Chapter 1303: Top 3
The last round of the Hidden Fog Martial Competition became even more intense.
After a while, somebody finally took the initiative to challenge Duan Ling Tian.
A total of three people were the most intimidating among the top ten. They were the young men clad in black under Martial Emperor Qing Xuan, the direct disciple of the Third Island Master of the Hidden Fog Island and Duan Ling Tian.
For this reason, few people dared to take the initiative to challenge them.
However, the young man in black and the direct disciple of the Third Island Master of the Hidden Fog Island, the young girl, often took the initiative to challenge their opponents, much more frequently than Duan Ling Tian did.
Because of this, Duan Ling Tian did not really have a chance to perform, but eventually, somebody made the choice for him and he did not have any other option.
Dong Hu had now lost to six people.
The rests of the three were top three intimidating people, including Duan Ling Tian.
Although the cultivation base of the young man in black who was under Martial Emperor's command was not terribly impressive, his Soul Attack technique which was his innate ability, was extremely mysterious and profound. It was able to take his opponents by surprise.
The young girl who was a direct disciple of the Hidden Fog Island Master was efficient at attacking. She was strong and was on par with an ordinary Fourth Level Martial Emperor.
Up till now, the two of them had never lost before.
As for Duan Ling Tian, he had never taken the initiative to enter the ring and nobody had chosen to challenge him before, so he had never suffered any defeat before either.
Now that Dong Hu was challenging him, it was his first time somebody was confronting him.
"This Dong Hu is really bold!"
"That's right! He dares to even challenge Duan Ling Tian from Ling Xuan Peak! He's really digging his own grave!"
...
The scene of how Duan Ling Tian killed Chen Zhi in a compelling manner was still vivid in their minds. Therefore, many people felt that Dong Hu was merely digging his own grave by challenging Duan Ling Tian.
Perhaps, Duan Ling Tian would not kill him according to the rules of the last round, but he would definitely not have a good ending.
However, the next thing that happened following Dong Hu's challenge took everybody by surprise before he could even make his move.
Just a moment before, Dong Hu had said that he wanted to challenge Duan Ling Tian, yet a second before the latter entered the ring, he had instantly declared, "I admit defeat."
This was the first time such a scenario had taken place in the last round of the Hidden Fog Martial Competition, whereby the challenger admitted defeat in a casual way.
Right away, some people criticized Dong Hu as a coward, but some also praised him for being able to read the situation accurately.
No matter what, Duan Ling Tian was considered the winner. He obtained one Order Token, increasing the Order Tokens in his hand to ten.
At the same time, a few others among the remaining eight could only challenge Duan Ling Tian. Just like Dong Hu, they had no other option.
The second person who challenged Duan Ling Tian was Lan Bi, the female disciple from Lei Yun Peak.
Lan Bi had a cultivation base on the Second Level Martial Emperor Stage. Before this, she had battled it out with Duan Ling Tian before and because he had deliberately given in a little, she eventually emerged as the victor.
Glaring at Duan Ling Tian, Lan Bi said in a deep voice, "I hope that you'll devote your efforts to the battle this time!"
The fact that he could have easily killed her opponent who had once defeated her before yet had purposely conceded to her elicited gossip that enraged her.
Despite being aware that she was no match for Duan Ling Tian, she still hoped that she would be defeated in a dignified and imposing manner.
After all, she had her own dignity too.
"Devote my efforts?" Raising his brows, Duan Ling Tian took a good look at her and when he saw the seriousness in her eyes, he nodded. " I will."
He gave her enough respect this time.
Without any spirit weapon, he mustered all his strength and before Lan Bi could realize what was happening, he sent her flying in the air. Sustaining severe injuries, she was defeated in a clean and fast manner.
The Third Island Master of the Hidden Fog Island and the group of elders from the Hidden Fog Island who were there to watch the fun could see Duan Ling Tian's actions clearly. Other than them, among the crowd, only the group of Martial Emperors and Demon Emperors from the Cloud Continent could notice his actions.
"Did this little guy actually show some mercy when he battled Chen Zhi just now?" Martial Emperor Man Wu was shocked to the core.
Contrary to Martial Emperor Man Wu's bewilderment, Martial Emperor Qing Xuan was much more collected as he watched the entire thing with a cool look from the beginning till the end.
"Thank you." Even though Lan Bi was severely injured and defeated by Duan Ling Tian, she did not have any resentment towards him at all. She then retreated right away.
"H-How could Duan Ling Tian be so strong now?!" Horror dawned on Zhou Yi's face.
As a disciple from Lei Yun Peak as well, he knew Lan Bi's strength.
Yet, someone as strong as Lan Bi was not even a match for Duan Ling Tian?
At once, Zhou Yi felt a chill rising from the bottom of his feet all the way to his head.
He was even more glad that he had not gone against Duan Ling Tian before Chen Zhi had. Otherwise, he would have definitely been killed.
"Brother Ling Tian's strength..." Yang Hui was taken by shock.
Even though he knew that Duan Ling Tian was strong, he thought that he had already exerted all his might when he was fighting Chen Zhi. However, it seemed like he actually had shown some mercy then.
As Yang Hui's heart jolted, a thought suddenly appeared in his mind. The moment this thought rose up, it could not be suppressed anymore. "Brother Ling Tian's strength... is most likely on par with mine!"
"How long has it actually been? Brother Ling Tian has actually grown to such a level!" Yang Hui's heart was filled with shock.
Other than Ke'er and Li Fei, among those present, only Martial Emperor You Han did not feel surprised by Duan Ling Tian's strength.
"With his strength, only that Variant under Martial Emperor Qing Xuan and the direct disciple of the Third Island Master of the Hidden Fog Island can pose a threat to him." The day before, Martial Emperor You Han and Duan Ling Tian had battled it out.
Therefore, she had a certain understanding of his strength.
Of course, had she known that the person who had broken the Heaven and Earth Wipeout that she cast was not that old man in the red robes but Duan Ling Tian instead, she would not have thought that way anymore.
After defeating Lan Bi, Duan Ling Tian returned beside the two girls.
Suddenly, as though he was reminded of something, he sighed without warning.
After battling with Lan Bi, her valiant and heroic bearing reminded him of Feng Tian Wu right away. "Wasn't Tian Wu brought away by the First Revered Elder of the Hidden Fog Island already? Now that the Hidden Fog Island is holding such a bustling venue, she should be here."
To his chagrin, from the beginning until the end, he did not see her at all.
Looking at Yang Hui, Duan Ling Tian asked, "Brother Yang, do you know the First Revered Elder of the Hidden Fog Island?"
"Of course, I do." Yang Hui nodded. "The First Revered Elder of the Hidden Fog Island used to be a well-known Martial Emperor of the Cloud Continent too. His honorary title is Chi Huo and he's usually called Martial Emperor Chi Huo. He can be said to be one of the older powerhouses. When he was still well-known in the Cloud Continent, I had just only made a breakthrough to the Martial Emperor Stage. Why did you suddenly mention him?" Yang Hui asked curiously.
"Have you seen him before?" Duan Ling Tian asked again.
"Only once," Yang Hui acknowledged.
"Is he one of the Hidden Fog Island's elders watching from there?" Duan Ling Tian's eyes lit up right away as he asked in anticipation.
Even though Yang Hui did not know what he was planning, he still glanced at the group of Hidden Fog Island elders standing in the distance and cast a lingering glance at them one by one.
"No." In the end, Yang Hui shook his head.
Duan Ling Tian became disappointed right away.
"It looks like Tian Wu really didn't come... Or perhaps, she's currently in the midst of closed-door cultivation," Duan Ling Tian speculated to himself.
The last round of the Hidden Fog Martial Competition continued.
Since the other contestants no longer had any options, they could only continue to challenge Duan Ling Tian. He did not turn them away and defeated them one by one.
In just the blink of an eye, he obtained another five pieces of Order Tokens. Adding those to the Order Tokens from Dong Hu of Qiu Li Mountain and Lan Bi of Lei Yu Peak, he had a total of seven pieces now.
With the addition of two more Order Tokens, he would become the champion of the Hidden Fog Martial Competition.
At the same time, the young man in black under Martial Emperor Qing Xuan's command and the direct disciple of the Hidden Fog Island Master had each obtained seven pieces of Order Tokens too.
In the last round of the martial competition, two participants would only get one chance to battle it out with each other.
Therefore, the fact that the three of them had obtained seven pieces of Order Tokens meant that they had each defeated seven people.
"The top three of today's Hidden Fog Martial Competition is now evident." Many people were watching with anticipation to watch the top three to battle it out with one another.
The fourth to the tenth ranking had also been released. However, only when the Hidden Fog Martial Competition ended and when they had each handed the Order Tokens in their hands up could they list out the exact ranking.
The group of onlookers by the side made a circle in the air while the trio standing in the middle of the air formed a triangle.
Standing there, the three of them appeared calm as though they would not even budge even if a mountain crashed in front of them.
The smell of gunpowder permeated the air.
Finally, the direct disciple of the Hidden Fog Island Master, the young girl who moved in an unrefined manner, took a stride forward and her gaze was locked on Duan Ling Tian instantly.
"Does she want to challenge Duan Ling Tian?" At once, many people's hearts raced as they speculated.
However, Duan Ling Tian did not feel that the young girl would challenge him first because he did not see any battle intent in her eyes.
"I'm thankful that you helped to avenge my Junior Sister and although I won't show you any mercy, I can choose not to challenge you first for the time being. Get ready and by the time I've defeated him, I'll come and battle it out with you!" He suddenly heard a cold Voice Transmission in his ears. Her voice was so strange that it was enough to make goosebumps rise.
However, he did not reveal any strange expression and merely nodded at the young girl.
Of course, it was only his facial expression that remained unchanged. His heart, on the other hand, was filled with shock.
Right then, he finally understood why the Third Island Master of the Hidden Fog Island was not enraged, but was open and poised instead after witnessing how he had killed Chen Zhi with his own eyes.
It turned out that Chen Zhi had taken advantage of the female disciple under his command before.
The moment he remembered Chen Zhi's "fame" on the Hidden Fog Island, he could easily guess what the man had done.
"Then, in this case... I really have avenged him," he thought to himself.
...
At the eastern island of the Hidden Fog Island.
An anxious voice resonated from the sky and broke the silence in the valley. "I want to see the Second Island Master."
"The Second Island Master is in the midst of his closed-door cultivation right now. Just tell me if there's anything you need." An aged voice reverberated and an old man emerged before blocking the anxious middle-aged man who was making his way downward.
The middle-aged man had an Order Token carved with the word "core" hanging from his waist.
He was a Hidden Fog Island core disciple.