“Whoosh!”
Hou Zixiao hurriedly summoned a spiritual power defence, enveloping it in front of him. The incoming book-shaped spiritual form smashed directly onto his spiritual power defence.
A tremendous “boom” resounded, and Hou Zixiao’s spiritual power defence shattered.
The spiritual form and the vast waves struck Hou Zixiao’s body. He spat out a large mouthful of blood, his entire figure hurled far away, crashing diagonally into the ground outside a distant platform, embedding into the earth and kicking up a spray of soil.
“Er…” In that instant, the crowd was utterly stunned.
In the previous exchange, Murong Dian had appeared slightly disadvantaged, easily repelled by Hou Zixiao.
Yet in the next, he directly blasted Hou Zixiao away. Had Murong Dian deliberately misled his opponent earlier?
His strength was actually this formidable?
“Very strong!”
The spiritual controllers on the number one platform all thought to themselves.
Ordinary seventh-rank high-level spiritual controllers had spiritual forms at around five tenths materialisation. Reaching six or seven tenths was enough to demonstrate the immense power of Murong Dian’s spiritual force.
Among seventh-rank high-level spiritual controllers, Murong Dian was unquestionably in the top tier.
“Good thing he did not choose me in the previous round, or it would have been big trouble.” Lin Xiao could not help but sigh inwardly.
Murong Dian’s strength was probably enough to rank him higher overall.
“Whoosh!”
At that moment, another book-shaped spiritual form condensed in front of Murong Dian and continued smashing towards the spot where Hou Zixiao had crashed.
“I forfeit!” Hou Zixiao’s voice suddenly rang out.
With a shift of spiritual power, Murong Dian directed the book primary spirit to strike a platform barrier elsewhere, erupting into rolling waves that surged in all directions.
The crowd was shocked. Hou Zixiao had directly conceded. It seemed he was likely severely injured or believed himself no match for Murong Dian.
From the situation, he truly was outmatched. Another hit from Murong Dian’s primary spirit would probably leave him unable to continue fighting.
Murong Dian turned and flew back to the number one platform.
Not long after, Hou Zixiao climbed up from the ground, swallowed a pill, and flew back to the number one platform looking rather dishevelled. He casually retrieved his halberd.
Lin Xiao looked Hou Zixiao up and down. His clothes were torn, bloodstains covered his body, and his injuries appeared serious.
“Murong Dian wins. Next match, group one, number two steps forward.”
The referee’s voice rang out again. Under everyone’s gaze, Dantai Wenjun flew out from the number one platform, hovering in the void, her eyes turning towards the platform.
“Dantai Wenjun! Dantai Wenjun is taking the stage!”
“Who will she choose?”
“Probably Yan Huashu. He lost to Zhu Dingshan, and she might even win without a fight. Yan Huashu would likely forfeit immediately.”
“She might choose Mu Haoran. Both are the weakest in the group. No matter whom she picks, that person would surely concede right away.”
…
The crowd’s gazes grew fervent once more. As a championship favourite, Dantai Wenjun drew immense attention every time she appeared.
“She will definitely choose me!” Yan Huashu sighed helplessly, already prepared to forfeit immediately.
Yet at that moment, Dantai Wenjun spoke indifferently, “I choose Zhu Dingshan!”
These words left everyone astonished.
Dantai Wenjun had skipped Yan Huashu and Mu Haoran, instead directly choosing Zhu Dingshan, who had displayed extremely strong combat power in the previous fight?
What was going on?
“She probably wants to use Zhu Dingshan to intimidate the others,” someone guessed.
“That must be it. But this is the final stage of the grand competition. Zhu Dingshan is very strong. Clashing with him now is clearly not the best choice. If she chose Yan Huashu or Mu Haoran, then waited for Zhu Dingshan and Su Dongfeng to fight, she could challenge the loser and easily advance to the next round.”
“Dantai Wenjun must have complete confidence to choose Zhu Dingshan.”
“Not necessarily. Zhu Dingshan is also a seventh-rank high-level spiritual controller and might have powerful trump cards. This match will be worth watching.”
…
The crowd buzzed with astonished discussion, opinions divided. Apart from Wang Qi and a few others, no one knew the true reason, not even members of the Dantai family understood.
On the number one platform, Yan Huashu was utterly dumbfounded.
Even Duanmu Gaoming appeared somewhat surprised.
Choosing Zhu Dingshan first was clearly not a wise move. Even if she won, she would likely expose her trump cards.
With the finals yet to begin, excessive consumption and exposure would obviously disadvantage her in later battles.
“Why did she not choose me?” Yan Huashu whispered to Lin Xiao in confusion.
“I do not know. Perhaps she has a problem with her head.” Lin Xiao spread his hands, looking equally baffled.
But in truth, he had instructed Dantai Wenjun to choose him.
In this group, he and Dantai Wenjun would not face each other. The threats were Zhu Dingshan and Su Dongfeng.
Su Dongfeng’s full strength was unknown, but Zhu Dingshan’s combat power was simply too great.
As number two, Dantai Wenjun could perfectly step forward to curb Zhu Dingshan’s momentum. Best case, she could directly diminish his fighting strength.
As a fallback, if he himself could not withstand attacks from Zhu Dingshan and Su Dongfeng, Su Dongfeng, bound by the Ji family’s desire to keep him alive, would not kill him. Zhu Dingshan, however, would.
Thus, having Dantai Wenjun choose Zhu Dingshan first was the optimal move.
Of course, if this round passed and Su Dongfeng chose Yan Huashu instead of him, then in the next round, it would be Dantai Wenjun’s turn to select Su Dongfeng.
Zhu Dingshan’s brow furrowed deeply. He could not understand why, after he had just demonstrated powerful strength, his opponent would still choose him now.
Yet even with some wariness towards Dantai Wenjun, he would not shrink from battle or forfeit without fighting.
He did not believe he lacked the strength to face her.
“Swoosh!”
Under everyone’s gaze, Zhu Dingshan flew forward.
“Please!” Dantai Wenjun said to Zhu Dingshan.
“Please guide me!” Zhu Dingshan returned the courtesy.
“Whoosh!”
A long sword spiritual form condensed in front of Dantai Wenjun, materialised to seven or eight tenths. The crowd could not help but gasp in surprise.
Was that Dantai Wenjun’s primary spirit? It had actually reached such a high degree of materialisation?
Zhu Dingshan’s brow furrowed deeply. Others might not sense it, but he could feel the immense mental pressure radiating from that long sword spiritual form, a power that filled him with dread.
Dantai Wenjun was truly fearsome!
Moreover, it was unclear whether this was even her primary spirit attack.
Immediately, Zhu Dingshan unleashed his beast claw primary spirit, colliding with Dantai Wenjun’s. He could only attack with his strongest stance.
If he could not win, he would concede. Otherwise, he would suffer heavy losses and affect later battles.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The two spiritual forms charged straight at each other without any feint.
“Boom!”…
A thunderous explosion rang out. Everyone saw the beast claw spiritual form instantly collapse, turning into rolling waves of energy that surged towards both sides.
The long sword spiritual form, however, seemed barely weakened and continued smashing towards Zhu Dingshan.
Zhu Dingshan’s expression changed drastically. He hurriedly summoned a spiritual power barrier in front of him.
Yet another massive boom sounded. The spiritual power defence before Zhu Dingshan was easily breached. The long sword spiritual form pierced straight through his chest, emerging from his back, directly penetrating his body. Large amounts of blood sprayed from both front and back.
