Chapter 103: Gathering of Heroes

Xu Tianlang only reached the late peak of the Second Layer of Qi Refining Stage. Yet, facing Zhou Hao from the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining, his momentum did not yield at all.

Everyone could tell Xu Tianlang was struggling, but his back remained straight, like a spear.

“Ha ha ha…” Zhou Hao, standing on a huge log, laughed arrogantly and said, “Xu Tianlang? The top talent of Zhongdu City! Hmph! The late peak of the Second Layer of Qi Refining! Truly, the gap between us is so small! Ha ha ha…”

“Hmph!” Xu Tianlang suddenly clenched his right hand at his side. An Earth Spike suddenly jutted out from beneath the huge log under Zhou Hao’s feet.

The huge log exploded with a loud crash.

Zhou Hao, who was on the log, leaped diagonally upward and landed gracefully on the ground. He brushed back the long hair at his temple and curled his lips, saying,

“Not bad, you have some skill!”

“Hmph, a cultivation level boosted by pills—what is there to be so arrogant about!” Xu Tianlang said stiffly.

“You…”

Zhou Hao’s face darkened greatly, and Zhou Ba on the High Platform also looked grim. Zhou Hao indeed relied on pills for his cultivation level, and that was precisely why he hated others mentioning it the most. His expression darkened as he flipped his hands in front of his chest. An even larger log than before shot toward Xu Tianlang opposite him.

Xu Tianlang’s body remained spear-straight. He raised both hands upward, and a earthen wall appeared in front of him…

The two began a fierce battle on the Duelling Platform. Xu Tianlang was clearly at a disadvantage, but like a small boat in a vast sea, though it seemed about to capsize, it still held on.

Behind the crowd, Xu Ziyan frowned slightly. She could already see that Xu Tianlang couldn’t hold on much longer, given the huge gap in their cultivation stages.

Xu Lin! Where was Xu Lin? His brother was defeated by Zhou Hao in one move, and now Xu Tianlang was about to lose. As a Fourth Layer of Qi Refining Stage cultivator and a young expert of the Xu Clan, where was he?

Xu Ziyan scanned the crowd. Soon she spotted Xu Lin. He was standing beside his brother Xu Qi. Xu Qi wasn’t injured and was now nervously watching the fight on the Duelling Platform.

But Xu Lin wasn’t watching the conflict between Xu Tianlang and Zhou Qiang on the platform. Instead, his gaze was fixed on a distant pavilion, his fighting spirit continuously rising, so strong that even Xu Ziyan could feel it.

Following Xu Lin’s gaze, Xu Ziyan saw a familiar figure in the pavilion opposite. Light yellow clothing set off her healthy wheat-colored skin, and she exuded a kind of wild beauty.

“She came too! Heh heh, it seems today is a grand gathering of the Northern Region’s young elite!”

A surge of fighting spirit also ignited in Xu Ziyan’s heart. The person Xu Lin was focusing on was none other than Yang Linglong, the girl known as the Northern Region’s Top Talented Maiden, with whom Xu Ziyan had fought on a snowy night outside Zhongdu City.

Yang Linglong in the pavilion also sensed Xu Lin’s rising fighting spirit from opposite her. She glanced in Xu Lin’s direction and noticed his cultivation level was at the late peak of the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining Stage. Her heart stirred slightly, and she thought to herself:

“Who is this young man? A disciple of the Xu Clan? When did the Xu Clan produce another young expert? He seems only a step behind my own cultivation level. Heh heh, his fighting spirit is quite high. Is he challenging me?”

At that moment, Xu Ziyan also realized that Xu Lin’s cultivation had actually reached the late peak of the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining Stage. It looked like he would break through to the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining soon. She couldn’t help feeling inwardly shocked:

“Could it be that after awakening his Bloodline, his cultivation progress is this fast?”

“BOOM!”

A loud explosion came from the Duelling Platform.

Xu Ziyan turned her head abruptly and looked toward the platform. She saw Xu Tianlang falling from the platform, a trail of blood spraying in mid-air.

Two figures shot out swiftly from the crowd. They were the brothers Xu Qi and Xu Lin. Xu Qi rushed toward the falling Xu Tianlang, catching him mid-air and landing gently on the ground.

Xu Tianlang struggled to stand up from Xu Qi’s arms, looked up at Zhou Hao on the platform, felt a surge of qi and blood, and “Pfft!” spat out another mouthful of blood.

Before the blood even hit the ground, Xu Lin was already seen charging toward Zhou Hao on the platform.

Zhou Hao saw a figure rushing toward him with tremendous Mighty Pressure. He quickly flipped his palms, and a huge log over three meters long shot toward the airborne Xu Lin.

Xu Lin suddenly threw a punch. His fist was wrapped in a layer of flame as it fiercely struck the huge log.

With a tremendous bang, the moment Xu Lin’s flame-wrapped fist made contact with the log, the log instantly turned to ashes. Xu Lin’s figure continued rushing rapidly toward Zhou Hao.

Amidst the flying sparks, Zhou Hao spat a mouthful of blood toward the sky. His body was thrown violently backward through the air, falling off the Duelling Platform.

A figure flashed through the air, caught Zhou Hao in his arms, and landed gracefully on the ground. Zhou Hao struggled to stand up from the middle-aged man’s arms and glared venomously at Xu Lin on the platform.

Xu Lin just glanced at Zhou Hao, then seemed to dismiss him. He turned his gaze toward the Yang Family’s pavilion, extended his index finger, and pointed directly at Yang Linglong inside the pavilion.

On the High Platform, Xu Haoran and Zhou Ba’s expressions showed no change. With just a glance, they knew the injuries to Xu Tianlang and Zhou Hao weren’t serious; they would recover after a few days of rest. So now, their attention was focused on Xu Lin on the platform and Yang Linglong inside the pavilion.

Xu Lin’s aura was very strong. His Qi Mechanism locked onto Yang Linglong in the pavilion from afar. His soaring fighting spirit and boundless arrogance spread out in all directions, making Xu Lin’s image in everyone’s minds suddenly grow much larger.

On the High Platform, Yang Rui narrowed his eyes slightly. A thought crossed his mind:

“This young man has such fierce arrogance. If given time to grow, he will definitely become a fearsome presence in the future! He must die; we absolutely cannot let him grow up.”

Thinking this, he looked toward Yang Linglong in the pavilion and signaled with his eyes. Yang Linglong inside the pavilion immediately understood the meaning in her father’s gaze. She frowned slightly and gave a light nod toward her father. She didn’t mind killing Xu Lin; in her eyes, it meant nothing. However, when she came to the Xu Clan with her father this time, her main goal was to meet Xu Ziyan again. That night in the snow outside Zhongdu City, she felt she had lost unjustly. She wanted to defeat Xu Ziyan in front of all the Xu Clan members to wash away the shame.

But ever since she entered the Xu Clan, she had been searching for Xu Ziyan without success. Instead, a Fourth Layer of Qi Refining Stage late peak cultivator jumped out to challenge her. Her gaze turned sharp as she looked at Xu Lin, thinking:

“Since you seek death, don’t blame me!”

Without any visible movement, she left a trail of afterimages, suddenly disappearing from the pavilion and appearing on the Duelling Platform. She stared coldly at Xu Lin without saying a word.

Xu Lin also stared coldly back at Yang Linglong, his fighting spirit continuously rising, higher and higher, shooting straight to the sky, and overwhelmingly pressing toward Yang Linglong.

When that mountain-like pressure reached Yang Linglong, she suddenly seemed to transform into a Long Spear. Countless sharp metallic Qi Mechanisms fiercely collided with Xu Lin’s mountain-like aura, instantly shattering it to pieces.

But Xu Lin’s pressure didn’t end because of Yang Linglong’s sharpness. Instead, it came wave after wave, like one mountain after another, continuously pressing toward Yang Linglong.

The auras of the two constantly clashed in the center of the platform. The sound of air explosions kept bursting forth in the middle of the platform. Their clothes flapped violently backward, rustling loudly.

Both of their figures moved at the same time, so fast that the passing air created a series of sonic booms.

Without the slightest pause, the two collided. Golden light and blazing flames erupted from between them.

Using the force of the collision, both figures shot into the air. Flying Swords flew out from their Storage Pouches, circling around them. Xu Lin and Yang Linglong each stepped onto their Flying Swords, hovering in mid-air, facing each other coldly.

Yang Linglong raised her arms to the sides, then suddenly brought them together in front of her chest. A Golden Long Spear appeared behind her, its tip gleaming coldly as it pointed toward Xu Lin opposite her.

Xu Lin extended his palms, then clenched them. A long blade wreathed in leaping flames extended in his hands.

“Go!”

Yang Linglong shouted. The Golden Long Spear behind her suddenly spun and shot sharply toward Xu Lin.

“Ha!”

Xu Lin roared. The several-meter-long fiery blade slashed toward the oncoming metallic spear.

Sparks flew, and golden stars burst forth. The spear and blade clashed violently in the air.

On the High Platform, both Xu Haoran and Yang Rui showed worried expressions. Both realized that Xu Lin and Yang Linglong’s combat power was on par. Although Xu Lin’s cultivation was slightly lower than Yang Linglong’s, his ferocity made up for it. Now, it depended on whose body contained more abundant True Essence; that one would ultimately win.

In this aspect, Yang Linglong was slightly stronger than Xu Lin. After all, her cultivation was one layer higher, so the True Essence stored in her body naturally exceeded Xu Lin’s by more than a little.

Yang Linglong now began to take Xu Lin seriously, regarding him as an opponent of the same level. At the same time, with her rich combat experience, she naturally knew her own advantage lay in her more abundant True Essence compared to her opponent. So, Yang Linglong decisively abandoned flashy moves and chose to confront Xu Lin head-on, which also happened to be Xu Lin’s preferred style.

Yang Linglong’s body was shrouded in a golden light, while Xu Lin’s body blazed with The Flame. For a time, the two fought fiercely, evenly matched.

But from behind the crowd, Xu Ziyan keenly perceived the underlying situation. A thought surfaced in her heart:

“Should I step in?”