Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Haha, well done. Badao’s cultivation is getting higher and higher. Give him a few more years and he’ll enter the Profound World Realm and start borrowing the natural power of the world.”

When the Spirit Sky Residence’s master saw what happened at the fight, he couldn’t help but praise him. Ding Badao’s prowess had bolstered the confidence of the Spirit Sky Residence.

On the other hand, the leaders of the Bamboo Forest Fort and the Ximen Clan were looking uneasy. If Ding Badao defeated even Ximen Tiechui, then Xia Shiyun definitely wouldn’t be Ding Badao’s match, much less the external help they’d hired.

“Let me give it a try.” Xia Shiyun clenched her teeth. They had a chance of winning the competition, but someone so powerful had appeared out of nowhere and caught the Bamboo Forest Fort by surprise.

“Are you sure you can do it?” Ye Mo was worried for her.

“I’ll go exhaust some of his true energy. You can go next to defeat him,” Xia Shiyun said, then leaped onto the ring.

She had no confidence she could defeat Ding Badao, and she planned to exhaust him with continuous battles instead. By the time it was Ye Mo’s turn to fight, he would stand a higher chance of winning.

When Old Man Ding saw Xia Shiyun getting into the ring, he snickered. “Badao, be sure to hold your punches this time. This is the young lady of Fort Master Xia. They might be our future in-laws.”

“Hmph!” Fort Master Xia snorted coldly before focusing on the ring.

“So it’s Shiyun,” Ding Babao said indifferently. “Two years ago, I adored you, and you completely ignored me. Now, I’m the strongest warrior in the South District and the most talented sealing artist. I don’t care bout you anymore. Now I adore the South District’s Seal Maiden, Lady Bai He. She’s the only one worthy of me.”

“Cut the crap. Let’s get started,” Xia Shiyun said as eight seals appeared on her hands, each seal held between two fingers.

The spectators were alarmed when they saw that. It was clear that Xia Shiyun was going to fight with all her strength.

Using eight seals at the same time in battle was one of the advantages sealing artists had over warriors. A warrior wouldn’t be able to unleash eight martial techniques at once, but a sealing artist could use up to eight seals at the same time. Of course, doing that would also exhaust the sealing artist’s true energy at an alarming rate.

People could see what Xia Shiyun was planning. By using eight seals at the same time, even if she couldn’t seriously damage Ding Badao, she would still be able to exhaust a large amount of his true energy. Then, the next participant would have a higher chance of winning.

“Xia Shiyun is going to help someone else with all her effort instead of fighting to win. Even after exhausting Ding Badao’s true energy, that external help the Bamboo Forest Fort hired might not necessarily be able to defeat Ding Badao. If he can’t, the other kid from the Ximen Clan would be the one to benefit.”

“That’s right. In a single-elimination open tournament like this, the final participant has a huge advantage over the others.”

Everyone sank into a flurry of discussions.

“Is Ye Mo not making a move yet? With his strength, he could defeat Ding Badao.”

“Oh? You’re so confident?”

“Only someone who’s fought him with their life on the line knows how strong Ye Mo is. Ding Badao might be strong, and he might have a chance against Ye Mo at peak strength, but in his current condition, he’s not Ye Mo’s match.”

“Looks like you know Ye Mo quite well.”

“Did Elder Wu Tian not tell you that I’m here to kill Ye Mo?”

In the crowd, Li Tianqiong was watching the competition with Shangguan Shu, an elder from the Shangguan Clan.

Ding Badao was alarmed when he saw Xia Shiyun take out eight seals. But a moment later, he snickered and said, “Do you think you can hurt me just by releasing eight seals? Perhaps you can exhaust my energy slightly, but you’re still overconfident. My Transcendence Golden Body is a saber, and my saber technique is at an extremely high level. I only need one move to defeat you.”

“I won’t know without trying, right?” Xia Shiyun smiled. And just as she was about to toss the eight seals, a figure appeared before her.

“Miss Xia, let me do this instead,” Ye Mo said nonchalantly.”All eight of your seals are only fourth-order third-tier seals. Even after unleashing all of them, you might not be able to harm him. Let me fight him instead.”

“Sure.”

Xia Shiyun was still worried, however. If Ye Mo was defeated by Ding Badao as well, even if she could defeat him Ding Badao afterward, she’d be completely exhausted. And there was still a participant from Ximen Clan waiting to jump in.

When Ding Badao saw Ye Mo appear, he raised his long Transcendence Saber and said, “So you’re the external help the Bamboo Forest Fort hired? The one who killed dozens of Spirit Sky Residence members? Since you dare to show yourself here, I won’t mind killing you right in this ring. I’ll teach you the consequences of offending the Spirit Sky Residence.”

“Kill me? You?” Ye Mo gazed at Ding Badao and said coldly, “Sure, bring it on.”

“Hmph. I’ve already recovered more than half of my peak strength. That’s more than enough to kill you.”

Suddenly, the massive Transcendence Saber shone brightly before appearing above Ye Mo’s head.

Ye Mo didn’t even spare the saber a glance. He punched out with his Zhu Immortal Divine Fist, sending the saber flying away, causing Ding Badao to stager backward. He had been disoriented by Ye Mo’s counter-attack, to the point he was forced into a retreat.

“How is that possible? Taking my Transcendence Saber head-on with a punch?”

The first clash was already enough to overwhelm Ding Badao with shock. He roared as he slapped two seals onto his legs before dashing forward, his legs no longer touching the ground. When he arrived beside Ye Mo, he slashed at Ye Mo again, this time with an incomparably sharp blade. The absolute sharpness coupled with the power of his Transcendence Golden Body to create an unsurvivable attack.

But Ye Mo stood in place and met the incoming saber with yet another punch, shattering the saber energy yet again.

Ding Badao started moving all over the place with his movement seal. He revolved around Ye Mo, slashing his saber repeatedly. The saber energy revolved like an electric fan that moved so fast one could only see its afterimage. Ye Mo still stood without moving and punched out repeatedly with his Zhu Immortal Divine Fist, creating a defensive barrier around himself that protected him from the saber attacks.

Everyone saw Ye Mo stand there while Ding Badao ran around, attacking madly. Each time the massive Transcendence Saber swung, the air itself shook. Shocking everyone was the fact that Ye Mo was actually blocking all the attacks with his bare hands.

The longer the fight dragged on, the more anxious Ding Badao became. If this continued, he’d be completely exhausted by the time this was over. He hissed before fusing his body with his Transcendence Saber, transforming into a massive, imposing saber that slashed straight down at Ye Mo. Everyone grew excited. They knew this was where the victor would be decided.

It was Ding Badao’s strongest attack, a seemingly unavoidable and unstoppable one, an attack that could only end in Ding Badao’s victory.

“This Ye Mo is quite capable,” Old Man Ding said. “By forcing Badao to use his strongest attack, even if this ends with his defeat, he’s still worthy of being called an expert.”

“Did you not see the spear on Ye Mo’s back? Up until now, he hasn’t even used it yet. Do you really believe he will lose?”

At this point, Fort Master Xia had realized that Ye Mo had been on the defensive the whole fight, and hadn’t even used any seals thus far.

But nobody else seemed to realize that. Nobody was optimistic about Ye Mo’s chances. After all, he was a newcomer, and Ding Badao was well known throughout the South District.