Chapter 1133, Conceding Defeat

Translator: Silavin

 

Under that tremendous surge of Spiritual Energy, the strand Qin Yichen had held in a state of deadlock was now dismantled with the ease of uprooting dead weeds, swept away in an instant.

 

That vast Spiritual Energy, its momentum entirely unbroken, continued forward amid a sea of stunned gazes and came crashing toward Qin Yichen.

 

“Die!” Yao Jie’s expression twisted with ferocity as he bellowed.

 

The defensive strand of his Spiritual Energy had been shattered. Yet Qin Yichen’s expression showed not the faintest trace of fear. He simply watched the colossal surge of Spiritual Energy come thundering toward him, threatening to reduce his Knowledge Sea to rubble, as though none of it warranted the slightest concern.

 

“Still unaware of your mistake even at death’s door!” Not seeing the terrified face he had imagined, Yao Jie felt a pang of dissatisfaction. If not for the need to make an example of him, he would have had that sharp-tongued wretch locked away somewhere, to savour every manner of suffering before he was done.

 

“Ignorant.” Qin Yichen offered a cold laugh inwardly. This Yao Jie, so formidable in the eyes of everyone around him, was unremarkable in Qin Yichen’s eyes.

 

Yao Jie fell short of him in every aspect. The outcome of this Alchemy Duel carried no suspense whatsoever.

 

*Whoosh!* Abruptly, the vicious grin on Yao Jie’s face froze solid, because he sensed it, the surge of Spiritual Energy that had been amplified by the Three-Legged Black Flame Cauldron, at the very moment it was about to land upon Qin Yichen, appeared to have been cleaved cleanly apart by an invisible sword.

 

“How is this possible?!”

 

The ferocity on Yao Jie’s face dissolved in an instant into pure, undiluted shock. His eyes filled with disbelief.

 

He had not held back in the slightest with that strike, and after amplification from the Three-Legged Black Flame Cauldron, Yao Jie was confident that even a Peak Heaven Grade Alchemist could not tear it apart so effortlessly.

 

And yet he could feel it plainly, beneath the Spiritual Energy radiating from Qin Yichen, his assault had been dispersed like a sheet of pale paper. It was torn apart without effort!

 

“That density… how can it possibly exceed mine… It is impossible! This cannot be!” Yao Jie howled inwardly in disbelief. He could not accept it, that someone from outside the Medicine Race could possess Spiritual Energy more densely condensed than his own.

 

Even some of the Senior figures within the Medicine Race had once said that, setting aside those long-established Alchemist Saints, there was simply no existence on the Myriad Race Continent whose Spiritual Energy surpassed his in density.

 

Yet right now, he could feel it with perfect clarity, the gap between his supposedly supreme Spiritual Energy and what this person before him possessed.

 

“Not good!” *Thud.* Yao Jie’s body gave a start. He noticed that Qin Yichen had raised his head slightly, and those indifferent eyes were now levelled directly at him.

 

Having driven the Three-Legged Black Flame Cauldron to its absolute limit, Yao Jie’s Spiritual Body was already depleted. And even at full strength, he was not confident he could walk away unscathed from Spiritual Energy of that calibre.

 

Most critically of all, Yao Jie sensed that the coldness in the other man’s eyes was not the sort that would extend courtesy on account of his identity. His instincts told him that this person would show him no mercy whatsoever.

 

At this critical juncture, Yao Jie suddenly recalled a remark Qin Yichen had made before the Alchemy Duel began.

 

‘If you are sincerely willing to apologise to me in a moment, I can grant you one pardon.’

 

Thinking back on the expression Qin Yichen had worn when he said it, Yao Jie had not believed a word of it at the time. He had taken it for mockery.

 

Apologise. In short, concede defeat.

 

For someone as proud as Yao Jie, this was nothing short of a colossal humiliation. And furthermore, it would have to be done in full view of this vast crowd.

 

Being made to apologise was practically worse than being outright killed.

 

Yet at this moment, it appeared to be the only option left to him.

 

He did not doubt for a single instant that Qin Yichen would raise his hand against him with no regard whatsoever for the Medicine Race’s standing.

 

And that kind of attack was not something he could withstand.

 

Were his Spiritual Body destroyed in an Alchemy Duel against a Foreign Race, it would become an indelible stain upon the history of the Medicine Race. Even the Medicine Race itself would not publicly seek vengeance on his behalf for such a humiliation. Worse still, losing his Spiritual Body would reduce him to a complete and utter cripple. When that happened, the first ones to discard him would likely be the Medicine Race themselves.

 

*Whoosh!* While Yao Jie still hesitated, a subtle ripple, riding the wake of that tremendous surge of Spiritual Energy, had already come shooting toward him.

 

“I concede!” A voice full of grief and fury finally escaped the lips of the proud Yao Jie.

 

*Hum…* The moment his words rang out, that strand of Spiritual Energy, already arrived at his very person, gave a faint tremor, then scattered and dispersed into the air.

 

“Concede? Yao Jie conceded!? He lost?”

 

“Am I hearing things?”

 

“How can he concede? Was he not already in a position to crush that young man?”

 

All of this had transpired in a matter of a few breaths. The vast majority of onlookers were still reeling from the shock of Yao Jie’s previous tremendous Spiritual Energy display.

 

They had all been watching with the anticipation of spectators waiting for a good show, and then the situation had turned on its head in an instant, Yao Jie had opened his mouth and conceded.

 

Very few among the crowd had the faintest idea why.

 

“So he was playing the ‘pig eat tiger’ all along!”

 

“Could he be some old Master who deliberately took on this appearance to come and damage the Medicine Race’s reputation?”

 

“That seems unlikely. What old Master would have the face for something like that? And if anything of that sort were happening, would the Medicine Race’s people really fail to notice?”

 

At that moment, in the large inn in the inner area, the powerful figures who had been keeping a close eye on the Medicine Market’s proceedings wore expressions of pure bewilderment upon seeing the final result.

 

Yao Jie was, without question, the greatest prodigy among the Medicine Race’s younger generation, his strength plain for all to see.

 

And given Yao Jie’s character, he would absolutely never concede defeat without cause. Something had clearly occurred that they had failed to perceive.

 

At the very top of the inn, Jin Mi’s expression had turned completely grim the moment Yao Jie opened his mouth in defeat.

 

“*Ha ha!* What a remarkable guy. Jin Mi, my friend, I shall take my leave first!”

 

Beside him, Qing Luan’s eyes carried a flash of shock as well, before he burst out laughing and rose to his feet, heading for the exit.

 

A Heaven Grade Alchemist this young, and one who had defeated Yao Jie… News of this would sweep through the entire Myriad Beasts City in the shortest possible time, and perhaps the entirety of the continent as well.

 

Qing Luan was a member of the Heaven Devouring Green Marten Race. The Heaven Devouring Green Marten Race possessed reserves of strength and heritage that made countless Races’ hearts tremble, yet their rate of reproduction was shockingly poor, even falling short of the Medicine Race in that regard.

 

No matter how vast their heritage, the long passage of years had left the Heaven Devouring Green Marten Race in something of a generational shortage of talent.

 

In the realm of Alchemy, they had been suppressed by other Races and had entirely failed to draw any great figures of the Medicine Race to their side. Thus, Qing Luan had no intention of letting this opportunity before him pass.