Defeating Zhao Zhenming

"The match begins!"

As the referee's voice fell, Jiang Ping'an immediately unleashed the Willow Branching Movement and lunged at Zhao Zhenming, executing the Xun Star Swordplay with the sword in his hand.

Behind him, Yuan Ruolan immediately gathered her spell. In the blink of an eye, she formed seven or eight water arrows and shot them at Zhao Zhenming.

"Hmph!" Zhao Zhenming could not help letting out a disdainful snort. He bent his legs slightly, then leaped upward, soaring ten zhang into the air.

A swallow could never know the ambitions of a swan. You want to desperately tie me down so Yuan Ruolan can calmly cast spells and attack me? Not a chance!

After leaping into the air, Zhao Zhenming immediately unleashed the High-grade Martial Skill, Initial Golden Roc Wings. A pair of enormous wings formed from True Essence and Heavenly Essence appeared on his back. The wings gleamed with golden light, every feather clearly visible, like the wings of a Golden-Winged Peng.

Initial Golden Roc Wings was a Buddhist Flight Technique of Pudu Mountain, a weakened version of a weakened version of the Mystic Grade Martial Skill Golden Roc Wings. It was comparatively easier to cultivate, consumed several times less True Essence, and yet its speed still surpassed all other high-grade flight martial skills.

Zhao Zhenming swooped down from above at Yuan Ruolan, who stood at the edge of the arena, as swift as lightning. He swung his sword down.

Yuan Ruolan clearly had not expected Zhao Zhenming to have cultivated a Flight Technique. It completely shattered the tactics she had planned.

Flight Techniques started at the high-grade martial skill level, and high-grade martial skills were all difficult to cultivate. Moreover, once cultivators entered the Divine Treasury Realm, they naturally gained the ability to fly. Thus, few Primordial Sea Realm cultivators were willing to spend immense effort cultivating Flight Techniques.

Unless one had no hope of advancing to the Divine Treasury Realm and had already mastered all other high-grade martial skills and spells would one spend the effort to cultivate a Flight Technique.

Someone like Zhao Zhenming, with powerful bloodline and abundant Cultivation Resources, would normally devote himself fully to cultivating techniques and enter the Divine Treasury Realm as soon as possible. He would not waste time cultivating a Flight Technique.

Faced with Zhao Zhenming diving down from the sky like lightning, she had nowhere to evade.

For a moment, she gave up resisting, closed her eyes, and accepted the fate of defeat.

The next instant, she heard a thunderous bang. She thought she had been blasted out, but she seemed to be completely unharmed.

Then she heard a cold, showy shout: "You want to hurt her? Did you ask me first?"

She hurriedly opened her eyes and saw an incomparably handsome face wearing a slightly mischievous smile.

It was Jiang Ping'an!

"Where is Zhao Zhenming?" Her heart instantly filled with shock and doubt. Her beautiful eyes swiftly swept across the entire arena, then she looked up into the sky, but Zhao Zhenming was nowhere to be found.

Jiang Ping'an chuckled. "He's below the arena. I already defeated him."

Before she could speak, Jiang Ping'an jokingly continued, "How was that? Didn't what I just said sound like something the male lead in a storybook would say when descending from the heavens to save the female lead?"

"If you're moved, just surrender. Leave the rest of the match to me. I'll do the fighting."

Yuan Ruolan looked utterly dazed, her mind almost completely blank, as though she had fallen into a dream. What had happened before her eyes and what Jiang Ping'an said all felt unreal.

Her gaze swept beneath the arena, and she actually found Zhao Zhenming.

Zhao Zhenming was getting to his feet from the ground. A trace of blood hung at the corner of his mouth, while his face shifted between flushed red and iron blue. The light blazing from his eyes was filled with unwillingness, defiance, and stifled resentment.

Zhao Zhenming was truly unwilling to accept it. He was practically uninjured. Jiang Ping'an had merely attacked him from behind for no apparent reason, yet had sent him flying off the arena and crashing to the ground in one blow.

I was publicly defeated by a worthless Mortal Body. He was filled with disbelief, unable to accept such an outcome.

He was incomparably aggrieved. "He ambushed me! He didn't win through real strength!!!"

Moreover, this defeat not only cost him the chance to compete for Chief Student, but even kept him from entering the top sixteen.

Countless students beneath the arena fell silent. Every gaze focused on Zhao Zhenming, filled with shock and surprise.

Before the match, everyone had believed Zhao Zhenming would certainly win. Who could have imagined that less than three breaths after the match began, Zhao Zhenming would be defeated—and he was the first to be defeated in the melee.

"Th-this, what happened? Brother Jiang defeated Zhao Zhenming in one stroke!" Hong Feng said in disbelief, rubbing his eyes hard as though he thought he had seen wrong.

Zhang Jingtian and Lu Zhaisheng's expressions changed spectacularly. First came disbelief, then they said with jealousy, "He—he ambushed him!"

Princess Bailing was one of the few people whose gaze was fixed on Jiang Ping'an at that moment, and there was clearly a trace of incredulity in her eyes.

"He ambushed him! He ambushed him!! He ambushed him!!!" Suddenly, an incomparably agitated shriek rang out, nearly piercing everyone's eardrums. "It doesn't count!!!!"

Zhao Jinglian pointed at Jiang Ping'an on the arena, shrieking herself hoarse in extreme agitation. Her eyes were opened as wide as they could go, her face twisted. Though only twelve years old, the girl gave off a ferocious and terrifying feeling.

She simply could not accept that her omnipotent, flawless brother had actually been publicly defeated by Jiang Ping'an.

A group of disciples from the Zhennan Marquis Estate came back to their senses and immediately followed with agitated shouts. "He ambushed him! It doesn't count! He ambushed him, it doesn't count! He ambushed him..."

"Silence!" The referee had no choice but to step forward and shout loudly, suppressing the cries of Zhao Jinglian and the Zhennan Marquis Estate disciples.

For the moment, the area above and below the arena quieted down.

The referee said sternly, "The battle just now only began after I formally announced the start of the match. There was no violation of arena rules whatsoever. There was no so-called ambush!"

"It was an ambush!" Zhao Jinglian had long been used to being overbearing. How could she accept the referee's ruling? Pointing at Jiang Ping'an, she shrieked excitedly, "He's a worthless Mortal Body! How could he possibly defeat my brother? My brother is a genius among geniuses! When he first opened his Essence Sea, it exceeded ten thousand feet, and he even has the Primordial Sea Phenomenon—Horned Dragon Emerging from the Divine River! If you rule that my brother lost to him, none of us will accept it..."

The referee cut Zhao Jinglian off and addressed everyone beneath the arena. "In the match just now, Zhao Zhenming was careless and underestimated his opponent, completely exposing his back to Jiang Ping'an. Jiang Ping'an seized Zhao Zhenming's enormous opening and succeeded in one strike. There is no dispute whatsoever, and it is worthy of praise."

The referee turned to Jiang Ping'an and Yuan Ruolan and announced, "The match continues!"

Zhao Jinglian still wanted to clamor in protest, but Princess Bailing spoke with authority. "Everyone saw the course of the match. A loss is a loss for Zhao Zhenming. Could it be that your Zhennan Marquis Estate truly cannot afford to lose?"

Once Princess Bailing spoke, the other students immediately joined in, condemning Zhao Jinglian and the other Zhennan Marquis Estate disciples. "That's right! How can your Zhennan Marquis Estate be so shameless? Everyone saw it, and you still want to deny it!"

"Last time, you lost a match and threatened to kill someone below the arena!"

"You have no character at all!"

Before long, a one-sided tide of condemnation against Zhao Jinglian, Zhao Zhenming, and the Zhennan Marquis Estate disciples surged endlessly beneath the arena.

Naturally, Zhao Jinglian refused to accept it and cursed back at the students. The other Zhennan Marquis Estate disciples joined her in trading insults with the crowd, and the scene descended into chaos.

"Everyone, be quiet!" A voice exploded, drowning out all others.

Everyone could not help turning toward the source of the voice, only to see Zhao Zhenming hovering in the air.

Facing everyone's gazes, Zhao Zhenming took a deep breath and said, "Just now, I truly lost to him. I accept this result. I am thoroughly convinced."

Saying it publicly at that moment dealt a tangible blow to his Dao Heart.

"Brother, don't... sob, sob..." Zhao Jinglian looked up at Zhao Zhenming as tears streamed down her face. She broke into miserable sobs. "Don't say it, sob... sob... You've been a thousand times, ten thousand times stronger than him since childhood, sob... sob..."

She knew better than anyone that her brother had always been immensely proud and had aspired to become a saint. Yet he had been forced to publicly admit defeat to Jiang Ping'an, a worthless Mortal Body they had looked down upon since childhood.

She could imagine how much pain Zhao Zhenming was in and how deeply he had been struck.

Zhao Zhenming ignored Zhao Jinglian and continued speaking to the students. "My younger sister is not yet twelve this year. She has never experienced the ways of the world, is innocent and ignorant, and is young and immature. From now on, I will strictly restrain and educate her. I ask everyone to treat her words as a child's tantrum and laugh them off."

After speaking, he deeply bowed to everyone with clasped hands.

Just now, under the heavy blow, he had been unable to recover his senses for a time. By the time he did, matters had developed to the point where Zhao Jinglian and the Zhennan Marquis Estate disciples were being spurned by everyone. He had no choice but to personally admit in public that he had lost to Jiang Ping'an.

After waiting a moment, Princess Bailing spoke. "Zhao Zhenming, it is enough that you admit you lost to Jiang Ping'an. As for your sister's words, we will simply take them as nonsense."

Given a way out, Zhao Zhenming cupped his hands toward Princess Bailing. "Many thanks, Princess Bailing. Many thanks, fellow disciples. If anyone encounters difficulties in the future, feel free to come to me, Zhao Zhenming. I, Zhao Zhenming, will certainly do everything in my power to help. I live in Gengshen Dorm of the Upper Kun Courtyard."

With that, he descended and landed beside Zhao Jinglian.

"Brother..." Zhao Jinglian threw herself into Zhao Zhenming's arms and wailed. "I don't want you to admit you lost to him, sob... sob..."

Zhao Zhenming embraced Zhao Jinglian and took her away from the martial arts plaza.