Before long, Xu Mang, a disciple of Bright Sun Palace, ranked eighth in the Artifact Refining World, also extinguished his three-colored flames and distinguished himself.
Close behind him, Huang Chunzhu, a disciple of Hidden Light Valley, ranked ninth in the Artifact Refining World, extinguished his three-colored Flame Aura and headed to the center of the grounds for adjudication.
Unlike the other sects, these two had not chased Shi Chun relentlessly through the Divine Fire Domain. They had devoted themselves to their own business, and thanks to the experience accumulated in their sects' legacies, they had reaped modest gains.
Of course, their failure to pursue that so-called Secret Art was not for lack of desire. After entering the Divine Fire Domain, both had followed their inherited experience and headed straight into the distance, far from everyone else. By the time they learned what was happening, it was already too late.
Learning about it late was not necessarily a bad thing. Fortune and misfortune leaned upon each other. Yan Chunlai, the leading disciple of seventh-ranked Eastern Firmament Island, had obtained only two Divine Fires, while Du Da, the leading disciple of tenth-ranked Falling Flame Mountain, had obtained only one. Both sects had set aside their own work and wasted their time chasing Shi Chun.
As a result, both men were struggling terribly in the current contest. As members of the top ten sects, how could they allow a crowd of lower-ranked contestants to surpass them in the first round? Although they knew they had no hope in the second round, that very knowledge made it all the more important not to look inferior in the first.
And so these two truly gave it everything they had.
Yan Chunlai of Eastern Firmament Island finished almost immediately after Huang Chunzhu of Hidden Light Valley,