Chapter 533

After the eighth round of matches ended, the ninth round of matches soon arrived.

After the first two matches ended, it was finally time for Xu Jingming to appear again.

"The next contestant to appear is Tom Durand from the United States, and Great Xia's... Xu Jingming!"

Amidst the high-pitched voice of the beautiful commentator, Xu Jingming and Tom Durand walked onto the arena from the preparation area one after another.

As soon as the two stepped onto the stage, cheers like a landslide and tsunami suddenly erupted from the surrounding spectator seats.

"Durand! Durand!"

"Thunder Emperor! Thunder Emperor!"

"..."

Both had come all the way from the arena melee, winning eight out of eight matches, and had accumulated a large number of fans.

Each had their own die-hard supporters.

"Xu Jingming! Your teacher Su Su Qingli once defeated my teacher in the previous Genius Tournament."

"This time, I will take back the glory my teacher lost from you!"

Durand was a tall white youth holding an alloy long staff.

His whole body exuded an incomparably heavy aura, just like a great mountain.

"Then you might not have that chance; I'll send you to the resurrection tournament in a moment."

Xu Jingming said coldly.

At the same time, the genius information Su Su Qingli had given him last night surfaced in his mind.

Durand possesses the enhancement-type divine beast S-rank ability "Red Iron Ape."

After activating his ability, he will transform into an ancient ape, and his physique will be greatly enhanced.

He is an Awakened who purely follows the close-quarters combat martial artist path.

"It's been a long time since I've encountered a decent opponent.

Since you are a close-quarters fighter, I'll just use you to test my spear technique in a moment."

Xu Jingming thought silently to himself.

In the previous matches, he could basically kill them instantly by using the Heavenly God Thunder.

Or, like dealing with Sakuragi Rin, he could kill them by using combat techniques slightly.

Having not had an opponent of similar strength to fight for a long time, his hands were already itching...

"The ninth round of matches is the match point of this Peak Tournament!"

"The winner! Directly enters the Top 32!"

"The loser! Will enter the five-day resurrection tournament to compete for the 16 advancement spots!"

"Between Xu Jingming and Durand, who can obtain that sole advancement spot?"

"The answer lies in the upcoming match!"

"Now... the match officially begins!"

As the commentator's voice fell, Durand directly activated his ability.

"Roar—"

He let out a wild roar, and dense black hair grew out from all over his body!

His originally handsome face suddenly became ferocious, and four sharp fangs grew out of his mouth.

Looking from afar, he really looked like a black ape standing there.

"Xu Jingming! Prepare to die!"

A cruel smile appeared on Durand's face, and he gripped his alloy long staff, suddenly charging in the direction of Xu Jingming.

A martial artist fighting an elementalist must get close as soon as possible.

Otherwise, once dragged out, it is very easy to be kited to death by the elementalist's long-range spells.

"Xu Jingming has flight ability; once he spreads his wings and flies into the sky, that will be the most troublesome."

Durand thought to himself while charging.

If it were in the real world, an Awakened with flight ability would be almost invincible.

But this is the arena of the Genius Tournament; once five minutes pass and the two sides have not yet decided the winner,

the entire thunder area will shrink rapidly, and the height of the sky will also decrease.

At that time, he can easily catch Xu Jingming.

However, before that, he needs to withstand five minutes of Xu Jingming's lightning-type ability and long-range spell combat techniques.

Although he is very confident in his physique, there will be risks after all.

Therefore, rushing to Xu Jingming's side at the fastest speed

and ending the battle as quickly as possible is the safest approach.

With Durand's formidable physique after activating his ability, once he starts charging, he is practically flying close to the ground!

Almost in the blink of an eye, he crossed a distance of five or six hundred meters.

Just when Durand was worried about whether Xu Jingming would use his wings to fly into the sky,

he was surprised to find that Xu Jingming not only didn't use his flight ability or run in another direction,

but was also charging straight toward him!

"What's the situation? Why is the Thunder Emperor charging toward Durand?"

"I remember the Thunder Emperor is an elementalist; he used long-range spell combat techniques quite skillfully in previous matches."

"Indeed, the Thunder God Finger and Heavenly Thunder Technique are both spell-type combat techniques."

"Could the Thunder Emperor be trying to go head-to-head with Durand?"

"..."

Seeing Xu Jingming's charging action, the entire audience in the martial arts arena was in an uproar.

Yes, the Heavenly God Thunder is indeed an SS-rank ability.

But it belongs to the lightning-type ability; after activating the ability, it will not provide any enhancement to the physique!

And Durand is an S-rank enhancement-type Awakened!

The physique strength of the two sides is not on the same level at all!

If he adopts close-quarters combat, he is undoubtedly using his own shortcomings to fight someone else's strengths.

"The Thunder Emperor's ability has no enhancement to his physique; his physique comes entirely from the body-tempering technique he practices.

But Durand also practices body-tempering techniques and is an enhancement-type Awakened.

The Thunder Emperor is still choosing close-quarters combat; this is too risky!"

A large number of spectators were worried for Xu Jingming.

Conversely, Durand, who saw Xu Jingming's actions on the arena, was ecstatic.

His movement speed accelerated by another notch:

"Xu Jingming! You are too confident in your body-tempering technique!

Let me show you the terrifying strength of a true enhancement-type Awakened!"

Xu Jingming and Durand, one at Upper Rank 5 and one at Rank 6 Lower, charged at an extremely fast speed.

Within a few breaths, the two crossed a distance of two kilometers and approached rapidly.

Boom—

Before Durand even arrived, an alloy long staff swept across first!

The instant acceleration of the long staff had already triggered a harsh sonic boom.

The sound rippled out, actually forming visible ripples!

This was enough to show the terrifying power carried by this staff strike.

However, Xu Jingming, who had already activated the Thunder Extreme State, was not afraid at all.

With force in his right hand,

the Flowing Cloud Golden Spear, wrapped in violent lightning, immediately turned into a golden phantom and swept across as well!

Clang!!

The long spear and long staff collided, emitting a huge sound.

Immediately after, in the shocked eyes of the audience,

Durand was like a baseball hit violently by a baseball bat.

He was blasted away for over a hundred meters, staff and all, before crashing to the ground!

"Ah, this..."

"In a pure test of strength, Durand actually lost?"

"Has the Thunder Emperor's physique actually become this strong?"

"..."

In the martial arts arena,

the crowd of spectators who were still worried about how Xu Jingming dared to go head-to-head almost had their eyeballs pop out.

This result was too unexpected!