Chapter 1276: A Sleeve That Embraces All Stars

Ye Qing lifted an eyebrow, smiling. Tie Jun seemed simple on the outside, but he was actually quite the shrewd one. With just one statement, he both clarified that he wasn’t on Ye Qing’s kill list and earned the crowd’s favor, effectively killing two birds with one stone.

Of course, Tie Jun was a fairly strong guy in his own right. Specifically, he was a body-tempering Grandmaster.

“Please teach me your ways, Mad Lord,” Tie Jun asked Ye Qing after the time was right.

“Very well. You can have the first move,” Ye Qing replied.

“Alright. Here I come!”

Tie Jun did not turn down Ye Qing’s offer for several reasons. For one, he was just a Grandmaster. There was no chance he was ever beating Ye Qing. Two, the reason he entered the arena was to show off his skills a little and earn a bit of fame for himself. If he turned down the offer and allowed Ye Qing to make the first move, then all he would be showing off was his pathetic, defeated form. Naturally, he wasn’t going to do that.

Tie Jun let out a growl and channeled his qi. Bending down, he thrust both his fists forward.

His form made him look like a bull charging Ye Qing with his horns. The technique was called the “Powerful Bull Punch”.

“Moo!”

There was a bull’s moo, and a gigantic, muscular bull wreathed in flames appeared on the Unbounded Platform. It then charged straight toward Ye Qing.

Tie Jun’s force was its body, and his true qi and astral qi its flames. The sparks flying off its body looked quite intimidating, as if its form wasn’t formidable enough already.

Ye Qing did not dodge the attack though. He simply held a palm in front of him and pushed.

Like an old pass that had resisted the cold and storm for centuries, he stopped the giant bull Tie Jun had transformed into just like that.

The bull roared again and again as it tried to find purchase, but in the end, its efforts proved to be futile.

When his strength was spent, Tie Jun finally relented and surrendered.

“You are strong, Mad Lord. I surrender.”

Tie Jun dispelled his qi, withdrew his fists, and said between heavy pants.

“You’re welcome.”

Ye Qing too withdrew his palm and nodded at him.

Tie Jun saluted Ye Qing and walked off the platform. But instead of jubilance or confidence, his face was overflowing with defeat. He thought he was good enough to trade at least two or three blows with Ye Qing. In reality, he couldn’t even handle one. That was why the young man had done nothing more but hold him back. He realized now more than ever that he was a puny, insignificant ant before Ye Qing.

“I am Wan Qianyi of the Thousand Hand Sect. Please give me your guidance, Mad Lord!”

Maybe it was because Tie Jun had taken the lead, but the crowd’s blood was pumping with excitement when the match was over. As soon as Tie Jun left the stage, another man replaced him and landed on the Unbounded Platform.

The newcomer was a man in his thirties wearing a navy blue outfit. He was carrying a deerskin sack on his waist. He looked both handsome and formidable.

“It’s the Thousand Hand Yama. This should be fun...”

Wan Qianyi was a Great Trueman and the fifty-seventh warrior on the Earth Champions Ranking. An expert in hidden weapons, he was known for unleashing an indefensible, inescapable storm of hidden weapons at his enemies as if he had a thousand arms. That was why he came to be known as the Thousand Hand Yama.

“Please,” said Ye Qing with a nod. As soon as he finished, Wan Qianyi’s arms seemingly split into thousands and thousands of arms, and an innumerable amount of hidden weapons—all of them wrapped in qi and force—flew toward Ye Qing like comets.

Ordinary hidden weapons were more or less useless against a Trueman or a Grandmaster’s protective aura. However, Wan Qianyi’s hidden weapons were anything but ordinary. They were a Phenomenon-class Strange Artifact called the Starfall Sack.

The Starfall Sack was created using starlight. It could generate an infinite amount of hidden weapons, all of them containing the power of the stars. Each one could break a person’s astral qi and shatter their mind. Naturally, it was quite powerful.

Not only that, Wan Qianyi practiced a martial art called the “Thousand Hand Yama Art”, allowing him to throw thousands of hidden weapons at the same time. It was a perfect fit with the Starfall Sack, allowing him to overwhelm any ordinary Trueman with ease.

So, what was Ye Qing’s response to the endless storm of hidden weapons?

He took a step forward.

A storm could never topple a mountain, and his back was stronger and straighter than a mountain. Naturally, the storm of hidden weapons were destroyed just like that.

Seeing this, Wan Qianyi abruptly split into many afterimages. It looked like he was advancing or retreating, but it was neither. As if he had suddenly turned into a phantom, it was extraordinarily difficult to grasp his movements.

There were two aspects most important to a practitioner of hidden weapons: hand technique and movement art.

Hand technique directly affected the power of the hidden weapons they threw, and movement art was the lifeline that ensured their survival.

A hidden weapons practitioner’s greatest weakness was, without a doubt, close-range. At least ninety percent of their strength was rendered useless if their enemy was able to close the distance. Forget falling into a disadvantage, even one misstep could potentially cost them their life.

That was why movement art was so important to a hidden weapons practitioner. It not only ensured that their opponents would not be able to close the distance too easily, but also gave the practitioner the ability to find a better location, angle and timing to unleash their hidden weapons.

In a sense, movement art was even more important than hand technique.

Since Wan Qianyi began dabbling in martial arts, he always prioritized movement arts above all other martial arts. Naturally, the movement art he was practicing was quite extraordinary. “Traceless Flexibility” was its name. To put it simply, it granted him infinite flexibility and unpredictability.

In just the blink of an eye, Wan Qianyi had become nearly invisible in the eyes of the masses. All they could see was hidden weapons shooting toward Ye Qing from every direction. It was like the wind, the rain, and the stars, beautiful yet murderous.

“Wind, rain, sea of stars to make an appointment with King Yama at midnight.” This was the line that described Wan Qianyi’s ultimate technique, “Starry Sky”.

But despite the sky of stars, Ye Qing’s figure remained unyielding and dauntless. No starlight was able to get within one meter of him. They all disintegrated into nothing after crashing into a brilliant, dazzling shield of dark yellow.

Not even an infinite amount of stars could breach the one light.

Although Wan Qianyi wasn’t able to harm Ye Qing, it looked like the opposite was equally true—or at least, that was what the crowd thought until Ye Qing waved his sleeve and made all of the stars vanish in a flash.

Somehow, he had taken all of the stars inside his sleeve like a celestial.

After the starlight was gone, Ye Qing struck out his sleeve. To an onlooker, the gesture looked so weak and casual it was as if he was brushing away some dust. But to Wan Qianyi, it was like the sleeve encompassed mountains and rivers, sun and moon, heaven and earth. Despite having mastered his movement arts to an unbelievable degree, he found himself unable to escape from it.

He could only watch as the sleeve struck him squarely on the chest.

Wan Qianyi was sure that the powerful, all-encompassing sleeve would at least break several bones, but in reality, he felt no pain whatsoever. On the contrary, it felt like a cool breeze was brushing past his body—gentle, soothing, and weak.

And yet, the weak, gentle sleeve scattered his force completely and made him feel like he had suddenly lost all of his strength. Because of this, his knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed to the ground when he landed on his feet.

It took a few deep breaths before new strength was generated inside Wan Qianyi’s body. Then, he said, “Thank you for showing mercy, Mad Lord. It’s my defeat.”

Ye Qing saluted him, “You’re welcome, Brother Wan. It’s just a friendly spar.”

Wan Qianyi returned the salute before leaving the stage calmly. Unlike Tie Jun, he did not look too disappointed. After all, he came today purely because he wished to receive Ye Qing’s guidance. He did not actually think he had a sliver of a chance at obtaining the Earthly Sovereign Bell. Since he had accomplished his objective, there was no reason for him to feel dejected or disappointed.

For a time, the crowd was completely silent. Yes, they knew that Ye Qing was very strong. Yes, they knew from the beginning that there was no chance Wan Qianyi would be able to win. However, they thought that the two combatants would exchange at least ten or twenty blows with each other before a victor was decided. Wan Qianyi was the fifty-seventh warrior on the Earth Champions Ranking after all.

In reality, the fight was over in the blink of an eye and a daydream.

Where is my exciting match; my fight of the century? Is this a joke?

It was at this moment Ye Qing asked, “So? Who’s next?”

Everyone exchanged glances with each other, but no one moved a muscle.