Seven more battles followed after the fight between the fifth princess and Xue Tong. The crowd watched the battles without blinking their eyes, afraid that they would miss anything.
After a few hours, the fights concluded.
The final eight participants were Prince Dante, Liu Mengdi, Beiming Chu, Zhu Ren, Xue Tong, Yang Zenke, Han Sen, and Xiao Hua.
Everyone looked at these eight contestants with great anticipation and they were surprised to see two early stage 4th-rank Knight Crusaders among the final eight and both of them even came from the same group!
The eight participants were given an hour to prepare themselves while the 9th place and 10th place were being fought over by the other eight who had lost earlier.
The 9th place was taken by the fifth princess without difficulty, while the tenth place was taken by another disciple of the Beiming Family.
After an hour, the overseer announced in a loud voice. “I will now announce the match-ups for the next round of the competition: Yang Zenke versus Han Sen, Dante Silveria versus Zhu Ren, Xue Tong versus Xiao Hua, and Beiming Chu versus Liu Mengdi.”
Yang Zenke and Han Sen glanced at each other when they heard the announcement and both young men wore expressions of surprise.
Han Sen in particular looked as if he had stepped on cow poop. He smiled wryly at Yang Zenke as he shook his head. “Brother Yang, although our cultivation level is the same, I know that I would never be your opponent.”
Yang Zenke wanted to say something, but in the end, he could only close his mouth. He felt slightly regretful that he had to fight with his friend in this round. Both of them had a high chance of getting into the top 4, but it was impossible now that they were paired.
“Yang Zenke and Han Sen, please come up on stage for the first battle.” The overseer called both young fighters to proceed to the battle arena.
“What a pity! The both of them are great young fighters and they might have been able to get into the final four despite their weaker cultivation. Sigh.”
“That Xue Tong also got lucky that he is not paired with any of the 5th-rank Spirit realm fighters. Too bad.”
“The fight between the fourth prince and Zhu Ren should be very good. I’m excited to see who between them would emerge as the winner.”
“Don’t forget about Beiming Chu and Liu Mengdi’s fight. I wonder who among the two of them would come out as the winner…”
Some people from the crowd shook their heads in pity upon hearing that Yang Zenke and Han Sen were paired. They knew that the two young men came from the same group, and it was truly regretful to have them fight.
“There is no need to fight. I admit defeat.” Han Sen said while shaking his head at the overseer.
The overseer was not shocked by his words and he seemed to have expected it.
“For the first match-up, Yang Zenke wins!” The overseer announced.
The crowd sighed at this announcement, but they could do nothing about it if both fighters did not want to fight each other.
“Prince Dante and Zhu Ren, please proceed to the battle platform.”
Zhu Ren was a young man who looked like a scholar. He seemed weak at first glance and he did not have the aura of a fighter. However, the fourth prince did not dare take his opponent lightly.
This Zhu Ren might look like a gentle youth, but once he takes out his spear, his aura would drastically change!
The two young men glanced at each other.
Zhu Ren bowed his head politely at the fourth prince as he greeted. “Greetings, Your Highness.”
Prince Dante smiled at him as he took out his sword.
“Fight!”
Prince Dante swiftly dashed towards his opponent. His movements were quick and nimble and he was even faster than the average 5th-rank Spirit realm expert!
Seeing this, Zhu Ren was not flustered. He pulled his spear and waved it around him with a calm look. His gentle aura slowly turned dreadful as the spinning of his spear became faster.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Sword and spear clashed dozens of times, producing loud clanging sounds every time the two weapons collided.
The fourth prince was much faster than Zhu Ren, but the latter’s skill in wielding his spear was nothing to scoff about. Zhu Ren might be a little slower than the fourth prince, but his skillful display of spearmanship made up for his slower speed.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Everyone held their breaths as they watched the fight between these two young experts.
The spearmanship of Zhu Ren looked elegant and he seemed to be dancing on the battle platform with his fancy spins and spear thrust. On the other hand, the fourth prince displayed a series of swift sword strokes and slashes that produced threatening sword winds that ripped through the air. Anyone who would be hit by these sword winds would surely be heavily injured, but Zhu Ren managed to evade and block them with a bit of effort.
The fourth prince could not help but glance at his opponent with surprise. He had to admit that even he was mesmerized by the spearmanship that Zhu Ren displayed. It was so beautiful that it looked as if he was performing a spear dance.
’It looks like I have to use the sword technique that Wine Master Jiu had taught us back then, but that sword technique takes too much of my true essence, so if I fail to hit him, I might be in a very tough spot.’ Prince Dante hesitated for a brief moment, but he decided to gamble everything on that sword technique.
The fourth prince suddenly leaped in the air and he looked like a soaring eagle with his arms spread wide.
After reaching a height of fifteen meters above ground, the fourth prince held the hilt of his sword with both hands as he lifted it. “Eagle’s Descent, Overturning Sword Slash!”
A sword wind that was about five meters long streaked towards Zhu Ren fiercely.
Zhu Ren’s eyes widened at the sight of this and his calm eyes displayed a hint of fear. He had no choice but to use his strongest move to block this attack.
He rapidly spun as he aimed his spear on the incoming sword wind. He then released his spear and it shot through the air like a bolt of lightning!
Bang!
A violent explosion rang out after the two attacks collided and a shadow was thrown out of the battle platform.
Zhu Ren somersaulted in midair in order to land gracefully on the ground. He was already outside of the battle platform, so he was already defeated.
Zhu Ren stared at the fourth prince and bowed at him politely. The latter smiled at Zhu Ren and said. “Your the best spearman I’ve fought in the younger generation. It was a good battle, Brother Zhu.”
“Prince Dante wins!” The overseer announced.
The battle between the two of them lasted for a couple of minutes and it was by far the most spectacular fight in this competition.
“What a great battle! To think that there is actually a youth as strong as Zhu Ren in our Silver Wing Empire! What a lad!”
“That guy’s spearmanship is insanely good! Just who is the master of this young man?”
