There were all sorts of people in the Gladiator Arena, including those who masked their identities like Jian Wushuang. Thus no one found him out of place.
"Enough talk. Let's fight." Jian Wushuang's voice was cold. The minute he finished his sentence, his Spiritual Power was already rising.
"The Fourth Step of the Spirit Path?" Spear Devil was stunned and his face turned red with anger. "You dare underestimate me?"
Spear Devil considered himself very tough after consecutively defeating two same-level warriors. But now, his opponent was just a warrior of the Fourth Step of the Spirit Path. When he considered this, he burst into a rage all of a sudden.
"Go to hell!"
His long spear pierced the air like a dragon, causing a shrill sonic boom and appearing in front of Jian Wushuang in the next moment. Spear Devil had also closed the gap of ten meters between him and his opponent at the same time.
"How fast." Jian Wushuang was startled but his own actions didn't slow.
Swoosh! He drew his Long Sword out of the sheath, instantly producing a sword shadow that was too fast to catch. He swiped at his opponent as his Spiritual Power came bursting forth and pushed his strength to its peak.
Clang!
The sword and spear clashed with a crisp clanging sound. Jian Wushuang twisted his wrist, inclining his Long Sword forward. With a ghostly jumping movement, the sword crossed the body of the spear and sliced towards Spear Devil's hands.
"This sword art!" In his shock, Spear Devil's disdain for his opponent vanished at once.
Though it was just a simple sword movement, he realized that Jian Wushuang possessed marvelous swordsmanship.
"Get out!" he thundered, forcefully swinging down his arms holding the long spear. His fearsome strength instantly repelled Jian Wushuang's attack. He turned around, wanting to launch a counteroffensive.
"Whether it's your spear or figure, they are too clumsy. Come up and be my target." Jian Wushuang's voice came to his ears, followed by his ethereal sword shadow one after another.
Fast. He was too fast.
It was so fast that it seemed impossible to have come out of a warrior in the Fourth Step of the Spirit Path. In addition, Jian Wushuang's swordplay also continually interrupted and gave Spear Devil no room to fight back.
"What great swordsmanship!"
"Fearsome!"
"This swordsmanship..."
A commotion was raised in the arena, with exclamations rising in succession.
The crowd was aware that this battle was a rank-skipping challenge between a warrior of the Fourth Realm of the Spirit Path and a warrior of the Fifth Step of the Spirit Path. Typically, there was no surprise to such battles. After all, there was such a big disparity between the Fourth Step and the Fifth Step. However, everyone was astounded the minute the two started fighting.
Spear Devil who was in the Fifth Step of the Spirit Path was actually completely suppressed by the masked warrior in the Fourth Step of the Spirit Path.
"Interesting." The middle-aged man in loose purple robe smiled when he saw the scene unfolding in the arena. "The masked warrior ought to be a young man, but he has truly great swordsmanship."
"If I'm not mistaken, his sword art ought to be the Fallen Leaf Sword Art of the Sword Pavilion. It's just a general First-class Sword Art, but he has an excellent command of it and is capable of pushing it to great heights. His every move is clean without any unnecessary embellishment. This shows he has a great understanding of the sword art and a solid foundation. His talent in Sword Principles is extraordinary because he possesses such swordsmanship while so young."
"On the other hand, the way the man called Spear Devil used his spear is far inferior. If not for his stronger Spiritual Power, he would've lost at the very beginning."
The middle-aged man in the loose purple robe was the supervisor of the Gladiator Arena and enjoyed foresight as great as his status. With just a glance, he managed to grasp the greatness of Jian Wushuang's swordsmanship as well as his talent in Sword Principles.
The man wasn't wrong. Jian Wushuang had truly remarkable swordsmanship.
He wouldn't have taken the rank-skipping challenge if he wasn't confident.
On the arena, the battle was overwhelmingly in favor of one person.
"How can this be? How can his sword be so fast? I'm in the Fifth Step of the Spirit Path, but I can't even catch up to his speed?" Spear Devil was aghast but quickly became agitated.
"Ahhhhh!"
Spear Devil growled, raging flames of anger burning in his eyes. He completely exploded in the next moment.
Boom!
The shrill sonic boom once again rang throughout the arena. Disregarding Jian Wushuang slashing at him, he immediately showed his strongest Killing Move, which had terrifying lethality.
"Look! Spear Devil is using his ultimate move!"
"It's the Thirteen Styles of Cloud-piercing Spear!"
Someone was yelling below the arena.
The Thirteen Styles of Cloud-piercing Spear was a continuous attack, with each fiercer and stronger than the one before it. It was the unique move that propelled Spear Devil to fame.
The power was so fearsome that even Jian Wushuang couldn't help feeling nervous. He promptly used his long sword to resist the continuous and fierce spear attacks.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
His arms felt numb after blocking 12 spear attacks in a single breath. In the meantime, Spear Devil had accumulated his power and pushed it to an ultimate level, demonstrating the strongest and most terrifying 13th spear attack.
"Die!" Spear Devil cried, face twisting with ferocity.
"Go to hell!" Killing intent flashed in Jian Wushuang's eyes.
Whoosh!
The ice-cold sword shadow flashed before disappearing at once.
The shadow was unimaginably fast, indescribably so.
Vivid red spattered into the air.
Spear Devil's ferocious smile remained etched on his face, but his eyes were filled with resentment and unwillingness. If one looked carefully, one could see a distinct sword wound on the vital part of his throat.
Spear Devil, a warrior of the Fifth Realm of the Spirit Path who had won two life-and-death battles in succession, was killed!
Jian Wushuang stood by Spear Devil's corpse, panting heavily.
"What a close call! They're indeed warriors who slaughter in the Gladiator Arena. Insanity is etched in their bones. He actually chose to fight life-for-life after being suppressed by my swordsmanship. I can't match up to his insanity. Fortunately, I had my trump card or it would have been my death today." Jian Wushuang sighed.
Below the arena, everyone was stunned and shocked.
Countless spectators were holding their breaths, watching the arena in disbelief.
No one expected Spear Devil, a powerful warrior who had won two battles in succession, to die at the hands of a warrior in the Fourth Step of the Spirit Path.
The rank-skipping challenge was actually a success?
Within the audience, the middle-aged man in loose purple robe finally had a change in expression. Earlier he had seemed merely interested but now he was looking grave.
"The sword art you used earlier… Is it the Anonymous Sword Art?"