Battle Through the Heavens - chapter-557

“Bang!”

A human figure that was like a black-colored metal pagoda carried a sharp
rushing wind sound as his feet heavily landed on the ground. In an
instant, the dark-black ground made of special material quietly formed a
few tiny crack lines spreading from the spot where his feet landed.
Moreover, the instant he landed, the dozens of competitors on the arena
clearly sensed the ground shaking viciously. Immediately, they threw
surprised gazes at that black shadow. Only when their gaze took in who
that person was did they come to a sudden understanding.

Tyrant Spear Liu Qing. It was likely that he was the only one who
possessed such a sharp overbearing brute strength.

The moment Liu Qing landed, his body was as straight as the body of a
spear, not even bending a little. The black-colored heavy spear on his
back was as tall as him and faintly a thick, heavy aura seeped out of it.

Liu Qing suddenly raised his head after landing on the ground. His gaze
was thrown at a certain spot at the tall platform, and it was filled with
a hot fighting intent. The place that the gaze was thrown to was the
expected Lin Xiuya!

The gazes of the entire place followed Liu Qing’s sight and moved.
Finally, they stopped at Lin Xiuya’s body. They sensed the sharp
head-to-head aura of both parties and a great anticipation was felt in
their hearts. They did not know just who would emerge victorious when the
true two experts at the peak of the Inner Academy were to fight.

Lin Xiuya gave a faint smile when faced with the gazes of everyone
present. He cupped his hands toward Xiao Yan a short distance away and
immediately pressed his toes gently on the ground. His body was like a
falling piece of lead as he flashed off the tall platform. A
pale-green-colored tornado immediately took shape under his feet.
Finally, he appeared to be walking down a flight of stairs. Each time his
foot descended, it would appear like it was stepping on some kind of
invisible stairs. This scene appeared to be somewhat like the realm of
walking through the air. Such a skill undoubtedly caused a cheer to erupt
in the stadium. All of them knew that even if it was an elite Dou Wang,
he would need to borrow the force of Dou Qi wings in order to remain in
the air. Something like this scene of appearing to not borrow any force
to walk as though one was walking on flat ground would at least require
the strength of a Dou Huang in order to be achieved.

Even some of those Elders on that high platform nodded their heads
slightly upon eyeing this skill that Lin Xiuya had revealed. With their
sight, they were naturally able to see that the former did not truly
appear to be walking on flat ground. Instead, he borrowed the wind
affinity of his Dou Qi to form an invisible landing spot under his feet.
It could not remain for long but even if this was the case, it was
something that required an exquisite control of one’s Dou Qi. With Lin
Xiuya’s current strength, being able to perform at such a level was
already very astonishing.

Under the shocked gazes of the entire place, Lin Xiuya slowly walked down
through the air. His feet gently landed on the ground and he immediately
stood with his hands behind him. His body appeared elegant. At this
moment, there were already quite a number of female students in the
surrounding area who had eyes that were emitting stars.

“Chi…”

Just as everyone was drunk from the scene of Lin Xiuya stepping on empty
space earlier, the sound of low, deep thunder suddenly roared through the
air. Some people hurriedly raised their heads. However, other than the
flash of a silver glow, which disappeared immediately in their eyes, they
did not actually discover anything else. Only when their gazes shot all
over the place did some sharp-eyed people discover that there was an
additional black-robed human figure that had appeared in the arena.

“Xiao Yan? This fellow’s speed… is really fast.” Currently, all
the students in the Inner Academy were already familiar with Xiao Yan’s
appearance. Additionally, that signature Heavy Xuan Ruler also revealed
his identity. In an instant, low surprised voices sounded one after
another.

Xiao Yan’s appearance was not as heavy or beautiful as the previous
two, but in the eyes of those people with true strength it did not lose
to Liu Qing or Lin Xiuya. After all, that kind of speed was indeed so
fast that it was somewhat terrifying…

Liu Qing, Lin Xiuya, and a few others in the arena turned their heads and
threw their gazes to the quiet, black-robed, young man. An extremely
obscure, shallow fear flashed across their eyes. This kind of speed was
something that even they had to view seriously. Additionally, other than
one or two of them, many of them knew in their hearts that even if they
were to display all their strength, it was likely that they would not be
able to achieve this kind of speed.

“The speed of this little fellow would likely have difficulty finding
many people in the Dou Ling class who can match up with him. Moreover,
from the looks of his agility technique, it still appears somewhat
tender. He should have just reached initial mastery. I really don’t
know just how terrifying it will be once he practices it to its pinnacle
point.” On the tall platform, Elder Hao, who had quite a good
relationship with Xiao Yan, fondled his beard and praised sincerely.

“The class of the agility technique that he is practicing is not low.
Otherwise, it would definitely be impossible to achieve such an
effect.” An Elder nodded his head, and had faintly guessed some clues.

First Elder Su Qian stood indifferently on the spot. The somewhat
familiar roar of thunder flashed in his mind. A moment later, he appeared
to have remembered something and his eyes instantly narrowed. His heart
was somewhat surprised as he muttered, “How could this little fellow
possess such an agility technique? This is a secret by the ‘Wind
Lightning Pavilion’ that isn’t given to others. If those fellows were
to discover this in the future, I’m afraid that some entanglement would
be unavoidable.”

If Xiao Yan knew that Elder Su was able to recognise his Dou Technique at
a glance, it was likely that he would be extremely stunned, feeling that
the eyes of this old fellow were a little too sharp.

Not long after Xiao Yan and the other two entered the arena, a
white-clothed little girl slowly followed the stairs and climbed up from
a certain spot under the stage. After which, under the countless number
of stunned gazes, she walked to the front of the group. Her mouth
appeared to be chewing something as she looked in all directions. She
smiled immediately when she saw Xiao Yan, revealing her cute orderly
little fangs.

Not many people in the Inner Academy knew about Zi Yan’s identity.
Perhaps, only just the people on the ‘Strong Ranking’ and some older
students knew about her. For those new students who had come in a little
later, they had never heard of this name. After all, the former did not
frequently show her face in the Inner Academy. Moreover, no one dared to
challenge her. Hence, this resulted in the people of the Inner Academy
only knowing Liu Qing, Lin Xiuya, and the others, but they did not know
that the first place on the ‘Strong Ranking,’ the person who rode
over them, was actually such a cute little girl.

Waves of private conversations sounded from the surrounding viewing
gallery. However, the expressions of some of the competitors had turned a
little unnatural. Other than those who had squeezed into the ‘Strong
Ranking’ during this recent period of time, fear flashed across the
faces of most of the rest of the people. The reaction of these people
caused everyone in the stadium to feel at a loss.

Zi Yan was too lazy to bother about the gazes around her. Her mouth
repeatedly chewed the Danwans that Xiao Yan had refined for her. Her laid
back manner did not appear to have the pressure that came with the
approaching Grand Competition… if it was two years ago, there were
indeed some opponents in this Inner Academy who could fight with her.
Now, however, those elites had already graduated and left. As time flowed
by, she had become the student who had remained in the Inner Academy for
the longest time with the appearance of a little girl. Uh, although this
student was a little strange…

Therefore, with Zi Yan’s current abnormal brute strength, it was likely
that even Liu Qing and the rest would have difficulty contending with
her. This little fellow had already become an existence on the ‘Strong
Ranking’ that exceeded common sense.

“Cough!” A faint coughing sound that contained Dou Qi sounded beside
the ears of everyone. Immediately, the private conversations began to
soften. A moment later, they completely disappeared. Numerous gazes were
lifted as they eyed the black-robed Elder in the middle of the tall
platform. Their gazes were filled with respect and fear. As the First
Elder whose strength and authority in the Inner Academy was merely below
that of the mysterious headmaster, even an ordinary Elder maintained
respect toward him, much less these students.

“Since everyone is already here, the Grand Competition can begin.” Su
Qian said with a faint smile, “However, I would like to give a reminder
before the start of the competition. Although the Inner Academy has an
open-minded culture, I still hope that everyone can do their best not to
unleash a fatal blow in this competition. All of you are still students,
and this is not the a place like the ‘Black-Corner Region’ where
people eat one another. Although the Inner Academy has a somewhat bloody
place like the Fighting Arena, its original intention is to train all of
you and not to let all of you fight to the death. Therefore, everyone
should gauge your strength when you strike.”

Some of the competitors nodded slightly when they heard Su Qian’s
words. However, most of them maintained a non-committal attitude. In this
kind of competition who would not go all out in order to enter the top
ten? When one went all out, one would have difficulty controlling one’s
strength. It was inevitable that accidents would occur.

Su Qian’s gaze swept over the faces of the competitors and helplessly
shook his head. The atmosphere of the Inner Academy had gradually become
fiercer recently. Those novices who did not know how to go all out and
kill in the Fighting Arena had also grown into vicious wolves of the
grassland with extremely rich fighting experience. It was a little
difficult to contain their ferociousness at this moment.

“The rules are the same as they were in the past. Opponents are
determined by drawing lots.” Seeing that his words did not have much of
an effect, Su Qian also ceased to speak any more unnecessary words and
instead spoke in a deep voice.

The moment the words sounded, he waved his sleeves gently. Immediately, a
black cloth that was not far in front of them drifted down, revealing a
rock table under it. There was a large wooden cylinder on the rock table
which contained quite a number of bamboo sticks.

“The cylinder contains twenty-five sticks with a blue bottom and
twenty-five sticks with a red one. The numbers are all from one to twenty
five. If you were to pick a stick with a blue bottom containing the
number twelve, your opponent would be the person who holds the stick with
a red bottom with the number twelve.” Su Qian summarized the rules of
the lot picking once. This thing was not very complicated, therefore,
those students who had experienced this for the first time could also
understand.

“Alright, let the lot picking begin!”

The competitors orderly walked to the rock table one at a time and picked
a bamboo stick from within the cylinder. They read out their number in
front of everyone before withdrawing.

Xiao Yan was not anxious to pick a lot. He stood in the same spot and
suddenly frowned slightly. Tilting his head slightly, his gaze swept over
the place behind him and coincidentally saw a vicious gaze. From his
appearance, that person was actually Bai Cheng who had been defeated by
him back then. This matter of his seemed like he was still bearing a
grudge in his heart. Moreover, this hatred also had some dissatisfaction.
Perhaps he was similar to everyone else in thinking that the reason that
he had been defeated by Xiao Yan’s hands was because of the ‘Dragon
Strength Pill’.

Bai Cheng’s face shook a little when he saw Xiao Yan’s gaze being
thrown over. He strode forward and walked to the side of the rock table.
He groped a little before picking up a bamboo stick with a red bottom.
With a deep voice, he read, “Red bottom, fifteen.” Once he read it
out, he withdrew to one side and continued to use a vicious gaze to stare
at Xiao Yan. He viciously cursed in his heart, “It would be best that
you end up picking a bamboo stick with the same number as Liu Qing!”

Under Bai Cheng’s curse, Xiao Yan finally slowly walked to the rock
table. He randomly picked out a stick with a red bottom. He was initially
a little startled when he swept the bottom with his gaze. A playful
feeling immediately surfaced on the corner of his mouth.

“Blue bottom… fifteen.” Xiao Yan laughed softly. His gaze was
slowly lifted as he saw the cold smile on Bai Cheng’s face abruptly
stiffen.