CHAPTER 132: LI DUOJI VS YAO JIANBO

Chapter 132: Li Duoji vs Yao Jianbo

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The 30 minute break passed in a flash, and before anyone knew it, the tournament started up again.

This time though, there weren’t 4 arenas anymore, but instead one big enough to give the fighters complete freedom of movement, without having to worry about this or that restriction.

The more freedom of movement, the more action, which translated into much more intense and exciting battles, where every contestant would try to take advantage of anything they could, from the tiniest shred of Qi left in their body to the slightest motion of their body or weapon.

For inexperienced fighters without much battle experience, that wasn’t really possible, but the more you trained and the better you got, the more these things became almost automatic, pushing the body to memorize actions on its own, leaving the brain more space to focus on other things.

But of course, that didn’t apply only to martial arts. It went for all combat or crafting professions, as well as many other things.

It was in situations like this that the audience could fully admire a person’s skills, and right now the 4 participants who had held on until the end had reached this point where everyone would fight tooth and nail to secure the top spot of the competition.

Or at least, that’s how it was supposed to be. But when the audience saw the expression of a certain individual, after realizing it wasn’t his turn to fight first, they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"Fuck, he actually went to take a nap," one spectator muttered as he spotted Zhu Rong in the distance, who had found himself a quiet corner in the waiting area and decided to sleep.

Everyone noticed this scene, the remaining contestants and even the referees, who didn’t know what expression to make.

Even Lian Yuexin, who was up in the area reserved for instructors, turned her gaze away, pretending not to know that person.

In the end, the referee, who had already stepped into the arena and just announced the first two fighters, coughed lightly before continuing.

"Let the two students step into the arena," he said, moving aside and leaving the entire space open for the two third year students who stepped up from opposite ends, staring each other down.

Yes, the first two to fight were none other than Li Duoji and Yao Jianbo.

Both had stepped onto the stage, and this time, both had also brought their weapons.

In previous battles, many participants hadn’t used weapons at all, some because they preferred fighting bare handed, others because they didn’t consider it necessary against their earlier opponents.

These two had been in that second category, putting their weapons aside and fighting without them.

But right now, neither of them dared leave their weapons behind, and that was because both knew very well just how powerful the other was. Not bringing their weapons now would have been the same as handing victory to their opponent.

That said, Yao Jianbo stood there in his third year student uniform, with a belt at his waist holding the sheath of his sword.

He stood with his left hand resting on the hilt of his sword, staring at his opponent with excitement in his eyes.

Throughout the whole tournament, he hadn’t had the chance to go all out, every opponent of his had been defeated in just a few moves. Even the third years he had faced were sent crashing down with only a couple of blows.

He, along with Li Duoji, had always been one of the greatest talents of his year, and as such, he had ended up in more than one feud with Li Duoji.

Not just because he considered him a worthy opponent to fight against, but also because of the clonflicts between their families.

Since the Li family and the Yao family were both among the four great families of Qiyan City, conflict between their members was inevitable.

And in this case, where one was the first son of the current family heir, while the other wasn’t even the son of a direct descendant of the main branch of the family, but instead from one of the side branches, such conflicts could only grow stronger.

He had been ridiculed more than once, but he had silenced everyone with his overwhelming talent. The only one he still hadn’t managed to properly teach a lesson to was Li Duoji, who treated him like trash not even worthy of his attention.

And unfortunately for him, Li Duoji actually had the skills to maintain that arrogant, dismissive attitude.

Otherwise, Yao Jianbo would have smashed his face a long time ago.

The last big fight between the two had been at the beginning of their third year, where they ended up in a draw and both were seriously injured, since neither of them had held back.

From that moment on, Yao Jianbo had trained nonstop, sharpening his sword arts like a madman, and today he would finally have the chance to settle the score with him.

After all, what better stage than this one to do it, right?

Seeing the smile on the other’s face, Li Duoji didn’t seem all that worried. Holding his spear in hand, he got ready to fight.

When both sides were clearly prepared, the referee gave the signal to begin.

The moment the sign was given, both figures disappeared from their spots, only to reappear in the center of the arena a split second later, weapons already drawn as they threw themselves at each other.

"Hahaha, Li Duoji, this time it won’t end like last time. I’ll beat you so badly you’ll be begging on your knees for mercy!" shouted Yao Jianbo, completely out of control as he released a powerful fire aura that wrapped around his sword.

Li Duoji, who had also rushed head on to face his opponent, couldn’t help but smirk at those words as he replied,

"Beg for mercy? That’s beyond your abilities,"

As he spoke, he too released a strong aura of wind.

The moment the two clashed, their attacks, charged with elemental energy, collided, instantly unleashing a powerful shockwave followed by a faint yet perceptible explosion of spiritual energy that spread in all directions like an expanding ring.

This time, it was clearly stronger than any battle so far.

Seeing this, the audience, who had been waiting for this moment for so long, could barely contain themselves and erupted into wild cheers.

"Holy shit, the fight just started and the intensity is already this high! Is this the power of the best third year talents?" shouted a first year student, watching with shining eyes.

And he wasn’t the only one, many others, from both the second and third years, joined in, getting more and more excited as the fight grew more intense after that first clash.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The metallic sound of their weapons colliding rang out continuously across the arena as both sides unleashed their most refined techniques and exchanged relentless blows.

This went on for nearly a full minute, and even though such little time had passed, the number of strikes they exchanged already surpassed fifty, and it only kept increasing.

Neither side held back, neither retreated a single step, both continuing to press their attacks without rest.

Seeing this, Yao Jianbo, who had endured so well up until now, couldn’t help but erupt in a wild laugh, his sword gleaming in his hands.

"Hahaha, nice! You haven’t gotten rusty one bit. That’s a relief, otherwise, I’d be disappointed."

As he spoke, a powerful aura began to surge from him, and his cultivation level, which at the beginning hadn’t gone beyond the early stage of the third stage, started to climb rapidly, from early stage to middle stage, then continuing to rise until it reached the peak of the third stage.

The moment this happened, the crowd went wild, realizing he had finally decided to get serious.

Even though it was only mid year, the most talented third years had already cultivated beyond the early stage of the third realm.

The least the audience expected to see today was a power level around the middle stage.

But instead, Yao Jianbo had gone straight to the peak of the third realm, clearly showing he wasn’t planning on holding back anymore.

Some were surprised, while others simply nodded, as if they expected nothing less from someone like him.

But throughout all this, Li Duoji, standing in the middle of the pressure released by his opponent’s explosive power, didn’t look worried.

At a safe distance, he observed the other side with a sharp glint in his eyes.

He wasn’t the only one, many of the instructors were also watching Yao Jianbo with a particular expression.

The reason wasn’t obvious at first, but soon it became clear. And the moment it did, the other instructors who hadn’t noticed at first leapt up from their seats, examining more closely the aura suddenly being released by Yao Jianbo.

"This... don’t tell me,"

"Heavens, are you telling me someone not even twenty years old has really developed it?"

Many instructors shouted in shock as they watched a golden aura slowly emerge from Yao Jianbo’s sword.

It soon rose above him, gathering into a single point and gradually forming into the shape of what looked like a sword.

Seeing this, even among the audience, many who recognized what it was jumped to their feet, exclaiming in disbelief:

"Am I seeing things right now?

That... that’s really a Sword Aura?!"