This battle, which had drawn extraordinary attention from the younger generation, was fiercely contested but never reached a decisive outcome. Even so, the combat prowess Jiang Chen displayed was enough to turn every head in the entire Sacred Land.
Without a doubt, every spectator who had come to watch was captivated by the brilliance of this fight.
For some time now, everyone had been talking about Shao Yuan, the young prodigy who had broken through the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto. But at the end of the day, nobody really knew just how formidable Shao Yuan actually was.
The Nine Turns Cloud Grotto was an entrance trial.
Young people taking the entrance examination generally had modest cultivation and realm, so while everyone was surprised he had cleared the grotto, they were not entirely convinced.
Most people believed he had only gotten through the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto because he had entered late and was older than the typical prodigy, giving him an advantage in cultivation.
At the Eternal Sacred Land, the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto trial was generally conducted for candidates between the ages of fifteen and thirty, though the thirty-to-sixty bracket did see some participants, albeit significantly fewer.
So people naturally assumed that this Shao Yuan must be older than most and was simply leveraging his age.
What nobody knew, however, was that Jiang Chen's actual age was not that high at all. If measured by true cultivation time, Jiang Chen had probably spent only half as many years cultivating as most prodigies.
Of course, these details went entirely over most people's heads. They had no idea.
Nor did they want to know, because the fact that Jiang Chen had passed the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto left a sour taste in most mouths, and they had no interest in looking into the details. They simply assumed he had relied on his age.
Many believed that if Shao Yuan were compared to his actual peers in terms of cultivation, he would be exposed as lacking.
Yet, watching the battle on the arena, that conviction in their hearts was no longer so firm.
Had Shao Yuan really relied on an age advantage to clear the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto?
Looking at this, it probably was not so simple.
"By the way, how old is this Shao Yuan, anyway? He doesn't seem much older than Senior Brother Gan Ning? He might even look younger?"
"Senior Brother Gan Ning shouldn't be forty yet, right?"
"Heh, none of the Five Young Masters is over forty, are they?"
In the martial world, forty was roughly equivalent to the transition from childhood to adolescence for ordinary people.
"Younger than Senior Brother Gan Ning? Then… could he possibly…" Someone was starting to feel a flicker of doubt.
"Right, wasn't there a rumor that this guy was nearly sixty? That he passed the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto purely because of his age advantage?"
"There was such talk, but he really doesn't look sixty."
"Just looking at him, I'd say he's around thirty. Oh, how old is that Yan Qingsang from the Yan family? It seems like this Shao Yuan is even younger than Yan Qingsang."
"Yan Qingsang should only be in his thirties, right?"
Below the arena, everyone was discussing Jiang Chen's age. This time, they were genuinely perplexed.
The earlier rumor had it that Shao Yuan's breakthrough of the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto was entirely the product of accumulated years. Compared to his peers, he had no real advantage.
But seeing was believing — this Shao Yuan clearly did not look anywhere close to sixty.
Although sixty in the martial world was still considered adolescence, there was a world of difference between passing the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto at sixty and passing it at thirty.
At thirty, being below the Heavenly Position was perfectly normal.
At sixty, if you were still below the Heavenly Position, then at the very least you could not be considered a first-rate prodigy within the Eternal Sacred Land.
Of course, there were rare late bloomers who surged ahead, but such cases were few and far between.
At this moment, confusion filled everyone's hearts.
"Heh, if this Shao Yuan really is only around thirty, then breaking through the Nine Turns Cloud Grotto is genuinely incredible!"
"Exactly! I heard even the Holy Sovereign was shaken by it. In my opinion, he might really only be thirty or so."
"Judging by his fighting style, he's clearly no ordinary talent. Where on earth did this Shao Yuan come from? I heard he was a rogue cultivator before joining the Yan family?"
"A rogue cultivator can be this talented? When did rogue cultivators across the world become this extraordinary?"
"Fighting at the peak of the Emperor realm against a third-stage Heavenly Position — that sounds almost absurd, doesn't it? This battle is going to make Shao Yuan famous overnight!"
"Hmm, this guy is no pushover. But you can clearly tell his foundation still falls short of Senior Brother Gan Ning's. The only reason he's holding his own is his speed advantage. If Senior Brother Gan Ning could improve his speed even a little, I'm certain he could completely suppress this Shao Yuan."
"Senior Brother Gan Ning possesses the Arm of the Water God and is the foremost water-attribute prodigy. But water-attribute cultivators have never had an edge in speed, have they?"
"That's right. Senior Brother Gan Ning must be incredibly frustrated. Not being able to finish off a peak Emperor-realm opponent — that's a blemish on his reputation as one of the Five Young Masters."
"All true, but anyone can see that Senior Brother Gan Ning still has the upper hand. This Shao Yuan is just exploiting his speed to scrape by."