Chapter 52
Pop!
Helian Xingcheng snapped the armrest off his seat.
He almost couldn't contain the rage in his heart as it turned his eyes blood red.
Vile! Hateful!
Gongyi Tianheng was no more than a piece of trash, yet he was able to change his fate!
Duanmu Qingrong, Huangfu Zhanghao, and the crowd of martial artists all were beyond shocked.
A force of four thousand kilograms! How was this possible?
When a martial artist was at Houtian stage nine perfect-grade, they could refine the body through medicines and stockpile their own strength. However, there had never been anyone who'd reached such an absurd degree!
The aura of the Cangyun Emperor waxed and waned. He was nearly unable to conceal the excitement on his face.
Upon seeing this, Cang Yu's pupils suddenly contracted. It was unbelievable.
His own strength was at three thousand seven hundred fifty kilograms. Thus, those so-called great young masters, Helian Xingcheng and the rest, weren't genuinely worth watching in his eyes. Even though he considered Tianheng a formidable opponent, he never thought that Tianheng's strength surpa.s.sed his own.
But —
Father-Emperor would be very happy.
This man certainly could help his Father-Emperor with his worries!
The Cangyun Emperor let loose a peal of resonant laughter: “Good, good, good! My Cangyun Empire has such an unrivaled genius. It's truly the luck of the empire as well as the luck of this Emperor!”
Gongyi Tianheng was still grinning, his voice neither fast nor slow: “Your Majesty's admiration is misplaced. This Tianheng doesn't deserve your praise.”
Soon after, he withdrew his palms from the stone and slowly returned to his seat.
Tianheng regarded everything that came before his eyes with no surprise. It was basically impossible to evoke any change whatsoever in his will.
Gu Zuo also blinked his eyes.
This kind of strength…was comparable to over forty weightlifting athletes? Wouldn't a single swinging fist be able to smash open a steel car? His physical body's strength was truly illogical.
However, Gu Zuo also could be considered to have an understanding of Gongyi Tianheng. In the end, did this surrogate big brother really use all his strength?
If he didn't… Gu Zuo's heart trembled. Then, it was just too scary.
Even the Ape Man Tarzan couldn't compare —
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Presently, the Cangyun Emperor's expression looked very happy. He waved a large hand: “Strength that has reached nine hundred kilograms or more is pa.s.sable.”
Anyone with a discerning eye understood that the Emperor was showing consideration for Helian Xingcheng, but simultaneously held dissatisfaction towards Xingcheng, who didn't strive his hardest.
Xingcheng didn't dare talk too much and his fingers nearly dug into his palms. The fact was he couldn't be rash.
Among everyone here today, only his face was trampled into the ground.
The Cangyun Emperor immediately said: “For the second test, I ask that everyone use their strongest martial techniques to strike the Qianjun Stone. This is to calculate the might of everyone's martial skills.”
This time, Helian Xingcheng didn't dare go over to s.n.a.t.c.h that glory like before. His rage was still under control. Unexpectedly, because of this unstable frame of mind, he made a mistake again.
Everyone else also looked at each other in dismay.
In the end, Duanmu Qingrong stood up first. He walked straight to the Qianjun Stone and curled his hand into a fist. Then, he used a ball of red qi to strike with outrageous strength!
After a loud rumbling sound, that Qianjun Stone didn't move a single bit. His strength was completely absorbed into the stone. In the blink of an eye, the entirety of the Qianjun Stone turned a rich yellow color. It looked very beautiful.
The Cangyun Emperor nodded his head: “Good. Your strength is Yellow-Level high grade.”
Numerous martial artists were surprised upon hearing this.
Yellow-Level high grade? How were these ranks divided?
Gu Zuo watched everyone's expressions and discovered that he wasn't the only one who didn't know. In that case, this kind of power cla.s.sification should be specific to the royal family…
The Cangyun Emperor didn't have any intention of dispelling everyone's doubts. He only signaled the next person to continue.
Gu Zuo silently cursed: Ah, what a cliff. [1]
Following this, Huangfu Zhanghao also went forth. Once the Qianjun Stone absorbed his fighting style, it displayed a similar rich yellow color. It was as equally dazzling as Qingrong's result.
Immediately after that, it was Sima Yuanyou and the other three strongest from the first-cla.s.s Families.
Reaching this point, the displayed color of the Qianjun Stone had a change.
Yuanyou's color and the first two people didn't have any differences. However, the fighting styles of the other three martial artists presented a green color. All three were more or less the same degree of verdant green.
As a result, everyone present naturally understood that below the Yellow-Level was the Green-Level.
Then, if a strength that was one thousand five hundred kilograms or less was used, what colored radiance would appear?
Instantly, they all couldn't help looking at Helian Xingcheng.
Xingcheng's face darkened.
Watch him do what? They still really thought that he only had a strength that didn't even reach one thousand kilograms? That was practically the same as a joke!
He boldly stood up and used Triple Explosion, the martial skill with the strongest might, which had been pa.s.s downed within his Clan for generations. He faced the Qianjun Stone and unleashed his fiercest attack!
This noise was extremely terrifying. The Qianjun Stone almost immediately showed a rich yellow color, and this color was even deeper than the results of Huangfu Zhanghao and the other young masters. Unexpectedly, within the depths of the yellow was the seemingly incomplete materialization of a light red.
It was clear that this might was nearly a half-step into the Red-Level!
Xingcheng's gaze swept across the top eight finalists of the Clan War, the anger in his eyes couldn't be more clear.
The reason for his ostentatious display was precisely because he already determined that he was a bit stronger than Qingrong and the others, as well as to express his own mightiness. If it weren't for that mistake just then, it would've been basically impossible for him to make a fool of himself!
Now these people dared to go so far as to look down upon him and actually think he was no good? Truly delusional!
Helian Xingcheng's sight deliberately landed on Tianheng for a moment.
Gongyi Tianheng was using both hands to hold the sides of a tea cup as he drank a mouthful. Tianheng just missed it and wasn't affected by his provocation at all. It seemed like with Tianheng's current expression, he didn't take him seriously.
Helian Xingcheng was even more furious.
This Gongyi Tianheng was absolutely shameless!
There was nothing to be done. Xingcheng couldn't just shout at Tianheng to get his attention, right? So he could only leave in a rage and return to his seat. As for Gongyi Tianheng, he put down his little teacup and leisurely arrived in front of the Qianjun Stone.
He seemed to contemplate for a bit. Then, a palm struck the Qianjun Stone.
Because Tianheng's expressions were always like this, the others didn't know whether he used all his strength. They only knew that he used a palm strike that looked downplayed. The Qianjun Stone's rays of light were blinding, showing a color that was an undiluted and deep red — No, it should be blood red; the ultimate red that was the color of blood. Also, there was a glimpse of a mysterious, blurry violet.
Clearly, he was a level higher than Helian Xingcheng. He was already on the verge of the Violet-Level.
Yet, the power Tianheng used this time didn't shock everyone too much.
With four thousand kilograms of force, his might seemed even more powerful. So, this wasn't so outrageous…
The Cangyun Emperor's smile was significant: “This Qianjun Stone is divided into five ranks: Gold, violet, red, yellow, and green. A normal strength of one thousand five hundred kilograms or more can reach the Green-Level.”
In other words, if one's strength was less than one thousand five hundred kilograms, unless the martial skill's explosive strength was particularly strong, then perhaps a color wouldn't even appear?
Gu Zuo thought about it and couldn't guess what material was used in this Qianjun Stone's construction.
Then probably, it shouldn't just be a block of stone. It might've pa.s.sed through all of kinds of refinement methods… However, this wasn't the main point. The main point was that his big brother's skill could pressure outstanding heroes. If no accidents happened, it was certain that Tianheng would smoothly obtain a placement!
In the end, it was still Gongyi Tianheng who stole the show.
The people of the Gongyi Clan had joyous smiles across their faces, while the other Clans' expressions didn't look too good.
The Cangyun Emperor smiled again: “All who could generate a color from their strike will pa.s.s. Next will be the third and final test.”
After he finished speaking, he softly clapped his hands.
In the blink of an eye, a person emerged from a corner of the main hall. Those elders and Clan Heads all promptly noticed that this was a Xiantian stage three powerhouse!
This powerhouse saluted the Cangyun Emperor and quickly went to the back of the hall. Once he returned, he didn't get too close. Everyone could already hear deep and ruthless roars one after another.
The hearts of the young experts shuddered.
That was a wild beast!
Sure enough, that Xiantian powerhouse rushed back out, and his hand upheld an immense iron cage. It was no less than ten meters tall. And in this iron cage was a very malevolent wild beast. Looking at its shape, it was a grade three wild beast. No matter how one looked, it's aura was incomparably violent, repeatedly colliding with the walls of the iron cage. After calculating its total martial strength, it was likely that it was infinitely close to advancing to half-step Xiantian.
Generations of martial artists present were suppressed by a wild beast.
With one look at that wild beast, Gu Zuo's heartbeat skyrocketed.
He recognized this wild beast! It was called the Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros! As the name implied, it was a rhinoceros-shaped wild beast. Previously in the Stampeding Oxen Mountain Range, his big brother, who was still his patron at the time, also challenged this kind of rhinoceros beast. Killing it required an extremely huge amount of effort.
Don't look at this rhinoceros like it was merely a grade three wild beast. It's degree of violence made it an apex existence among the grade three wild beasts. Don't even mention its scarlet eyes. Obviously one didn't know what provocation it was subjected to, and each provocation would only cause the wild beast's bloodline to bubble forth. As a fight went on, each strike would be like injecting chicken blood [2], so it'd be even more troublesome to deal with than previously.
Gu Zuo blinked his eyes.
Speaking of this, the Cangyun Emperor shouldn't have brought this rhinoceros beast over just to have the eight finalists fight it? His big brother certainly didn't have anything to fear, but he just didn't know what to think about the other finalists.
The Xiantian powerhouse shook his arm and firmly set the iron cage on the ground.
At this time, everyone clearly saw that this iron cage was over ten meters tall — That is, it was fifteen to eighteen meters tall and over thirty meters wide. It could be counted as a small scale sports field.
The Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros was over six meters tall and its build was six meters long. The entire wild beast was practically a miniature tank. Its body armor was covered in barbs. From its defenses to its firepower, watching it would intimidate anyone. It could also be said that it acted remarkably like a monster as it impatiently huffed in the cage.
Bringing it out to manage and calling it a test…
Insightful people immediately understood.
However, despite this realization, their complexions still didn't look good as a result.
The Cangyun Emperor watched the rhinoceros beast and nodded his head in satisfaction: “Everyone, please enter the cage and fight this beast. If you feel that you can't handle it, you can give a shout. Naturally, someone will come to rescue you. Reaching the point of killing it or weakening it so that it cannot fight back are all counted as pa.s.sing.”
A moment of silence.
Each and every powerhouse present had all seen blood and the numbers of wild beasts they'd killed certainly weren't few. However, this crazy Explosive-Flaming Rhinoceros was something they'd never encountered before.
So, should they go first or not?
The Cangyun Emperor smiled: “Ladies and Gentlemen, you all don't need to worry if the test is unfair. This emperor has prepared several wild beasts of similar capability. Once one beast is killed, I'll naturally have another one delivered.”
The expressions of the young experts once again changed.
Gu Zuo was speechless as he watched that Explosive-Flame Rhinoceros.
As for Gongyi Tianheng, at this moment he looked pensive.
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[1] 卖(什么)关子 - Mai (shen me) guan zi, to stop a story at its climax to keep the reader in suspense.
[2] 鸡血 - Ji xue, chicken blood is considered a stimulant.
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T/N: Can anyone who has read ahead let me know how this colored system matches up to the pharmacist (and cultivation method) ranking system? Do I need to change Golden to Yellow and Profound to Black?
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