." Meng nodded his head with a faint smile before retracting his arm.
After the exploration of the secret realm, there was supposedly also something called Demon Sealing Ritual which didn't interest Meng that much as it sounded more like a show. Still, Meng looked toward the gigantic sword at the center of the Sword Management Terrace and he could feel that it wasn't just a regular gigantic sword and maybe served as some kind of formation.
A gigantic Profound Assessing Stone stood in the middle of Sword Discourse Arena.
"The age of every single participating disciple must not be younger than sixteen, and must not be over twenty. Anyone not within this age range will be immediately kicked out. Now begins the lot drawing of the Ranking Tournament. Before the number is drawn, one must be tested for age and profound strength. Now, participating disciples called on by this old man, come up immediately for profound strength assessment and lot number drawing." Ling Wugou explained and finally the tournament was about to start.
'This will take a while' Meng thought while holding his forehead with an already tired expression as there were more than 500 different sects to be called out.
.
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When the Frozen Cloud Asgard sect was called out to come to the stage...
Shui Wushuang - 20 years old - 9th stage of Spirit Profound Realm.
Wu Xuexin - 20 years old - 9th stage of Spirit Profound Realm.
and
Xia Qingyue - 17 years old - 8th stage of Spirit Profound Realm.
Everyone immediately started whispering regarding Xia Qingyue due to her talent to reach such a level at such a young age. Despite everyone's shock, Elder Ling Wugou continued calling out.
"Heavenly Sword Villa - Ling Yun, Ling Feiyu, Ling Jie."
Ling Yun - 20 years old - 3rd stage of Earth Profound Realm
Ling Feiyu - 19 years old - 9th stage of Spirit Profound Realm.
Ling Jie - 16 years old - 6th stage of Spirit Profound Realm.
The first earth profound practitioner appeared which stirred up a little discussion once again.
"Blue Wind Imperial Family - ...Yun Che" And that was all which surprised everyone that Imperial Family chose to send only 1 participant.
Yun Che - 17 years old - 7th stage of True Profound Realm.
This was the first time a True Profound Realm appeared in this tournament and everyone immediately started ridiculing him, not giving any face to Imperial Family, however, despite that, Yun Che faced it all with a straight face while keeping his head high.
'Good progress but even better temperament' Meng nodded his head after seeing Yun Che standing strong despite the ridicule around him.
Still, seeing how much people dared to ridicule him aloud despite being from the Imperial Family, Meng narrowed his eyes, thinking about their own situation as Hengjun was even 1 stage lower than Yun Che.
"Iron Spear Clan - Su Meng, Tie Hengjun" Once they were called out both stood up and approached the stage.
"Huh? Brother Su and Brother Tie are both here?" Yun Che muttered with a surprised expression.
"I wonder how strong they are...They might be at True Profound Realm just like a brother-in-law." Xia Yuanba said to Yun Che with a smile.
Su Meng - 17 years old - 1st stage of Spirit Profound Realm
Tie Hengjun - 18 years old - 6th True Profound Realm
"..." There was a long silence before someone broke it once again.
"I thought that brat from Imperial Family will be the lowest one here but to think there will be someone of even lower cultivation, haha! This year's tournament is truly interesting!"
"They only sent out 2 participants, does that mean the strongest they have is at 1st stage of Spirit Profound Realm while the second strongest is only at 6th True Profound Realm? Haha!"
Once someone broke the silence, others joined in just as Meng already expected.
However, not everyone had the same reactions.
---Blue Wind Imperial Family's side---
Yun Che for example was staring at both with wide-open eyes and a frozen shocked expression, only his clear eyes were slightly shaking. He was surprised at Meng's progress but he was even more shocked at Tie Hengjun's progress. Tie Hengjun was someone who lost against him yet Meng who had a lower cultivation base at that time won the spar so he knew that Meng was somehow special, however, Tie Hengjun's progress was truly abnormal considering that Yun Che encountered a few fruitful events together coupled with his Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins and other cheats, he still just reached 7th stage of True Profound Realm.
'...Can I win against Su Meng this time? Or will it end like before?' Yun Che thought as he gained new cheats from Jasmine.
'...' Jasmine naturally heard his thoughts but she refrained from replying.
---Frozen Cloud Asgard's side---
"What?!!" Chu Yueli was the first one to cry out when she saw Meng's cultivation base. Although Chu Yuechan was surprised by his progress, she somehow accepted it after experiencing what happened inside that inn.
However, even Xia Qingyue who just recently received a great shock of seeing "Xiao Che" had her eyes wide open due to seeing Meng's progress. She had all her profound entrances opened which increased her cultivation speed yet she was still surprised at Meng's progress, she began suspecting "Xiao Che" from opening all of Meng's profound entrances too.
-----
As both were leaving the stage, Meng observed Hengjun's expression and saw that he wasn't reacting to any of the ridicules but then someone transferred everyone's attention to the rest of the group, mentioning that their strongest "Elder" who accompanied his juniors to protect them wasn't much stronger
Meng noticed that Hengjun's expression changed a bit after hearing people ridiculing his clan and father instead of just him.
However, Meng wasn't in any better state than him, he was the person who could wave off anyone who is talking shit about him but he harbored extreme hatred towards people talking ill about people he respects.
This was the first time Meng had to stop walking due to his unstable emotions. He clenched his hands into fists and they began slightly trembling.
"Hm, is he perhaps ashamed of his own fellow disciple how is even older than him yet much weaker? Haha, I wouldn't be surprised if he was" Someone said when they noticed how Meng stopped at the spot while looking down.
*Inhale* *Exhale* 'Good, just for this tournament, I will become the most arrogant person here' Meng calmed his raging emotions down and decided to simply show everyone the difference between them and his clan during the tournament.
"Brother Meng?" Hengjun looked at him with an uncertain expression. He knew that Meng wouldn't feel ashamed knowing his character but he was still worried about the reason why he stopped walking. In truth, Meng was using his Spiritual Sense to remember everyone who said even a word against his clan.
"What are you all arrogant about?" A low voice almost a whisper of Meng was capable to suppress everyone talking about them. They had no idea how he did that but everyone simply stopped gossiping and complete silence returned to the Sword Discourse Arena.
Everyone's eyes landed on Meng and when he raised his head a cold expression was revealed.
"I am sorry for the wait, brother Hengjun. I was busy remembering the ugly faces of those who insulted us. Let's go back." Meng said aloud with a bright smile in a completely silent atmosphere therefore everyone heard his words. They were immediately enraged but they couldn't do anything about it, still, they would get their chance in the arena, however, at this time they still had no idea what kind of hell was about to break out in the arena.
