Chapter 48: Still One Sword
The time it took to burn one incense stick passed quickly. As the old man announced the start of the third round of battles, the crowd's enthusiasm immediately ignited.
Of the remaining ten, six were in the Spirit Martial Realm, and the Life-Seizing strength was also extraordinary. Only three were not receiving much attention. Therefore, no matter how the battles unfolded, clashes between the strong were inevitable.
In the end, two battles drew particular attention. One was a collision between Spirit Martial Realm powerhouses: Qiu Lan versus Lin Hong. The other captivating battle was Gu Yan versus Life-Seizing.
As for the other three battles, they held no significance. It was estimated that Nalan Feng, Lin Qian, and Wen Jiang could advance directly.
The facts were not far off from what the crowd had predicted. Nalan Feng's and Lin Qian's opponents directly conceded. Wen Jiang's opponent was Feng Qian. Although Feng Qian exerted all his strength, he only managed to last three moves against Wen Jiang before being blasted off the battle platform. Moreover, Wen Jiang hadn't even used his full strength. The gap between the Spirit Martial Realm and the Qi Martial Realm was insurmountable.
This time, on the main battle platform were Qiu Lan and Lin Hong. They were the protagonists of this round.
On the northern battle platform, Gu Yan's icy gaze fell on Lin Feng, his killing intent radiating outward. What a coincidence—he had actually encountered Lin Feng. As long as Lin Feng dared to fight, he would make sure Lin Feng died, to avenge the hatred of Gu Qing's death.
"If you don't dare to fight, then get the hell off. Don't disgrace a martial artist's face." Gu Yan's face twisted with mockery, his words piercing.
Lin Feng stood there calmly as before and said indifferently, "You don't need to provoke me. Rest assured, I'll give you the chance to take revenge."
"Heh heh." Gu Yan let out a sinister laugh upon hearing Lin Feng's words. He had indeed been using words to provoke Lin Feng into fighting him. He hadn't expected Lin Feng to see through it, yet he still wanted to fight.
"Foolish bastard. I'll make you understand what the Spirit Martial Realm is. The gap is insurmountable." Gu Yan sneered inwardly. He didn't even release his martial soul, afraid that doing so might frighten Lin Feng and make him dare not fight.
Lifting his foot, Gu Yan walked toward Lin Feng. When he was only ten steps away, his foot suddenly stomped down. Thunderous palm winds struck through the air, and a barrage of solid palm prints descended upon Lin Feng like a blanket. At this moment, Lin Feng was covered by endless palm prints. From Gu Yan's direction, he couldn't even see Lin Feng's figure.
"Daring to touch someone from my Gu Clan is you seeking death." Gu Yan finally roared, delivering a massive, sky-overturning palm print toward Lin Feng ahead. Even if Lin Feng could withstand those palm prints, this killing blow would still take Lin Feng's life. Since he had made his move, he wouldn't allow Lin Feng to live. Otherwise, where would the face of his Gu Clan's number one genius go?
The overwhelming palm prints were about to land on Lin Feng's body. A cruel smile had already appeared at the corner of Gu Yan's mouth.
But at that moment, the brilliant radiance flickered again, just as before. The sky-full of palm prints was directly torn apart, revealing cracks as if they could shatter at any moment.
"Die." Gu Yan remained unmoved and shouted loudly. His fierce and domineering palm directly stamped onto those nearly shattered palm prints. A force like a mountain overturning the sea surged forward. This strike was enough to obliterate anyone in the Qi Martial Realm.
"Not necessarily."
"Rumble."
A calm and cold voice came through. An incomparably wild and domineering sword qi tore through everything. The palm prints collapsed and shattered in an instant, turning into countless fragments that scattered with the wind. Only a single sword light remained, vying with heaven and earth.
"Spirit Martial Realm." Gu Yan's face turned deathly pale. How could he not have thought that Lin Feng had hidden his strength?
The sword light was cold and murderous. The sword aura was fierce and carried a destructive force, annihilating everything in its path.
A sword—indestructible, all-consuming.
"Not good." Gu Qing's face changed dramatically as he stood up from his seat. But everything was already too late. Gu Yan had been plotting a single fatal blow against Lin Feng, leaving himself no room for retreat. At this moment, he couldn't counterattack, let alone block Lin Feng's killing sword.
A spurt of blood shot from Gu Yan's throat. Gu Yan of the Spirit Martial Realm had fallen.
This was also the only Spirit Martial Realm powerhouse to be killed in the martial meet so far.
At this moment, everyone from the Gu Clan stood up, shocked and despairing as they watched the scene before them, watching their most outstanding clansman fall on the battle platform.
"I want you dead!" Gu Qing roared, his voice jarring the crowd's eardrums.
Nalan Xiong frowned and said, "Clan Leader Gu, you are out of line. Don't forget this is the Yangzhou City Martial Meet."
Gu Qing's expression froze. He glanced at Nalan Xiong and finally let out an unwilling snort before sitting down.
But from the way Gu Qing stared at Lin Feng, it was clear that he would not let Lin Feng off.
"What? Gu Yan was killed by Life-Seizing? Still just one sword?" Many people had been watching the battle between Qiu Lan and Lin Hong when they were suddenly jolted awake by Nalan Xiong's roar. Seeing Gu Yan's corpse on the ground, they were dumbfounded.
"Damn it. Why did I go watch Qiu Lan's fight and miss this? How did Life-Seizing kill Gu Yan?"
Many people began to regret deeply, lamenting that they had missed the exciting battle. They clearly hadn't expected such a shocking fight to occur here. A Spirit Martial Realm powerhouse had been killed, and by the newly risen mysterious powerhouse, Life-Seizing.
"We all misjudged him. Life-Seizing is also a martial artist of the Spirit Martial Realm, incredibly powerful, strong enough to rank in the top five, or even higher."
Not only the crowd, but even Nalan Xiong was now watching Lin Feng's retreating figure as he walked off the battle platform. A Qi Martial Realm martial artist—one sword. A Spirit Martial Realm martial artist—still one sword. Just how strong was this guy? Even he couldn't see through it.
At this moment, the other battle also concluded. Qiu Lan defeated Lin Hong. With this, the five powerhouses advancing to the next round were all determined.
Nalan Feng, Lin Qian, Wen Jiang, Qiu Lan, Life-Seizing.
The scattered cultivators without family backing still had the most people remaining, with Qiu Lan and Life-Seizing. The Gu Clan had none left, and their two most talented clansmen had been killed by Lin Feng.
After another incense stick's rest, the old man walked back onto the main battle platform.
"Fourth round: Lin Qian gets a bye. Nalan Feng versus Wen Jiang. Qiu Lan versus Life-Seizing."
The crowd's emotions surged. It was finally time for the ultimate showdown. Nalan Feng's strength went without saying. Wen Jiang was a martial artist at the Second Layer of the Spirit Martial Realm, a higher realm than Nalan Feng and Lin Qian. Their battle was bound to be thrilling.
As for the other match, Life-Seizing had been unstoppable, killing three with three swords to reach the fourth round. What kind of collision would occur between him and Qiu Lan?
This time, the two battles would be held sequentially, not simultaneously, and both would take place on the main battle platform.
First up: Nalan Feng and Wen Jiang.
"Wen Jiang, your strength is decent, but you're still no match for me. Concede." Nalan Feng was extremely proud, like a princess looking down on everything.
"Hmph. My realm is higher than yours. It should be you, Nalan Feng, who concedes." Wen Jiang retorted.
"Stubborn and unyielding." Nalan Feng snorted coldly. She released her martial soul, and behind her, the Divine Arm Martial Soul materialized. But what was shocking was that Nalan Feng's Divine Arm Martial Soul was different from Nalan Chen's, whom Lin Feng had killed. Nalan Feng's Divine Arm Martial Soul was actually golden, radiating an indestructible golden light.
"Divine Arm Martial Soul. Only a golden divine arm can be called a perfect Divine Arm Martial Soul." A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of Nalan Xiong's mouth. In a hundred years, only Nalan Feng had awakened the purest Divine Arm Martial Soul.
"As expected of the princess of Yangzhou City. Her divine arm martial soul is actually golden—majestic and domineering."
The crowd's hearts trembled, their expressions moved.
Wen Jiang was not to be outdone. He also released his martial soul. Behind him, an illusory river appeared, with endless waves and flowing water. This was the River Martial Soul of the Wen Clan.
"This world truly has all kinds of wonders." Lin Feng sighed inwardly as he watched the two martial souls. A divine arm could become a martial soul, and a golden one at that. A river was also a martial soul.
Martial souls were diverse and unimaginable.
He glanced at Lin Qian. If his prediction was correct, Nalan Feng would win this battle, and the next round would have a bye. That meant in the next round, he, having defeated Qiu Lan, would face Lin Qian.