Chapter 354: How to Commentary on This?

Lu Yang upon the stage and Meng Jingzhou below it simultaneously fell into deep thought.

The Eldest Senior Sister had said that the Qingzhou government invited disciples of the Dao Sect to participate in the grand ceremony, the standard for which was cultivators under eighteen years of age; the two of them wished to exchange pointers with the younger generation and thus registered to compete, a rigorous logic that left absolutely no room for fault-finding.

Yet why were Lan Ting, Bai Ming, and another unfamiliar person sitting on the judges' bench?

Had they all exceeded eighteen years of age?

Upon hearing that Lu Yang belonged to the Dao Sect, the crowd below the stage gasped in unison.

To think that this grand gathering would even draw combatants from the Five Great Immortal Sects; such a thing had never been heard of in the past.

"But who is Lu Yang? Have any of you heard of him?" The crowd was utterly bewildered; though the Dao Sect's renown spread far and wide, few people actually recognized Lu Yang.

"Never heard of him. I've only heard of his opponent, Feng He."

"Me too. I heard this Feng He entered the Dao through listening to melodies, drawing Qi into his body to embark on the immortal path; after establishing his foundation, he obtained a damaged ancient zither at an auction, seemingly a possession once held by some great authority. Rogue cultivators grew greedy and sought to plunder it, but that one early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and two late-stage Qi Condensation rogue cultivators were instead captured by Feng He, who borrowed the might of the ancient zither."

Lu Yang's name carried none of the fame possessed by the highly favored seed contestants.

The experiences of those favored contestants were all backed by the push of their respective sects, building renown for their own disciples, publicizing how their disciples descended the mountains to rid the people of evils, slaying mountain bandits, malicious ghosts, and demons, or perhaps placing first in a sect grand tournament, finding it difficult to meet an equal within the same realm, or at the very least, possessing a tragic background where both parents were deceased and life was fraught with hardships, overcoming a thousand obstacles to cultivate immortality... in short, they publicized whatever was most eye-catching.

There were also Lan Ting, Bai Ming, Yan Tianzhi, and the others; when they undertook sect missions, their deeds of eradicating evil and punishing the corrupt were by no means few, and local gentry, town mayors, and commandery governors had to be exceedingly courteous upon meeting them, deeply afraid they might invoke the law enforcement authority of the Immortal Sects; their actions had long circulated among the common folk, making their fame even greater than that of the favored seed contestants.

In contrast, during his Foundation Establishment stage, Lu Yang had covertly infiltrated the Immortal Sect, slain the Yanjiang Branch Master who held a concurrent post as commandery governor, later lured the Vice Sect Master of the Immortal Sect to his death at the Dao Sect, and finally directly uprooted the Immortal Sect which possessed a history spanning fourteen thousand years.

During his Golden Core stage, he masqueraded as an ancient genius, established the Heavenly Court Sect, and tricked the Nine Nether Sect into temporarily abandoning their notions of slaughter to operate a barbecue shop instead.

These matters required secrecy and could not be spoken of; even if they were uttered, no one would believe them.

"So it is a Daoist brother from the Dao Sect. Come, let us battle!" Feng He was brimming with confidence, revealing a bright smile as he drew a structurally complete ancient zither from his storage ring; it shimmered beneath the sunlight, a brilliance born of golden strings.

His master had sought someone to appraise it, confirming this ancient zither was the relic of some Deity Transformation stage cultivator and had already been seventy percent repaired; though it could not unleash its full might as it would in the hands of a Deity Transformation master, even a sliver of power conjured from an artifact of this grade made it difficult for anyone of the same realm to rival.

Feng He truly possessed the capital for self-pride; Lu Yang had over a dozen junior brothers and sisters who entered in the same year as him, all under eighteen years of age.

They too had only just established their foundations, and those who were swift might be at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

Feng He's talent for cultivation was evident from this.

Of course, Lu Yang's junior brothers and sisters were raised in a free-roaming state, whereas Feng He had been meticulously nurtured by the sect behind him, making them not entirely comparable.

Facing a peer whose confidence was so abundant, Lu Yang did not grow careless, invoking his Invincible Elixir.

Very quickly, the Invincible Elixir yielded a result.

"Fight however you please."

Clang—

The notes of the ancient zither chimed crisply like golden bells, a sound resembling a coiled dragon and a crouching tiger as a faint golden light began to tremble; it launched a powerful wave of sound that swept toward Lu Yang, and in an instant, the music of the ancient zither resembled a white snake tracing a precise arc through the air, the soundwave carrying a blistering aura and power, overflowing with baleful Qi.

Feng He struck first, pouring his spiritual force into the ancient zither to strike pre-emptively, forcefully seizing the initiative in battle.

Whether Lu Yang chose to endure this attack head-on or dodge it, Feng He had already calculated his next move in response.

Combat was meant to be entirely full of calculation!

"Soundwave manifestation! To think he has already learned such an application just after establishing his foundation?!" a cultivator of extraordinary insight cried out involuntarily; how many cultivators dedicated to the study of melodies spent ten or twenty years just to master this technique, yet it was mastered by a mere junior like Feng He.

"It is said that Feng He used this very method to defeat that veteran early-stage Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator!"

"Back then, the ancient zither was still damaged; now that it has been successfully repaired, its power will only be greater!"

"To deploy a trump card right at the start!"

"Can Lu Yang of the Dao Sect withstand this move?"

Facing the manifested soundwave, Lu Yang did not display the slightest negligence, going all out as his right hand suddenly fanned downward, directly dispersing the baleful soundwave with a single slap.

He took a step forward, extending his index finger to strike with an invisible sword Qi; Feng He could not react to this move in time, and his artifact, protecting its master, actively blocked the space before him.

The sword Qi was sharp and heavy, striking the body of the ancient zither; the aftershocks impacted Feng He's internal organs, and holding the zither, he tumbled off the stage.

The cultivators below fell silent for a brief moment before erupting into a clamor of discussions that made one's scalp tingle.

"Did you see that move just now? Was that sword Qi? This is my first time seeing sword Qi!"

"Dispersing a soundwave with a single slap and defeating Feng He in one move—this guy named Lu Yang is so strong!"

"Just what realm is he at?!"

Lan Ting, sitting on the judges' bench, remained silent for a long time.

When she accepted the Governor's entrustment, she had felt this matter was quite simple; at most, it was merely the minor squabbles of the Foundation Establishment stage, and critiquing their merits and flaws would not be difficult.

The scene before her now was entirely beyond her expectations.

How should she speak? Praise Lu Yang for using his Golden Core cultivation to defeat the seed contestant Feng He?

She couldn't bring herself to say it.

Or perhaps praise Feng He's soundwave attack as sufficient proof of his talent in melodies, marking him as a future great talent.

Yet that seemingly formidable soundwave had been extinguished by a single slap from Lu Yang.

She turned her head to look at Bai Ming and Yan Tianzhi; Bai Ming remained silent, as if temporarily blinded and unable to see the situation upon the stage, while Yan Tianzhi opened his mouth, slowly spitting out a single word: "Good."

Good? Good for what? Was he praising Lu Yang's sword Qi for being executed with such ingenuity, neither harming Feng He nor failing to blast him out of bounds, controlling the power to absolute perfection?

Just as Lan Ting was feeling bewildered, she heard Yan Tianzhi spit out three more words: "...Shameless."

Lan Ting: "..."

It seemed these two could not be relied upon.

She let out a long breath, racking her brains to offer her commentary: "Contestant Feng He's soundwave attack just now could be described as entirely unexpected, truly worthy of the title of melody genius; even if other seed contestants could block it, they would be greatly drained of vitality and fall into exhaustion."

"Regrettably, the one Contestant Feng He encountered this time was Contestant Lu Yang; Contestant Lu Yang is a sword cultivator who is engrossed in the Dao of the sword, completely undivided in mind, pursuing only the supreme sword arts; this invisible sword Qi of his contains heaven and earth within, which sufficiently demonstrates his attainments in the Dao of the sword!"

"Of course, the aforementioned is not the critical factor in Contestant Lu Yang's victory; the most crucial point is that Contestant Lu Yang is at the Golden Core stage."

The second update will be around eleven o'clock

(End of this chapter)