After having consecutive battles in the arena, the competition among the Long Clan's youths had almost come to an end.
The top ten had been ranked based on the battles between themselves and other outstanding cultivators from the city.
Amidst all of them, Long Ding garnered the most attention due to his aggressive style of fighting.
Till now, he hadn't lost a single match.
Even now, people's attention was focused on his match where Long Ding was engaged in combat with a big burly man.
"Earthen Spikes!"
A burly man pressed his palm on the arena's floor. In the next instant, the ground beneath him shattered and turned into spikes that shot towards Long Ding.
Next, he kicked the ground and turned the earth into sediments that carried him forward.
"Look that's Earth Demon Chen Hai's Earthen Rush technique!"
"Hm, I've heard that it gives him such a high momentum that anyone who takes his strike head-on would have their bones split apart!"
"Looks like he wants to counter Long Ding's aggressive style by being aggressive himself… Interesting!"
The audience clamoured and cheered for the two of them.
Chen Hai, who was fighting Long Ding under everyone's attention, felt both nervous and excited.
Looking at the handsome face of Long Ding in front of him, he knew that he had to give it his all in order to defeat him.
"Ha!"
With a low shout, Long Ding charged forward with an imposing momentum that didn't look any less than Chen Hai's. He started to rotate the golden halberd in his hands and took a direct hit from the incoming earthen projectiles.
Boom! Crack!
The earthen spikes were destroyed upon coming in contact with the halberd. However, using the impact of the exchange, Long Ding moved backwards and evaded Chen Hai's attack.
In an exquisite display of skills, he twisted the halberd in his hand which was knocked backwards and used the torque to meet with the incoming hammer.
Clang!
Their weapons met with a loud metallic sound and released a lot of sparks.
Long Ding grinned and twisted the halberd to let the blunt end strike at his opponent's feet.
Upon seeing his actions, Chen Hai hurriedly moved back.
However, just at the moment, he shifted his eyes to his feet, Long Ding released his grip on the weapon and sent a palm strike to his opponent's chest.
"Firecloud Palm!"
A palmprint that was entirely composed of fire rushed forward towards the man.
The man scurried backwards in a panic and created an earthen wall to defend himself.
Rumble!
With a rumbling sound, the earthen shield met the fiery palmprint and exploded into countless fragments. The mini explosion caused the splinters of rocks to fly towards Chen Hai.
His own shield had been used to attack against him.
Knowing he had lost the initiative, he ducked and decided to create a tremor in the ground to knock off his opponent. However, before he could unleash his spell, he felt steel pressed against his skin.
Long Ding had taken the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on him.
The man gritted his teeth and stood there for a long moment.
"Thank you for your guidance!"
Finally, he let out a sigh and accepted the result. The man kept the hammers on his back and bowed towards Long Ding.
"You are fairly strong yourself!" Long Ding nodded at his opponent.
Chen Hai sighed once again and got off the stage.
The crowd cheered when they saw the conclusion of the match. Not a single of Long Ding's opponents wasn't strong.
Yet none of them could handle his halberd.
"That was a beautiful match!"
"Did you see those fire attacks? The earth shields couldn't block them even for an instant!"
"Of course they are strong! Don't you know they possess the dragon race's bloodline?!"
"He's so strong!" Shen Mo who was watching the match cheered along with the audience. He was thoroughly impressed by Long Ding's performance just like everyone else.
The younger of the two sisters sitting beside him let out a cold harrumph. "He indeed is strong, but he has no control over his strength. He wastes too much energy!"
Shen Mo was just looking forward to Long Ding's next match, but hearing the girl's words, he was stunned.
After a moment he laughed and said, "I understand that you want to meet the Long Clan's elders and have no interest in this tournament, but can you please watch what you are saying? It took me a lot to get the two of you here… I don't want to get kicked out!" In the end, his voice became stern.
However, instead of behaving herself, the girl was even more enraged. "You... You are doubting me?" She couldn't believe that Shen Mo was belittling her.
"Obviously I don't believe you! How can a little girl like you know such things by just observing things?" Although She Mo had bought them here and respected them as customers, he was irritated by the younger girl's attitude.
Now that she had spoken such words that disregarded a strong warrior like Long Ding so openly, he was even more irritated.
The girl's eyes widened in disbelief when she heard those words. Her eyes flashed with a dangerous light as she looked at him. "Had you known who I am, then you wouldn't have dared to talk to me like that…"
"Ok, then tell me, who you are?" Shen Mo asked in return.
"Hmph! I don't need to tell you my identity! You just need to know that whatever I'm saying is absolutely correct!"
Shen Mo sneered at the girl's words. The more she acted like this, the more he believed that the girl was just a braggart.
Upon seeing his reaction, the girl was completely enraged. "Fine! I'll beat him and show you myself!"
Flames of rage were burning in her eyes as she stood up while taking out a translucent ribbon from her sleeves.
However, before she could take a step forward, her sister grabbed her wrists.
"Jingyi, what are you doing? Did you forget why we came here?" The older one who was always quiet spoke in a tired voice. From her tone, it was evident that she had to handle her sister's tantrums quite often.
The older girl's voice seemed to have bought the girl named Jingyi to senses. No longer showing her temper, she lowered her head and spoke in a soft voice, "Sister, we have been here for so long and that senior still hasn't come to fetch us… If I show my prowess here, she'll definitely notice us!"
The older one looked at her with a deep glance as she considered her words. "Promise me you won't go overboard!"
"I promise!" The girl named Mengyi nodded obediently.
The older one let out a sigh and let go of her hand. She knew that her sister had already made up her mind.
Having got permission from her sister, the girl quickly made her way towards the stage. The bratty attitude about her also vanished in an instant and was replaced with a valiant air.
Apparently, she had been itching to fight ever since she saw the tournament…
"Oh look, this time a girl is fighting against him!"
"Hmph, so what if it's a girl?"
"I mean, till now only men have fought against him… "
"If her cultivation base is strong, then she should be able to handle his aggressive fighting style… Hm? How come I can't see her cultivation base?"
The audience clamoured in the background while seeing the girl named Jingyi going up to challenge Long Ding.
Jumping on the arena, she released a red silk band took a fighting stance. "Please instruct me!"
Long Ding was surprised to find that right after he defeated one person, someone else had approached him.
"Looks like my performance had riled up all the audience. Too bad, the person whom I want to fight still isn't here!" In the past, he had once tried to court long Qingxue but couldn't get any positive response to his attempts.
Later on, he found that she had left the clan for a trip with Yun Tianlong, the person who always preceded him in the exam rankings.
After he obtained the spirit water and increased his cultivation to the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, he approached her once again. Only to find that she had an even higher cultivation base them himself. Although he was a little shocked, he could still accept it because everyone already knew that she was a talent.
What he couldn't expect was how she had told him that the most powerful among the younger generation was still his self-proclaimed rival, Yun Tianlong.
If he remembered correctly, before leaving the clan for six months, the latter wasn't even a cultivator!
His eyes blazed with battle intent when remembered the incident.
"After today, I want to see whether you would still have the same thoughts!" He inwardly mumbled and looked towards an elder who was in the Yin Yang Cleansing realm.
The latter pressed his palm on the arena and passed on his Qi to Long Ding so that he could regain his energy.
Once Long Ding recovered, he brandished his halberd and took a fighting stance and responded to the girl. "Very well."