52: Chapter 52 Advancing to the Finals

After Chen Changyue finished his match and a few more matches passed, it was finally Chen Changqing's turn.

His opponent was merely at the 6th Layer of Qi Refining and was defeated after withstanding just a few moves in Chen Changqing's hands.

In the match right after Chen Changqing's, one of the participants left a deep impression on him—it was Zhou Ziye.

He also noticed Chen Changqing, and when he looked over, the corners of his mouth curled up, as if he were saying that after dealing with his own opponent, he would have a go with him.

Chen Changqing didn't mind at all.

He was already well aware of Zhou Ziye's strength, which was at most at the Perfection of the Qi Condensation 7th Layer.

Such strength was definitely invincible among the younger generation of Qinghe County, and even placed in Taihe Prefecture, it was among the front ranks.

On the arena, Zhou Ziye stopped looking at Chen Changqing and instead stared intently at the young Cultivator slowly walking onto the stage.

That was a youth dressed in a purple robe with a long saber strapped to his waist.

The moment he stepped onto the stage, two sabers—one long and one short—appeared in his hands in the blink of an eye.

This was a Cultivator who practiced both spells and body refining.

Chen Changqing recognized it instantly, never expecting such a figure to be hiding here; he just didn't know what level his Body Refining cultivation had reached.

The moment Zhou Ziye saw the other's attire, vigilance immediately arose in his heart.

Cultivators who practiced both spells and body refining were generally much stronger than Cultivators of the same rank, and coupled with the fact that the opponent's cultivation was still at the Qi Condensation 7th Layer, he would be even harder to deal with.

Presumably, he had been concealing his identity as a dual-practitioner of spells and body refining whenever he took the stage before, but now it seemed he was no longer going to hide his strength.

Zhou Ziye stopped thinking further and kept his eyes closely fixed on the opponent's every move.

When the match began, the two immediately made their moves.

However, after just a short while, Zhou Ziye was beaten into a continuous retreat, completely being no match for the opponent.

Zhou Ziye's setback made the hearts of the entire Zhou Family jump to their throats, especially the younger generation.

Watching their eldest brother, who had been invincible since childhood, being suppressed and beaten like this, they felt utterly terrible inside.

As for the elders of the Zhou Family, their reactions were somewhat calmer.

Perhaps they hadn't seen many geniuses, but they had heard tales of them to varying degrees.

Just like how they had once heard of cases where a Qi Refining Cultivator killed a Foundation Establishment Cultivator; upon learning of it for the first time, one might think it was a hoax, but after you have struggled in the Immortal Realm for decades or centuries, such things, however rare, at least existed.

After a little while longer, Zhou Ziye's abdomen was slashed open, almost getting cut in half directly at the waist.

Fortunately, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator off the stage made a timely move, otherwise Zhou Ziye really would have died right there.

After stepping off the stage, Zhou Ziye was no longer as arrogant and conceited as before, leaving only utter disbelief on his face along with an expression of despair from being dealt a heavy blow.

At this moment, he perhaps finally gained a trace of realization, understanding that the Immortal Realm was not as simple as he had imagined.

No one paid much attention to this little episode, because such things had been staged countless times here.

Those geniuses who were full of confidence and thought they were invincible under heaven would one day encounter Cultivators even stronger than themselves.

When they lost their awe for the Immortal Realm, perhaps the consequences were already lurking behind them, waiting for an Opportunity.

After a few more matches, the Top 16 were finally decided.

Among them, the young Cultivators of the Li Family and Zhou Family were eliminated together.

Chen Changqing and Li Qingling, who were still in the arena, were the only remaining Cultivators from Qinghe County.

Moreover, Li Qingling had even eliminated one of the hot favorites to win the championship of this assembly.

For a time, driven by those with ulterior motives, her momentum grew larger and larger, faintly surpassing Han Lingjun.

Due to the flattery and hype of many people, even Han Lingjun cast his gaze toward Li Qingling.

He was also curious what level this young woman's strength had actually reached, allowing her to defeat several Qi Condensation 7th Layer Cultivators in succession with merely the cultivation of the 5th Layer of Qi Refining, among whom was even Song Mingxue, whose strength made him rather wary.

However, any Cultivator with some discernment could vaguely guess that Li Qingling's aura must have been concealed.

Combined with the intelligence they had investigated, the Chen Family had indeed purchased an auxiliary Cultivation Technique of the aura-concealing type.

Seen in this light, that Chen Changqing had obviously concealed his aura as well.

What a couple of sly old foxes.

After the Top 16 were decided, they rested for another day before the Top 16 knockout matches began.

Logically speaking, if Chen Changqing and Li Qingling both kept winning, they would meet in the Top 4, and finally have Chen Changqing step up to defeat that Han Lingjun—yes, defeat, not challenge.

In the eyes of everyone in the Chen Family, even if Chen Changqing's strength hadn't reached the level of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, it was definitely not far off.

As for that Han Lingjun, his highest battle record was defeating an evil Cultivator at the Perfection of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining with the cultivation of the 8th Layer of Qi Refining not long ago; he was very strong, but that was all.

The Top 16 matches held no great suspense; Chen Changqing and Li Qingling advanced once again.

Aside from the two of them, the cultivation of everyone else who entered the Top 8 was at the Qi Condensation 7th Layer.

In the match for entering the Top 4 from the Top 8, the Qi Condensation 7th Layer Cultivator Chen Changqing faced had decent strength, roughly possessing the combat power of the Perfection of the 8th Layer of Qi Refining.

Had it not been for his existence, perhaps this person could have also advanced into the Top 4, but luck was simply not on his side for running into him.

In the subsequent semi-finals, countless people thought that Chen Changqing would choose to forfeit directly and let Li Qingling advance.

The result utterly shocked everyone: unexpected to all, Chen Changqing did not proactively forfeit, but instead, Li Qingling on the opposite side took the initiative to forfeit.

Immediately, countless people in their hearts began to speculate: could it be that this Chen Changqing possessed even higher strength?

How could that be possible?

For the Chen Family to have a deep Opportunity to produce someone who could defeat Song Mingxue with the combat power of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining while at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining was already considered profound, how could yet another one appear?

Some people believed that Li Qingling was not a member of the Chen Family, which could be told simply by looking at her surname and given name.

Therefore, she had suffered marginalization by the Chen Family, forcing her to hand over the reward for second place on a silver platter.

Put that way, the Top 4 reward she obtained might not necessarily end up in her hands in the end.

For a time, this speculation convinced even more people, and countless individuals began to curse the Chen Family for being shameless, using others to fight for benefits for their own Family and then turning around to deny anyone after things were done.

When the members of the Chen Family learned the reason why they were being cursed, they truly could not think of any reason to explain.

Put in their shoes, if they hadn't known the real reason, they would have genuinely thought that they were suppressing Li Qingling.

However, the crowd didn't explain either, quietly waiting for the final showdown.

Once the finals started, all the rumors would collapse on their own.

...

On the twenty-sixth day, the Taihe Assembly, which had lasted for nearly a month, was drawing to a close.

It all depended on who would win and who would lose in today's finals.

Many people already had the answer in their hearts; coming here today was simply to watch when the three major forces, including the Xuantian Sect, would distribute the rewards.

Naturally, some people harbored thoughts of waylaying and robbing the rewards, but the Xuantian Sect and the two Yun and Song families must have already considered this matter and would not let such a thing happen, otherwise it would be a public slap in the face to them.