Chapter 673: Chapter 542_2
Last time, Hou Yuan went to Sky-reaching Peak and took on Huangfu Qing’s ’Sky-reaching Sword Point’, and was directly struck flying five thousand miles away.
After returning, Hou Yuan did not go to the Sky-reaching Peak again because he already knew the gap between himself and Huangfu Qing; going again would only be humiliating himself.
"So, do you still want me to kill Yang Chen?" the black-robed young man asked doubtfully.
"Hmph! How could I let it go just like that?"
Hou Jun sneered and said, "I will not rest until Yang Chen is dead!"
Although Hou Yuan said to let this matter go, Hou Jun was not willing to give up on killing Yang Chen, which is why he had sought out the black-robed young man to act.
Upon hearing this, the black-robed young man pondered briefly, then nodded and said, "Alright! As long as he participates in this Martial Arts Competition, I will help you kill him!"
"Thank you, Brother Gong!" Hou Jun was overjoyed and hurriedly clasped his fists towards the black-robed young man.
Hou Jun’s heart settled, the black-robed young man was a disciple of his father, named Gong Cheng, and was a Half-step Heavenly Martial Master. Not only that, Gong Cheng was also a monstrous genius with strength comparable to a Martial Artist at the First Layer of Heavenly Martial Master.
With Gong Cheng taking action, Yang Chen’s death was certain, as Yang Chen’s strength would surely compel him to participate in this competition.
Then, with Gong Cheng’s strength, killing Yang Chen would just be a matter of waving his hand!
"It’s about time, let’s go!"
Afterward, Gong Cheng and Hou Jun left the loft together.
On the way, Yang Chen pondered within his heart, uncertain if Xiao Xuanyi and Jiang Chi would participate in this Martial Arts Competition?
The last time the two ambushed him, Yang Chen remembered clearly! He had long planned to kill the two during the Nine Peaks Martial Arts Competition.
After pondering briefly, Yang Chen moved his thoughts and activated the Concealing Technique he hadn’t used for a long time.
The aura on Yang Chen’s body immediately retracted, and he concealed his cultivation within the Fifth Layer Peak Realm of the Earth Martial Master.
With the Concealing Technique, within three levels of cultivation realm, one can conceal at will, and even those a whole major realm higher would find it difficult to see through.
The reason Yang Chen concealed his cultivation at the Earth Martial Master Fifth Layer was also because he was worried that Xiao Xuanyi and the others, seeing his real cultivation, wouldn’t dare to confront him.
Now that he had concealed his cultivation and they saw that it had not increased much, they would definitely not fear to confront him, and killing the two would then be easy.
Soon, Yang Chen and the group arrived at Haotian Peak; An Nuan led them straight towards the Qiankun Hall.
Yang Chen was somewhat puzzled; wasn’t the Qiankun Hall the portal to various Plane Spaces? Could it be that the Nine Peaks Martial Arts Competition was held in a Plane Space?
"Junior Brother Eleven, the Nine Peaks Martial Arts Competition is indeed held within a Plane Space."
Accompanying Yang Chen, Tian Chen seemed to perceive Yang Chen’s confusion and explained, "The Plane Space has vast territories, specially built with a Battle Platform where combatants can fight without feeling bound and can fully exert their strength."
Hearing this, Yang Chen nodded in understanding.
Soon after, Yang Chen and the others arrived inside the Qiankun Hall, which was very crowded and bustling; everyone was heading to the same Plane Space.
That was through a Light Gate deep inside the hall, with numerous disciples rushing into it like swarms of fish crossing a river.
The space inside that Light Gate was exactly the Plane Space where the Nine Peaks Martial Arts Competition was held.
"The people from Sky-reaching Peak have arrived!"
"Look! That is An Nuan, the unrivaled heavenly genius ranked tenth on the Thousand Pride List!"
"Not only is Sister An Nuan extremely talented, but she is also so beautiful!"
The arrival of Yang Chen and the others immediately caused a stir, and all eyes were turned towards them.
However, almost all the eyes were focused on An Nuan.
The aura of the Thousand Pride List was too dazzling; indeed, this was the supreme honor among the younger generation of the East Continent, and even more so, An Nuan was ranked in the top ten on the Heavenly Pride List.
The Thousand Pride List, being the most official list in the East Continent, was the standard to measure the talent and strength of the younger generation and the target of every young person on the East Continent.
"Let’s go in!"
Ignoring the crowd, An Nuan called out to Yang Chen and the others, and with a flash, she was the first to rush into the Light Gate.
Immediately, Yang Chen and Feng Shaoyu, along with a few others, followed suit and entered the closed gate.
After a shift in space, a short while later, the figures of Yang Chen and his companions appeared on a plain.
Yang Chen looked up and saw, not far ahead, nine giant peaks arranged in a circle, each peak nearly a thousand zhang high. Although these nine peaks were not as majestic as the Nine Great Peaks of the Heavenly Spirit Sect, they were nearly comparable.
At this moment, on eight of the peaks, there were already numerous disciples of the Heavenly Spirit Sect gathered.
"Let’s go!" An Nuan, like a streak of blue light, flew towards one of the unoccupied peaks, with Yang Chen and the others following her.
A moment later, the group landed on the mountaintop.
Turning his head, Yang Chen saw that between these nine peaks lay a space approximately fifty li in diameter, in the center of which stood an immensely large, earth-yellow Battle Platform.
The diameter of this Battle Platform was about ten li and it was a hundred zhang tall, its surface flickering with rune lights, clearly indicating that numerous Arrays had been set up.
And these nine peaks, each belonged to one of the Nine Great Peaks, and the people from each peak were stationed on their respective mountains.
On Sky-reaching Peak were only Yang Chen and six others, while the other eight peaks were swarming with figures—at least tens of thousands, with the least populated having at least ten thousand.
The main peak, Haotian Peak, was densely packed with people around its waist, no less than forty to fifty thousand, creating a thunderous noise, and the scene was incredibly intense.
At the entrance to this Plane Space, people were continuously arriving.
Each of these nine peak mountaintops had numerous stone chairs. Sky-reaching Peak had ten stone chairs, while the other eight peaks each had over a hundred.
At this moment, the disciples participating in the Martial Arts Competition from the other eight peaks had already arrived, with many young Outer Disciples sitting erect on the stone chairs, one hundred from each peak.
These stone chairs were designated for the disciples participating in the competition and for the Elders leading the teams. Other spectators were scattered all around the mountains at will.
Yang Chen couldn’t help but feel astonished by the scene; it was truly shocking. The Battle Platform lay between the nine giant mountains, which served as viewing platforms.
Yang Chen, Hua Suifu, Feng Shaoyu, and An Nuan also took their seats on the stone chairs at the mountaintop, overlooking the entire Battle Platform from a high vantage point.
Yun Fei and Tian Chen, however, did not take their seats, as sitting on the stone chairs meant participating in the competition, possibly facing challenges from others.
At this moment, Yang Chen sharply sensed two killing intents directed at him, causing him to furrow his brows.
Glancing casually around, Yang Chen immediately identified the sources of these killing intents. One originated from a peak opposite him.
And the person emitting this killing intent was none other than Xiao Xuanyi.
The other killing intent came from the peak where Haotian Peak was located, emitted by a young man in black. Yang Chen was puzzled; he wasn’t surprised that Xiao Xuanyi wanted to kill him, but he didn’t recognize the black-clad young man at all.
Shaking his head slightly, Yang Chen coldly sneered in his mind. Whoever the opponent was, attempting to kill him would come at the cost of their life.
What worried Yang Chen somewhat was that the other eight peaks all had Inner Sect Elders presiding, while Sky-reaching Peak only had a few disciples.
If he ended up killing someone later, he wondered if Elder Sister An Nuan could stabilize the situation!
A quarter of an hour later, atop Haotian Peak, a tall, thin middle-aged Elder stood up from his stone chair, surveyed the Nine Great Peaks, and declared loudly: "Now that everyone from the Nine Peaks has arrived, let the Nine Peaks Martial Arts Competition begin!"
The Elder’s words were amplified by his cultivation, echoing throughout the whole space.
Boom!
As soon as the Elder’s voice fell, a tsunami-like cheer exploded from the other eight peaks besides Sky-reaching Peak.
Countless Outer Disciples shouted out, as the Nine Peaks Martial Arts Competition was a confrontation between the Outer Sects of the Nine Great Peaks, a peak grand event that would soon reveal which peak would reign supreme.
"This session.JSONException,"
"Taken as a whole, Haotian Peak is still the strongest, with Luotian Peak and Lingtian Peak following closely!"
"What about Sky-reaching Peak?"
"I’m afraid Sky-reaching Peak won’t do well this time; the last session had Jun Wuxi who was nearly unbeatable, but this time, the highest cultivation among them is Hua Suifu, only at the Eighth Layer Realm of Earth Martial Master, unlikely to compete with the other eight peaks!"
...
Numerous noisy sounds rose from the eight peaks as countless disciples discussed among themselves.