Mingwang Cannon

As the Holy Radiance Cross Slash closed in, the assassin shouted without hesitation, "I surrender!"

The referee flashed in front of him and blocked the strike.

"Fifth match of the third round of the Round-Robin Tournament: Jiang Feng wins."

Jiang Feng stood there, stunned for a moment. The familiar "ding" never sounded.

System, where's my reward for this fight? Jiang Feng asked inwardly.

The system replied, "The combat target changed to a Seventh Order Temple Knight, so the battle has not ended. No substantive combat occurred with the Fourth Order assassin, so no rewards will be calculated."

Uh, is this just because he surrendered early? Jiang Feng felt frustrated. His opponent might have been only a Fourth Order assassin, but he was still worth 100 System Coins. Even a mosquito had some meat on it.

Jiang Feng currently had plenty of things to spend System Coins on, such as increasing his innate spiritual power. He certainly wouldn't turn his nose up at those 100 System Coins. He understood that small amounts added up.

Jiang Feng decided that the next time he faced a Fourth Order opponent, he would offer some encouragement before the match began. If they surrendered the moment they stepped into the arena, when would he ever earn enough System Coins to raise his innate spiritual power to ninety?

Today's match ended all too quickly, and Jiang Feng earned no System Coins. He began looking forward to tomorrow's match instead.

On the fourth day of the Round-Robin Tournament, something utterly bizarre happened in the very first match.

"First match of the fourth round of the Round-Robin Tournament: Lin Xin versus Wang Ming. Enter the arena and prepare."

Seeing the draw, both Lin Xin and Wang Ming were dumbfounded. Only after a moment of stunned silence did they walk into the Trial Arena.

After the past few days of matches, both knew exactly what the other could do.

Lin Xin, a Mage who couldn't attack.

Wang Ming, a Shield Warrior who could attack only once.

What were they supposed to compete at? Defense?

"Begin!"

The referee shouted, but neither Lin Xin nor Wang Ming moved. They remained standing where they were, making the competitors watching from the stands laugh.

"Stop wasting time. Get started," the referee urged.

Wang Ming spoke first, his voice rough and booming. "Little Lin, get your defenses ready and take a cannon shot from me. How about it? If you block it, you win. If you can't, I win."

"Sure, just let me get ready first," Lin Xin readily agreed.

Between the two of them, they could only unleash one offensive skill, so this was the only way to decide the winner.

As soon as Lin Xin finished speaking, the Fire Cloud Crystal Staff in his hand released a dense surge of fire element. As he chanted, elemental shields began stacking up in front of him.

Before long, he had stacked eighteen layers of Elemental Fire Shield.

Lin Xin had consumed quite a bit of his internal spiritual power. Catching his breath, he said, "Brother Wang, go ahead. If you can break all eighteen of my shields in one shot, I'll raise my hands and surrender."

As he spoke, Lin Xin moved off to the side. Just in case, he didn't dare stand behind the Elemental Fire Shields.

Not even with eighteen layers of elemental shields. Two days earlier, he had personally watched Jiang Feng's match against Wang Ming, so he knew exactly how destructive Wang Ming's cannon shot could be.

Even someone as powerful as Jiang Feng had been left looking rather battered. How could he dare test it himself?

Wang Ming laughed. "Move farther away. I'm afraid I might hit you by accident."

Lin Xin obediently retreated another ten meters toward the edge of the Trial Arena, then shouted, "Brother Wang, is this far enough?"

"That's fine. Get ready to cover your ears. I'm about to fire."

Wang Ming shouted, then approached Lin Xin's eighteen layers of Elemental Fire Shield and slowly raised the shield in his hand.

At moments like this, his expression always turned especially solemn. The Mingwang Cannon had a long cooldown, so he had only this one chance to attack. If it failed, he would have virtually no spiritual power left even for defense.

An immensely powerful surge of spiritual power erupted, and a concentrated, earthen-yellow beam of light gathered on the Immovable Wisdom King Shield.

Boom!

An aura of annihilation spread as the Mingwang Cannon thundered forth, slamming into Lin Xin's eighteen Elemental Fire Shields with terrifying, unstoppable force.

Boom, boom, boom!

The first three Elemental Fire Shields shattered almost simultaneously.

The Mingwang Cannon seemed completely unimpeded as it smashed through one Elemental Fire Shield after another.

At the same time, the Mingwang Cannon carved a trench two meters wide and half a meter deep into the ground along its path.

Boom, boom, boom...

All eighteen Elemental Fire Shields shattered in succession, but they ultimately exhausted nearly all of the Mingwang Cannon's power. The beam narrowed, then gradually dissipated into the air.

Even seeing this for the second time, the other competitors still found it terrifying. Who besides Jiang Feng could withstand such power?

The competitors all turned their eyes toward Jiang Feng, their expressions solemn.

Indeed, none of them were confident they could withstand a strike like that. Yet Jiang Feng had already taken one. Although he had been left in a sorry state, he had still blocked it.

Jiang Feng was sitting in the front row when he suddenly felt eyes boring into his back. Turning around, he found everyone staring at him and asked in bewilderment, "Why are you all looking at me?"

The people closest to Jiang Feng hurriedly shook their heads without saying anything and turned their attention back to the Trial Arena.

Still puzzled, Jiang Feng looked at Wang Yuanyuan in the row behind him and asked, "What's going on with you all?"

Wang Yuanyuan gave him an indifferent look. "Answer one question first, and then I'll tell you why everyone was staring at you."

"Ask away," Jiang Feng said.

"Did you hold back in our match that day? Why didn't you go all out and let me see your true strength? Did you look down on me? Were you toying with me during the match?" Wang Yuanyuan stared straight into Jiang Feng's eyes.

Jiang Feng couldn't help smiling. Wang Yuanyuan really was a fiercely competitive girl.

"Although I didn't go all out, I wasn't going easy on you either. What you saw that day was my actual strength. As for why I showed greater strength against Wang Ming the next day, I made a breakthrough that day and grew considerably stronger than I was when I fought you," Jiang Feng explained.

"I'll believe you this once." Wang Yuanyuan studied Jiang Feng and found that he didn't seem to be lying, then continued, "We were looking at you just now because none of us are confident we could withstand Wang Ming's Mingwang Cannon, but you did."

"I got lucky, that's all. Mostly, it's because Wang Ming can't bring out the full power of the Ming King Shield yet. Otherwise, I'd have a hard time too," Jiang Feng said with a smile.

"Whatever the case, you're the only one who's withstood it so far," Wang Yuanyuan said.

"Taking that strike really isn't easy. With my strength, I could withstand eight or ten shots at most. Any more would be too much," Jiang Feng said thoughtfully. He seriously weighed his own defenses against the Mingwang Cannon's power and gave an honest answer.

"Hmph. You're strong, but you're obviously even better at bragging," Wang Yuanyuan scoffed. "Have you forgotten what a sorry state you were in that day? How much blood do you have to cough up?"

"Uh." Jiang Feng was left at a loss. Why wouldn't people believe the truth these days?