110 Single-Handed

Screams echoed through the battlefield as the Silver Cutter Eagle swooped in and pulled disciples from their battalions like picking out tasty worms from the soil.

Weng! Weng! Weng!

Bright flashes of light went off as participants were teleported out of the battlefield just as they were being ripped to shreds by the demon beast's vicious claws. One Boulder Sect disciple who was actually in the peak of the 6th rank was eliminated simply because he didn't even see the Silver Cutter Eagle diving down from above his head.

Tsk, Van mouthed, shaking his head. He threw a smirk at the twins in the distance.

"Participants are being eliminated because of your inattention – what will you do?"

Cordelia and Daphne had leapt ahead and targeting the stronger monsters in the incoming waves, thinking little of holding the defensive position around the glowing crystal in their desire to get ahead. Sharp wind blades flew through the air and killed a 7th rank Thorned Viper hiding amongst the crowd of 5th rank panther-like demon beasts. They used their wind powers arrogantly and flamboyantly against it – as if to show off their skill and strength to the viewers outside in the coliseum.

Van narrowed his eyes.

[The twins are focusing on the 7th ranked Thorned Viper right in front of them, but neglecting the Silver Cutter Eagle.]

Van looked upwards at the giant Silver Cutter Eagle, which was circling up in the sky like a shark in blooded water.

[They probably want to take care of it later, as it seems content with picking off weak disciples…However, it has an incredible advantage if it wants to attack the crystal!]

Van flicked his eyes around the battlefield and then monitored the Silver Cutter Eagle's path through the sky.

[!]

Van knew that his guess had been right.

The Silver Cutter Eagle was flying in smaller and smaller concentric circles, trying to get everyone's guards down before making a dive for the giant crystal!

He saw the Silver Cutter Eagle's wings fold inwards.

Van didn't hesitate.

HUT!

His body glowed bright copper and black ray of light suddenly shot out from the crowd. It any body was looking closely they would have realised that the black light was actually an obsidian axe!

CLANG!

The axe impacted with the Silver Cutter Eagle's beak and sent it hurtling sideways away from the crystal. The Silver Cutter Eagle was shocked silly by the immense force. It flapped its wings frantically to regain a stable position in the air.

After shaking its head side to side to clear the dizziness, it screeched loudly in anger.

Teng!

Van appeared next to his fallen axe and picked it up.

Seeing this, the Silver Cutter Eagle's eyes went red with rage.

[So, it was you who foiled my plan!] Its vicious red eyes seemed to say.

Teng! Teng!

Van suddenly felt two powerful auras bracket him on either side. Cordelia appeared at his right; her sharp black eyes narrowed in anger as she perceived Van to be acting out of his turn. After all, she and her sisters were voted to be the leaders of this round – naturally this duty came with the perks of first dibs on the highest ranked and highest point kills!

"Hands off, this one is ours!" She said.

Van laughed.

The ridicule in his voice was transmitted clearly through the air.

Cordelia's face turned ugly.

Van turned one eye onto Cordelia, "Scuh good leadership skills. You didn't even notice it was attacking the crystal until I prevented it, single-handedly. Piss off!"

He sneered.

Like hell he was going to give away a juicy free point ticket like this one!

Once more a sharp black light shot out of the crowd and impacted the Silver Cutter Eagle.

CLANG!

This time, the obsidian axe greatly damaged one of its wings. The Silver Cutter Eagle's left wing fell limply by its side. It flapped furiously with the remaining wing, struggling to maintain its position in the sky.

Van disappeared.

"You-!" Cordelia swallowed the rest of her words. Her sharp eyes narrowed and she nodded at her twin sister.

They had the advantage in this battle as their affinity for wind gave them better aerial mobility than most at this cultivation level. It was not until one reached the Sea Establishment realm that they could experience what was known as 'True Flight.'

Two blue-robed figures shot into the sky.

However, at that moment –

ROAARRR!

The loud thundering noise of rushing water appeared as a dark twister of moving water suddenly surrounded the struggling Silver Cutter Eagle. With a despairing shriek, the Silver Cutter Eagle was consumed by the twister.

The icy spiritual power that emanated off this mighty twister was chilling and numbing. The twins were still over ten metres away but felt their muscles seize from the coldness.

Cordelia's expression changed as she inspected the wall of icy water.

[Just by looking at the manifestation of the move you can tell that the person behind it is highly skilled. The quality of the qi is superb, and they have an almost perfect comprehension of the skill if they have been able to incorporate secondary effects such as the slowing and numbing effect to such a high level. Who did this!?]

Cordelia and Daphne's eyes hardened.

[Is there another hidden 7th rank in this battlefield?]

Just as they readied themselves to break the move in front of them - a loud screech echoed mournfully through the air.

The twisting walls of water dropped away and the giant form of the Silver Cutter Eagle plummeted to the ground. Its body was slightly blue and had clearly been severely lacerated by the vicious qi in the water tornado. A red-haired figure closed their palm and the last of the icy qi disappeared.

"You!"

Cordelia, for the first time since the Mausoleum opened was shaken to her core.

Impossible! This boy actually had this level of skill? Wasn't he meant to be nothing more than a lowly body cultivator with small skill in ancient languages? It turns out he had been hiding his true skills this whole time.

Daphne bit her lip. Her pride in her exceptional observation skills took a hit. How had they underestimated him so much?

______

"A-Amazing!"

The few people in the crowd who were watching the Cedar Sect's progress in the second battlefield gasped excitedly. Ever since the surprise of the first round – where it was revealed that the Cedar Sect had unexpectedly managed to score the highest points in not just one, but three separate battlefields – they had kept an eye on the interesting disciples they saw in the Cedar Sect.

While the results of the ensuing rounds varied, with the Star-Cutting Sword Sect overcoming the Cedar Sect in two of the battlefields, upon the commencement of the 4th round this changed again! Two battlefields were dominated by the Cedar Sect once more.

The crowd was gagging to see what comes next. Would the Cedar Sect be able to overthrow the Star-Cutting Sword Sect?

Then the fifth wave happened - and this show of skill took them by surprise!

"I saw that kid using a few spiritual attacks earlier but since he seemed to prefer using his body cultivation and movement skill, I just assumed that his talent in the spiritual arts were rubbish. Who knew that he was actually a talented martial genius who has reached the Perfection Realm of a Middle-Ranked Martial Art!"

The growing number of people interested in the Cedar Sect's progress against the Zephyr Sect in the second battlefield increased steadily as this fervent discussion reached more ears.

"That's right. Reaching the perfection realm of any martial art is like catching a qilin to make it into your pet. It takes immense mental fortitude, resilience, hard work and most importantly martial talent!"

"Keep in mind that the highest rank that outer disciples have access to are Middle-Ranked Arts, or extremely degraded High-Ranked Arts. What would he be able to achieve if he was an Inner Disciple and could access High-Ranked and Pinnacle-Ranked arts?"

"Heh. The Cedar Sect has pulled out three interesting disciples this time but they are still rookies. The geniuses from the other sects have already established themselves and gained the support of the sect's resources for a long time. They definitely won't lose out!"

Multiple people agreed fervently.

"Yeah, this kid seems pretty talented and has a good grasp of battle but he is still a green horn. For example, butting heads with the twins from the Zephyr Sect so early on in the Mausoleum!"

"But did you see the looks on their faces when he stole the Silver Cutter Eagle's points from right under their noses? The kid has a sense of humour!"

"Mm. He's interesting enough to keep watching but I still prefer the silver-haired kid who's in the same battlefield as Tetsuya. In the fourth round he looked each Night Fey directly in the eyes and killed them a millisecond later with barely a twitch of an eye. His haughty and cold personality is quite attractive too, hehe," A middle-aged lady joined in.

They continued to watch the scene playing out in front of them with greedy eyes.