The Sovereign's Ascension

“Scarletblood Demonic Dragonfist!” Crimson light exploded from Wu Xiaotian that manifested into several gigantic roaring dragons. As the dragons flickered with lightning, the entire stage was enveloped in a crimson radiance formed by Wu Xiaotian’s demonic aura.

Although his fist manifested several dragons, Wu Xiaotian clearly hadn’t reached the highest level of his technique. Relying on the demonic aura emitted by the dragons, Wu Xiaotian soared into the sky and charged towards Jiang Ziye. In just a few breaths’ time, they exchanged more than a dozen moves and filled the surroundings with crimson radiance and clouds.

“Blood Annihilation!” roared Wu Xiaotian. His fist radiated with dazzling crimson light that pierced through the clouds like the sun. In that split second, the clouds were dyed red by the demonic aura. Under Wu Xiaotian’s ferocious attacks, Jiang Ziye’s aura was clearly weakened.

“Hehe.” Wu Xiaotian grinned, “This is so satisfying! Here, have another attack!”

As lightning rumbled through the clouds, the crimson radiance lit up Wu Xiaotian’s sinister face. Lin Yn was familiar with this attack since he saw it at the beast tide. It was shocking back then, but it was clearly a lot stronger now.

When the nine dragons moved, their massive bodies flickered with lightning. They gathered together to create a gigantic demonic hand next to Wu Xiaotian.

“Nine Dragons Heavenly Crusher!” Wu Xiaotian roared after his aura climbed to its peak. He clenched his fist, which the gigantic demonic hand mirrored, and charged towards Jiang Ziye. As he sped across the stage, his crimson aura waved around like tentacles.

Sensing the ferocious attack, the crowd was taken aback. Wu Xiaotian’s attack had dyed half of the sky red and was causing the lake to evaporate.

Feeling the immense pressure, Jiang Ziye tapped her feet on the ground and retreated. The geniuses who were watching could tell something unusual was happening. Every time Jiang Ziye moved, the clouds above her tumbled out of the sky and the sound of a suppressed roar was heard. When people looked at the clouds, they were consumed by fear for some odd reason.

Jiang Ziye was nourishing her aura as she retreated, waiting for the opportunity to end the battle. Lin Yun noticed this and became curious to know what was behind the clouds.

“Heavenly Imprisoning Finger!” When Jiang Ziye was cornered, she stopped retreating and soared into the sky. The clouds dispersed and a giant ancient finger descended from the heavens with suffocating pressure.

When the finger descended, nine dragons from Wu Xiaotian’s fist shined brightly before they dispersed. This made Wu Xiaotian throw up a mouthful of blood before he fell out of the sky with a pale face.

At the same time, the crimson python that was under his control suddenly broke free of his manipulation and bit him. This was the backlash of his demonic technique. When the crowd saw this, they felt a chill run down their spine, but they weren’t surprised.

Demonic cultivation techniques might be ferocious, but they were also a lot more dangerous if one lost control of it. The demonic cultivation technique Wu Xiaotian practiced was strong, so if he took the backlash head-on, there was no doubt that he would be killed.

“No…” Wu Xiaotian narrowed his eyes with fear in the depth of his eyes. He knew better than anyone that his demonic aura came from all the demonic cultivators he killed in the Ancient Southern Domain. If he took the backlash head-on, not only would he die a terrible death, but it would also be an extremely painful one.

“Senior brother!” Ji Wuye stood up from his seat with anxiety written on his face.

Suddenly, a silk white cloth arced through the sky like a rainbow and destroyed the crimson python. Then, it grabbed Wu Xiaotian by the waist. The silk cloth naturally came from Jiang Ziye who decided to save Wu Xiaotian. To Wu Xiaotian’s surprise, Jiang Ziye gently tugged the other end of the silk cloth and pulled Wu Xiaotian into her embrace.

“You bitch, let me go!” Wu Xiaotian struggled with humiliation and rage flickering in his eyes.

“You’ll fall to your death if I let go of you. Behave yourself or I’ll really toss you away. If that happens, your time here will be over,” said Jiang Ziye.

“Let me go! I don’t need you to save me even if I fall to my death!” Wu Xiaotian roared as his face turned red.

“Tsk, tsk. What a temper you have there. Did you forget who saved you at the hands of ten demonic cultivators before your sect came for you two years ago?” Jiang Ziye said as she wore a mocking expression.

Wu Xiaotian instantly became speechless and his mind exploded. Two years ago, he went insane and killed countless demonic cultivators to train his technique. In the process of doing this, he offended many forces.

At one point, he was overrun by the demonic cultivators to which he fell unconscious. Before he fully lost consciousness, he saw the vague outline of a woman leaving. When he regained his consciousness, he found himself back in the sect. He tried to look for his savior many times, but he couldn’t find that lady no matter how hard he looked for her. So he was dumbfounded the moment he heard what Jiang Ziye said.

Why was it her? But before he could think more about it, Jiang Ziye threw Wu Xiaotian onto the stage. The outcome of the battle had been determined.

The Bloodwar Sect’s elders quickly caught Wu Xiaotian to examine his injuries. Once they confirmed that his injuries weren’t serious, they let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, his foundation wasn’t affected, so he could still fight if he briefly rested.

The perilous fight left everyone dumbfounded. They were all shocked by Jiang Ziye’s finishing move, but they were even more shocked to see her saving Wu Xiaotian.

After all, Wu Xiaotian and the sect he belonged to wasn’t a righteous sect. Normally, no one would take pity on Wu Xiaotian if he died. But for some reason Jiang Ziye saved him by catching him so he wouldn’t fall to his death. The strange moment made everyone’s imagination run wild as they wondered what Jiang Ziye’s intentions were.

“Bastard!” Yan Long’zi gritted his teeth when he saw this scene. Jiang Ziye was someone he had paid attention to for a while and he even tried courting her several times. Although he failed, he had considered her to be his woman. However, her actions just now made him feel betrayed, especially when so many people knew that he was courting her.

In reality, Jiang Ziye wasn’t the only one Yan Long’zi had his eyes on. Many women on the Dragoncloud Ranking had been pestered by him, even Yue Weiwei whom the Heavenly Demon Sect’s sect master warned him about.

Shortly after the battle, the judge resumed the matches. The next fighters were Yang Lie and Gao Yu of the seven elites who were quickly eliminated. They were each defeated by Yue Weiwei and Bai Lixuan and sustained heavy injuries. So, their journey had quickly come to an end.

The next member of the seven elites to be eliminated was Nangong Wanyu. Nobody expected him to lose against Zhu Qingshan, but Zhu Qingshan proved that he was a ruthless person. After exchanging over a hundred moves, Zhu Qingshan ruthlessly allowed himself to be stabbed twice in order to land a fatal blow on Nangong Wanyu. The attack was so bad that Nangong Wanyu fainted and didn’t have any strength to continue.

The wounds on Zhu Qingshan were also horrifying as his entire body was covered in blood. His hood had been torn, which revealed half of his face and his ferocious eyes. They were so ferocious that some people didn’t even dare to look at him.

Nangong Wanyu was no longer part of the tournament, which greatly shocked everyone. The strength of the newly risen geniuses was no joke. The battles continued and Qing Ruoyou was the next person to be eliminated. She was defeated by Bai Lixuan, Fang Hanluo, and Wu Xiaotian. With three losses, there was no way she could recover, not to mention that she didn’t want to fight Yue Weiwei again.

With that, it became clear who would make it into the top ten. Only Jiang Ziye, Wu Xiaotian, Fang Hanluo, Bai Lixuan, Zhu Qingshan, and Yue Weiwei had the strength to keep going. After all, their dragon projections were more dazzling compared to others. After ensuring that they would make it into the top ten, all six of them started to fight more conservatively, which resulted in more balanced matches. 

When the three kings saw this, they knew what was going on. They were being targeted by the current fighters. After all, who would want to reveal their trump cards before encountering the three kings? But even so, Yan Long’zi, Yu Haotian, Zhao Wuji, and Lin Yun still held an advantage as they observed the tendencies of each fighter. Lin Yun also saw through everyone’s flaws, giving him an unprecedented advantage.

Some would think this was unfair, but this was the advantage of being seeded. A lot of time passed when the final battle of the day arrived. The fight was between Zhu Qingshan and Bai Lixuan who already made it into the top ten. Since they already knew where they stood, their battle was extremely mild.

A while later, the judge descended from the sky and stared at Zhu Qingshan and Bai Lixuan with a frown before he announced, “We’ve confirmed the top ten. In addition to the four seeded participants, Jiang Ziye, Wu Xiaotian, Fang Hanluo, Bai Lixuan, Zhu Qingshan, and Yue Weiwei are in the top ten. In two days, we will reconvene to fight for the top ten rankings!”

This judge’s tone during the last sentence made it clear that he wasn’t satisfied with the battles, especially since many people took it easy halfway.

Lin Yun on the other hand didn’t care. After all, who was foolish enough to reveal all of their trump cards before the final battle?