Apotheosis

Despite the overwhelming number of rings made from Benjamin's life vitality, there were still some gaps between each of the rings. Just as the fluttering of the life vitality rings made gaps that were large enough, Jill launched her attack.

Jill dashed forward, rapidly weaving through the life vitality rings!

Benjamin felt sort of complacent at first. He hadn't expected much from his opponent who seemed to be a delicate beauty. He would totally beat her in the first round without effort. But before his words faded, Jill's yellow figure was charging straight at him at an incredible speed.

But Benjamin's reaction was swift as well. At this juncture, he let out a howl and directed the scarlet machete in his hand at Jill. Then he swung the machete three times.

"Three strikes of Bloody Hell!"

"Clank, clank, clank!"

Jill was still smiling. Her pretty little face looked quite lovely. But absolute strength was concealed beneath her lovely appearance.

The jade sword in her hand was much smaller than Benjamin's scarlet machete—only at the length of two chopsticks or so. However, the short jade sword easily fended off the overwhelming power generated by the three strikes of Bloody Hell.

Disbelief was written all over Benjamin's face now. He attempted to launch another strike, but as a jet of cyan light flashed, the jade sword was pressed against his neck...

"Jill won. Benjamin lost!"

The referee announced the result of this match.

Yehudi did not realize what had happened until the result was declared. He had expected that Jill might turn the table with certain secret moves. But it really took him by surprise that Jill had made it in such a brisk and fierce fashion.

At this time, Yehudi shot Zen a look of deep significance. 'This guy does have sharp vision.'

The nine matches finished quickly. Disciples on the stage filed out, and the second group of disciples immediately marched into the arena.

Zen was among the members of the second group.

"Eh? Are my eyes deceiving me? Why is there a guy at the second grade of the nature level? Where did he come from?"

"It's true that he is only at the second grade of the nature level. Well, for a man who is two steps into the nature level, he must be pretty good for ranking among the contestants. I remember three years ago, Jacques who was also at the second grade of the nature level, made it to the top 100. So, don't think lightly of others! Bear this in mind—never measure the sea with a bushel, and never judge a book by its cover!"

"Bullshit! Think about how awesome Jacques was! He is a personal disciple, and astonishingly talented. Breaking through ranks and battling are just games for him. Both his cultivation method and life vitality are more powerful than his peers at the same rank. But this guy is a disciple of Drizzle Peak. Drizzle Peak is ranked last at Cloud Sect. That shows the quality of disciples at the peak! A man at the second grade of the nature level should be at the top of all its disciples and allowed to participate in the All Peaks Competition. How ridiculous! My younger brother reached the eighth-grade of the nature level this year. He was not eligible to represent our peak in this competition. Had I known this earlier, I would have transferred him to Drizzle

ivation of their human bodies was merely subsidiary. Corporeal body cultivating was divided into five steps, which solely aimed at purifying the physical body, thus making it more compatible with a practitioner's life vitality.

And the impressive thing about Langdon Zhou was that he not only had immense strength, but he was also very deft at exercising his life vitality.

Just as he lifted the copper hammers, a wave of life vitality quietly spread out from his feet. This wave of life vitality was yellowish-brown. If one looked carefully, its stately aura could be detected.

"Deadly Swamp Trap!"

His life vitality oozed out and wrapped itself around Zen's legs, layer by layer, like a swamp, thus firmly rooting him to the spot...

Zen gasped with surprise. The attack Langdon Zhou made was pretty unique—simply forcing his opponent to stay still and then hurling the copper hammers at him.

The two-step move might seem very clever, but in Zen's view, it was too childish.

This move could be effective when used on nature creatures, as nature creatures were unable to fly. Langdon Zhou's Deadly Swamp Trap would certainly strand them. But what would be the effect of this attack on those at the Illuminating Soul Realm? Since practitioners who had reached the Illuminating Soul Realm could fly, this move could not harm them.

So how would Langdon Zhou deal with opponents who were stronger than he was?

Just as the two huge hammers were about to land on Zen, a tiny smile broke out on Zen's face.

"That brat at the second grade of the nature level seems to be in danger now. Will he be crippled by Langdon Zhou's hammer strikes?"

"That guy does have bad luck for having Langdon Zhou as his opponent! No nature creatures can possibly escape Langdon Zhou's Deadly Swamp Trap."

Many disciples started to murmur. They did not care whether Zen would win or not. At present, they were concerned about whether or not Zen would die. After all, on more than one occasion contestants had accidentally killed their opponents in the arena.

"Zen, get him! You and Yehudi are the only hope of Drizzle Peak. Don't be defeated in the first round!" Master Wen whispered...