Once Ling Wugou finished his briefing, the profound strength assessment started. Since many people participated in the Ranking Tournament, it took quite some time for the assessment to happen.
Throughout the assessment, except for Qiu Wushang and Yuanba, Yun Che and Cang Yue were silent.
"Frozen Cloud Asgard's Shui Wushuang, Wu Xuexin, Xia Qingyue."
The moment their names were called, Yun Che and Cang Yue finally showed interest in their gazes as both of them looked toward the stage where profound assessment was happening.
On the stage, three beauties stood. Despite the fact that all three of them had their faces hidden under the icy veil, it didn't deter people from ogling at their figures, which basically made every man's heart tremble. Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace was known for selecting only female disciples, and each one of these disciples was breathtakingly beautiful. Blue Wind Empire's number one beauty, Chu Yuechan, also belongs to it after all. As such, when these people appeared on the stage, the arena buzzed with loud exclamations. Everyone had their attention fixated on them.
"Brother-in-law, look! It's big sister!" Yuanba excitedly placed his hand over Yun Che's shoulder and said, making Yun Che roll his eyes.
"Of course, I can see it. We just met yesterday at the gate."
"Hehehe." Yuanba sillily laughed, making Yun Che sigh.
He returned his attention to the stage, waiting for the assessment.
"Shui Wushuang, 20 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level nine!"
"Wu Xuexin, 20 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level nine!"
And finally…
"Xia Qingyue, 17 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level eight!"
The voice fell.
Everyone took a deep breath hearing it.
Even Ling Yuefeng was no exception!
All of them stared at the veiled woman with wide eyes, not believing what they saw.
In fact, the strength of Spirit Profound Realm level eight wasn't that surprising considering she was from one of the four major clans, but it was her age that stupefied them. She was only seventeen years old!
Seventeen… to have such profound strength at such an age, only Ling Yun could match her in talent!
"Spirit Profound Realm level eight?" Cang Yue frowned before a smile appeared on her face. "As Brother Yun said, she is hiding her strength."
"Of course…" Yun Che answered. "Though I have no idea why… In the end, she would have to reveal it to others."
He shook his head before adding.
"It is better to show your real strength to avoid needless fighting. At least, people with brains would give up faster than to further humiliate themselves. On the other hand, what about you?" Yun Che looked toward her and inquired.
As stated before, unlike Yun Che, Cang Yue needed to refine the profound energy fully before advancing a level. This, coupled with the fact that she trained in sword art with him, had greatly reduced her cultivation time. Yet, she was able to reach Earth Profound Realm level three! And was already half-step into Earth Profound Realm level four!
This kind of strength… in this tournament, except for Qingyue, she really didn't have any other match. Even Ling Yun, who was at the peak of Earth Profound Realm level three, couldn't match her solely due to the fact that Cang Yue's profound arts and her talent in sword surpassed him by a lot!
Cang Yue shook her head.
"I won't hide it." She smiled and added, "I won't be able to show Brother Yun's brilliance that way. Also, I'm not interested in fighting with anyone else but Sister Qingyue. As for others, it would be nothing but annoying. It would be good if they gave up after knowing my strength."
"..."
With a soft smile, Yun Che shook his head.
After thinking for a while, he asked, "Are you sure you don't want a profound skill that allows you to resist ice's profound energy? As I've told you before, Qingyue can surpass levels and activate domain due to her body constitution. It won't be an easy match if she activates her domain."
Not only would it hinder her movement, but it would also slow the amount of profound energy Cang Yue can use. This would definitely impact her fighting by a lot.
Cang Yue suddenly pouted and her cheeks swelled cutely.
"Does Brother Yun have no trust in Cang Yue? I want to defeat her fair and square. If I had profound art that resists ice, wouldn't I be winning by default then?"
"Well..."
"Just leave it to me. I'll definitely win!"
In the end, Yun Che shrugged his shoulders and didn't say anything else.
"Heavenly Sword Villa — Ling Yun, Ling Feiyu, Ling Jie."
Unlike Qingyue, where people were amazed at her strength at such a young age, everyone took it as if it was normal when Ling Yun's strength was mentioned—Earth Profound Realm level three! They treated it as if it was the most normal thing on the planet. No one could really blame them either. After all, Ling Yun had already established himself as the best genius of the Blue Wind Empire three years ago. His strength now, all of them expected it to be normal.
"Blue Wind Profound Palace…" Suddenly, Ling Wugou paused, and a weird expression appeared on his face. After a second, he called out loud, "Cang Yue."
The arena went silent.
Everyone looked towards Cang Yue, who gracefully walked towards the Profound Assessment Stone with bated breath.
Half a year ago, a rumor had spread: Princess Cang Yue broke into the Spirit Profound Realm in mere two months.
To check the authenticity of this rumor, except for Asgard, each of the four major clans had sent people.
And to say they were surprised would be an understatement.
Obviously, after knowing this, they had tried their best to find out how she was able to break through realms so easily, yet they got nothing in return.
If not for her status, it is estimated that they would have straight out kidnapped her to see what she was hiding.
Sadly, after the rumor spread, Cang Yue seemingly vanished from the public eye. All they knew was that she was intensely training and cultivating but had no way to keep track of her progression.
So now, seeing her participating within the tournament once more, all of them had their eyes glued to her.
Soon, she reached the platform where the profound assessment stone was placed and put her hand on it before releasing her profound strength.
The stone shone before words appeared on it.
Cang Yue, 19 years old, Earth Profound Realm Level Three!
The whole arena suddenly buzzed with loud noises.
Even the sect masters weren't able to remain calm as everyone stood up in shock.
"How is this possible?!" Ling Yuefeng shouted with disbelief written all over his face. "She wasn't even in the Spirit Profound Realm six months ago, and she broke into the Earth Profound Realm in such a short time!? What sorcery is this!"
"Not even in the Spirit Profound Realm?" Ling Kun turned towards Ling Yuefeng and inquired.
"Yes. Four months ago, rumors had spread that Princess Cang Yue had broken into the Spirit Profound Realm from the True Profound Realm in a mere two months… And now, in four months, she has entered the Earth Profound Realm. This kind of speed… it's unheard of!"
"Oh…" Ling Kun's gaze narrowed down at Cang Yue as different possibilities started to merge within his mind.
Meanwhile, Yuechan's gaze trembled.
Of all the people present, she was one of the few who knew to whom Cang Yue's sudden increase in strength was attributed.
She looked towards Yun Che and saw him smirking and puffing out his chest with pride, as if his strength was being evaluated.
As for the other sect masters, they were just dumbfounded and had no idea what to think anymore.
Ling Yun was already an immovable obstacle in their way, and now another one had appeared.
Doesn't this mean that no matter what, the first and second place are meant to go to the Heavenly Sword Villa and Profound Palace?
This made their faces ugly.
They had been dominating the Blue Wind Tournament for years now!
They couldn't just leave their position as one of the four major clans now. This made all of them think of a way to remove Cang Yue from the tournament.
They thought they needed to find a way to eliminate her as fast as possible, or their position as one of the four major clans would be lost.
"This Cang Yue… she must have found a heavenly treasure. This speed is just abnormal!" Fen Moli said with a frown.
"It must be that brat Yun Che's doing!" Fen Juecheng added with an anger-filled gaze. "Isn't it strange? She was only in the True Profound Realm before, but the moment she met with Yun Che, there was this sudden increase in her powers. That brat must be hiding some treasure that allowed her to gain so much strength. That bitch sold herself for strength!"
"Him?" Fen Moli looked towards him and narrowed his gaze. After thinking for a while, he said, "It seems that this Yun Che is hiding more than what we thought… Invite him to our sect. If he agrees, we wouldn't have to work much to get things out of his hand. If not… accidents are common occurrences in this world anyway. No one would care why a random person vanished."
Meanwhile, like a happy-go-lucky wife, Cang Yue walked beside Yun Che and sat down with a smile on her face.
Seeing her like this, Yun Che couldn't help but shake his head.
He thought she acted really childish sometimes.
After that, a normal cleaning round started.
The purpose of this round was obvious - to clear out the weak.
As Yun Che had predicted, no one challenged Cang Yue and gave up the moment her name was called.
With her strength, no one wanted to waste time, knowing full well that they would be beaten. So most gave up right away.
As for those who didn't?
They did the moment Cang Yue's sword intent made a small mess out of them.
Throughout the fight, she didn't even need to use her sword and defeated all her opponents with sword intent alone.
This once again astonished everyone.
Not only did her profound strength increase drastically in such a small span of time, but even her sword intent was not simple!
Finally, as the sun started to set, the first round of matches ended.
Qiu Wushang had a big smile on his face, and as if not being able to contain his excitement, he said, "I will immediately send news to the Emperor. He will be very happy upon receiving this news. Perhaps if his mood improves greatly, then his health might turn towards improvement."
Upon hearing him, both Yun Che and Cang Yue looked at each other.
After Yun Che had reached the Sky Profound Realm, he had already awakened his Profound Handle.
Even though it was a month ago, he had solved the insect problem within Cang Wanhe's heart.
The only thing was that the news was not made public.
Cang Wanhe wanted to lay low until the end of the tournament before fully announcing his healthy status back. So none of them announced this to the public either and remained silent about it.
...
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