“Didn’t he get eliminated in the previous round?” Chen Feng grew puzzled.

Although Liu Zhihuo’s cultivation talent was astonishingly high, he was just a level 8 Concealed stage cultivator in the end. Thus, he was eliminated by a level 3 Sky Human stage cultivator in the last round.

“I want to challenge Chen Feng!” Liu Zhihuo’s voice spread throughout the competition grounds.

“Challenge me?” Chen Feng was taken aback. However, he quickly understood.

By then, they had finished the fourth round of the Grand Competition and there were less than 100 participating core disciples left. Next up, they will be competing for the top 100 spots. According to the rules, if the eliminated disciples believed that they possessed enough strength and wished to continue competing, they may challenge one of the disciples who made it through the fourth round. By successfully defeating the disciple, the challenger can once again compete in the next round, acquiring a spot within the top 100 in the process.

Of course, the one challenged to a fight would certainly be someone considered weak.

Liu Zhihuo possessed an astonishing level of talent and was practically undefeatable amongst his peers. He was even capable of defeating those at a higher level. Getting eliminated from the Grand Competition before he could make it to the top 100 left him feeling vexed. Thus, he decided to make use of the rules to challenge another disciple to regain his qualification to compete.

And so, Liu Zhihuo picked Chen Feng. In his opinion, Chen Feng should be easier to defeat compared to the other participants. At any rate, Chen Feng had yet to overcome Lightning Tribulation. No matter how powerful Chen Feng may be, it was limited. Could Chen Feng be a greater genius than him?

After understanding that, Chen Feng suddenly smiled. It seemed this fellow considered him as an easy target.

After entering the arena, Liu Zhihuo kept assessing Chen Feng. Likewise, Chen Feng assessed Liu Zhihuo. Both were attempting to determine the other person’s cultivation state.

Liu Zhihuo’s cultivation base was at level 8 of the Concealed stage, one level higher compared to Chen Feng and his body was a fire-type constitution. It was said that he was capable of controlling fire shortly after birth. The fiery-red armour he wore was also a Prized artefact.

That was the information that Chen Feng possessed about Liu Zhihuo. Chen Feng had also observed Liu Zhihuo’s last fight. Thus, he knew quite a bit about Liu Zhihuo’s combat prowess.

“Why aren’t you bringing out your Sacred artefact?” Liu Zhihuo revealed a look of ridicule as he looked at Chen Feng.

Naturally, Chen Feng knew what Liu Zhihuo was up to. He simply smiled and said, “Since you already know I have a Sacred artefact, you still dare to challenge me? Do you not think it’s funny?”

“Hey! Depending on the strength of a Sacred artefact, what kind of ability is that? If you have what it takes, don’t fight me using your Sacred artefact!” Liu Zhihuo said, his words barbed.

“Ha ha ha ha!” Hearing those words, Chen Feng laughed out.

“Why are you laughing?” Liu Zhihuo felt somewhat infuriated.

“Your words are logical. Relying on weapons cannot be considered one’s own abilities. How about this? Let’s not use any weapons and magic treasures and just fight with our bare hands. What do you think?” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“Bare hands?” Liu Zhihuo hesitated. Having watched Chen Feng’s earlier matches, he knew just how powerful Chen Feng’s fleshly body was. He was likely incapable of defending against Chen Feng’s physical might. However, he was even more uncertain of his chances against a Sacred artefact-wielding Chen Feng. He had challenged Chen Feng, wanting to provoke Chen Feng to not utilize his Sacred artefact in the fight. At that moment, however, he was the one put in a bind.

“Fine! Neither of us will use magic treasures! I hear that you are Sage Enigma Flame’s apprentice. Today, let me experience your fire techniques.” After saying that, Liu Zhihuo stretched his palm forward and a fist-sized fireball rapidly spun out from his palm.

Waves of heat emanated from the fireball. In just a moment’s time, Chen Feng could feel the surrounding temperature spiking. After just a few breaths’ worth of time, the entire arena had become like a furnace.

“Fire technique?” Chen Feng secretly smiled. Truth be told, he did cultivate the power of fire. The Five Element’s Fire element and the Eight Trigrams’ Fire Trigram. In the process of cultivating, he had directly absorbed earthen fire. However, to say that he had learned fire techniques from Sage Enigma Flame made Chen Feng amused. Although Sage Enigma Flame was Chen Feng’s master, he had yet to impart any fire techniques to Chen Feng.

“Liu Zhihuo practices fire techniques while Chen Feng’s master is a highly-regarded expert in fire techniques. Our competition is heading into a unique battle of fire techniques here!”

“Who will emerge victorious?”

“We have all seen Liu Zhihuo’s fire techniques before. He is indeed very skilled. However, Chen Feng has never utilized any fire techniques since the competition began. Is he planning on keeping it as a final trump card?”

“It is possible. I hear that there is no one within the sect that can rival Sage Enigma Flame when it comes to fire techniques. As his disciple, Chen Feng can’t possibly be bad at it!”

When Chen Feng and Liu Zhihuo entered the arena, the spectating cultivators immediately began discussing the fight as they speculated who would emerge victorious.

At that moment, there were two young cultivators standing not too far from Shui Yan and the others. One of them had a great sword slung behind his back while the other wielded a gilded staff. They looked very different from the other cultivators around them. One glance was all it took to determine that the two of them were not disciples of Extreme Celestial Sect, but outsiders.

“Brother Lin, you have a discerning eye. You should be able to tell who will win, right?” the tall cultivator with the great sword slung behind his back said smilingly.

“Brother Jian, you are too modest. Your ability to discern is not bad either. Truth be told, you and Chen Feng are two rare cultivation geniuses. There is no need to watch this fight to know that Chen Feng will win.” The staff-wielding cultivator was not too tall, nor did he possess a beefy stature. However, his body radiated waves of violent energy. It was unknown if this was due to his cultivation technique or if he was born with this trait.

“Brother Lin, you overpraise me. In terms of cultivation, Brother Lin is much stronger than me. After coming here to the Northern Plains, my biggest gain was in befriending Brother Lin and Brother Chen. At the very least, I have yet to encounter cultivators that are more outstanding compared to the two of you,” said the cultivator with the great sword.

Hearing their conversation, the cultivators around them secretly frowned. Where did these two fellows come from? They could actually brag so highly about themselves?

Finally, one of the surrounding cultivators could not endure it anymore. He stepped forward and shouted, “Who are you two? Don’t brag nonsensically here! You should look at where you are right now. To be uttering those words, don’t you feel nauseated?”

“That’s right! Where did these loose cultivators come from? Inexperienced bumpkins! Have a good look at where you are. You really think you fellows are hotshots?”

Some of the surrounding cultivators could not stand hearing their words and they moved forward to surround the two.

At the same time, Chen Feng and Liu Zhihuo had begun fighting.

One fireball after another shot out from Liu Zhihuo’s hands to form a seven-star formation before rushing towards Chen Feng.

However, that was just an ordinary attack. Liu Zhihuo simply wanted to test Chen Feng’s abilities. As Liu Zhihuo had never seen Chen Feng utilize any fire techniques, he was not feeling too confident.

In the face of Liu Zhihuo’s fireballs, Chen Feng simply darted around. Unexpectedly, the fireballs circled around to encircle Chen Feng once more.

Bang!

A fireball exploded against Chen Feng’s chest. Next, a suction force suddenly emerged from Chen Feng’s chest to completely absorb the power of fire from the fireball.

So, every one of these fireballs are controlled by Liu Zhihuo’s soul. It seems I can only shatter the fireballs. After that, Chen Feng’s palm swung out like a gust of wind to instantly shatter all the fireballs around him.

After the fireballs were shattered, however, the temperature within the arena rose up again. In the face of this high temperature, the average cultivator would have to put up an astral shield to protect his or her body. However, Chen Feng did not need to do that. A reminder, Chen Feng had absorbed earthen fire during his cultivation practice. This level of heat could not affect him.

Seeing Chen Feng shatter his fireballs, Liu Zhihuo did not reveal a shocked expression. It seemed he had expected this result. Next, he stretched his right hand out and grasped. As a result, the scattered flames quickly converged to form a large fireball, which abruptly exploded beside Chen Feng.

Chen Feng brought a hand up and a Longevity Shield made with the power of water appeared before him. Soon enough, water vapour rose up while Chen Feng flew backwards. He then waved his hands several times and a gale rose up to blow the water vapour away.

Sou!

Another fireball appeared in Liu Zhihuo’s hand.

“Is this all you have? If so, this will be a very boring fight,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“Why aren’t you using fire techniques?” Liu Zhihuo asked grimly.

“If you want to force me to use fire techniques, you must first have the ability,” Chen Feng replied with a chuckle.

“When you were fighting Sun Shaoqing last time, you used Vile Fountain Water, right?” Liu Zhihuo suddenly asked.

“Oh?” Chen Feng was surprised. He did not expect someone like Liu Zhihuo to notice it.

“Looks like my guess is correct. It really is Vile Fountain Water. To think you would be willing to use such a good item,” said a shocked Liu Zhihuo.

“Why are you spouting so much nonsense? If you want to attack, hurry up and attack,” Chen Feng said coldly.

“Ha ha ha! I made my move a long time ago. Preparations for my killer move is already complete. Did you not notice? What a disappointment!” The fireball in Liu Zhihuo’s hand abruptly expanded. At the same time, fire arrows shot towards Chen Feng.

Energy fluctuations also began appearing from around them. The power of fire within a radius of tens of li began converging upon the arena to form clumps of flames, which engulfed Chen Feng. Additionally, the area occupied by the flames was continuously expanding.

Thus, the entire arena became a sea of flames and both Chen Feng and Liu Zhihuo were inundated by the flames.

As Chen Feng’s fight inside the arena continued, a fight erupted outside the arena.

Bang!

A cultivator grasped at the cultivator with the great sword, but light suddenly flashed out. It seemed like a flash of sword light. Next, the clothes he wore split in places to expose his skin.

“You.” The cultivator’s face turned pale. He was someone who had overcome 1 Lightning Tribulation, after all. And yet, he was incapable of seeing how this fellow did that.

“If you don’t want to die, then go away.” The cultivator with the great sword was none other than Chen Feng’s friend, Jian Xiaotian. The one with the gilded staff was Lin Shaokun.

The two of them came to Extreme Celestial Sect to visit their friend, Chen Feng. They were also here to watch the Grand Competition and observe the various talents of the Northern Plains.

Unexpectedly, Chen Feng had stepped into the arena the moment they arrived. More unexpectedly, the two of them had only just chatted for a bit before trouble came looking for them.

1 li = 0.5 km