<h4>Chapter 74 Intense Battle!</h4>
“State your name.”
Wen Ya nced at Long Chen, then he looked down while twirling his brush. “Long Chen.”
He nodded, then found his name in the list. He said mildly, “Show me the steel hearts you retrieved.”
Long Chen nodded. He knew that Huang Feiyang was ring at him coldly, but he was unaffected.
Long Chen was the only one left, and if everything went as expected, then the top ten had already been decided.
Liu Fengfeng was grateful to be in the top ten, watching Long Chen excitedly. He wanted to see if Long Chen had even one steel heart.
Huang Xiang was more solemn because he hoped Long Chen would enter the top ten for him to vent his anger. <i>I hope you got at least twenty-three!</i>
Long Chen was younger than Liu Fengfeng, so if he did indeed have twenty-three hearts, he would take precedence due to his age, resulting in Liu Fengfeng’s elimination.
Wen Ya watched intently as Long Chen took out his Universe Pouch. One by one, steel hearts fell into Long Chen’s palm. Liu Fengfeng was shocked to see them. <i>So, he really did get some steel hearts! More than ten too! This is ... </i>He was already shocked, but when he saw even more steel hearts pouring nonstop out of the Universe Pouch, his relief turned into anxiety and he started to tremble.
When there were obviously more than twenty-three steel hearts on the table, Liu Fengfeng paled and red daggers at Long Chen’s back, his eyes turning blood-red! <i>Long Chen! This is impossible! He’s just a vige boy from some small town. How could he be better than me, a person who grew up in Yuanling City?</i>
Liu Fengfeng’s eyes were filled with disbelief. He rubbed them hard, but he could not change what was happening before him.
When Wen Ya and Huang Feiyang saw that Long Chen had obtained more than twenty-three hearts, they were shocked and took him more seriously. Huang Xiang heaved a sigh of relief and mocked him privately. <i>You’ve gotten more than twenty-three, meaning you’re getting into the second round. You were the one looking for death, so don’t you me me when it happens.</i>
But Long Chen’s number kept increasing. Everyone’s jaws were on the ground as they watched.
When the number approached fifty, everyone was left in a daze. Even the way Wen Ya and Huang Feiyang looked at him changed greatly.
Huang Xiang’s brows were knitted tightly. He had been very confident that he would be the champion, but it looked like there was a possibility that he would be surpassed!
He was furious when he realized that he might lose to Long Chen.
He had already tolerated Long Chen once. If Long Chen still didn’t know what was good for him, then his killing intent would only grow stronger.
When the count approached sixty, Wen Ya smiled at Long Chen. “Not bad, kid!”
Huang Feiyang’s expression remained neutral. Everyone else had gone numb upon seeing the count increase, while Liu Fengfeng felt dizzy!
Huang Xiang clenched his fists tightly because the count was going to surpass his!
And at the next moment, it did. Huang Xiang’s face reddened slowly as he red at the person who had robbed him of first ce. Hatred slowly spread through his heart. <i>You must die, or I won''t live in peace for the rest of the year! Anyone who offends me is fated to die!</i>
Everyone looked at Long Chen, bbergasted, as he put away his Universe Pouch. When they saw that his pile of steel hearts was taller than Huang Xiang’s, they started to look at him differently!
Wen Ya smiled warmly. “Seventy-five hearts in total. This is the highest number in this round’s qualifiers. However, you are a Beast Warrior and you’ve got a physical advantage, so these results are not very surprising. Most Beast Warriors end up with great results!”
Long Chen actually had a hundred and five steel hearts, but he had decided to keep some since he was already in the first ce.
When Wen Ya announced Long Chen’s number, Liu Fengfeng could no longer stand on his own and copsed.
It was already clear who the top ten were. Long Chen was the legitimate champion, Huang Xiang hade in second, and Liu Fengfeng had been squeezed out of the top ten.
This meant that he was eliminated from the Lingwu family’s qualifiers.
Wen Ya’s cold gaze swept across the group, and he said coldly, “Everyone who isn’t in the top ten, leave now. There will be other qualifiers. You still have other chances!”
The dizzy Liu Fengfeng was carried out of the venue. His eyes were fixed on Long Chen the whole time, not understanding how this had happened.
Ten participants remained. “You guys should rest. The next round will begin very soon. The contest is ...” Wen Ya looked around before he continued, “Solo dueling. Our rules are simple. We will divide you all into five pairs. Each pair will duel each other. Whoever wins will be a Lingwu family member. Do you understand?”
Long Chen and the others nodded hurriedly.
Huang Xiang’s eyes were fixed on Long Chen. Even Wen Ya could sense the power surge inside Huang Xiang.
He frowned, then he turned to see that Huang Feiyang looked nonchnt and didn’tment on it. He announced, “We shall announce your pairings in fifteen minutes! You may prepare now!”
There was a gigantic sparring stage in the za. That was where the duels would take ce.
Huang Feiyang started discussing something with the other family members while thepetitors quickly treated their injuries to prepare for the next round.
Long Chen had nothing much to prepare. He looked at Huang Xiang and found that he was also looking at him. The killing intent in his eyes was too obvious. “You annoying fly! You have reached the end of your road today!” threatened Huang Xiang coldly.
“Aiyo, did the little dog just speak? That scared me!”
Long Chen imitated a woman’s tone to the others’ disgust. But to Huang Xiang, it was a gigantic humiliation.
He clenched his fists tightly. If the Lingwu family wasn’t present, he would have charged at Long Chen already. <i>You won’t be smirking when you hear who your opponent will be. The Lingwu family is my territory, do you think you’re fit to be here?</i>
Everyone rested, and the fifteen minutes passed quickly.
Wen Ya and his team had longpleted the pair allocation at this point. Long Chen could sense that Huang Feiyang’s and Huang Xiang’s res bore ill intentions.
When he looked at the older brother, Long Chen knew what the results would be.
As expected, when they announced the pairings, Long Chen learned that Huang Xiang would be his opponent and their duel would be thest. <i>Huang Xiang must’ve requested this. Now that I’ve robbed first ce from him, he must hate me to the bone, right?</i>
Long Chen nced at Huang Xiang, who was smugly staring back, and smirked to himself. <i>You’ll soon find out who the stronger one truly is!</i>
Under Wen Ya’s arrangements, two muscr men at the Ninth Draconic Stage started fighting on the stage. They were at the same stage as the Yang patriarch, but they were much more powerful. “People in Yuanling City—even just in this tiny corner—are all not as simple as they seem.” Long Chen learned a lot from watching these people fight. Time passed as each pair dueled it out.
Very soon, four of the five spots in the Lingwu family were filled.
There was one spot left, and it would go to either Long Chen or Huang Xiang.
All eyes were on those two now. Huang Xiang gave Long Chen a faint smile, then he walked onstage first.
Offstage, Wen Ya was watching the ice between Huang Xiang and Long Chen. He nced at Huang Feiyang next to him, whose expression was icy, and shook his head with a bitter smile. <i>Long Chen has great potential, but it is extremely unfortunate that he offended Huang Xiang. It doesn’t matter how talented he is, he’s done for. And if Madam Administrator finds out that I rigged the rounds, it’ll be over for me!</i>
There was actually a set rule for how the participants should be paired. It would be ording to the first round’s rankings, so the one who came in first wouldpete with the tenth, the second with the ninth, and so on.
Usually, the more steel hearts a person retrieved, the stronger they were. The top five of the first round almost always ended up entering the Lingwu family, but due to Huang Feiyang’s interference, Long Chen was now up against Huang Xiang.
Both should have been able to enter the Lingwu family, but now only one of them would. <i>Although Long Chen gathered more steel hearts, he doesn’t understand just how wealthy the Huang family is. Just that ck-tier technique alone is enough to feed him for a very long time.</i>
That was what Wen Ya thought. He looked at Long Chen with some pity, then announced that the duel would begin!
Huang Xiang smirked. “You brat, you must remember the taste of my Wheel of Glory fromst time, don’t you? Well, you’ll get to experience it again today! You might’ve withstood it once, but I refuse to believe that you can do it again!”
Long Chen’s aura rapidly strengthened, and very soon, he activated his Dragon Soul Transformation once more under the group’s shocked gazes. The scales and spines across his entire body made their brows furrow tightly.
He clenched his fist tight and sneered. “If I can block such a weak technique once, I’ll be able to block it again!”
“Is that so?”
When Huang Xiang smirked, he activated the Wheel of Glory once more.
Just like thest time, a powerful wave of aura crashed into Long Chen! “The same attack again. How uninteresting!”
Just like thest time, Long Chen also charged towards Huang Xiang at lightning speed, shooting out multiple dragon projections that flew towards Huang Xiang with a <i>whoosh! </i>
“Wheel of Glory!”
“Primordial Dragon Seal!”
Wen Ya’s and Huang Feiyang’s faces changed when they witnessed the collision.
Huang Feiyang was in utter disbelief when he saw the advanced Yellow-tier Primordial Dragon Seal cancel out the Huang family’s ck-tier technique!
Wen Ya shook his head with a bitter smile. <i>This Long Chen kid just keeps surprising me ... But if this is all he has, I’m afraid he’s going to die today ...</i>