Shi Gaolin walked out with that sa warrior’s gait that made him look less like a Hungry Ghost disciple and more like a mortal Martial Grandmaster who had wandered into a demonic sect by mistake. The halberd in his hand dragged a faint line across the tiles, and his shoulders rolled as if loosening for a hunt.
i Lin arrived with the opposite energy, as hers was clean and asured. The sect’s white-and-gold robes fit perfectly on her slender figure, hair tied high in a matronly bun along with firm eyes like cold water.
Even when the crowd cheered for her, she did not change her expression or deanor, fully locked into the battle.
When Shi Gaolin released his aura, the temperature around him dropped rapidly, his Hungry Ghost Yin Power condensing close to his body rather than flaring wildly.
That was his style after all, compact and efficient in utility. He was not the type to consu heavy Yin Power with flashy Daoist arts.
i Lin’s hand slid toward her own butterfly sword that was coated with a white light from her Divine Deva Light Power, not rushing nor hesitating, akin to an impartial judge lifting a brush to write a verdict.
WHOOSH! CLING! CLANG! BOOM!
The first clash ca fast.
Shi Gaolin unleashed a halberd thrust that could split an entire mountain in half, but it t its match in a sword light so clean it looked like it had cut the air itself into two neat halves.
KRAKOOM!
The collision bood and caused the formation to flicker slightly as it resisted the aftershock, while the spectating crowd howled at the intense matchup.
"Good! That’s good!"
"Finally, a normal fight between actually qualified opponents!"
The two warriors exchanged blows again and again, their clash causing the image of the silvery and sinister Yin Power and the cold-hearted light of the Divine Deva to flash in the retinas of all viewers.
Eventually, i Lin was knocked back, unable to match Shi Gaolin’s martial skill and brute force, her face pale as blood leaked down the side of her lips. However, no matter how unwilling she was, she could only cup her fists and step down with a downcast expression, knowing she had lost her chance to advance.
The Divine Deva Overseer nodded his head and called the end of the match, then shifted to another arena for the next one.
"Second match: Shen Jian versus Luo Luo!"
The mont their nas were called, both parties went up the stage with differing levels of confidence on their faces.
Shen Jian stepped forward like a spoiled prince walking into a banquet that had been prepared for him. His expression always held arrogance by habit, but his eyes carried sothing sharper now, a coldness that had been carved into him by this tournant’s atmosphere.
The lass called Luo Luo appeared more quietly, but the crowd imdiately buzzed because of what they did know.
"Isn’t that Luo Luo? The one from the True Human Hall?"
"The formation freak?"
Even without announcing anything, the way Luo Luo stood already hinted at preparation, as if she liked to make the battlefield obey rules before the enemy even took a breath.
Naturally, Shen Jian didn’t allow that comfort.
Divine Deva Light Power flared behind him, angelic wings of light forming as he moved forward in a sudden, cutting dash that looked like it was trying to end the match before it beca complicated.
The crowd erupted at the speed alone, shocked and terrified, because even the Asuras couldn’t manage this level of acceleration and velocity!
Damn, this kid had been holding back all this ti!
Luo Luo retreated a step, eyes widening with horror, her posture shifting as if adjusting a plan on the fly as she began to rapidly throw out formation plates.
SWISH!
She managed to barely block that casual strike, but the pressure rose imdiately as Shen Jian’s killing intent was not hidden, and his smile was the kind that made people rember he ca from a demonic sect even if he stood in holy light, a bit too similar to his so-called ’patriarch’.
Eventually, her formations could not match up with the senseless speed and offensive power that Shen Jian could muster, leading to her being almost bisected at the waist. Shen Jian would have completed the kill had the Divine Deva Overseer not protected Luo Luo, glaring at his Path junior with reproach.
It was one thing for that Asura War Demon to kill without scruples, but you didn’t nearly have the sa level of talent and backing he did to be so wanton!
He hurriedly called the match and shooed Shen Jian back to the stands, who was a bit miffed and unhappy, but anyone could see that it was a senior shielding a junior.
"Third match: Hu Lili versus Lang Jue!" the Divine Deva Overseer called after securing Luo Luo with her hall’s people.
The crowd imdiately fell in love with this one before it even began!
Hu Lili bounced onto the stage with wild confidence, like a tigress that had slled blood. She was beautiful in a dangerous way, with power in her hips, strength in her shoulders, and eyes bright with the simple joy of fighting.
Across from her, Lang Jue’s presence was almost no different. The fellow hopped onto the stage with a rather slim yet compact muscular build, his wild black hair forming a minor mane behind him.
The fellow grinned at Hu Lili in a friendly yet combative manner, then howled like a wolf.
"Lili, co, let’s fight, baby girl!"
Hu Lili smiled as well but seed amused. "Jue Jue, I have beaten you since we were kids. What makes you think you can beat now?"
"Tsk, Lili, I have so new tricks up my sleeve! Watch this, Wolf Fang Fist!"
Lang Jue launched forward with a flurry of blows that ford the spiritual phenonon of howling wolves about to pounce and bite their foe, making those weaker in the stands feel like their souls and minds were about to be chewed to death by a rabid pack!
"Hahaha! Jue Jue, finally sothing good! Here, let show you my Lion’s Barrage!" Hu Lili was not discouraged by the new Daoist art with great power as she too charged forward, the image of a pack of lions forming behind her as her claws and feet struck out.
THUD! BAM! WHUMP!
The clash of beast auras made the air feel thick with animalistic intent, and the crowd couldn’t help but feel that they were crouched in a bush within a jungle, watching a pack of wolves and tigers fight to the death in a clearing.
"YOOOWW!!"
Eventually, Lang Jue could only scream as he was beaten off the stage by a panting Hu Lili, who gave him a thumbs up.
"Jue Jue, not bad!! A little bit more and we can beco evenly matched! Keep it up, little brother!"
The Divine Deva Overseer and the entire crowd rolled their eyes as he called the match, realizing it was typical Wild Beast Hall shenanigans.
The next match was imdiately called. "Fourth match: Wang Feng versus Song Man!"
Wang Feng walked out with his aura already flaring, causing his hair and eyes to glow a blood-red color, his rather malevolent Blood Power already surging across the stage.
The crowd raised their eyebrows, surprised by this.
"Is he going to lose control?"
"He’s been waiting to kill soone."
Song Man stepped out far more composed. He was a True Human Hall disciple, a well-known scher by reputation. This fellow was the kind of man who didn’t look like a killer until you realized the bodies were always arranged neatly around him.
Even the Hall Masters’ earlier comnts held that sa contrast, that Wang Feng killed like a berserk brute, whereas Song Man killed like soone who wanted the blood off the floor afterward.
Wang Feng didn’t bother with ceremony as his Blood Power surged forth. He stepped in like he wanted the match to beco a brawl instantly and charged toward his foe with a bellow full of killing intent.
Song Man didn’t flinch despite knowing he was facing a crazed murderer with power to back it up. Instead, he watched, asured, and moved with the patience of soone who believed the battlefield could be turned into a trap.
Unfortunately for him, the best he could do was preserve his life after Wang Feng continually and unrelentingly wailed upon him, even making the calm young man show fear and incomprehension for the first ti.
The Divine Deva Overseer did not make a move, but his eyes narrowed coldly at Wang Feng, who tried to pursue the kill off the stage, flicking a finger and pushing the fellow back.
The Deva Overseer’s gaze beca even colder when Wang Feng dared to growl at him with anger.
"Fifth match: Bai Yegui versus Nong Rong!"
When Bai Yegui walked out, the crowd changed, and it wasn’t the sa excited roar as Hu Lili’s fight, or the sa gleeful violence as Wang Feng’s.
It was the sound people made when they were watching a phenonon!
After all, he was one of the Twin Monsters of the lower Six Paths, and everyone rembered the story that made him famous, even those who hadn’t witnessed it.
That was not even factoring in his exploits in this tournant, proving himself to be tied with Bei Dongshi for the second best overall.
Nong Rong stepped up opposite him, and the crowd murmured almost sympathetically.
"That poor girl..."
"She drew Bai Yegui."
Bai Yegui’s face didn’t change much. His eyes were too calm, too deep, like he had already lived once and was now spending his second life with a colder purpose.
He raised his hand, and that familiar pressure appeared again. It was the sa strange manifestation of the Hungry Ghost Avatar he’d shown before, where unlike the others who manifested it from their bodies, it was like his existed at all tis and was simply called out from the void around him.
Nong Rong’s breath hitched as she tried to unleash her best attacks to be able to muster sowhat of a fight, and the crowd leaned forward to see what she could do.
It wasn’t much in the end.
BANG!
Nong Rong was knocked out of the stage while bleeding from all seven orifices, her body mangled badly, her life and death unknown. Clearly, Bai Yegui was not the type to go soft on won nor ’innocent’-looking people.
The Divine Deva Overseer sent her back to her hall and then called the next match.
"Sixth match: Bei Dongshi versus Yun ng!"
Bei Dongshi’s entrance always felt wrong to people’s instincts. It wasn’t because of the blindfold, nor his utterly quiet deanor that was a bit too still.
Rather, it was a certain presence he had that didn’t scream ’power’ but still made cultivators uneasy because they couldn’t predict how he would fight.
Yun ng was the complete opposite, as she was an Asura Blood warrior with the Blood Mist Body, rumored to be able to slip between tangible and intangible states, making straightforward killing thods unreliable.
Li Ling noted that it was a weaker version of his own recently acquired Asura Blood Body, which allowed him to transform his whole body into blood and use it to fight, whereas this lass could only transform parts into blood mist for repositioning and evasion.
However, the matchup itself was bad from the start, like a hydrogen bomb versus a coughing baby.
Bei Dongshi lifted his hand slightly, and the arena rembered what he had already shown, his abnormal ability to manifest a black counterpart that fought like an extension of his own will.
Yun ng’s aura stirred like mist rising from blood-warm water in response to this, knowing she wasn’t fast enough to stop it, but rather waiting for the opponent to make the first move.
When the karma clone attacked, she also struck forward, but the clash wasn’t brutal, but rather felt unsettling. It was like watching two twins speaking with the sa voice, tone, cadence, and words, not sure which one you should listen to.
However, it asked a lot from a person to defeat themselves, and Yun ng was not up to the challenge as she was beaten off stage by her own tireless clone.
"Seventh match: Cao Xian versus ng Hao!"
Cao Xian stepped forward with the confidence of soone who had backing, high talent, and a mind that made money from war itself.
Surprisingly, she didn’t look nervous but rather mildly annoyed, like the match was a task to finish so she could return to her own agenda.
ng Hao’s details hadn’t been properly introduced yet, so the crowd’s comntary here leaned more into speculation than certainty, which was exactly what happened whenever a lesser-known na survived into a major round.
"Who even is ng Hao?"
"If he’s here, he’s not trash."
"I heard he plans to seal the heavens."
"What’s next, is he going to call himself Lord Nine?"
Cao Xian’s eyes scanned the fellow in quick assessnt, then she smiled politely.
The match began with a sharp rise in pressure, as if both were trying to establish dominance early.
And then...
Well, the outco was obvious, wasn’t it?
The fellow who almost beca a dark horse was knocked off the stage while unconscious, Cao Xian idly brushing her sleeve and taking back her remaining contraptions into her storage ring.
The crowd was left speechless by this, unable to believe how much money had been wasted just now.
Only Qin Taishou, the Inheritor of Greed of the Seven Sins Sect, nodded with satisfaction and appreciation.
anwhile, after calling the end of this match, the Divine Deva Overseer’s voice cut through, louder than before, because he knew what na he was about to say.
"Eighth match."
A hush rolled across the stadium like a wave, swallowing sound.
"Li Ling versus Lin Yan, step forward!"
Lin Yan, the Divine Deva Hall’s ’shadow dagger’, finally approached the arena with that kind of quiet danger. He was clearly the type of cultivator people only noticed when the blade was already inside their ribs.
Across from him, Li Ling rose lazily from where he had been sitting, stretching as if this were an inconvenience.
The sa Li Ling who had publicly promised to kill anyone he faced.
The sa Li Ling who had just proven he ant it.
The crowd’s voices rose into a fever pitch, half chanting, half pleading, half celebrating:
"Li Ling!"
"Lin Yan!"
"Kill him!"
"Don’t die!"
"Show us!"
Even the high platforms leaned forward now, because whatever happened next was going to be rembered far beyond this tournant.
And in the center of it all, Li Ling smiled with a calm, cruel, and almost cheerful expression.
The fight everyone had been waiting for... was finally about to begin.
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