Chapter 87
Chapter 88: Letter
When Su Chen finished his test, everyone sighed.
A result of twenty-three Yellow Stars was enough to blind large numbers of people.
This was already the second layer of Qi Drawing!
Two Origin Qi Scholars were more than enough to significantly increase interest in this year’s end-of-year compet.i.tion. At the same time, all of the suspense rested on Su Chen’s and Su Qian’s shoulders/
As for Su Tong, he could only helplessly give up this compet.i.tion. In the end, the Su Clan’s reforms seemed like a farce. After going back and forth, they had in the end returned to the original setup.
Standing on the battle stage, Su Qian watched Su Chen as he said darkly, "Father was correct. You indeed became an Origin Qi Scholar a long time ago. This must be the reason why you dared enter the Scarlet Mountain Range, right?"
"If you want to understand it like that, that’s fine," Su Chen indifferently replied.
"So what if you are in the second layer of Qi Drawing? In order to hide this fact, you have only been focusing on raising your cultivation base instead of practicing your Origin Skills. This method neglects the fundamentals and focuses on the details. Without Origin Skills, it’s useless just having the cultivation base of an Origin Qi Scholar!" Su Qian cursed.
It wasn’t his fault for thinking this. If Su Chen wanted to learn Origin Skills, he definitely needed to obtain them from the Su Clan. However, until today, the Su Clan did not have any records that Su Chen had requested any Origin Skills.
In other words, he believed that Su Chen did not control any Origin Skills.
In order to conceal his strength, he hadn’t learned any Origin Skills. This truly was somewhat idiotic, which was why Su Qian would say this to him.
Unlike Su Chen, his time in battle in the Treasure Light Illusion Realm was just like learning a kind of Origin Skill.
This was why Su Keji was so self-confident in his bet with Su Feihu.
For the same reason, standing in front of Su Chen, Su Qian was unspeakably confident.
At this moment, his entire figure shook. His body suddenly released a majestic aura.
This aura seemed to be physical and began to spread, actually causing the nearby people to feel a vicious, demonic Qi.
Su Qian laughed. "See, this is my Illusory Demonic Killing Aura. It is formed from my killing of three hundred and eight demonic illusions in the first level of the Treasure Light Illusion Realm. I prepared this gift specifically for you!"
As he spoke, he struck out with his arm.
Illusory Demonic Killing Aura was a quite exceptional Origin Skill. In terms of quality, it was higher than any of the ones that Su Chen had learned.
As soon as this killing aura was activated, it could stick to one’s body and serve as a s.h.i.+eld and had a slight attacking power as well. It could also be added to weapons and body parts, greatly increasing their strength. If one cultivated them to a high level, a strong killing wind could arise just from raising one’s hands. The wind would appear to be sweeping across everything under the son. Its power was many times stronger than the fireball.
Of course, Su Qian had not reached this stage yet, but this didn’t stop him from being extremely satisfied with his Illusory Demonic Killing Aura.
The killing intent wrapped itself around Su Qian’s arm, looking like a thin black snake had wrapped itself around his arm countless times. It slammed down towards Su Chen.
Upon seeing him attack, Su Chen sighed, "Perhaps you were waiting for this day the entire time, but I never once viewed you as my opponent."
He closed his eyes, clasping his hands, then stepped backwards. This step was like smoke, and he dodged Su Qian’s attack.
Su Qian’s attack had failed, and he attacked multiple times. Su Chen did not counterattack, instead dodging left and right. If he couldn’t dodge it, he would use his arms to resist the attacks. He only defended and didn’t attack. Moreover, he had not opened his eyes from start to finish.
If it were anyone
On the battle stage, two people moved and s.h.i.+fted about, coming and going instantly like the wind.
Su Qian’s attacks were like a tigers, but he couldn’t land a blow on Su Chen. His strength and force could not be displayed, and he couldn’t do anything about it.
The spectators below were all extremely anxious. Occasionally, Su Qian’s fist would just brush past Su Chen, and everyone would gasp in surprise.
There were some who thought it a great pity, there were some who sighed and rejoiced, and even more there were those who yelled loudly because of the commotion. Everyone’s thoughts were different.
However, everyone simultaneously began to realize that Su Qian’s speed had seemingly slowed down significantly.
For some unknown reason, every time Su Qian struck out, the gap between his strikes seemingly increased. To put it euphemistically, his strikes had become more stable, but negatively speaking some said that his attacks only had strength but no speed. No wonder Su Chen, who was blind, could dodge them simply by listening to the wind.
Jianxin’s face was extremely confused. Supposedly, Su Chen should have drank the Black Anesthesia, and it should have been his speed that slowed down. So why was it that Su Chen did not seem like he had drunk the Black Anesthesia, while Su Qian looked like he had become slow-witted?
Just as he was experiencing doubt, someone tapped his shoulder from behind.
He turned around and saw that it was Iron Cliff.
Iron Cliff took out a piece of paper and handed it to Jianxin. "A letter from the Young Master to you."
"Young Master? Fourth Young Master?" Jianxin looked distracted.
Iron Cliff darkly laughed, "Yes, you’ll understand once you take a look."
Jianxin suspiciously looked at the letter in his hand.
"Jianxin, when you see this letter, I should be battling Su Qian on the stage. The outcome of this battle will be outside of your expectations, because Su Qian will lose. Take a closer look at Su Qian. Doesn’t it seem like his movements are somewhat slow? Slow enough that I can dodge and react to them just by listening to the wind? Do you know why this is? Because the bottle of Black Anesthesia that should have been in my stomach ended up in Su Qian’s stomach."
"Are you shocked? Have you started trembling? Then you need to buckle up and don’t let your legs go soft; even more, don’t fall over, otherwise you will attract attention to yourself. Trust me, that will not have any benefit for you. Do you know why? Because I was the one that exchanged the medicines, long before Zhang Song delivered them. However, this isn’t the most exciting part. My Second Uncle should discover very soon that the Black Anesthesia that I should have ingested was actually drunk by his own son. He will definitely begin to wonder what happened, and he will guess as to who could have done this."
"Do you know who will be the most suspicious? You!"
"Do you remember when I took you to Second Uncle’s place and asked you to help me find my fan? That was precisely when Zhang Song returned with the medicine. That is also to say that when Second Uncle received the medicine, you were right there with him. Do you know what this implies? It implies that you might have seen where my Second Uncle hid the medicines and then switched them out. And when you gave me the medicine, I sent you to Second Uncle’s place one more time. That visit could very well have been an opportunity for you to execute your plan!"
"Of course, you and I both know that you wouldn’t do that. You could not have possibly tricked my Second Uncle and secretly observed where he stored the medicine. You also could not have possibly tricked all of those people in his residence and exchanged the medicine. But why does that matter? As long as my Second Uncle knows that you are the most likely person to have done it, that’s enough. He will believe that you were pretending to ally yourself with him, but that you double-crossed him just as he was planning on using you. You didn’t give the medicine to me, instead secretly switching them to harm his son. As for whether or not this actually happened, or whether or not there are any doubts, he will not care about any of that. I understand him; people like him will definitely find a scapegoat given the price that he paid and the today’s outcome."
"Unfortunately, you will be that scapegoat. He will believe that it was you that did everything! It was you that harmed him!"
"Thus, I will give you one last piece of advice. You better start running. The farther you run, the better; don’t get caught by my Second Uncle. Trust me, he won’t listen to your explanation. If he catches you, he will personally flay you alive, then slowly roast you to death on a spit. Because of our relations.h.i.+p as master and servant, I will leave you with this last piece of advice."
"Goodbye. Signed, your Fourth Young Master, Su Chen."
"Fourth…… Fourth Young Master……" The hand that Jianxin used to hold the letter furiously shook.
"Finished?" Iron Cliff darkly laughed.
Jianxin looked at Iron Cliff hopelessly.
Iron Cliff understood this gaze. He grabbed the letter and tore it into pieces, then shoved it into his mouth and ate it.
What he ate was the letter, but his expression was ferocious like he was eating a person. As he ate, he let out strange, low howls.
Upon hearing this laughter, Su Chen glanced in Iron Cliff’s direction. Upon seeing that scene, he gently smiled, then closed his eyes and continued.
Iron Cliff stopped laughing.
He leaned into Jianxin’s ear and quietly said, "Master said that thirty breaths after I let out this signal, he will finish off Su Qian. You can choose to stay here and watch Su Qian’s downfall, or you can run now…… there are still twenty-five breaths."
Jianxin loudly yelled, then turned around and ran.
No one paid attention to him. Everyone was focused on the battle, and even Su Keji himself was fixedly staring at the stage.
However, as he gazed at Su Chen’s highly skilled movements, a sense of unease began to surface in his heart and grew increasingly strong.
Finally.
Su Chen opened his eyes.
He watched Su Qian and said in a low voice, "Are you done?"
"What?" Su Qian was shocked.
"If you’re done, then take one of my blows," Su Chen said leisurely.
A palm strike flew out.