Qi Yong Ye was overwhelmed with shock. Initially, he had thought that he could disregard all the so-called geniuses in this Da Yuan Tournament. Even if he didn’t do his best, he’d still be able to easily get the first place. Things had gone according to his plan–at least they had until he encountered the dark horse named Ling Han.
Too strong!
This time, he had really tried his best, yet there still was no sign of him having the upper hand. How could he not be extremely astonished at this?
Ling Han was only in the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier, and he was already powerful to this extent… then when he reached the seventh layer and officially stepped into the late stage of Element Gathering Tier, how powerful would he get?!
He couldn’t be called a genius anymore! He was a monster!
‘Even Feng Yan hadn’t been as powerful as this three years ago, right?’ Qi Yong Ye involuntarily thought.
In the younger generation of Da Yuan City, Qi Yong Ye was not the most talented one! That honor belonged to Feng Yan! Three years ago, Feng Yan, with a cultivation level of the ninth layer of Element Gathering Tier, ascended to the first place with an absolute dominance over Qi Yong Ye!
And in the tournament before that, Feng Yan, with a cultivation level of the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier, managed to defeat many opponents in the ninth layer of Element Gathering Tier to obtain the first place.
Even after entering Hu Yang Academy, where geniuses of all kinds and varieties were gathered, the brilliance of Feng Yan did not decrease in the slightest. Last year, he had already broken through to Gushing Spring Tier and won a place among the top ten strongest elites of the academy. Qi Yong Ye could only manage to admire and look up to this level of achievement.
Now, Qi Yong Ye finally managed to see another monster who could match Feng Yan, or was perhaps even more talented than the latter was!
Because, when Feng Yan had been in the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier, those of his opponents who were in the ninth layer were nowhere as strong as Qi Yong Ye was currently.
As he fiercely battled, Qi Yong Ye thought that since Ling Han was so monstrously talented, he might as well help the latter establish a grand reputation and allow him to enter Hu Yang Academy with a glory that did not pale in comparison with Feng Yan.
And by then, Feng Yan would definitely feel pressure, wouldn’t he?
Fine, then he will give face to Ling Han and do him a favor!
…Of course, if it wasn’t for the fact that Ling Han was powerful enough, Qi Yong Ye would definitely not deign to do this favor for Ling Han. But since Ling Han has now displayed power strong enough to match him, he’d be happy to do him this favor at such little cost to himself.
After all, there was no idea what kind of heights this monster would reach in the future; he also had three Black Grade alchemists as his support, so it wasn’t a far-off dream for him to surpass Feng Yan in power.
This was a character deserving of his “investment”.
This kind of stake, he was willing to gamble on it!
“Haha, Brother Ling is indeed exceptional. I forfeit this battle!” Qi Yong Ye forfeited of his own volition.
Ling Han gave a short laugh, and said, “This battle could only be considered a draw.” His strengths were the Body of Dead Tree ability, defenses, and a terrifyingly rapid recovery speed, while his weakness lay in the fact that the Five Element Origin Nuclei exhausted his reserves of Origin Power too quickly.
Thus, he truly could not say for sure that he could defeat Qi Yong Ye, thus a draw was the fairest judgment of their battle.
Qi Yong Ye gave a shake of his head and said, “You’re only in the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier, and you’re already able to match me! If I still insist on saying this was a draw, then my skin is really too thick!” After speaking, he leaped onto the second tournament stage voluntarily.
Ling Han had reached the top!
Hua, a clamor of shocked gasps and exclamations could be heard downstage.
Although such a conclusion was not really that unpredictable, when they actually heard the Fourth Prince declare his own forfeit, there was still quite a number of spectators who felt that it was all unreal.
Six years ago, the most talented genius in Da Yuan City of the time had overcome all the difficulties in his way and courageously won the first place in the tournament with a mere cultivation level of the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier, and now, six years later, a similar giant dark horse once again appeared!
Was the field of martial arts in Da Yuan City starting to flourish?
Ling Han made no pretense of modesty, because he truly did need the prize rewarded to the first place winner of this tournament. Thus, he only raised his clasped hands in Qi Yong Ye’s direction, signifying that he would remember this favor, which he would repay tenfold in the future.
At this point, there was only about half an hour left before sunset, and there remained only one tournament stage that was still battling. If the Stage Master won, then the heavy curtain would finally be drawn on this Da Yuan Tournament. If he did not, then there would have to be a bit more waiting before the end.
However, there were no more surprises. Half an hour later, the rankings of the top ten strongest was finally confirmed.
First place, Ling Han!
“He really got the first place! He really got the first place!” Ling Dong Xing kept mumbling. Excitement and disbelief were all over his face.
His son, once a publicly acknowledged trash, actually would have the day when he would become the first place winner in the Da Yuan Tournament!
He finally let out a bout of uncontrollable laughter, overwhelmed with joy.
The top ten martial artists all descended from their respective tournament stages. After this, there would be a banquet held at the Royal House of the Da Yuan King to celebrate the success of the top fifty participants.
“Congratulations, Brother Ling!”
“Congratulations!”
Qi Yong Ye and the others all gathered around Ling Han to offer their congratulations.
“Thank you! Thank you!” Ling Han clasped his hands politely in response.
“Haha, later we definitely have to get ourselves thoroughly drunk!”
“But of course!”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
Only the top fifty participants could attend the banquet. Their friends and family were not allowed to accompany them, so whether it was Ling Dong Xing or Liu Yu Tong, neither could accompany Ling Han to the banquet.
Very soon, Ling Han and the others arrived at the Royal House of the Da Yuan King. This was a colossal residence, at least ten times bigger than the residence of the Fourth Prince. The embellishments and decorations within were all extremely extravagant and luxurious, causing quite a few young men who had come from some smaller towns to look around with gaping mouths, as if they were village boys who had managed to enter the imperial palace.
The host of this banquet was the Da Yuan King, and later on, he would be directly presenting the top ten with their respective prizes.
However, the Da Yuan King did not stay for too long. He was a powerful warrior of Spiritual Ocean Tier, so he needed not put on any airs at all. He only needed to take a seat and he would naturally exude a terrifying aura, causing all the others to feel a kind of pressure.
After he left, the atmosphere finally became lively. All of them were young people, so very quickly, they found similar topics of conversation. Soon, they would all be heading to Hu Yang Academy, so naturally they all wanted to make more friends. That way, they would be able to look after each other at the academy.
However, Ling Han was a bit agitated. He was waiting very impatiently for the presentation of the Dark Moon Grass, a treasure that even powerful warriors of Heaven Tier would feel envy over. As long as it had not entered his pocket yet, there was no way for him to set his mind at ease.
When he thought about it, it was actually quite funny for him to become this impatient with his temperament.
After waiting for two hours, this banquet finally ended, and the prizes for the top ten were all presented to their winners, contained in small boxes. Ling Han opened his box and took a look. Inside lay a herb that was about a foot long. Each of the leaves were crescent-shaped, and their color resembled darkened moonlight.
It was indeed the Dark Moon Grass!
Ling Han let out a breath in relief. He was just about to take his leave, but Qi Yong Ye and the others all came over to make small talk with him, so he couldn’t leave just yet. It wasn’t until about midnight that the guests finally departed, and Ling Han could finally return to Heaven’s Medicine Pavilion.
The first thing he did was begin preparation to concoct an alchemical pill.
Although the Spatial Pill was something that even powerful warriors of Heaven Tier would feel envious over, it could still be taken by martial artists of Element Gathering Tier, so strictly speaking, it was only a Yellow Grade mid level alchemical pill. Ling Han of course was able to concoct it.
He had already long since prepared all the other ingredients necessary. The only thing missing was the main ingredient, Dark Moon Grass. Since everything was ready now, he immediately began to concoct the pill.
Now that he was in Element Gathering Tier, concoction of a Yellow Grade mid level alchemical pill was naturally a piece of cake. After only half an hour, he had successfully concocted the Spatial Pill.
Unfortunately, there was only one.
Without any hesitation, he immediately swallowed the Spatial Pill. He promptly sat down and waited quietly for the pill to take effect.
“Hong,” very quickly, there occurred a tremendous change within his body. It was as if his Dantian had become an ocean where raging waves were surging; each time the waves crashed, the space within his Dantian would enlarge by a little bit.