Chapter 3873 — This Very Move
Though this young lord's stature was somewhat less than that of Xu Lingchong, the legitimate grandson of the Skyward Pavilion's Third Elder, it was already considerable enough; he would certainly not fear Xu Lingchong.
And so the resentment Shi Yuda had suppressed for over two months finally erupted in an instant!
To be honest, Kang Jingming was nothing but a newcomer risen from the mortal realm, and his strength had nothing whatsoever to do with the word "formidable." Were it not for Xu Lingchong's patronage, in the eyes of the Skyward Pavilion's newcomers this fellow would have been no better than dung - and not trampling him underfoot was already proof of their great magnanimity!
Yet because of Young Master Xu, they had been forced to pinch their noses and lift Kang Jingming up, watching helplessly as this dreg of the mortal realm rode roughshod over them all. What kind of rotten feeling was that, damn it?
Suffocation! Suffocated for a full two months, and now Shi Yuda had finally found the confidence to openly defy Xu Lingchong, to confront Kang Jingming head-on at the newcomer challenge tournament without the slightest scruple!
This was not merely to vent his own anger; more crucially, it was a gesture of goodwill toward that nephew of the Second Elder. One had to know that within the Skyward Pavilion's circle of second-generation scions, Xu Lingchong, being fiercely ambitious, had always stretched his hand far and wide, and quite a few of the young lords resented him deeply - among them this nephew of the Second Elder.
For Shi Yuda now to single out Kang Jingming, Xu Lingchong's lackey, was a sworn offering of allegiance, plain and simple. Once it succeeded, greater recognition would surely follow in the days to come!
As for his strength - true, he was still only at the peak of the Heaven rank, and to actively challenge a fine hand like Kang Jingming at the early Foundation Establishment stage looked like courting death. Yet success was not necessarily impossible, for Kang Jingming was an alchemist!
An alchemist who had only barely reached the early Foundation Establishment stage by constantly popping pills. How feeble his strength must be went without saying. Even a peak Heaven-rank expert like Shi Yuda might well have a chance of winning in a single bout!
Think about it - at a newcomer challenge tournament watched by all eyes, if he could overcome the strong with the weak, trampling underfoot a fine early Foundation Establishment hand like Kang Jingming in an unprecedented leap across ranks, what a sensation that would cause!
Not only would he vent his bile, but he would bring honor to that new patron behind him. More crucially, he might well leave an impression in the minds of the Skyward Pavilion's upper echelons. What a bountiful harvest that would be!
If Shi Yuda still dared not step forward to challenge Kang Jingming after all this, then he truly would not deserve to be a Skyward Pavilion newcomer!
Besides, he was not without a hidden card. Earlier, he had taken an Ultimate Golden Core, which would let him possess early Foundation Establishment strength for a short while - and dealing with Kang Jingming would be all the more certain!
When Kang Jingming saw Shi Yuda step forward with a cold sneer, calling him out by name for a challenge, he froze on the spot - just as Shi Yuda had expected. Fine early Foundation Establishment hand though he was, if it truly came to a life-and-death struggle, he might not actually be able to beat a peak Heaven-rank opponent!
If he lost to Shi Yuda, a mere peak Heaven-rank, then Kang Jingming would be nailed to the Skyward Pavilion's pillar of shame. No one would care whether he was an alchemist or not; they would focus on one thing only - you, a fine early Foundation Establishment hand, actually lost to a peak Heaven-rank!
That way, not only would Kang Jingming lose every shred of face, but Xu Lingchong, the patron behind him, would be shamed along with him. Whether Young Master Xu would still look after him as he did now - that was very much up in the air!
So this time, facing Shi Yuda's public provocation, Kang Jingming dared not slip up for any reason. Otherwise, having lost Young Master Xu's patronage, who knew how miserably he might end up!
What left Kang Jingming helpless was that even as a fine early Foundation Establishment hand, facing an aggressive peak Heaven-rank opponent, he truly had no certainty of victory. If the other side seized the initiative on the arena stage, then for all his early Foundation Establishment true qi, he might still end up choked to death on the spot.
His one sure-kill move, the only one he had confidence in, was the dan-fire bomb.
The power of the dan-fire bomb went without saying. If he could truly charge it up, then never mind a mere peak Heaven-rank opponent - even a fine early Foundation Establishment hand of the same tier could very likely be annihilated in a single strike. The greatest flaw, however, was that this move required charging time, and the greater the power, the longer the charge had to be prepared in advance!
Normally, Shi Yuda would never give Kang Jingming such an opportunity. But for a cunning sort like Kang Jingming, finding an excuse to stall for time was simplicity itself!
I am the newcomer steward. If I step straight onto the stage to accept the challenge and get injured, it could well affect my duty of publicly recording the newcomers' points, and that would be irresponsible. So I need a little time to find someone to take over my work, just in case.
Such was the reason Kang Jingming gave - high-sounding and beyond reproach.
Shi Yuda could never have imagined that Kang Jingming would slyly use the delay to charge up his ultimate move. And once both stepped onto the arena stage, Kang Jingming, without another word, flung out a dan-fire bomb, and Shi Yuda was blasted on the spot into utter incapacity. The fight was over in a single exchange, and the Ultimate Golden Core had been swallowed for nothing!
Watching Kang Jingming strut off the stage with a smug look, everyone present was struck dumb. Before this, they had taken Kang Jingming for a soft persimmon who had risen only on Young Master Xu's coattails - never had they expected him to be such a ruthless character!
Against a mere peak Heaven-rank opponent, he had actually unleashed such a devastating killing move, blowing nearly the entire formation-reinforced arena stage to smithereens. Just how deep must the grudge be, damn it!
For a time, everyone's gaze toward Kang Jingming unconsciously took on unprecedented awe, and Kang Jingming secretly gloated immensely over it!
All along, though he had thrown his weight around before the Skyward Pavilion's newcomers, it had all been on the strength of Xu Lingchong's backing; people simply dared not speak their anger. But today, with one move he had taken out that blind Shi Yuda - and with a move as intimidating as the dan-fire bomb, no less.
This time, Kang Jingming truly felt what it was like to be the top dog among the Skyward Pavilion newcomers. Absolutely exhilarating!
Yet Kang Jingming never dreamed that while this dan-fire bomb of his had indeed stunned the Skyward Pavilion newcomers thoroughly, it had at the same time fallen into the eyes of Nan Tianguan and Yu Jiang!
"That's right - that's the very move Lin Er used to kill our master back then, the dan-fire bomb!" Yu Jiang was overjoyed at the sight and hurriedly pointed it out to Nan Tianguan.
Strictly speaking, in fact, the dan-fire bomb Kang Jingming used and the true-qi bomb Wei Zhao employed, though quite similar, were fundamentally two different things. Not only were the methods of activation completely different, but even the energies were essentially distinct - one was dan fire, the other true qi. (To be continued...)