869 The Man of the Show (1/2)

Her cherry-red lips were now pale. She seemed exhausted, but no one would have thought she was weak. Just like her sword that lay motionless at her side, her actions had already said a thousand words.

The previous short battle had shocked everyone. They stared at the blood-red Sacred Sedan of Judgement. Silence stretched over Peach Mountain.

Ye Hongyu's swordsmanship in battle was very different from the elegant Taoist style that the people were expecting. It was cold and ruthless. Her performance in this battle had been chilling.

Among the Divine Priests of the South Sea, the willowy man's skills were second only to those of Zhao Nanhai. The West-Hill Divine Skill he demonstrated in battle was intricate and mysterious. Even if he was unable to rival the legendary Wei Guangming, he was definitely better than Ye Hongyu.

The willowy man had already raised his finger when Ye Hongyu's blade pierced the middle-aged man's heart. If she had ignored his move or tried to quickly regain her form after wounding the man, she would have been forced into a desperate situation. If anyone else had been in that precarious position, they would undoubtedly have made one of those two choices.

Instead, she did the unthinkable. In a flash, she slaughtered the middle-aged man, then used his corpse to shield against the force of the willowy man's finger, and finally sliced off his finger.

Her ruthlessness and resolute self-confidence in that instant made the blood of those watching run cold. They could not believe that a person with her status would take such risks to kill.

Only then did they remember that before she held the Seat of Heavenly Black Jade, she had been known as the skilled Tao Fanatic. She had used the same brusque, ruthless methods to kill countless others.

The outcome of the battle had come as a surprise to many.

Everyone knew that Ye Hongyu was a talented cultivator and had formidable strength. However, cultivation takes years of disciplined training, and she was simply too young. When she became the Great Divine Priest of Judgement, the cultivators were doubtful. If it was not for the previous Great Divine Priest of Judgement's wound at the hands of Wei Guangming, they felt that such a young girl could never have killed the Priest, and she would never have assumed the Seat of Heavenly Black Jade.

For this reason, when the middle-aged man, the fourth Great Divine Priest of the South Sea, began to fight, those watching the battle were not optimistic about Ye Hongyu's fate. When she managed to rapidly break out of the entrapment with a thousand swipes of her blade, they started to change their minds. Still, when the willowy man started lifted his finger, they felt that she would lose for sure.

However, she did not lose. Even when two of the South Sea's strongest fighters worked together, she emerged with a clean victory, putting her iron will and ruthlessness on show. After this battle, nobody else dared to question her position, much less disrespect her.

Xiaoyu, the young girl from the South Sea, had been watching. Her face was pale, and an uncomfortable queasiness settled in her stomach. During the ferocious battle, she had noticed that Ye Hongyu wore an expression of calm indifference. It sent a chill racing down her spine.

Ye Hongyu did not put the girl in her sights, only the girl's father. She took no notice of the proud girl. Just moments before, this would have made the girl feel humiliated and angry. Right now, she only felt relieved.

She, too, had a talent for cultivation. At the age of seventeen, she had attained the Knowing Destiny State – a rare occurrence amongst cultivators. Yet, since she had always lived in the faraway wildernesses of the South Sea, she remained unknown. Whenever she thought about the Central Plains' famed Three Fanatics, she only felt contempt. To her, they were just three lucky idiots.

In her little town on the South Sea, what she wanted to do most in the world was to defeat the Three Fanatics and prove to the world that she and her brother were the real geniuses of cultivation.

Hence, when she passed through Mogan Mountain, she sought out the Calligraphy Fanatic. Here, on Peach Mountain, she had intended to challenge Ye Hongyu, the Tao Fanatic.

However, Ye Hongyu did not make any moves against her. She had massacred four of her masters and chopped off the finger of a swordsman she respected.

Since the Tao Fanatic was so strong, how could the Calligraphy Fanatic be weak? Her face drew pale as she looked at the sedan. The world of cultivation in the Central Plains is scary. No warrior stays alive long enough to enjoy their fame.

The end of the day's battle surprised all but two people; two people who knew Ye Hongyu well.

Strangely, the two people who knew West-Hill's Great Divine Priest of Judgement well were two scholars of the Academy.

Spectating the battle, Chen Pipi lamented. He thought, these South Sea people must have a death wish, challenging that crazy woman. Meanwhile, Ning Que stood amongst the crowd, smiling and not saying a word.

Chen Pipi only knew that Ye Hongyu was ruthless, crazy, and unbelievably strong. Ning Que knew her strengths also lay elsewhere. It was exactly as Ye Hongyu had told him - only she and him truly knew war. Both of them had come close to death countless times. She knew that he was shamelessly ruthless, and he knew that her body held cold threads of gold. They were kindred spirits.

The audience of the battle included not only the people, but also a sword that was quietly suspended above the altar. This sword, the strongest in the world, belonged to Liu Bai. Since the man himself was not here, the crowd paid no attention to the blade. When Ye Hongyu allowed the middle-aged man to come within a meter of herself, then pierced his heart, nobody saw the sword move slightly, as if to nod in approval. The one-meter strike was, in fact, a secret technique of the Sword Garret, and Ye Hongyu had done it well.

”This Great Divine Priest is truly the youngest we have seen in a thousand years.” Zhao Nanhai regarded the blood-red sacred sedan coolly. Rubbing his hands together with gusto, he proclaimed, ”The Descendant of Light Zhao Nanhai challenges you to a duel.”

Zhao Nanhai was the strongest warrior in the South Sea. Although he did not gain the upper hand in the Psyche battle against the Golden Tribe's national master earlier, his real strength lay in using the West-Hill Divine Skill. He had stood as steady as Peach Mountain against the warriors of the Golden Tribe. That gave one an idea of his fearsome strength.

In terms of seniority, he belonged to the same generation as the Hierarch and thus was Ye Hongyu's senior uncle. This gave him the right to speak informally to her. Nevertheless, he addressed her by her full title. This showed that he recognized her qualifications to occupy her position.

It also showed that he respected her and wished to challenge her as equals.

After six centuries, the South Sea had finally returned to the Divine Halls of West-Hill. They harbored high hopes and resolute wills, and they were sure that they would be able to defeat West-Hill with a force which would shake Peach Mountain to its core. To their knowledge, the Divine Halls of West-Hill had suffered heavy losses after the battle with the Academy. The Hierarch was nearing death's door and there remained only one warrior who could hope to defend the temple - the Tao Fanatic, Ye Hongyu.

When they arrived, they found to their surprise that the Hierarch, rumored to be bordering on death, had made a full recovery and the young Great Divine Priest of Judgement had single-handedly crushed the mighty force of the South Sea!