The arena erupted in gasps as Kai Ren realized the trap he had walked into. There was no time to evade, no way to block the incoming blow.

Kai Ren's eyes widened as he struggled to react, his mind racing with the realization that he had underestimated Zhang Liang's cunning and skill. The axe blade seemed to slow down for a moment, giving Kai Ren a glimpse of his own mortality.

In a desperate bid to survive, Kai Ren attempted to twist his body out of the way, but Zhang Liang's axe seemed to have a mind of its own, following Kai Ren's every move with deadly precision.

Just as all hope seemed lost, Kai Ren remembered the words of Lian Hua, "A true warrior adapts, even in the face of certain defeat," these words started to echo in his mind.

Adrenaline started to surge through his body and the world seemed to slow down as his mind started to race in an attempt to find a possible way to evade this strike, but nothing seemed to be coming into his mind at the moment.

Meanwhile, The lanky judge has already started to move in an attempt to protect Kai Ren from the strike, and in the audience, some weak-hearted people had their eyes closed and ears covered with their hands, some looked away and some even hid, wanting to avoid the bloody scene that might happen.

Jian Li and Song Ling were also on the edges of their seats, their faces were full of worry.

Just as Zhang Liang's axe inched closer to him, forcing Kai Ren into a desperate situation, his mind started to skim through every single detail about combat, even the basics and then he remembered a particular lesson Lian Hua had taught him, "sometimes the best offense is the best defense."

As Kai Ren remembered this he removed all the thoughts of defense and started to focus on plans that were solely reliant on offense.

Zhang Liang's axe had already arrived in front of Kai Ren, who had already made a decision.

Abandoning any thought of defense he forcefully changed the trajectory of his sword towards the haft of the axe, forcefully changing its course just enough to avoid a fatal hit, instead the axe grazed his shoulder leaving a shallow but painful cut there.

The crowd gasped again, this time in astonishment at Kai Ren's daring maneuver. The lanky man paused mid-step, relief visible on his face. Jian Li and Song Ling exhaled sharply, their worry momentarily alleviated.

Zhang Liang staggered because of the sudden shift in his balance and he lost his balance. His eyes widened in surprise and respect at Kai Ren's daring maneuver.

As Zhang Liang was trying to gain his balance back, Kai Ren lunged at him knowing that he couldn't allow himself to lose the advantage he had created, he stepped forward and slashed his sword at Zhang Liang.

Although Zhang Liang was out of balance, he was nonetheless a veteran in combat, and using his rich combat experience he calmly assessed the situation and realizing that he could not dodge the sword moved his axe in from of the sword.

Although Zhang Liang was able to block the sword his previously compromised balance got even worse and he staggered four steps backward, Kai Ren also realized that as long as he kept on his assault he could win this easily, and became even more relentless in his strikes.

Clang, clang, clang

The sound of metal colliding constantly reverberated through the arena alongside the relentless cheers of the crowd as they screamed for their favorite participant.

Kai Ren's assault kept getting faster and his strikes started to become heavier to the point Zhang Liang felt his hands starting to go numb, which shocked him to the core as he never thought that someone in the same realm as him could accomplish this.

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But he did not have time to ponder on this as Kai Ren's strike kept coming at him forcing him to put all of his concentration on defending against his strikes.

Zhang Liang was having a hard time defending against Kai Ren's strike, his hands were numb, his balance was compromised and his palms were in pain but his years of combat experience kicked in and he started looking for ways to break his current predicament.

As he was looking for ways to break through Kai Ren's furious barrage, he spotted a slight opening, as he parried another one of Kai Ren's strikes he used his opponent's momentum to shift his body to the side and swing his axe in a wide ark.

The purpose of this swing was not to deal damage but to create distance between him and Kai Ren, and as he expected Kai Ren took a step back to avoid his axe which gave him a moment of the briefest moment to catch his footing, which he did by jumping backward and increasing the distance even further.

As Kai Ren sensed the intention behind Zhang Liang's latest attack, he rushed toward him at his full speed so as not to allow him to gain his footing back but, unfortunately for him, Zhang Liang had already obtained a stable footing and swung his axe toward him from the side.

Looking at the latest maneuver Zhang Liang, the crowd erupted in deafening cheers, and a lot of Zhang Liang's fans even felt relieved.

Because of Zhang Liang's strike, Kai Ren was forced to abandon his assault and defend against Zhang Liang's axe.

clang,

Another loud sound of metal collision sounded in the arena, and with that, the duo went on another streak of exchanging blows.

As they continued to exchange blows their breathing got heavier and their moves got slower, but one thing that remained the same was their determination to win the battle.

After exchanging strikes for a while Zhang Liang noticed another opening in Kai Ren's strikes and by feinting a high strike, he swiftly changed the direction of his axe toward Kai Ren's legs.

Kai Ren saw this move just in time and leaped backward, narrowly avoiding it. As Zhang Liang was still in the middle of a strike and had lost his momentum for a new strike, Kai Ren used this moment to quickly spin around for a counter-attack and swung his sword at Zhang Liang's side.

Zhang Liang was able to barely block the strike but because of the force he staggered and lost his footing. Kai Ren using this opportunity, pushed forward and struck continuously at Zhang Liang, forcing his defense to have more and more flaws.

As he struck another time he noticed a slight moment of hesitation in Zhang Liang's moment, a telltale sign of exhaustion.

Seizing the moment, Kai Ren executed a daring move. He feinted a strike to Zhang Liang's left, causing his opponent to shift his guard. In the split second that Zhang Liang's right side's defense was down, Kai Ren pivoted and brought his sword down in a powerful arc toward Zhang Liang's exposed right side.

Zhang Liang's eyes widened in realization, but it was too late. The blade sliced through the air, striking Zhang Liang's side with a force that sent him sprawling to the ground. The crowd gasped collectively, the arena falling into a stunned silence.

Kai Ren stood over Zhang Liang, his chest heaving with exertion. He pointed his sword at his fallen opponent, but there was no malice in his eyes—only respect. Zhang Liang, breathing heavily and clearly in pain, looked up at Kai Ren with a mixture of exhaustion and admiration.

"You fought well, it was an honor," Kai Ren said those words in a steady voice despite his fatigue.

In response, Zhang Liang just gave him a weak smile and stayed silent.

At this moment the lanky judge arrived beside them and started looking through Zhang Liang's injuries, after feeding him some healing medicine and making sure he was fine, he stood up and announced in a clear voice, "The winner of this match is Kai Ren."

Hearing the lanky judge's words the previously stunned audience was bought out of their stupor and went into a crazy frenzy, some of them cheering for Kai Ren and some were jeering at him.

Kai Ren ignored them all and went back to the participant waiting area, and just sprawled on his seat without caring about all the stunned looks he was receiving from the other participants.

After Kai Ren had caught his breath, Jian Li gave him a pat on the shoulder and said in a pride-filled voice, "You fought well Brother Kai, even I was stunned for a second."

Song Ling also nodded and said, "Brother Jian is right, I thought that you would get heavily injured when Zhang Liang closed in on you with his axe."

"Haha, it was indeed a dangerous moment but, as I promised you I am sitting here completely fine, aren't I" Kai Ren replied with a chuckle.

"Well yes, you are fine, but you should be more careful, otherwise you might not find any chances to make a comeback next time," Jian Li decided to bring down Kai Ren's confidence a bit by reminding him about the dangers.

As they were talking about this the Announcer's voice again sounded in the arena, "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next participants, Fen Ong, and his opponent, Yawen Lu."