Boom boom boom!
Yang Feilong and Chen Guang engaged in combat. Chen Guang wielded a heavy saber, yet in his hands, it seemed as light as a toy. A single strike sent the air into a palpable stillness, its terrifying power breathtaking.
Yang Feilong countered with a long sword, his movements agile.
Initially, people assumed Yang Feilong would be instantly crushed by Chen Guang. However, the outcome stunned everyone. Facing Chen Guang, an established cultivator at the peak of the third level of Nascent Soul, Yang Feilong held his ground. Not only that, but he was actually suppressing Chen Guang!
"Earlier, they said Jiang Yue could also put up a fight. Jiang Yue is strong, but compared to Senior Yang Guang, his strength is far inferior! And now, even Chen Guang is being suppressed!"
"Just how strong is Yang Feilong? Is he truly a cultivator at the Golden Core stage? Really? Really?"
"Who knows? We'll only know if the Heavenly Secrets Sect includes Yang Feilong in their next Human Rankings."
Chen Guang himself grew increasingly alarmed with every passing moment, Yang Feilong's strength far exceeding his expectations.
He had initially planned to defeat Yang Feilong, thus significantly boosting his tournament tokens. Combined with his own five thousand-plus tokens, he would have accumulated a substantial thirteen to fourteen thousand. Even if challenged, he could refuse once and still have future opportunities!
But now, he felt utterly outmatched. Unless he went all out, he saw no chance of victory. And going all out? It wasn't worth it. Once he expended that much, he would be unable to contend with anyone afterwards!
Ultimately.
Chen Guang was defeated!
After being suppressed by Yang Feilong, panic set in. In this situation, Yang Feilong, unwilling to prolong the struggle, unleashed most of his Golden Core power, overwhelming and defeating Chen Guang with devastating force!
The audience was in an uproar as they watched Chen Guang being sent flying out of the arena by Yang Feilong.
"Chen Guang is actually defeated?"
"Yes! Who would have thought Yang Feilong would be the first to defeat his opponent!"
"Those cultivators at the middle stage of Nascent Soul didn't defeat their opponents as quickly as he did. Doesn't that mean Yang Feilong's strength is comparable to those mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators?"
At this moment, the mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators on other stages, who had each found opponents, glanced at Yang Feilong easily defeating Yang Guang and were shocked. They had initially intended to defeat their opponents with minimal effort, as their subsequent opponents were also mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators!
Now, they all decided to finish their fights quickly. Otherwise, if Yang Feilong remained with minimal exertion, he might very well become the ultimate victor!
Not long after, the other three matches also concluded with a victor.
As of now, only five cultivators remained in the martial arts courtship competition. Four were at the mid-stage of Nascent Soul, and one was Yang Feilong, who was suspected to be at the Golden Core stage.
"Yang Feilong actually made it this far!"
"It's truly unbelievable!"
"But no matter how strong he is, can he surpass the other five?"
"That's not certain. Each time people assumed Yang Feilong's strength was just average, but what was the result? He repeatedly defeated stronger opponents!"
"......"
After defeating his opponent, Yang Feilong descended from the arena. He wasn't in any hurry.
His current number of tournament tokens was the highest, over thirteen thousand. The other four individuals had over eleven thousand, over ten thousand one hundred, and the remaining two had over eight thousand and over six thousand respectively.
In total, there were over forty-eight thousand tournament tokens.
Since there was a division between over ten thousand and under ten thousand tokens, the two mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators with less than ten thousand tokens had to challenge each other.
The other two looked at Yang Feilong and did not make a move.
They wanted to wait for the outcome of the match between those two before issuing a challenge. As the saying goes: strike when the iron is hot, or rather, attack the weakened.
Fortunately, there were two individuals with less than twenty thousand tokens. Otherwise, the one who had previously received a bye would be in tears, because if the others didn't challenge him, he couldn't challenge anyone, leading to his eventual elimination.
After the two arduous matches concluded.
One of them immediately issued a challenge, while the other was unable to snatch the opportunity.
At this point, he had two choices. One was to refuse the challenge, but this would require forfeiting half of his identity tokens. By forfeiting half his tokens, his subsequent victories or defeats would no longer matter to him.
If he chose to accept the challenge, could he win in his current state?
"Kang Xiong, you're truly shameless!" the cultivator who had barely won exclaimed, glaring at Kang Xiong.
"Xin Mu, who told you to sit back and watch the tigers fight earlier!" Kang Xiong shrugged. "Otherwise, would you have narrowly defeated Han Qingyuan? You know, before this, you two had duelled several times, and each time it was a close match. I know this!"
Han Qingyuan was the person Xin Mu had defeated earlier.
Although Han Qingyuan had only defeated a cultivator at the early stage of Nascent Soul, it had still consumed some of his energy. He had expended energy in his final attempt to quickly end the match. Since he and Xin Mu were evenly matched, it was understandable that he narrowly lost after expending some energy!
When there were nine people previously, Han Qingyuan, Kang Xiong, Yang Feilong, and Zheng Mihua had all participated. Xin Mu was the only one who had watched from the sidelines. At that time, he had planned that regardless of who won, there would be someone with less than ten thousand tokens that he could continue to challenge. However, he hadn't expected that after his hard-won victory, he would be outmaneuvered. If he had known, he would have participated earlier!
Regret was futile now!
Yang Feilong and the other person, Zheng Mihua, exchanged glances.
Next, they had to duel!
Otherwise, regardless of who won, it would be an arduous battle. And if they fought after Xin Mu and Kang Xiong concluded their match, it would simply give the winner between Xin Mu and Kang Xiong time to rest!
Moreover, they would have to fight sooner or later, because once the other two finished their duel, the victor would possess over twenty thousand identity tokens. Only those with over twenty thousand tokens could initiate challenges!
"Come on!" Zheng Mihua looked at Yang Feilong. "Although I don't want to bully you, there's no other way now that we've reached this stage!"
"Bully me? That remains to be seen if you have the capability!" Yang Feilong replied with a faint smile.
Whoosh whoosh!
Both of them landed on the arena.
But before they could begin their duel, the battle on the other side took an unexpected turn!
"What?" Both of them gasped in unison after a single glance.
"Xin Mu actually broke through?"
"This is getting interesting. Who would have thought that Xin Mu, who was expected to lose, has actually broken through to the late stage of Nascent Soul!"
At this moment, countless spectators were in an uproar.
"Although it's just the early stage of the late Nascent Soul, his strength completely surpasses the peak of the mid-stage Nascent Soul!"
"Kang Xiong thought he was getting a free win, but he didn't realize this wasn't a freebie, it was a landmine!"
"Tsk tsk, what a twist of fate!"