Chapter 74: Battle for the First

The young geniuses in the Star Observation Platform only reacted after Li Qing's figure disappeared before them.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Gazes descended onto the violet-clothed youth one after the other.

They all felt a chill run down their spines.

This Duan Ling Tian had acted really decisively. If he said that he would cut off one finger, then he wouldn't cut off a second.

Most of the young genius' eyes emitted a trace of reverence.

Duan Ling Tian used his formidable strength and decisive approach to win the reverence of these young geniuses.

He was different from the other young geniuses.

The corners of Li An's mouth curled into a sneer as a sense of joy arose in his heart. "Duan Ling Tian, no matter what, Li Qing is still the Grand Elder's grandson... I want to see how a little Branch Family disciple like you will face the Grand Elder's rage!"

Li Qing being cripple was something he was happy about.

Duan Ling Tian getting into trouble was something he was happy about as well.

"You're too rash. Li Qing is the Grand Elder's grandson after all, and the Grand Elder has always been protective..."

Li Fei looked towards Duan Ling Tian, her beautiful eyebrows slightly knit.

"Little Fei, are you worried about me?"

Duan Ling Tian laughed faintly.

"You... You can still laugh even at such a time?" Li Fei said angrily.

"Don't worry, today's matter is something that many people bore witness to. If it wasn't for Li Qing being overbearing and persistently at my heels, I wouldn't have gone so far as to cut off his finger... I didn't kill him, it could be considered as me giving Grand Elder enough face."

Duan Ling Tian made nothing of it.

"Regarding today's matter, Grand Elder indeed won't cause trouble for you during the day, but a visible spear is easily withstood, whereas an unseen arrow is hard to guard against. I've heard from my grandfather that the Grand Elder is not a pushover," Li Fei said anxiously.

Duan Ling Tian's eyes slightly narrowed as he lightly smiled. "Really?"

"You!!"

Li Fei was completely helpless. Duan Ling Tian was extremely obstinate.

But she had a plan in her heart. After returning today, she would tell her grandfather what happened and ask him to protect Duan Ling Tian.

"Lin Zhuo, do we still need to battle each other?"

Xiao Yu's gaze descended onto Lin Zhuo.

Lin Zhuo waved his hand dismissively as he casually said, "Forget about it. We only just sparred a few days ago, and I haven't had a break in these past few days."

Xiao Yu nodded, "Then you'll battle Meng Quan, and once Duan Ling Tian recovers, I'll battle him... and compete for the first rank in the Hidden Dragon List! Does anyone have any objections?"

After he finished speaking, Xiao Yu's gaze swept across all the remaining young geniuses in the Star Observation Platform.

No one made a sound.

"Very good."

Xiao Yu nodded. "This year's Hidden Dragon List's first and second rank will be decided between Duan Ling Tian and I... The third and fourth rank will be decided between Lin Zhuo and Meng Quan. The fifth is Li Qing."

"Meng Quan!"

Lin Zhuo looked towards Meng Quan.

Meng Quan stuffed a piece of dim sum into his mouth and said, in an unclear voice, "Wait! I still haven't rested enough... There's no need to hurry; decide on the last five first and we can battle after."

Lin Zhuo was speechless.

"OK, now we'll start the ranking battle for the last five ranks in the Hidden Dragon List..."

Xiao Yu nodded.

Under his direction, the more outstanding young geniuses of the three great clans continuously battled the outstanding youths of the smaller clans.

In the end, the verdict was.

Hidden Dragon List sixth, Li An.

Seventh and the Eighth tied by Li Fei and Xiao Lan.

Ninth and Tenth tied by Xiao Yun and Lin Qi.

In the Hidden Dragon List, only Meng Quan came from the smaller clans.

The other nine were all from the three great clans.

Towards this result, the young geniuses of the small clans were not surprised.

At any rate, they had Meng Quan who entered the Hidden Dragon List this year.

At this moment, the sky had already come close to dusk.

"Okay!"

Meng Quan walked out and directly took up the black iron rod before looking at Lin Qi with a gaze that emitted battle intent.

Lin Zhuo flew out to confront Meng Quan.

Abruptly, they both moved simultaneously.

Immediately, half of the Star Observation Platform was enveloped in rod shadows and palm shadows.

Heaven's Net Palm formed a net that covered the heavens and the earth, causing its opponent to be unable to flee!

Thousand Shadow Rod moved freely like a shadow, always able to give the opponent a quick and ferocious strike at the critical juncture.

Whoosh!

The two of them battled for tens of moves, but in the end, Lin Zhuo feinted an opening and enveloped Meng Quan with his Heaven's Net Palm, injuring Meng Quan.

"F**k! The third place is gone."

Meng Quan couldn't help himself from spouting out vulgarities. He was slightly vexed and then he casually threw the black iron rod aside.

Although Meng Quan lost, he still obtained the respect of everyone.

A disciple of a small clan being able to achieve such an accomplishment was truly rare.

It could be imagined that with his natural talent, if he could obtain the fostering from one of the three great clans, defeating Lin Zhuo in the future wasn't impossible.

"Meng Quan!"

At this moment, Xiao Yu walked out as he looked towards Meng Quan. "If you're interested in joining our Xiao Clan to become a disciple with another surname of the Xiao Clan, the Xiao Clan will spare no efforts in fostering you."

Obviously, Xiao Yu took a fancy to Meng Quan's natural talent, so he extended an olive branch to him.

"Meng Quan, if you join our Lin Clan, what our Lin Clan can give you wouldn't be less than the Xiao Clan."

Lin Zhuo was unwilling to lag behind.

"Lin Zhuo is the Lin Clan's Patriarch's son, so it's normal for him to endeavor to win over Meng Quan for the Lin Clan...This Xiao Yu shouldn't be the Xiao Clan's Patriarch's son, right?"

Seeing this scene, Duan Ling Tian couldn't help himself from asking Li Fei.

"You don't know Xiao Yu's background?"

Li Fei had a strange gaze.

Duan Ling Tian shook his head.

"Although Xiao Yu isn't the son of the Xiao Clan's Patriarch, his status in the Xiao Clan is even higher than the Xiao Clan Patriarch's son...Xiao Yu's grandfather is the Supreme Elder of the Xiao Clan, one of the Xiao Clan's Nascent Soul powerhouses," Li Fei explained.

Duan Ling Tian's gaze flickered. So that's how it is; no wonder then.

"Sorry, but after a period of time, I'm going to leave Aurora City and head to Iron Blood City to join the army."

Meng Quan smiled regretfully to Xiao Yu and Lin Zhuo.

Iron Blood City, join the army?

Duan Ling Tian was stupefied.

Xiao Yu and Lin Zhuo were startled as well.

The young geniuses looked at Meng Quan with gazes that seemed like they had seen a ghost.

"Could it be that Meng Quan wanted to enter the Iron Blood Army's Genius Camp?"

"Although Meng Quan's strength is pretty good, wanting to enter the Genius Camp seems to still be quite difficult..."

"Yeah, the Genius Camp test now only requires the age to be below nineteen, but the strength requirement is also extremely high. Allegedly, even a genius martial artist at the third level of the Core Formation Stage might not be able to pass the test."

"This Meng Quan is absolutely insane!"

......

Some of the young geniuses couldn't help but shake their heads, as they did not look favorably upon Meng Quan.

Lin Zhuo's eyes stared fixedly at Mung Quan as he asked, "Meng Quan, you plan to enter the Iron Blood Army's Genius Camp?"

"I plan to, but I don't know if I can pass the test. I heard that the Genius Camp test is extremely rigorous."

Meng Quan smiled in a straightforward manner.

"It's far more than just rigorous. According to the disciples of our Lin Clan who went and returned, the Genius Camp test is absolutely abnormal. In fact, in the past few years, there has hardly been any young geniuses of our Aurora City that were capable of passing the test and entering the Iron Blood Army's Genius Camp."

Lin Zhuo heaved a sigh. "Unfortunately, my father isn't willing to let me go, or else I would love to go and have a try."

The Iron Blood Army's Genius Camp was cutthroat.

Allegedly, there were plenty of young geniuses that died in there every year.

Lin Zhuo's expression turned serious as he said, "But if you can't pass the Genius Camp test, the door to our Lin Clan will always be open for you."

He wasn't willing to give up on a talent such as Meng Quan.

"OK."

Meng Quan nodded and agreed.

"Meng Quan, when do you plan on leaving?"

Suddenly, Xiao Yu looked at Meng Quan. His eyes flashed with a thread of light.

"The Genius Camp's yearly test is half a year away. I plan to leave in five months."

Meng Quan smiled in a straightforward manner.

"In five months, huh? At that time, come find me at the Xiao Clan. I'll go with you," Xiao Yu said.

"You're going as well?"

Meng Quan was stupefied.

"Big guy, brother Yu has been planning to enter the Genius Camp for months."

Xiao Yun grunted.

"Young Master Yu wants to enter the Genius Camp?"

The crowd of young geniuses present in the Star Observation Platform all looked at Xiao Yu in surprise.

As far as they were concerned, Xiao Yu was the most outstanding genius disciple of the Xiao Clan in the past one hundred years. As long as he stayed in the Xiao Clan, becoming the Xiao Clan's Patriarch in the future was virtually a decided matter.

But once he enters the Iron Blood Army's Genius Camp, then he will only have a slim chance of surviving!

If they were Xiao Yu, they would definitely not take the risk.

Even though the returns were great, that would rely upon being able to survive...

Once dead, everything is lost.

"OK, I'll go with you at that time. At least we can look after each other."

Meng Quan smiled.

Xiao Yu nodded, and his gaze moved on to descend upon Duan Ling Tian.

Duan Ling Tian was just thinking about asking Li Fei what the Iron Blood Army's Genius Camp, but when he noticed Xiao Yu's gaze sweep over, his body jerked and he directly entered the arena to confront Xiao Yu.

On the Star Observation platform, everyone's gazes descended on the two of them.

Duan Ling Tian and Xiao Yu's battle will decided the first ranked on the Hidden Dragon List this year!

"Do you all think Duan Ling Tian is able to defeat Xiao Yu?"

"How could that be possible!? Although I admit Duan Ling Tian is extremely formidable, so much so that his natural talent isn't inferior to Young Master Yu's, but he is only sixteen after all... He's certainly unable to match Young Master Yu right now."

"Yeah! I think so too."

......

While the young geniuses discussed one by one.

Duan Ling Tian moved.

And Xiao Yu still stood on the spot, immovable like a mountain.

Sword Drawing Arts!

The first move Duan Ling Tian made was already his strongest technique.

At the same time, above his head, three ancient mammoth silhouettes formed...

Battling Xiao Yu, he didn't hold back any longer!

"Three ancient mammoth silhouettes!"

The surrounding young geniuses that were spectating were all struck dumb.

A ninth level Body Tempering martial artist exerting the strength of three ancient mammoths.

Looks like the rumors were all true.

Whoosh!

The violet sword shine mixed with a cold and fierce aura flashed straight towards Xiao Yu.

Sleeve Dimension!

Xiao Yu swung out his sleeve as his Origin Energy enveloped the sleeve, trying to roll up the flexible sword in Duan Ling Tian's hand.

"Humph!"

The corners of Duan Ling Tian's mouth curled into a smile.

The hand that held the sword shook.

Riiiip!

The sword strike penetrated Xiao Yu's Origin Energy and pierced through his sleeve, tearing it apart.

"Spirit Weapon!"

As Xiao Yu exclaimed, his expression distorted and he quickly retreated.

Shadowless Drifting Light!

Instantly, Xiao Yu created after imagers as he flashed in retreated, his speed swift to the limit, avoiding Duan Ling Tian's sword strike.

Above him, three ancient mammoth silhouettes slowly formed...

"Spirit Weapon?"

Everyone on the Star Observation Platform was stupefied.

This Duan Ling Tian actually had a Spirit Weapon.

Wasn't he a Branch Family disciple of the Li Clan?

After all, in the entire Li Clan, even a Main Clan disciple such as Li Qing didn't own a Spirit Weapon.