Chapter 22 – Birth of the Black Horse

Hu!

Zhao Feng let out a breath as he sat down.

Zhao Feng was a black horse that appeared in the in the group contest. Using just his core ranked martial arts he had beat everyone in his way.

Even Zhao Chengang, who was ranked seventh amongst the outer disciples, had lost.

“I wonder how the other groups are going.” Zhao Feng’s eyes scanned across the other group. The preliminaries was split into ten different group, with each group having a fair mix of strong and weak disciples.

Apart from Zhao Feng there were many others who had won twenty matches in a row, so they were also able to advance straight into the next round. The fastest of them was Zhao Yijian from the second group.

Zhao Yijian’s sword was extremely fast, before his opponents could react it had reached their throats. In terms of speed to enter the next round, Zhao Yijian was even faster than Zhao Yue.

“Amongst the outer disciples, only the top three, Zhao Yufei, Zhao Yue and Zhao Yijian, are able to threaten me.”

Zhao Yue’s age was slightly higher, seventeen years old, and his muscular body seemed extremely big.

“Reverse Wind Fist!” One disciple of the third rank punched Zhao Yue, but the latter did not even move.

What!?

The disciple’s forehead started to sweat.

What defense!

Zhao Feng was slightly shocked. The full attack of a third rank could not even injure Zhao Yue a little bit. Zhao Yue must have trained in a high rank body strengthening skill to allow his defense surpass the damage dealt by the same rank.

At least Zhao Feng could not take on the blows from a third rank cultivator with just his body.

If Zhao Yijian was said to be fast and explosive, then Zhao Yue was the opposite. He was slow and his defense was impenetrable.

Zhao Yufei used softness to beat hardness. She would casually wave her hand and defeat the opponent. Every move of hers seemed flawless. She wore a purple robe and her beauty was outstanding. Those that watched her had a refreshing feel.

“Who is she? To have the strength of a quasi martial artist at such a young age.” Even a few of the inner disciples were attracted by Zhao Yufei.

“She’s beautiful and talented at the same time. When people like her enter the inner disciples, we won’t even have a chance.”

“She is still too young. Another two years and she might be able to be compared with Sun Feather City’s most beautiful girl, Qiu Mengyu.”

…….

Up to a certain point, more people focused on her rather than Zhao Yue and Zhao Yijian, who were first and second. This was mainly due to her beauty and talent.

Soon the ten groups each had a person win twenty matches in a row. The first group was Zhao Yue, second group Zhao Yijian, third group Zhao Yufei, fourth group Zhao Gan, fifth group Zhao Guang……

They were all ranked amongst the top ten outer disciples.

However, there was one unexpected person from group seven. Zhao Feng was a black horse that rushed out and took Zhao Chengang’s spot.

Apart from these ten people, not many others won twenty matches in a row.

The group contests kept on running until there were ten people left in each group. Using one days time, there was now a total of one hundred disciples left. These one hundred were the elite of the outer disciples.

The second day the one hundred people once again met at the Sky Martial Field.

Having rested for one night, Zhao Feng felt very energetic. He found that these matches had helped increase his cultivation to a certain extent.

“Today we will entering the second round of elimination! All of you are the elites of the outer disciples, but today, half of you will be eliminated, leaving fifty of you to enter the final tournament! Here are the rules……” A voice sounded throughout the field.

The one hundred contestants held their breaths as they listened to the rules.

The ranking was done by gaining points, everyone started with one point and every match they won would increase their point’s by one, with every loss one point would be deducted.

Finally, the fifty people with the most points would fight against the inner disciples.

“Start!” The judge’s voice sounded.

“Number one hundred and forty-four vs number twenty-six!’

“Number seventy-three vs number four hundred and twenty-nine!”

The ten different stages all had matches going on.

Many would admit defeat if they saw that their opponent was too strong. For examples Zhao Yue and Zhao Yijian, their opponents admitted defeat as soon as they saw them. They would rather conserve their strength for the next round.

“Number one hundred and eighty-eight vs number one hundred and sixty-nine!”

Finally it was Zhao Feng’s turn. His opponent was a black-faced youth of the second rank.

“I admit defeat!” The black-faced youth saw that it was Zhao Feng so he immediately surrendered.

Zhao Feng was slightly stunned.

The black-faced youth had been in the same group as Zhao Feng during the first round, but they never exchanged blows.

Like this, Zhao Feng gained his first point and his tally went up to two.

Soon Zhao Feng met his second opponent. This time his opponent was a girl of the second rank.

“I know your strength is strong but I will not admit defeat.” The simple clothed girl bit her teeth.

Facing these type of weak woman, some would let her win on purpose.

“Flaming Metal Fist!”

The simple punch once again came and knocked the girl six metres back. One move, swift and simple!

Zhao Feng did not want to waste time as the opponent was too weak and would not help him improve.

I lost! The girl felt disappointed as she walked off.

“Hmph! Bullying weak girls, what is so cool about that?”

“Wait till I go on, I will take revenge for sister Xin!”

Zhao Feng’s actions caused some youths to look at him in disdain.

“Number one hundred and eighty-eight wins!” The judge looked praisingly at Zhao Feng.

The next matches were too easy. Zhao Feng’s points continued to rise.

“I give up!”

“I admit defeat!”

“Flaming Metal Fist!”

Most of Zhao Feng’s opponents gave up, but the ones who didn’t lost instantly.

“This kid’s strength has probably reached the quasi martial artist rank.”

As more matches went on, more and more people started to understand his strength.

Zhao Feng didn’t forget to pay attention to Zhao Yue and Zhao Yijian.

At one time, on the third stage.

“Quick! Look! It is Zhao Yijian vs Zhao Gan!”

Zhao Feng turned to see the two were already exchanging blows.

The second and fourth strongest outer disciple fighting easily gained the crowd’s attention. These two people were both ranked amongst the top five and originally their strength did not have much difference.

“Tenth change of the poisonous snake!” Zhao Gan shouted as he twisted and twirled on the ground like a snake. He was so agile that he managed to dodge Zhao Yijian’s sword many times.

Zhao Feng was slightly moved as Zhao Gan’s strength had increased a lot since their encounter last month. He had also trained the Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake to the tenth change, which meant that he now had the strength of a quasi martial artist.

Zhao Gan’s strength was on par with Xin Fei from Sky Cloud Forest.

“Although you have improved a lot, you will still lose to me like you used to.” Zhao Yijian as he increased his speed once more.

“It is the high rank skill Ice Flowing Sword! This is an extremely hard skill to train!” Someone called out.

Zhao Yijian’s sword became faster and faster.

Zhao Gan was able to dodge at first but as time passed he was able to dodge less and less. Soon a few slash marks appeared on Zhao Gan’s body.

“Zhao Yijian wins!” The judge stopped the fight as they wanted Zhao Gan to proceed to the next round as well without being too injured.

At this time, Zhao Gan’s back was full of cold sweat as he looked incredulously at Zhao Yijian, “How did you do this…..?”

Zhao Yijian used less than ten moves to beat Zhao Gan.

“Zhao Yijian’s strength is so strong!” One of the Zhao sect disciples exclaimed.

Zhao Yijian and Zhao Gan did spar before, but at that time the fight lasted for a long time, with them exchanging over one-hundred blows, but now he only needed ten!

“Zhao Yijian’s strength can probably be compared to Zhao Yue now.” A few guessed.

Zhao Yijian and Zhao Yue. One’s forte was attack while the other’s was defense.

What would happen if these two met?

Many were waiting for the clash…..

Zhao Yijian and Zhao Yue were the two hot picks for the title of “Strongest outer disciple”.

Zhao Yufei had not lost either.

Zhao Feng’s face remained calm as he looked on. He had now won forty-four matches in a row. However at this time he met a powerful opponent. It was the fifth ranked outer disciple, Zhao Guang!

Zhao Guang had over forty points as well and the only match he had lost was against Zhao Yue.

“Hehe, kid! Your streak ends here!” Zhao Guang laughed happily.

Many looked gloatingly towards Zhao Feng.

Fifth rank Zhao Guang was the strongest opponent he had faced so far.

“Your strength barely steps into the quasi martial artist rank.” Zhao Feng said calmly.

“Really? Then I’ll have a taste of what skills you have apart from the core ranked martial arts.” Zhao Guang’s eyes flashed.

Shua!

As soon as he finished his words he moved to Zhao Feng’s side.

“What speed!”

“Zhao Guang and Zhao Yufei are both known for their footwork.”

Zhao Guang’s speed caused many praises from the crowd.

A contest of speed? Zhao Feng’s looked mockingly at Zhao Guang.

Shua!

When Zhao Guang’s palm was just about to hit Zhao Feng, the target disappeared from under his eyes! It was as if his palm split Zhao Feng into the air.

“Not good…..” Zhao Guang thought.

Hua!

The disciples below stared at the scene. Many who reacted fast stared behind Zhao Guang.

Angry Dragon Fists!

Zhao Guang only felt something come towards his back.

Pah!

Zhao Guang instinctively tried to block the blow, and managed to do so, but then he felt a raging strength overpower him.

Boom——

Zhao Guang felt back a few metres and almost fell.

“What skill did he learn for his speed to be so fast!” Zhao Guang’s heart rippled with shock.