At the bottom of a flight of stairs, Lu Yin sighed. Both God Taiyi and Ling Gong were his friends, but unfortunately, one of them had to be eliminated here.
If he was being realistic, Lu Yin was more confident in God Taiyi’s chances of victory. The power that Jin He had revealed earlier had even made Lu Yin feel slightly apprehensive. He was still unable to understand how Jin He had countered Fan Shun’s strongest attack, but it was possible that God Taiyi could do the same. Sadly, God Taiyi had underestimated Ling Gong. The Ten Arbiters’ White Knight was not someone who would be taken down so easily.
God Taiyi clenched the spear, and fresh blood flowed down the length of the weapon. A saber appeared in his hand, and he made a clean slash. At the same time, two bloody tears streamed down from the corner of his eyes, leaving scarlet lines behind.
Ling Gong glared at him coldly. She had seen this person talking with Lu Yin outside of Zenith Mountain, and she had originally intended to not kill him because of his relationship with Lu Yin. However, at this moment, she was not able to stick to that plan. As her thoughts reached this point, her spear spun around before pulling back and stabbing in a different direction. The weapon moved flawlessly, and the spear was aimed at God Taiyi’s chest. If it successfully landed, then even if he did not die from the wound, he would still suffer severe injuries.
Ling Gong held back in her attack, still giving God Taiyi a way out: if he retracted his saber, then he would have time to avoid her spear.
However, God Taiyi did not do that. Instead, he showed a creepy smile.
Ling Gong’s heart sank as she suddenly remembered the fight between Jin He and Fan Shun; things actually were not looking good for her.
The spear struck God Taiyi, but it instantly shattered whereas God Taiyi’s saber struck true and slashed across both of Ling Gong’s shoulders, leaving behind a large wound that gushed out blood.
This sudden turn of events left everyone confused.
At the bottom of the stairs, Jin He’s eyes lit up; that was the Knowing stage. As expected, that rascal had reached that stage as well.
Lu Yin shot a look towards them. Just as he had thought, God Taiyi had used the exact same technique as when Jin He had countered Fan Shun’s strongest attack. Ling Gong’s spear had completely shattered, and this could have only been done by the power of an advanced stage of Truesight.
Truesight was a miraculous technique. Lu Yin made a mental note to pay Gods’ Origin a visit in the future so that he could cultivate Truesight further as well.
God Taiyi lost his footing and fell a couple of steps back. Blood gushed from the wound on his abdomen without letting up, and he locked his eyes onto Ling Gong, who was standing before him. She had suffered more serious injuries than him. Although he knew that she was Lu Yin’s friend, God Taiyi had no other option at this time; he could not give up on ZENITH. Still, he had held back during his last attack. Otherwise, his blade would have slit Ling Gong’s throat, killing her without a doubt.
God Taiyi almost never laid his hands on women, but sadly, this was ZENITH.
Countless people across the Innerverse tensed up, but on the other hand, the people of the Neoverse broke out in cheers, especially in Gods’ Origin. “You all saw that, right? That’s the power of a god! All of your attacks are futile.”
“This is the power of the Knowing realm! There’s no way God Taiyi would ever be weaker than that traitor.”
“I’m looking forward to watching God Taiyi eradicate that traitor.”
…
In the Innerverse, the Lingling clan had gone silent. The members of the clan watching the battle were not worried in the least. With the Lingling clan’s Soulsplitting Technique, a person was able to split themselves into three.
On the first layer of Zenith Mountain, Ling Gong’s severely damaged body disappeared.
God Taiyi’s expression instantly changed. This did not bode well for him. The members of the Lingling clan were able to use the Soulsplitting Technique to split themselves into three copies, and that meant trouble for him. God Taiyi whirled around to look at the Skycastle; it had not vanished. At the same time, Ling Gong slowly emerged and hefted her spear.
God Taiyi was frustrated. He had already been badly injured, and he stood no chance of victory in a situation where Ling Gong was completely unharmed. Although the Knowing Realm of Truesight was formidable, the price to use it even once was far too much. His eyesight was already beginning to blur, and Jin He should be suffering from the same symptoms at this time. Ling Gong would surely prepare some defensive measures before facing God Taiyi once again.
Bells rang and echoed throughout the massive Skycastle. Ling Gong held her spear in one hand as she faced God Taiyi head on.
With no other choice, God Taiyi said, “I admit defeat.”
The words tore at his heart. His journey in ZENITH had come to an end.
Appalled by the outcome, the viewers from the Neoverse all screamed their lungs out.
This was especially true in Gods’ Origin. The people there had been so excited just a moment ago, and the sudden change in the battle situation was so drastic that everyone was left speechless.
In contrast, the Innerverse became wildly excited; their Ten Arbiters had already secured six of the top twenty places in ZENITH. That meant that more than half of the Arbiters had placed highly. What did that mean? It meant that, even if the famously invincible Ten Arbiters had stepped onto the greatest stage in the entire universe, they were still invincible!
Everyone watched the screens and focused on the bottom of the stairs, eager to discover just who would be Ling Gong’s opponent to enter the top ten.
Ling Gong vanished and quickly reappeared. What greeted her was a pair of piercingly cold eyes that belonged to none other than Xia Jiuyou.
Her opponent to enter the top ten was Xia Jiuyou.
Throughout the Innerverse, many peoples’ hearts fell. Who could have guessed that Ling Gong would face Xia Jiuyou?
These people were unaware of the Nine Clones Secret Technique, but they did know that Xia Jiuyou had been predicted to end up in fifth place whereas Ling Gong was not even expected to enter the top ten. To most people, this showed that Ling Gong was absolutely no match for Xia Jiuyou.
Lu Yin’s heart also fell when he saw that Ling Gong’s opponent was Xia Jiuyou. Even though Lu Yin had managed to suppress Xia Jiuyou before the start of ZENITH, that did not actually mean anything. No one knew just how powerful the Nine Clones Secret Technique actually was, and Lu Yin refused to believe that the technique merely allowed a person to quickly raise their cultivation just by assimilating the clones. If that were all that it did, Progenitor Chen would not have been invincible during his time.
Xia Jiuyou was one of ZENITH’s most enigmatic participants, and Lu Yin had always felt this way about the other youth.
Still, things were not too bad. If Lu Yin wanted to better understand the Nine Clones Technique, then there was another person whom he could observe: Starsibyl.
At that same moment, Starsibyl happened to appear on the battlefield. Her opponent was Wu Taibai.
In the current universe, only two people had managed to comprehend the Nine Clones Technique: Xia Jiuyou and Starsibyl.
Xia Jiuyou was a descendant of Progenitor Chen, so everyone was able to accept him comprehending Progenitor Chen’s secret technique. However, no one could understand just how Starsibyl had managed to learn the technique as well.
However, that did not matter at this moment. Her opponent was Wu Taibai, one of the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Three Skies. If she wanted to secure a victory, then she would definitely have to bring her true strength to bear.
Starsibyl was widely renowned not only in the Innerverse, but also in the Neoverse and the Sixth Mainland. Everyone was curious as to what Starsibyl would reveal at this time.
On the battlefield, Wu Taibai behaved in a refined and well-mannered manner, similar to when he had first met Lu Yin. He looked like a graceful noble heir.
Across from him, Starsibyl stared at Wu Taibai, her eyes flashing.
The corners of Wu Taibai’s lips curled into a small smile. “Did you manage to divine something?”
Starsibyl’s brows furrowed, and she looked at Wu Taibai with a growing confusion that quickly became pure bewilderment. What was going on? Why wasn’t she able to divine anything about this person at all?
That could not be right; how could that be? She was sure that she had been able to do so before.
Of the Daosource Three Skies, Bu Kong and Zhi Yi were the most famous, but as another member of the Daosource Three Skies, Wu Taibai had not exactly been overlooked by everyone else either.
Starsibyl had conducted a divination a long time ago, even before ZENITH, and she had been able to divine matters concerning Wu Taibai at that time. From what she could sense, he was very strong, but he still lagged the slightest bit behind Bu Kong. Thus, she had not paid much attention to Wu Taibai.
However, now that she was facing him directly, she was not able to divine anything, nothing at all. It was as if she was facing Lu Yin or Wang Yi.
What in the world was going on?
Wu Taibai casually unfolded a fan. “You’re attempting to gain a clear divination, right? From what I’ve heard, the Fifth Mainland’s Starsibyl Sect possesses a divination ability that is capable of predicting an enemy’s key decisions. That, with their battle technique, Calculations of the Abacus, allows one to completely predict their enemy’s next move. I’m really looking forward to seeing it, and I’m excited to witness your divinations.”
Many people were focused on their screens at this moment, and many of them were watching for Starsibyl. They were all looking forward to her performance. The art of divination was something that common people did not believe in, but the fact that the Starsibyl Sect had retained a prominent influence on the universe for an incredibly long time showed that the sect was not made up of charlatans.
One of Starsibyl’s most famous divinations was when she had determined that the Sea King had stolen all of the pyrolyte, which Wen Sansi had requested her to look into.
Starsibyl’s battles had been constantly studied, but people could not unravel precisely how she conducted her divinations.
Unseen Light was also able to predict his opponents’ moves, but that was something that he accomplished by observing his opponents’ habits, breathing pattern, battle techniques, and other details. Everything was calculated on the battlefield itself, not through any sort of divination. It would be impossible for Unseen Light to predict which step someone would take next if it was not in the midst of a battle.
On the other hand, this was something that Starsibyl could do.
She was even able to predict where her opponents would attack before the battle had even started. That was true divination.
Being able to predict an enemy’s critical decisions was a fighting method that countless individuals dreamed of being able to use. For many people, watching Starsibyl’s fights was a form of enjoyment.
However, at this moment, Starsibyl was not in the mood to be treated as a spectacle by others. Her face was slowly turning pale. Although Wu Taibai seemed to behave very courteously as he stood across from her, she found him more terrifying than anybody else at this moment.
He was not someone to be challenged.
Nearly ten minutes went by in this manner. Wu Taibai was not in the slightest bit of a rush, and he simply continued to fan himself.
Starsibyl let out a deep breath and stared at Wu Taibai in confusion.
Wu Taibai was surprised. “Are you done? Then I’ll attack now. Your divination should be able to let you know where I’ll be attacking from.”
“There’s no need. I admit defeat,” Starsibyl said resolutely.
Wu Taibai was taken aback. “You admit defeat?”
He was not alone, as everyone else was shocked as well. It was completely illogical for a powerhouse who had trained in the Nine Clones Secret Technique and who possessed the power of divination to admit defeat before a battle even began.
At the base of a staircase, Lu Yin frowned, rather disappointed.
He had some guesses of his own concerning Wu Taibai’s strength, so he had already suspected that Starsibyl would not be able to handle Wu Taibai. However, Lu Yin had never expected her to be so firm and not even put up a fight. Lu Yin was now unable to see the true power of the Nine Clones Technique. What a pity.
Still, Starsibyl’s actions could be considered an alternative method of divination, since she had at least calculated the outcome.
Being able to predict outcomes was not always guaranteed to be a good thing. If Starsibyl did not possess the power of divination, then she might have tried to fight it out against Wu Taibai.
Off in the distance, Xia Jiuyou’s eyes narrowed as he warily stared at Wu Taibai.
Xia Jiuyou was very familiar with Starsibyl, and for her to simply admit defeat before the fight even started meant that this member of the Daosource Three Skies had to be far more formidable than what Xia Jiuyou had initially believed. Perhaps Wu Taibai was just as strong as Bu Kong and Zhi Yi.
Wu Taibai’s silhouette vanished, and when he reappeared, he was at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Not too far away from him stood Yōu Qi.
Upon seeing that Wu Taibai would be fighting against Yōu Qi next, an uproar broke out within the crowd.
However, this reaction was still not as impressive as compared to when Qiu Shi had been matched against Shang Qing.
Yōu Qi himself showed no reaction.
Instead, Wu Taibai was the one who was very interested in Yōu Qi. As soon as he appeared, he scanned Yōu Qi from head to toe. “So, this is the inheritor of Progenitor Chen’s power.”
There were only two people left on the first layer who had not fought yet. One was a Cruiser while the other was Xiao Qing. The last battle of this round would be fought between them.
There was only one person at the bottom of the stairs who had not been matched against an opponent so far: Bu Kong.
The crowd stared up at Xiao Qing in pity, as she was sure to win the battle in this round. However, after this victory, she would have to face Bu Kong to fight for a position in the top ten. She was truly unlucky.
Bu Kong was one of the Daosource Three Skies, and Xiao Qing was someone who was also from the Sixth Mainland. Just like when Skinny Bro had been matched up against Zhi Yi, these fights were basically a free ticket for the Daosource Three Skies to continue on to the next round. This caused a great deal of dissatisfaction from the Fifth Mainland, and many people all over the network cursed aloud.
Xiao Qing looked calm. As the Sage Martial Realm’s true Realmling, it would be a piece of cake to defeat a Cruiser.
At the bottom of the stairs, Xiao Qing suddenly appeared and flashed a smile at Bu Kong.
Bu Kong’s brows furrowed, as he was unfamiliar with Xiao Qing. Still, he did not pay much attention to her smile. In the Sixth Mainland, other than Wu Taibai and Zhi Yi, everyone else in his generation was too insignificant to warrant any of his attention. The gap between the Daosource Three Skies and the Realmlings one rank below them was actually quite massive.
As of this moment, the competition on the first layer had concluded, and the top twenty of ZENITH had been decided.
Below the massive statue at the peak of the ZENITH Mountain, the ten flights of stairs became the focus of the entire universe. By successfully climbing up the stairs and reaching the peak of Zenith Mountain, one would become a part of ZENITH’s prestigious top ten, and they would have the opportunity to change their fate.
