For better or for worse, the Academy still ranked fourth, but in the end, it had lost to the fifth-ranking Nanzhan Academy in the first battle. Furthermore, it had already lost two battles and was only left with such a record at the moment. Who would look up to it?

"Ahhhh."

The dean shook his head upon hearing this. He exchanged glances with the other tutors who had followed him to arrive and chuckled softly.

He glanced around and saw that the other people in the audience seemed to agree with Mao An. When the dean saw this, he was secretly delighted.

These people only saw that Middle Saint Academy had lost two matches, but they didn't know that the top seven people of Middle Saint Academy were the ones who were truly powerful.

This was especially so when the person who entered the fighting arena this time was one of Xuan Yi's disciples. He had killed the proud son of the He clan in the Eagle Region and defeated Di Wuxin, who was known as the number one person in the Holy Region. Although he wasn't considered famous in the South Continent, he already had a great reputation in Middle Saint Academy.

Despite the fact that Xixing Academy ranked second, the dean did not think that he could surpass the monster whom Xuan Yi had trained.

In particular, he even dared to mock Xuan Yi's disciple.

Xiao Hong 's face turned cold and he lightly leaped onto the martial arts stage with his sword.

"Come on, don't waste time!"

"With luck, I might be able to advance a little further in the ranking after beating you."

Mao An waved his hand. He stabbed his foot-long machete onto the martial arts stage with a loud crash, shattering the earth. His hair flew in the air as he released boundless power.

"Good, not bad!"

"Xixing Academy has lived up to its reputation. It does have some actual strength. Even though it ranks tenth, its power and influence is still much stronger than some people in other academies."

When the audience below saw the power released by Mao An, they also applauded in succession.

From their perspective, Xixing Academy was bound to win this match.

They only hoped that the person from Middle Saint Academy would be able to hold on a little longer, or else there was really nothing to watch. After all, he ranked fifth in Middle Saint Academy. If he were to be defected by the other party in just a few rounds, it would be too miserable.

"You'd better take that!"

Seeing the situation, Xiao Hong quietly glanced at Mao An. He put his hand on the hilt of his sword and smiled at him.

In the next moment. Clang! The distinct and melodious sound of a sword.

Appearing with the sound of the sword on the martial arts stage was boundless and overwhelming sword radiance. The cutting edge of the sword was at least a few thousand feet long, pure white and eye-piercing, sharp enough to cut the bone. Mao An felt that the cutting edge of the sword was the real substance, like a divine weapon falling from the sky.

Danger!

Mao An quivered and got goosebumps.

Mao An rolled on the ground and, at the same time, crazily poured his spiritual energy into the machete in his hand. The spiritual vein lit up, transforming into the phantom image of a machete and warding off the cutting edge of the sword head-on.

However, the machete that was hastily raised upon the sound of the drum was unable to ward off Xiao Hong's sword at all. An 80-foot-long machete that was at least grade four plus was forcibly broken by Xiao Hong. The spiritual vein of the machete dimmed, with its head and tail separated into two parts.

Boom!

The momentum of the cutting edge of the sword didn't diminish. It hit the head of the fighting ring, splashing out a cloud of dust and gravel.

Mao An's eyes were filled with astonishment. He had managed to survive under the cutting edge of the sword. At this moment, his entire body was covered in sweat amidst the dust. Just as he was about to gather spiritual energy to continue the battle, Xiao Hong gave a frosty look and had already given him a kick in front of him.

Mao An didn't even have the time to react before his chest was kicked and his entire body flew to one side. Blood dripped from his mouth, and his face was pale.

He had suffered a heavy blow.

He had anticipated that he should be the one to crush the other party. But the reality was that he had been knocked out and tortured in a second.

If Xiao Hong had not kicked him with a foot but with a long sword, he would have lost his life.

Poof!

Under the incredulous gazes of the audience below the stage, Mao An flew backward and spat out a mouthful of blood. His body scratched a streak of blood on the battle stage and he rolled off the stage directly, having egg on his face.

Mao An stood up and fixed his eyes on Xiao Hong on the stage, clenching his fists.

Xiao Hong sheathed his sword and gave him a slightly mocking look.

"Lucky?"

Bleep!

Mao An's entire body trembled as if he had been struck by lightning.

Xiao Hong's voice was not loud, but it was like a heavy hammer that ruthlessly pounded his chest.

His face alternated between blue and white. His temples throbbed faintly and it seemed that blood was about to spurt out of his mouth again.

Just a moment ago when he met the people from Middle Saint Academy, he had boasted without shame that his luck was not bad, thinking that being able to meet the people from Middle Saint Academy was due to his luck and that he would definitely win.

In the end, he had not even managed to last a single round under the hands of the other party — he did not even have the strength to retaliate.

How ironic.

Dong!

The host struck the gong and announced the results of the competition. He then took out the spirit-severing cabinet and began to draw the jade talisman for the next round of the competition.

"In the next round, the sixth-ranking Xiao Pan from Middle Saint Academy against the third-ranking Wang Chen from Beichen Academy."

The crowd at the scene were stunned before they could finally react. They looked at Xiao Hong, who had turned around after sheathing his sword, and a heated discussion broke out among them.

"This is a huge turn of events. The party that was knocked out is unexpectedly Middle Saint Academy!"

"This is beyond my expectations. However, after thinking about it carefully, this result doesn't seem too unacceptable. After all, he is a person who ranked fifth in Middle Saint Academy and his opponent's rank is no more than tenth."

Everyone nodded upon hearing this. That was indeed the case.

It could only be said that Middle Saint Academy was, after all, one of the five academies in the South Continent. It still had some foundation.

But thinking about it, it should be the end, shouldn't it?

The sixth ranking person of Middle Saint Academy against the third ranking person of Beichen Academy.

In the eyes of everyone, there was no need to say who would win and who would lose.

At this moment, Wang Chen of Beichen Academy, who had witnessed the sword radiance of Xiao Hong throughout the match, stared in shock with his entire body trembling.

He had initially seen Xiao Hong back in the Star Region.

Wang Chen stared deeply at Xiao Hong's back as Xiao Hong turned around and left.

In his mind, Wang Chen kept replaying the battle between Xiao Hong and Mao An and the power of Xiao Hong's sword strike.

Back in the Star Region, Wang Chen and a few from Beichen Academy had initially wanted to gain the first place in the Star Region's grand competition and receive the Spiritual Fire Award from the Region. In the end, despite their full confidence in the grand competition, they had continuously been defeated by a group of six people.

Even the fate of Wang Chen, who occupied third place in Beichen Academy, had been decided by Xiao Pan. Upon inquiry, that Xiao Pan was even the weakest among the six people.

One had to know that he ranked third in the South Continent and was the top third person of Beichen Academy, even on par with the second ranking person of the Academy.

Taking a broad view of Beichen Academy, only one or two persons in the same realm could surpass him.

The result was that in the Star Region, six people had popped out in a snap.

After those six people had defeated him, they directly dominated the ranking and took the top six positions in the Star Region's grand competition. When they stood in a row, they revealed the vigor of swords in uniformity.

While the sect founder might not be able to comprehend the vigor of the sword, it was like a built-in standard in six of them.

What kind of monstrous geniuses were they!

A deep twinge of fear and envy flashed through Wang Chen's eyes.

Others might have only seen Xiao Hong knock out his opponent with one move and thought that Mao An ranked tenth because he was too weak. That was why Xiao Hong was able to have gotten this far.

However, Wang Chen did not think so.

When Xiao Hong appeared, Wang Chen's entire body trembled. He had already noticed it and during the time that followed, he kept a very close eye on Xiao Hong.

He was the third in Beichen. His acumen was not bad and he also had the experience of fighting against Xiao Pan. He knew very well that in the face of Xiao Hong's sword, even the top five of Xixing might not be able to withstand it, not to mention that he only ranked tenth in Xixing.

"It is inconceivable that they are also people from the five great academies and that they are even from Middle Saint Academy."