Chapter 445: Emerging Talent (Part One)
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*****
The most anticipated match in Group B was undoubtedly the one involving Zhang Chulan from Team B–White Tiger.
As the successor of the Qi Body Source Stream, proficient in both the Golden Light Mantra and Thunder Techniques, everyone knew in their hearts that this Luotian Grand Ritual was essentially organized by the old Celestial Master for Zhang Chulan.
Given his background, his first appearance naturally attracted a huge crowd of spectators.
George and Huang Ming were among them.
George was deeply interested in the Qi Body Source Stream—or rather, in all Eight Mysterious Techniques. He had even chatted briefly with Zhang Chulan while watching the match.
Zhang Chulan looked like a shut-in loser who'd never seen the world and didn't take anything seriously, but in truth, he was quite cunning. His words were meticulously calculated, never leaking anything unnecessary.
Moreover, George could sense that Zhang Chulan's internal energy wasn't weak—he ranked among the top tier of the contestants. His strength was unlikely to be mediocre.
"Looks like this match will end quickly."
George glanced at the three opponents facing Zhang Chulan. Judging by the strength of their internal energy, they were all pushovers.
"Three years on the East Bank, thirty years on the West."
"I'm going to shake the heavens!"
Half an hour later, the audience in Section B was so furious they hurled their water bottles at Zhang Chulan, all while cursing him loudly.
"What the hell was that?!"
"F***ing shameless!"
"That was downright dirty—no humanity at all!"
In the face of all the mocking and insults, Zhang Chulan casually waved and hummed a tune as he walked out of the arena.
"Winner of Group B–White Tiger: Zhang Chulan."
The referee in charge—a high priest from Longhu Mountain—had veins bulging on his forehead.
If this guy really became the next Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain, he might just die from frustration.
"You can even win like that? Seriously, what the fu—"
Huang Ming stared dumbfounded at Zhang Chulan leaving the stage.
Clearly, his master had been right to send him here to see the world.
Otherwise, if he ever ran into someone like Zhang Chulan in the future, he'd absolutely be swindled—just like those three poor guys down there.
"Playing dumb to hide strength… what a talent."
George raised an eyebrow, quietly admiring him.
Zhang Chulan had strutted onstage acting flashy and cool, convincing the other three to fight among themselves first and then challenge him. After the winner struggled to barely take the win, Zhang even offered to wait while the guy meditated to recover before their match.
Then, while the guy was still meditating, Zhang shamelessly launched a sneak attack and won effortlessly.
It was shameless, yes—but it allowed him to win without revealing his true strength, and even branded himself as a weakling.
This way, when he finally goes all out against real experts, they'll be caught completely off guard.
In every industry, those with real ability who also know how to be shameless never end up doing poorly.
"It's a pity we didn't see the Qi Body Source Stream in action. No matter—plenty more matches to come."
After Group B came Group C. What interested George in that group was an inheritor of Zhuge Liang's lineage—Zhuge Qing of the Zhuge family—who used the Wuhou Qimen Dunjia Technique.
A very interesting Taoist art, different from the traditional Five Elements Daoist methods.
Users of the Wuhou Qimen can designate a central point and then fix the surrounding space into a specialized Qimen structure.
The more skilled the practitioner, the wider the range the formation can cover.
Within this setup, as long as the caster follows the formation's structure, the difficulty and energy cost of using Qimen spells are greatly reduced, while their effectiveness is massively enhanced.
Moreover, through luring or forcing enemies into unlucky positions, the spellcaster can strip their opponents of good fortune.
Zhuge Qing's mana recovery rate was extremely fast. Even if he exhausted it all, he could quickly replenish it. He never worried about resource consumption.
Still, George thought the spell effect amplification alone was incredibly useful.
If he could learn and modify it, and set up a Qimen formation to boost all his own magic, that'd be quite the game-changer.
Aside from Zhuge Qing, there was another person in Group C who caught his attention.
Wudang's Wang Ye, who used Wudang Taichi Fist. George wasn't particularly interested in Taichi—or in most melee martial arts, for that matter.
After all, he mainly specialized in ranged attacks. If he ever needed to fight in close quarters, he could just activate the "Dou" technique to turn into a hand-to-hand combat expert—or grow into a giant and simply crush everything.
What intrigued him was that this Wudang Wang Ye was probably the same childhood friend that his sister-in-this-form, Jin Yuanyuan, had mentioned.
Also, her secret crush.
After Group C came D, then E, F, G, H, I, and finally J—when it would be George's turn.
"Group J – Azure Dragon, contestants, enter the arena!"
With the referee's whistle, George leisurely strolled into the ring.
It was the last match of the day, and the sky had already dimmed. The number of spectators in this particular arena was small.
Likely because none of the four contestants were famous or from any prestigious sect or family.
Most of the audience had gone to Group J – Vermilion Bird's arena instead, where at least Huang Ming, the direct disciple of the Baiyun Temple, was competing.
"Begin!"
As soon as the referee gave the command, the other three contestants instantly launched their attacks.
But they didn't target George—they went after each other.
Because in normal matches, that was standard behavior.
Only when facing well-known disciples from major sects would people gang up three-on-one. Otherwise, it was usually just a free-for-all.
"Not one of them is useful. No need to waste time."
George casually drew his wand and flicked it:
"Lightning Bomb!"
According to the information he got from Feng Xingtong, his three opponents were all rogue cultivators with innate abilities—and completely useless to him.
So he couldn't be bothered to test them.
If even one of them had been from a major sect, he would've taken the time to play around, learn their techniques, and see if anything was worth copying.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rocked the arena. The closest rogue cultivator—who had launched the first attack at George—was blasted backward, along with the other two who had just started fighting each other.
George had calibrated the power of the explosion spell based on the energy levels of the three, ensuring it was strong enough to knock them out without causing serious injuries.
"Match over! Winner: Jin Baobao!"
The referee announced the result upon seeing the three unconscious contestants.
Even the small crowd in the stands let out collective gasps of surprise.
No one expected that among these four obscure rogue cultivators, one would turn out to be this strong.
Though he couldn't compare to the likes of Zhang Lingyu or Zhuge Qing from the big-name sects, winning with a single spell against three opponents was no small feat.
"I had a feeling this guy wasn't simple. Third Bro, can you tell what his deal is?"
In the stands, Zhang Chulan turned to Xu San.
During their prior interactions and while watching the matches, Zhang Chulan had already suspected that this rogue cultivator named Jin Baobao was far from ordinary.
He wasn't someone with keen eyesight for judging an alien warrior's strength—but he was good at picking up subtle cues and making accurate calls based on details.
(End of Chapter)