Xiao Ming was thrown out of the circle.
Silence fell through the hall when the disciples saw the state of Xiao Ming.
To older disciples, this was the expected result. Not only because of the cultivation difference, but rather the person still standing with his hands behind his back, Huang Bao.
To them, the fact that he went on the stage was enough to know that Xiao Ming was going to learn a good lesson tonight.
However, on the opposite, among the new Inner Court disciples, this was pretty shocking.
It was hard to comprehend for them what they had just witnessed.
Xiao Ming, the best of the new Inner Court disciples, couldn't even resist the onslaught. His attacks didn't even touch his opponent, and not once, but twice he was thrown like a rag.
No one was making his fun, but rather, they had turned serious.
This instant fight was enough for the disciples to understand the gap and know that they should not be complacent because these old Inner Court disciples were now their rivals.
…
Near the platform, Ye Tian Yun was also among the ones who were surprised at this outcome. Not that he had any hopes that Xiao Ming would win, but the fact that he couldn't even defend himself was the surprising part.
As per the reports, Xiao Ming would have once again shone in the hall, he would have become unstoppable, and would later win this event and gain recognition of Yuan Shuchun.
However, everything was deviating from the plot.
First, the three bottles of Seven Treasures Of Body Tempering Liquid and the manual. These were not supposed to be included in the rewards, but rather only few Qi Strengthening Pills were supposed to be given. These new rewards were also the reason why the older Inner Court disciples were interested in the spar, or else they would have just come here for the good food and wine if the rewards were just a few Qi Strengthening Pills.
And then the chances of Jiang Yun and the World League to crash this banquet. This is not what was supposed to happen. In fact, no one other than the new Inner Court disciples and the Heavenly League members was supposed to be in this hall.
And now the thrashing of Xiao Ming. The fact that he had challenged the older disciples was already deviating this plot and then being beaten like a dog was though expected but surprising that it happened so early.
Now it seemed like the whole banquet was going in an unpredictable direction and it was going to be hard for him to judge what was going to happen next.
Besides him, Zheng Xiang also had a serious expression.
He may have loved seeing the site of Xiao Ming getting thrown out of the circle, but he also understood his own limits.
In front of Xiao Ming, unfortunately, he wouldn't stand for a long time.
Xiao Ming was powerful and had much more strength than him, this was a fact. Just because Xiao Ming was defeated easily by an older disciple didn't change this fact.
In fact, it only showed how weak Zheng Xiang himself was in front of the Inner Court disciples.
Even though somewhere in his mind he wanted to make fun of Xiao Ming and get him more enraged, the urgency inside him to cultivate and practice harder suppressed any other urges.
He was not going to slack anymore. They only had six months before the Grand Spirit Hunt and even less time to get selected as participants. And their opponents were going to be disciples like Huang Bao.
It was definitely not going to be an easy ride.
…
On the stage, Xiao Ming finally twitched and slowly got up.
Among all the disciples present in the hall, Xiao Ming was the one who was the most shocked and stunned by the result.
The fact that he couldn't even touch Huang Bao shocked him a lot. In fact, he wasn't even able to force Huang Bao to release his Qi Armor.
Clearly showing the gap in their strength, Xiao Ming, who had suffered his first setback in his life, was now even more determined to cultivate harder. He wasn't going to let this simple setback push him down, but rather he had learned his lesson and now he was going to prepare himself for the next time he met Huang Bao.
After a moment of thought and self-reflection, Xiao Ming stood up. Staring as Huang Bao, who still stood at the exact same place with his hands behind his back, Xiao Ming said, "Senior brother Huang, I accept my defeat. But next time, our fight won't be one-sided."
Huang Bao was inwardly surprised when he heard this. Not only the confidence and conviction in Xiao Ming's voice were great but also the fact that this guy who had been acting like a prick this whole time straight up accepted his defeat was quite the opposite of what he had accepted.
He then nodded and for the first time, he showed emotion on his face. With a slight smile, he said, "Junior brother Xiao, I hope you don't disappoint me."
Xiao Ming nodded and just as he was about to turn, Yuan Shuchun stood up and commanded, "Stop."
Her voice attracted the attention of everyone towards her.
Noticing hundreds of gazes upon herself, she smiled and said, "Junior Brother Xiao Ming, I was indeed surprised by your guts to challenge the older Inner Court disciples even though you knew that you were going to suffer an unavoidable defeat. And I have decided to give you one more chance."
"A chance?"
"Yes. You can challenge the disciple in the other circle. Though it's up to you, because this disciple is also a body cultivator. I hope you don't disappoint me with your choice."
...
A/n: If you find any errors, please comment and let me know.
Sorry for the delayed update, it took more than few hours to write the next chapter.. hope you like it.