Li Ao cast a cold look at the Heaven’s Child in front of him.

There wasn’t anything worth mentioning at this point. Rudely awakened from his contemplation, coupled with his already bad impression, he didn’t have a shred of mercy.

He ended it with a single strike of his entire fleshly power.

The boy couldn’t move under the bronze aura’s oppressive power. With a single blow, his flexible fabric shattered, and the green halo around him dimmed. The judge sent him weird looks, but Li Ao had no mind for them.

Li Ao descended to his waiting area and returned to meditation. By now, there were feelings inside him that he didn’t know before.

If he could point out a commonality among them, then it would be that they were refined.

Refined feelings. A feeling born through conscious thought. Not from the heart’s instinct or soul’s impulsiveness, but created from a consciousness’ deep contemplation through life experience.

Around fifteen minutes later, his eyes shot open. A faint clarity could be seen within the bright pupils. Alongside it, pity.

‘Should I...apologize?’

Shaking his head, he decided to postpone it.

‘I’ll just have fun.’ He thought and stood up. ‘I can’t be serious all the time.’

A boom echoed in the arena right then.

Looking up, Li Ao saw the last of the eight contestants being blown away. After flying five meters down the arena, the man coughed out a mouthful of blood and passed out.

The judge waved his hand and sent him away to the treatment room.

After a quick break, it was time for the semi-finals.

Within the audience, Master Jiao and Riri listened to various betters talk of bets and rates, nervous. After his big strike against Lei Jin, Li Ao became one of the more favored contestants. However, it wasn’t clear if he could win against someone in Foundation Establishment.

Considering the past matches, the best outcome would be to match with the silent heaven’s child at the first stage of Foundation Establishment.

‘If he meets Jie Mentai or Yun Fanghe, it will be dangerous!’

Of course, all Master Jiao cared about was his profits, not Li Ao’s safety.

‘’Come get your order!’’

The four contestants flew up and received their numbered sticks.

‘’Number one and two, remain!’’

Two figures flashed away, and everyone cast a feverish look at the stage.

The figure on the east side of the arena was a long fellow with short black hair. He had two swords by his side, and a single sheathed blade on his back. A strong, rippling green halo swirled around him like a heavenly blessing.

On the west side stood Li Ao, no special equipment on him at the moment. However, the peculiar gaze of his didn’t escape the attention of the sharp viewers.

When they realized what he was looking at, others also became curious.

’Is that a flying sword?’

The heaven’s child nodded and cupped his hand.

‘’Zhen Zedong, please instruct me.’’

‘’—may I ask you something?’’

Zhen Zedong raised his head and cast a blank look at Li Ao.

‘’Do you know a girl, a heaven’s child surnamed Chu?’’

Closing his eyes, Zhen Zedong shook his head.

‘’I see.’’

Cupping his hands, Li Ao greeted.

‘’Xu Liao, please instruct me.’’

Watching their interaction, the judge smiled and waved his hand.

‘’You may begin!’’

With his words, two unfathomable auras broke out.

A sharp whistle echoed inside the arena and Li Ao saw a streak of light converge on top of Zhen Zedong’s head.

The sword behind him rippled, then rose from its sheath. It had a beautiful aquamarine shower of Qi that enhanced its threat.

Li Ao didn’t dare to take him lightly. After all, the difference between Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation was already a hard hurdle to overcome.

When the opponent was a Heaven’s Child, no one could ascertain their real fighting power.

With a flick of his wrist, flames expanded through his palm into its solid, spear shape.

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He put it in front of him, eyes glinting. The next moment, Zhen Zedong’s flying sword descended like lightning.

The sword’s body was a blur as it stabbed through the air at him.

‘How strong is it?’

It was necessary to find out.

The sword flashed past and cut through his block like a ghost.

A red streak exploded from Li Ao’s right arm and spilled bronz-ish red blood down to his feet.

From his pinky to his shoulder, a deep gash appeared.

Gasping, but also eyes narrowed, Li Ao revolved. The sword whistled and struck again, and he swung the spear like a pole at it.

Two of them met with a ripple, then a shockwave burst forth like an explosion. Aftermath of the clashing Spiritual Qi sent quakes through the arena.

The trembling front seats cheered at the fierce sight. More and more people joined the collective cheers; shouts, screams, hollerings, swearings, all combining into one disturbing wave of sound that made both contestants’ blood boil.

Zhen Zedong snorted at the audience and made a hand seal. His flying sword flashed with two colors this time—Aquamarine and Gold. Li Ao could see two lines of formation running through the silver blade with the light.

‘Concealment and Heaviness?’

His mastery over formations quickly identified the two lines.

‘Concealment blurs the body, making it impossible to understand the trajectory.’

Hence his inability to block the first strike.

‘But heaviness?’

That was a scary one. Heaviness formations were generally used on buildings to make their foundations sturdier. Few people would inscribe them over weapons except Giants.

Preparing himself, Li Ao watched the sword in the sky descend again.

One second, it was a blur, the other second a shower of dangerous light. The Two-colored blade cut both wind and the low clouds with a scream and stabbed at him.

‘’Go!’’

With a shout, Li Ao circulated his Qi and Blood.

Through his pores, a magnificent bronze aura poured out like mist. However, its scale was uncomparable to his past fights. It spread first five, then ten meters around him like a glow, and made contact with the sword.

There was no shockwave. The sword buried itself into the aura, cut through four meters of it, then halted.

Zhen Zedong’s eyes flashed. He made another hand seal, and a trace of red appeared on the blade. The sword started to struggle inside, vibrating.

However, Li Ao didn’t allow him to do all this without effort. Closing his hands like an extended claw, the bronze aura half-condensed into a solid shape. The sword was locked in its place, still struggling, but unable to harm the mist.

Laughing, Li Ao stomped and threw himself forward. Employing both his Physique and Spiritual Cultivation, he basked in a bronze and crimson light.

His terrifying momentum caused Zhen Zedong to frown. With another hand seal, the boy pointed two hands forward.

Suddenly, the two blades by his side trembled, then shot out of their sheaths.

Li Ao choked on his saliva.

‘’Three flying swords?’’

‘’This heaven’s child is too rich!’’

Audience’s cheers were interrupted by exclamations, but the fight went on.

Li Ao twisted his ankles and waist, dodging two swords rounding him like miniature stars.

Perhaps from the excessive cheering, or from the difficulty of controlling two swords, Zhen Zedong didn’t have the same dexterity with the blade trapped in the mist.

Every step was won through great difficulty. Zhen Zedong retreated back and Li Ao moved forward, and the continuous charge made both of them sweat.

At this level of strength, any strike could very well destroy their chances to win.

Ducking his head, Li Ao escaped another pincer attack.

The remnant wind washed over his face and fluttered his hair, but he had no mind for it.

There were now ten steps between them!

With a roar, he leaped forward again. The bronze mist churned with power, and his Physique swelled like a balloon.

The entirety of him pumped out pure strength.

Zhen Zedong’s eyes flashed right then.

Suddenly, he made a hand gesture and pointed two fingers up. Li Ao felt a berserk force coming from the blade within the mist, and a black color flashed within.

With a glance, he read the formations.

‘Concealment, Heaviness, Sharpness, Ethereal!’

‘Ethereal!?’

A Master-level formation—one that he couldn’t even learn at the moment, let alone create.

It caused anything it was inscribed on to turn ethereal for brief moments, escaping to another layer of space, called Second Space.

Within that realm, nothing could touch it. The Qi expenditure was great to employ a technique like this, but it was well worth it at this moment!

Like a shadow, the sword bypassed the mist and shot up, joining the other two in a triangular formation above him.

Li Ao planted his feet in, but didn’t stop his charge towards Zhen Zedong!

Eyes wide, the quiet boy let out a roar. Watching the flaming spear approach him, he shot both palms forward. His Green halo swirled like snakes around his arm and bit towards the incoming spear.

Everything happened too fast to comprehend for the audience. However, it was only a few seconds for them!

The swords fell like lightning, Li Ao stabbed like a bull, and Zhen Zedong struck like a snake.

BOOM!

The explosion shook the arena and tumbled many standing in the audience down their seats over other people. The tremors spread and spread, then from the point of impact a great cloud of debris rose to the heavens.

A rumbling echoed.

‘’Bubbles!’’

Shooting out of the cloud like a rocket, Li Ao retreated with quick steps. There were three swords on top of him, struggling to get out of a black-silver liquid that kept bubbling.

From their connection, Li Ao could sense her pain, but also determination.

‘I am going to keep your back!’ She seemed to say.

Bubbles was young, and she had no skills to speak of.

However, she was still a Heaven-grade tool! She had an unimaginable defensive capacity that few could pierce—only the Core Formation realm had a chance to hurt her in this state.

However, Bubbles was young, again.

After enduring this strike, her aura rapidly declined. She couldn’t do anything else for a few days in this state. With a wave of his hand, Li Ao sent her back into the spatial ring.

The swords above him whizzed and whistled, then shot back towards Zhen Zedong. Clearing away the dust with a gust of wind, the boy showed his fine, albeit pale state.

As the two of them stared at each other, the audience erupted with another wave of cheer.

Up on the high seats, many gasped and coughed at the sight.

Everyone cast a glance at Fan Yueyin, a common question in their minds.

Just how much did this woman love her disciples?