Sovereign of Stars-Chapter 4 – Thirty-eight breaths

"Uncle Hang."
Su Xin walked to the center of the martial arts arena and slightly bowed to a middle-aged man in gray standing there.
This middle-aged man in gray was named Su Bohang, with a cultivation level at the peak of the Sea Transformation stage. He was responsible for overseeing the Sword Order contest assessment and was also Su Xin's uncle by family rank.
"Su Xin, are you here to participate in the assessment?" Su Bohang looked at Su Xin with a rather complex expression.
"Yes." Su Xin nodded.
"You should know the rules. The minimum requirement to participate in the assessment is to have reached the eighth level of the True Martial Realm," Su Bohang said.
"Eighth level of the True Martial Realm, I have it," Su Xin replied calmly, and then his body shook slightly as a powerful spiritual energy surged forth.
This aura of spiritual energy clearly indicated that he had reached the eighth level of the True Martial Realm.
"He, he actually reached it? How is that possible?"
Zhao Qing, who had been watching from the side, widened his eyes in disbelief. "Impossible, three days ago when he fought me, he had just barely entered the seventh level of the True Martial Realm. How did he reach the eighth level in just three days?"
He found it unbelievable.
After all, for an ordinary person to advance from the seventh to the eighth level of the True Martial Realm, it would take at least several months, if not half a year of hard cultivation. Yet Su Xin managed it in just three days?
What a joke!
"Zhao Qing, didn't you say three days ago he had just entered the seventh level of the True Martial Realm?" Hong Fang, standing nearby, frowned.
"How would I know?" Zhao Qing's face turned livid, but soon he sneered, "Hmph, even if he broke through to the eighth level, so what? It's obvious he just barely made it. Passing the assessment won't be that easy."
The Sword Order contest assessment required a minimum of the eighth level of the True Martial Realm, but passing it was another matter.
For example, Zhao Qing himself was at the eighth level of the True Martial Realm and had just failed to pass.
If he couldn't pass, could Su Xin, who had just broken through, succeed?
In the center of the martial arts arena, Su Xin held a sword in one hand, facing his opponent for this assessment—a humanoid battle puppet over two meters tall, wielding a long staff. Although it was a puppet, its strength was not to be underestimated. Zhao Qing had just been knocked away by this puppet with a single strike.
"Su Xin, your task is to use all your skills to withstand the attacks of this battle puppet for as long as possible. As long as you last for twenty-five breaths, you pass the assessment," Su Bohang instructed.
"Understood." Su Xin nodded.
"Begin."
With a wave of Su Bohang's hand, the humanoid battle puppet immediately raised its hand, swinging the nearly two-meter-long black staff directly at Su Xin.
Simple and brutal!
Su Xin casually swung his sword to meet the staff head-on, resulting in a stalemate, with Su Xin even slightly gaining the upper hand.
Su Xin was not surprised. The battle puppet was designed to be weak at first, weaker than those who had just entered the eighth level of the True Martial Realm, but its strength would continuously increase.
Although the puppet didn't know any sophisticated staff techniques or martial skills, it simply swung the staff, yet the power of the staff would become increasingly astonishing, and its speed would also increase.
Facing such a puppet that relied solely on speed and strength for 'clumsy' attacks, Su Xin found it uninteresting. After the initial clash, he simply relied on his agility to avoid the fight.
To the spectators around, Su Xin appeared incredibly agile.
The puppet's power and speed kept increasing, but it never managed to touch even the hem of Su Xin's clothes.
"This kid..." Zhao Qing's face was extremely grim.
He had expected Su Xin to be defeated quickly by the puppet, just like him, but now Su Xin had already lasted over twenty breaths and still seemed at ease.
"It's his agility."
Hong Fang's eyes narrowed slightly. "Su Xin is using the Thousand Leaf Phantom Body, one of the six top-tier agility techniques of the Su Family, and it seems he has mastered it to perfection. With such agility, he can last over thirty breaths against the puppet. This assessment is not difficult for him."
The assessment rules only stated that lasting twenty-five breaths without defeat against the puppet would suffice, without specifying the method. Although Su Xin relied on his agility to avoid the fight, as long as he wasn't defeated and lasted twenty-five breaths, he would pass the assessment.
"Hong Fang, do me a favor," Zhao Qing whispered. "After this kid finishes the assessment, teach him a lesson for me."
"Hmm?" Hong Fang glanced at Zhao Qing, seeing the latter's face full of resentment.
Originally, Zhao Qing had planned to personally humiliate Su Xin to avenge his previous defeat, but he hadn't expected Su Xin's cultivation to advance to the eighth level of the True Martial Realm in just three days. Seeing Su Xin's impressive agility, he knew he still wasn't Su Xin's match.
Personal revenge was impossible, so he had to ask Hong Fang to step in.
Hong Fang, after all, was at the peak of the eighth level of the True Martial Realm and had mastered several powerful martial skills. His strength was formidable, capable of even challenging some weaker ninth-level True Martial Realm practitioners. Among all the eighth-level participants in the Sword Order contest assessment, Hong Fang had lasted the longest against the puppet, a full forty-one breaths.
With him stepping in, teaching Su Xin a lesson should be easy.
"Alright." Hong Fang agreed without much consideration.
After all, the two had a good relationship, belonged to the same faction, and had the backing of Zhao Qing's father and elder brother, Zhao Ling. Teaching a mere Su Xin a lesson was a trivial matter, and he had no reason to refuse.
"Alright, I'll leave it to you. No need to be too harsh, just knock out a few of his teeth and break an arm," Zhao Qing said coldly.
"No problem," Hong Fang chuckled.
Previously, he wouldn't have dared to touch Su Xin, the young master, but now... Su Xin had the title of young master, but even the Su Family members despised him. As long as he didn't take Su Xin's life, merely knocking out a few teeth and breaking an arm wouldn't be a big deal.
At this moment, Su Xin finally 'lost' in his confrontation with the puppet.
However, his defeat was his own choice to withdraw from the puppet's combat area, and he had lasted thirty-eight breaths against the puppet.
"Thirty-eight breaths, quite close to my forty-one breaths, but he purely relied on agility to avoid the fight. If it were a direct confrontation, he probably wouldn't last thirty breaths. And I'm not a simple brute-force puppet; his agility won't be much use against me."
Hong Fang remained absolutely confident. After Su Xin passed the assessment, he stepped forward, "Su Xin, your agility is impressive. Do you have the courage to fight me?"
"Fight you?" Su Xin frowned.
He didn't even know this person.
"What, Su Xin, are you afraid?" Zhao Qing sneered from behind. "If you're scared, you can hide like you did three years ago, haha~~"
The surrounding members of the Faction of Retainers also laughed mockingly.
Three years ago, Su Xin's 'retreat without a fight' was indeed a joke to many.
Su Xin's face turned cold.
Seeing Zhao Qing, he understood that Hong Fang was likely brought by Zhao Qing to settle the score from three days ago.
"Su Xin, do you dare? Give me a straightforward answer." Hong Fang seemed impatient, releasing his spiritual energy aura as he spoke.
"Peak of the eighth level of the True Martial Realm?" Su Xin shook his head slightly.
He didn't think Hong Fang was strong; on the contrary, he found him too weak.
Both were at the eighth level of the True Martial Realm, and although Hong Fang's cultivation was slightly higher, Su Xin had awakened the Supreme Bloodline, an exceptional existence with fully unleashed talent. His combat power was beyond ordinary comparison.
Hong Fang's strength wasn't even qualified to be his opponent.
However, if he used him to test the bloodline power he could currently control, it might barely suffice.
"
Fine!
"
"If you want a fight, then let's fight!"
Su Xin accepted the challenge!!
Proofreader & Editor: Lyra