Chapter 136: Third Round

The gray-robed man, although startled by Wang Yu's flame barrier and harboring a vague sense of foreboding, was now in a position where he could not back down.

Moreover, Gu Lian's flame barrier had previously been nearly shattered by three strikes from Shi Jian's staff; it seemed this twelve-spirit-pattern defensive spell was not as indestructible as imagined.

This gave the man a glimmer of wishful thinking.

With a gloomy face, he held his iron saber with both hands, raised it high, and began frantically injecting mana into it.

The black iron saber emitted a pale green glow, and eleven pale blue spirit-pattern symbols gradually emerged on its surface as a massive green saber shadow began to condense upon the blade.

The man deliberately restrained the power of the Azure Wave Saber, letting the massive saber shadow grow larger and more solid. Meanwhile, the green radiance on the iron saber became increasingly dazzling, to the point that even the blade itself began to tremble violently, struggling to withstand the terrifying power within the saber shadow.

"Slash!"

Feeling his hands, which held the Azure Wave Saber, tingling from the stimulation, the gray-robed man hesitated no longer and swung his hands with force.

"Puff!"

The massive green saber shadow descended with a rumble, like a pillar supporting the heavens; before it had truly landed, the air above the martial arts arena was already blurring.

A thunderous boom, like a bolt from the blue, erupted.

Astonishing light burst forth between the green saber shadow and the crimson light barrier; the red and green colors intertwined, and air waves rolled out, spiraling toward both sides.

Wang Yu stood within the light barrier, forming seals with one hand, rapidly injecting his internal mana into the barrier.

Just then, the green saber shadow suddenly shattered, transforming into strands of green light that began to spin rapidly around the crimson barrier. They moved faster and faster, forming a massive green vortex in the blink of an eye.

"Crackle, crackle!"

The crimson barrier was sliced by countless green strands like sharp blades. The twelve crimson spirit patterns on the surface of the barrier flickered, and the thick walls of the barrier trembled slightly, yet there was not the slightest sign of wavering. After Wang Yu changed his hand seal, raging flames suddenly emerged from the barrier.

Some of the green light strands vanished without a trace in the flames before they could even get close to the flame barrier.

The massive vortex formed by this slash of the Azure Wave Saber lasted only for about ten breaths before rapidly shrinking, finally turning into specks of green light and vanishing entirely.

During this time, the flame barrier remained as thick and solid as before.

Seeing this, the gray-robed man's face turned ashen. After uttering a "I concede," he voluntarily flew off the martial arts arena.

The Confucian scholar above also announced Wang Yu's victory with a look of surprise.

Outside the martial arts arena, the people from the various families on the stone platform erupted into a frenzy once again.

Their eyes were not blind; they all saw that the defensive strength of Wang Yu's flame barrier seemed far superior to Gu Lian's. The two appeared to be completely different spells, and their shock and horror could well be imagined.

At this moment, Wang Yu, having flown back to the stone platform, also had a precise judgment of his own flame barrier's defensive capabilities, while simultaneously verifying a guess he had held in his heart.

Yin Linglong approached with a beaming smile, and the two Yin family elders behind her were even more ecstatic.

But before Wang Yu could say a few words to them, Gu Lian's soft, chuckling voice reached his ears via sound transmission:

"Fellow Daoist Wang, you are using the Primal Flame Barrier, aren't you? Only a flame barrier without the slightest modification can possess such pure defensive power. This is vastly different from the flame barrier spirit-pattern diagram that Gu obtained from his master's teachings.

However, besides having extraordinary talent in artifact refining and being proficient in body-refining techniques, Fellow Daoist Wang also possesses such heaven-defying talent in spells—this truly exceeds all expectations! If your spirit root aptitude were just a bit better, I fear that even giving you the status of a true disciple in the Four Symbols Sect would not be considered excessive."

Upon hearing this, Wang Yu could not help but glance curiously at Gu Lian on the other stone platform.

As it turned out, this person was also looking at Wang Yu, revealing a friendly smile.

Beside Gu Lian, the head of the Yu family also met Wang Yu's gaze, and he immediately and subconsciously offered a conciliatory smile.

As for Yu Xiaoming, he was also watching Wang Yu, but his face was filled with a complex expression.

"What does Gu Lian mean by this?"

Wang Yu returned Gu Lian's smile, but his heart grew increasingly suspicious.

The matches on the martial arts arena continued.

Soon, it was the final match.

This time, a burly man carrying a long saber took the stage. Upon seeing that the position opposite him was empty, his expression turned extremely ugly. Even after the Confucian scholar above announced the start of the match, he still could not find any trace of his opponent and could only helplessly concede.

With this, the second round of matches concluded.

The Confucian scholar looked up at the sun and, feeling that it was still early, directly announced the start of the third round of matches without ceremony.

Facing this approach from Liu Ming, Wang Yu and the people from the various families did not feel surprised.

But by this round, only sixteen families remained, so only eight matches needed to be fought.

This time, the raggedly dressed man who had appeared in the first round was unexpectedly defeated by a burly man wielding twin axes.

The twin axes in the burly man's hands were a rare pair of artifacts; the two axes could be thrown in turns to attack the enemy. Additionally, he used an extremely obscure "Mirror Talisman," which could actually deflect the light beam attacks of the Golden Light Realm by a few degrees.

The raggedly dressed man, having been caught off guard and wounded in both arms, had no choice but to concede and withdraw.

As for Gu Lian, who appeared in the second match, his opponent, after releasing three different spells in one breath and still being unable to do anything against Gu Lian's flame barrier, could only voluntarily concede as well.

The third match...

The fourth match...

During the fifth match, Wang Yu took the stage.

This time, his opponent was a beautiful middle-aged woman.

Wang Yu still had some impression of this woman, who still retained her charm.

She had cultivated several wood-attribute spells, leaning toward illusion and hypnosis, and held a flower basket artifact capable of summoning a large number of thorns to trap enemies. With the two combined, she had defeated two strong opponents in succession.

At this moment, after the Confucian scholar above announced the start of the match, the beautiful woman stood opposite Wang Yu, frowning in thought.

Wang Yu was somewhat curious and did not rush to act, simply watching with his arms crossed to see what she intended to do.

The opponent's illusions and hypnotic spells could not possibly have any effect under his terrifying spiritual power.

"This concubine concedes. I still cannot think of any means to defeat Fellow Daoist Wang. The fire-attribute cultivation technique Fellow Daoist Wang practices happens to restrain my wood-attribute spells, and once in close quarters, I have no way to withstand Fellow Daoist Wang's body-refining methods." The beautiful woman finally spoke, directly conceding.

Wang Yu was stunned for a moment, then simply cupped his hands and turned to leave.

"This concubine is the head of the Xu family. If Fellow Daoist Wang has time, you are welcome to visit the Xu family at Xiaoliang Mountain. This concubine still has two beautiful daughters who are yet to be married." Just as he flew out of the restriction, the woman's delicate voice suddenly reached his ears via sound transmission.

This caused Wang Yu's figure to stumble slightly, and he flew away without looking back.

But the lingering sound of the woman's giggles still reached his ears. ===== CHAPTER 137 =====