AST

441-450

"Brag somewhere else!"

"Yeah, I used to have high respect for beast tamers because they have beast companions assisting them on the battlefield. They are strong, and it's easy to find women as a beast tamer. But after I have seen Qing Shui's power, I realized that martial warriors can also be extremely powerful. It is possibile to kill demonic beasts as a martial warrior," another person refuted the crude youngster.

.....

Humans have always been a feeble creature. As soon as someone else showed their arrogance and pride, they would try to put others down to make themselves look and feel better.

It was crucial for a person representing their own sect to not disrupt the sect's prestige. Otherwise, they would become the butt of a joke. The crude youngster, however, had received a stream of mockery and sarcastic remarks from the crowd.

The crude youngster did not retaliate, but gave the crowd a smile without moving an inch. He looked down on the crowd like he was looking at a bunch of ants. Then, he turned around and left.

"What's this? He ran away because he couldn't fight back."

"Yeah, one look at him and you already know how weak he is. Pitiful!" a young man with long sideburns said with despise in his tone.

"Yeah, he is more pitiful than us, pretending to be a hot shot, what a clown!"

..........

The crude youngster took every one of their words into his heart. His smile did not falter one bit as he said to himself, "What a bunch of trash. They can only use their insults as a way to cheer themselves up. They will always be losers!"

Qing Shui and Xi Ri found a suitable location to stop for a while. There was a large crowd gathered in the middle of the big public square. The members from the six sects came in a large number as well. After all, they would be able to learn and gain some important knowledge and experience by spectating the competition.

The members from the Nine Halls of the Heavenly Palace stood together at the east side of the arena. They stood out because of they had the largest amount of people around the arena. There were a few Elders sitting at the back, and a few Supreme Elders could be seen chatting with each other.

The south side of the arena was occupied by members of the Sword Tower. They had the second largest number of members in the arena. The members wore swordsman uniforms accordingly to their respective towers. Even though each of them wielded different sizes and types of swords, they seemed to complement each other.

Behind these warriors were the Grand Elders and Supreme Elders. Qing Shui looked around their group and could not find the two Grand Elders from before. Perhaps they were ashamed from the last incident and decided not to attend.

Huang Qing was nowhere to be found as well. Although Qing Shui already knew the reason for her absence, he was not surprised by it. Huang Qing was never concerned with matters involving Sword Tower, so it was normal to not see Huang Qing anywhere near them. Qing Shui rode on the Firebird and finally made it to the Heavenly Palace very quickly but calmly.

Qing Shui passed by the disciples of the Sword Tower as he moved through the crowd. It could have been because because of the massive number of people shuffling about, but he did not see the seven disciples from the original nine disciples as he passed by.

Qing Shui quickly searched around the moving crowd. He had a certain technique for finding people, especially when his target was an outstanding person who stood out in the crowd, as if they have a ring light around them.

"Hmm, ring light?"

Qing Shui closed his eyes slowly and expanded his spiritual sense around the area. In this spiritual sense, Qing Shui was able to see multiple luminous particles floating about like fireflies in the dark. These luminous particles represented the "spirit" of every living person. The brighter these particles were, the stronger their "spirit" would be. And naturally, their strength would be more powerful as well.