Cao Benqi's fighting spirit surged at once. He fixed his blazing gaze on Ling Xuan, as if he wanted to devour him whole.
"Are your eyes twitching?" Ling Xuan glanced at Cao Benqi indifferently. That guy was always staring at him.
"So you can't run away this time, can you?" Seeing that Ling Xuan had finally acknowledged him, Cao Benqi at last let out what he had been wanting to say.
"Don't worry. I'll give you a proper welcome in a moment," Ling Xuan sneered.
Feng Lishuang also came over and greeted Ling Xuan. "Yanmo, I hope you'll give it everything you've got. I want to see exactly how big the gap between us is."
Looking at Feng Lishuang's earnest expression, Ling Xuan nodded solemnly. "I'll make sure you're satisfied."
The round-robin matches among the top five progressed quickly.
Ling Xuan defeated both Yuanmo Austin and the Mad Blade, Alister.
Those two were among the weakest of the top five. Having now lost to all three of the others, they could only fight for fourth place.
In the third match, Ling Xuan faced Feng Lishuang.
As soon as the battle began, Feng Lishuang lightly pushed off with her toes. Her fiery red combat outfit fluttered as the Nine Phoenix Divine Fire Spear became a streak of red light in her hands.
"Let me see just how deep the gulf is between a once-in-a-million-eras genius and an ordinary person."
The Nine Phoenix Divine Fire Spear came wrapped in waves of scorching heat, thrusting at Ling Xuan's throat like a streak of crimson light.
The scorching air stirred the hair on Ling Xuan's forehead before the spear even reached him.
Ling Xuan's eyes narrowed. He turned his wrist, and the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear swept out in a cold, sharp arc to meet the fiery spearhead.
"Clang!" The metallic impact rang deafeningly, sparks flying everywhere.
Feng Lishuang seized the opening, twisting at the waist as her spear swept toward Ling Xuan's neck like a nimble whip.
Ling Xuan swiftly dodged sideways and drove the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear upward at an angle, its fierce blade wind tearing through the air.
Their figures crossed like phantoms, blade light and spear shadows filling every gap.
Ling Xuan seized his chance. Origin Force surged through him and poured into the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear as he swept it diagonally upward with "Flame Blade First Bloom."
In an instant, blazing red flames erupted along the blade. Wrapped in tremendous power, it slashed toward Feng Lishuang's neck.
Feng Lishuang's brows drew together. Instead of retreating, she pressed forward and raised the Nine Phoenix Divine Fire Spear, using its shaft to block the lethal strike.
The immense impact numbed her arms, but she used its force to surge closer, driving the spearhead straight toward Ling Xuan's chest.
At the critical moment, Ling Xuan abruptly turned his blade. Flames spread along it, entwining and clashing with the fiery radiance pouring from Feng Lishuang's spear.
Ling Xuan's gaze sharpened. He swept the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear across, and flames surged like a raging tide, forming a hundred-meter-wide curtain of fire in an instant. With an apocalyptic force, it swept toward Feng Lishuang.
Seeing this, a look of resolve flashed through Feng Lishuang's beautiful eyes. The power of the Fire Origin Law churned wildly around her, and the Nine Phoenix Divine Fire Spear burst into nine dazzling pillars of light. Nine phoenix-shaped fire phantoms shrieked forth and merged into one enormous golden phoenix. It was "Nine Phoenixes Facing the Sun"!
The phoenix charged fearlessly into the curtain of fire, and the two attacks collided with a thunderous boom. The powerful shock wave churned the air around the arena into Chaos.
Wave after wave of flames instantly overwhelmed the fire phoenix. The remaining inferno surged onward, sweeping toward Feng Lishuang.
But Feng Lishuang knew that Nine Phoenixes Facing the Sun was nowhere near enough to defeat her opponent. She had already darted to the side with the momentum of her attack. As the aftermath of "Burning Wave Horizontal Slash" rolled past, she swung the spear with both hands, its tip erupting with countless tiny sparks of flame.
"Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix!"
Countless firebirds shot toward Ling Xuan, blotting out the sky. His expression turned grave as he whirled the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear into an airtight pattern, creating a scorching web of blades that shredded the birds one after another.
As they traded blows, Feng Lishuang suddenly changed her move. The butt of her spear swept across like a meteor, forcing Ling Xuan to lean back and evade.
Then she turned the spear around and drove it toward Ling Xuan's abdomen, wrapped in surging flames.
Ling Xuan bent his legs sharply and sprang high into the air like a released spring. He brought the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear down from above with the force of a mountain crashing down.
Feng Lishuang raised her spear to block, but Ling Xuan twisted in midair. The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear carved out three illusory blade shadows that interwove into an airtight web.
"Blade Domain Whirlwind Kill!"
Feng Lishuang knitted her brows and swung the Nine Phoenix Divine Fire Spear with all her might, layers of spear shadows overlapping as she tried to hold him off.
But the third stage of the Fire God Absolute Domain Blade was far beyond the first stage, "Flame Blade First Bloom." The instant the blade shadows enveloped Feng Lishuang, they completely broke through her spear technique and turned her into streams of data.
Beneath the arena, Cao Benqi watched Ling Xuan, who had fought Feng Lishuang for so long, and wore a cruel smile. "I don't know how you managed to get through the Trial Tower, but now that I've seen you fight, you're nothing special."
"Hmph! Cao the Big Bully is running his mouth again!" Ren Yaoli skipped over. "Ling Xuan is amazing! Even someone as strong as Lishuang got crushed. If you went up against him, you probably couldn't last three moves!"
She even stuck her tongue out at Cao Benqi. The hand gripping his halberd trembled slightly with anger.
"But Ling Xuan, weren't you a little too brutal? Lishuang's such a pretty girl, and you still chopped her into pieces."
Leng Yanqiu gave a soft huff. Of the three girls, she was the only one who had never fought Ling Xuan. She couldn't help feeling that she might be special to him. He hadn't held back at all against Ren Yaoli or Feng Lishuang, but would he go easy on her?
Ling Xuan scratched his head, looking entirely innocent. "But Lishuang asked me to give it everything I had. I couldn't exactly go easy on her, could I?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Feng Lishuang was teleported out as well. Her gaze was cold as ice. "Ling Xuan, next time, I won't lose."
Now only Ling Xuan and Cao Benqi had yet to fight each other. Their match would decide who took first place in this year's Genius Tournament.
After resting for a while, the two were teleported onto the arena together.
"Ling Xuan, I've waited a long time for this moment. Today, you won't have the slightest chance." Cao Benqi stood ten meters tall, gripping a crimson halberd. A trace of excitement flashed in his eyes as he looked down at Ling Xuan.
"You're this eager to get beaten up? Is something wrong with you?" Ling Xuan quietly drew on his Xiantai Realm cultivation.
Their Law Comprehension differed enormously, but so did the amount of time they had spent cultivating. Cao Benqi was older than Ling Xuan's great-grandfather. Relying on external power to face an enemy for now wasn't exactly shameful.
Hearing that Ling Xuan still dared to provoke him, Cao Benqi's eyes turned sinister. A vortex of flame gathered at the tip of his halberd, its dark glow flickering. "Die!"
His enormous body moved like thunder. The crimson halberd, carrying the force to split mountains and shatter rocks, came crashing down toward Ling Xuan like a pillar from the heavens.
Ling Xuan advanced rather than retreating. His figure was as nimble as a swallow as he pushed off the ground and leaped into the air. The red light of his blade shone brilliantly beneath the shadow of the colossal halberd.
"Clang!" Sparks burst as the small Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear slammed into the giant halberd.
Cao Benqi used the impact to leap into the air, then brought his halberd down in a mighty chop. The gust it raised formed a small tornado.
Ling Xuan twisted at the waist and angled his blade upward. The force sent him flying backward, but he used the momentum to turn in midair and landed steadily on his feet.
Cao Benqi landed and used the momentum to sweep his halberd horizontally. The dark red blade of flame it unleashed stretched dozens of meters. Ling Xuan spun and retreated, the flames skimming past his clothes and gouging a charred scar several meters deep into the ground.
"Burning Wave Horizontal Slash!" Ling Xuan roared. He swept the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear across, unleashing a surging curtain of fire a hundred meters wide.
Cao Benqi raised his colossal halberd to block. The flames collided with its blade in a deafening explosion.
Ling Xuan used the impact to leap into the air, nimbly circling Cao Benqi's enormous body. A second curtain of fire came slashing down, wider and hotter than the first.
Thanks to Qin Xianlin for the 500 Qidian Coins! Thanks, Boss Qin.
I almost forgot to update.
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