Slash-!
The sword strike drew blood from Beihua Wanlei, though this so-called blood was simply in the form of light particles that dissipated instantly upon coming into contact with the air.
This was the first time that one of the Four Stars had suffered an injury in this chaotic battle!
Beihua Wanlei thought that he was a predator on the hunt. But in the end, he was still just a prey in the eyes of others.
Even though his injuries were not life threatening, they were definitely serious enough to affect him in the coming fights.
Despite that, Beihua Wanlei was already considered fortunate to not have been directly eliminated from the battle royal.
At the very last moment, Beihua Wanlei had managed to forcefully break out of the compelling illusion.
This allowed him to push himself away from his attacker, such that he was able to avoid being inflicted with a fatal injury.
"You bastard!" Beihua Wanlei roared in rage at the faceless opponent before him. "Intermediate Essence Condensation realm? You are fucking seeking death!"
But at this moment, a second rush of killing intent gushed over from behind him.
At the very moment Beimu Fei recovered, she had immediately gathered her strength and slashed out towards Beihua Wanlei.
This bastard who tried to sneak an attack on her!
She would no longer be called Beimu Fei if she let him off just like that!
Slash-!
Beihua Wanlei attempted to dodge, but how would it be so easy to escape from Beimu Fei when he had not even been prepared for the attack?
It was just like before when Beimu Fei failed to escape from his aim, only that the roles were now reversed.
With that, two deep gashes had appeared on his body in quick succession!
Beihua Wanlei was indeed worth of being a member of the Four Stars.
Even in a situation where he had no chance of evading the attack, he still managed to adjust his body at the last moment, such that Beimu Fei was not able to deal a fatal blow to him either.
At this point, he anxiously leapt a good distance away.
His previous position was far too dangerous. Being trapped between two different opponents, there was simply no way for him to defend himself!
Now that he had created some distance between them, Beihua Wanlei finally bought himself some time to catch his breath.
Pant-! Pant-!
Beihua Wanlei's heavy breathing sounded especially loud in the silent Battle Arena.
Yes, other than his heavy breathing, the entire Battle Arena was completely silent at the moment.
Everyone had been dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.
Beihua Wanlei, top genius of the Lightning Crow Sect, one of the Four Stars of Scarlet Moon City, was now on the verge of being eliminated from the battle royal!
By now, there were already barely twenty participants left in the battle royal. Even if he was eliminated here, he would still be in the top twenty.
However, Beihua Wanlei was someone who originally had a chance of reaching the top rank!
Merely entering the top twenty was nothing short of a disgrace!
"Who the hell is that brat?!" Sect Master Leiba clenched his fist in rage. "And why the hell did Wanlei just zone out even after noticing his attack? Is he trying to throw the match?"
"That was quite strange indeed," City Lord Nanlan rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Perhaps there is more to it than meets the eye."
But beside them, General Xionghao was even more surprised!
He had noticed Lu Tianzi's sabre movements from the start since it was obvious that Lu Tianzi had drawn inspirations from General Xionghao's demonstration. Then, he watched as Lu Tianzi quickly refined his sabre mastery through combat.
With Lu Tianzi's rate of improvement, General Xionghao had thought that he possessed quite a bit of talent in the way of the sabre. Even though Lu Tianzi had now been moved into an unrecognisable body, the sabre moves that he displayed at the start of the battle royal could not be concealed from his discerning eyes.
Thus, there was no doubt in General Xionghao's mind that he was the same youngster who had come from Bluenight City.
However, it was now clear to General Xionghao that Lu Tianzi's true proficiency actually lay in his sword mastery!
For a secondary mastery to improve by so much in such a short amount of time, just how talented was this kid?
"It is an illusory attack," the Scarlet Moon Overlord remarked with an appreciative grin.
The entire point of this Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet was for him to discover new talents.
Now that a hidden talent had finally shown up, the Scarlet Moon Overlord was overjoyed!
***
Even though Beimu Fei had immediately capitalised on the aid of this newcomer, she was similarly dumbfounded by how well everything went.
She warily turned towards this person who had rendered his aid. But before she could even speak, the other party had already conveyed his voice directly to her ears.
"Is it not enough for you to have lost the tabletop formation competition without being able to do anything? Or do you want to lose this so easily as well?"
Beimu Fei's body immediately stiffened up.
Even though the effects of the formation resulted in Lu Tianzi's voice sounding completely androgynous and monotonous, the content was all that mattered.
Nanlu Tianzi?
Beimu Fei realised the identity of the other party immediately.
But had he always been this strong?
Or had Beihua Wanlei been so caught up in trying to take her down that he actually lost awareness of his surroundings?
Regardless of the reason, what mattered was the outcome!
Right now, Beihua Wanlei was as good as having dropped out of the running for the top rank!
"Are you guys even serious?" the swordsman from Flaming Shadow Sect rubbed his temples in disbelief. "Are you guys treating me as invisible?"
"Don't worry, I have not forgotten about you." Beimu Fei replied. "I will get right back to you after finishing off that sneaky Beihua Wanlei."
"Sure, go ahead and do whatever you need to do. I will also get rid of your formation flags while you are at it then," the swordsman raised his palm towards one of the flags on the floor, and a black fireball immediately shot out towards it.
"Irritating bug!" Beimu Fei moved over and slashed that fireball apart. "Since you are so eager to lose, I will just have to get rid of you first!"
At the same time, she conveyed her voice to Lu Tianzi. "Beihua Wanlei might be heavily injured, but he is still no pushover. Try your best to hang on until I get rid of this guy, and I will come over to help you immediately!"
Hearing those words, Lu Tianzi could not help but let out a smile. Of course, no one was able to see it since his facial features were masked.
Initially, he had planned to continue staying low-profile and not make his move this soon.
However, having chanced upon such a perfect opportunity to deal Beihua Wanlei a heavy blow, it was truly difficult not to give in to his temptations!
On top of that, teaming up had always been the way to go in this fight. It was sad to say, but Lu Tianzi was quite certain that the others from Bluenight City had already been eliminated by now.
With that, the only person left whom he could safely team up with would be Beimu Fei!
If she was taken out by Beihua Wanlei, then Lu Tianzi's chances of lasting till the end would naturally drop as well.
That was why Lu Tianzi made up his mind to finally act!
Thankfully, from Beimu Fei's words, it was clear that she was agreeable to teaming up as well.
Now, Lu Tianzi just had to hold on for a while against this wounded Beihua Wanlei, and Beimu Fei would be here to help him soon.
But… hold on for a while?
Lu Tianzi smirked.
Lu Tianzi had not forgotten just how arrogant Beihua Wanlei had been, when he completely did not put Lu Tianzi in his eyes earlier.
Just look at who had the last laugh now?
Even though he did not gain the upper hand through glorious means, it still felt good to turn the tables on the other party.
And now, it was time to finish it off!
There might be some grievances arising from eliminating the Beihua Wanlei from the fight, but it would probably not be too troublesome to deal with.
After all, it was not as though the other party would truly die from this.
"You managed to land a lucky strike, and now you think you are all that?" Beihua Wanlei sneered as he faced Lu Tianzi. "You are nothing but an Intermediate Essence Condensation realm martial artist! Surviving up till now can already be considered as an honour for you. If you know what is best for you, just fuck off and mix with the peasants on the side. It is still not your place to stand alongside the Four Stars in battle!"
Despite his heavy injuries, Beihua Wanlei was not at all lacking in his momentum.
This was his pride as one of the Four Stars of Scarlet Moon City!
He would bow down to no one, especially not someone who had a cultivation level that was two boundaries lower than him!
"Stand alongside the Four Stars? I am not interested in something as pointless as that," Lu Tianzi shook his head. "What I want is just to go as far as I can on this path of cultivation, and you just happen to be standing in my way right now!"
Lu Tianzi brandished his weapons, a sword in his right hand and a sabre in his left.
Ever since he entered the Scarlet Moon Kingdom, this was the first time that he would be revealing his true fighting style to others.
And before he even began, his stance alone had already surprised many.
A sword and sabre dual wielding martial artist!
How rare!
The spectators' eyes were all on him right now, wondering if this Intermediate Essence Condensation realm martial artist would truly be able to hold his own against the injured Beihua Wanlei.
Seeing that this person who sneaked an attack on him was actually basking in the limelight, the last strand of restraint within Beihua Wanlei finally snapped.
"You imbecile!" Beihua Wanlei roared in anger as he charged towards Lu Tianzi.
As he closed the distance, the treasure gauntlet on Beihua Wanlei's right hand glowed with an intense yellow light.
World Origin Energy stirred, as though trembling in fear at the power of the incoming attack.
An inscription skill!
Huge bolts of electricity flashed around his gauntlet as Beihua Wanlei reached straight for Lu Tianzi's head.
But he was not the only one here who had an inscription skill.
Lu Tianzi channelled his Slaughter Essence energy into the Torrential Sabre as he activated the Astral Way Inscription.
With a decisive swing of his arm, Lu Tianzi brought up the Torrential Sabre and collided squarely with Beihua Wanlei's treasure gauntlet!
Bang-!
The shockwave from the clash contained such a powerful force behind it that every other participant had to stop what they were doing just to steady their footing.
Otherwise, they might even be knocked over by this stray attack!
Among them, Beimu Fei and the swordsman from Flaming Shadow Sect were no exceptions.
They instinctively turned their heads to take a look, only to see that Beihua Wanlei now had his treasure gauntlet tightly gripped around the Torrential Sabre.
But that was not what caught their eye.
The most striking thing right now was the sword in Lu Tianzi's right hand.
It was quickly making its way towards Beihua Wanlei's chest!
Yet Beihua Wanlei seemed to have zoned out, completely unaware of the coming attack?
Stab-!
The Sword of Ivory Rock pierced straight through Beihua Wanlei's chest, its other end emerging from his back.
"You…" Beihua Wanlei muttered in indignation before dissipating into beams of light, disappearing from the main platform.
With around twenty people still left in the fight, a member of the Four Stars had unexpectedly been eliminated!
All eyes fell on Lu Tianzi at the moment.
Even though Beihua Wanlei had been injured, his strength was still nothing to be trifled with.
That was the reason why Beimu Fei had only asked Lu Tianzi to just hang on for the moment, and even that was something she thought might require some luck on Lu Tianzi's part.
But now, not only had Lu Tianzi matched Beihua Wanlei's inscription skill in a frontal collision, he had directly reaped away his qualifications to stay in the battle royal!
The spectators could not help but feel excitement and curiosity welling up within them.
Just who was this guy?
Could it be that at this very moment, they were actually witnessing the rise of a youngster whose talent was on par with the Four Stars of Scarlet Moon City?