"I challenge... Lul Bei!"
Hearing Bu Changtian announce his challenge, the martial artists gathered from all around showed disappointment on their faces, with hissing sounds unceasing in their ears.
They had originally thought that Bu Changtian might challenge a strong contender, expecting to see an exciting dragon vs. tiger battle; however, to their surprise, Bu Changtian chose to challenge Lul Bei, who had been severely injured by Tao Hui with a single sword strike earlier.
Ye Zhen was also somewhat surprised, but upon further thought, Bu Changtian’s choice to challenge Lul Bei at this time made sense.
Bu Changtian’s injury was to his Divine Soul, and within a mere two hours, he definitely wouldn’t recover much, so choosing a weaker opponent to fight, in order to gain more recovery time and hope to restore more combat power later on, was indeed the best choice for him.
With the help of his family’s elixirs, Lul Bei had barely managed to recover to seventy percent after being severely injured by Tao Hui; however, when he heard that Bu Changtian wanted to challenge him, he almost spit out a mouthful of old blood.
This was clearly picking on the soft persimmons, and he, Lul Bei, was that soft persimmon.
Reluctantly, Lul Bei could only accept the challenge.
Logically, Lul Bei’s best choice would be to admit defeat, but unable to swallow this grievance, he went straight to the arena to fight.
The result was unquestionable; after merely exchanging three moves, Lul Bei was slapped off the Dragon Head Arena by Bu Changtian.
There was no helping it; Bu Changtian’s strength was evident. If Lul Bei hadn’t been injured, fully fit, he might have stood a chance to compete with an injured Bu Changtian, but now...
None of the warriors participating in the top ten ranking competition were fools. With Bu Changtian setting the example, the challengers in the second round rushed to challenge those who had lost in the first round.
It must be said, the disciples of the Phantom Divine Sect were quick-witted. Before Bu Changtian stepped down from the platform, Zuo Bin leaped onto the Dragon Head Arena and directly challenged Leng Tao, who had previously lost to Bai Xin.
Leng Tao hadn’t been injured in his previous fight and was extremely strong, indeed causing Zuo Bin quite a bit of trouble.
After two hundred rounds, the fight ended with Zuo Bin taking a shot to the thigh and Leng Tao spewing blood as he tumbled from the Dragon Head Arena.
"The second round, second match, Zuo Bin against Leng Tao, Zuo Bin wins!" In the sky, Qing Yii had a slight smile on his lips. With these two victories adding four points to Zuo Bin’s score, securing a spot in the top ten of the Black Dragon Ranking was virtually a done deal.
"The third match, who will come forward..."
"For the third match, I will challenge..."
"Tao Hui, they say it’s serendipity when we meet unintentionally. Since we’ve both taken the stage at the same time, why not have a match together? The grudges between our sects should be settled a bit earlier with a small conclusion."
Just as Tao Hui rushed onto the Dragon Head Arena, eager to challenge other martial artists, Ye Zhen lightly stepped onto the platform as well.
Ye Zhen’s words immediately gave Tao Hui the sensation as though he had swallowed a fly.
Originally, the opponent he had rushed to challenge was the relatively weaker Bi Zheng, but unexpectedly, Ye Zhen also stepped onto the Dragon Head Arena at the same time.
According to the rules of the ranking competition, if two fighters climb onto the stage at the same time to challenge, and if they haven’t fought each other yet, the two who climbed up first must compete against each other before challenging others in order. If there has been previous engagement, the one who got up first gets to challenge.
Essentially, the martial artists vying for the rankings would have to fight against every other competitor in their group once to finish. Sooner or later, Tao Hui would inevitably face Ye Zhen in battle.
The reason Tao Hui revealed such an expression now was mainly because Ye Zhen thwarted his plan.
According to his plan, during today’s sixth round, which was also the last round for the day, he would have actively challenged Ye Zhen. After consulting with the Sect Elders, he already had a plan that would not affect his Black Dragon Ranking too much while allowing him to deal with Ye Zhen freely.
But now, it all had been ruined by Ye Zhen’s sudden action.
Well, Ye Zhen could affirm that before this, he did not have the desire to seek out opponents; it was seeing Tao Hui that spurred him into action.
The Qiyun Sect and Sword Origin Sect were arch-enemies, harboring national hatred. The entire Sword Origin Sect was more than eager to take Ye Zhen’s head for the bounty. It was improbable for Ye Zhen not to cause them trouble.
"Tao Hui, proceed as planned. As long as you can kill Ye Zhen, it does not matter much if your Black Dragon Ranking drops by one or two places," the voice of Zhii Sheng, the Sword Origin Sect Elder presiding over other matches around the Dragon Head Arenas, transmitted into Tao Hui’s mind.
Tao Hui’s gaze suddenly became fiercely determined, even carrying a hint of resolve.
"Hmph, if it’s a fight you want, then it’s a fight you’ll get. I’m not afraid of you!"
"Ye Zhen, today will be your end!"
As his words fell, an incredibly sharp Sword Intent abruptly rose up from all around Tao Hui.
Ye Zhen’s expression hardened, and as the Red Jade Spirit Armor spread over his body, his Divine Sense naturally sank toward the First Sword Vein. Ye Zhen had watched Tao Hui’s previous fight; his strength was extraordinary.
After years of wandering the Jianghu, Ye Zhen had come to understand the principle of using full strength even when fighting a rabbit, and he wouldn’t be careless.
As the First Sword Vein resonated with a long hum, the familiar feeling of Sword Heart Enlightenment didn’t appear, causing Ye Zhen to slightly frown. This time, luck wasn’t on his side as he did not enter the state of Sword Heart Enlightenment.
A Vermilion Bird Spirit Image formed entirely of Sword Light let out a piercing shriek as it rapidly lunged at Ye Zhen.
"Red Jade Seal, suppress!"
A small red seal shot out like lightning, spinning swiftly and in the blink of an eye hovering above the Little Vermilion Bird Spirit Image Sword Formation. It sank slightly and, amidst a halo of brilliant light, rapidly pounced, causing Ye Zhen’s Little Vermilion Bird Spirit Image Sword Formation to immediately freeze in place. Flickering with light, it appeared on the verge of shattering.
Crack, crack, crack!
Under the suppression of the Red Jade Seal, the Little Vermilion Bird Spirit Image Sword Formation began to crumble bit by bit, but the light of the Red Jade Seal also faded quickly.
The same martial skill, wielded by different hands, differs greatly in strength.
Before Pang Bin’s Little Vermilion Bird Spirit Image Sword Formation, Ye Zhen’s Red Jade Seal easily annihilated it and still had enough residual power to heavily injure Pang Bin.
But after the Red Jade Seal had destroyed the Little Vermilion Bird Sword Formation cast by Tao Hui, the remaining power posed only a slight threat to Tao Hui.
"Hmph, is that so? Your Sect brothers who were killed by me, including your elder Zou Zhi, seemed to have said the same thing. Now, aren’t you still being chased around in disarray by me?" Taking on Tao Hui’s probe, Ye Zhen sneered, his figure flashing like lightning, with electric light flickering on his Profound Yang Sword as he began to counterattack against Tao Hui.
Under Ye Zhen’s counterattack, Tao Hui’s figure twisted and turned. No matter how dangerous the situation, he always maintained a distance of more than twenty meters from Ye Zhen.
Ye Zhen understood that Tao Hui was guarding against a Divine Soul Attack from him.
A Divine Soul Attack is extremely terrifying, particularly effective against opponents with a significant gap in Divine Soul Power, but it has a fatal weakness.
The effective attack range of a Divine Soul Attack varies depending on the strength of the Divine Soul.
For instance, when Ye Zhen’s cultivation had just broken through to the Second Realm of Divine Soul Cultivation and he could barely form a Soul Thorn, ten meters was the limit of his Divine Soul Attack range.
Beyond ten meters, the power of the Divine Soul Attack would rapidly diminish, drastically reducing the attack until it posed no threat at all.
Now, Ye Zhen’s Divine Soul Cultivation had reached the Third Stage, and the maximum range of his Divine Soul Attack was twenty meters, with the strongest effect within fifteen meters.
That’s also why Ye Zhen had to get close to Bu Changtian during their battle before he could launch a Divine Soul Attack.
Now, Tao Hui was desperately maintaining a twenty-meter distance from Ye Zhen to guard against his Divine Soul Attack.
Hearing Ye Zhen’s sneer, a cruel smile suddenly rose on Tao Hui’s lips.
"But this time... it’s different!"
The moment the last three words were spoken, the spiritual power roiling around Tao Hui suddenly retracted into his body. A very peculiar wave of spiritual power abruptly emanated from within Tao Hui.
A short, sharp Blood Arrow suddenly burst forth from the top of Tao Hui’s head. Simultaneously, a terrifying Sword Qi abruptly rose from within Tao Hui’s body.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
In the next instant, Tao Hui’s body was like it had been struck by hundreds of arrows; from various vital points all over his body, a short, sharp Blood Arrow shot out.
As so many Blood Arrows burst forth, Tao Hui’s aura didn’t decrease but instead escalated rapidly. The spiritual power that had retracted into his body rolled back out again.
Only this time, the rolling spiritual power that emerged was not only several times stronger than before but also carried a hint of bloodiness. The sanguine spiritual power condensed around Tao Hui into a colossal Blood Sword, exuding an ominous oppressive aura.
"Ye Zhen, be careful, this is the Blood Sword Body Forbidden Technique from the Sword Origin Sect! Depending on the level, it can enhance one’s strength from twenty percent to a full hundred percent. If it’s too much, just concede!" Jis Che’s anxious voice rang in Ye Zhen’s mind.
"Blood Sword Body?"
"Die! Ye Zhen, today is your day of death!"
Almost at the same time, Tao Hui, now surged with an aura of over forty percent stronger, looking like a bloody ghost with his body drenched in blood, his Sword Light suddenly flared, unleashing a torrential assault on Ye Zhen.
His Artifact in hand slashed like lightning, one after another Little Vermilion Bird Spirit Sword Bodies remotely bombarded Ye Zhen. Even though he had used the Forbidden Technique, Tao Hui still deliberately maintained a distance from Ye Zhen.
After deploying the Forbidden Technique, the Sword Moves Tao Hui slashed not only expanded the range of the Sword Light by forty to fifty percent, but the Sword Light also carried a layer of bloody Evil Qi, greatly increasing its power.
Originally, Ye Zhen’s Red Jade Seal could easily suppress the Little Vermilion Bird Spirit Sword Body, but now, it could barely suppress it.
However, within a few breaths’ time, Ye Zhen had to launch nearly ten Red Jade Seals, something that was very taxing for him.
Ye Zhen was slow to gather his Red Jade Seal when a Little Vermilion Bird Spirit Sword Body harshly struck his Red Jade Spiritual Body. The Sword Qi frantically sliced at Ye Zhen.
In the cringe-inducing hissing sounds, Ye Zhen’s Red Jade Spirit Armor and the Little Vermilion Bird Spirit Sword Body disintegrated together, but the drifting Sword Qi from the Spirit Sword Body managed to tear Ye Zhen’s clothes, leaving several white marks on his skin.
"Hahahaha, Ye Zhen, your end is near!"
"I’ve put in so much effort and paid such a huge price, I’m finally seeing hope!" As Tao Hui laughed loudly, the Sword Light in his hand grew even faster.
Even though Ye Zhen was exceptionally strong, he indeed found Ye Zhen’s weakness! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast your recommendation votes, monthly votes at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)

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