“Lu Zheng, you’re up!” Shi Hun Tian casually waved his hand. He smirked as his eyes unconsciously landed on Ye Wei; the only opponent he cared about today.
“Okay!” An arrogant young man stepped forward from the group. He looked eager and energetic ready for a fight, for a chance at victory.
“Who of you will fight me?” Lu Zheng’s cold gaze swept the South Star camp.
The South Star cultivator’s faces suddenly changed; they were not expecting their opponent to send out an eight-star Warrior right away. On South Star’s side, the only cultivator who they had at the same level as Lu Zheng was Liu Jian, apart from Ye Wei.
After a brief moment of silence, Ye Wei appeared slowly walking out of the group.
“He is an eight-star Warrior, let me deal with him.” Liu Jian exclaimed. He was a bit confused, since the vice-princ.i.p.al wanted to save Ye Wei for the last.
“Let’s make this quick, I have a stance to learn. If you want to fight, I will train with you when we’re back,” Ye Wei said indifferently, “You guys have done all the work these past weeks, and now I want to get some exercise.”
The crowd went wild. They knew that Ye Wei was the strongest cultivator in the South Star team, but, even so, it would have been a bit of a stretch to take on a top five contesting teams on his own.
Some of the young audience, who though South Star would win off Ye Wei’s back, began to change their minds.
“Why is he ruining his chances!? The only way he could win against Lu Zheng is to land a lucky strike using the stance he beat Qi Xiu with! How is he going to have enough Qi and body strength to accomplish it when he finally faces the G.o.d’s Seven?”
“This is ridiculous!”
“I guess, some people prefer learning their lessons the hard way. I don’t think Shi Hun Tian will take this insult lightly.”
Lu Zheng was also surprised that Ye Wei would be his first opponent, “Haha! You think you can take all of us on your own, do you? I would like to see if you really have what it takes to challenge our ace like everyone else thinks,” He grunted, stomped the ground, and instantly launched himself towards Ye Wei.
“Boom!”
The moment his feet left the platform, Lu Zheng’s presence intensified, and a layer of Qi materialized over his body. Facing an opponent like Ye Wei, he saw no point in hiding his cultivation.
“What!?”
“He is a peak ten-star Warrior too?” The audience’s eyes widened as they saw the unexpected. They have been following Tri-Solar’s fights, but Lu Zheng never appeared to be more than an eight-star Warrior.
“Tri-Solar School hid him so well! d.a.m.n! I should have seen it coming! They are looking to finish at the top. Wow, it sure sucks to be one of the South Star youngsters right now!”
“They might not even need Shi Hun Tian to win. They have really planned well for their match with South Star!”
The power Lu Zheng just displayed improved Tri-Solar School’s impression in the audience’s hearts and minds, as any cultivator would know a peak ten-star Warrior was definitely top tier.
The wild crowd’s cheer and chatter boosted Shi Xiao Ran’s confidence causing his smile to grow into an arrogant grin just like the chesire cat: wide, big, and pridefully menacing as he glared at Xu He.
“I apologize in advance, if our youngsters hurt yours; you will have to forgive them! They are just following the rules of the tournament!” Shi Xiao Ran sarcastically chuckled.
“Vice-princ.i.p.al Shi, the fight has only just begun, I can only say the same.” Xu He said casually with pride.
On the martial platform, Lu Zheng drew sequences of runes with both his hands as he flew towards Ye Wei, immediately activating two stances with a quick surge of Qi.
‘Yaksha Palm!’
‘Lightning Leash!’
Within moments, light from the glowing rune sequences brightened the purple platform.
Thick bolts of static energy tangled around Ye Wei and constricted his body like snakes about to kill their prey. At the same time a terrifying Yaksha appeared behind him, striking him with its palm. The fearsome pressure wave swept across the platform; the shrill sound resulted from the pressure wave made the audience cover their ears.
“d.a.m.n, this looks quite deadly!” The South Star youngsters started to fear for Ye Wei.
“Careful, Ye Wei!”
n.o.body expected Lu Zheng to lead with such a sinister combination with the power of a ten-star Warrior. Although both of the stances were only high-level Spirit stances, they looked to have the power to challenge even a lower-level condensed prime Warrior.
“I didn’t know Tri-Solar had any top tier cultivator except Shi Hun Tian!”
“Judging by what we saw of Ye Wei, I think it is safe to say South Star has already lost this matchup. I mean, their ace would need to waste half his strength and energy on the first fight! How is he suppose to beat a G.o.d’s Seven afterwards? Unless, they too hid their strength!”
The crowd was heated, coming up with crazy predictions and theories on how Tri-Solar School had planned this all along causing them to finish second or even first! They wondered how Ye Wei would handle such a threat.
“A constricting stance and a heavy strike? I will give you credit for your creativity! It’s almost like seeing myself fight. It’s a shame your stances are weak, if only you had refined them more…” Ye Wei quietly spoke to himself while casually drawing the runes for his Selenic Armor stance.
It was the same defensive stance as before but infused with Star Shifter form. Now a condensed prime Warrior, the light armor seemed to be thicker and smoother. However, that didn’t stop Ye Wei from being held still from the lightning bolts.
“If you can’t untangle yourself, you’re done for!” Lu Zheng’s eyes turned ice cold as he stared at Ye Wei. The Yaksha growled and struck his palm down towards Ye Wei’s head. The palm picked up strands of lightning as it pa.s.sed through the constriction stance causing its power to be doubled.
“Shi Xiao Ran is undoubtedly a great teacher, not many youngsters master the stances they use well enough to synergize them!”
“Supreme Chen Feng once said, ‘The best moves are never just strong stances on their own; they are often combinations of stances that compliment each other well,’ If we couldn’t see this well planned combo coming, Ye Wei certainly couldn’t!”
“This moment might decide the match.”
The audience up on the cloud platform were ecstatic to see the masterful display.
“Ha!” Lu Zheng’s face shone with complacency as Yaksha’s palm landed on Ye Wei. The whole platform shook as a small pit appeared where Ye Wei previously stood.
Some of the audience cheered but the South Star camp turned silent, afraid their best cultivator had just been defeated.
“I guess we will have to wait another day until we get to see a G.o.d’s Seven fight.”
“Splendid!”
“That was a great combination! If I was Ye Wei, I wouldn’t feel too bad losing.”
The youngsters around platform three discussed excitedly.
‘I got this!’ Lu Zheng rejoiced, but the contentment did not last. His stomach felt tight as he senses told him something was amiss.
As the debris and dust slowly fell to the ground, Ye Wei’s figure was revealed. He was standing in the eye of the settling storm; his clothes were completely clean and his light armor intact.
“This is impossible! How can this be!?” Lu Zheng eyes widened not understanding how the combo that possessed power comparable to a Myst stance had no effect on Ye Wei.
“Hiss!”
Everyone gasped as they saw Ye Wei’s graceful posture. Everyone frightened, realized it had been a mismatch from the beginning. Lu Zheng was completely outcla.s.sed, and the stance combo taught Ye Wei more about Lu Zheng than caused damage to him.
“That was your best move right? It was cute, but I’m afraid it’s my move now.” Ye Wei glared at Lu Zheng disappearing in a flash.
‘Searing Selenic Palm!’
Ye Wei reappeared in front of Lu Zheng, and his palm strike carried spinning momentum as he infused the flow of the Star Shifter form into the stance.
“You really should dodge this.” Ye Wei said coldly
Before Lu Zheng could even come up with a way to defend himself, the burning palm landed right on his stomach, too quick for him to even react. The force sent his body flying like a spinning top towards Tri-Solar School’s camp.
Two of the Tri-Solar youngsters jumped up to protect Lu Zheng from crashing onto a wall, but when they caught him, they too were caught in the spin. The three of them flew back ten meters and fell heavily.
Silence fell on the crowd; if something as small as a needle were dropped on the floor, it would sound like a bell in the night. Widened eyes were set on the three motionless youngsters laying the floor, startled, some of the audience even forgot to breathe.
“How… How is this possible? The two who caught him were seven-star Warriors!”
“Outcla.s.sed! Outcla.s.sed by a monster!”
“This boy has unfathomable strength!”
The crowd went crazy after a moment of quietness, and were forced to swallow their doubting words. They all looked forward to seeing a G.o.d’s Seven in action, fighting Ye Wei, someone who hardly spend any energy to defeat a peak ten-star Warrior.
The audience on the cloud too were excited to see a possible t.i.tle fight.