Chapter 196 – Narrow Victory

Translator: Coca5156

Editor: Drea

As the guy was telling his story, a vicious image came into people’s minds. He described Gu Lingzhi as a woman who would do anything in order to gain power.

Two years ago, Gu Lingzhi was merely a wastrel who had yet to awaken any Spiritual Roots. For some unknown reason, she then managed to seduce Rong Yuan who was a guest at the Gu Clan. At that time, Rong Yuan was said to have feelings for Gu Linglong. Thereafter, she suddenly awakened her Spiritual Roots and used the Third Prince to enter the Royal School. She also plotted to get Rong Yuan annul his engagement with Tianfeng Wei.

What was most despicable was even after she had achieved her goal, she did not show mercy and killed her own sister as well as ruined one of the Four Great Clans of the Xia Kingdom, the Tianfeng Clan. She did not even let girls that express an interest in Rong Yuan go. The numerous stories depicted by this guy caused everyone that was listening to him to be extremely shocked. They never thought that Gu Lingzhi, who seemed so warm and decent, was actually such a vicious and evil woman. They really could not judge a book by its cover.

“Who knew that the Xia Kingdom’s Third Prince’s taste in women would be so poor? To think that he is rumored to be the most likely to become a True God. Lust really ruins a man,” a young man shook his head and sighed. However, his tone did not reflect much regret.

Someone else had a different view as he pointed to Gu Lingzhi who was avoiding blows, slightly exhausted, “No matter what, the fact that she could become a Martial Practitioner in a mere two years is pure talent.”

“Your thinking is too simple.” A guy chuckled, “With the Third Prince to help her, what would Gu Lingzhi not be able to get? To become a Martial Practitioner in two years would not be difficult.”

With this, realization hit the guy that asked the question.

It was true. If desired, one could ignore any aftereffects and kept on supplementing themselves with medicine. This would allow one’s abilities to rise rapidly.

However, there were no shortcuts to cultivation. Although using Spiritual Medicine could increase one’s cultivation rapidly, the aftereffects were extremely great. What held most people back is the fact that although using medicine could help enhance cultivation, there was a limit to it. The highest point one could reach using medicine was the Martial Teacher level. In addition, because they reached this point through supplements, their internal spiritual energy would be a mess and their Martial Skills would be far worse than those that trained to reach that level.

Who would do something like this and ruin their future?

When one guy asked this puzzledly, the guy that has been defaming Gu Lingzhi laughed lightly, “To someone who was originally a wastrel, the fact that she even has any cultivation is already a blessing. She would be a fool to think that she can increase her cultivation by herself through training.”

Gu Lingzhi, who was working hard to avoid the attacks did not hear these defamatory words about her. Her focus was trying to win this duel.

Her opponent fought in a way that she had never seen before. His quick direct attacks may seem simple and posed no threat, however, she could sense how dangerous he was when she got near to him. Her attacks seemed to be completely controlled and predicted by her opponent and she could not gain an advantage over him.

The top-ranking Martial Practitioner from the First School was definitely not easy to beat.

Gu Lingzhi sighed under her breath as her footwork suddenly changed. Giving up using the Sparrow Wings movement technique, she switched to the technique that Rong Yuan had recently taught her. It was the Coiled Dragon movement technique from the Xia Kingdom’s Royal Family.

In a flash, Gu Lingzhi’s aura changed. Her originally quick and light movements suddenly became heavy.

Since she could not gain an advantage by being nimble, she was going to fight fire with fire and use heavy blows against him!

Senior Zhuang detected the change in her movements and guessed her thoughts. His forehead creased slightly as he doubted her ability to attack directly.

If it were up to him, he would continue to use the fighting method he was most accustomed to and not go head to head. After all, a woman’s strength would ultimately not be as strong as a man.

“Oh, did you see that? Gu Lingzhi is actually going head to head with Senior Zhuang in a test of strength. She must certainly be desperate and is trying to use any method to win. She is asking for death.” The students who were watching the match had regarded Gu Lingzhi as an enemy because she was from a different school. After listening to the stories of the mysterious man, they became even more hostile to Gu Lingzhi as their impression of her fell. Seeing her rash actions now caused them to feel excited. They could not help but wish they could jump on stage and teach this vicious woman a lesson.

Everyone around the stage all wanted to replace Senior Zhuang in fighting Gu Lingzhi. However, no one noticed that although Gu Lingzhi had seemed to have the lowerhand previously and had no chance to fight back, had not actually suffered a single scratch on her. As she changed her tactics to fight head on, instead of fear, her face carried a desire to fight. While defending, she also returned several blows. Her slender hands formed a fist with all ten fingers, hitting Senior Zhuang’s iron fist in a direct blow.

Bam! The two fists clashed with a resounding sound.

Both Gu Lingzhi and Senior Zhuang stumbled back a few steps and looked towards each other.

“Eh? Gu Lingzhi actually managed to defend against Senior Zhuang’s blow?” After a few seconds of silence, the students from the First School who had come specially to watch this match were taken aback.

How could that scheming woman, who only knew how to sell her looks, actually survive that blow? There were only a few of them that were able to withstand Senior Zhuang’s blow even though they were of similar cultivation levels, much less only back up a few steps from it.

On stage, Senior Zhuang’s surprise was no less than those who were watching. Only he knew that he did not hold back at all with that blow. But even though he gave it his all, Gu Lingzhi hardly struggled. This meant that... her physical strength, was not very different from his.

It was hard to imagine that a girl could actually be so strong physically. It was at this moment that Senior Zhuang finally considered Gu Lingzhi as an opponent.

He suddenly had a feeling that if he did not give it his all now, he would not make it to the final round.

Senior Zhuang’s face became resolute as his attacks became harsher and sharper. Each move came onto Gu Lingzhi like a mountain imposing on her.

Gu Lingzhi frowned slightly as she dealt with and defended each blow. With her Coiled Dragon movement technique, she mimicked a dragon plunging into the ocean as she flew around the stage. While blocking the blows that were aimed towards her, she simultaneously looked for an opportunity to attack.

Their battle was intense, with each blow heavy, yet seeming like an illusion. The audience looked on as they were dazzled by the moves. Occasional exclamations could be heard from the crowd.

In the principal’s office on the other side of the First School, one fat and one skinny man stood by the window. Looking at the battle scene, different levels of astonishment were displayed on their faces.

They were the principals of the First School. The skinny one was also the one with a goatee that had questioned Zhang Kuihan’s Master previously. Upon looking at the scene, his anxiety built up and it seemed like he was about to tear off his own beard.

“I never thought that the fiancée of the Xia Kingdom’s Third Prince would be so strong and resolute. She is as good as Senior Zhuang. Tianfeng Jin and Xin Yi are not too bad as well. It seems like the Xia Kingdom is giving it their all for this year’s Inter-school Competition.”

His goatee started to hurt as he said this.

The Inter-school competition was meant for the North Qiu kingdom to show off their young talents. However, this year, it seemed like they were severely lacking.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Nobody knew how the Royal school had become so lucky these few years and managed to attract so many young prodigies in this generation. In the Martial Student category, Su Nian was doing extraordinarily well in defeating every single one of his competitors. Then there was Gu Lingzhi, Tianfeng Jin and Xin Yi in the Martial Practitioner rank. Lastly, in the Martial Teacher rank, there were Nie Sang, Yan Liang and Lang Jingchen who did not fail to perform in every of their battles. It seemed like they were prepared to bag all three categories this year. In addition, there were still students from the other schools like Song Ze and Lin Xiaohu. They were basically stealing all of North Qiu’s glory.

“It is not yet the end, we don’t know who’s going to win for sure,” the fatter guy laughed foolishly. The devious look in his eyes was a contrast from his chubby figure. The fats on his cheek squeezed his eyes into a slit as he looked towards the battle.

“As long as Senior Zhuang defeats Gu Lingzhi, the Xia Kingdom will lose an extremely strong contender. We won’t need to be afraid of knocking the rest out before it comes to the finals.”

The old man with the goatee frowned as he could sense the intention to resort to underhand means in his voice. Although he did not approve of resorting to underhand means, it was a battle of reputation after all and could not help but agree with him.

On the battle stage, Gu Lingzhi and Senior Zhuang unknowingly exchanged over a hundred blows. Both their breaths were heavy as it was obvious that the intense attacks had taken a toll on their strength. They also suffered different levels of injury.

The initial unhappiness of the crowd towards Gu Lingzhi had also turned to surprise.

Ultimately, Martial Skills were highly regarded in the Tianyuan Continent. The fact that Gu Lingzhi was able to reach this standard after a mere two years, was considered a feat, even if it was all due to consuming supplements.

Suddenly, a gasp sounded from the crowd.

Senior Zhuang’s heavy sword had cut into Gu Lingzhi’s left shoulder and the clear sound of bones breaking resounded in the air. Everyone near the front of the stage could hear the sound clearly. Instantly, Gu Lingzhi’s face paled as her body swayed.

Senior Zhuang’s eyes lit up in delight as he lifted his sword aiming for Gu Lingzhi’s right shoulder, ready to claim victory. He wanted to completely disable her from being able to fight back. He saw the judge ready to raise his hand and declare the winner of the match.

In the next second, an even louder cry could be heard from the crowd. All they saw was Gu Lingzhi changing her tactics and suddenly appearing beside Senior Zhuang. She had completely dodged his attack on her other shoulder. Her right hand twisted quickly, drawing an arc behind his back and her sword landed directly in front of his neck. The angle she came at him was completely unexpected, causing Senior Zhuang, who was already accustomed to her direct attacks to not be able to predict her sudden change. If not for Gu Lingzhi’s quick reflex in withholding her sword, Senior Zhuang would have lost his life. But even so, a cut had appeared on Senior Zhuang’s neck as a drop of blood started to appear from the wound. This reminded everyone that was watching, how close Senior Zhuang was from dying.

“Declare the outcome,” Gu Lingzhi stated blandly as she kept her sword. Her right arm grasped onto her broken left shoulder as she stared emotionlessly at the judge.

“The- the winner is Gu Lingzhi from the Xia Kingdom.” The judge was taken aback as he did not expect Senior Zhuang to lose and quickly declared Gu Lingzhi as the winner.