“Hmm?!”
Feeling the power of this move, the referee’s body tensed up, a cold and deadly aura filling him completely. He knew his own limits, and he absolutely couldn’t take this move. He wanted to dodge, but being in mid-air, he had no strength left to do so. He could only watch helplessly as his opponent’s attack came crashing towards him.
Without any suspense, a muffled sound rang out, and a mist of blood appeared in mid-air. And then, there was nothing. After the blood mist settled, not even a trace remained.
The sound of jaws dropping echoed around the arena.
“Who… who are you? How dare you kill the referee, you…” The woman who had fought against Harleen shouted in shock.
“You better take care of yourself first!” Harleen interrupted her. Before she even finished speaking, Harleen’s swift swordsmanship had already flashed in front of her.
“Get out of the way!” The woman growled, raising her hand and striking out with a palm.
However, to her surprise, Harleen’s swordsmanship tore through her palm strike and pierced into her shoulder blade, causing a gush of blood to spurt out.
“Hmm…” The woman groaned, retreating several steps. This sword had angered her. After stabilizing her figure, a black mist burst uncontrollably from her body, and she emitted a chilling aura like a ghost.
“How dare you hurt me, die!” She said with a deep voice, raising her hand to attack.
“Thousand Shadow Clone Technique!” Harleen shouted, immediately splitting into four identical figures and all attacking the woman. Five figures, real and fake, tangible and intangible. Apart from Harleen herself, no one knew which one was the real her.
“Hmm?” Seeing the five identical figures surrounding her, the woman immediately froze in place.
However, she didn’t have much time to ponder. In the blink of an eye, the five sharp swords were already upon her. Unable to distinguish between real and fake, the woman instinctively struck out with a palm towards the figure right in front of her. With a muffled sound, that figure was obliterated by her palm. As the figure dissipated into nothingness, her heart sank, and a sense of death rushed up to her brain from her feet.
The next moment, a sword aura pierced into her back, passing through her chest, causing her heart to explode.
“You…” She struggled to open her mouth and uttered a word before collapsing, her breath gone.
“Your secret technique is nothing special!” Harleen glanced at her and turned towards the silhouette at the edge of the arena.
“Thank you, Opal!” Harleen walked over and bowed her head in gratitude.
The one who had killed the referee just now was Opal Fraley. From the beginning of the competition, she had already stated that she would keep an eye on the referees so that Billy and the others could focus on the competition. If anyone dared to target Glavale like they did a hundred years ago, no matter who it was, they would be mercilessly killed. That was the dominance of Ether Mountain.
“Are you okay, Harleen?” asked Opal.
“I’m fine, thank you for your concern!” Harleen smiled lightly.
“Outrageous! You Glavale people are truly lawless, you even killed the referee. Do you really think you’re invincible?” Just then, an angry voice rang out.
Soon, a group of people leaped onto the arena, led by an elderly man with a Western appearance.
“Opal, he’s the Vice President of the organizing committee for this competition, from Xidengia.” Harleen looked at Opal and introduced. She was hanging out with Billy and the others at the hotel yesterday, going through all the information related to the competition, so she recognized the people who showed up.
Opal nodded slightly and looked at the elderly man in front of her, saying calmly, “Do you know why I killed him?”
“I don’t need to know why!” The old man responded coldly. “No matter what your reasons were, daring to kill the referee at the competition venue, today, no one can save you!”
“Judging by your expression, I assume his actions earlier received your support?” Opal spoke again.
The old man didn’t respond to her question and snorted coldly before continuing, “I command you to immediately abandon your cultivation and come with us!”
“Gater, you’re just an old fool!”
Just then, another elderly voice came through. Soon, Ernest Shepherd, Milo Guzman, and Otis Hum appeared on the stage, with Milo being the one who spoke.
“How dare you Glavale people do this? Do you believe that I, on behalf of the organizing committee, can disqualify you from the competition?” The old man named Gater responded angrily.
“You’re quite arrogant!” Opal spoke again, “Do you believe that if you say one more word, I’ll cut you down along with him?”
Ernest Shepherd and Otis Hum both choked. This kind of courage was on par with Lord Dragon, they thought.
“You…” Gater’s face turned red with anger.
“According to the rules of the competition, any contestant who voluntarily surrenders should not be attacked again by their opponent.” Milo interrupted him. “Otherwise, the referee has the right and obligation to intervene! But your referee, after the contestant surrendered, pretended not to hear! What kind of behavior is this? I don’t think I need to teach you, the vice president, about this, right?”
Before stepping onto the stage, Milo Guzman had already learned about the situation.
“Humph! These are all baseless accusations, is that what you’re saying?” Gater took a deep breath and responded.
“Oh, really? If I say we should check the surveillance footage, you’ll probably tell me that the surveillance system is broken, won’t you?” Otis Hum pointed to the four surveillance cameras around the stage and spoke.
“This is your usual trick, a hundred years ago, you Western countries plotted the murder of hundreds of my Glavale compatriots using the same methods, right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Gater wouldn’t admit it.
“Don’t know? Well, it’s simple! Just pull up the surveillance footage and see for ourselves!” Ernest Shepherd spoke in a deep voice.
“No need to check the footage, we can testify!”
At this moment, another voice came from below the stage.
“It’s true that the referee did nothing, the lady from Glavale had already surrendered, but her opponent continued to attack, and the referee pretended not to hear!”
“Yes, I can testify too!”
“I can testify as well!”
“…”
Within a short time, dozens of voices rang out from below the stage. Harleen looked around and realized that the people who were speaking up were all Aquilandia contestants.
“You…” Gater’s face turned ugly.
“Are you itching to kill all these people?” Milo continued speaking.
Gater snorted again and led his people towards the edge of the stage, speaking as he walked. “This is the first and last time! If any of your people from Glavale dare to lay a hand on the referees again, I will request the organizing committee to disqualify Glavale from the competition!”
“Did I allow you to leave?” Just as he was about to reach the edge of the stage, Opal spoke calmly.