Su Zun looked at the scene and sighed. 'He underestimated Ji Changchen! Unlike Qin Yuanzhe and Xin Long, Ji Changchen is cunning.'
'I thought he is smart, but there is a popular saying: Deceiving someone is easy and seeing through someone else's deception is the true skill!'
Zhang Hao was bleeding heavily. His internal organs are damaged. He looked down at his hand, which was holding on and supporting his body from falling. He knows if he loose, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Ji Changchen looked at this and felt comfortable. He came forward and grasped him with his hair and said calmly.
"Using underhanded tactics, anyone can win. But this will never help you in becoming strong, it will always make you a coward!"
"Do you remember 1 year ago what you did to me?"
As he said, Ji Changchen took out a knife and cut off his ear in front of everyone. Then he pierced one of the eyes of Zhang Hao.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
A soul stirring sound made the entire crowd gasp. Too cruel: This is the thought in everyone's mind but no one questioned.
Even Su Zun didn't stop him. He immediately analyzed what had happened to Ji Changchen that led to such a deep hatred.
Ji Changchen softened his grip over his hair, and Zhang Hao fell back at his knees.
Ji Changchen looked back at Su Zun and smiled. "Sect Leader, you wouldn't mind if I take him as a captive would you? And you won't go back on our deal right!"
Su Zun narrowed his eyes. He knows he had no choice now. He was about to speak when he realized something.
He smirked. "Yes, but if you win."
Ji Changchen's eyes narrowed and he immediately looked back, but it was too late. A sharp sword pierced his vital part.
Sword Intent!
Zhang Hao smiled. "Do you think I would loose with just this much pain? It just tickles!"
Everyone sucked in a cold breath at the sudden turn of events.
"Even Zhang Hao knows Sword Intent!"
"But what is more incredible is that he was able to use it in that state. He is truly a courageous Warrior!"
Zhang Hao didn't gave Ji Changchen anymore chance to react, he used another Sword Intent and cut off his right hand.
He has already seen Ji Changchen is a right handed person. Without his right hand, his battle strength would drop by 90%.
Chu Xin shouted. "Stop"
But, Zhang Hao didn't care. He continuously used sharp attacks to injure Ji Changchen again and again, piercing his every parts of body.
He then took out his bow, and threw Ji Changchen in the air, and using his efficient skills, he pierced him throughout with countless arrows.
Ji Changchen's whole body turned into a porcupine. He has lost his senses and faced his second defeat of his life in the hand of the same person!
Chu Xin gritted his teeth and looked at Su Zun. "Sect Leader, you will regret it."
Su Zun smiled. "I am really sorry, but I can't allow anyone to interfere in the battle. But, I am not against you, I also won't allow anyone to break the rules. Ji Changchen won't die."
Zhang Hao looked at the sect leader and said lightly. "He has fainted. This is my victory and you can heal him now."
Su Zun nodded. He immediately let go Chu Xin and also healed both Ji Changchen and Zhang Hao. With his ability, he removed arrows piercing Ji Changchen and healed all his wounds within a moment. Then, he also healed Zhang Hao's wounds. His earlobe regenerated and his eyes became how it was before!
Everyone in the crowd gasped at this incredible battle. The greatest genius in the world lost, and lost to a person whose cultivation is at the same level as him.
"What? Ji Changchen lost?"
"He had been invincible at the same level since last 3 years ago. Now, this title of invincibility at the same level is gone!"
"Not at all, didn't you see, he sneaked attack from behind? He lost unfairly. In a frontal battle, he would have definitely won!"
Su Zun looked at the crowd and smiled. "Calm down"
Hearing the sect leader speak, no one spoke anymore.
Su Zun replied calmly. "I know you all question his ability since he won matches with underhanded tactics. Let me clarify you few things first, so that you don't judge people blindly."
"This is not the first defeat of Ji Changchen, 1 year ago, Zhang Hao with a cultivation of Rank 3 defeated Ji Changchen who was Rank 3 peak at that time. He cut off his ears and blinded one of his eyes. This is why Ji Changchen also did the same to take the revenge."
"Next thing, the reason Zhang Hao used these underhanded means is because he is a lone cultivator, and doesn't possess a high level attacking skills that could harm his opponent. Other than Sword Intent, which he used at the end, he doesn't possess any other attacking means. He only possess only one Rank 4 Secret Technique which is a Speed type, and this is why he mostly dodged the attacks, and never countered them."
"Even this Sword Intent, he learned it in just 1 week from Xin Long. I personally saw him training Sword Intent without taking rest day and night."
"Now that I cleared your doubts. Let me speak the main point. From now on, Zhang Hao will be the holy son of Ethereal Sect! Ji Changchen is not the greatest genius, Zhang Hao is the greatest genius in the world!"
The whole crowd entered into a commotion.
"What, from a lone cultivator to a holy son? This is reaching heaven in one step!"
"Reaching heaven? This is a heaven defying achievement!"
"Defeating the greatest genius of the world without any attacking skill is just incredible. Sect Master is right."
"He is not a genius, he is a demon!"
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1 Month Later.
Li Gang was continuously practicing in his yard. The courtyard for holy son is a heaven for any cultivator. The Spiritual Essence is rich, and his recovery speed is high.
He has already processed most of the useful memory of Lin Fan. All he needs to do is put them into practice.
Li Gang murmured. "I don't know where Sect Master went off to after the competition. It seems he has to give explanation to Ji Changchen's father."
Li Gang recollected his thoughts and went to Pill Refining hall of the sect. He first visited the Refinement elder and bowed towards him.
"I have met Elder Yang"
Old man Yang nodded. "Are you interested in alchemy?"
Li Gang nodded. "I just want to take a break from the cultivation, and thought of entering the refinement path. This would also help me establish my own business in the future."
Elder Yang nodded and said. "You can chose any room and practice alchemy. As a holy son, there is no restriction for you. Just don't waste too much materials. If you feel the need of help, you can call me."
Li Gang nodded.
He casually selected one of the alchemy room and looked around first. There was an alchemy furnace in the middle and many alchemy materials were kept around. With Lin Fan's memory, he can identify each and every material here.
There were marrow washing flower, purple leaved lily, Starlight fruit, purple vine, etc.
He selected 3 stalks of Marrow Washing flower, 1 stalk of blue-red Mangrove, blood veined Ivy and some other additional materials.
He first selected the material carefully and kept them near him. Then he carefully created a fire using Spiritual Essence and heat up the cauldron. He was very patient in this, he knows saving time in alchemy would do more harm than good. Alchemy is more about patience.
He then put the materials into the Cauldron one by one and cleansed them slowly. With the memory of Lin Fan and his own patience, he didn't made any mistake in this step. Then he moved forward to use his soul power to mix them according to the refinement recipe of Grade 1 Washing Marrow pill. After mixing, he started fusing the essence of each medicinal material into one.
He was able to do every step perfectly without any mistake. Finally the most important part came: Condensation of the medicinal essence into a pill. It takes lot of Soul Power to do it. Li Gang's soul power is already at Rank 4 early stage!
It was not much difficult, and in the first try he was able to refine Washing Marrow Pill! Without wasting anymore time, he started refining Rank 2, Rank 3, and Rank 4 pills!
He was able to refine Rank 2 in second try, Rank 3 in tenth try, and he took 23 tries to refine Rank 4 pill! He didn't stop at that and started refining Rank 5 pill, but soon he realized the difficulty of refining Rank 5 was much more than Rank 4, because it demands very high Soul Power and he is only Rank 4 early stage in that!
He didn't give up and continued. It took him 1000 tries to finally refine Rank 5 Washing Marrow Pills. He has exhausted his Soul Power 5 times during his refinement and each time he went to Elder Yang and asked for Soul Recovery pill.
After succeeding, he came out. Elder Yang saw him coming out and asked. "Did you succeed?"
Li Gang nodded. "It's all thanks to Elder Yang's guidance."
Elder Yang replied. "Don't be so modest, I only pointed one or two things. But you kid is really a genius, no, you are a demon! Refining Rank 5 pill with just Rank 4 early stage is not something anyone could do. Only..."
He didn't continue. He looked at him deeply and sighed. "You should go and take a rest."
He thought. 'Able to refine Rank 5 Pills from 0 experience in alchemy within 3 days, this is something unheard of. Even those Emperors never achieved this.'
What he doesn't know is that Li Gang possessed memory of Lin Fan, who has alchemy experience far beyond Emperor level!
Time flew and 1 month passed
Li Gang either practiced his own skills or he practiced alchemy. His proficiency in alchemy has already reached Rank 4 Advance Stage.
On this day, Su Zun returned. He called Li Gang as soon he came back.
Li Gang looked at the Sect Leader and bowed. "Master"
Su Zun nodded with satisfaction. "It was really difficult to convince Ji Hongtian. You brat, for you I had to face not only Celestial Sect but also Heavenly Demon Sect."
Li Gang looked at him with puzzled expression. "Heavenly Demon Sect? Why?"
Su Zun looked deeply at Li Gang and after confirming he really was not aware, he sighed. "Ji Changchen's mother is the Demon Lord of Heavenly Demon Sect!"
Li Gang face finally turned serious. 'I had plan of going to Heavenly Demon Sect next, but it is good that I knew about it before hand!'