CHAPTER 116: END OF THE THIRD DAY

Chapter 116: End of the Third Day

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But unfortunately, neither the referee nor his opponent seemed to care in the slightest about his anger.

In his mind, he had already accepted defeat and was wondering whether to just give up immediately or fight anyway.

"Damn it, since I’m already here, I might as well at least exchange a few blows," he muttered to himself, finally making up his mind.

Too bad for him, fate wasn’t so kind.

Because the moment the fight began, before he even had time to attack, the other side moved at terrifying speed and closed the distance in a single second.

He barely even registered what was happening when, the very next instant, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, and his vision went dark.

Thud!

He had been sent flying backward with brutal force from a single strike, smashing into the barrier that surrounded the arena before crashing to the ground, completely still, clearly unconscious.

No fight, no suspense, just one strike, and it was over.

Although everyone had already expected Li Duoji to win the match, seeing him overwhelm his opponent so effortlessly was still a heavy blow.

Those who already feared him now wore grim expressions, fully aware that they would be the next ones to step into the arena against him.

At this point, everyone understood there was no point in even trying to fight him.

If this had been like the matches of the first and second year students, they could still have chosen to stay out of the arena, letting Li Duoji win by default, at least saving some energy and giving the others a chance.

But this time, their number was less than a hundred.

And split across ten arenas, that meant each had only about ten participants. Which meant only one could emerge victorious from each arena.

So what did that mean?

It meant they either fought and tried to defeat their opponents, or surrendered and handed them victory anyway.

Seeing that either way the odds of victory were low, many decided to withdraw. But precisely because of that, some others decided to try anyway.

They knew they couldn’t be seriously injured or killed here, so they could still go all out, fight, and possibly at least weaken the other side.

Sure, maybe it would just make victory easier for someone else in their group, but that was still better than not even trying to fight and simply letting Li Duoji win.

They were all talented students, above the average, survivors of the academy’s harsh years, and now finally in their third and final year.

None of them were weak. And so, they all had their own pride.

They admired the strong, like Li Duoji who shone among his peers, but that didn’t mean they would bow their heads and step back without trying.

So, with determination still burning in their hearts, another student stepped onto the stage, ready to fight. Even though he knew he would probably lose, he had no intention of going down without resistance.

That was what all his companions thought as well.

Too bad for them, their determination wasn’t nearly enough to cause any problems for the other side.

In no time, Li Duoji defeated another five of them before the rest finally admitted defeat, officially naming him the winner of Arena No. 6.

The referee of the arena could only shake his head.

He knew this result was inevitable, but he was still pleasantly surprised that at least the others hadn’t immediately backed down and had tried to fight.

Having been an academy instructor for a long time, he carried his own pride. He expected academy students to do well, to show courage, and not act like cowards.

Of course, he also believed that if retreating meant saving one’s life, then there was nothing to be ashamed of.

In the face of death, no emotions, pride or any other, lost all meaning.

In such a case, he would not have been disappointed with them.

But here, where their lives were guaranteed, if they still chose to withdraw just because they thought they had no chance of winning, it would definitely have disappointed him.

That being said, Li Duoji was the first victor. And although he had to fight nearly six battles, they were all over quickly, so only a few minutes had passed in total.

He turned to glance at the other arenas, where battles were still ongoing.

There too, the situation in some arenas was similar to his own, several students continued to fight opponent after opponent without losing even once.

But even so, their situations couldn’t be compared to his.

Many of them were already visibly exhausted, and some had even begun to withdraw so they could recover their strength.

It was clear that although the number of third year participants was low, their strength was anything but.

And inevitably, this was leading to many battles being fought fiercely until the time limit, which in this case was thirty minutes.

And so, the third year battles went on, and little by little the first winners from each arena began to emerge.

Almost every hour, one or two students would step down from their arenas as victors. And in just a few hours, the ten winners of the third year had been decided.

The crowd never stopped cheering the entire time, with first and second year students admiring the power of their seniors, and the third years cheering for their victorious friends.

The atmosphere remained heated until the very end, a clear sign of just how different today’s battles were compared to those of the previous two days.

Meanwhile, in an area reserved for the instructors, they nodded as they watched the ten winners.

There weren’t many surprises, almost all the winners had been exactly who the instructors had expected.

Only in one case had someone they thought would win been defeated, replaced by another third year student nobody had predicted.

But that didn’t disappoint them.

If anything, it was the opposite, if someone appeared outside of their expectations, it meant there was an even more talented student than they had thought. And that was a reason for joy.

With the list of winners from all three years complete, the instructors now had everything they needed to prepare for the two remaining days of the tournament. So, one by one, they began to leave to make their preparations.

Among them, only one person remained in her seat, staring out from the large instructor’s hall window toward the audience stands.

It was Lian Yuexing.

She had noticed that in the last few days, Zhu Rong hadn’t shown up at all, and this bothered her.

She understood that since he had already secured his spot for tomorrow’s matches, he didn’t necessarily need to be here.

But still, a normal person would have at least made the effort to come and watch the competition, get a sense of their opponents’ strength, maybe even think of strategies to advance further.

Yet he hadn’t bothered to show up even once these past days, hiding away who knows where.

She had already been impressed by his strength, and for a moment she thought he might even have a chance to claim one of the five spots for the group that would venture into the Secret Realm.

But no.

He didn’t seem to care about it at all.