Chapter 102 : Chu Yang Exposed
The two fighters on the arena exchanged blows vigorously, while cheers occasionally erupted from below. Those spectators who had previously been certain that Chu Yang wouldn't last a single strike now seemed to have forgotten their earlier assumptions, their attention completely drawn into the battle between the two.
Zhong Heng was also watching intently, his bright clear eyes fixed on the movements of the two fighters on the arena, and like the fellow disciples around him, he couldn't help cheering during impressive moments. However, as he watched, he suddenly muttered: "Is Chu Yang's strength really this great? Or did he make significant progress after our match? But how much time has passed since then..."
This mutter was an unconscious whisper, and his voice wasn't particularly loud. Combined with the enthusiastic atmosphere around, it barely reached anyone else's ears. Only Yun Qingyue, who stood very close to him, and the little white tiger obediently watching from her arms, heard fragments of his words.
The little white tiger also found it remarkable and responded to Zhong Heng: "So you can't beat him anymore, is that right?"
Hearing this, Zhong Heng was momentarily at a loss for words—judging by the intensity of attacks on the arena, he estimated he could probably last only seven or eight moves against Tan Xin, let alone fighting evenly, much less winning. From this perspective, Chu Yang's improvement lately was truly significant. Who knew what benefits Peak Master Qingxu had given him after he became a disciple of Mount Luoxing?
Not just Zhong Heng and the little white tiger, but everyone discussing the two fighters on the arena found Chu Yang unexpectedly impressive. However, no one noticed that Yun Qingyue, who hadn't spoken, had fixed her gaze on Tan Xin, her crystal eyes thoughtful.
This wasn't the first time Yun Qingyue had watched Tan Xin compete, but it was the first time she had seen Buddha's Disciple take the initiative to attack!
Tan Xin's temperament aligned well with Buddhist principles—peaceful, tolerant, non-confrontational. Even in arena matches, he was rarely the first to make a move. Just like in his previous match with Wen Jin, he allowed the formation master to leisurely set up his formation before entering it. However, Wen Jin's grand formation couldn't contain him, so he broke through the formation, Wen Jin conceded, and the two barely engaged in direct combat.
Later, Tan Xin competed in several more matches, and naturally not all his opponents were technical fighters like formation masters. But regardless of how his opponents attacked, he always responded calmly, and in the end, his opponents generally recognized the vast difference in their abilities and conceded on their own.
Fighting such a person was like punching cotton—ineffective yet also harmless. But this duel with Chu Yang was different. Chu Yang had just made one sword strike, and according to Tan Xin's usual style, he should have simply blocked it and left it at that, as he wouldn't normally counterattack actively. Yet in reality, he didn't wait a moment longer and immediately formed hand seals to counterattack!
The light palm was shattered, the Buddha-light dispersed, but Tan Xin's attacks came one after another, almost giving Chu Yang no time to counterattack.
The crowd only saw the lively battle on the arena, but Yun Qingyue couldn't help but feel suspicious. Her gaze passed through the arena and fell on Buddha Sect's disciples on the opposite side, seeing more or less surprised expressions on their faces as well.
Indeed, either there was something wrong with Tan Xin, or something wrong with Chu Yang—Tan Xin was Buddha's Disciple with the entire Buddha Sect's support, so the possibility of something being wrong with him was naturally small. Chu Yang was different; his appearance had always been abrupt, and there had always been many suspicious points about him, but no one had caught any evidence, nor did they know his background.
But by the looks of it, perhaps Tan Xin had discovered something?
Yun Qingyue's hand brushed over the little white tiger's soft fur, her beautiful eyes falling on the two fighters on the arena. She could no longer focus on their duel, her mind filled with speculation yet unable to confirm anything. She then directed her gaze toward the high platform, but unfortunately, neither the Sect Leader nor her master revealed anything on their faces.
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Chu Yang's cultivation was actually not just at the Golden Core realm. His previous injuries and defeats were merely acts to conceal his true strength. He watched those people defeat him and become smug, while inwardly feeling contempt and mockery. Even now, Chu Yang was still hiding his true abilities. He wondered how many jaws would drop if he could win the championship with Golden Core cultivation.
Of course, more importantly, he didn't want people to figure out his true nature, as the element of surprise could often lead to victory, couldn't it?
However, Chu Yang had never imagined that his path to championship would only reach the final four before encountering a formidable opponent like Tan Xin. Not only was his cultivation profound and his techniques powerful, but the Buddha-light he had cultivated at such a young age was also particularly troublesome.
After exchanging over a hundred moves in a short time, Chu Yang began to feel impatient, with killing intent rising in his heart—it hadn't been easy for him to infiltrate Xuanqing Sect, and he had only just managed to make a name for himself with the sect competition and the Three Sect Martial Arts Competition. In these few months, he hadn't had time to do anything besides fighting, so how could he allow himself to be exposed so easily? Since this Buddha's Disciple was being so annoying, pressing him step by step in front of Xuanqing Sect's Leader and peak masters, he couldn't blame him for being merciless!
With this thought, Chu Yang finally withdrew his sword and threw out several talismans with a wave of his hand.
Lightning Fire Talisman, Explosion Talisman, Frost Ice Talisman... all kinds of attack talismans were sent flying toward Tan Xin at once. Tan Xin's expression remained unchanged; he merely altered his Buddhist mudras slightly, and the white jade prayer beads instantly condensed with Buddha-light again, blocking all these attacks outside his body.
Chu Yang never expected these few talismans to harm Tan Xin; he merely used the opportunity while Tan Xin was responding to throw out a formation disk with a wave of his hand. In the blink of an eye, clouds and mist rose on the arena, swallowing both of them, and the mist seemed to have the effect of blocking divine sense. In the end, only a faint glimpse of a robe fluttered past, and the two figures were no longer visible.
Among the spectators below the arena, those who were formation masters or understood formations immediately recognized this as an illusion formation, but they weren't optimistic about Chu Yang's tactics: "Previously, even Senior Brother Wen Jin's overlapping grand formation couldn't trap Tan Xin, so what use is Chu Yang's illusion formation?"
Indeed, what use was an illusion formation? As Buddha's Disciple, Tan Xin's Buddhist heart was firm; it was unlikely he could be trapped even for a short while!
The crowd discussed loudly, and Yun Qingyue instinctively felt something was wrong, but events developed faster than expected. The clouds on the arena surged, suddenly converging and then dispersing, and then a beam of golden light broke through the obstacles, dispersing the clouds and revealing the two figures. When the crowd could see the two clearly again, they couldn't help but gasp in shock.
Tan Xin was now sitting cross-legged on the ground, Buddha-light radiating all around him, as if he had transformed into a Buddha. In front of him, Chu Yang was thrusting his sword forward, but the sword's edge was pinched between Tan Xin's fingers in a flower-pinching gesture, stopping it barely half a chi from his face.
This wasn't particularly remarkable; what truly surprised people was that there seemed to be a flash of black energy on Chu Yang's originally bright sword edge, disappearing in an instant.
Some sharp-eyed people saw it, but more either didn't see clearly or thought they had misperceived.
A flash of panic crossed Chu Yang's eyes; he hadn't expected that not only would Tan Xin dodge his sneak attack, but the Buddha-light he emitted could even disperse the Heart-Confusing Mist he had specially refined, unexpectedly exposing his little trick. Before he could consider a countermeasure or hope for luck, a shout came from beside the arena: "Demonic energy?!"
The one who spoke was the elder presiding over the arena, who was closest and saw most clearly. Without regard for the incomplete match, he appeared on the arena while shouting, and without further words, attacked Chu Yang.
According to the rules, the elder presiding over the arena had to be at least two major realms higher in cultivation than the competitors. This elder was at the Spirit Division realm. His attack was incredibly swift, and even though Chu Yang had been holding back, his cultivation couldn't possibly be higher than the elder's. However, in terms of techniques, Chu Yang certainly had confidence he could escape from a Spirit Division cultivator, but there wasn't just one Spirit Division cultivator here...
Thinking of the Sect Leader and peak masters watching from the high platform, a glint of malevolence flashed briefly in Chu Yang's eyes, and he quickly weighed the pros and cons. In the end, he chose not to resist, standing still and allowing the elder to capture him.
Only after being pressed down by a hand on his shoulder, forced to kneel on one knee, did Chu Yang say with an innocent face: "What demonic energy? I don't know anything about that."
The elder happened to be from Mount Luoxing and had previously admired this new disciple of the peak master—after all, even Bei Luo had been eliminated in the final eight, while he had luckily entered the final four, and in the cultivation world, luck was also part of one's strength—plus, Chu Yang indeed hadn't resisted, so the elder instinctively felt a bit partial toward him.
But partiality aside, when it came to demonic cultivators, the elder didn't show leniency. Hearing this, he immediately raised his hand and pressed it against Chu Yang's pulse point. His cultivation was much higher than Chu Yang's, and his spiritual energy entered Chu Yang's meridians through the pulse point, quickly scanning through his eight extraordinary meridians, dantian, and internal organs.
Chu Yang's face turned pale, but he didn't resist, only lowering his eyes to conceal the darkness in his gaze.
In less than a moment, the elder completed his inspection and told the Sect Leader and others who had approached: "Reporting to Sect Leader, there is no demonic energy in Chu Yang's body. He is undoubtedly an orthodox cultivator, and his cultivation technique is balanced and harmonious, with a foundation so solid it could only have been established through decades of hard work."
Peak Master Qingxu, as Chu Yang's master, had naturally come over first, and his previously gloomy expression eased somewhat upon hearing this. With a wave of his hand, Chu Yang's spiritual sword, which had fallen on the arena, flew into his hand. At first glance, this spiritual sword was brimming with spiritual energy and seemed perfectly fine, but after careful examination, he frowned at a gemstone embedded in the sword.
"Brother, take a look," Peak Master Qingxu passed the spiritual sword to Peak Master Qingyuan, who specialized in artifact refining.
Peak Master Qingyuan took it and looked at it for a moment, then brushed the gemstone with his fingers. The originally brilliant gemstone immediately turned pitch black. The blackness vaguely exuded an ominous feeling, with strands of demonic energy leaking out.
Seeing this, Peak Master Qingxu immediately felt relieved and said: "I didn't expect this to be a concealed demonic weapon."
With no demonic energy in Chu Yang's body but his spiritual sword unexpectedly contaminated with demonic energy, the earlier demonic energy's origin seemed to have an explanation. Peak Master Qingxu showed some tendency to protect his disciple, but before he could negotiate with Buddha Sect, Peak Master Qingyu suddenly spoke: "We didn't expect this to be a demonic weapon, but your disciple must have known all along, Brother?"
Peak Master Qingxu wasn't angry at her for undermining him, only frowning: "What do you mean by that?"
At this point, True Lord Ji Ling, who had come to watch the commotion, also spoke up. Although his cultivation couldn't match these peak masters, he represented Tiandao Sect: "My nephew disciple You Yi suddenly experienced cultivation deviation on the arena earlier. I fear that wasn't an accident, was it?"
Peak Master Qingxu immediately understood, and his gaze toward Chu Yang became sharper and more scrutinizing. Although he tended to protect his own, he wasn't unreasonable. Now thinking about the previous illusion formation, what was there not to understand?
Sect Leader Qingxiao made the final decision: "Chu Yang will be temporarily detained. Xuanqing Sect concedes this match."