Commanding Wind and Cloud

Chapter 424: Ascend to the Top Thirty

How could a Griffin Bloodline Warrior who came from a top bloodline warrior family be defeated by an equally young warrior? Was it not for the interference of a Titan Bloodline Warrior, Linguan Youhun might have already become the strongest one in the first grade.

“Qian Jin is going to fight with Linguan Youhun?” Standing by the corner of the roof, Isabella cupped her delicate chin around her palm and flashed a surprising light out of her translucent eyes. “What’s wrong with young people nowadays? How could they challenge someone else whose ranking is higher than him by ten in the Hundred Battle Ranking List? If this provision was abolished, wouldn’t they directly challenge Linguan Skylan?”

Just within a short time, dozens more showed up around the battle ring. Then all of a sudden, turmoil struck the outermost circle of the crowd, causing a lot of people to step aside to make way.

Qian Wuqing was the first Elf-king Bloodline Warrior of the Qian Family over the past years who attended the Punitive Expedition Academy.

Qian Wuqing slowly walked into the crowd encircling the battle ring under the admirable gaze from all directions. That was the special honored shared by the ultimate bloodline warrior family.

“Wow, this is an Elf-king Bloodline Warrior from the Qian Family!”

“Yeah. I didn’t count on him coming here.”

“Well, it’s such a coincidence that Qian Wuqing and Qian Jin both share the family name of Qian. Have you people found that?”

“Hum. So what? Qian Wuqing is an Elf-king Bloodline Warrior coming from one of the three ultimate bloodline powers in this world. Qian Jin? He is a negligible ordinary warrior.”

The young warrior students kept their gossip and looked at Qian Wuqing in an envious way. Though as a newcomer to the Punitive Expedition Academy who hadn’t been included in the Young Talent Ranking List, Qian Wuqing still attracted the admiring gazes of the crowd.

No one doubt that Qian Wuqing would have his name recorded on the Young Talent Ranking List effortlessly as long as he started challenging Hundred Battle Ranking List. For Qian Wuqing, what needed paying attention to was only the final ranking in the Hundred Battle Ranking List. Some people had even compared Qian Wuqing to the current strongest student Linguan Skylan.

Qian Jin cast a light at Qian Wuqing standing beside the battle ring and uttered a faint smile. As a member of the three ultimate bloodline warrior families in the Zence Empire, it was quite normal for Qian Wuqing to be unanimously spoken highly of by outsiders. It was this blind admiration that helped the Qian Family develop heavier arrogance.

“Qian Jin.”

Under the gaze of Qian Jin, Qian Wuqing grit his teeth with sheer hatred. He couldn’t believe that this bloke was now challenging the 30th seat of the Hundred Battle Ranking List after defeating the 40th seat.

He didn’t believe that this bloke could generate a Warrior-Heart within a short time by virtue of mystic potion and special rune scrolls provided by the Snake Emperor Pam Honzi like the family leader had assumed.

Qian Wuqing wore a sneer from the corner of his eyebrows and lips. “Damn the Qian Family.” He thought to himself. “I won’t tell any of you this piece of news. Despite the innumerable merits my father made for your Qian Family on the human-demon battlefront, you discarded him like a piece of trash only because of the disappearance of his Warrior-Heart.”

“Qian Chenyu, you broke the family provisions today. Given the merits you brought to the family and taking into consideration Wuqing and Chenfeng, you will be of service as the lobby deacon for one year.”

Lobby deacon. Qian Wuqing clenched his fists firmly, making his blackish blue veins on the back of the fists to bump in a ferocious way.

“If my father didn’t pass down his Warrior-Heart to me, would you Qian Zhanxuan do that?” Qian Wuqing looked at Qian Jin, heaving his chest up and down fiercely, and started recalling the proud and isolate silhouette of his father on his very departure with the Qian Family, the thinking of which made him heartbroken.

Having given away his Warrior-Heart, his father had only three years to live. Qian Wuqing gasped harshly and activated his warrior power with the help of the Warrior-Heart and feeling of hatred. The reason why Qian Zhanxuan did so was that this family leader thought that Qian Wuqing was unable to reach the ultimate bloodline awakening. “Alright, I will first defeat Qian Jin and achieve the ultimate bloodline power awakening.” Qian Wuqing thought to himself.

Qian Wuqing looked at Qian Jin angrily and suddenly felt a little envious of this boy. Yeah, envious. Due to the failure of bloodline awakening, Qian Jin was cast out of the Qian Family free of any punishment. But as someone who had achieved the Elf-king bloodline power awakening, he would be hunted and killed by the entire family if he dared to escape.

The Elf-king Bloodline Warriors of the Qian Family would kill him if he tried to leave the family. Even if he found refuge with the Demon King, the Elf-king Bloodline Warriors of the Qian Family might be able to kill him off at any second.

If I didn’t have the bloodline awakening power… Qian Wuqing suddenly flashed a light out of his blank eyes and then swung his head hard. No, no, no. How could I be thinking about that? I am the noble Elf-king Bloodline Awakened Warrior, while Qian Jin just a good-for-nothing frig who hadn’t even have the bloodline power awakening.

“I won’t tell any member of the Qian Family that Qian Jin had succeeded in conjuring a Warrior-Heart.” Qian Wuqing looked up at the white scudding clouds and sneered. “I’m going to defeat Qian Jin by myself. If you guys know about that news you would certainly find trouble for him. Well, I won’t allow you guys do so ahead of me.”

“What an interesting young warrior from the Qian Family.” Lurking in one corner of the roof of the teaching building, Isabella looked at the figure Qian Wuqing with a smile. “It’s such a boon that my bloodline power carries strong hearing abilities, or else I wouldn’t be able to hear what that young man was saying. Oh, Qian Jin. Though I’ve heard about your stories in the Qian Region, the news I received from this young warrior is still shocking to me.”

“To head for the Qian Family in the Qian State and beat their young bloodline warrior members in the face of Qian Zhanxuan.” Isabella cupped her curved lips with her tenuous fingers and uttered a string of canary-like chuckles. “Interesting. It’s really interesting that the so-called impregnable Elf-king Bloodline Warriors was defeated by an ordinary warrior.”

Linguan Youhun looked at Qian Jin eagerly. “Classmate Qian, are you ready?”

This simple greeting had the surrounding warriors feel pressed, as if a big battle was underway, making them stop all gossiping and conjectures and lock their eyes on the battle ring collectively.

Qian Jin nocked the bow slowly out of the habit developed through his stay in Four Season Valley and the West Mountain, that was, no matter what type of enemies he was faced with, he had to pay enough attention, otherwise…

A seeming harmless goat in the endless world might suddenly rush at an unimaginably fast speed and stab a person to death with its sharp horns.

A toad in the West Mountain might corrode the hardest stone with one mouthful of saliva.

The Griffin Bloodline Warriors who had been standing as an influential force in the Zence Empire and one of the ten pillar bloodline warrior families guarding the Empire for a long time were deemed as appalling enemies even by the Demons.

“Alright. I’m going to get started.” Linguan Youhun took a deep breath and bulged all of a sudden as if he had taken all the air flow surrounding him into his lungs which made his body expand and inflate like a balloon.

Bloodline Battle Form! Qian Wuqing changed his face, knowing that Linguan Youhun feigned that inhale to forestall Qian Jin by making him feel that he had the strength of taking in the heaven into his enchantment circle through activating his bloodline power. But would that work for Qian Jin? He was a freak who showed no fear towards the all-mighty Qian Zhanxuan.

In just blink, Linguan Youhun’s body generated a big change in a cracking sound. With two bangs, a pair of huge white wings grew from his back, at the same time, his hair changed from golden into white and his eyes turned as sharp like those of a hawk.

The warriors standing around the battle ring took a step back, feeling as if who they were faced with was not the generally easygoing-looking Linguan Youhun, but a high-level demon beast living in the mysterious forest. Chimed in with the rapid change of the Warrior Body and the fast emitted spiritual power, the sky-swallowing might display by the Griffin Bloodline Warrior together constituted thrilling forces.

“[Wings of the Billowing Wind].”

“[Stone Skin].”

With the consecutive activation of two magic scrolls conjured by Linguan Youhun, the magic power thereof was infused into this Griffin Bloodline Warrior instantly.

All onlookers standing by the battle ring were caught surprised. The magic spell [Wings of the Billowing Wind] was able to improve the performer’s speed by twenty percent, while [Stone Skin] could enhance his self-defense abilities by ten percent.

Linguan Youhun had activated two auxiliary magic scrolls at the same time! During his fights with others, he never ever used any of his magic spells to aid himself.

Jesus Christ! He activated two auxiliary magic spells to improve his combat power this time! What a huge investment it was!

A lot of people turned to look at Qian Jin in a sympathetic way, saying to themselves that if this boy possessed certain chances of winning the fight, now his defeat was set in stone.

Instead of wearing low vigilance in front of this ordinary warrior Linguan Youhun, the Griffin Bloodline Warrior, attached heavier importance to this battle than ever before.

The air flow controlled by Linguan Youhun’s strong warrior heart spread from the center of his body to all directions at a very fast speed, as if the performer had made up his mind to produce a hurricane here and now.

Level 1 Demon Slayer…Level 2…Level 3…Level 5…Level 9.

“Well, he lives up to the title of an ingenious Griffin Bloodline Warrior behind Linguan Skylan.” Isabella kept twinkling her eyes. “It’s apparent that the warrior power of this Level 9 Demon Slayer hasn’t reached the summit. However, the rotation speed of his warrior power is estimated to be one hundred and ten thousand, isn’t it? To have a speed faster than one hundred thousand cycles is the intrinsic advantage of the bloodline warrior talents.”

Qian Jin’s warrior heart seemed to have sensed the coming threat and started to revolve itself. Level 1 Demon Capturer…Level 2…Level 3…Level 5…Level 9…Level 1 Demon Slayer.

Quite a lot of warrior students started to lament for Qian Jin as the difference between Level 1 Demon Slayer and Level 9 was…

“What the hell is this rotation speed!?” Isabella’s tender hair stood up all of a sudden as if having been electrified, making her feel a tingling on her scalp. The rotation speed had exceeded one hundred thousand!

The rotation speed of Level 1 Demon Slayer had exceeded one hundred thousand, faster than that of the Level 9 Demon Slayer? Isabella patted on her elastic face hard, just to feel the tingle which signified that she was not misjudging by her special senses. The rotation speed of Qian Jin had really exceeded one hundred thousand!

“Oh, my stars!” Isabella looked up at the sky blankly. “What a monster you have sent me!”

Another Level 1 Demon Slayer? Linguan Youhun looked at Qian Jin bemusedly, as the memory of this Level 1 Demon Slayer’s defeating Level 9 Demon Slayer started to emerge. His cousin Skylan said that this ought to be a special skill of Qian Jin, which enabled the performer to conjure the force of a Level 9 Demon Slayer and cover it up immediately so that no one else could notice it.

To have me underestimate the enemy? Linguan Youhun uttered a faint smile and parted his lips to both sides, by doing which he had himself look more like the legendary Griffin.

Bang! The hard battle ring under Linguan Youhun’s feet suddenly trembled, producing a dull but tingling sound. Then he strode forward and pounced at Qian Jin’s face with his arms.

With the appearance of his Bloodline Battle Form, the previously loose clothes on Linguan Youhun’s body became tightly stuck on his skin. A whoosh rang continuously along the trace his fist moved, sounding like a powerful horn on the battlefield.

In taking a leap forward, Linguan Youhun fiercely rose up from the ground, opened his arms to two sides slightly and pounced down like an eagle soaring and fluttering in the sky, producing a strong gust of wind which was about to suffocate the people standing by.

Griffin Bloodline Technique [Soaring into the Sky].

Qian Jin bent down slightly and relaxed his shoulder, telling himself that given this person’s posture and momentum, there oughtn’t to be a large gap in warrior power rotation speed between each other. Time permitted, he could become stronger with life-or-death experience on the battlefield.

In a blink, Linguan Youhun’s mighty strike came upon Qian Jin.

Bang. Qian Jin lifted his right arm into a pillar-like posture in front of Linguan Youhun’s forearms. Activating the warrior power sequence, he produced a huge bang made by the clash of his warrior power with his body.

Over the three years since Linguan Youhun activated his bloodline power, he had been achieving progress. Though he hadn’t stepped onto the human-demon battlefield once, his Bloodline Battle Form was further strengthened with the help of his family, pushing his stamina as a Griffin Bloodline Warrior into new heights. At the moment, he was able to smash a piece of igneous rock into pieces with just one move from his fist.

As for Qian Jin who had been cultivating Wind and Cloud Warrior Power and Golden Body to enhance his body-protection power, though he didn’t have the shelter of Bloodline Battle Form, he still managed to uplift his Wind and Cloud Golden Body into the summit of Steel Body by improving his body-protection power via the Forge Breathing Technique and the hot sand in the desert, thanks to the helpful molestation of Qian Zhanxuan.

“What body-protection fighting technique was this? My Beast King Bloodline Battle Form is able to smash stones and chop apart iron, but why can’t I injure Qian Jin’s arms? What type of fighting technique is this? How could it precisely block my [Soaring into the Sky]?”

On touching Qian Jin’s arms, Linguan Youhun put on a slightly vigilant look as it felt as if he had been knocked into a piece of iron. Then he swung backward like an eagle fluttering its wings, at the same time recalling the way Qian Jin lifted his arms, which looked very much like forging.

What? His strong [Soaring into the Sky] was blocked by the simple hammering move? How come?

“What the hell is that? The move of lifting the hammer when forging? What the f**k!” Isabella looked at Linguan Youhun, who was rushing at his opponent rapidly and blurted out the above foul language unconsciously. Her entire body and soul had been shocked by Qian Jin’s unbelievable behavior.

Want to flee? Qian Jin’s slightly bent upper body now took on a shape of a bow at full length and then he swung slightly on the battle ring, leaving a faint shadow behind him.

Qian Jin’s move was even more smashing than that of Linguan Youhun. Just at the same time he left a faint shadow, a whoosh was produced, sounding just like a train rushing in the air. By putting down his arms, he made a whooping sound amidst the silence of the battle ring.

Then two faint traces were left in the air, looking as if the entire space had been split by his arms. It was the mirage made by the air being pricked by some fast-moving object.

Qian Jin galloped at Linguan Youhun and stood deep and firm on the ground. Then he uttered a roar as thunderous as the war drum and wielded his Zhanmadao-like arms to perform the fighting technique of Dividing Metal Multi-chops, the exclusive technique of the Iron-arm Mantis Bloodline Family.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh…

The whoosh continued in the air, sounding just like the anthem of happiness. That was, the excited calling of the Dividing Metal Multi-chops, the heartfelt roaring of erasing the past stigma, and reinvigorating the glory of the Iron-arm Mantis Bloodline Warriors.

Growl, Dividing Metal Multi-chops! Show the Griffin Bloodline, the grandest and firmest glory rooted in your soul, as being one of the top ten bloodlines!

Linguan Youhun suddenly felt a dizziness. There were, in fact, just two arms protruding in front of him, but he seemed to have seen millions of arms piercing through the boundaries of time and space, carrying with them incredible killing intent.

“Why did it come so fast? I had used the enchantment of [Wings of the Billowing Wind] to increase my speed by twenty percent but still couldn’t rival or dodge his attack. How did he train himself? Ouch, his attack was too powerful!” Linguan Youhun thought to himself.

The attack was so powerful that he couldn’t withstand it. Linguan Youhun fluttered his wings fast and bounced up fiercely into the sky. As a Griffin Bloodline Warrior, he had the inborn advantage of rising up into the sky to escape the unbearable attack from the opponent. As long as he could escape the attack…oh no.

Linguan Youhun was frozen halfway, loosened his wings dumbly like a sculpture and flopped slowly onto the ground. Upon falling down, he looked at Qian Jin take out a set of edgy bow and arrow from the warrior dimension bemusedly.

The moment he got paralyzed in the air, Linguan Youhun felt that he was totally locked. Was it not for Qian Jin’s mercy of not having shot at him, there should have been a big transparent hole in his head right now.

“I lost. There is no need to continue the battle.” Linguan Youhun retracted his Bloodline Battle Form. “I was already defeated the minute I chose to rise up. I don’t know why I felt afraid of facing your attack at that moment.”

Did he lose? Linguan Youhun, the Griffin Bloodline Warrior admitted that he was defeated?

No surprise or acclamation came from the battle ring, but silence, sheer silence. No one had ever imagined the defeat of the Griffin Bloodline Warrior.

“The 30th place of the Hundred Battle Ranking List goes to you.” Instead of wearing a despondent look, Linguan Youhun blinked and sighed softly. He didn’t count on the wings of the Griffin King being his weak points. He couldn’t stop wondering what would happen if he didn’t beckon the Griffin King’s wings but faced Qian Jin’s attack directly just now.

“Maybe things would turn out a lot better.” Qian Jin said lightly. “You are endowed with excellent gifts and qualities, but you lack one thing—the test of despair. You haven’t killed any humans or demons, have you? You haven’t gone through the test of life and death. So it’s pretty well for you to act so. Time and chance permitted, you’d better go to the human-demon battlefield to witness the dilemma of life and death. It will help you a lot.”

“Really?” Linguan Youhun looked at Qian Jin in great surprise. “Cousin Skylan has also said that. I thought he was just trying to encourage me to enrich my experiences, but now it seems that he’s right. If I was ready for the life-and-death just now…maybe…”

“It will be awesome.” Qian Jin chuckled. “You can ask the principal for a suspension of schooling to set foot on the human-demon battlefield. Should you return alive, we shall fight again.”

“You’re right.” Linguan Youhun placed his right fist above his heart and made a 90-degree bow at Qian Jin. “Thanks for your suggestion. I will take back my ranking from you the next time we meet.”

The people standing around the battle ring looked at Linguan Youhun turning away blankly. Hoare Tee couldn’t believe what he had seen. What? How come? The strong Griffin Bloodline Warrior had just made the highest-ranking etiquette toward an ordinary warrior and had listened to his instruction?

Lenz Zarf kept swallowing and locked his serpent-like eyes on Qian Jin. An ordinary warrior had just instructed a bloodline warrior? As a descendant of the Griffin Bloodline Family, one of the top ten bloodline families, Linguan Youhun had been cultivated by numerous illustrious predecessors. But now he was instructed by Qian Jin, an ordinary warrior? Holy crap!

The warrior students standing by were caught dumbfounded, looking as if they had been struck by lightning. What the hell was this? Generally, after a bloodline warrior fought against an ordinary one, the former would speak with grandiloquence towards the latter in an arrogant way, while the latter would listen by heart and plead the former to take him as a retinue.

But things were totally overturned today. Instead of asking Qian Jin to serve as his retinue, Linguan Youhun, the grand Griffin Bloodline Warrior, listened to the former carefully and then left in a hurry toward the direction of the Principal’s office. Was he looking for the principal to ask for a suspension of schooling?

“What? How could things turn out this way?” Standing on the roof, Isabella felt that she was going to collapse. Though she had already guessed the defeat of Linguan Youhun the moment Qian Jin displayed his usual ferociousness, she didn’t expect that this boy dared instruct the former after the battle.

What came more like bullshit was that Linguan Youhun had followed Qian Jin’s suggestion of calming down. Qian Jin won. He won before both sides could perform the final move.

Generally, this would only happen when there was a huge gap in strength between two sides. However, the two sides fighting today didn’t seem to have many discrepancies in overall qualities.

Isabella didn’t know what to say. As an illustrious warrior, she had seen and experienced dozens of fights, but never ever had she run into such a strange situation as this one.

Qian Wuqing narrowed his eyes to the greatest to look at Qian Jin, the unthinkably strong ordinary warrior who was now sitting on the battle ring with eyes closed for meditation. It wasn’t until this moment did Qian Wuqing acknowledge that his father was right in saying that he would have no chance defeating Qian Jin if he couldn’t make further progress.

I have to win. I must win. Qian Wuqing waved his hands lightly and stopped gazing at Qian Jin sitting on the battle ring. It was no use staying here watching the game.

“Qian Jin…”

Linguan Honzhe rose up from a thick trunk of a luxuriant tree towering not far from the battle ring and lifted his hands to scratch his somewhat entangled golden hair. His eyes looked moist as if he hadn’t woken up yet. “It looks as if he has felt something new. Though he is not a bloodline warrior, he seems to have a great sense of battle. I wonder whether if there are other qualities that hadn’t been discovered by me?”