On the next day, the participants received the news that Yusa had given up the chance to fight in the final phase, it was said that she wasn't confident in winning against the other competitors, so she decided to avoid unnecessary injuries by giving up earlier.
Everyone thought that something was fishy, but that was also good. It would be one less strong opponent for them to deal with. After deciding the order of the battles through drawing lots, the final day of fights finally started. Every single cultivator or demon beast would have to fight each of the other contestants at least once. There would be one fight every time, the five mercenaries with most victories would then get a slot for the Martial Gathering each.
The referee came up in the arena and called the name of the first two.
"First fight, Tasier from Borle Continent against Lofa Harcken from Ice Continent."
Tasier and Lofa went up in the stage, the battle started moments after. Lofa and Tasier exchanged quite a few blows, but in the end, Lofa gave up the fight. She was a water and wind element user, while Tasier main element was lightning. He had the advantage from the very start, he didn't even need to show any of his trump cards. That time before the battle was over.
The referee then announced the next fight.
"Second Fight, Krune from Yule Continent against Drorne from Ice Continent."
As soon as the two came upon the stage, Drorne admitted defeat. There was no way he would risk heavy injuries in a fight where there were no chances of victory. Krune saw that and just smiled. It seemed like the prowess he showed last day prevented quite some time-wasting now. That battle against Shad wasn't something that Krune would usually do. His skills were much better at long range, but he just wanted to vent some steam, so he did what he did, and that was only because he had absolute confidence in his victory.
Since there was no battle, the referee called the next competitors.
"Third Fight, Arlan Rosier from Makui Continent against Jack Biurer from Ice continent."
Jack followed Drorne steps and gave up straight away. Arlan didn't mind. He had no interest in fighting weaker opponents.
"The Forth Fight, Ao Sulian from Yule Continent against Tasier from Borle Continent."
Ao and Tasiear came up in the arena. The fight started, and Tasier used the same strategy as always. But even though he was a lightning element user, Ao's speed wasn't the least bit slower than his. Since Ao had already shown his Sword Intent in the battle against Rog Werer, there was no need to conceal it anymore. Tasier did his best to shake Ao from his tail, but nothing worked. He needed space so that he could use his abilities, even his melee attacks needed space to gather speed. But unfortunately for him, Ao was a master against long-ranged cultivators. Who knows how much Ao suffered in his teammates' hands!? So the battle didn't take long before Tasier gave up.
The battles continued. No one tried to fight Krune or Arlan. Ao was the only one who exchanged a few blows against his opponents, but they all gave up in the end. His Sword Intent was just too fearsome.
Once more, the referee came forward and announced another fight.
"Krune from Yule Continent against Ao Sulian from Yule Continent."
Everyone immediately paid attention to that, but unfortunately, a fight didn't take place as they wanted. Ao gave up the fight as soon as he came upon the arena. Krune's group spared a lot, so they knew very well the difference between each other. There was no point in that battle.
After a few more battles, it was finally the time for Arlan and Krune to go up in the stage. Each one of them already had five victories each. They were victories won all through their opponents giving up before the fight even started. Arlan was ready to give it a try. He wasn't planning to stake it all in this fight, he only wanted to check Krune's combat power for a little. Unfortunately for him, Krune admitted defeat as well. He'd already got his slot for the Martial Gathering, not to mention that his group had already decided that Ao would be the one testing Arlan.
Although Arlan was disappointed, he didn't say anything. There would be plenty of strong opponents when the Martial Gathering started anyway.
So far, the ones who guaranteed their slots were Krune, Arlan, Ao, and Tasier. However, the last slot would be decided between the Ice Continent three mercenaries, Tasier's lightning, and highly skilled flying ability put all the Ice Continent people in a bad spot. Of course, they still did their best during their fights against Tasier, and the Thunder Hawk had to use almost all of his trump cards to triumph over them. But all efforts paid off in the end.
When everyone thought nothing more would happen, the referee called Ao and Arlan to the stage. Surprisingly, Ao was planning to take Arlan Head-On!
Ao looked at Arlan and said.
"As a Sword Intent user, I can feel that you also have it. Would you mind comparing sword skills with me?"
Arlan heard that Divine Sense message, and his eyes lit up. He was thinking that Ao would also give up because he had already guaranteed his slot. But thinking he would ask for a fight, Arlan couldn't ask for more.
"Great! I accept your challenge! But it will be ridiculous to have both of us severely injured here even before the Martial Gathering started. So what about this? We will decide it in one move, our aim will be our sword attacks, not the other's body. What do you think?"
Ao heard that and agreed that it would indeed be very idiotic to become dead weight.
The referee noticed they had some kind of Divine Sense conversation but didn't say anything. Both of them have already succeeded in entering the Martial Gathering after all.
"Start!"
Arlan was a Fire, Wind, and Lightning element cultivator. He raised his sword above his head and started to concentrate his spiritual energy and elements. His sword seemed like to become alive and roared with fire and lightning. The wind element around only helped to increase the power of its roar. It was clear Arlan was planning to use a powerful attack. Not to mention that the rest of the participants started to feel the same power as the one they felt from Ao.
"Sword Intent, Arlan is finally using his Sword Intent!"
"He didn't use it even once during the entire selection. I thought we wouldn't have the chance anymore, but it seems we are lucky!"
Ao noticed how serious Arlan was and decided not to hold back as well. He held his sword on the side and started to accumulate spiritual energy too. The power of fire and wind gathered around his sword, while the metal element increased its sharpness several times over. He decided to show one of his strongest attacks in this exchange.
The Makui and Yule Continent guild heads started to sweat all over. Both of them have already passed this phase. Why are they taking it this seriously now? What if they get hurt or maybe even die?
Both Ao and Arlan received Divine Sense message to stop it and give up this battle, but they completely ignored those messages.
Finally, the two of them were done with their preparations and charged forward. In fact, in a real battle, they wouldn't have the time to do what they did unless they could bind their enemies for some time. But they came to have a tacit understanding, so neither stopped the other.
The referee was going crazy. Why do they have to do something like this just when everything was about to be over? He felt like crying but had no tears!
In an instant, both attacks met each other.
"Inferno Sword!"
"Searing Slash!"
Surprisingly, there was no explosion. In fact, there was almost no sound at all. Their skills were very even and ended up canceling the enemy's skills after they disappeared. All the elements dissipated too, and only their swords and sword intents encountered each other. There was a metallic sound of something being snapped in half and then silence.
Ao and Arlan retreated their attack forms and looked at their swords. Both swords couldn't resist the other's sword intent and broke in half. They would need to buy a new one now! They looked at each other with weird faces and then started to laugh.
"Amazing attack, really an amazing attack!"
Ao nodded.
"I agree! Thinking that our swords would break together, what's the chance of something like this happening?"
But then Ao looked at his sword and sighed.
"I admit defeat."
Arlan was taken aback.
"Why? It is more like a draw in my eyes."
Ao just laughed after hearing that.
"We both know that it's not true. I used everything I knew about Sword Intent, but it was obvious that it wasn't your limit. If I'm not wrong, you could have gone one step further, am I right?"
Arlan looked at Ao in surprise and became a little embarrassed.
"Sorry."
Ao shook his head.
"There is no need for that, although you haven't gone all out, I reckon that you were very close to that, let me guess, 90%?"
Arlan shook his head.
"80%."
This time it was Ao who was surprised. He didn't think Arlan was lying. Just like himself, Arlan was the type who put everything in his sword. It was beneath himself to lie about it.
"I see, it seems I have a lot to improve still."
"I don't see it like that. Even if it isn't directly related, remember that your cultivation is lower than mine. Our spiritual energy has a very big impact on our Sword Intent. When you reach the 9th stage's peak, you will probably be no weaker than me."
Arlan said that not to comfort Ao, but because he really thought that it was the case. He believed that to be incredible, after all, he has a Pure Yang Body. But Ao's control over the fire element was just as strong as his. It was then that he remembered something and sent another Divine Sense message to Ao.
"Between us, if Krune and I fought seriously, who you reckon that would be the winner?"
Ao was surprised by that question, but out of respect, he decided to answer anyway.
"If Krune stays in his human form, he should have an 80% to 90% chance of winning against you. If he goes back to his real form, I doubt you would have any chance."
Arlan was taken aback. No chances at all? Was that any joke? But after looking at the serious face Ao was showing, something told him Ao wasn't trying to scare him or lying. He then took a deep breath and asked.
"Then what kind of demon beast is him? I haven't seen him using his true form even once during this selection."
Ao shook his head.
"I can't tell you that, sorry."
There was another reason why Ao said this much. It was because Arlan definitely wasn't the only one curious about Krune's real form. Since he was this strong, people even thought that Krune could be a demon beast with a Divine Beast bloodline. But they immediately discarded such an idea. The more rare and stronger the demon beast, the higher their cultivation needs to be for them to change into their human form. Any demon beast with a divine beast bloodline definitely wouldn't be able to change into their human form before the Divine Soul Realm at the very least. Since that is the case, just what kind of demon beast could Krune be?
All they knew was that Krune was definitely more common than the Thunder Hawn Tasier or the Water Dragon Drorne. Several of the Divine Soul Realm cultivators tried to force their way in with their Divine Senses to find out what kind of demon beast Krune is. But not a single one of them was successful, all thanks to the Race Cover Technique.
Ao couldn't help but think what kind of faces everyone would show if they found out that Krune was just a wisp. That would be a real sight to behold.
In the end, the referee came forward and announced the five-slot winners.
"Seven Victories, Arlan Rosier."
"Six Victories, Krune."
"Five Victories, Ao Sulian."
"Four Victories, Thunder Hawk Tasier."
"Three Victories, Lofa Harcken."
"The five mentioned cultivators and demon beasts will be able to join the Martial Gathering two months from now. Go back and talk with your Guild Heads for more information."
Krune heard that and felt very happy. He won a slot without lifting a single finger. He wished his life could be this low key more often.
Fortunately, no one heard his thoughts. Otherwise, the other contestants might have already pounced at him together.
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