“Who else wants to come up and fight?” Casey called out loudly from the stage.
Everyone who met Casey’s gaze quickly looked away, afraid of being chosen by him. Casey was known for publicly breaking the arm of the eldest son of the Carr family; he was not someone to be trifled with.
According to the competition rules, winning a stage did not guarantee a spot in the top fifteen, as other contestants from different stages could still challenge the winner. Therefore, Casey remained on the stage, sitting cross-legged in meditation.
Meanwhile, Harleen and Ivy, having settled Catherine Foreman, arrived at Stage Five. Similar to Stage Six, a temporary stage master had been decided here as well. He stood on the stage, asking if anyone else wanted to challenge him.
The stage master was a man in his late thirties, exuding an extraordinary aura, and was at the ninth-rank Otherworldly Realm.
“If no one comes up, then I will…” The man began to speak again after scanning the stage.
Before he could finish, a graceful figure appeared on the stage-it was Harleen.
“I’ll give it a try!” Harleen cupped her hands toward him.
“Hmm?” The man looked Harleen up and down, a flash of amazement in his eyes. He released his spiritual power to probe Harleen’s cultivation level and couldn’t help but narrow his eyes slightly. Not yet thirty years old, and already at the eighth-rank Otherworldly Realm!
Even though he himself was an outstanding person, he was still shocked by Harleen.
“I am Walter Thornton. May I know your name?” The man cupped his hands toward Harleen.
“So that’s Walter Thornton. His reputation precedes him; truly a prodigious talent.”
“Who is Walter Thornton? Is he famous?”
“He is the young master of Heavenly Net Hall and one of the top geniuses in Akabuchi City!”
A murmur of discussion rose around the stage upon hearing Walter Thornton’s name.
“My surname is Knight,” Harleen replied.
“Miss Knight, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” Walter Thornton cupped his hands again. “Blades and swords have no eyes; if I injure you, please forgive me.”
“Please guide me!” Harleen responded with a similar gesture.
Then, both of them ascended into the air.
“Take this!” Walter Thornton said in a deep voice as he swung his large blade toward Harleen, creating a cold gleam.
Harleen wasn’t idle either; she gripped her sharp sword and met his attack head-on.
Objectively speaking, Walter Thornton’s combat power was not weak. His ninth-rank Otherworldly Realm cultivation was enough to contend with a first-rank Entering Dao Realm opponent. Without using her trump cards, Harleen’s combat power was slightly weaker. After several rounds, Walter Thornton dominated the battle, and Harleen’s aura became somewhat disordered.
For her, encountering an evenly matched opponent was rare, so she didn’t intend to end the fight quickly; it was a good opportunity to practice.
After twenty or thirty rounds of combat, a loud noise echoed as both sides retreated three or four hundred meters.
“Miss Knight, you are so young yet possess such combat power; I am truly impressed!” Walter Thornton said after stabilizing himself.
Having fought Harleen for so long, he was deeply surprised. He initially thought that someone so young with an eighth-rank Otherworldly Realm cultivation must have had help from a master, forcibly elevating her level. In such cases, combat power would be weak, making it easy for him to defeat even same-level opponents, let alone someone two levels higher. However, after this round of attacks, he realized he had severely underestimated her. Although he had the upper hand so far, he knew Harleen hadn’t used her full strength. If both went all out, he had no confidence in winning.
“You are not bad yourself,” Harleen replied after catching her breath slightly.
“Miss Knight, how about we decide the winner with one move?” Walter Thornton suggested again.
“Alright,” Harleen nodded.
As soon as they finished speaking, both their auras surged simultaneously, and the pressure in the surrounding void increased several levels. Walter Thornton’s hands created several afterimages in the air before the space in front of him began to churn wildly. Lightning flashed and strong winds blew as a massive shadow beast charged toward Harleen like a small mountain. Wherever the beast passed, the void twisted, and the pressure reached its peak as if it would collapse at any moment. From this move alone, it was clear that he possessed first-rank Entering Dao Realm combat power.
Facing Walter Thornton’s trump card, Harleen didn’t hold back either. She gripped her sharp sword and activated one of her own trump cards. An extremely cold sword aura shot out like a falling meteor. The temperature in the void plummeted to freezing point, and all water vapor in the air turned into ice particles. The sword aura passed through the shadow beast without any resistance. In the next moment, the shadow beast froze in mid-air and turned into an ice sculpture. A cracking sound followed as the ice sculpture shattered like a spider web and fell to the ground.
Simultaneously, Harleen and Walter Thornton retreated several hundred meters, blood trickling from their mouths. Both stabilized themselves and stood in mid-air without making another move.
“I lost!” Walter Thornton said after catching his breath and looking at Harleen. “Thank you for showing mercy!”
He knew very well that if Harleen hadn’t held back some of her power, that last sword strike alone would have severely injured him. As he spoke, his heart was once again filled with shock. He estimated that if Harleen went all out, she could at least contend with a second-rank Entering Dao Realm opponent. Such a talented genius deserved admiration!
“Thank you for letting me win,” Harleen cupped her hands in response.
Harleen then descended onto the stage while Walter Thornton walked toward another platform. With his combat power, securing one of the fifteen stages was not an issue. After Harleen’s recent battle, no one dared to challenge her anymore.
Meanwhile, seeing that Harleen was fine, Ivy turned and walked toward Stage Four. The stage master there was a woman in the late eighth-rank Otherworldly Realm who could also challenge two levels higher. However, compared to Ivy, she was still weaker. After ten or so rounds of combat, the woman conceded and moved to another stage. Ivy naturally took over Stage Four.
By the end of the day’s battles, Catherine Foreman’s injuries had mostly healed. She managed to seize a stage from a seventh-rank Otherworldly Realm opponent. Thus, all four secured spots on the Prodigy List!
Early the next morning, Catherine Foreman met up with everyone at the inn before heading back to the arena. Today was the Prodigy List Fifteen Strong Ranking Match. The crowd was even larger than yesterday; by the time they arrived, it was already packed and bustling with excitement.
The arena had been reconfigured into a single circular stage about five or six hundred meters in diameter, surrounded by tiered seating. By 9 AM, all seventy to eighty thousand seats were filled.
Soon after, all fifteen contestants who advanced yesterday stood on the stage. Besides Harleen’s group of four, everyone else was between thirty-five and forty years old-four women and seven men.
“Catherine, among those women, which one is the princess of Akabuchi Star Palace?” Ivy asked curiously as she looked at the four women.