"Third Uncle! Third Uncle!"
Zhao Yanzi shouted in excitement when she saw Zhao Kuo.
However, Zhao Kuo hopped into the Li Xia Arena without hesitating.
Zhao Yanzi was confused as she watched Zhao Kuo dash through the air, wondering why her third uncle didn't respond to her.
She had no idea that Zhao Kuo's opponent was a Kun-level cultivator, so he had to give his full effort. He didn't have time to greet them at all!
Hao Ren was assigned to battle in the Qiu Fen Arena, which was the one Lu Qi just battled in.
"Yujia, I gave half of your Essence Replenishment Pills to Zi's third uncle," Hao Ren said after he walked over to Zhao Hongyu and everyone else.
Xie Yujia was a little surprised. She didn't mind it, but she didn't understand why Hao Ren gave them to Zhao Kuo.
Zhao Kuo seemed to be very blunt. In the process of chasing after the goal as 'the strongest', he didn't even go to see his relatives. In other words, if Hao Ren were in Zhao Kuo's way of leveling up, he would show no mercy toward Hao Ren. It seemed a little weird for Hao Ren to offer the Essence Replenishment Pills to him.
"Oye, Hao Ren's heart is sometimes too big to predict," she thought.
Xie Yujia smiled lightly at this thought, "It's ok. You have enough left anyways."
"I'll keep you company while cultivating when we get back to Fifth Heaven." Hao Ren smiled back at Xie Yujia. Then, he suddenly hopped into the air and headed toward Qiu Fen Arena.
There was an array formation over the Dragon God Shrine's platform. All the cultivators below Kun-level weren't able to fly unless they had a high-level dharma treasure like Zhao Hongyu's River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting or the Dragon God Shrine's identity token.
When Hao Ren entered the Qiu Fen Arena, Lu Qi was already ready for the battle.
Zhao Yanzi stood beside the grand arena. She looked to her left and then to her right, hesitating on whose battle to watch.
"Zi, me and your dad are going to see your third uncle's battle," Zhao Hongyu said to her and then headed toward Li Xia Arena. Elder Lu, Elder Sun, and Premier Xia followed them.
Zhao Yanzi stood where she was; she was more indecisive than before.
At this moment, Xie Yujia, Lu Linlin, Lu Lili, and Zhen Congming headed towards Hao Ren's Qiu Fen Arena without any hesitation.
Since Zhao Kuo and Hao Ren would be battling at the same time, they split up into two groups. Zhao Yanzi looked at Zhao Hongyu and the others who had already stepped further from her to the left. Then, she looked at Xie Yujia and the others who slowly walked away to the right. She stomped her feet and ran after Xie Yujia and the others.
"Humph, Third Uncle is bad because he ignored me!" Zhao Yanzi complained as she ran away.
Xie Yujia was surprised when she turned back and saw Zhao Yanzi following them. She thought she was going to watch her third uncle's battle.
At this moment, Zhao Kuo glimpsed around from Li Xia Arena. He stood proudly in front of a fire-elemental Kun-level cultivator.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHe saw Zhao Guang, Zhao Hongyu, two elders, and Premier Xie heading over but didn't see Zhao Yanzi with them.
"Ay, a grown girl can't be kept at home," he thought.
Zhao Kuo shook his head as he sighed. He knew Zhao Yanzi's heart was closer to Hao Ren already, and he silently swore, "If Hao Ren ever mistreats Zi, I will for sure destroy him!"
"Come on!"
Then, Zhao Kuo shouted at the Kun-level cultivator in his fighting stance.
A wave of majestic aura raised from him.
Hao Ren stood in front of Lu Qi in the Qiu Fen Arena, four to five arenas away from the Li Xia Arena. Both Hao Ren and Zhao Kuo created sword energies.
There were even more cultivators around the Qiu Fen Arena than those who went to watch the Kun-level cultivators.
The title as East Ocean Dragon Palace's Fuma was more than enough to attract them to watch the battle. On top of that, the Kun-level cultivator would for sure make it to the next round, so they would have a chance to watch an even better battle later on. But Hao Ren, as a Gen-level cultivator, might be battling for the last time at the Dragon God Shrine.
Hao Ren took a deep breath and looked at the crowd around the arena. Then, he shouted, "Please!"
Lu Qi took out a black-and-white chessboard and raised it. Then, 180 black chess pieces and 180 white pieces rolled out of the board.
When Lu Qi fought Hao Ren in the club room back at East Ocean University, he didn't apply his full force since he was worried about damaging the classroom. He didn't know anything about Hao Ren's techniques because it was their first fight ever, and he also underestimated Hao Ren. That was why he lost twice.
But since now they were at the Dragon God Shrine's arena, Lu Qi could go all out with his dharma treasure!
The area around the Qiu Fen Arena had already been extremely crowded before the battle started. It took Xie Yujia and the others a while to squeeze to the front row, but they immediately got pushed back and forth by the incoming cultivators.
Boom! Boom!
Lu Linlin and Lu Lili couldn't bear being touched by other people, so they both used their Qian-level power!
As if two bombs exploding in the crowd, it pushed all the cultivators back, making it seem like two stones were thrown into a lake.
The inspectors who were in charge of maintaining order sensed Qian-level powers when they were about to head over, and they were astonished by the strong power!
"So annoying!" Zhen Congming said as he stood between Lu Linlin and Lu Lili. Then, he created a sharp white energy sphere, pushing the cultivators around him one meter away!
An inspector of an even higher level came over to see what was going on, and he suddenly spotted Xie Yujia who was beside Zhen Congming. He saw the light mark shining on her shoulder...
"That is... the special mark from a Soul Formation Realm cultivator," he thought.
Soul Formation Realm cultivator! The equivalent of the Heavenly Dragon Realm!
The inspectors returned to their assigned area in a rush; there was no way that they could do anything about the order around Qiu Fen Arena!
When the surrounding cultivators were in a hectic mess, Lu Qi and Hao Ren started their battle in the arena!
Lu Qi's chess pieces floated half a meter above the ground like stars. They reflected each other in a well laid out formation.
Hao Ren used his technique. The 160 colorful sword energies shot out of his back, and they floated beside Hao Ren.
"Woah..."
Many cultivators were surprised to see Hao Ren use his technique for the first time.
Lu Qi was the only calm one because he knew that Hao Ren's technique was going to be like this.
Lu Qi shook his chess board.
Shoo… Shoo... The 360 chess pieces dashed toward Hao Ren in a very messy order.
It felt like Lu Qi picked up a handful of chess pieces randomly and threw them at Hao Ren.
However, the chess pieces coordinated with each other, demonstrating that the positioning of them wasn't random at all!
Hao Ren slightly turned and flipped the 160 sword energies to block the 360 chess pieces.
Dang, dang, dang, dang... There were sparks everywhere.
The chess pieces were a part of the dharma treasure, and they were different from the regular ones that Lu Qi used in the classroom last time. All the pieces hidden in the chess board were made of Vermilion Bird Rocks. They went through 49 days of forging and were as hard as diamonds! They entailed incredible power and were assigned Yin and Yang properties and corresponded to black and white colors.
The fire element that the Vermilion Bird Rocks entailed was as powerful as the Samadhi True Flame!
Hao Ren tried his best to defend it with his sword energies. However, the pressure he felt was entirely different from last time!
Lu Qi's chess board dharma treasure had been thoroughly put to use, and it was challenging to fend against. If Hao Ren didn't have sword energies, he would never be able to defend himself with just one or two dharma treasures!
"The Vermilion Bird Board is the ultimate treasure of the Wude Forest's fire-elemental dragon clan. This little cultivator borrowed the dharma treasure from the head elder. No wonder he could rank top from the Jia Mao group." A cultivator beside the arena recognized the dharma treasure and praised.
"Gen-level is still just Gen-level. There's a big difference between Gen-level and Dui-level. I suppose he wouldn't have a chance to win against a dharma treasure like this now," another cultivator said as he watched the battle.
Seeing Hao Ren having trouble defending himself, Lu Qi applied more nature essence.
The Vermilion Bird Board's chess pieces gave out a ray of heated light, and all the surrounding cultivators felt a strong energy.
The arena under Hao Ren's feet became boiling hot, and the chess pieces caught on fire!
Hao Ren's sword energies suddenly turned black!
The 160 black sword energies were thrown back into the chess pieces!
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"It's indeed the Black Water Scroll again!" Lu Qi was prepared for this. He slightly shook the chess board, and the flame immediately covered up Hao Ren. He knew that Hao Ren was a water-elemental dragon cultivator, and the Black Water Scroll was the most authentic and relatively powerful technique amongst all water-elemental techniques. Therefore, it was not surprising at all.
However, the 160 black sword energies turned white within a second!
Black! White!
Hao Ren's sword energies changed as Lu Qi's chess pieces changed. But instead of changing positions, they changed color!
"Black Water Scroll... No... White Metal Scroll..." Lu Qi was a little confused with the chess board in his hand.
Hao Ren's sword energies slowly purified after waves and waves of trembling.
"Metal creates water, and water counters fire," Zhen Congming murmured as he stood closer to the arena. He seemed to have put the pieces together.
The white ones were the purest metal-elemental sword energies, and the black ones were the purest water-elemental sword energies.
"Break!"
The 160 sword energies all sprung up. Black sword energies put out the flame on the chess pieces and knocked them away!
The other 160 sword energies Hao Ren kept aside suddenly flew out at this moment!
First, there were 160 black sword energies, and then there were 160 white sword energies. The power of 320 shooting sword energies was way stronger than that of the tiny chess pieces.
The chess board in Lu Qi's hand suddenly enlarged.
The Vermilion Bird Board was a dharma treasure which could both attack and defend. The chess pieces could attack, and the board could defend.
On top of that, Lu Qi held his natal dharma treasure in his palm; it was also a chess board!
Two dharma treasures; one was a natal dharma treasure, and the other was a top-tier dharma treasure!
The Vermilion Bird Board shoot out a ray of black light all of a sudden under the cover of the many chess pieces.
The black light hit Hao Ren's chest, and the strong impact force pushed him five meters back. He tripped out of the arena.
The very thing that hit Hao Ren's chest was nothing else but another chess piece.
The 361st chess piece!
Zhao Yanzi screamed out as she jumped up outside the arena.
Boom!
Hao Ren suddenly released a sword energy from the bottom of his left foot, and the tip of his right foot was still in the battle arena!
"Break!"
Hao Ren shouted out again calmly. The sword energies surrounding Lu Qi suddenly united and formed a web, reflecting white light.
The hundun sword energies could break through all five elements!
Lu Qi's mind turned blank as he felt lightning flashing through his body. The Vermilion Bird Board slipped out of his hand as he fell onto the ground softly.