CHAPTER 64: CHAPTER 64: THE MASTER OF HIDDEN WEAPONS

The quality of the second round was evidently higher than that of the first.

Actually, not many people used choreographed moves or feigned fighting in the preliminary rounds. Since the preliminaries were knockout matches, acting cool at the expense of not being able to participate in the official competition would be idiotic. Only those with overwhelmingly superior strength could afford to ensure victory while also showing off.

Those who couldn’t figure out when to show off had already been eliminated yesterday. In the second round, many Star Martial Warriors started by going all out, unleashing their Star Martial Skills like they cost nothing.

Some Star Martial Warriors couldn’t withstand the baptism of Star Martial Skills in the first round and were eliminated. Others enjoyed themselves when casting their Star Martial Skills, but after their Star Power was depleted, they were taken out by their opponents with a single move.

"Contestant number forty-four, please come to ring number seven for your match!"

Wang Lan stood up.

Qiuqiu held a bit of a grudge against Wang Lan. Just now, she was caught off guard and ended up being completely seen by this person. Even if it wasn’t intentional, deep down, it felt uncomfortable! Hate! I curse him to get a sty in his eye!

Although Qiuqiu remained silent during this time, she couldn’t stop thinking about what Wang Lan had seen. What did he look like? Was there a handsome young man behind that mask, or a creepy older man? No, it couldn’t be a creepy older man. With a physique that good, without a pot belly, he definitely couldn’t be an older man... But... who says that older men must have pot bellies? Ah... What to do, it’s so embarrassing!

"Qiuqiu, your man is entering the ring."

"What ’Qiuqiu’s man’? Qiuqiu belongs to all of us!"

"Just one look at you, and I’ve determined my forever, at that moment..."

"Who’s playing that song? Turn it off! Qiuqiu isn’t that kind of person; who would fall in love at first sight?"

Wang Lan’s opponent this time was fairly normal: a girl with an ancient charm, wearing a cheongsam with high slits and her hair in baozi buns. In her hand was a metallic fan, made of some unknown material.

"Wow, this girl is gorgeous..."

"So straight, so long, so white, I like it so much..."

"Wipe your drool! She’s a Star Martial Warrior; you know your thoughts are very dangerous... Young lady, actually, I feel the same way. Just use your long legs to snap my neck! I would leave this world happily..."

Howls erupted in the livestream.

"The match begins!"

The female opponent, with a peach-blossom smile, slowly bent down. "Please enlighten me, Sir!"

"Please..." Wang Lan began to return the gesture when a sudden alarm blared in his mind. The instant the woman bent over, a concealed arrow shot out rapidly from her collar.

The sneak attack was so swift it reached Wang Lan’s face in an instant.

Without time for hesitation, Wang Lan immediately drew Ghost Wail and cleaved it in two.

Anger rose in Wang Lan’s heart. This woman is too despicable! Sure, the referee’s whistle signaled the start of the match, but luring someone with a courtesy and then launching a surprise attack? That’s not fair play, even by the most liberal interpretation!

Just as he had sliced the concealed arrow, countless hidden weapons suddenly shot at him from all directions.

Instantly, Wang Lan’s heart quivered, and the anger that had just flared was immediately suppressed.

This is a master! Almost in an instant, Wang Lan determined that the woman in front of him was extremely powerful, perhaps even the strongest among all the competitors he had seen so far.

Of course, the entire Star Martial Arts Competition might be full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, with some not revealing their strength simply because their opponents were too weak. After watching the first round, Wang Lan had almost thought his skills were good enough to secure a top-ten spot.

But at this moment, Wang Lan swiftly pushed down his rising complacency. Don’t get carried away, or you might not even make it past the preliminaries!

Hidden weapons are much less lethal than swords. To maintain concealment and surprise, hidden weapons are typically made very small. In terms of pure destructive power, even a direct hit wouldn’t cause significant damage.

So, to make up for the lack of killing power, hidden weapons are usually coated with poison.

Wang Lan had heard from Huang Feilong that among Star Martial Warriors, there is a certain type of master in using hidden weapons. Some are object manipulators, and others specialize in the use of poisons. Object manipulators are a very powerful and rare type, whereas most of the hidden weapon-users encountered are experts in poison.

The moment the hidden weapons rained down like a torrent from above, Wang Lan’s sword transformed into a huge fan that shielded his body.

PING! PING! CLANG! CLANG!

"Crap, it’s a climax right from the start—"

"Gorgeous! What Star Martial Skill is this? It’s as pretty as stage lights."

"Control room, switch to camera on ring seven! Close-up! Switch to the close-up, quick!"

If other matches were intense, then ring seven was a relentless flurry of action.

If other matches were fierce, then the one on ring seven was so fast that the eye couldn’t keep up.

This female Star Martial Warrior seemed like a gentle woman from Jiangnan, but her moves were incredibly sharp. Moreover, Wang Lan could not fathom how she hid so many hidden weapons, especially in a sleeveless cheongsam that didn’t seem to have room for so many.

Hidden weapons pouring down like rain was one thing, but their power was also terrifyingly formidable, akin to machine-gun bullets raining from the sky. Had it not been for Wang Lan’s mastery of the Star Cloud Sword Dance, any ordinary silver-level sword skill would have been absolutely unable to withstand this unceasing barrage of hidden weapons.

THUD! THUD! THUD!— In just a short while, the ground around Wang Lan was studded with hidden weapons.

And the woman’s hidden weapons seemed to show no sign of stopping. She pulled out a scroll from somewhere, slapped it with one hand, and a cloud of smoke burst forth, followed by a large bundle of dark hidden weapons—steel needles, darts, throwing knives, a complete assortment of every imaginable kind.

"Damn, isn’t this cheating?"

"It’s not cheating. The Star Martial Arts Competition is promoted as a real combat competition, so all real combat skills can be used. All props are allowed, aside from Soul Beads. As for weapons, everything except firearms is permitted."

"Space-portable equipment is not against the rules. If hidden weapons are her combat skill, then there’s no problem with her using as many as she wants."

"This looks like someone’s about to get taken out in one fell swoop! That masked Star Martial Warrior is actually very strong. His Sword Qi is even stronger than the one from yesterday, and his offense and defense are integrated with thrilling special effects. It’s just a pity that he encountered this superhuman young lady."

"Yeah, it’s like ten people holding Gatling guns spraying bullets. Who could withstand that? Is this young lady some kind of tentacle monster? How can she launch so many hidden weapons instantly? It’s making my scalp tingle."

"So cool! The masked man’s movement technique is graceful, like stage lighting effects, while the young lady is even more powerful and domineering. Even though the masked man’s defense is tight, it’s not a long-term solution."

Various live streamers simultaneously switched their streams to the seventh arena. From every aspect, the duel in arena number seven was even more exciting and flashy.

The rain of hidden weapons lasted a full five minutes. Thanks to Wang Lan’s impenetrable defense, they were all blocked. The ground within the area where Wang Lan stood was thickly studded with all kinds of hidden weapons.

Wang Lan’s movements stopped. The sword in his hand began to hum, a sound like the wailing of ghosts in the dead of night.

Across from him, the beauty’s chest rose and fell with her panting breath, and a smile bloomed on her face. "You’re amazing. Up to now, not a single person has withstood my metal storm. But, you’ve already lost."

Wang Lan remained silent, wondering if she was bluffing or if he had unknowingly fallen into her trap.

Although the previous exchange lasted only a few minutes, it felt like an arduous battle for Wang Lan. In these brief few minutes, he had undergone several transformations.

The transformations he had failed to achieve in the trial field—facing the Biochemical Demon Soldiers and confronting the ferocious Exotic Beasts—were completed while dodging the hidden weapons just now.

"Let me tell you a secret," she whispered, "my innate Star Martial Skill is ’Magnet Control’!"

As her words fell, the beautiful Star Martial Warrior stamped her foot. A throwing knife on the ground suddenly sprang up, whistling through the air towards Wang Lan’s face.

In an instant, Wang Lan’s figure split in two. The hidden weapon passed through his body and shot into the distance.

A clone? No, it’s an afterimage!

Wang Lan’s figure seemed to ripple, creating layer upon layer of distinct afterimages, clearly visible despite his seemingly unhurried movements.

Wang Lan executed the Star Cloud movement technique. In the instant his figure flickered, his opponent’s field of vision seemed to be densely filled with his image.

"Damn, what is this... rapid left and right sidestep technique?"

"So the masked man was holding back a big move!"

"Multiple shadow clone technique? Isn’t that too shocking?"

"No, this is an A-level Star Martial Skill, the Star Cloud Sword Dance!" Suddenly, golden text sprang up in the live stream.

"Mr. Qin? Mr. Qin has appeared? Qiuqiu, you’ve hit the jackpot! Is Mr. Qin dropping by your live stream?"

Mr. Qin was a well-known content creator, but at the same time, he was a legendary figure with a very mysterious background. No one knew his true identity, only that he had an extraordinary understanding of the Star Martial Warrior world.

He didn’t live stream but only made videos. His videos were all about explaining the secrets of the Star Martial Warrior world to ordinary people, as well as introducing powerful Star Martial Warriors and some powerful Star Martial Skills. Mr. Qin had only published thirty educational short videos on a certain platform, but his fan base had reached an astonishing 30,000,000.

Some speculated that Mr. Qin might be a scion of a Star Martial family, and it was because of his powerful background that he could so boldly display the world of Star Martial Warriors in front of ordinary people.

"Mr. Qin, what is an A-Level Star Martial Skill? Mr. Qin, can you talk about the outcome of this match?"

"Yeah, Mr. Qin, since you’re here, can’t you drop some insider info?"

"Mr. Qin, leave some insider info, and I’ll invite you to be the gatekeeper."

"Qiuqiu, give me the mic," Mr. Qin replied curtly. With such a revered figure dropping in, Qiuqiu dared not hesitate and promptly handed the mic over to Mr. Qin.

"Hello everyone in Qiuqiu’s live stream room, I am Mr. Qin. I don’t like to be interrupted when I speak, nor do I like it when you spam the chat with lewd jokes. Otherwise, I’ll mute you all.

"Now, to the point: what *is* an A-level Star Martial Skill? To answer that, we need to start with the classification of Star Martial Skills based on power. Star Martial Skills are divided into five levels based on their power and the difficulty of learning them: D, C, B, A, and S.

"I won’t talk much about the difference in power between these levels, as you wouldn’t be able to comprehend it even if I did. Instead, let me talk about who typically uses A-level Star Martial Skills. A-level Star Martial Skills, known as Star Cloud Skills, are Star Martial Skills commonly possessed by Star Cloud Stage Star Martial Warriors.

"They are the most frequently used category of skills by Star Cloud Stage warriors. Owning three A-level Star Martial Skills means you could be considered among the top experts even among Star Cloud Stage warriors. Moreover, Star Cloud Stage warriors hold at least a captain’s rank in the army, and peak Star Cloud Stage experts may be granted the rank of senior captain or major.

"In the Pioneer Legion, Star Cloud Stage Star Martial Warriors can serve as commanders leading a hundred-man Star Martial Warrior legion to fulfill pioneering tasks. In other words, a Star Martial Warrior who possesses A-level Star Martial Skills has at least the achievement of being a commander in the Pioneering Legion and a core force in the military.

"If Star Martial Warriors of the same level face an opponent with higher-level Star Martial Skills, the best course of action is to concede defeat straight away."