Chapter 16: Expectation & Reality
The crowd turned silent as the two faced each other.
"You aren''t going to admit defeat, are you?" Colton Grey mockingly said, attempting to infuriate ude, but he just responded with a smirk, which did more than what words could say.
"You little shit! Let me see how long you can keep acting smug!" Colton bellowed, his hands moved and he brandished his sword, as a de of sword light shot out towards ude, shing in front of him.
"It''s the Sky Smashing Sword Technique!"
"I can''t believe that the power of the Sky Smashing Sword Technique is so strong!"
"Looks like the battle has been decided!" The academy elders who were watching the match, praised. Many outer disciples who were standing near them nodded their heads in agreement.
At this moment, in the faculty building near the Martial Arts Field, stood the Headmaster of the academy, Aldwin Eldridge.
From his position, he could clearly view the exams over at the martial arts field. Turning, he nced at the second elder, who was standing behind him.
He stood there casually; expressionless and indifferent.
"Is that the young man that you mentioned?" Headmaster Aldwin asked, pointing towards the martial arts field as he spoke.
"Yes," Lightly nodding his head, his reply was only a single word. The headmaster could see that he waspletely engrossed in this match and shook his head as he sighed. He slowly shifted his gaze downwards, looking at the arena with a gentle smile in his eyes. He suddenly recalled many things from the past, how his character was like when he was younger - wild, arrogant, unrestrained and frivolous. But when he looked at the young man standing below, he couldn''t see any of that. He could only sense calmness from him. Calmness that came with confidence. It was almost as if he was sure that he was going to win.
"Strange," he furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at the young man. When he looked at ude, it was as if he was looking at an experienced adult.
"It''s over now!" Colton Grey yelled out, a cold glint of light shing in his eyes and his killing intent overflowing, as his sword light went for ude''s throat.
However, ude didn''t dodge, and instead stood straight, as he shed forward using the Invisible Sword Technique, causing a wave of deste aura to suddenly rush out of his body.
A number of spectators close to the arena felt a frigid, bone-chilling sensation the moment ude unleashed this move. Some of the academy elders who had been conversing suddenly froze, and a lot more people now had their attention on ude.
"He is using the high level skill, Invisible Sword Technique!" One of the elders dered irrefutably.
Nobody questioned the elder''s words, and everyone went into an uproar.
"Wasn''t he an untalented outer disciple until recently?" someone asked doubtfully.
"Perhaps! But I guess he took a risk, and it paid off! However, there is little chance of victory." Another elder shook his head before he added, "Even though the Invisible Sword Technique was extremely powerful, it still doesn''t hold a candle to the Sky Smashing Sword Technique. I''m afraid he''ll lose with just this one move!"
"I don''t know about that.. the kid seems confident. I feel like a miracle is about to happen," the other elder remained unconvinced.
"How about we make a bet?"
"Be my guest! I''ll bet on the young man ude!"
As the elders were busy betting on who they thought would win, the rest of the people had fixed their attention to the martial arts field.
"It''s no use. You might have learned a high level cultivation skill, but it''s still no match for the Sky Smashing Sword Technique!" Colton said in a very self confident tone. "I will let you experience the disparity between us."
As soon as he spoke, his de light collided violently with ude''s Invisible Sword Technique, creating a beautiful sight.
"ude Rayforth, who is a sixth rank cultivation master, was amazingly able to pull off this dangerous technique. However, there is still a big difference in terms of power. The gap between him and Colton is not something that can be fixed so easily.." Some people in the crowd shook their heads with pity. Based on what they knew, ude was bound to lose this fight.
However, the next moment, their eyes widened in shock, as a figure emerged out from the collision, unscathed. It was ude!
What happened!?
The disciples and the elders were in shock, because from the looks of it, ude had almost no injuries on his body even though he took the Sky Smashing Sword Technique head-on!
How? How is this possible?
"What? How on earth did you survive that?" Colton almost blurted out in shock, and stood dazed as he saw ude survive his killing move..
Although the spectators were taken aback by what just happened, the academy elders who were keeping a close eye on the match were able to figure out what was going on, and their interest in the young man grew even more.
"Huh, I guess you''re not as strong as you say." ude smiled as he stayed where he stood before.
"You little shit! You were luckyst time, but I won''t make a mistake this time! Die!" Colton turned his embarrassment into anger, as he leapt up and swung his sword once again.
"He''s using the Sky Smashing Sword Technique again!"
"Will ude survive this one as well?"
As the crowd stood still, waiting for the result, ude was staring at the fast approaching attack with a calm expression.
Having fought countless battles in his previous life, he was quite familiar with the feeling of death. This type of situation, where a young cultivator would start panicking internally and make rash decisions, ude had seen it countless times. He had experienced it.
If one were topare ude and Colton on paper, ude wouldn''t even stand a chance. Colton Grey had a higher rank than him. He was stronger. He had more high level cultivation techniques. He was simply more talented. On paper, ude wouldn''t stand a chance against someone like him.
But
ude''s eyes shone as it showed a cruel and cunning expression, and as the Sky Smashing Sword Technique got near, he used the Invisible Sword Technique once again.
''Reality isn''t always so easy to predict!''