Chapter 449: A Fierce Battle

Cheng Wu aimed his fist at the bottom of the river. The impact caused sound waves to radiate outwards, distorting the void and almost tearing right through it.

The sound waves were so intense that they could be seen by the naked eye. It once again caused the nearby section of the Skyfall Cascade to break apart into multiple streams. The water in the cascade even started to flow backwards, in the direction that it had been split.

Ling Que was forced out from the ground, and he spat out another mouthful of blood as he did so. He gritted his teeth angrily as he stared at Cheng Wu. Right in front of his face, his Que's Mighty Slash constantly flickered about, appearing and disappearing from time to time.

Many people were watching on, dumbfounded. It was easy to recognize Cheng Wu since he was the only one in the Top 100 Rankings whose innate gift was a clock. Since this clock had been able to trap Ling Que, many people had instantly thought of Cheng Wu.

Nobody expected that the person ranked sixty ninth in the Top 100 Rankings would suddenly appear in this event, let alone for him to give Ling Que this harsh of a beating. This unforeseen event was something that drew the attention of even Mu Rong and Lu Yin.

Hai Dashao had a calm look on his face. He had expected Cheng Wu to be the most powerful person who was ascending the Skyfall Cascade.

Ling Que panted heavily, his head suffering from a rumbling pain. This asshole had attacked him without any warning! How despicable.

Cheng Wu raised a fist for the third time as he stared at Ling Que.

Ling Que’s heart rate spiked. “Wait! You attacked me by surprise. Give me some time to prepare if you’re a real man!”

Cheng Wu completely ignored Ling Que and struck down with his fully powered fists.

Ling Que felt helpless; the previous two attacks had left him injured, and he was forced to recognize the disparity between him and Cheng Wu. While Ling Que possessed powerful innate gifts, the only move that Cheng Wu had used so far was his Thunder Punch, but just that alone was enough to restrain Ling Que. That, combined with Cheng Wu’s clock, which possessed great defensive capabilities, and his power level of around 40,000, meant that Ling Que stood no chance against him, even if he utilized the Soulsplitting Technique that the Lingling clan was renowned for.

“Hello? Who is this? What did you say? Repeat yourself—did someone dare to come and provoke the Lingling clan? Alright then, wait for me to return to take care of it!” Ling Que suddenly yelled into his personal gadget. He then hopped onto the shore and stared at Cheng Wu as he shouted, “I have something urgent I have to attend to now. Wait for my return, and I’ll pay you back for those two surprise attacks.” After he was done speaking, he fled.

The entire Sea King's Dome fell silent; this was the best that the Lingling clan had to offer? The unbeatable Ling Que who had unparalleled innate gifts? He had been defeated so easily.

Cheng Wu was stunned as well. He had never, ever achieved such an easy victory before.

Hai Dashao became a bit angry. That little hoodlum had dragged down the standards of this event. First, it had been his paid groupies, and now, it was his shameless escape. He would not let this issue end like this.

Starsibyl had a vague smile on her face. “What an interesting personality he has. I wonder what Ling Gong will do after seeing this.”

“Die of anger,” Hai Dashao said unceremoniously.

…

“Sister Qi, that Cheng Wu fellow really is something,” a maid praised in admiration.

Hai Qiqi rolled her eyes. “Walking around with a clock is basically hastening the death of a loved one. How inauspicious.”

The maid fell silent.

Ling Que’s hasty escape seemed to register something in Lan Yu’s mind. He immediately tried to escape from Mu Rong and head for the top. However, he was stopped by Mu Rong yet again.

Soon after that, Lu Yin approached the top of Skyfall Cascade. At this time, Lan Yu had already been defeated and swept off of the Skyfall Cascade.

People started gathering from all directions in front of the sluice gate at the top of the Skyfall Cascades.

In the waterfall to the north, there was no one to compete with Faceless Man. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say that they had all been eliminated by him.

In the northwest, Qin Chen and the man with the innate gift of frost had arrived at the top of their cascade first. They had run into some formidable foes, but the duo had quickly defeated them all. Now, they were the only ones left on that Skyfall Cascade.

In the southwest, Zhang Dingtian, otherwise known as Lan Dao, was first to arrive at the sluice gate. The powerful competitors who had rushed ahead of him had already all been defeated. Closely following behind him was Mu Rong.

On the northeastern waterfall, there was a powerful Explorer as well as Cheng Wu there, and they both were gradually making their way to the top.

At the southeastern cascade, there was only Lu Yin and a man with a pitch-black tattoo on his face remaining. However, at this point of time, the tattooed individual looked at Lu Yin with a hint of fear on his face. “Something is strange about this sluice gate. Let’s team up to open it.”

Lu Yin looked at the sluice gate and moved straight ahead. The tattooed man felt his heart start to race. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going over to take a look. Why? Are you going to stop me?” Lu Yin asked in a rather uncourteous tone.

There was an uncertain look in the tattooed man’s eyes. He had seen how Lu Yin battled, and even though he knew that he was more powerful than some of the other participants, he was aware that it wasn’t by much. Furthermore, he was injured, and he knew that he was no match for Lu Yin right now. He started racking his brains for ideas. His first thought had been to get a head start, and after arriving at the sluice gate, team up some of the other skilled challengers to fight against Lu Yin. However, that plan had failed since he had not been able to open the damn gate.

As he watched Lu Yin get closer to the gate, a ruthless glint entered the tattooed man’s eyes. He decided to attack immediately, betting on a wild hope that Lu Yin might also have been injured.

A minute later, Lu Yin was the lone figure standing in front of the sluice gate. The tattooed man from earlier was currently floating downstream along the Skyfall Cascade. He had merely passed out and not died.

Lu Yin placed both hands against the sluice gate and pushed hard, but it did not budge. After some careful observation, he came to the conclusion that the only way to open this gate was by pushing it, but the strength that he had just used was clearly not enough. With that in mind, he immediately used the force of Twenty Stacks, but there was still no reaction.

He raised his head to look at the screens. He saw that Faceless had also been standing in front of a gate for quite some time now, but he was also unable to open it.

“Seventh Bro, the location of the Sea King’s Trident most likely has some kind of prerequisite condition that has to be met before it can be accessed. I’m betting that this gate will only open after those conditions are met. Only then will this gate allow us to pass onto the next stage,” the monkey guessed.

“What condition?” Lu Yin asked.

The monkey made an educated guess, “I’m guessing that only one person will be allowed to pass through from each of the Skyfall Cascades. If the numbers don’t match up, then it will be impossible to open any of the gates.”

Lu Yin agreed with the monkey’s guess, and he turned his gaze towards the southwestern Skyfall Cascade. That was where Mu Rong was closing in on Zhang Dingtian.

If there could only be one victor for each stream, Lu Yin hoped that it would be Zhang Dingtian. However, he knew that such an outcome was not likely. Mu Rong had been viewed favorably by the Ten Arbiters Council for a long time. Lu Yin had also witnessed Mu Rong’s power earlier, and he could only describe it as being unfathomable. It was virtually impossible for Zhang Dingtian to win against someone who was hailed as an unequalled Limiteer.

As the two individuals drew closer to each other, Zhang Dingtian, who enjoyed the high ground, raised his blade in an upright position. His eyes showed his eagerness to do battle, and his hands kept a tight grip on his blade.

Mu Rong twirled his wooden flute around his hands as he moved closer. Mu Rong was much more cautious of Zhang Dingtian than he had been of Lan Yu. People with such firm conviction and fervent spirits were often the most difficult to fight. No one knew when such individuals would display alarming feats of power.

Although both men were Limiteers, they were also both exceptional experts in the eyes of others. This battle had garnered even more anticipation than many battles between Explorers or Cruisers.

When the two of them were a thousand meters from each other, they both started charging at each other simultaneously. The glint of a sword flashed as Zhang Dingtian sliced out horizontally with his blade. It slashed through the void and left a visible distortion in space where it traveled. Mo Rong spun the wooden flute in his hand around and redirected the sword towards the bank of the cascade.

The shore of the stream was split into two again, and the huge gap caused the water to splash out before slowly spreading further.

The next moment, both men facing each other along a narrow path. Zhang Dingtian struck out with his sword once more, and though it no longer contained its previous sheen, it felt even more perilous to Mu Rong. While attacking, Zhang Dingtian was actively restraining the power of his sword and only fully unleashed it when it made contact. The edge of his sword carried the converged full power of the weapon, and right now, the void distorted whenever the edge of the sword passed through it.

This attack, despite not covering the area of a domain, still enveloped a significant region. It was an attack that even Cruisers would struggle to evade.

However, Mu Rong had no intention of dodging. In fact, this sword attack caused him to become even more excited about this battle.

The sword edge clashed against the wooden flute atop the Skyfall Cascade. In that instance, everyone witnessed a white glow contorting within the void before spreading out. Ripples appeared within the void, and a portion of the Skyfall Cascade vanished. The ripples from the battle spread further out until it reached the river bank, causing this area of the Skyfall Cascade to be greatly enlarged.

Many people present could not determine if it was a strong gale or waves of sword qi that had crashed into the cascade banks and pierced the ground. It was fortunate that they had all landed on the midpoint of the mountain and that there was no one in close by. Otherwise, the aftershock definitely would have killed a bunch of people.

Boom!

With a thunderous sound, both the men plunged to the bottom of the waterway. The water in this section of the cascade was completely blasted away, and the two men clashed even as the murky sediment at the bottom obstructed them. After a moment, another white ripple spread out. Since the clash had taken place underwater this time, the Skyfall Cascade was split in two.

With his wooden flute in his hand, Mu Rong pushed Zhang Dingtian towards the top of the Skyfall Cascade. Everyone watched on with bated breath; was this really a battle between two Limiteers? Since the space around the Skyfall Cascades had been reinforced, the various battles so far had not contained many visual effects to wow the spectators. Despite that, everyone could sense the terrifying power level that the two men possessed.

Lu Yin looked at the screen; it was clear to him that Zhang Dingtian was suffering from the disadvantage in this exchange. Mu Rong was just too strong, and if Lu Yin was not wrong, Mu Rong had used a battle technique to evade both Zhang Dingtian and Lan Yu’s attacks earlier. It seemed to be a formidable battle technique that helped him evade attacks from those whose strength was near what Mu Rong possessed. Furthermore, since Mu Rong had been able to match Zhang Dingtian’s attacks with his own, it showed that even when there were not any battle techniques in play, Mu Rong still possessed impressive personal skill. Although Mu Rong looked deceptively weak, he possessed an unimaginable destructive strength.

However, what scared Lu Yin the most was that wooden flute. A wooden flute should be used to play music, not to clash against a sword. Mu Rong still had not displayed his full strength yet.

Atop this Skyfall Cascade, Zhang Dingtian was very close to Mu Rong. The long sword in his hand was no match for Mu Rong’s strength, but Zhang Dingtian had an excited look in his eyes; this was a top-tier competitor—a Limiteer just like himself. Ever since Zhang Dingtian had made a name for himself in the Grayweed Continent, he had yet to meet such a challenging opponent within the same realm as him. He raised his eyes, and his gaze darted across the screens before finally stopping at the screen that showed the northeastern Skyfall Cascade, where Lu Yin was standing before the sluice gate.

Lu Yin was not mistaken; this man was indeed Zhang Dingtian, though he was now using the name of Lan Dao. Zhang Dingtian knew that Lu Yin was here as soon as he had arrived at the Sea King’s Dome, but he had not reached out to Lu Yin since he wanted to meet him during battle. Zhang Dingtian would never forget the moment back in the Great Yu Empire when Lu Yin had entered the Astral Combat Academy. Zhang Dingtian had only been able to watch on as a bystander while Lu Yin slowly scaled the ranks, from the Astral Combat Tournament to the Tournament of the Strongest. All of Lu Yin’s accomplishments had been witnessed by Zhang Dingtian.

No one could understand how unresigned he had been to the fate of watching Lu Yin climb to the apex. They had left Earth at the same time, but they were still worlds apart in terms of accomplishments. This was something that Zhang Dingtian just could not accept; and yet, he felt no jealousy nor resentment towards Lu Yin. Instead, he steadfastly chose to focus on improving his own abilities. He had realized his dream at this moment by finally earning the chance and the right to be on the same platform as Lu Yin. This was not a chance he was willing to give up on.

Crunch!

Cracks suddenly started to appear on his sword, and Zhang Dingtian’s pupils shrank as he looked at Mu Rong. With a calm look in his eyes, Mu Rong exerted even more force through the wooden flute, causing the cracks in Zhang Dingtian’s sword to spread.

Zhang Dingtian loss would be sealed if his sword broke.

With a cold look in his eyes, a dark gold glimmer started to appear, and it sheathed the sword, reinforcing it.

“Five-lined battle force! It’s five-lined battle force!” someone exclaimed.

The Sea King's Dome was suddenly sent into a frenzy. It was extremely rare for someone at such a tender age to comprehend five-lined battle force, and this matter shocked even Hai Dashao. To date, the only individual known to have achieved five-lined battle force at such an age was Lu Yin. Even Lan Yu had only managed to comprehend four-lined battle force so far. But now, there was a second person who had achieved such a feat.

“Is he the exception you were referring to?” Hai Daoshao asked Starsibyl, his eyes full of longing.

When she saw Hai Dashao’s gaze, Starsibyl smiled in reply. “Are you hoping for me to tell you that he is the one?”

Hai Dashao’s gaze flared for a moment before returning back to normal.

“It looks like you rather admire him,” Starsibyl casually .

Hai Dashao remained silent.