From Apu’s perspective, the results of his third round battle were already determined, but what about his fourth? Just the thought of that gave Apu a headache, as the ten academy leaders would join them for the fourth round of battles. But then, he suddenly had a thought as he looked up at the peak high above him. If he recalled correctly, there seemed to be one person among the ten academy leaders who was there just to fill out the numbers. That’s right, it was Astral-10’s leader, that youth! There were many rumors that Astral-10 had just sent him out as a distraction. Given his current lucky streak, he had no doubt that his next match would be against Astral-10’s leader.

Apu grew more and more excited at his prospects as he hoped that he would continue to receive heavens’ blessing. Could he reach the fourth round? Maybe even the fifth? That would be enough to make him famous throughout the universe! His gaze wavered as he imagined a glorious scene of him returning to his home planet. How would those lofty figures welcome him? Would that loaded, snobby second uncle finally come fawn over him? And that beautiful Liana—oh the Liana of his dreams! He would definitely marry her this time, as after this, he would be a super powerhouse who had reached the fifth round in the Astral Combat Tournament.

Apu was still daydreaming about the future when the energy in the middle of the arena vanished, indicating that the battle had started. Suddenly, a light flashed in front of his eyes.

What is this toy? Apu was dissatisfied by this light. Who interrupted my dreams of living with Liana?

But then, in the next instant, Apu’s eyes readjusted to his surroundings and he blinked. Isn’t this the trial zone mountain? Did I die?

Apu’s name indeed became famous throughout the universe, but not because he was powerful. Rather, he had broken the record time for the fastest defeat.

Nobody who had reached the third round was average, and almost no one would be instantly killed. However, despite the general high leveled competitors, Apu had instantly died, and he hadn’t even noticed the moment of his death.

This scene dumbfounded many as Liu Shaoqiu’s name appeared as the victor.

Lu Yin looked closely at the arena and at the youth who had instantly killed Apu. So that’s Liu Shaoqiu. Isn’t he supposed to be a Limiteer?

Liu Xiaoyun also closely examined Liu Shaoqiu, whose eyes had turned to look at the highest peak, sweeping across each of the seated figures. This was no ordinary gaze; he actually seemed to disdain all ten of these student leaders.

Compared to Arikar or Long Yi, Liu Shaoqiu’s appearance was too ordinary. However, it was precisely the incongruity between his appearance and his true abilities that rendered the academy leaders speechless. Liu Shaoqiu truly was qualified to look down on them like that; he was a powerhouse from the Sword Sect in the Innerverse’s First Flowzone. It was because of him that Liu Xiaoyun had been forced to join the Astral Combat Academy. Otherwise, she would have been forever suppressed by him in the Sword Sect.

Liu Xiaoyun did not care about this Astral Combat Tournament at all; to her, only Liu Shaoqiu mattered.

Astral-1’s student leader marvelled, “The Sword Sect has produced two top geniuses this generation. One is a member of the Ten Arbiters and the other is right before us. I really want to experience the terror of the Thirteen Swords.”

“You’ll regret it,” Liu Xiaoyun coldly replied as she clenched her sword’s hilt tightly.

Astral-1’s leader smiled but did not reply.

Suddenly, Liu Shaoqiu looked towards Lu Yin with a bizarre expression that also contained a hint of bloodlust.

As the distance was too far, no one knew who Liu Shaoqiu was looking at. Only Lu Yin felt his animosity, as Liu Shaoqiu had directed his gaze straight at him.

Can this person sense my strength? Lu Yin felt that Liu Shaoqiu’s reaction was strange, as the Invisible Aura Technique that he had learned from Undying Yushan was very useful. Even Liu Xiaoyun and those sitting beside Lu Yin could not sense his true strength. Of everyone so far, only Liu Shaoqiu reacted differently.

Bang!

In another arena, Michelle was defeated by her opponent, Yue Xianzi. All of Michelle’s attacks were rendered useless against the Blackwater Lake Area Master’s vortex, leading to Michelle’s defeat. The disparity between them was just too great.

Xi Yue also lost. Even though her strength neared that of an Area Master, she was still lacking when faced against a genuine Area Master.

Darkvoid was also defeated, but his defeat had been rather baffling. This battle had opened Lu Yin’s eyes, not because of Darkvoid’s powerful abilities, but rather because of his opponent, who had been very timid.

In Darkvoid’s arena, a pool of black ink slowly vanished, eventually revealing a youth in long robes. In one hand, he gripped an ink brush, an ancient writing tool, that gave him the aura of a scholar. This was the person who had defeated Darkvoid.

Many were amazed by the battle, and most could not understand this person’s attack methods.

On the highest peak, Astral-2’s leader, Han Chong, smiled. He never thought that those rotten archaic relics would allow their precious disciple to join this competition. How interesting.

But out of all the battles in the third round, the most attention-grabbing battle was a violent confrontation. One of the fighters was Astral-7’s Dai Ao, who had been Astral-7’s defender during the Three Academies Guarding the Gate stage. And his opponent was Astral-10’s Lulu Mavis.

No one expected that, when they had collided, a real fire would emerge. Lulu’s terrifying strength directly clashed with Dai Ao’s Starburst Palm, and their fight was a fierce struggle from the start. Countless onlookers felt their blood surging from watching, especially since one of the competitors was from the Mavis family.

The Mavis family had always been synonymous with wealth, and while everyone knew that this clan was powerful, no one was sure how well their members would perform. This battle served as a clear demonstration of their strength, and it showed that their power had no need to be concealed as it was able to shatter even Dai Ao’s Starburst Palm.

Dai Ao endured the intense pain coursing through his body and stared intently at Lulu; the girl was very strong.

Lulu rubbed her reddened wrist. “Eh? You’re not going to use your innate gift of gravity?”

Dai Ao frowned as he replied, “Then be careful.”

“How boring. You’re too confident.” Lulu pursed her lips and then vanished. She had used White Flash, and when Nightqueen Yanqing saw this, her brows lifted as the technique felt very familiar to her.

Dai Ao’s eyes suddenly widened as he did not expect that this girl would be able to use an extreme speed technique. However, gravity was the very nemesis of speed, and a moment later, the entire arena was enveloped by a black gravity field. A gravitational force no weaker than 150 times that of normal gravity caused the ground to crack and Lulu’s body to waver as she reappeared on the stage. Dai Ao then attacked her with another Starburst Palm. This time, Lulu did not find it as easy to withstand as before; the gravity had greatly impacted her attack speed. She collapsed after taking several blows.

Dai Ao pressed down with his palm in an attempt to crush Lulu through pure power.

Traces of battle force appeared around Lulu’s body as she continued to resist the pressure. Her battle force cancelled out a portion of the effect that the increased gravity had on her, allowing her to counterattack with a fierce uppercut at Dai Ao.

He lowered his eyes and the gravity field in the arena suddenly seemed to vanish. But in reality, it had concentrated into a black halo that surrounded his palm as he suddenly struck out.

He met Lulu’s fist directly with his gravity-powered Starburst Palm, and the shockwave that resulted tore the void to shreds. Although it was not able to break through the barrier that surrounded the arena, the force was redirected upwards, causing it to sweep into the sky and shatter a square region of space. It was a shocking sight to behold.

Lulu was pressed into the ground by Dai Ao’s attack. The black halo of intense gravity had greatly increased Starburst Palm’s power, allowing the attack to reach her heart and crush it. Lulu had been defeated.

In an arena a bit further away, Grandini Mavis shook her head. Lulu was still young and had yet to grasp the true strength of the Mavis family’s innate gift. She had also learnt other clans’ methods in an attempt to increase her strength, resulting in her branching away from the main path.

A few meters away, in an arena neighbouring Grandini Mavis’s, a man looked at Grandini in alarm. At this moment, there was practically no more arena left underneath her feet, as it had all been smashed to dust along with her opponent. What a freak!

Neither Xia Luo, Silver, or Little Pao’s battles were exciting, perhaps because their opponents were not very strong. Either way, they smoothly passed the third round of the elimination battles. The upcoming fourth round was when the ten academy leaders would join the battles.

In the Lifeseek Realm and outside the field of arenas, all of the observing students grew solemn; the start of the true Astral Combat Tournament had finally arrived.

Most of the audience watching across the universe were indescribably excited as they stared at the screens, enraptured. The ten academy leaders were about to enter the fray. It was stimulating just thinking about if these pillars of the Astral Combat Academy would be able to prevail against the freakish geniuses who had only recently joined.

Wu Da was also excited, as this Astral Combat Tournament had already given him enough material to publish five weeks’ worth of articles.

Back at Astral-10’s space station, Madam Nalan was sipping her tea inside her spacecraft while she watched her screen. She was also full of expectations, as she had refrained from telling Liu Xiaoyun about how she had picked up Lu Yin in the middle of outer space because the story was just too unbelievable. No one would ever believe that a lowly Melder could actually survive in outer space, and because of this, Madam Nalan had huge expectations for Lu Yin’s upcoming performance.

Within the Great Yu Empire, Undying Yushan sat up with a grave expression; Little Yin was about to enter battle.

In the Auna clan, Jenny Auna was rendered speechless for a long time. She had long since heard that the Astral Combat Academy students were all freaks, but only now had she realized what this statement entailed. Was Lu Yin really going to fight against such freaks now?

On Earth, countless people were also excited as they focused on the screens before them.

At this moment, as long as one was near a screen, they would pause whatever they were doing in anticipation of the start of the true Astral Combat Tournament.

There was a full five hour break before the fourth round of the elimination stage began. After those five hours passed, Lu Yin and the rest of the leaders on the highest peak stood up.

At this point, the arena plains had transformed yet again. There were fifty four competitors remaining after the three elimination rounds, and with the ten seeds, there were now a total of sixty four competitors. Therefore, one would naturally expect there to be thirty two arenas dotting the field. But instead, the plains showed no sign of change. They remained the same without any traces of the previous fierce battles.

Someone commented, “The battles must be taking place one by one. That way, we won’t have to split our attention.”

“True, the previous tournaments were also like this. There was only ever one arena from the fourth round until the end.”

“No one reached this round with luck.”

“You’re wrong. There’s one guy who managed to get here through pure luck—Lu Yin. Not only did he defeat Craynor and Hart Phoenix with outside help, but he also stirred up a disgraceful scandal to boost his fame. He fabricated news that he had died at the pirate port, and he even released a doctored video. He’s pathetic.”

“That’s right! But the higher he climbs, the harder he’ll fall. This stage will take place before the entire universe. I can’t wait to see how he mucks this up.”

…

Atop the highest peak overlooking the valley, the number “1” suddenly appeared in front of Feng Shang. He raised his head, lightly tapped the number in front of him, and was promptly transported to the center of the arena field.

Lu Yin was astonished; he didn’t expect that a Realm Master would fight in the very first battle. It appeared that the Astral Combat Academy’s mentors felt that they had held themselves back for long enough; Feng Shang’s opponent was Arikar.

Everyone was stunned, but they quickly grew frenzied at the thought of witnessing this match. Feng Shang vs Arikar was a long-awaited match.

Arikar’s identity had been exposed after the first round of battles. It was now widely known that he was Feng Shang’s senior, a genius who had been frozen by the Blaze Realm. He had once fought for the position of Realm Master for Astral-8, but he had ultimately been defeated. This match would definitely be a highlight of the tournament, and it would also showcase the difference in power between Feng Shang and the previous student leader of Astral-8.

Arikar looked at Feng Shang excitedly. “I never thought that I would be able to face you in the first match! It turns out that the Astral Combat Academy’s mentors are very understanding.”

Feng Shang calmly replied, “Begin.”

“It seems that you’re very confident, but even Neru had to be careful against me,” Arikar said with a sneer.