"Centurion Zhou Lie! Well done!"
"There's no shame in defeat! You fought Han Xuanji for so long; you're stronger than even the Heaven-grade Seeds!"
Shouts echoed from the spectator stands into Centurion Zhou Lie's ears, but one particular sentence suddenly made him dazed.
"Stronger than even the Heaven-grade Seeds?"
What did that mean?
How was he stronger than a Heaven-grade Seed?
"Alright, step down."
Commander He Guanshan's voice drifted down from the high platform, delivered directly into his ears via a sound transmission technique. His tone was calm, yet it carried a trace of subtle gratification:
"You did well this time."
He naturally knew that Han Xuanji had held back immensely, but Centurion Zhou Lie's performance wasn't bad either. He was among the top few of the Earth-grade Seeds; if he encountered a weaker Heaven-grade Seed, he would have no problem trading a few blows.
Centurion Zhou Lie nodded in a daze, his steps somewhat unsteady and his mind in disarray.
As soon as he reached the stands, a group of his familiar brothers from the Huben Legion swarmed forward and surrounded him.
"Not bad, Centurion Zhou Lie! To be able to fight Han Xuanji for so long, you've made a lot of progress."
"As expected of the pride of our Huben Legion."
"You have no idea, those Heaven-grade Seeds are defeated in just a single punch from him!"
A barrage of voices rushed over him like a tide, drowning Centurion Zhou Lie.
He opened his mouth, wanting to ask something, but found he couldn't get a word in.
Finally, he grabbed someone and asked in a low voice,
"What did you just say? Heaven-grade Seeds are defeated in a single punch before him? Which Heaven-grade Seed?"
The man widened his eyes, but quickly realized:
"You didn't know? Right, you contestants can't see the details of other matches. In the previous round, Han Xuanji eliminated a Heaven-grade Seed in a single exchange. I think his name was Zhou Yunhe."
"What?"
Centurion Zhou Lie's mind buzzed and went blank.
Zhou Yunhe—of course he knew that name.
He was Cangyue City's Heaven-grade Seed, possessing extremely high attainment in the Dao of Time and Space, and ranking among the very best of the younger generation in Jiuxuan Prefecture.
Such a figure was defeated by Han Xuanji in a single punch?
Centurion Zhou Lie fell silent.
He suddenly understood why the people in the stands cheered for him, and why his brothers treated him like a hero.
It wasn't because he wasn't strong, but because his opponent was too strong.
So strong that even a Heaven-grade Seed couldn't withstand a single punch.
And since he managed to hold out for so long against such a person, he was naturally looked at in a new light.
However, this wasn't because he had grown stronger, but because the opponent had given him enough Face.
Centurion Zhou Lie smiled bitterly, a mix of emotions welling up in his heart.
He recalled how he had been secretly pleased with himself in front of Han Xuanji earlier, which now made him seem rather ungrateful.
"Centurion Zhou Lie? Are you alright?"
Someone patted his shoulder.
Centurion Zhou Lie snapped out of it, shook his head, and squeezed out a smile:
"I'm fine. Actually, Han Xuanji mostly held back a lot for me. I learned a great deal from fighting him."
Centurion Zhou Lie spoke the truth without trying to take unearned credit. He knew his own strength well. Against Han Xuanji, who could easily defeat even a Heaven-grade Seed, being able to hold out for so long was purely because the other party was showing him respect.
Hearing Centurion Zhou Lie's words, the man was also surprised and said sheepishly,
"Actually, we saw it too, we were just afraid you wouldn't be able to take it."
Other Cultivators from outside Qianhun City might not have understood, but how could his own brothers not see through it?
"You... I'm going to rest first,"
Centurion Zhou Lie said grumpily, then pushed through the crowd.
After taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped and looked back at the massive light screen above the high platform.
On the light screen, Han Xuanji's name was still there, glowing brightly.
Centurion Zhou Lie took a deep breath, turned around, and kept walking.
The last trace of unwillingness in his heart completely vanished at this moment.
His skills were inferior, so there was nothing more to say.
He didn't feel that Han Xuanji's actions were meant to humiliate him. In fact, thinking back now, the other party had also utilized the Laws of Creation and Destruction when fighting him.
As he slowly reflected on it, he understood many things and gained quite a few insights.
Although he claimed he was in a hurry to rest, he was actually digesting the insights from this battle.
He would remember this favor in his heart; if he met Han Xuanji in the future, he would certainly acknowledge it.
As for their past grievances, he had already apologized for them long ago.
On the high platform, Commander He Guanshan watched Centurion Zhou Lie's departing figure and nodded slightly.
Winning and losing were both normal occurrences.
What he feared most was someone who couldn't handle defeat.
...
On the high platform, Elder Meng and the representatives of the other major forces exchanged glances, none of them speaking up to comment.
These people naturally saw right through the fact that Han Xuanji had held back against Centurion Zhou Lie. Such occurrences were not rare at the Law Conference.
When two contestants knew each other, one giving the other some Face was harmless, as long as they didn't deliberately lose the match.
Moreover, Han Xuanji's final punch was clean and decisive, without any hesitation, demonstrating his absolute strength to control the situation.
For someone with such strength to be willing to give his opponent Face, it was actually a display of grace. Of course, as the host, it wasn't appropriate for him to say this outright, but he was well aware of it.
Since this matter did not violate the rules and made sense in terms of human relations, naturally no one would dwell on it.
Sitting not far away, Wang Chong withdrew his gaze from the light screen, let it fall upon Xiao Yan's name, and nodded slightly.
This child had also made it into the quarterfinals. Although he had drawn an Earth-grade Seed by luck, being able to reach this stage already proved his strength.
As for Han Xuanji...
Wang Chong took a glance, sighing with emotion in his heart.
This young man's growth rate was even faster than he had anticipated.
When Xiao Yan previously said he wanted to fight him at the Law Conference, Wang Chong had felt that Xiao Yan was overestimating the other party.
Looking at it now, Xiao Yan had actually underestimated him. If Xiao Yan had this kind of talent, those old fogies of Da Sheng probably wouldn't have any objections.
Meanwhile, Hun Qianxue sat in his seat, unable to suppress the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Centurion Zhou Lie had stopped at the round of sixteen. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that Han Xuanji was still in, and he had fought his way through with absolute dominance.
As the City Lord, he also gained a great deal of prestige from this. Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan sat beside him, his eyes closed and his Face completely expressionless.
He had been playing dead for most of the day; from the moment Zhou Yunhe was eliminated, he had lost all interest in this Law Conference.
Hearing that Han Xuanji had advanced once again, his eyelids twitched slightly before he quickly regained his composure. However, his mood was no longer so hard to accept.
He had come to understand.
It wasn't that Cangyue City was incompetent, but that Qianhun City had produced a monster.
This Hun Qianxue had simply struck dumb luck.
A day passed in the blink of an eye, and all the battles came to an end.
Only eight names remained lit on the light screen.
Han Xuanji looked up to see the eight names neatly arranged. His gaze swept over them one by one, silently memorizing the information of each person. Among them, the only one he truly knew was Xiao Yan.
The other party's luck wasn't bad; he had drawn another Earth-grade Seed for the quarterfinal match and easily advanced by virtue of his strength.
Counting them, only the two of them among the top eight had Earth-grade Seed ratings, while the remaining six were all Heaven-grade Seeds handpicked by the Great Dao Association.
This also indirectly proved the weight of the Great Dao Association's ratings.
Had he and Xiao Yan not hidden themselves so deeply and lacked any notable achievements, the top eight would have been completely dominated by Heaven-grade Seeds.
Han Xuanji thought no more about it. He closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, sinking his mind into the circulation of the nine Laws at Perfection within his body.
The opponents ahead would only get stronger. Even if he had absolute confidence, he would never underestimate his enemy.
Three days later, the rest period ended, and the quarterfinals officially commenced.
The moment Han Xuanji stepped into the combat space, a subtle sensation welled up in his heart.
After several rounds, his adaptation to the yingtian mirror world grew faster and faster; almost as soon as he found his footing, his perception spread in all directions like a tide.
This time, the battlefield was a vast, desolate stone forest.
Countless massive stone pillars rose abruptly from the ground, soaring into the clouds, their surfaces covered with cracks left by the passage of time.
Grayish-white mist drifted between the stone pillars, shrouding the entire world in a hazy veil.
The concentration of Spiritual Qi was slightly denser than in the previous wasteland and snowfield, but that was only relative.
Almost as soon as his figure materialized, he sensed a sharp aura, like a drawn sword in the distance, firmly locking onto him.