Chapter 12

– Genius vs Genius
Wu Zongming stared and laughed at the other disciple gathering his Qi. Wu Zongming slowly walked towards that square-faced apprentice without a sign of Qi gathering.
Ten, nine, eight, … five more steps to go!
Surprisingly, it was not Wu Zongming that attacked first, but the square-faced apprentice. His legs bounced up from the ground as he took a huge step, his hanging right arm drew a strange curve in the air to attack Wu Zongming from below.
Poonn!
With an air breaking sound, there was a vague dark colored light around that square-faced apprentice’s right hand signifying that his Qi was about to break out his body.

Hmph. Useless!

Wu Zongming yelled in a low voice as he thrusted one of his palm at that square-faced apprentice’s right hand.
Boom!
The square-faced apprentice was sent flying with both of his feet up in the air to exactly where he started from and had to back up for another ten steps, almost falling on the ground.
Gahg! Spitting out a huge chunk of clotted blood, the square-faced apprentice pointed at Wu Zongming,
You, you…
He only managed to squeeze out one word before he passed out.
All of the sudden, the plaza was filled with clamor.
Everyone knew that the square-faced apprentice could not match up to Wu Zongming, but no one actually expected that the gap between the two was that large, especially since Wu Zongming did not even use any martial art or Qi, he only used the most basic movement of a palm thrust. Everyone could sigh in amazement at the power of the number one outer disciple.
Unlike the rest of the crowd, Ye Chen had his own opinion. The gap between Mortal Realm Rank 8 and Rank 10 should not be this big, plus that square-faced apprentice used a top ranking Mortal Realm martial art – Little Yasha Palm which boosted his power level to the threshold of Mortal Realm Stage 10. Even if he is not as good as Wu Zongming, it is highly unlikely for him to pass out. There must be another reason.
If Ye Chen guessed right, the martial art Wu Zongming utilized was much higher ranked than that square-faced apprentice, in addition, his Qi controlling skills was much, much higher than the other disciple as well.
Ye Chen could not help but be forced to smile.
The world he lived in was called the Land of Souls, its land covered countless miles without any borders. No one knew how big it actually was nor how many people or demonic beasts that lived in it. But only one thing was certain. It was a world filled with martial arts and warriors.
On this land, there were only two things that mattered to warriors: skills and movements.
However, compared to skills, the movements were few times more important.
A low rank Mortal Realm movement could be even more valuable than a middle rank Mortal Realm skill.
If a warrior could master a new skill, it could unleash power about three times stronger; on the other hand, movements were considered to be the core of warriors. A strong core gave the warriors a better advantage to master martial arts.
Normally, when the warriors mastered a higher level of movement, their total Qi would increased about thirty percent, that meant if there were two warriors with the same cultivation, but one of them trained in a low ranked Mortal Realm movement, while the other one trained in a middle ranking one, the total amount of Qi in the latter person would be thirty percent more than the previous person; if the latter trained in a high ranked Mortal Realm movement, then they would have seventy percent more, and if it was a top rank Mortal Realm movement, then it would be two times plus ten percent more Qi. This kind of gap was almost insurmountable.
Besides, with a higher level of Mortal Realm movement, the quality of Qi would have a noticeably large improvement. For example, if you looked at the Qi that was produced by training low ranked movement as a chuck of wood, then the Qi from a high ranked movement would be like a stone, or maybe even a metal. A wood could never compete with a stone or a metal in density because obviously they were not on the same level.
Wu Zongming as the number one outer disciple, the movement he trained must have been at least middle ranked Mortal Realm level. Ye Chen’s movement was low ranked Mortal Realm. So even if the Wu Zongming’s cultivation was the same as his Mortal Realm Rank 6, then Wu Zongming would have thirty percent more Qi than him, not to mention that Wu Zongming’s power level was actually higher than him.
Thankfully, Ye Chen was fairly confident about the quality of his Qi, even if he had to compare, he was sure that it would not lose to Wu Zongming’s. He had already trained his Cloud Air Spell to its highest stage which was one stage higher than it was described in the manual which was equivalent to a common middle rank Mortal Realm movement.
After beating that square-faced apprentice in one move, Wu Zongming did not show any complacency at all. For him, that square-faced apprentice was just a clown, beating him did not bring him any satisfaction, he was just trying to send a message that even if he failed to get to breakthrough to the next realm, he was still invincible to them.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
A young, pretty teenager applauded as he walked closer,
Bravo! Number one outer disciple indeed. Wu Zongming, you are qualified to by my opponent.

Wu Zongming turned his head before he caught sight of the newcomer,
Zhang Haoran.

Although Zhang Haoran’s appearance seemed young, he had a very mature temperament. He smiled,
I wonder which stage you are right now at that high ranked Mortal Realm movement – Sky Fall of yours.


Not too great, just the peak of the fourth stage.

Ye Chen was shocked, no wonder Wu Zongming could knock out that square-faced apprentice with only one punch, it turned out that he had trained in the Sky Fall movement. As a high ranked Mortal Realm movement, the Sky Fall was not considered the best but had one extremely strong point: the Qi from training the Sky Fall was extremely thick. Plus, the Sky Fall had only five stages, so being able to reach the peak of the fourth stage was quite impressive.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Haoran laughed proudly,
Compare to a normal person, you are indeed a genius. However, right now, I am way out of your league.

Wu Zongming sneered:
Arrogant people never have happy endings.


Oh yeah? I was afraid to shock your ego, but truthfully, I trained in the ‘Clouds and Beyond’ high ranked Mortal Realm movement and have already reached the fifth stage, highest stage. This is the gap between us.

Hearing this, the plaza was immediately filled with discussions.

No way! Movements are very hard to train in! Zhang Haoran received that manual four months ago, and had already reached the fifth stage?! How is that possible?


Yes, high ranked Mortal Realm movement normally have five different stages. For a normal person to get to the first stage would take at least three or four days; the second stage would need ten days and the third would need a month, the fourth stage three months, and for the fifth level it would at least take a year. I remember there were some inner disciples that just gave up on finishing a high ranked Mortal Realm movement when they were transferring to the top rank movements.


Speaking of talent, it seemed that Zhang Haoran is even more talented than Wu Zongming.

Unlike other people people, Ye Chen thought it was quite reasonable. Wu Zongming was definitely not bad, especially that he was only one step away from the fifth stage which would only take him at least half a month to reach it.
Wu Zongming was truly surprised, he got the Sky Fall manual half a year ago when he won the champion of Mu Ren Gang. He thought it was already quite impressive to reach the fourth stage in six months since a normal person would need about five months time to go from the first stage to the fourth stage and plus another five months to reach the peak of the fourth stage. He never expected that Zhang Haoran was even more genius than him, spent only four months to reached the highest fifth stage.
Tooke a deep breath, Wu Zongming said calmly:
Needless to say more, I will see you at the challenge.

Zhang Haoran gave him a smile,
that’s right. And I will be the champion of this coming Mu Ren Gang challenge.

Speech over, he walked away, leaving the crowd staring at his back.