Limit

Xu Kai conceded the challenge thrown to him by Huo Zun.

Anyway, he could reclaim the second spot anytime based on the rules as long as he kept the third spot and Bai Ningshuang defeated Huo Zun.

Since Huo Zun just used a turn, the official referee directly announced an hour break before the restart of the challenge back to tenth place.

Each contestant had three more turns to improve their standings.

An hour later, Zhong De and Purple Jaguar skipped their turns. The dissatisfied audience couldn't blame them. Many had already divided the ten contestants into three groups.

Bai Ningshuang, Huo Zun, Xana, and Hesha were placed at the upper level. Xu Kai, Ling Jingjing and Su Peng were estimated to have strength a bit lower than the upper four. The remaining ones: Zhong De, Purple Jaguar, and Murong Youyou belonged to the bottom group.

Naturally, the bottom group could still dominate their peers in the entire Northern Prefecture. The term 'bottom' could only be used to them when thinking of top ten.

"Su Peng, who are you going to challenge?" The official referee turned his gaze to the thin-built man wearing a light blue coat.

"Murong Youyou."

The top genius of the Cerulean Mirror Sect seemed to be a hot potato among the challengers.

Murong Youyou had been in a bad mood even before this day's competition. Since she heard the disappearance of the whole group of their rival sect, her companions had been trying to communicate with the elders left to protect the Cerulean Mirror Sect.

The reply they received just hours ago made their hearts skip a beat.

Their long-time rival, the Fire Reverence Sect, had been wiped out by an anonymous lone man suspected to be a sovereign. It seemed that the attacker was just passing-by in the city and somehow, an elder of the Fire Reverence Sect got into a dispute with the man.

The news chilled the heart of Murong Youyou who treated the destruction of the Fire Reverence Sect as one of her main motivations. One of her goals had just been accomplished by a passing man, accidentally.

"Murong Youyou, Su Peng has issued a challenge for you."

The words of the official referee brought her back as a firm and resolute glint flashed in her eyes.

She needed to become stronger.

Her goal just became higher. She didn't want her sect to suffer the same fate as the Fire Reverence Sect. She wanted to have the strength to protect her sect against those old monsters and passing calamities.

The first step was here, in this competition.

The higher her final standing, the greater the resources she would receive from both her sect and the Governor Residence. Only with abundant resources she could cultivate faster.

When the battle between the two started, everyone could discern a change in Murong Youyou's attitude.

The same attacks she performed on her last matches became more profound and stronger. The endless sea she materialized countless times the past days became deeper and more violent. Her minute decisions and planning became more complex for the opponent.

It was as if she had eaten a stimulant.

The audience was dumbfounded. Did something happen? This lady suddenly showed her fiercer side like a slumbering tigress being awakened from her sleep.

Su Peng definitely didn't expect the sudden change of his opponent but as a top genius, he easily adapted to this.

"Wind Execution!"

"Moon Tidal!"

The two danced dangerously on the battle stage with every attack aimed at each other's vital points.

The initial prediction favoring Su Peng was trashed hard by Murong Youyou's persistence. After a hundred exchanges, the two were in a stalemate. Both were breathing heavily with pale faces.

"Do you both want to make this a tie?" The official referee asked.

"Yes." They both replied in unison.

The result boggled many people and drained the pockets of many bettors.

"Is she hiding her real strength? Damn it! I lost a thousand energy stones."

"Hahaha! I won! Five multipliers, five!"

"It's her mentality. It changed." Both Ji Chen and Governor Cui muttered the same line.

Naturally, a change in mentality should not be able to raise one's strength easily. However, the so-called grouping of Murong Youyou at the bottom group and Su Peng at the middle group was only separated by a fine line.

After several minutes, the official referee called Xana for her turn.

"I will challenge Xu Kai." She said with fighting intent burning in her eyes. She had heard the rumors about the Three Peak Sect and also lost in the earlier round to Hesha.

The way she lost from Hesha wasn't enough to convince her that she was inferior to these four who were younger to her by more than twenty years.

Xu Kai turned serious as he descended towards the battle stage. He had seen the matches of Xana and he understood her ice-based attacks that could slowly affect the opponent's body. Xana's comprehension of the ice element was also not to be trifled with.

If he became careless in this match, he might lose miserably.

The moment the official referee sounded the start, Xu Kai did not hesitate and activated his body field immediately.

His figure then turned blurry when he executed the Wind Chase Step Art to close in.

A body refiner like him would always be more comfortable fighting in close combat.

Xana naturally knew this and did not stay on her spot.

At the same time, extreme coldness spread outwards as she waved her hands. The air stagnated and the ground below them rapidly turned into tundra.

Crystallized snow started to fall to blanket the surrounding area.

However, Xu Kai's body field was like a perpetual heat source that resisted the coldness permeating around. Vital energy surged from his body and he infused it to his clawing hands that wanted to tear the opponent.

Swish!

Dozens of greenish claw slashes shot towards Xana who created an ice wall in midair.

Her figure retreated fastly behind the ice wall.

In the next moment, claw slashes screeched after colliding with the ice wall. A large chunk of the wall was destroyed and the remaining part had cracks propagating to all corners.

Bang!

A follow-up palm imprint from Xu Kai finally destroyed the ice wall.

"Ice Tomb."

"Iron Mountain Palm."

The two didn't even take a breath as they both executed their art manual for frontal confrontation.

A gigantic ice coffin and an equally gigantic palm imprint appeared in the sky at the same time.

BANG!

The two found each other and created a reverberating explosion of vital and ice energy. Shards of ice and chaotic air were blasted to all directions.

It was fortunate that the battle stage was isolated by an array formation, preventing any of the ice shards and sharp gust of wind from approaching the spectators.

The two remained unscathed without even a crumple on their clothes.

In the next moment, Xu Kai shot forward once again while Xana surrounded herself with sharp icicles.

After a dozen of exchanges, the two still remained at their top conditions with Xu Kai tanking some of the attacks with his body field and Xana efficiently using her ice domain and art manuals to avoid a close combat.

When the two clashed for a hundred times, Xu Kai finally decided to burst out his remaining strength.

It was the same attack everyone saw in the earlier round.

A palm imprint devoid of light turned larger as it streaked towards Xana with horrifying aura. It was as if one was facing a behemoth of darkness.

Xu Kai also sealed many retreat routes for her by bombarding the four directions with countless punches. Xana turned solemn unprecedentedly as she opened her palm.

A small white crystalline three-petaled flower floated from her open palm.

Glowing with soft white light, its extreme coldness swept outward and turned the surrounding area into icy land immediately. The gentle wind halted and light itself turned dimmer. Even some had an illusion that time slowed itself.

BOOOM!

The palm that devoured light and the flower that slowed down everything smashed each other in the sky. A blinding light instantly made many spectators close their eyes and when they opened their eyes again, a thick mist had already covered the battle stage.

Two shadows crossed each other thrice inside the mist.

When the mist finally dispersed, the spectators saw the condition of the two figures.

Xana was breathing heavily with her trembling hands. Her blue hair was slightly messy with some strands sticking on her frosty flawless face. Her white dress already turned gray on some spots and a tear just below her chest part exposed a metallic luster covering her abdomen.

Opposite to her, Xu Kai had his left arm covered with frost. The corner of his mouth had some frozen blood and his torn clothes exposed superficial cuts and wounds.

"I lost." Xu Kai didn't bother forcing the fight into attrition. In this clash, he received more damage than his opponent and even though he knew that he could probably outlast the woman in front him due to his body refinement, he just never cared about the rankings of the top ten.

If not for Ji Chen and his master Long Zhu, a man like him who never cared for fame would never join a competition.

Fighting beasts and cultivators without restrictions and rules was still the best way to temper his body and mind.

Moreover, if Xana was still hiding a stronger trump card, he would probably get knocked out first before he outlasted her. The attack earlier was already his limit.

Xana nodded at him while retaining her aloof expression.

The two went back to their viewing platforms.

"Good job, Kai. We must be delicate when it comes to women.'' Long Zhu opened his mouth as soon as his disciple returned.

Ji Chen complained inwardly. 'We almost died in a secret realm because of your simping. I hadn't forgotten about that treacherous woman.'

"Elder Long." Bai Ningshuang called out. "What if that woman wants to kill you or take advantage of you? Are you going to let her do it just because she's a woman?"

"Cough. That is different. This is a competition." Long Zhu felt awkward hearing her rebuttal.

'Haha! That's what you get for chasing skirts blindly, baldy.' Ji Chen suppressed his urge to laugh. He made a thumbs-up for his beloved disciple.

Xu Kai ignored his master's nonsense and went to recuperate.