Chapter 782

"The decisive match......"

Wang Tai shook his head and said, "It seems the daughter you favored will lose."

He admitted that Xu Jingming was indeed a genius unseen in a hundred years.

But age and rank stand as facts—Xu Jingming, at twenty years old and seventh-rank lower, stands little chance against Wu Xuan, who is over sixty and eighth-rank upper.

"Xiao Xi was already at a disadvantage; her defeat is normal."

Leng Cang could not help but sigh.

Though he spoke thus, his eyes remained fixed tightly on Xu Jingming.

He hoped for some miracle to unfold in the coming match.

"Wu Xuan, eighth-rank upper, Elemental Wind System, A-class Master Zongshi."

In terms of speed, even if I unfurled my Thunder Dragon Wings, I could not catch him.

That means, close combat is utterly impossible......"

Xu Jingming stood tall and upright at the very front of the floating island.

While waiting for the match to begin, he silently pondered his next strategy.

With a full major rank difference in cultivation level, a lightning-element adept like him racing against a wind-element adept was tantamount to suicide.

Simply closing in meant endless kite-fighting—he might never even see Wu Xuan's shadow before being obliterated by wind-based combat arts.

But Xu Jingming was not merely a martialist—he was also an Elementalist!

His body could not catch Wu Xuan, but his lightning-element combat arts could!

"Soon, let's see whose spell-based combat art is stronger."

Xu Jingming silently thought, as the referee's voice sounded beside him:

"Both combatants, prepare—fourth round match will begin transmission!"

As the words ended, a transmission button instantly appeared before Xu Jingming's eyes.

Without the slightest hesitation, he pressed the button.

Before the crowd's expectant gazes, Xu Jingming and Wu Xuan vanished from their spots and reappeared within the virtual city ahead.

Shhh—

In the simulated city, at a crossroads, Xu Jingming's tall, muscular form slowly materialized.

"Thunderstorm State!"

Crackling—

Golden Lei Guang flashed as Xu Jingming immediately entered his enhanced form, over three meters tall.

His pair of cold, reptilian vertical pupils seemed filled with endless bloodlust and ferocity.

To face an eighth-rank upper Master Zongshi, he must expend every ounce of his strength.

Thunder Extreme State grants only a fourfold power boost—far inferior to the sevenfold boost of Thunderstorm State.

Whoosh—

His SS-class perception combat art, "Heart Net," activated; his spiritual force surged wildly.

All scenery within a three-kilometer radius appeared in his mind like a 3D model.

Yet, he detected no trace of Wu Xuan's presence.

"He must be outside my combat art's perception range. If so, then straight up into the sky it is."

Boom!!

With a thunderous crash, Xu Jingming crushed the hard earthen ground into a deep crater.

Using the recoil, he shot skyward like a rocket, his body wreathed in thunder.

Only when he reached nearly two hundred meters above ground did his bone-spiked Thunder Dragon Wings snap open behind him with a sharp shhh.

He gave a slight flap, suspending himself midair.

Swoosh!!

Simultaneously, five kilometers away, a figure burst upward from beneath the city.

It was Wu Xuan!

He was wreathed in deep cyan gales, radiating the formidable pressure of an eighth-rank upper Master Zongshi.

In his right hand, he held a staff nearly two meters long.

It was his elemental weapon.

"Oh? You're not hiding? You actually dare to fly up and fight me?"

Wu Xuan, having spotted Xu Jingming, was slightly surprised.

In his view, Xu Jingming should have been hiding somewhere inside a building by now.

"Still, better—no need to waste time searching."

Wu Xuan smiled faintly, and the cyan gales swirling around him surged instantly into the wind-element weapon in his hand.

Boom!!!

A terrifying energy surge erupted as he swung his staff.

A colossal hurricane, as if piercing heaven and earth, roared toward Xu Jingming!

Whooosh—whooosh—whooosh—

Howling winds uprooted buildings and sucked them into the hurricane.

Ordinary hurricanes, though powerful, were not highly lethal.

A typical third-rank adept could withstand a natural hurricane with sheer physical strength.

But Wu Xuan's hurricane was different.

The howling gale was like sharp blades, the entire hurricane a meat grinder.

Once the sturdy high-rises were swept into it, the cement and steel would be pulverized to slag in an instant!

One could clearly see that Wu Xuan, an upper eighth-rank, was more than twice as strong as the Grandmasters who had appeared earlier!

"It's the Wind-element S+ rank combat technique 'Swift Blade Hurricane'!"

"Coming out with such a powerful technique right away — he's not giving Xu Jingming any chance at all."

"Who says he isn't? Xu Jingming's in danger now."

"..."

A wave of gasps rose from the spectator stands.

Almost every Grandmaster had his own signature combat technique.

And Wu Xuan's signature combat technique was precisely this 'Swift Blade Hurricane'!

He had already cultivated it to Master-level proficiency; once unleashed, the hurricane possessed terrifying killing power.

Most crucially, it was an area-of-effect combat technique — the enemy simply had nowhere to run, no way to escape!

Because this technique also carried a binding effect; once one was pulled into the hurricane,

Wu Xuan's follow-up series of spell-type combat techniques would all come raining down, nearly impossible to withstand.

"So this is what an upper eighth-rank Grandmaster is like? Truly powerful."

High above the city, Xu Jingming stood proudly.

Deep within his crimson dragon pupils, blazing fighting spirit had already begun to burn.

"Extreme Glory Thunder Ring!"

Hum—

A resplendent golden ring of light slowly rotated behind Xu Jingming.

At this moment, his aura ceased to be suppressed and erupted with a roar!

Within a thousand meters around him, the area became a sea of golden lightning, the violent Lei Hai ruthlessly devouring the city below.

At the same time, a Lei Shen phantom blossomed in midair above his head!

SSS-rank combat technique "Lei Shen Jiang Shi"!

The already violent Doushen Shenlei deepened in color, rampaging wildly through the city below.

However, it wasn't over yet!

Lightning Domain!

A strange ripple spread out from Xu Jingming's body.

The lightning swirling within ten meters around him seemed to boil, radiating terrifying energy fluctuations!

Lei Lei Bao Tai, Lightning Domain, Lei Shen Jiangshi!

At this moment, Xu Jingming's power climbed to its peak! A terrifying aura burst forth.

And this aura, processed by the virtual world's holographic projection, was transmitted to the spectator stands.

Letting every person feel that terrifying pressure as if they were there in person.

"This is an SS-rank ability? I feel my heart pounding like crazy!"

"What's going on? Xu Jingming doesn't feel any weaker than Master Wu Xuan to me!"

"This aura doesn't seem quite right — when did Xu Jingming break through to mid seventh-rank?"

"..."

In an instant, a chorus of shock rose from the entire spectator stands, one after another staring in astonishment at Xu Jingming on the holographic projection.

Things... seemed to be developing in a direction different from what they had predicted?