BOOM!!! A heavy sound rang out. It was the sound of Splitting Air hitting Althorne’s giant wall of vines.

Soon, under the audience’s focus, Althorne’s defense, which was claimed as the Elves’s third strongest defensive move… actually bulged inwards by several meters!

Behind the vine wall, the elf’s eyes saucered wide. He never expected that Xu Yangyi could actually break his defense to such an extent!

“Is this really a master spirit-technician?” Astonished, he watched the wall in front of him bend more and more. The vines were already shredded apart into smithereens. He listened to the thuds that sounded like a god knocking on the door. He shook his head incredulously. “There’s no way I’m wrong… How could a master-technician have a fleshly body this powerful?!”

“Hmm?” Xu Yangyi furrowed his brows.

The wall actually hadn’t broken?

In the next instant, another streak of Splitting Air crashed forth!

BOOM!!! An awesome rumble rang out. In ten seconds, the vine wall had surprisingly broke apart!

Numerous vines flew away in the explosion and turned into motes of spiritual light in the air, floating across Althorne’s vision. Still, he felt a little disbelief as he watched green spirit light flutter in the wind. At the same time, a sharp whiz suddenly rang out in front of him.

The sound of wind from the barrage of white claw-scars raking towards him.

“I dare not imagine it…” He took a deep breath and instantly crouched down. In the next moment, a black figure, over thirty meters long, unexpectedly leapt out with great grace from between the white claw-scars, like a butterfly flitting through flowers. Its speed actually drew sparks on the ground from its razor-sharp claws!

It was a black leopard.

After Althorne landed on the ground in leopard form, vines rapidly spread around him for ten meters. To his surprise, though… 

He discovered that Xu Yangyi wasn’t chasing after him.

Althorne’s satin-black figure slowly turned around, and he gave Xu Yangyi an extremely solemn look. He said after a long time, “Why?”

Why wasn’t Xu Yangyi pursuing him?

Xu Yangyi smiled and cracked his knuckles. “I said it before.”

“That I would be lenient on you.”

Silence.

The arena was silent like death.

Even a person with no eyes could see that Xu Yangyi was strong! Very strong! On no uncertain terms was he the weak master spirit-technician they imagined! He wasn’t a smarts-only cultivator who didn’t know how to attack, either!

This… was a cultivator like them, someone who had strode out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood!

“Did… you see?” Among the sirens, three Marquises couldn’t help but now stand and watch the arena in shock. A half-naked bird-woman held incredibly complicated emotions in her eyes, and she tightly gripped the armrests of her seat. “Did I… see that right?”

“Of course…” the woman next to her answered. She, too, appeared to be in a dream. “I… thought I was mistaken too…”

The entire House of Corvinus was dumbstruck. This included Pale Dragon. Each of them looked at the arena in disbelief. A Marquis gaped, his lips somewhat quivering. His palms were wet with a sheen of sweat from embarrassment.

A little while ago… hadn’t he just shaken hands with Xu Yangyi… and said that he believed in the other?

But everyone knows that a master spirit-technician can’t personally be in a fight! As long as you said the word, how many people would there be willing to risk their life on your behalf? How did you even train to be this strong?! It’s ludicrous! the lycan thought to himself. 

They were all aware of their own false encouragement and handshakes a little while ago. In reality, though, they’d been given a fierce slap!

Well wishes? Encouragement? Yeah, congratulations on looking past the surface to see the truth inside. I do have the strength to win this competition! Xu Yangyi roared in his mind.

“Is this really a master spirit-technician like those prudish ones?” Finally, a newly advanced Marquis said with a spellbound look. These words dragged all of the Corvinus’ clansmen out of their thoughts, like a galloping horse.

Followingly an old man in the Corvinus’s front row softly coughed and began to lightly applaud.

Clap… Clap… 

The sound was monotonous, penetrating the unvoiced awkwardness in their chests, yet it caused everyone to regain their wits.

In the next moment, there was a second sound of applause, a fifth, a tenth… a hundred, a thousand, the sound of ten thousand clapping hands rang out! Everyone all happened to start clapping.

“I can hardly believe this, this really is incredible!” In the Tirathon Clan, a Marquis clapped in a mechanical motion. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I definitely wouldn’t have believed that a master spirit-technician could have such powerful battle strength!”

In the dwarves’s section, the two dwarves who had spoken about Xu Yangyi were dumbstruck. Their mouths were hanging wide open and their eyes were round. Like marionettes, they stared into the arena, unable to say a word. As if their hands were possessed, they followed the audience’s ocean-like applause and clapped with all their might.

How did this make sense?

Shouldn’t a master spirit-technician be wearing glasses? Urk! Dammit, cultivators aren’t near-sighted! they inwardly lamented to themselves.

“Inconceivable, is this really a master spirit-technician?” A cloaked figure from the Black Witches Coven said in a raspy voice. “No wonder… no wonder he had the confidence to enter the Holy War. He really does think he can kill his way to the top three with his power!”

“If I hadn’t seen it myself today, and someone told me that a master spirit-technician was entering the Holy War, I definitely would’ve slapped them out.”

“Powerful strength and rich knowledge, this battle… deserves to be the opening fight.”

“It’s hard to determine the outcome of this battle.”

The Count-rank cultivators were likewise clapping vigorously. Quite a few people had flushed faces. They originally believed that the opening fight would have a strong start and a weak finish, but it was unexpectedly an even match! In a fight between a master spirit-technician and an imperial guard of the Elves, a powerhouse with the name of a Sacred Spirit, they were actually about the same! This answer was too crazy!

After a long time, the applause stopped. This time, it wasn’t out of charity or to help Xu Yangyi out of an embarrassing situation, but rather from the heart. The audience treated him as a competitor on the same level as the other powerhouses!

In the arena, Althorne was starting at Xu Yangyi. His gaze went from remorse, caution, and then finally with the full regard of treating a great opponent.

“I was wrong. I sincerely apologize to you, sir.” The black leopard studied Xu Yangyi intently. “I shouldn’t take pity on a powerful person of equal strength. This is a humiliation to those who stand at the pinnacle of power.”

“So…” Althorne crouched, and his fur stood on edge. His eyes turned dark-green from gold, and a rune slowly brightened on his forehead. “Mr. X, I, Althorne Whitedeer, shall defeat you with all my strength!”

BOOM!!! Just as his voice fell, a green spiritual energy like an ocean madly surged! This energy swirled around him into a massive green maelstrom. A grumbling white deer, a soaring eagle, a roaring greatbear, and a graceful python… accompanied Althorne as small flowers suddenly bloomed underneath him and whirled in harmony.

In the same moment, a berserk qi, likewise not a sliver weaker, to the extent that it exceeded Althorne’s, screamed out from Xu Yangyi! Behind him, what seemed to be an enormous plant was extending its leaves. The indescribable heaviness and oppression actually made breathing for numerous Counts difficulty. However, no one fell over. With extreme excitement, they all watched the rising intensity between the two people in the arena.

This battle was definitely going to be a monumental clash that would leave both sides broken!

The strongest master spirit-technician perhaps since the beginning of history versus an imperial protector of the Woodland of Nature’s Dream, a Sacred Spirit Successor!’

The arena was so silent that a falling needle could be heard.

Countless eyes were opened as wide as possible. No one wanted to miss out on the wonderful moment of analysis between Xu Yangyi and Althorne.

“Growth of the Wilds.” Following Althorne’s solemn words, his figure melded away like ink. As he did, obsidian-black fog began to strangely fill the arena.

“Look carefully, this is the power of the Elve’s imperial guard.” A Marquis-rank tutor among the dwarves said lowly to a Count behind him. “They are the hunters of the great wilds. But what’s scary is that they’re not just limited to moving freely in forests. They can also change all environments to suit their hunting grounds. Like now…” 

“The Elves’s echelon has always been close to the top ten. If they draw a good ballot, they definitely have the chance to enter the top three. At the same time, they’re able to transform into any kind of animal. In combination with environmental stealth, they’re basically natural assassins. I think that in certain environments that not even the Dracul’s magick-breaker assassins are their match.” Someone from the Corvinus explained to a Count that they had brought with him. “Don’t look down on the top ten… Any of the people here are an existence enough to make others kneel, anywhere in the West! The top five… are already the very strongest in either Europe or America.”

Xu Yangyi’s expression became grave.

Everywhere, the black mist was getting denser and denser, climbing higher and higher. It really was like someone had spread ink for over 500 meters all around. At the same time, the mist ascended at great speed and pulled everything into a dark domain.

Yet in that instant the mist fully spread through the golden protective cover, eight green eyes brightened and faintly illuminated the area, infecting it with a sickly green color and then vanishing. At almost the same time, a razor-sharp spiritual energy attacked Xu Yangyi’s throat!

“So fast!” Xu Yangyi abruptly stepped back, and white lightning streaked past his throat. In the twinkling it passed him, though, eight dark-green eyes flashed again in the darkness.

Nothing could be seen. Only sound was followed by more sound. The gloomy roaring of a beast. Even the sound of saliva dripping onto the ground. And also… the stifling feel one’s hair standing on edge.

He didn’t move.

But suddenly, the sound of breaking wind rang out from the darkness! This time, nothing was held back at all, and even the darkness shuddered as if a wave was rippling.

Swish! In the still space, a clearly visible, heart-shaking semicircular streak of air was split open. It was as if the Grim Reaper’s robe was hoisted up, and his killing scythe was brandished,

“Even faster…” In Xu Yangyi’s chest, a little mote of the Divine Flame of Conviction loudly ignited, and a qi four times stronger than same-stage cultivators coursed through him. Although the tip of this grim scythe hadn’t come yet, its blade-wind was already causing his hair and clothes to audibly whistle!

Regardless, he couldn’t see! 

He only knew that something was coming, but he couldn’t see from where!

“A little closer, it’s coming a little closer!” He looked ahead with great solemness, like he could smell the rancid odor in the Grim Reaper’s black cloak. A tenth of a second later, the front of him became silent, but the sensation known as danger pulled him as tightly as a fully drawn bow! In the face of impending danger, Xu Yangyi quickly crouched.

The enormous invisible wind-edge nearly scraped through his scalp.

Behind him, a resounding crash rang out! Flying pieces of rubble even hit his clothes, but at the same time an extremely sharp streak of energy punched through space at his left flank behind him!

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