novelraw Chapter 126: Out of Place
Chapter 126: Out of Place
When it came to the Magical Combat he’d watched all day, he naturally thought of the one that had left the deepest impression on him first.
Fang Yun was certain his Magical Combat against Senior Brother Hong Lingfeng had left a deep impression on all the Inner and Outer Sect Disciples.
It shattered the long-held impression others had of him.
Merely being skilled at defense was not enough. His offense also had to be outstanding. Coupled with the reputation he had already built among the Sect Disciples, this was enough to elevate his standing in their eyes.
「The next day.」
「On Battle Peak.」
After the first round of Magical Combat yesterday, one hundred and twenty-seven Inner Sect Disciples had been eliminated.
The one person who received a bye, plus the one hundred and twenty-seven who advanced, meant a total of one hundred and twenty-eight people would compete in sixty-four Magical Combat matches today.
Unlike yesterday, Dueling Platforms six through ten were no longer in use.
Today, only five Magical Combat matches would be held simultaneously.
This way, with plenty of time in the day, the Inner and Outer Sect Disciples who came to watch would be able to see more matches.
When Elder Feng Tianrui announced the start of the second round of the Inner Sect’s grand tournament, Fang Yun and the others had already gathered below Dueling Platform Four.
Bai Qinying from Group Seven quickly began her Magical Combat against the winner of yesterday’s Group Eight.
The winner of Group Eight was at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. The battle between them ended quickly, with Bai Qinying naturally claiming an easy victory.
With that, the first Magical Combat match of the day was over.
Fang Yun, from Group Twenty-One, was scheduled for the eleventh match of the day.
His turn would come after six matches had been completed across the five Dueling Platforms.
Because the number of Dueling Platforms in use was halved, today there were only eight Elders on Battle Peak in total.
On the stone dais, those same three Elders were still seated.
"Number 116, Fang Yun, versus Number 39, Deng Qian. Report to Dueling Platform Three."
’Dueling Platform Three yesterday, and Dueling Platform Three again today.’
Soon, Fang Yun arrived on Dueling Platform Three and took his position.
After Fang Yun had stood in position for five breaths, he still hadn’t seen any sign of Deng Qian.
"Number 39, Deng Qian!" the Elder called out again.
"Coming, I’m coming!"
Deng Qian’s voice finally called out. As he appeared, it was clear from his pale complexion that he was not well.
"What’s wrong with you?" the Elder asked, noticing Deng Qian’s condition.
"I ran into a small problem while circulating my Mental Method yesterday," Deng Qian answered quickly, not giving the Elder a chance to react before adding, "I’m afraid I’m in no condition to fight in today’s Magical Combat. I forfeit."
Deng Qian had forfeited just like that.
’He’d thought about it all last night. His original plan was to just lose quickly during the Magical Combat against Fang Yun. But on second thought, he grew worried that Fang Yun wouldn’t let him lose quickly and would deliberately torment him instead. So he’d come up with this plan for today. Just forfeit. Don’t give Fang Yun a single chance to torment him.’
After Deng Qian said his piece on Dueling Platform Three, the disciples below erupted into an uproar.
"Forfeit? That’s way too hasty. Something feels strange about this."
"Who cultivates that hard during the grand tournament? Wouldn’t you go back, recover your Spiritual Power, get a good night’s rest, and prepare for the next day’s Magical Combat?"
"The senior sister is right, that’s what I was thinking. There’s definitely something fishy about cultivating instead of resting properly."
The disciples’ strong reaction was mainly because they had been eagerly anticipating Fang Yun’s Magical Combat.
Yesterday’s match had ended too quickly. Today’s opponent was another Inner Sect Disciple at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. They thought that after seeing yesterday’s fight, he would surely be prepared for Fang Yun’s pale yellow Long Sword. This, in turn, would force Fang Yun to reveal other techniques.
They really wanted to see how Fang Yun would perform in a proper Magical Combat match.
Some Inner Sect Disciples who were more familiar with Deng Qian spoke up at this moment.
"Junior Brother Fang’s opponent this time is Junior Brother Deng. To be honest, I expected something like this would happen before Junior Brother Deng even stepped onto the Dueling Platform."
"Senior Brother, what do you mean? Could you be a bit clearer?"
"From what I know of this Junior Brother Deng... he’s simply scared."
"No wonder. So that’s what it is. Thanks for clearing that up, Senior Brother."
Another female Inner Sect Disciple nearby asked in confusion, "But Senior Brother, the Elders are watching. Why would Senior Brother Deng be afraid?"
"That’s a great question, and it’s something I don’t understand either. If you really want to know, Junior Sister, you could always go ask him yourself later."
"Never mind, never mind."
On the Dueling Platform, Fang Yun watched Deng Qian as the ceaseless murmur of the disciples below reached his ears.
From their chatter, he could tell that Deng Qian had a very poor reputation among some of the Inner Sect Disciples.
This was well within Fang Yun’s expectations.
He had formed a more concrete opinion of Deng Qian ever since their encounter at the entrance to his residence.
’After that incident, Deng Qian seemed to go out of his way to avoid me. For him to forfeit immediately upon facing me in Magical Combat wasn’t surprising at all.’
"Number 39, Deng Qian, forfeits! Number 116, Fang Yun, wins by default and advances to the third round!" the Elder announced loudly.
The rules of the Inner Sect’s grand tournament naturally permitted forfeiting before a match began.
The Elder felt it was a shame he didn’t get to see Fang Yun fight.
He had been at Dueling Platform Eight yesterday and had only heard about Fang Yun from the Elder who officiated his match.
That Elder’s account had piqued his curiosity about Fang Yun.
He had been happy to learn that he would be officiating Fang Yun’s match today, so Deng Qian’s immediate forfeit was a huge letdown.
The second round of Magical Combat had to continue. Quickly composing himself, he wiped all expression from his face and announced the contestants for the next match.
The moment the Elder announced Fang Yun’s victory, Deng Qian immediately left Dueling Platform Three, showing no courtesy whatsoever.
Seeing his behavior, no one said anything.
Deng Qian hurried away, heading straight for the path down Battle Peak. He looked for all the world like someone who was genuinely injured and returning to recuperate.
However, as word spread among the disciples, very few people actually believed that Deng Qian had experienced a cultivation mishap.
"Junior Brother Fang, are you going to do the same thing you did yesterday?"
"That’s right."
"You’re not even going to gather intel on Dong Hongwen," Bai Qinying said, unable to stop herself from shaking her head.
Fang Yun turned to look at Song Qiaoqiao.
"Senior Sister, could I trouble you to help me gather it?"
"Of course, Junior Brother." Song Qiaoqiao nodded, seeing no issue with the request.
Bai Qinying looked at Fang Yun, then at Song Qiaoqiao, and in the end didn’t say anything more.
But when she saw Wu Junxin and Yao Shuixiao, especially their current expressions, she couldn’t help but speak up.
"Junior Brother Wu and Junior Sister Yao, what are you two laughing at?"
"...Nothing." Wu Junxin shook his head. After giving Yao Shuixiao a look, he quickly thought of a reason. "I was just thinking about my Magical Combat against Junior Sister Yao today, so I smiled happily."
"Me too," Yao Shuixiao echoed.
For a moment, Bai Qinying felt completely out of sync with these four.