Feng Shang’s eyes narrowed and a light flashed across them after he heard Arikar’s words. “You aren’t fit to mention Brother Neru’s name.”
“I lost to Neru back then because the Blaze Realm hadn’t given me the Karmic Flame Sword’s sheathe yet, but I brought it today, little junior. You can once again experience the sensation of being burned into a crisp,” Arikar jeered condescendingly. He then rose into the sky before a black dot pierced the earth, causing a surging wave of blazing hot heat to descend, just like the scene from the previous battle round.
On the other side, Feng Shang remained in his original location, calmly watching Arikar rise into the air and attack him with a palm.
The fiery palm silhouette enveloped an area of a thousand meters. On the screens, the spectators watched on as everything in the inferno’s area of effect burned to ashes, and the heat even caused the void to distort. Thin spatial cracks spread out from the flames as they compressed into themselves, intensifying their destructive potential as they continued burning even within the void. It was a stunning scene.
Outside of the plains, Jared’s face paled; this was Arikar’s Endless Darkgold Palm. Arikar’s innate gift of darkgold meant that he only needed a small amount of heat to coax violent flames with extremely high temperatures to life. When these flames were combined with the Blaze Realm’s battle technique, it formed a unique combination battle technique that had allowed Arikar to dominate the Astral Combat Academy in the past. This attack was also his trademark skill.
Ripping apart the void was a sign of a powerhouse. Generally, only experts at the Explorer realm or above could tear through the void, but it had become a commonplace sight in this Astral Combat Tournament.
The void was formless, and a normal person could not even fathom how much strength was needed to tear through it. For flames to distort the void and even cause it to collapse, the temperature of the blaze needed to be impossibly high. The sight caused many to feel numb, especially the members of the Outerverse’s younger generation. This palm represented the hopeless disparity between them and Arikar, who could even surprise space-exploring powerhouses with his attacks.
Boom!
The earth was powderized under that domineering Endless Darkgold Palm. As the dust settled, the screen revealed a jet-black palm silhouette while the remnant flames engulfed the arena in all directions and steadily continued to burn.
When the scorching heat wave swept over them, a portion of the students in the audience outside the arena involuntarily took a step back.
Even the student leaders still on the nearby peak were affected.
Lu Yin continued to stare at the arena. What a powerful strike, what high temperatures! Compared to Arikar, Craynor and the others were nothing.
Everyone looked inside the arena as the flames on the ground died down. What had happened to Feng Shang?
A breeze blew across the battlefield and dispersed the final fire, exposing a shade of green. In the thousand meter rectangle that the palm imprint had incinerated, only that smear of green remained unblackened; it was actually completely unharmed.
A hurricane twisted around Feng Shang, and he slowly raised his head. “Your power’s only reached that level?”
Many students cheered and started chanting Feng Shang’s name.
Countless spectators among the universe took in a deep breath of fresh air while standing in front of their screens. That attack, which could be considered to be the apex of a Limiteer’s strength, could not even singe a hair against this person. This was a leader of the ten great academies, a trial zone Realm Master.
In the sky, Arikar’s pupils shrank to pinpoints. “Impossible! Not even Neru from back then could have received the Endless Darkgold Palm that easily. How can you be completely unharmed?!”
Feng Shang’s eyes remained ice cold. “The times have changed. Frozen geniuses? How pathetic. In my eyes, they’re nothing more than a group of pitiful bugs who have fallen behind in the times.”
“Shut up! You’re just Neru’s lackey! I’ll show you the Blaze Realm’s top-notch battle technique!” Arikar roared as his veins bulged all over his entire body. A trace of dark red energy could be seen flowing over his figure.
This was the Karmic Flame Sword, the strongest ancient battle technique inheritance that the Blaze Realm had. Only its top disciples were allowed to learn it, but learning it was just the first step. To use it in its complete form, one needed a sheath. This so-called “sheath” was not a material item, but rather something that had been successfully unlocked by an almighty figure from the Blaze Realm many years ago. More specifically, the sheath was an indescribably powerful flame, and only those who absorbed this flame could display the full might of the Karmic Flame Sword.
Once this flame merged with a cultivator’s star energy, it would cease to be an external force, so it could be displayed within the trial zones like an innate gift. This sheath, this flame, was what Arikar had received instead of Jared.
The Blaze Realm’s disciples had consumed this flame for countless ages, so there was not much left. Even the region’s top disciple was no longer guaranteed to receive a trace of it.
Countless people from the Innerverse knew that the Blaze Realm had a top-notch battle technique, the Karmic Flame Sword. But few knew the truth of the technique and why there could be such a disparity in the power of the battle technique even when used by people of similar strengths.
In the sky, Arikar straightened his right arm as a dark-red thread writhed within his body as if it was alive. Finally, it completely gathered together in his right index finger. In the very next moment, an indescribably terrifying aura emerged from that finger. It caused the void to ripple dangerously as an endlessly climbing heat wave engulfed heaven and earth and it a dark red color.
Many were shocked, as they knew that the strength of this attack would be terrifying beyond belief even before it was released.
Arikar stared fervently at his right index finger; this was the feeling. This inherited strand of flame was what allowed the Karmic Flame Sword to become truly terrifying. At this moment, he even felt confident about challenging an Explorer, let alone a mere Feng Shang. But then, Arikar’s scalp suddenly turned numb as he instinctively tried to dodge to the side, but it was too late. Feng Shang’s figure appeared before him as an intense pain spread out from his abdomen.
“Don’t strike a pose for too long in your next battle” were the last words that Arikar heard before he died.
The Karmic Flame Sword was indeed very powerful, and there was a good reason why it had become the inherited battle technique of the Blaze Realm, which was an ancient power in the Innerverse. Its power could shock many, but Arikar was still too weak to fully display its power. It took him too long to ready it, and Feng Shang could have killed him more than ten times in that time span. Nobody was foolish enough to wait patiently and receive such a devastating attack.
Feng Shang’s actions had shocked many, to the point where the audience couldn’t even react.
According to the popular stories that they had all heard of, shouldn’t one allow their opponent to display their ultimate moves before calmly dispatching them, to demonstrate the power of the protagonist? Was that just now a sneak attack?
Lu Yin, on the other hand, found the scene hilarious. He chuckled not at Feng Shang’s abrupt attack, but rather at Arikar, who had been frozen for so many years that it seemed that his brain had become stupid. For some reason, Arikar had thought that Feng Shang was an idiot who would wait for him to display his strongest attack. But Feng Shang’s last strike had been so fast that it was unbelievable. Arikar had reacted extremely quickly, but he still had not been able to dodge Feng Shang’s attack. In fact, Feng Shang’s speed had even overtaken Lulu’s.
This was a Realm Master’s strength. Graceful at a glance, but strong enough to shock people’s hearts.
The other student leaders’ expressions did not change. Kuang Wang arrogantly declared, “Another piece of trash. Anyone who can’t display their battle techniques, no matter how strong that technique is, is trash.”
Feng Shang returned and casually sat down at his seat. Although he had not displayed anything particularly terrifying, his battle had still stunned others. Arikar was so powerful, but he could not even handle a single strike from Feng Shang.
The arena plain still had a jet-black giant palm imprint from Arikar’s Endless Darkgold Palm. But then, the earth squirmed, and the arena quickly regained its normal appearance.
Beside Lu Yin, a number “2” appeared in front of Liu Yin, who was rhythmically bobbing his head.
Lu Yin was astonished. The first battle had included a Realm Master, and the second one would be the same.
Liu Yin didn’t even take off his headphones when he touched the number. He suddenly appeared in the arena below, where Little Pao was already waiting.
Lu Yin was surprised to see that Liu Yin’s opponent was actually Little Pao.
Lu Yin wasn’t the only one surprised; everyone from Astral-10 was stunned. Little Pao was up against a Realm Master?
Liu Yin had a youthful appearance, and he even had a delinquent’s demeanor, but no one dared underestimate a Realm Master, not even Astral-9’s Realm Master.
Of the Nine Trial Zones, the Dao of Change was deemed the trial zone with the most ancient and strange bloodlines. There were actually many inherited bloodlines there, just like how the other trial zones had battle technique inheritances and other teachings. But as the Dao of Change’s Realm Master, Liu Yin had never shown any strange bloodline innate gifts. Nobody knew whether or not Little Pao would be able to force it out by himself.
Little Pao had a serious expression, as everyone knew that the nine Realm Masters were all very powerful. Even if this Liu Yin was calmly bobbing his head, Little Pao did not dare underestimate him.
Little Pao considered his options and rose into the sky. He then raised a hand as his star energy condensed into simulated flames and black veins bulged out on his raised hand. He barked, “Black Blazes Palm,” as a giant black flame slammed downwards, straight at Liu Yin.
Many were shocked, as this strike appeared to be rather similar to Arikar’s Endless Darkgold Palm. However, one was a true flame formed from an innate gift while the other was simulated through star energy. However, Little Pao’s black palm similarly scorched the void with its high temperatures and caused it to distort. Even if the observers were watching from a screen, they could still sense the insanely high temperature of that simulated flame.
Liu Yin suddenly raised his head, opened his mouth, and let loose such a ferocious roar that everyone watching jump up in fright.
His roar was so loud and resonant that it directly caused the void to fracture. The sound wave was visible to the naked eye as it tore through the Black Blazes Palm and continued on towards Little Pao.
Little Pao’s pupils shrank as he tried to dodge, but the sound wave had ripped through space and caused a crack to form. It was as if an abyss had been gouged out of the sky. The shocking scene stunned everyone.
Liu Yin raised his head and breathed in deeply. Following his actions, another queer sound wave was released into the sky. Sound, obviously, had no material substance, but this sound forcefully caused the air to condense into strange lines that twisted together.
Little Pao felt something was amiss and summoned his two-lined battle force to cover his body before he charged towards Liu Yin in a bid to interrupt this sound attack.
But it was too late, or rather, Liu Yin was too fast. Those lines of air formed by the sound waves fell down like rain drops, covering nearly half of the entire arena plains. Little Pao could not avoid the falling lines and was easily pelted by them. Each line had little to no destructive ability, but when they entered his body, they caused a sound wave to ring out within his body. When multiple lines entered Little Pao’s body, they reverberated against each other, causing his body to quickly shatter into a million pieces.
The ground was also struck by the lines of sound waves, causing multiple fissures that were immeasurably deep to appear.
Countless spectators were stupefied by this scene. This was a Realm Master, one who had truly displayed his abilities and as a result, won in an instant.
Liu Yin continued to bob his head rhythmically as he made his way back to the high peak.
Some who had previously treated him with contempt were now frightened. This brat was silent and odd, but also extremely terrifying.
Lu Yin glanced at the person sitting next to him. Had he been serious just now?
Little Pao was strong, without a doubt. He had combined forces with Big Pao to force Kuang Wang to reveal a hidden card, which was testament to Little Pao’s strength. However, when he had to face a Realm Master by himself, he had not been able to last for even a single strike, as the disparity was just too large.
Suddenly, Lu Yin thought of something, and he looked at Kuang Wang, who was sitting there with a calm expression. Lu Yin’s eyes flashed; the other nine student leaders must roughly know the difference in power between each of them. Kuang Wang was not at all shocked by Liu Yin’s power, which meant that he was just as powerful. This meant that when Big Pao and Little Pao had joined forces to fight Kuang Wang, he had never been serious.
The Astral Combat Academy had lasted for countless years, and it was logical to say that it stood at the top of the universe. The Ten Arbiters Council had designated the Council of Astral Academy as one of its strongest subsidiary councils, and the council could even stand by the Outerverse Youth Council on equal footing. Lu Yin had never really understood what this implied before, but based on what these Realm Masters had shown so far, they were indeed qualified to have such a lofty position.
Once these Realm Masters broke through and became Explorers, they would immediately be able to challenge the Top 100 Rankings, and they would definitely not place low either. Even with their current power, they might even be already able to step into the Top 100 Rankings.
These Realm Masters were absolutely within the top hundred of the universe’s younger generation rankings, with the exception of the Ten Arbiters of course.
The next three matches had no Realm Masters, and Lu Yin did not recognize any of the participants either. Finally, for the sixth match, a number “6” appeared before him.
