93: Chapter 93 The Top Ten Have Been Decided

The turmoil at the Ninth Arena had just settled, and a wave of challenges swept across the remaining arenas. The ten arena masters fought one after another, yet not a single one failed; all successfully defended their positions.

Arena 1 · Zhang Wen

The challenger was a New Student proficient in wind-type escape techniques, his figure moving so fast that only afterimages remained, attempting to bypass the direct blockade of lightning.

Zhang Wen, however, remained standing still in the center of the platform. Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder flowed with his spiritual energy, and the seemingly casually scattered Lightning Radiance wove into an invisible electric net around him.

The stronger the wind, the denser the electric currents that touched the net; the challenger's several surprise attacks were all repelled by the electric net.

When the opponent took a risk and lunged forward, Zhang Wen lightly rotated his wrist, and a strand of lightning as thin as a hair precisely wrapped around the opponent's ankle. The current surged backward along the wind-type spiritual energy, instantly disintegrating the offensive.

He hadn't moved a single step the entire time, having already secured victory.

It fully displayed the strength of the number one ranked brother!

Arena 2 · Su Xue

The challenger was a fire-type New Student who believed he could use raging flames to overcome the ice-type.

But just as he unleashed billowing flames, Su Xue lightly raised her delicate hand, her moon-white dress fluttering with the fluctuations of spiritual energy, and an ice mirror instantly condensed before her.

The flames collided with the ice mirror, only to be reflected by the mirror's surface, turning to scorch the challenger himself.

As the opponent hurriedly withdrew his move, Su Xue had already swirled close. Ice flowers bloomed along the trajectory traced by her fingertips, and the cold air invaded through the gaps in the opponent's spiritual energy circulation, freezing his wrist in the blink of an eye.

"Your flames, the temperature isn't enough." Su Xue's voice was clear and cold, her eyes calm as she looked at the opponent's palm frozen in mid-air.

Arena 3 · Ji Changkong

The challenger was a water-type New Student who had intended to use water to overcome ice, but instead ran into Ji Changkong's power of the Bitter Winter.

The water flow he summoned had just flooded the arena when it was frozen into ice ridges by the cold air spreading from Ji Changkong's feet, becoming a barrier that hindered himself instead.

When the water-type Cultivator tried to break the ice, Ji Changkong suddenly shattered the ice surface, and the cold air flowed backward along the water current, instantly freezing the opponent's spiritual energy hub.

Ice shavings danced beside his silver-white combat attire; the entire process was smooth and flowing, as if performing a suppressive duel between ice and water.

Yet he still frowned; after all, with Zhang Wen and Su Xue ahead, and Zhao Ya behind, his pressure was immense!

Arena 4 · Qin Huang

The challenger was a strength-type Cultivator whose punching wind was enough to split stones.

Qin Huang, however, relied solely on his Thousand Jin Stalwart Body to take it head-on, remaining unmoved even as the opponent's fist shadows came like a tide.

After dozens of punches, the challenger's knuckles were bleeding, and only then did Qin Huang slowly raise his hand, a seemingly slow straight punch colliding with the opponent's chest.

There was no loud noise, yet it instantly made the opponent's blood surge. As he stumbled off the stage, he still stared blankly at Qin Huang's motionless figure.

Arena 5 · Ding Siyi

The challenger wanted to win with speed, but was entangled by the bizarre nature of the Crimson Pearl Immortal Fire.

The pink flames seemed soft, but once they touched, they burned along the spiritual energy like maggots on rotting bones.

Ding Siyi was unhurried, manipulating the flames to turn into fire butterflies to dodge attacks, and then condensing them into a fire wall for defense.

By the time the opponent realized his spiritual energy was being rapidly depleted, he was already surrounded by pink flames, finally admitting defeat in the dizziness of exhausted spiritual energy. As he left the stage, he could still smell that strange, sweet fragrance.

Arena 6 · Solitary Blade

The comer was also a saber Cultivator who believed his saber technique was not inferior to Solitary Blade.

However, amidst the crossing of saber lights, the challenger felt alarmed—Solitary Blade's Blood-Drinking Bone Blade was not only sharp but also carried an evil nature that devoured spiritual energy.

Every collision saw his Saber Qi absorbed by the Bone Blade.

After three moves, the challenger's saber already had nicks, while Solitary Blade's Bone Blade grew increasingly pearly white. A final horizontal slash forced the opponent to discard his saber and admit defeat, the Bone Blade even flashing with a hint of bloodthirsty red light.

Arena 7 · Wu Xuan

The challenger was a Cultivator skilled in piercing attacks with strong pulling ability, believing he could break the Profound Iron Bones.

But Wu Xuan's defense far exceeded expectations; whether it was sharp bone spikes or condensed spiritual energy needles, they only left faint marks when hitting his body.

After several failed attacks, the challenger grew increasingly anxious. The moment a flaw appeared, Wu Xuan had already closed in, knocking him off the stage with a shoulder bash.

Upon landing, Wu Xuan patted his shoulder; the luster of the Profound Iron Bones had not diminished in the slightest.

Arena 8 · Li Menger

The challenger was also a mental-type Cultivator, wanting to compete with Li Menger in mind-control.

Who knew that Li Menger's "Soul Dream Whisper" was even better? She didn't even open her mouth; just with a flow of her gaze, she made the opponent fall into hallucinations.

At one moment he saw saber lights filling the sky, at another he fell into a bottomless abyss.

When the challenger woke up in a cold sweat, he realized he was already at the edge of the arena, and another half-step would have seen him fall off; he could only smile bitterly and admit defeat.

Arena 9 · Zhao Ya

Having just sat firmly in the arena position, she encountered an earth-type defensive New Student. The opponent built three layers of earth walls, wanting to exhaust Zhao Ya's already overdrafted spiritual energy.

Zhao Ya was already furious. Seeing the newcomer wanting to play a war of attrition again, she turned her crimson flames into a dense fire net that directly adhered to the surface of the earth walls, infiltrating inward by taking advantage of the permeability.

A moment later, the inside of the earth walls suddenly exploded, startling the challenger hiding behind them into retreating—she had long calculated the weak points of the earth walls; the flames were merely the fuse.

Arena 10 · Han Hao

The challenger was, like Han Hao, a Sword Cultivator with ruthless sword moves, but was completely predicted by Han Hao's "Sword Heart Clarity".

Han Hao's sword seemed slow, but it could always preemptively block the opponent's changes in moves.

Regardless of whether the opponent stabbed at his throat or heart, Han Hao's sword tip would precisely tap on the spine of the opponent's sword as if it had eyes.

After three moves, the challenger's sword momentum was in chaos, and he was disarmed by a sword strike from Han Hao, having no choice but to bow and admit defeat.

The ten arena defense battles concluded. Except for the change at the Ninth Arena, the list of arena masters on the light screen remained unmoved.

The crowd below looked at the ten figures on the stage with steady auras and suddenly realized—the real hard battle of this competition had just begun.

...

The referee's voice rang through the stadium again, carrying an encouragement that made people's blood boil.

"The cross-grade challenge round is about to begin! The top ten arena masters of each grade can freely challenge the arena masters of higher grades. Regardless of the outcome, the arena position ownership will not change."

"The winners will directly receive an 'Advanced Secret Realm Pass' and 'High Academic Credits'!"

"Advanced Secret Realm Pass?!" The crowd below exploded instantly.

That was a credential to enter the academy's Forbidden Ground to Cultivate; the concentration of Spiritual Qi inside was ten times that of the outside, something many sought but could not get.

And the high academic credits were enough to support any student in purchasing many Cultivation Materials at school; this reward was enough to make anyone's heart beat faster.

And before the cross-grade challenge began, an undeniable fact had already spread throughout the stadium: the internal round-robin tournaments for the sophomores and juniors had long concluded, and the list of top ten arena masters for both grades had remained unmoved.

This was not because there were no challengers; on the contrary, the competition in both grades was equally fierce, but every assault was steadily blocked.

The seniors in the higher grades had long passed the green period of surging spiritual energy, not only becoming more proficient in using their abilities but also honing their precise control over spiritual energy through repeated real combat.

It was like forging ironware; the New Students of the lower grades were raw iron fresh from the furnace, possessing hardness but lacking toughness.

While the seniors in the higher grades were already refined steel that had been repeatedly quenched; seemingly plain, yet capable of easily withstanding heavy blows.

Take Zhou Ye from the first arena of the junior year; three years ago he was just an ordinary S-rank ability user, but now, relying on day-after-day hard Cultivation in the gravity room...

The range of his "Domain" had expanded from three zhang to ten zhang, capable of controlling even the finest metal powder;

And Lin Shuang, the ice-type senior from the first arena of the sophomore year, who last year needed to accumulate energy just to freeze half the arena.

Now, with just a light tap of his fingertip, cold air could spread along the opponent's spiritual energy trajectory, silently moisturizing but with every move being fatal.

More importantly, the higher the grade, the wider the gap between the strong and the weak.

Those Cultivators who could sit firmly in the top ten had already formed their own combat systems, with a deep understanding of their abilities.

While the slightly weaker Cultivators were either left far behind or had exhausted their spirit in repeated assaults.

It was like climbing a steep mountain; the higher one went, the fewer people could keep up, and those who remained at the summit were naturally the strong ones who were best at leveraging power and knew how to conserve their stamina.

So when the freshman New Students were rubbing their hands, preparing to challenge, the arena masters of the sophomore and junior years just stood calmly on the stage.

They had seen too many such scenes and knew that talent needed time to settle, and they had long since accumulated enough confidence in the passage of time.