160: Tiangong Cloud

Stepping out of the cloud cabin, the surrounding students cheered and jumped for joy, shouting loudly, "Long Yuan! Long Yuan!! Long Yuan!!!"

If defeating Fu Fei last time was a fluke, then defeating him again with a single sword strike today proved that Long Yuan truly possessed the absolute strength to defeat Fu Fei. This provided a shot in the arm for the students in the selection camp. With such a powerful captain holding the line, was there any need to fear Luo Sheng and Valley Fei Yu?

At this moment, the air at the cloud cabin training ground of Shuntian No. 1 Middle School seemed to have frozen!

Everyone watching the match stared at the light screen showing the fight between Fu Fei and Long Yuan in stunned silence, their faces filled with disbelief!

One strike!

One strike?!

Just one strike?!!!

As the representative figure of the Martial Apprentice Realm at Shuntian No. 1 Middle School, Fu Fei had been defeated by Long Yuan's single strike yet again. To say it wasn't shocking would be a lie.

Even Chu Qingxuan, who had waited all day to settle the score with Long Yuan, widened his eyes, his entire body trembling involuntarily. His mind raced as he wondered what the outcome would be if he were the one facing that strike from Long Yuan.

"What kind of sword technique is that? How could it look so casual? It was as if Long Yuan just thrust his sword out randomly, yet it happened to strike Fu Fei's right leg. But Fu Fei is no ordinary person; his family's Luo Smoke Steps is an Earth Rank High Grade footwork technique, and he has already Cultivated it to the Minor Achievement Realm. Yet, even with that, he couldn't dodge Long Yuan's casual strike. How can things be so bizarre?" Chu Qingxuan screamed internally.

As a Peak Martial Artist and the strongest in that Realm at Shuntian No. 1 Middle School, Chu Qingxuan naturally attributed his previous loss to Long Yuan to his own carelessness. Therefore, to get Long Yuan to accept his challenge, he had immediately put up a wager of one thousand low-grade xuan stones, waiting for the official competition to defeat him and restore his reputation!

However, after seeing that strike from Long Yuan, he felt a bit lost because he couldn't understand it—not at all. It is known that the unknown is the most terrifying thing. Now, his heart pounded with anxiety. He didn't know if Long Yuan would accept his challenge next, and if Long Yuan did accept, how would he manage to win?

With his heart filled with trepidation, he watched as Fu Fei emerged from the cloud cabin. Fu Fei looked like a wilted eggplant, his face livid. Amidst the surprised gazes of the crowd, he left the school alone. His retreating figure looked so desolate and helpless, as if all his energy had been drained away in an instant...

The crowd remained stunned for a good while before their gazes finally gathered on Chu Qingxuan. Someone started shouting his name, and suddenly, "Chu Qingxuan! Chu Qingxuan!! Chu Qingxuan!!!" echoed throughout the training ground. At this moment, Chu Qingxuan had become everyone's hope. What they didn't know, however, was that Chu Qingxuan's heart was trembling violently; he realized he couldn't bear such immense pressure at all!

Just as his psychological defenses were crumbling bit by bit, the cloud cabin's intelligent voice announced: "Long Yuan has not accepted Chu Qingxuan's challenge and has already logged off!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

"Long Yuan actually logged off?"

"Yeah, I guess he didn't dare to accept our Young Master Chu's challenge, right?"

"That's for sure! Last time, he succeeded in a cross-Realm challenge while Young Master Chu was careless. If he dared to accept the challenge this time, it would definitely be inviting humiliation!"

"Haha, at least he's smart..."

"Looks like there's no excitement to watch. Everyone, let's disperse!"

"Let's go, let's go..."

Hearing the discussions behind him, Chu Qingxuan, who was sitting in front, secretly let out a long sigh of relief, and his heart gradually calmed down. "Thank goodness, thank goodness. Fortunately, Long Yuan didn't accept the challenge. I must hurry back and consult the elders of the clan. I must find a way to crack that sword technique of Long Yuan!"

Having made up his mind, he copied the video data of the battle between the two in the cloud cabin and then stood up to quickly leave the school...

At the same time, in a corner of Shuntian Prefecture in the Northern Capital, two skyscrapers stood tall, forming the shape of twin towers. Between the two buildings, there were skybridges connecting them every few floors, and the top floor was crafted to look like an ocean-going warship riding the waves. From a distance, it looked quite imposing. This was the headquarters of Tiangong Group and one of the famous landmarks in the vicinity!

In a corner on the middle floor of one of the skyscrapers, several people were watching the battle between Long Yuan and Fu Fei that had just taken place. Upon seeing Long Yuan win with a single strike, expressions of disbelief appeared on their faces...

"Another victory with one strike?!" one of the middle-aged men exclaimed in surprise. His name was Qian Li, and he was the Minister of the Cloud Department. Today marked the start of the official Cloud Realm competition, and naturally, he was following the entire process. The battle between Long Yuan and Fu Fei was a focal point. As soon as Long Yuan accepted the challenge, the news was immediately recommended to the front page by the AI, and Qian Li, of course, watched it together with the people from the Cloud Department.

He remembered that this Long Yuan was the top scorer in the Cloud Challenge Competition test matches. Throughout the process, he had only used two strikes, winning one match with each strike. However, because he had succeeded in a cross-Realm challenge, according to the rules, his points had ranked him first. Although he didn't have enough matches to officially enter the rankings, since it was just a test match and everyone only wanted to see the results, he was ultimately ranked first. Therefore, Qian Li had an extremely deep impression of him.

As a powerful Martial Ancestor, he had originally thought that the battles between Martial Apprentices wouldn't be worth watching, but the recent fight had shocked him greatly because he couldn't understand Long Yuan's sword technique. This strike was like an antelope hanging by its horns—leaving no tracks to follow, or perhaps like a heavenly horse soaring through the skies; one could not tell where it began or where it ended. In short, Long Yuan seemed to have just casually thrust his sword and defeated Fu Fei, the strongest Martial Apprentice in Shuntian No. 1 Middle School. Qian Li, of course, knew exactly who Fu Fei was: he was the direct descendant of Fu Changqing, one of the six Grand Elders of the current Ming Cabinet and the Master of the Wuying Palace. The Fu family was a prestigious and influential clan in Shuntian Prefecture, belonging to the First-Tier Noble Families!

Fu Fei was also one of the famous young Geniuses of Shuntian Prefecture. He had shown exceptional talent from a young age. Now, at only fifteen years old, he had already Cultivated to the Peak of the Martial Apprentice Realm, and his combat power suppressed a crowd of young Geniuses at Shuntian No. 1 Middle School, ranking him first.

In the test matches, if he hadn't encountered Long Yuan, he would likely have maintained an undefeated record. It was just a pity that he fell short at the very end, losing at the hands of Long Yuan.

"Engineer Zeng, can you replicate the trajectory of that strike from Long Yuan?" Qian Li pondered.

A large, fat man in the room nodded hurriedly upon hearing this: "No problem! Right away!"