Chapter 161: [Sword Intent]

Whenever Tang Mubai stepped onto the arena, he always finished off his opponents within a few minutes.

None of the matches featuring other competitors lasted less than half an hour.

Because the tournament rules strictly prohibited taking human lives, everyone was somewhat restrained while fighting.

The more restrained they were, the longer the matches dragged on.

Especially at this stage of the competition, every participant possessed formidable strength.

Achieving a victory within a short timeframe was nearly impossible.

This was true for both the youth division and the adult division.

Take Jiang Dai and Kang Yan, for instance, who were both among the top ten of the youth group.

Yesterday, the two of them had wrestled for a solid two hours. In the end, Kang Yan, who had taken the offensive role, depleted both his vital blood and stamina, forcing him to concede defeat.

With that victory, Jiang Dai successfully advanced and continued into today's decisive battles.

When Tang Mubai stepped onto the fighting platform for the second time, his opponent was precisely him.

If he won this battle, the victor would earn the right to compete for the championship!

...

Seeing that his opponent was Tang Mubai—the one who had just defeated a grandmaster-tier martial artist yesterday—the sturdy and immensely strong Jiang Dai did not hesitate at all. He immediately circulated the Eighteen Mountain-Moving Strengths, conjuring a faint, small mountain-shaped protective aura barrier around his body.

Professional tier!

When fighting Kang Yan yesterday, Jiang Dai's protective barrier had only been made of ordinary vital energy.

Today, facing Tang Mubai, it immediately transformed into true stellar energy.

Clearly, Jiang Dai's true vital blood realm had reached the professional tier!

He had concealed it previously simply to hide his strength.

Yet facing Tang Mubai now, he had no choice but to go all out.

The Eighteen Mountain-Moving Strengths was a fourth-turn martial art of the earth attribute!

Not only did it possess invincible defense, but it could also unleash formidable offensive power, channeling eighteen distinct forces to assault the opponent.

Enhanced by stellar energy, the Eighteen Mountain-Moving Strengths provided even greater defensive power and doubled the force of its attacks.

Watching from the side, Tang Mubai could not help but feel a surge of interest.

Although the Eighteen Mountain-Moving Strengths looked quite similar to the Golden Bell Shield, its capabilities far surpassed the latter.

When earth-attribute power was used for offense, it was equally terrifying.

Yesterday, while Jiang Dai hid within his vital energy barrier, Kang Yan, who practiced the Tyrant Saber, could do nothing against him.

However, against Tang Mubai...

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Without a word, Tang Mubai drew his bow and instantly loosed three arrows, flying straight toward Jiang Dai.

Bang!

The first arrow struck the stellar energy barrier condensed by the Eighteen Mountain-Moving Strengths, shattering it with countless cracks. Jiang Dai's expression shifted drastically.

Boom!

Before Jiang Dai could react, the second arrow followed closely behind, slamming directly into the stellar energy barrier. The force of the explosion instantly destroyed the barrier, and the remaining shockwave pushed Jiang Dai backward step by step, his face flushing crimson.

Thud!

The third arrow exploded right against Jiang Dai's chest. The sheer, overwhelming force forced a mouthful of blood out of him with a cry of pain. He was sent flying backward, landing face-down seven or eight meters away. Nevertheless, with his chest clothes shredded and his upper body bare, Jiang Dai endured the agony, let out a low roar, and leaped back to his feet.

Hum, hum, hum~

The Eighteen Mountain-Moving Strengths circulated once more, wrapping around his body.

Yet before he could re-condense his stellar energy barrier, Tang Mubai's attack had already arrived.

"Roar!"

A fierce tiger roar suddenly exploded through the air.

Accompanied by the ferocious howl of vital energy, Tang Mubai threw a punch as swift as lightning, aiming straight for Jiang Dai's abdomen.

Roaring Tiger Fist—Tiger Splitting!

Instantly, Jiang Dai's eyelids twitched wildly as he felt an illusion of a ferocious tiger lunging furiously toward him.

Overwhelmed by shock, Jiang Dai executed his movement technique and retreated rapidly.

He was forced to prematurely prop up his half-condensed stellar energy barrier.

Yet the moment he retreated, Tang Mubai pressed forward once more.

Roaring Tiger Fist—Tiger Leaping!

Roar!

Soaring through the air, Tang Mubai descended directly above Jiang Dai, throwing a punch down before the latter's astonished gaze.

Roaring Tiger Fist—Tiger Burst!

"Ah, ah, ah!"

Jiang Dai roared madly, channeling every ounce of strength he could muster to meet the attack head-on.

The downward force of the fist and the upward force of the palm collided violently in mid-air.

"Clang, crash, boom~!"

The dull echoes of the fist and palm colliding resonated across the arena.

Controlling the explosive recoil, Tang Mubai executed several graceful flips in mid-air with his body.

As for Jiang Dai, he first dropped into a deep squat with his legs severely bent, then—as if swept away by a bulldozer—he was blasted off his feet, soaring backward in a parabolic arc before flying completely out of the arena. With a heavy thud, he crashed into a sand pit, tumbling head over heels several times before finally coming to a halt. Covered from head to toe in sand and stuck with his rear end pointing toward the sky, he presented a truly comical sight.

Yet no one in the audience laughed; they could only marvel at Tang Mubai's terrifying prowess.

Without comparison, there would be no heartbreak.

Yesterday, when Kang Yan fought Jiang Dai, the two had entangled for over two hours.

Kang Yan had failed for a long time to break through the vital energy barrier Jiang Dai formed using the Eighteen Mountain-Moving Strengths.

Look at Tang Mubai instead—he shattered a stellar energy barrier that was at least three times stronger than a vital energy barrier using merely two arrows.

One had to remember that Kang Yan was a professional-tier martial artist whose vital blood realm was several grades higher than Tang Mubai's.

And yet, in terms of sheer power, he fell short of Tang Mubai.

It was simply unimaginable.

Naturally, many people present could discern the reason behind Tang Mubai's overwhelming strength.

His mastery over his martial arts!

While the grade of the Roaring Tiger Fist was not exceptionally high, Tang Mubai's mastery over it had reached at least the realm of perfection.

His archery had attained a divine, effortless mastery, allowing the explosive power to make up for any shortcomings in the martial art's grade.

The same applied to his fist techniques!

Whenever mastery over any martial art reached the ultimate stage, the power unleashed possessed terrifying destructive force.

Although Tang Mubai had not yet fully achieved this in every aspect, he was remarkably close.

Consequently, he easily defeated Jiang Dai, displaying strength surpassing even the professional-tier Kang Yan.

Thus, he secured the qualification to compete in the championship battle!

His opponent would be the winner of the next round.

The competitors in the penultimate round of the youth division were both practitioners of swordsmanship.

Namely, Zheng Haoran from the North District and the dark horse Li Ling!

These two sword prodigies staged a breathtaking exhibition of swordsmanship for the audience.

In a single instant, the entire arena was flooded with dozens of sword auras.

Sword arts inherently belonged to the category of offensive arts, and as the two swordsmen exchanged blows, even the arena constructed from Grade-D alloy could not withstand the onslaught, developing deep gullies across its surface.

In the end, Li Ling emerged victorious!

During the final strike, that peculiar rhythm once again emanated from Li Ling's body.

The unity of man and sword!

Moreover, this time, it was far more intense than before.

Tang Mubai had no idea what this rhythm signified, but he caught the low, astonished gasps of Liu Tianxiu, Wu Weilan, and others from the VIP viewing platform.

Sword intent!

The bizarre rhythm emanating from Li Ling's body was actually sword intent, the realm of the sword?

Tang Mubai remained physically still, yet tumultuous waves churned within his heart.

An artistic conception!

Li Ling had actually comprehended an intent?!

No wonder the sword techniques he practiced were inferior to Zheng Haoran's, and his vital blood realm wasn't particularly outstanding either.

Yet in the end, he managed to send Zheng Haoran flying with a single sword strike, tearing the upper half of Zheng Haoran's clothes to shreds, leaving his chest a bloody mess as he flew backward out of the arena.

So that sword strike had incorporated sword intent!