On the arena stage, the chief referee announced loudly, "Chen’s Trading Company passes the first round! The second match will begin in half an incense stick’s time!"
Liang Cheng walked off the stage, and Chen Bainian hurriedly handed him a towel.
As he passed Lu Qingzhou, the latter looked at him with a complicated expression. "Junior Brother Liang, your next opponent is Liu Sanbian from the Fulong Trading Company. He’s skilled with a pair of Judge’s Brushes and specializes in attacking acupoints and joints. You need to be careful."
"Thank you for the warning, Senior Brother."
Liang Cheng closed his eyes to calm his mind. Half an incense stick’s time passed quickly.
The Copper Gong rang again.
"The second round! Liang Cheng, Honored Guest Elder of Chen’s Trading Company, versus Liu Sanbian, Honored Guest Elder of the Fulong Trading Company!"
A lean, elderly man leaped onto the stage, holding a pair of pitch-black Judge’s Brushes. Without waiting for the chief referee to say another word, he brandished both brushes and stabbed straight for Liang Cheng’s eyes.
Liu Sanbian had decided to strike first to gain the upper hand. Liang Cheng’s performance in the first match had been far too dazzling; he didn’t dare to be the slightest bit careless.
Liang Cheng sidestepped the attack. The Wandering Dragon Step was perfect for close-quarters combat. Liu Sanbian’s brush strikes were relentless, aiming only for vital points. A rain of black brush-tip shadows fell, yet none of them could even graze Liang Cheng.
After three exchanges, Liang Cheng suddenly stepped forward, moving like a wandering dragon through the air. His right hand shot out like lightning and seized the shaft of one of the brushes.
Liu Sanbian was shocked. He immediately stabbed at Liang Cheng’s wrist with his other brush, but Liang Cheng didn’t even try to dodge. With a twist of his wrist, he unleashed the full power of his Fierce Bull Force.
CRACK!
The Judge’s Brush snapped in two.
The force of the blow sent Liu Sanbian staggering backward. He stared at the broken brush in his hand, then gave a bitter smile and tossed his remaining Judge’s Brush to the floor before conceding. "I admit defeat."
The crowd was in an uproar.
Three exchanges. It was three exchanges again!
He had defeated the renowned master, Liu Sanbian. Everyone looked at Liang Cheng with complicated expressions. ’Worthy of a disciple from the Martial Arts Academy’s Celestial Dormitory,’ they thought. ’So incredibly powerful.’
The Martial Arts Academy Steward, watching from the main seat, nodded repeatedly in satisfaction.
The chief referee stared blankly for a moment before snapping out of it and hurriedly striking the gong. "The second round is passed!"
In the Xu Family’s seating area, Xu Zhi’s face was livid. "Useless trash!"
Xu Zhang turned to the black-robed, middle-aged man beside him. "Mr. He, did you see that clearly?"
He Jiuyou slowly opened his eyes, his expression cold and hard. "His Hard Skills and Body Technique are indeed impressive, but my sword specializes in shattering hard bone."
The final half an incense stick of rest began.
The atmosphere around the arena was as heavy as iron.
Everyone knew Liang Cheng’s opponent in the third round was the Xu Family’s Honored Guest Elder, He Jiuyou. He was a famed "Defense-Shattering Swordsman" in Lin Wu City. Though he had failed years ago in his attempt to break through to the True Qi Realm, he remained an expert at the absolute peak of the Transformation Force Realm.
Furthermore, his swordsmanship was sinister and treacherous; he had once crippled several masters of Horizontal Training by severing the tendons in their arms and legs. At the thought, Chen Bainian’s palms grew clammy with cold sweat.
Wang Qini’an whispered to the person beside him, "When He Jiuyou attacks, his opponents either die or are crippled. The Xu Family is dead set on crippling Liang Cheng."
"Then he can only blame himself for not knowing his place."
「7:45 AM.」
The chief referee took a deep breath. "The third round! Liang Cheng, Honored Guest Elder of Chen’s Trading Company, versus He Jiuyou, Honored Guest Elder of the Xu Family’s grain company!"
He Jiuyou stepped silently onto the stage.
He was tall and thin, clad in a single black robe, with a four-foot-long sword strapped to his back. The scabbard was pitch-black, and a bone-chilling coldness emanated from the weapon even while it remained sheathed.
This time, Liang Cheng was not empty-handed. He drew the standard-issue long saber of the Martial Arts Academy, its blade glinting coldly as they stood facing each other.
The Copper Gong rang out abruptly!
He Jiuyou’s eyes snapped open. He didn’t draw his sword. Instead, his figure closed in like a phantom, his left hand shaped like a sword as he stabbed straight for Liang Cheng’s throat!
The force behind the finger-strike was so sharp it created a piercing whistle.
Liang Cheng sidestepped, bringing his saber across to block.
CLANG!
The clash of finger against blade resounded like striking metal!
A sinister, piercing Power traveled through the saber, making Liang Cheng’s arm go slightly numb. He was inwardly alarmed. ’His finger techniques are this formidable too?’
His first strike having missed, He Jiuyou drifted back three steps, his right hand finally settling on his sword hilt.
SHING!
The longsword left its scabbard, its ring like a dragon’s cry.
The blade was long and slender, shimmering with a faint blue luster. A deep blood groove ran along its spine.
With a flash of the blade, he stabbed straight for Liang Cheng’s heart!
The thrust was as fast as a viper striking, its angle vicious and cunning.
Liang Cheng swung his saber to parry. Sword and saber crashed together, sending sparks flying.
He Jiuyou’s Sword Momentum was relentless, each strike faster than the one before. Every thrust was aimed at Liang Cheng’s vital points, specifically targeting his weaknesses with exceptional viciousness.
Within ten exchanges, Liang Cheng was forced into a desperate defense by the relentless Sword Momentum. If not for his Wandering Dragon Step, he would have had no choice but to rely on his Iron Armor Realm to weather the attacks.
He Jiuyou’s sword was both fast and treacherous, and his Power was focused to a single point, granting it extreme piercing strength. Though the Wandering Dragon Step helped him avoid direct hits to his vital points, his body was still permeated by the force of the blows, and the bones and sinews beneath his skin throbbed with a dull ache from the shockwaves.
"Mr. He is as formidable as they say!" Xu Zhi couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from curling into a smirk.
Chen Bainian’s face turned pale, and Lu Qingzhou’s brows furrowed tightly.
On the fifteenth exchange, He Jiuyou’s Sword Momentum suddenly shifted. His longsword carved a strange arc through the air, bypassing the edge of the saber to slice directly at the wrist of Liang Cheng’s weapon hand.
Liang Cheng stomped his foot, executing the "Surprised Dragon Emerges" of his Wandering Dragon Step. His body shifted half a foot sideways, narrowly avoiding the blade’s edge. At the same time, he used the momentum to swing his long saber upward, slashing toward He Jiuyou’s ribs.
He Jiuyou sneered and brought his sword back to block. As saber and sword clashed again with a piercing shriek, Liang Cheng used the rebound to spin. His saber followed the motion of his body as he naturally unleashed the Gale Saber Technique. In an instant, a flurry of saber light swept back towards his opponent like a violent storm.
"Nicely done!" A vicious glint flashed in He Jiuyou’s eyes. He didn’t dodge. Instead, he straightened his sword and thrust directly into the center of the storm of saber light.
He would meet offense with offense, using a single point of attack to break the wide-area assault!
Saber light and sword shadows intertwined. A rapid series of explosive CLANGS rang out like firecrackers as Qi Force blasted outward, causing the stone slabs of the stage to continuously crack and shatter.
Thirty exchanges!
Fifty exchanges!
The two fighters’ figures blurred across the stage in a frantic dance. Every collision was heart-stopping. He Jiuyou’s swordsmanship was sinister and seasoned, his vast experience allowing him to seize upon the most fleeting openings to launch a fierce assault.
Liang Cheng, however, met him head-on, relying on the superior defense of his Iron Armor Realm and the ferocious assault of his Perfect Gale Saber Technique. He interspersed this with his Wandering Dragon Step, always managing to twist and turn his way out of desperate situations at the last possible moment.
Unable to secure a victory after such a long assault, a savage light flashed in He Jiuyou’s eyes. With a sudden flick of his longsword, his style changed once more. His Sword Momentum shifted from cunning to ponderous. Each strike landed with the weight of a mountain as he switched tactics, now attempting to use brute force to overcome skill and crush Liang Cheng with his immense Power.
"Mountain-Breaking Style!"
The pressure on Liang Cheng increased dramatically.
His opponent was someone who had failed to break through to the True Qi Realm, but True Qi had once entered his body, making him an absolute peak expert of the Transformation Force Realm. The Power behind his sword strikes was like a mountain crashing down. Even with his Iron Armor Realm at the Great Success stage, the webbing between Liang Cheng’s thumb and forefinger split open for the first time, seeping blood.
The standard-issue long saber groaned under the strain, unable to withstand the heavy blows.
The seventy-third exchange!
He Jiuyou let out a furious roar as he madly poured all of his body’s Qi Blood into his sword. The longsword let out a piercing shriek as it transformed into a bolt of dark blue lightning, cleaving straight down at Liang Cheng’s skull!
This was a strike that contained the culmination of his entire life’s work, holding nothing back!
At this moment of life and death, Liang Cheng’s gaze suddenly became as sharp as a saber’s edge.
He stomped down hard, gripping his saber with both hands to meet the descending blade. He unleashed the full power of his Gale Saber Technique, which had reached the Perfection Realm!
At this moment, there was no defense, only offense!
A life for a life!
SHLIIICK!!!
The longsword scraped past Liang Cheng’s shoulder blade, tearing open his flesh and sending a spray of blood into the air. But Liang Cheng’s saber... was faster!
The saber’s light swept past like a gale, flashing across He Jiuyou’s neck in an instant.
Time seemed to freeze.
Their figures crossed, and they came to a stop standing back-to-back.
A dead silence fell over the stage.
CLANG...
The longsword fell from He Jiuyou’s hand.
He raised a hand to clutch his neck, and blood gushed wildly from between his fingers. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but only a bloody froth bubbled out.
A final trace of incredulous shock lingered in his eyes before the light within them rapidly faded.
THUD.
His body fell to the ground.
The saber in Liang Cheng’s hand, made of common iron, finally gave way and shattered. Blood flowed freely from his left shoulder, dyeing half his robe red. But he slowly exhaled a foul breath tinged with blood. ’It’s just a flesh wound, in the end. It didn’t damage bone or sinew,’ he thought.
This was the strongest opponent Liang Cheng had ever faced. He was truly worthy of being called an expert who had once challenged the True Qi Realm.
Below the stage, a deathly silence reigned.
Everyone was stunned by the brutal, bloody scene.
Xu Zhi shot to his feet, his face deathly pale and his lips trembling. The teacup in Xu Zhang’s hand slipped silently from his grasp and shattered on the floor.
Xu Feng’s pupils contracted as he stared intently at the young man on the stage.
Chen Bainian slumped back in his chair, his entire body limp. He was both shocked and overjoyed, unable to process what had just happened.
Lu Qingzhou drew in a sharp breath and muttered, "Junior Brother Liang... he actually killed He Jiuyou..."
The black-robed elder beside Wang Qini’an spoke slowly. "Give him the Meteorite Iron. Regardless of whether he agrees to be recruited, give it to him."
The dead silence lasted for another moment before the chief referee finally recovered, swallowing hard.
"Chen’s Trading Company has passed all three rounds! Promoted to A Class!"
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