What?!
"Can this be considered an accident?"
Happy's judgment had just been given when Vast Heaven, who had been talking happily with Clear Music, the palace master of Towering Palace, finally could not hold himself back and became the first to begin the second round of challenges.
Perhaps it was because he had been provoked by the four people from Mu Clan who had won three consecutive rounds, but he suddenly felt that winning three rounds was not much of a guarantee for him to win the tournament, which was why he decided to break the silence of Dragon Tiger Arena.
In the fourth battle, the players could choose anyone they liked as their opponent. Because of that, the fourth match was basically the same as getting a free point!
Vast Heaven chose an elder of Shifting Flower Palace, who was not very powerful. He was only in Inaction Realm, and with Vast Heaven's Six Pulses Divine Sword, he soon won the match and became the first player to get four points.
He then stood proudly on the stage.
Vast Heaven swept through the area in high spirits.
He looked at the people from Towering Palace, Class One Hall, and various other great players before his eyes finally landed on Mu Clan. It was only then that his eyelids twitched.
"Someone finally couldn't hold back."
"That's good. It's a perfect chance for us to witness just how hard the second round is." No one thought anything about Vast Heaven's fourth battle. The system would only assign someone to him for the fifth battle, which was when the difficulty would truly increase.
But just when everyone waited for the system to give him an opponent, a familiar figure landed quietly on Vast Heaven's stage.
The spectators instantly fell silent!
Vast Heaven noticed the silence around him and turned his head around slowly. When he saw One Emperor's indifferent and calm face, his pupils shrank.
"It's you!"
"It's me."
"What's the meaning of this?" Vast Heaven's expression changed slightly; it was clear that he wasn't feeling very happy about the proceedings.
One Emperor had always been a legendary player who shared an equal status with Happy. If there were any players who gave him great pressure on Dragon Tiger Arena, then they would be Happy and One Emperor. These two people were the only players who could fight for the top three with him.
But he did not expect that One Emperor would get onto the stage when he was about to challenge his second round of fights!
"There's no meaning to it. You use swords, and I use swords as well. Let's see who's the better among us."
One Emperor did not give any direct explanation, but to the people, what he said seemed to be the truth.
Vast Heaven's Six Pulses Divine Sword was an amazing technique in the world of martial artists.
Even though no one knew where One Emperor's sword technique came from, it was definitely not created by some nameless nobody. Because of that and his personality, it was very normal for him to have the thought of deciding who was stronger.
But only Happy knew that One Emperor might not just have the simple idea of wanting to know who was stronger. He might also want to kill him.
In his previous life, the successor of Six Pulses Divine Sword could not take even a single hit from One Emperor. His damage was extremely high, but his defense was as weak as paper, and that fact was especially prominent in the fight. There was no way for them to compare to each other at all.
But even so, Six Pulses Divine Sword was a divine technique. Its sword qi was so sharp that it was not something a normal person could withstand, which made it very easy to show great splendor during the martial arts tournament.
On top of that, the victor was decided based on points, so Vast Heaven would have a really good chance to seize first place.
It was possible that One Emperor decided to fight against Vast Heaven because of one thought: he wanted to have the fight for first place to be the final fight in the martial arts tournament that Happy and he promised to have.
Happy had come to realize that One Emperor was thinking of that from the moment One Emperor intentionally reserved the fight for the final moment in the tournament. He wanted the two final people left to fight to determine just who would have the title of the strongest before the martial artists in the world. After all, it was the title that everyone had been discussing for a long time!
One of them was the strongest on Dragon Rank!
The other was the top on Famous People Rank!
It was the reason why One Emperor never attacked once he entered Dragon Tiger Arena.
He was waiting to get rid of unexpected factors, and Vast Heaven was exactly that—an unexpected factor in his eyes.
When Happy realized that, he sucked in a deep breath, and his gaze focused on the stage became much more solemn.
Vast Heaven seemed to have realized that his winning streak would end right then. One Emperor had decided to fight him for his very first fight, which meant he was absolutely certain of his victory!
When Vast Heaven thought of that, slight self-depreciation and a vast amount of refusal to admit defeat appeared on his face!
"Come."
After saying that, Vast Heaven used both hands and flicked six of his fingers at the same time.
A clear clang was heard then.
The people at the foot of the stage did not even know what had happened. One Emperor had already sheathed his sword at the speed of lightning. His gaze was calm, and he turned resolutely to the foot of the stage without even turning his head around to look at Vast Heaven.
"Next."
It was only at that moment that the people at the foot of the stage noticed that Vast Heaven, who had been prepared to execute his sword qi with six fingers, had become stiff and did not manage to move forward again. At the moment One Emperor finished speaking, a thin red line that was barely noticeable appeared at the center of his eyebrows. His life force was already gone; it looked like One Emperor had depleted him of his life.
Whoosh!
A lot of the martial art elites at the foot of the stage swiftly realized that the situation was bad. Many of the famous martial artists rushed up the stage with anxious expressions. "Quick! He still has one breath left! Illusion Life and Death Pill!"
The villa master was naturally responsible when such a thing happened in Hero's Mountain Villa. He brought out a pill without hesitation and placed it in Vast Heaven's mouth.
The other people glared at One Emperor. "Where did you learn your sword technique?"
It was so fast that they did not have the time to save his opponent. Someone like that was just too terrifying!
Vast Heaven's master, Duan Yu, felt it the best.
When he saw that his disciple did not even have the chance to attack and was cut down to the point that he almost lost his life, he pointed an accusative finger at One Emperor for a long moment. He only managed to calm down after the villa master comforted him.
"Prince Duan, don't worry. He'll be fine. With Illusion Life and Death Pill, as long as he has one breath left, he will be able to recover."
"Thank you, villa master!"
"Ah, I am deeply regretful that I could not protect him." The villa master turned his head around and smiled at One Emperor. "Young swordsman, you have great skills with the sword. Even us veterans did not have the time to save him. It's fortunate that you did not cause any major mishaps."
One Emperor was calm, and he said nothing of the matter. Instead, he said, "Since he didn't die, announce the results."
"Vast Heaven did not have the power to fight back in this battle, so it's only natural that you won. With that being the case, let's go down. We shan't affect the operations of the competition. We'll continue with the martial arts tournament."
Everyone who had entered the stage left it once the villa master ordered them to. As for Duan Yu, he picked up Vast Heaven and brought him off the stage to rest.
Vast Heaven had experienced life and death, and One Emperor's slash was burned into his mind. He might have recovered and his body was fine, but his expression was still pale. His mind kept repeating One Emperor's slash that was as profound as black lightning. There was just no way he could have dodged it.
It was also that one slash that completely destroyed his chances to seize the title of strongest in the world!
It was the difference between them!
There was a ravine they could not cross!
When Vast Heaven looked at One Emperor again, there was a hint of respect that he could not hide in his eyes.
From the start to the end, the players at the foot of the stage held their breaths. They could not believe it. They had thought that it would be an exciting fight with sword qi moving around the stage freely, so why and how did it end so quickly? It did not even seem to have started…
Only Happy, Silver Wolf, Zhou Yu, Blood Robes, and the others who had already fought against One Emperor had solemn expressions on their faces, and that graveness was one of an unprecedented degree!
One Emperor's slash just then seemed to be his first slash… but it also seemed to have become faster than before!