After a simple bow, the two immediately began their fight. Jue Chen learned his lesson from the previous fight, so he unleashed a series of ferocious attacks. He relied on his powerful recovery speed to exhaust Fang Hanluo to death.
Jue Chen was really strong. In the blink of an eye, the entire stage was enveloped in azure light. Behind him stood a towering azure tree that was a few hundred feet tall. The tree trunk began to shake, changing the weather and turning the surroundings dark.
Even though Jue Chen was creating the changes, Lin Yun focused on Fang Hanluo. After reaching the quasi-Heavenly Soul Realm, Fang Hanluo had a much easier time dealing with Jue Chen. No one was surprised that he easily brushed off Jue Chen’s attacks while smiling. He would even counterattack here and there to mess up Jue Chen’s rhythm.
“Weird.” Lin Yun felt something strange about Fang Hanluo, but he couldn’t figure out where the sensation was coming from. He wanted to observe Fang Hanluo with his spiritual sword intent, but it was only useful when it came to swordsmen. Lin Yun also thought about his Aurora Dragon’s Eyes, but he knew that someone might notice him if he wasn’t careful. In the end, Lin Yun gave up and decided to watch as closely as he could.
Collecting his thoughts, Lin Yun’s eyes flickered with determination. He believed that he could find a few clues if he looked hard enough.
Three moves…four moves…five moves… The crowd counted the exchange because of a rumor that involved Fang Hanluo. If he wasn’t defeated within ten moves, even the three kings would have some trouble dealing with him. There was no doubt that Jue Chen would lose if he couldn’t defeat Fang Hanluo within ten moves.
The crowd didn’t say anything and silently counted.
“That’s…” Lin Yun’s eyes suddenly lit up because he managed to discover something unusual about Fang Hanluo’s movement techniques. Every time he changed direction, a faint energy fluctuation was emitted into the air that was hidden because of the battle. The fluctuation was impossible to discover if one wasn’t paying attention because it was easily concealed.
Starlight suddenly bloomed in Lin Yun’s pupils as he used his spiritual sword intent. Instantly, everything became clear as he analyzed Fang Hanluo’s movements.
“I see.” Lin Yun quickly dissipated his spiritual sword intent. The weird thing about Fang Hanluo’s movement technique was that he could dissipate most of his opponent’s energy whenever he moved. This was why he could last so long when he was placed in a life and death situation. This also meant that Fang Hanluo’s physique was a lot more terrifying than he had imagined.
Otherwise, it made no sense how Fang Hanluo could survive from his heavy injuries every single fight. Jue Chen must’ve noticed something as well, but he couldn’t find an opening in Fang Hanluo’s movement technique. His defeat was imminent because he couldn’t even force out Fang Hanluo’s trump card.
Everything unfolded as Lin Yun predicted since Jue Chen was in a disadvantageous position after ten moves.
“Heavenly Frost Fist–Freezing Neptune!” After ten moves, Fang Hanluo threw a punch with cold rays that formed a star. The star exploded and instantly froze the tree behind Jue Chen, sending him flying.
“Indeed, he lost because he couldn’t stop Fang Hanluo within ten moves.”
“Jue Chen seems to have injured his foundation. He will probably have to quit the banquet.”
“This is too brutal. Li Mubai was nearly cut into two by Zhu Qingshan, and now, Jue Chen injured his foundation. Two of the seven elites have already been eliminated.” An uproar exploded among the crowd from the unbelievable scene. The battle for the top ten was the most brutal event so far. If one was heavily injured, their journey would be over.
“I won.” Fang Hanluo smiled and cupped his hands together. Jue Chen was injured and half of his profound amber aura was devoured. With the outcome determined, Jue Chen leapt off the stage without uttering a word. All of a sudden, Jue Chen fell into the lake, which caused his sect elders to respond. They had to help him out or else he would become the first genius in history to drown in the Nine Dragon Lake.
“Sorry about that.” Fang Hanluo chuckled and left. Although Fang Hanluo treated Jue Chen brutally, no one could say a word. After all, everything depended on strength. Once Fang Hanluo left, the tense atmosphere dissipated.
“How brutal.” Feng Ye sighed as he watched Jue Chen get fished out of the lake. Afterwards, he sneaked a glance at Lin Yun. At this moment, Lin Yun also sighed at this scene, but his heart was like jos sword. He wouldn’t give up even if the path was brutal.
As the battles continued, everyone sighed in pity that the glory of seven elites was about to end. Nangong Wanyu and Jiang Ziye obtained victories, proving the crowd wrong. Jiang Ziye even used her Cloudtrigram Art at a high level to manifest a towering mountain spanning ten thousand miles.
The day proceeded with battle after battle. Although there were still many fights remaining, the crowd had a vague idea of who was in the top ten.
The ones with the highest chance were Jiang Ziye, Wu Xiaotian, Nangong Wanyu, Yang Lie, Gao Yu, Fang Hanluo, Bai Lixuan, Zhu Qingshan, and Yue Weiwei. If there were no surprises, six of them would make the top ten. From this group, four were part of the seven elites while Wu Xiaotian also participated in the previous banquet. The remaining four were underdogs who were participating for the first time. The only other person who could sneak onto this list was Qing Ruoyou.
Although she was defeated by Yue Weiwei, she didn’t give up. However, she wore a veil to cover her face ever since her dance. The only things that she dared to reveal were her eyes and forehead.
“Wu Xiaotian VS Jiang Ziye!” The judge announced the next battle, which caused a huge uproar. After all, everyone had heard of the grudge between Wu Xiaotian and Jiang Ziye. They all knew that Wu Xiaotian went insane after he lost to Jiang Ziye.
“Senior brother, be careful.” Ji Wuye said when he looked at the excited Wu Xiaotian.
“I’m no longer the same person I was four years ago. She’s the one who needs to be careful,” smiled Wu Xiaotian before he soared into the sky and landed on the stage. When he landed on the stage, the force of his descent caused a huge wave to form on the Nine Dragon Lake.
“I’ve been looking forward to this battle. I’ll repay you for the humiliation you gave me four years ago,” said Wu Xiaotian with excitement in his eyes.
“I’ve already forgotten about that battle. Plus, you’re not worthy of humiliating,” replied Jiang Ziye calmly.
“You think I care?” Wu Xiaotian’s eyes flashed with ferocity. He had been anticipating this battle for a long time and he wanted to cleanse himself of humiliation by defeating Jiang Ziye.
With a roar, a crimson aura exploded out from Wu Xiaotian as he appeared in front of Jiang Ziye in the blink of an eye. When he pushed his palm out, boundless crimson clouds appeared. This was one of Wu Xiaotian’s strongest attacks, Bloodcloud Slash!
“Shatter!” Jiang Ziye gently pointed her finger forward without any change on her face. With a huge explosion, Jiang Ziye and Wu Xiaotian separated.
“Bloodshadow Tracks!” Before Wu Xiaotian landed on the ground, a crimson aura surged like a river before manifesting into a python. The movement technique he used was brilliant as his crimson aura could disrupt his opponent’s senses. In the blink of an eye, he had exchanged over seven fists with Jiang Ziye.
“Scatter!” Seeing that Wu Xiaotian wasn’t going to let her go, Jiang Ziye stabilized the chaotic origin energy in her body. When she forced the demonic aura out of her body, her aura began to spread out like clouds. Although she was standing still, she seemed like she wasn’t.
“Gather!” While Wu Xiaotian was briefly stunned, Jiang Ziye pushed her palm out as a towering mountain appeared behind her. Every single wave of her palm created mountains that formed a mountain range.
“The Cloudtrigram Art!”
“The Cloudtrigram Art is truly deep and unfathomable.”
“Wu Xiaotian can’t unleash his demonic art now.”
Wu Xiaotian’s face changed because Jiang Ziye had become a lot stronger over four years. She even completed the thirteenth stage of the Cloudtrigram Art.
“Watch how I break your Cloudtrigram Art!” Wu Xiaotian’s eyes flashed. He didn’t waste the past four years either and he had a solution to Jiang Ziye’s Cloudtrigram Art.
Does he still have a trump card? Looking at the crimson aura on Wu Xiaotian, everyone’s eyes were filled with anticipation.