“What are you, worthy of betting lives with us?” someone beside Jia Zhao shouted, unable to hold back.
“Ignore him, that guy’s just a lunatic!” Jia Zhao waved dismissively. Betting lives with a nobody? They’d have to be mad.
They wouldn’t let their fates rest in someone else’s hands. Besides, with Ma Bi’s unimpressive look, he wasn’t worth their attention.
“Hahaha, too scared? I was just mouthing off. If you dared to bet, I might not even bother. Didn’t know you were such cowards,” Ma Bi roared with laughter, looking like he’d successfully trolled them.
“…” The crowd was speechless, and Jia Zhao’s group fumed silently. This guy was an absolute nutcase.
Under everyone’s gazes, Lin Xiao, riding wings of elemental energy, flew onto the Life-and-Death Platform.
“Haha, didn’t expect you to actually accept, but you’re unwise. Knowing I’ve set a death trap, you still come up to die!”
Seeing Lin Xiao enter the platform, Po Feng laughed heartily, his face brimming with excitement.
“You think I’m doomed, but why wouldn’t I think the same of you? You have your trump card, but don’t I have one to kill you?”
Facing the arrogant Po Feng, Lin Xiao remained calm, glancing at Mo Jiutian in the VIP seats. Noticing a faint sharpness in Mo Jiutian’s otherwise calm eyes, he roughly guessed who had sent Po Feng.
“Someone put you up to killing me, didn’t they?” Slowly retracting his gaze, Lin Xiao stared coldly at Po Feng.
“Heh, if you want to think that, go ahead,” Po Feng chuckled, then looked expectantly at Baili He on the platform, waiting for him to speak.
Lin Xiao followed his gaze.
The elders and representatives on the platform showed some interest. The second-round challenges had dragged on, boring them, but a death match was intriguing enough.
“These kids sure know how to stir things up!” Baili He shook his head, sighing.
“You two, are you certain about a death match?” Baili He then looked at them and asked.
“Elder Baili, I’m certain. A death match, one fight to settle life and death,” Po Feng nodded, answering earnestly.
“No death, no rest!” Lin Xiao also nodded solemnly, his eyes sweeping toward Mo Jiutian, flashing with icy coldness.
Baili He gave Po Feng a pitying look and said, “Fine, since you’ve made up your minds, begin. Life or death, no interference!”
“Hey, your time’s up!”
Po Feng sneered, drawing a sharp sword. With a side flick, a metallic clang rang out, his aura fierce.
At that moment, all eyes were on the two. The death match had finally begun.
They were eager to see who was stronger, Po Feng or Lin Xiao.
“Let’s see where your confidence lies!” Lin Xiao said indifferently, not even drawing a weapon.
“He’s not using a weapon?”
“He’s practically begging to die. Knowing Po Feng excels in speed, he’s still so arrogant.”
The crowd gasped in shock.
At that moment, Po Feng’s lips curled into a cold smirk. His figure blurred, turning into an afterimage and vanishing.
The next moment, Po Feng appeared right in front of Lin Xiao, his speed so fast that lower-tier Heavenly Martial disciples could barely track him.
“Slash!”
Riding his momentum, Po Feng thrust his sword at Lin Xiao with unmatched ferocity and power.
Everyone’s attention zeroed in on that instant, but Lin Xiao still didn’t move. They thought he couldn’t react in time.
“Slash!”
Yet, against expectations, Po Feng’s sword veered past Lin Xiao’s side, and he rushed over ten metres forward.
Then, Po Feng stopped, not attacking again.
The scene froze briefly.
“Is it over or what?” Lower-strength disciples, unable to see clearly, asked eagerly.
“It seems he didn’t hit Lin Xiao,” a higher-strength disciple rubbed their eyes, uncertain.
“How’s that possible? Lin Xiao didn’t move!” another disciple said, puzzled.
Many shared the same thought.
“Never expected you to be a third-grade senior spirit controller,” Po Feng spoke from the platform, his words shocking.
“What? Lin Xiao’s a third-grade senior spirit controller?”
“How haven’t we heard? Did he just use spiritual power to shift Po Feng’s angle?”
“A third-grade senior spirit controller, also a first-level Martial King, at just sixteen or seventeen? How can he be so monstrous? Is this a mistake?”
The crowd’s astonished voices rang out. If Po Feng said it, it must be true.
Otherwise, his sword wouldn’t have missed.
Not just the crowd, even Baili He and others on the main platform showed shock.
Elemental energy geniuses were common at Saint Origin Academy, nothing new. But spirit controller geniuses, though rare, were exceptionally powerful when they appeared.
The previous tournament’s champion was a fourth-grade junior spirit controller.
However, those with spiritual talent were scarce and extremely hard to train.
Reaching third-grade senior spiritual power at such a young age was rare across the Chaotic Lands.
Someone like Zi Ling, a fourth-grade junior spirit controller at seventeen, was an exception, trained personally by the sixth-grade spirit controller Master An Miao.
Could Lin Xiao also have a high-grade spirit controller mentor? How else could he reach third-grade senior spiritual power at his age?
Even more unbelievable, Lin Xiao was not only a third-grade senior spirit controller but also a first-level Martial King.
Cultivating two powers at once—wasn’t that too monstrous?
Baili He’s eyes lit up, and thinking Lin Xiao might have mastered the third form of the Thunder Sword Technique, his heart raced.
Beside him, Seventh Elder Xiahou Lan frowned, feeling a peculiar hostility toward spirit controllers. In the last tournament, Xiahou Wanyu had lost to one.
“So he’s a spirit controller. No wonder he could catch a weapon barehanded. He used spiritual power!”
In the crowd, Jia Zhao exclaimed in realisation. Last time, Bi Zhu’s sword strike to kill Lin Xiao was caught barehanded, even snapping the sword tip.
They’d thought Lin Xiao’s physical strength was immense, able to catch swords. Turns out, it was a ruse.
Lin Xiao had used spiritual power to catch the sword, then clamped it with his hand.
He twisted the sword tip with spiritual power, using minimal physical force. Lin Xiao did it to intimidate them.
That had to be it! No one could snap a weapon barehanded.
Jia Zhao was utterly convinced, and those beside him nodded in agreement.
