Sovereign of Stars

Chapter 53 – Again, fearless

The training ground was packed with people.

The numerous geniuses participating in the second phase of the hunt, along with top experts from various factions and sects, were all intently watching the mirrored image in the void. By the fifteenth round of attacks, everyone believed Su Xin had reached his limit and would stop there.

Who would have thought... Su Xin suddenly erupted.

His swordsmanship broke through, not only passing the fifteenth round but also the sixteenth round of attacks.

Everyone was stunned.

A dead silence!

On the training ground, you could hear a pin drop.

"The sixteenth round?"

"How is this possible?"

Even Xia Mang, as strong as he was, wore a look of disbelief.

Just moments ago, when Su Xin passed the fourteenth round of attacks, matching him, Xia Mang was still relaxed, thinking, "Although we both passed the fourteenth round, he purely relied on defensive swordsmanship to drag through, whereas I explosively defeated the opponents of the fourteenth round head-on."

One barely made it through with defensive swordsmanship.

The other explosively crushed all opponents in the fourteenth round.

Even if both stopped at the fifteenth level, any discerning person would think Xia Mang was stronger.

But now...

"Passing the sixteenth round... Our Heavenflame Imperial Family has had the Heart of Heaven Realm for so many years, and countless geniuses have attempted it, but to date, Su Xin is the first to pass the sixteenth round. Although he relied purely on defense, strong defense is a skill too!"

"In this second phase of the hunt, without a doubt, he shines brighter than me!"

Xia Mang couldn't help but clench his fists.

Since childhood, he had always strived to be the strongest.

No matter the time or stage of competition, he was always the strongest.

In this hunt, it wasn't just about the final ranking; even in this second phase, he wanted to be the most dazzling one on the field.

But now, his brilliance was clearly overshadowed by Su Xin.

"Su Xin, huh?"

Xia Mang muttered, having firmly remembered this name.

...

"His Highness commands that in this hunt, if encountered, he must be killed."

Tu San stood there with a cold expression. Despite Su Xin's performance in the mirrored image being extraordinary, his heart remained unperturbed.

"Relying solely on defensive swordsmanship to pass the sixteenth round of attacks in the Heart of Heaven Realm, ordinary means can't touch him. I must use my strongest trump card, use that move..."

"Sacrificing everything, only then might I be able to kill him!"

Tu San's heart was as steadfast as iron.

To him, His Highness's order was everything.

Even if it cost him his life, he had to complete it.

...

The monk Wu Chao, with large black prayer beads hanging around his neck, stood smiling in a corner of the training ground, looking up at the image above.

Seeing Su Xin's swordsmanship breakthrough and passing the fifteenth and sixteenth rounds of attacks, Wu Chao couldn't help but sigh.

"Such formidable defensive means, even if I, a poor monk, went all out, I might not be able to defeat him head-on."

"The geniuses of the Heavenflame Dynasty are truly numerous. Just recently, there was Xia Mang with his domineering spear technique, barely able to match me in strength, and now there's Su Xin, seemingly invincible in defense... Truly worthy of being one of the dynasties with the deepest foundations among the Nine Sacred Mountains."

Wu Chao continued to smile.

Whether it was Xia Mang or Su Xin, they brought immense pressure to the other geniuses present.

But Wu Chao didn't care in the slightest.

What did it matter to him how strong others were?

His target was only Situ Yu.

...

"My brother's defensive swordsmanship is just too monstrous."

Duan Yunfeng was also among the crowd. Seeing Su Xin's eruption, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

He had long known that Su Xin's defensive swordsmanship was remarkable. During the first phase of the hunt, Su Xin's defensive swordsmanship had already reached a bottleneck.

In the hunting grounds, whenever he encountered strong geniuses, Su Xin always wanted to use their methods to hone his swordsmanship, hoping to break through the bottleneck, but unfortunately, he never succeeded.

Now, in the Heart of Heaven Realm, facing opponents whose strength increased round by round, it provided Su Xin with the best training opportunity, allowing his swordsmanship to break through.

And once his swordsmanship broke through, its defensive capability left even Duan Yunfeng feeling a bit hopeless.

"If I encounter him in the upcoming hunt, even if I use all my strength to attack for half a day, I probably won't be able to harm him at all." Duan Yunfeng smiled wryly.

He had a premonition that if he encountered Su Xin alone in the upcoming hunt, he would definitely suffer.

...

After passing the sixteenth round, the opponent for the seventeenth round appeared.

Unlike the opponents encountered before, this seventeenth round had only one opponent.

This person held a long lance in one hand and, after stepping out from the white light screen, slid swiftly to Su Xin.

The long lance first made a sweep, followed by a thrust.

The attack seemed simple, but its intricacy was beyond the understanding of the many geniuses present, including Su Xin.

Su Xin's defensive swordsmanship seemed flawless, yet it couldn't withstand the lance.

In a single encounter, Su Xin was defeated.

Soon, Su Xin was sent out.

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...

As soon as Su Xin appeared on the training ground, countless gazes immediately converged on him, most of them filled with praise.

"This Su Xin, say what you will, but his defensive swordsmanship is terrifying."

"Yes, just relying on defensive swordsmanship to pass the sixteenth round of attacks in the Heart of Heaven Realm, who can break such defense?"

"Not to mention us, even those geniuses capable of challenging the top ten in the hunt would despair at his defensive swordsmanship."

"Some doubted his top ten strength before? What a joke. Just with this defensive swordsmanship, breaking into the top ten of the hunt is no pressure at all."

Voices of discussion echoed in every corner of the training ground.

"Passing the sixteenth round of attacks in the Heart of Heaven Realm, even if only by defensive means, his strength will surely break into the top ten of this hunt, and he will definitely enter the Heavenflame Palace. It seems getting him to join our Tianye Sect is impossible now." Elder Mo shook his head quietly beside him.

He understood that with Su Xin's eruption, he was completely out of reach for their Tianye Sect.

Not just the Tianye Sect, but also other forces or sects that had previously invited Su Xin were in the same situation.

...

"Su Xin, when you erupt, you really scare people to death." Duan Yunfeng came to Su Xin's side, smiling as he spoke.

"What's going on? Why is everyone looking at me?" Su Xin asked in confusion.

He had been in the trial space before and didn't know about the performance of others on the training ground.

As Duan Yunfeng explained to him, Su Xin immediately understood.

"I'm the only one who passed the sixteenth round of attacks, and even Xia Mang only passed the fourteenth round?"

"No wonder so many people are paying attention to me."

Su Xin smiled faintly.

In fact, it was because his Mountain-Sea Volume swordsmanship broke through to the level of mastery that he was able to barely pass the sixteenth round.

If his swordsmanship hadn't broken through, he would have only been able to pass the fourteenth round at most, and certainly not the fifteenth.

At this moment, the purple-haired elder hosting the hunt floated up, announcing grandly, "The second phase of the hunt ends here. Those who just passed the tenth round of attacks in the trial space can advance to the third phase, the final phase of the hunt."

"I will read the names."

"Su Xin, Xia Mang, Tu San..."

One by one, names were read according to the results of this phase.

After reading thirty-six names, the purple-haired elder stopped.

This meant that only thirty-six geniuses advanced to the final phase through the second phase of the hunt.

"Suddenly, only thirty-six remain." The strong individuals from various sects and forces around sighed.

But they understood.

Although Su Xin passed the sixteenth round, the ninth round in the Heart of Heaven Realm was a huge threshold. The difficulty increased significantly at the tenth round, and with the factor of spiritual power consumption, passing the tenth round was not easy.

Like Cang Yan, who clearly had the strength for the top twenty, but ultimately couldn't pass the tenth round.

Out of a thousand geniuses participating in the second phase, having thirty-six advance was already quite good.

...

After the second phase of the hunt ended, there were still three days for rest.

The geniuses returned to the camp.

In the tavern, Su Xin sat with Duan Yunfeng.

"Haha, Su Xin, look at the latest genius intelligence released by the Crimson Dragon Tower. Previously, they only said you had suspected top ten strength, but this time they not only removed the word 'suspected' but also placed your name on the first few pages, ahead of mine. Moreover, the intelligence states that in terms of defense alone, you are the undisputed number one among this year's geniuses!" Duan Yunfeng laughed.

Su Xin glanced at the intelligence content and also smiled.

During the first phase of the hunt, although many geniuses had already shown their strength, the Crimson Dragon Tower could only gather intelligence through some battle results or from other geniuses, so much of the information wasn't particularly precise or detailed.

But in the second phase of the hunt, all the geniuses were in the Heart of Heaven Realm, and their performances were clearly seen by the strong individuals from various forces and sects.

The evaluations by the Crimson Dragon Tower naturally became more accurate.

Xia Mang, who explosively defeated opponents and passed the fourteenth round, was still on the first page of the genius intelligence, without a doubt.

As for Su Xin...

If Xia Mang was the undisputed number one in terms of domineering spear technique and offensive power in this hunt, then Su Xin was the undisputed number one in defense.

His defensive swordsmanship was witnessed by many, and just this one technique was enough to make most geniuses despair.

After all, with such defensive swordsmanship, even if he only defended, most geniuses would have no way to deal with him, placing him in an invincible position.

"In terms of defense alone, I may not necessarily be the first in this hunt." Su Xin suddenly said, "The monk Wu Chao we encountered in the hunting grounds, his defensive means are truly terrifying."

Duan Yunfeng couldn't help but recall the monk.

When he struck the monk's head with all his might, the monk's scalp didn't even crack, and the protective golden light alone blocked his strike.

"Yes, that monk's defense is truly terrifying." Duan Yunfeng nodded repeatedly.

Su Xin's defense mainly relied on swordsmanship, with the most important aspect being the soft techniques to deflect force. Even if the opponent's power was several times or nearly ten times stronger, it was within the range Su Xin could handle with his mastery of the Mountain-Sea Volume.

The opponents in the Heart of Heaven Realm mostly grew stronger in power and speed, but their skill level wasn't particularly high before the seventeenth round.

But in the seventeenth round, the opponent was alone, and although their power hadn't increased much, Su Xin lost in a single encounter because the opponent's skill far exceeded his expectations.

Among the geniuses in the hunt, there might not be anyone whose skill level absolutely surpassed his, but there were a few who could match him.

For instance, Xia Mang, Tu San, and Duan Yunfeng had skill levels not inferior to Su Xin's and could find ways to break through his defense through skill.

In comparison, the monk Wu Chao's protective golden light was indeed more formidable.

However, only Su Xin and Duan Yunfeng knew about Wu Chao's protective means; the other geniuses, including the Crimson Dragon Tower, were unaware.

"Anyway, with our strength, as long as luck isn't particularly bad and we don't encounter the top geniuses early, breaking into the top ten is still possible." Duan Yunfeng laughed.

"Yes." Su Xin nodded.

...

Night fell, and the moonlight was hazy.

On an unnamed hill around the camp, Su Xin practiced his swordsmanship alone.

Every night, he practiced his swordsmanship for one or two hours, a habit he had formed long ago.

It was this habit and effort that allowed his swordsmanship to progress so quickly, not just pure talent.

Swish! Swish! Swish!~~

The sword light was swift, like a raging fire.

And fire, by nature, is ruthless, relentlessly cutting through the air.

Every strike, Su Xin gave his all.

Every strike was exhilarating.

More than half an hour passed.

Su Xin didn't know how many times he had swung his sword, but just as he unleashed another swift and ruthless sword shadow, his spiritual power surged like a torrent.

His body trembled.

"This is... peak Sea Transformation!!"

Su Xin's eyes widened, feeling the suddenly surging, more powerful spiritual power within him, and he couldn't help but feel ecstatic.

Two months ago, he had just broken through to the initial stage of Sea Transformation, but with the rapid cultivation speed of the Bloodline Inheritance Cultivation Art and the assistance of a large number of first-grade Sea Transformation Pills, his cultivation improved rapidly. While training alone in Yongning Prefecture, he broke through to the Sea Transformation level, and his cultivation continued to accumulate.

During this hunt, through repeated encounters and honing with other geniuses, his cultivation reached the most saturated state of the Sea Transformation level.

Su Xin thought he had just reached saturation and would have to wait until the hunt ended to hope for a breakthrough to peak Sea Transformation.

But unexpectedly... perhaps due to the immense pressure he faced in the Heart of Heaven Realm today, not only did his swordsmanship break through, but even the bottleneck in his cultivation showed signs of loosening.

That night, during an exhilarating sword practice, he broke through.

"Peak Sea Transformation!"

Su Xin clenched his fists, feeling the significantly increased power within him.

"Previously, at the Sea Transformation level, I was confident of breaking into the top ten of this hunt. Even facing top geniuses like Xia Mang and Wu Chao, I could fight them head-on."

"But now, with my cultivation breaking through to peak Sea Transformation, even if I only unleash fifty percent of my bloodline power, my power might not be weaker than Xia Mang, who cultivates the Imperial Yuan Technique!"

"In terms of power, and in swordsmanship and Concept Comprehension, I am not weaker than him, and might even be stronger!"

"With such strength..."

Standing atop the mountain, overlooking the vast camp below, Su Xin felt a surge of pride.

"In this hunt, I... fear nothing!!"