Chapter 378: Zhao Heiniu Takes Third

The elimination rounds for the second-rank martial tournament officially began.

Two thousand second-rank martial artists...

The moment they stepped onto the field, they displayed a completely different air.

A portion of the martial artists abandoned the boats altogether and ran across the water, one after another landing lightly upon the river stages with calm composure, drawing no small amount of applause from the watching common folk.

The atmosphere instantly became much livelier!

“Now these are martial artists!”

“What was that earlier?”

“A bunch of weaklings pecking at each other!”

“Just look... the ones who can’t even display lightness skills have no presence at all.”

Quite a few martial artists whose lightness skill realms were mediocre, or who had never cultivated 《Water Strider》, were utterly embarrassed. Before the competition had even begun, they already looked a step lower than the rest and could only take positions in the corners, preparing to defend, counterattack, and fish in troubled waters.

Unfortunately...

the second-rank martial artists thought more clearly.

A group of the stronger ones first dealt with the weaker martial artists.

Then they turned on the Caobang disciples.

Amid flashing blades and sword shadows, the fighting became exceptionally fierce.

The Caobang disciples had prepared in advance. Either they had jumped into the river beforehand to wait and profit like fishermen, or they stood together in groups, huddling together for warmth.

By the end of one elimination round, less than a third of the Caobang martial artists had been eliminated.

Wan Xiwen’s and Old Seven’s expressions improved slightly.

But after the second elimination round ended, the people whose names Wangchuan could call out grew fewer and fewer.

Even though Chen Gang and Li Xiangyang had cultivated 《Xuanwu Art》 and 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》, they still lost their qualifications and were sent ashore for treatment.

Lin Xun, Monk Dalong, Old Qiu, and the others were all eliminated.

It could not be helped.

Some of the second-rank martial artists from the great sects and famous schools truly were all impressive in cultivation realm. Their third-rank saber and sword arts had at least reached the realm of Integration.

One martial artist from the Beggar Sect had actually cultivated 《Snake-Driving Staff Art》 all the way to Perfect Mastery, making him comparable to Luo Laoqi;

when facing such formidable experts with strong internal cultivation realms, the gap between victory and defeat could be decided in two or three moves. A single strike would lop off a whole chunk of HP and rob one of combat ability.

Chen Ergou, Zhao Heiniu, and Ye Baiyi were assigned to the same group.

All three had registered on the final day.

Chen Ergou and Ye Baiyi temporarily formed an iron triangle. The two saber-wielders stood in front, while Zhao Heiniu stood behind them with a bow in hand. Wielding his Iron-Reinforced Bow, he brought the deterrent power of 《Five-Finger Rapid Flick Technique》 to its absolute limit. No one dared provoke them, and the three of them fought their way into the top fifty with three Advancement Tokens.

When the time came for ten people to compete over two tokens, the three were finally separated. Chen Ergou was left alone and suffered a narrow defeat, withdrawing from the competition.

Relying on his one Perfect Mastery second-rank saber art, Ye Baiyi protected Zhao Heiniu, brought down a Beggar Sect disciple whose 《Snake-Driving Staff Art》 realm was formidable, and seized one Advancement Token.

But Ye Baiyi had also been wounded badly enough that he had no choice but to forgo the next round, yielding the Advancement Token to Zhao Heiniu, whose condition remained intact.

Zhao Heiniu charged into the top ten and became the only disciple of the Caobang to make it that far.

In the later matches, Zhao Heiniu displayed both 《Water Strider》 and 《Five-Finger Rapid Flick Technique》 on the river stage, defeating a disciple from the Emei Sect. Then, in the next advancement round, he suddenly produced a flexible sword at the very last moment and defeated an injured disciple from a famous family in the capital, securing a place among the top three.

In the end, he was defeated by a disciple from the Wudang Sect and stopped at third place.

The second-rank tournament was over!

Now it was finally time for the last contest—the third-rank matches!

There were more than four hundred third-rank martial artists in total...

In the first round, all sorts of people from different factions carefully and cautiously found places to gain footing around the various stages.

One hundred competing for forty!

The stage was enormous.

Half the people stood atop the various large and small ships, more than a dozen in total;

as for the central stage, everyone stood along its edges, leaving their backs to the water and watchfully eyeing the nearest few competitors around them.

As Old Seven lit the incense...

forty Advancement Tokens flew onto the stage.

No one immediately made a move.

Someone on the stage spoke first:

“Everyone.”

“Hear me out. How about we first drive out those who don’t know internal cultivation methods?”

The speaker was a disciple of some famous family, seemingly from the capital.

A confident smile hung at the corners of his mouth. He seemed to be speaking only to the few men opposite him, but in truth his voice carried clearly into every ear present.

“Good!”

“Young Master Xue speaks with reason.”

“The stage isn’t small, but there are too many people standing on it. It really does make it inconvenient and affects our ability to perform.”

“We’ll do as Young Master Xue says. Let’s first drive out those who came merely to fish in troubled waters!”

Immediately after that, a whole group of people struck at the third-rank martial artists around them.

Those who had not cultivated internal cultivation methods had relatively weaker footwork and more floating, unstable auras, making them easy to identify.

Caught off guard, a group of them hastily moved to defend.

But the martial artists who had cultivated internal power were clearly a tier stronger...

The brief exchange quickly turned into one-sided suppression, and those weaker fighters were struck until they coughed blood and fell backward into the river.

More than thirty third-rank martial artists were driven off the stage and stumbled ashore in a sorry state.

The numbers on the stage dropped sharply!

But the real competition had only just begun.

Some people immediately took the opportunity to attack the other competitors nearby.

Clang-clang!

With a muffled grunt, someone was wounded and fell into the water.

“Damn it!”

“I do cultivate...”

“Forget it, forget it. A loss is a loss. I accept it.”

On the stage, fewer than forty martial artists remained, and nearly all of them were among the finest of the third-rank martial artists.

The group calmly took hold of the Advancement Tokens.

This round’s process of the strong eliminating the weak was the fastest of all.

Then came the second group, then the third...

With the experience of the first round, everyone worked in tacit accord, first attacking those who had not mastered internal cultivation methods and effortlessly driving the weaker ones into the river before calmly taking the Advancement Tokens.

As for the final group...

because the number of people was too small and did not even reach one hundred, everyone advanced automatically.

Wangchuan, Lu Ping’an, Yang Feiyue, and the rest of their group all advanced without injury.

But when the second elimination round began,

the competition became fierce!

Young Master Xue, dressed in white, worked together with two friends. With one set of staff techniques, he overturned several challengers and took three Advancement Tokens.

The other disciples from famous sects and great families likewise joined forces, beating down the nearby competitors in groups of three or five and taking the Advancement Tokens.

At last, it was the final group’s turn!

Wangchuan, together with Lin Jiahe, Bai Yuhui, and Chen Libin, held one large ship, keeping all strangers away;

Lu Ping’an, together with Zhang Zishan, Yang Feiyue, and another third-rank martial artist from the Lu Family, likewise held another large ship.

As the Advancement Tokens fell to various corners of the stage,

both the ship where Wangchuan stood and the ship where Lu Ping’an stood each received two Advancement Tokens.

That meant they had a guaranteed minimum already.

As long as they seized four more Advancement Tokens, they could ensure that more of their people entered the next round.

Lu Ping’an and Zhang Zishan put away their Advancement Tokens and looked toward the neighboring ship.

That ship also held two tokens.

Six martial artists were already locked in chaotic battle over them.

Amid the flashing blades and sword shadows, someone was immediately wounded and, unwillingly, leapt into the water, waving his hand to indicate that he was giving up the contest.

When only three people remained on the ship, Lu Ping’an suddenly shot forward. A flash of silver sword light struck from behind and blasted two martial artists away, then drove straight toward the chest of the last remaining third-rank martial artist.

The man had rich Jianghu experience. His feet tapped urgently as he tried to open the distance, only to realize that the sword was drawing closer and closer. His face changed drastically. Under his hurried attempt to block, he was struck directly in the Tanzhong Acupoint by the sword. His chest seized up, his vision blackened, and he collapsed unconscious on the spot.

Two Advancement Tokens in hand.

On the other side!

Wangchuan’s side did not go so smoothly.

As the Deputy Hall Master of Sanhe Commandery, neither he nor Lin Jiahe, Chen Libin, or Bai Yuhui were especially well known in the Jianghu. The group on the neighboring ship took them for soft persimmons and tried to snatch the Advancement Tokens in their hands.

When Wangchuan saw the other side rushing at them with such fierce momentum, he inwardly found it amusing:

“The Salt Gang, the Horse Gang, the coastal Zhou Family, the Lin Family... You lot are just a pile of loose sand. I’d have spared you if you hadn’t come after me, yet you still dare bare your fangs!”

Down!

Wangchuan’s longsword left its sheath. Accompanied by the crisp ring of steel, his sword light tore through the other side’s curtain of saber attacks and precisely stabbed one man in the Tanzhong Acupoint in the chest and abdomen.