Chapter 533: Round Nine! An Unexpected Head-On Clash!

After the eighth round ended, the ninth round arrived quickly.

After the previous two matches concluded, it was finally time for Xu Jingming to take the stage once more.

"The next match features Tang Mu Du Lang from the United States of America, and from the Great Xia... Xu Jingming!"

Amid the beautiful commentator's high-pitched voice, Xu Jingming and Tang Mu Du Lang stepped onto the arena from the preparation area in turn.

The moment the two of them took the stage, thunderous cheers instantly erupted from the spectator stands surrounding the martial arena.

"Du Lang! Du Lang!"

"Lei Di! Lei Di!"

"......"

The two of them had fought their way through the free-for-all arena, winning eight out of eight, and had accumulated a large number of fans.

Each had their own die-hard supporters.

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

"This time, I'm going to take back the glory my teacher lost from you!"

Du Lang was a tall white youth, gripping an alloy long staff in his hand.

His entire being emanated an incomparably heavy aura, as if a great mountain itself.

"Then you probably won't get that chance. In a moment, I'll send you straight to the resurrection bracket."

Xu Jingming said coldly.

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

Du Lang possessed the Enhancement-type Beast-series S-rank ability "Red-Iron Ape."

Once the ability was activated, he would transform into an ancient ape, with his physique greatly enhanced.

He was an ability user who purely followed the close-combat brawler martial artist path.

"It's been ages since I've run into a decent opponent.

Since you're a close-combat brawler, I'll use you to test out my spear techniques in a bit."

Xu Jingming thought silently to himself.

In the matches before this, he basically only needed to deploy Dou Tian Shen Lei to instantly kill.

Otherwise, like when dealing with Sakuragi Rin, just using combat techniques a little was enough to take her down.

Having gone so long without an opponent of comparable strength to fight, he was already itching for a real battle......

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

"The winner advances directly to the Top 32!"

"The loser enters a five-day resurrection bracket event, competing for 16 advancement spots!"

"Between Xu Jingming and Du Lang, who will claim that sole advancement spot?"

"The answer lies in the upcoming match!"

"Now... the match officially begins!"

The moment the commentator finished speaking, Du Lang immediately activated his ability.

"Roar—"

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

His originally somewhat handsome face suddenly became ferocious, with four sharp fangs growing in his mouth.

Seen from afar, he truly looked like a black ape standing there.

"Xu Jingming! Prepare to die!"

A cruel smile appeared on Du Lang's face. Gripping his alloy long staff, he suddenly charged toward Xu Jingming's direction.

For a martial artist to fight an elementalist, they had to close the distance immediately.

Otherwise, once kited, it would be very easy to be whittled down to death by the elementalist's ranged spells.

"Xu Jingming has flight ability. Once he spreads his wings and takes to the sky, that will be the most troublesome scenario."

Du Lang pondered to himself as he charged.

If this were the real world, an ability user with flight capability would almost be in an invincible position.

But this was the Genius Tournament arena. Once five minutes passed without a victor between the two sides,

the entire Lei Ting would rapidly shrink, and the height of the sky would lower along with it.

By that point, he could easily catch Xu Jingming.

But before that, he would need to tough out five minutes of Xu Jingming's lightning-type abilities and ranged spell combat techniques raining down on him.

Although he was very confident in his physique, doing so would still carry risk.

Therefore, he had to close in on Xu Jingming at maximum speed.

Ending the fight as quickly as possible was the safest approach.

With Du Lang's ferocious physique after activating his ability, once he charged, it was practically flying just above the ground!

In almost the blink of an eye, he covered a distance of five or six hundred meters.

Just as Du Lang was wondering whether Xu Jingming would use his wings to fly into the sky,

he was surprised to discover that Xu Jingming had neither activated his flight ability nor fled in another direction.

Instead, he was charging straight toward him head-on!

"What's going on? Why is Lei Di charging toward Du Lang?"

"I remember Lei Di is an elementalist, right? In his previous matches, he used ranged spell-type combat techniques pretty skillfully."

"That's right. Lei Shen Zhi, Sky Thunder Art — they're all spell-type combat techniques."

"With that move, could Lei Di actually be planning to clash head-on with Du Lang?"

"......"

Watching Xu Jingming's charging motion, the entire audience in the arena burst into an uproar.

Yes, Doushen Shenlei is indeed an SS-class ability.

But this is a lightning-type ability; once activated, it provides no enhancement to the body whatsoever!

And Du Lang is an Enhancement-type S-class ability user!

The two sides' physical strength is on completely different levels!

If he chose close-quarters combat, he would undoubtedly be using his weakness to fight the opponent's strength.

"Lei Di's ability provides no enhancement to his body; his physique comes entirely from the body-tempering art he cultivates.

But Du Lang has also cultivated a body-tempering art, and on top of that is an Enhancement-type ability user.

Lei Di actually still chose close-quarters combat — this is far too risky!"

A great number of viewers felt worried for Xu Jingming.

In stark contrast, Du Lang on the arena, who had clearly seen Xu Jingming's movement, revealed a look of wild joy on his face.

His movement technique sped up another notch:

"Xu Jingming! You trust your body-tempering art far too much!

Let me show you the terrifying strength of a true Enhancement-type ability user!"

Xu Jingming and Du Lang — one at the upper tier of fifth-rank, the other at the lower tier of sixth-rank — closed in at blistering speed.

In the span of a few breaths, the two had covered two kilometers and were rapidly approaching each other.

Boom—

Before Du Lang himself even arrived, an alloy long staff swept out horizontally first!

The staff's instantaneous acceleration had already produced a piercing sonic boom.

The sound rippled outward, even forming visible shockwaves!

This was enough to demonstrate the terrifying force carried in that staff strike.

However, Xu Jingming opposite him, who had already activated his Thunder Extreme State, showed not the slightest fear.

His right hand exerted force,

and the Flowing Cloud Golden Edge Spear, wrapped in raging thunder, instantly transformed into a golden phantom and swept across horizontally as well!

Clang!!

The spear and the staff collided, producing a tremendous sound.

Immediately after, under the stunned gazes of the audience.

Du Lang was like a baseball violently struck by a baseball bat.

Both man and staff were blasted flying over a hundred meters before crashing to the ground!

"Ah, this......"

"In a pure contest of strength, Du Lang actually lost?"

"Lei Di's physique has actually become this powerful?"

"......"

In the arena,

the crowd of viewers who had still been worrying about how Xu Jingming dared to clash head-on nearly popped their eyeballs out.

This outcome was far too unexpected!