Chapter 18: Battle For Top Ten (3/3)
The sixth round began with twelve archmages battling for the remaining six spots on the top ten.
The significance of luck had greatly decreased in this round since most of the archmages were at the late-stage and peak-stage.
The drawing lots this time also had their names written on it, enabling the twelve competitors to prepare tactics against each other.
In a bitter twist of destiny, Hesha picked Xu Kai as her opponent. On the other hand, Ling Jingjing picked the name of another peak-stage archmage from the Golden Wheel Organization.
"Sister Hesha, I'm no match to you."
"Try it first Brother Kai. Maybe we can work out some ways~" Hesha encouraged with a playful wink.
Xu Kai shook his head and replied, "I don't want to work some ways if it's you."
"Pfft!" Bai Ningshuang suppressed her laughter and blurted out, "You've been rejected, girl."
Hesha pouted and acted like she had been wronged. "Brother Kai, how mean."
Her expression then beamed again which made Xu Kai wary. He did not want to find ways with thick branches and sneaky vines.
He decided to concede the match after trying all his techniques.
On the opposite side, a tall fair lady wearing the uniform of Golden Wheel Merchant Organization had a heavy expression when she heard her opponent's name. She wouldn't be afraid of Ling Jingjing if she was an emperor but as an archmage, it was difficult to win.
The only way she could resist spiritual attacks would be for her spiritual sea to be larger than her opponent, have a defensive artifact, or have a secret manual that could defend against that kind of attack.
Unfortunately, the second and third options were out of the table and as for the first option, she was really not sure.
The six anticipated matches started with the match of Xu Kai and Hesha.
On the white stage, Hesha had her face plastered with a sweet smile. She looked at Xu Kai and said, "Brother Kai, shall we decide who will attack first?"
"No need. I'll make my move."
Xu Kai started his combo with a mid-tier rare grade palm art, Mountain Splitting Palm.
Stirring the boundless vitality of his tempered body, a gigantic palm imprint made of his vital energy shot towards Hesha as it made a humming sound.
Hesha pouted attractively. A wave of her hand created a net composed of her wood energy. It trapped the fist imprint and drained it of its vital energy.
In an instant, healthy and thick vines emerged from the ground and slithered towards Xu Kai at a speed that would send most archmages into panic.
"Iron Mountain Palm."
Disregarding the vines using the Light Phantom Art, Xu Kai seemed to transform like a phantom without the restraint of gravity.
Another gigantic palm imprint with thicker and heavier aura propelled towards Hesha.
The air was blasted by the seemingly unstoppable imprint.
Unfortunately for Xu Kai, Hesha easily resolved his attack with a stronger net energy of hers. She didn't even need to dodge or move around.
He tried his other art manuals except the one he received from Ji Chen but the result was the same.
In less than ten exchanges, he stopped and announced, "I concede."
"Tsk. Brother Kai seems to not enjoy fighting me."
Xu Kai ignored the demoness fluidly as if he had done it countless times and returned to his seat.
The second match proceeded quicker with the peak-stage archmage from the Golden Wheel Merchant Organization sending a late-stage archmage from the Edgewater Pavilion flying within a minute.
The third match.. The fourth match.. The fifth match…
The Edgewater Pavilion scored against the Emerald Stone Veranda. To make it worse for Veranda Lord Wuji, another disciple of him got defeated, leaving only Sun Wuji as the lone contestant from his veranda.
He grumbled inwardly as he kept mumbling, "Shameless. You're already in your 90's yet you beat someone half your age."
The Emerald Stone Veranda had only their emperor contestant remaining in the competition, earning gossip among the crowd. On the other hand, the Edgewater Pavilion retained some face with two remaining contestants.
"Last match for this round, Ling Jingjing versus Liu Jingyang." The referee announced loudly while looking at the direction of the two descending women.
The two made their way onto the white stage and stood opposite of each other dozens of meters away.
Upon the signal of the referee, Liu Jingyang did not try her chances and immediately split her attention with one in her spiritual sea, waiting for the sudden invisible attack.
She started her attack using the 2-meter long silver javelin in her hand. Metal energy gushed out from her body as it transformed into countless sharp lethal javelins.
Ling Jingjing did not stay in daze and used her usual combat style starting with palm imprints, whirlpools, before resorting to widespread waves.
However, Liu Jingyang was a higher stage than her and her water element had its natural weakness against metal.
Therefore, she fell into disadvantage after several exchanges.
It was at this moment that she decided to use her new water arts.
"Eastern River."
A river materialized from the eastern horizon, reflecting the contrasting lights of the two stars. From calmness to turbulence, the river set its downstream towards the direction of Liu Jingyang.
Liu Jingyang was startled by the new attack as she hastily rotated his javelin and thrusted it towards the raging currents.
The bluish torrent met the spiraling sharpness in the midair, resulting into another shockwave.
"It's still lacking a bit." Ling Jingjing muttered seeing that her attack got neutralized easily.
She didn't execute the second art manual she got from Ji Chen and resorted to spiritual attack. It was because she recalled the advice of him regarding keeping a trump card.
Her eyes glowed strangely for a split second.
The spectators watched this scene with rapt attention. The explanation of what happened to Tang Ju, Ling Jingjing's opponent in the earlier round, had already spread in the city. Thus, everyone wanted to witness her using the secret manual.
Liu Jingyang saw her opponent's strange eyes and her instinct instantly screamed of warning. With no other ways to defend herself, she focused her whole attention in his spiritual sea, bracing for the incoming attack.
Not even a breath passed when she felt dozens of needles bypassed her glabella. As the needles made contact with the layer protecting her spiritual sea, her hope instantly died down. Like some sort of cheap armor, the barrier was too soft and not enough to stop the needles.
Intense pain immediately radiated from her head and the last thing she felt before losing consciousness was the relief from pain as if the needles vanished from her spiritual sea.
Ling Jingjing caught the falling body of her opponent with her energy and gently placed it on the ground. She had restrained herself in the last moment to not cause serious injury to her opponent.
"The winner of this match is Ling Jingjing from the Three Peak Sect."
The crowd once again went into lively discussions. Ji Chen nodded in approval seeing Ling Jingjing withholding at the last moment when she sensed her opponent was already losing her consciousness. It was always pleasant for him to see her kind heart.
City Lord Feng stood once again and asked the two eliminated contestants whether they wanted to challenge someone in the top ten.
Xu Kai, who already lost hope, actively volunteered and challenged the only itinerant cultivator. This time, he used the Light Suppression Palm Art in a surprise attack that sent his opponent to defeat.
"What the hell is that palm attack?!"
"Did you see that? It suppressed the light itself as if he used the dark element."
"Impossible! He's a legit body refiner and used his vital energy in that attack. It must be his art manual!"
"His other teammates also executed strong art manuals. What's with their sect?"
The audience got agitated by the result of the match, especially the itinerant cultivators who felt bitter. Their only representative lost because of an art manual.
With Xu Kai's win, four spots in the top ten had been occupied by the Three Peak Sect. It was a concrete testament that the sect was really on the rise.
The sect's fame soared to all high with many youths in the crowd asking if the sect was recruiting disciples.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone