Immediately, without any hesitation, Saul Harding unleashed his full power and attacked Stout. Judging from his posture, he was obviously worried that Stout might surrender prematurely and wanted to finish the battle quickly.
“I initially wanted to go easy on you, but since that’s the case, don’t blame me!” Stout’s eyes narrowed, and he swiftly moved into a combat stance, charging forward.
Facing a member of a prestigious family, Stout wouldn’t hold back. His powerful force generated a fierce wind, accompanied by the piercing sound of breaking air. In the next moment, a series of intense impacts resonated on the platform, and strong waves of energy swept through.
“I won’t play with you anymore, let’s end it!” After a few rounds of exchanges, Saul Harding shouted. As the words fell, he directly activated his War God-Emperor power, and an illusory ancient sword floated above his head.
“Oh! I didn’t expect you to have condensed your own God-Emperor’s power? Not bad!” Stout squinted slightly.
“Die!” Saul Harding ignored Stout, pushed both hands forward, and the illusory ancient sword, carrying the momentum of thunder, rapidly stabbed towards Stout.
“How arrogant and ignorant! Do you think you can defeat me just by condensing God-Emperor’s power?” Stout spoke and without any hesitation, he unleashed the Essence Crossing Palm.
Boom!
After a loud noise, Saul Harding’s illusory ancient sword exploded and dissipated into nothingness. He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, hitting the ground heavily before flipping five or six somersaults to come to a stop.
“You actually managed to withstand my…” Saul Harding struggled to climb up from the ground, but his words were cut short. A strong sense of crisis enveloped him.
Bang!
Before he could finish his sentence, Stout’s palm wind struck his abdomen fiercely, causing his Dantian to shatter instantly. He flew out once again. After smashing against the ground, he opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
“Saul!” a cry came from the audience.
At this point, several of the most promising young talents of the Harding family, who had been hidden away, had all been defeated by Billy and his fellows.
At the same time, the duel on the first platform had also concluded.
The opponent from the ancient martial artist world was no match for Azure Fang, who had activated the Cold Moon Blade Technique, and had one arm broken. Subsequently, the young talent from the Greenwood family won a slight advantage in the duel against the other ancient martial artist and won the match.
In the next round, Azure Fang’s opponent was the young talent from the Greenwood family. However, the opponent didn’t even step onto the platform and directly conceded.
It was unclear whether he was truly afraid of Azure Fang or if someone from the Greenwood clan instructed him not to fight against the people around Billy.
At around 10 a. m., the six participants at the War God-Emperor preliminary level had completed their challenges. Next up were those at the War God-Emperor intermediate level. There were a total of five participants: Azure Dragon, Bob, and Ian took up three spots, while the remaining two were from the ancient martial world, a man and a woman.
After the drawing of lots, Bob advanced without a fight, while Azure Dragon and Ian took to the first and second platforms respectively.
Azure Dragon’s opponent was a woman in her late twenties, dressed in white with a ancient sword at her waist. She had delicate features, a graceful figure, and a noble temperament. Although she was slightly inferior to Ivy in overall appearance, she was undoubtedly a great beauty, even surpassing the previously mentioned Trix Shortle by one level.
“Are you Azure Dragon, one of the legion commanders under Commander Gardner?” The woman named Rita Wolfe looked at Azure Dragon and asked coldly.
“Do you know me?” Azure Dragon smiled faintly.
“I don’t know you, and I don’t want to know!” Rita replied with a cold tone. “I only need to know that you are one of Commander Gardner’s men.”
“From your tone, it seems that you don’t plan to let me off today?” Azure Dragon smiled again. Last night, he and the others had already gone through all the participants in today’s competition. He knew that the woman in front of him was Rita, one of the four beauties of the ancient martial arts world.
“You scared? You can surrender now!” Rita continued, “But I believe you won’t do that. Because if you do, it’s not just your face that will be lost, but also the face of Commander Gardner and even the entire War Department of Glavale, isn’t it?”
“Are you provoking me?” Azure Dragon raised his eyebrows slightly. “Don’t waste your efforts. Rest assured, I won’t step down until you leave the stage!”
“Very well!” Rita raised her eyebrows slightly. Then, she drew her ancient sword from her waist. The sword was more than three feet long, entirely ink-golden in color. When unsheathed, a rich cold aura swept out, clearly not an ordinary weapon.
“Nice sword!” Azure Dragon casually commented.
“Let’s get started!” Rita pointed her sword at him and continued, “Don’t blame me. If you do, blame Commander Gardner for openly opposing us in the ancient martial arts world. He must be prepared to bear all the consequences!”
As her words fell, her figure swiftly moved, and with a flick of her wrist, a sword energy shot towards Azure Dragon like a substantial force.
“You’re quite confident in yourself!” Azure Dragon squinted, lifted his blade, and met the oncoming sword energy.
Rita Wolfe, holding an extraordinary ancient sword and possessing the power of a divine weapon, had the strength to challenge opponents beyond her level.
Before Azure Dragon activated his trump cards, he could only fight her on even ground. The two engaged in a fierce battle, exchanging blows in a flurry of movements. The sound of clashes echoed on the platform, and the platform was filled with the dazzling spectacle of blades and shadows.
“Surprising that you can take so many of my moves. You’ve impressed me!” After separating again, Rita looked at Azure Dragon and spoke in a deep voice.
“But, let’s end it here. I won’t waste any more time with you!”
As she completed her words, her momentum rose again. The ancient sword, carrying several sharp sword glows, moved to suppress Azure Dragon.
“Sorry, but it’s you who will lie down!” Azure Dragon sneered. Then, without any hesitation, he also activated his Emperor’s power.
A phantom blade image roared out from above his head and slashed down towards Rita’s God-Emperor power.
Boom!
A loud noise echoed over the platform, and waves of energy surged. At the same time, Rita’s God-Emperor power was instantly disintegrated.
Immediately after, she spat out a mouthful of blood, and her body quickly slid back for hundreds of meters before coming to a stop. Her face was pale as wax, and her aura was exceptionally chaotic.
“Hmm?” Just as she was struggling to regain her composure, a curved blade glow flashed before her eyes. An extremely chilling and terrifying aura enveloped her entire body, making her hair stand on end, and she couldn’t help but shudder. Following that, she instinctively raised her sword to block; her body also tilted to the right, avoiding half of the attack.