"If I am inferior in skill, I, Zhao Wu, have nothing more to say!" Zhao Wu, after being stunned in disbelief for a moment, sighed helplessly and then left in despondence.

"Damn it!" Within the crowd, Zhao Zihao's face was flushed with embarrassment. The tone Zhao Letian used, it was as if an elder was guiding a junior – as though in Zhao Letian's eyes, both he and Zhao Wu were merely juniors, not even qualified to be Zhao Letian's opponents. To him, this was an utterly humiliating disgrace.

"Second brother, there's no need to be angry. Big brother will soon avenge you. Zhao Letian might be insolent in front of others, but in front of me, he can't be arrogant. I'll make him kneel and beg for mercy on the stage and publicly apologize to you!" Zhao Shijie said with a cold smile beside him.

"Um, I believe big brother can definitely defeat Zhao Letian." Zhao Zihao nodded, his expression invigorated.

"Alright, the top four contenders have now been determined. Next, we will use a lottery draw to decide their fighting opponents." The presiding Elder announced loudly as he ascended the stage, holding an ancient and exquisite bamboo tube containing four slender bamboo sticks with the names of Zhao Letian and the other three finalists.

Afterward, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the Elder drew two sticks from the tube and held them up high, displaying them to the audience.

"Fourth place Zhao Letian versus third place Zhao Hongyu? That means the remaining first place Zhao Shijie is set to face off against second place Zhao Lingshan."

"Tsks, Zhao Letian has such good luck, facing Zhao Hongyu he might have a chance to contend, but if he were to face Zhao Shijie or Zhao Lingshan, he'd likely have no chance at all."

"Zhao Hongyu is also lucky. If he were to face Zhao Shijie or Zhao Lingshan, he would have no chance either. Now facing Zhao Letian, he has a much greater chance of winning and can also avenge his brother Zhao Kang." This соntеnt оriginаtеs frоm М1VLЕМРYR, Мy Virtuаl Librаry Еmpirе.

The crowd engaged in various discussions.

The winners of the next two matches will take the first and second places, advancing to the final assessment of combat strength, while the two that lose will have another fight to decide the third and fourth places.

"First match, Zhao Letian versus Zhao Hongyu!" The Elder announced loudly, then stepped down from the stage.

"Heh, Zhao Shijie, sorry about that. It seems Zhao Letian is destined to fall to me, and you won't have the chance to avenge your brother Zhao Zihao. Of course, if you lose to Zhao Lingshan, you would naturally get a chance to fight again." Zhao Hongyu, before ascending the stage, flashed Zhao Shijie a smug smile.

"That's not necessarily true. If you lose to Zhao Letian, I'll be able to teach him a lesson in the finals too," Zhao Shijie frowned, slightly vexed, although he also thought it was more likely for Zhao Letian to lose, he retorted coldly.

"Me, lose to Zhao Letian? What a joke, unless he still has the pinnacle strength he had back in the day!" Zhao Shijie sneered confidently. Then, turning to Zhao Kang, who was wearing an arm sling, he said, "Second brother, watch closely. Your big brother is about to avenge you. I will first disable one of Zhao Letian's arms, then make him kneel and apologize to you in front of everyone!"

"Okay!" Zhao Kang nodded, but his expression was somewhat complex. Zhao Letian's performance today had increasingly unsettled him, making him feel extremely frightened in hindsight. Yesterday, he dared to humiliate Zhao Letian to his face, calling him a bastard, because he thought Zhao Letian had indeed become a waste. But now it seemed, even with reduced cultivation, Zhao Letian's strength was far beyond his own. He even started to doubt whether his big brother Zhao Hongyu could truly defeat Zhao Letian.

Soon, under the gaze of thousands, Zhao Letian and Zhao Hongyu almost simultaneously stepped onto the stage.

"Although Zhao Letian's strength is somewhat unexpected, he is probably just on par with those who have just entered the Primordial Martial Nine Layers. My son Hongyu is almost reaching small achievement of Primordial Martial Nine Layers, and with some hidden moves, he can surely win against Zhao Letian and avenge Kang!" On the main platform, Zhao Family's third master, Zhao Liehu, looked at his son Zhao Hongyu on the stage with a completely confident smile.

Conversely, not far away, Zhao Yixin had furrowed brows and her expression was somewhat grave. In her view, considering her son Zhao Letian's displayed strength, he should not have a problem against those below the Primordial Martial Nine Layers, but against those above, winning was unlikely to be guaranteed. Whether he could defeat Zhao Hongyu was also uncertain. However, she felt her son's strength had not yet fully revealed itself; at least he still had a chance against Zhao Hongyu.

Simultaneously, the interest of the spectating crowd grew even more intense. With his Nine Layers Cultivation, Zhao Hongyu seemed very likely to defeat Zhao Letian, providing them with the satisfactory sight of a genius defeated.

"Zhao Letian, as everyone knows, your Martial Soul is the Sword Martial Soul. What you are most adept in should be swordsmanship. Draw your sword. Bring out your strongest strength, or don't blame me for not giving you a chance when you lose to me later!" On the stage, Zhao Hongyu, as confident as Zhao Letian, stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his black robe billowing with the wind and his gaze piercing, mocking Zhao Letian with a sneer.

"Truly befitting of someone with Nine Layers Cultivation, what a different presence!"

The crowd exclaimed, feeling Zhao Hongyu's powerful aura of a Nine Layers Cultivation practitioner the moment he stepped on the stage. His composure indicated that everything was under his control, a sign of his formidable strength.

"To deal with you, I don't even need to draw a sword. A Qi Sword will suffice." Zhao Letian spoke calmly, joining his fingers like a sword, and suddenly, a three-inch white Sword Qi emerged from his fingertips, emitting a glaring light.

"So strong, to condense a Qi Sword so effortlessly indeed befits one with a Sword Martial Soul!"

The crowd immediately showed envious expressions, marveling that only those with a Sword Martial Soul could possibly condense such a pure edge of Sword Qi.

"Is this the extent of your capability? It seems your cultivation is indeed too low. Otherwise, this Sword Qi should be at least half a foot long. Nonetheless, it should be enough to handle Zhao Hongyu," Zhao Letian looked at the Sword Qi on his hand and was not very satisfied.

He knew that facing someone with Nine Layers Cultivation like Zhao Hongyu, he definitely needed to use swordsmanship; otherwise, the fight would be extremely difficult, requiring the consumption of a lot of Primordial Energy. And although after cultivating the "Nine Heavy Xuan Armor Technique," he had at least one-third more Primordial Energy than others of the same level, after the previous two battles, he had already spent a lot. Besides, he wanted to reserve some Primordial Energy for the final battle, so he did not want to engage in a war of attrition with Zhao Hongyu. That's why he decided to use swordsmanship. However, his own sword had been lost in the battle against Shentu Yu, and there was no time to prepare a new one upon returning, so he had no choice but to create a Qi Sword. Fortunately, today's fight was only a contest and not a life-and-death struggle, so such a technique should be sufficient.