CHAPTER 124: MONSTROUS TALENT

Chapter 124: Monstrous Talent

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Given Zhu Rong’s outstanding performance in the previous round, many had decided to check his past battles results in the tournament,

and to everyone’s surprise they discovered he had won his matches in the first days with ease, to the point where his groupmates no longer even dared to fight him and let him win by default.

This made everyone realize that since the very beginning there had been a dark horse in the tournament, one who had gone almost completely unnoticed until now.

Even though his first-round fight had been shocking, many still underestimated him, believing that his victory was only thanks to the unexpected move he used to bring Shi Gong down in such a miserable state.

So when the second round began, many shook their heads, convinced that his luck had run out and that this so called dark horse was nothing more than a paper tiger, feared only because he had caught people off guard.

Now that everyone knew his secret move, no one would be hit by it again, nor would anyone give him the chance to attack first. And yet, the results of his second battle were completely different from what most had expected.

So different that many instinctively reached for their cheeks, which felt as though they were faintly burning.

It was as if they had just been slapped in the face, their earlier assumptions shattered, as the other side had halted his opponent’s advance not with any special trick, but with sheer, raw strength.

Many were once again shocked and caught off guard by this boy, so much so that they could only watch with bewildered expressions as he calmly dealt with his opponent, who, unable to escape the grip, could do nothing but endure the blows.

The judge of that arena, who had also been anxiously waiting to see what the boy would do this time, found himself in the same situation as the previous round.

He watched the boy stand unharmed in the exact same spot as at the start of the fight, while in front of him lay another boy, a third year student, unconscious on the ground, his face covered in bruises.

As absurd as it was, the third year had been slapped around until he fainted, and the most shocking thing was that he never seemed able to escape that grip the entire time.

It was practically the same scene as before, except that this time there was no pool of blood.

"The winner of this match is student Zhu Rong." In the end, the judge could only set aside his astonishment and announce the result.

In his mind, he was already imagining the upcoming rounds, unable to help but feel intrigued about how they would play out.

The one they had underestimated even after the first round result had now revealed himself to be not the weak paper tiger they thought, but the true tiger, and maybe even more.

Considering his talent, he wasn’t a tiger at all, but a hidden dragon.

That was what the judge thought, and at this moment, many others were thinking the same way.

"Holy cat, he really won again against another third year student, and just as easily too!" shouted a second year student from the audience who had confidently predicted Zhu Rong’s defeat in this duel.

And who could blame him? No matter how strong Zhu Rong was as a second year, even if he were at the peak of the second stage, he shouldn’t have been able to win so easily.

His little trick from the first round was already revealed, there was no way he could use it to defeat his opponets again with the same ease.

Yet the strength he had just displayed far surpassed what a normal cultivator at the peak of the second stage should possess.

Of course, his opponent specialized in speed, and when compared to other third stage cultivators, his strength might seem a little lacking. But it was still the strength of a third stage cultivator.

It shouldn’t have lost so easily against Zhu Rong’s strength. Yet here he was, watching that third year student fail to break free until the very end.

This made it clear to everyone that Zhu Rong wasn’t just someone at the second stage, his strength was far too high.

That inevitably placed him at the next level: the third stage. And this thought passed through everyone’s mind, making them cry out in surprise once more.

A second year student who had already reached the third stage?

Normally, such a thing shouldn’t have shocked anyone too much, after all, there were indeed talents who reached that level within their second year.

Li Duoji was a good example, but the problem was that this particular person wasn’t a naturally talented student who would have inevitably reached that level.

Just a few months ago, he had barely managed to reach the first stage, making him practically the student with the weakest talent in his year.

How could such a student suddenly stand on the same level as Li Duoji?

The revelation caused an uproar among the audience, and even the instructors, couldn’t remain still as intense discussions broke out once again.

This time, much more heated than before.

"Heavens, we had such a good talent and none of us noticed until now?" said an instructor in charge of the third years, with a conflicted and slightly angry expression as he glanced at the first year instructors, clearly dissatisfied.

Being already at mid stage of the fifth stage, he was naturally more suited to teaching third years, and as one of the academy elders, seeing his lower year colleagues make such a mistake irritated him greatly.

Naturally, he wanted to know more.

Those instructors seeing his glare on them, could only sigh in defeat and reply:

"We really can’t be blamed, Elder Fang.

Student Zhu never really showed any notable performance throughout his first year.

In fact, all of his results were always below average. Even the growth potential evaluation at the start of his first year revealed nothing remarkable.

Across nearly every aspect that could be assessed, he consistently delivered mediocre results, and in several areas, rather poor ones.

It was already lucky enough for him to even make it to the second year with all this," said one of them, explaining Zhu Rong’s situation in more detail.

Coming from a prestigious family, Zhu Rong had naturally been under attention, so the first year instructor hadn’t needed to investigate him at all, he already knew most of his background within the academy.

And although Elder Fang was dissatisfied, he too was aware of all this. Still, after today’s performance, even he couldn’t help but feel that something was off.

Could it be that the boy had suddenly received some kind of boost in his cultivation overnight?

The idea was absurd even to his eyes, but he still decided to have a check run on Zhu Rong’s past records.

For now, none of that mattered. What counted was that the academy now held another student whose potential matched, or even surpassed, Li Duoji’s.

This because Zhu Rong had already reached this level just past the midpoint of his second year.

While all this was happening, only two people weren’t particularly shaken by the revelation.

One was Liang Yuexin, who had long suspected that Zhu Rong’s strength had grown significantly during this period of time.

In her eyes, anyone capable of obtaining a Heaven rank technique couldn’t possibly be simple. Her few encounters with him in the past months had been enough to support her theory.

Of course, even though she wasn’t visibly surprised, since she had expected him to progress rapidly, seeing him actually reach this point in just two months was still a bit unexpected, even for her.

She herself had made huge progress in the same span of time, surpassing even the best talents she knew, which spoke volumes of how powerful her cultivation method was. Yet Zhu Rong’s progress overshadowed even her own, making her wonder what kind of cultivation technique he was practicing.

The other person who wasn’t surprised at all was none other than the academy headmaster himself, who at this moment watched Zhu Rong leave the arena with a calm expression.

Even though he showed no visible emotion, a certain glimmer flickered in his eyes.

He was someone who had already surpassed the mortal realm and reached the Spirit Realm.

To his eyes, very little could be hidden.

Assessing the cultivation of someone not even close to the Spirit Realm was easy for him. So Zhu Rong’s performance this round came as no shock; he could see that Zhu Rong’s true cultivation far exceeded what he had shown.

He was certain this student had already stepped into the fourth stage.

"Who would have thought I’d see another monster of this caliber so soon?

It seems that, in the end, holding this tournament wasn’t such a bad choice after all."