His single remark caused everyone to urge the flame sect to send Huo Ying to compete with Tang Fan, after understanding his intention, sect leader Meng had to swallow her words of mockery and sect leader Zhou praised his son for the smart move he made.

"Sect madam Huo, are you really going to have an advanced disciple compete with the young master of the thunder sect," sect leader Meng asked, everyone in the high seats was eager to know what her answer would be and what move she would make in response to this.

​​

The fourth prince could already tell that Tang Fan's move is not going to work, if the story the seventh prince told him when he visited the blossom valley is true then his judgement must be right.

"Master, what do you think is going to happen?" Xiaodi whispered behind him but he kept silent, she tsked then folded her arms on her chest.

"My daughter knows who is a worth opponent for her, if she doesn't compete with your son then she must have made her judgment," sect madam Huo responded, they all understood what she is implying by her words and sect leader Zhou was pissed by it but he decided to maintain his cool knowing flipping out is no use against her.

The guardians and disciples glanced at Huo Ying to know what her decision would be but she turned to Huo Qiang with a look telling him to make the decision.

"Sect madam's plan is to ensure no one knows your real strength yet, we cannot send any of the advanced disciples to compete from now on or they would think the flame sect is looking down on the other sect, so I suggest one of us guardians compete with him," he suggested, Wu Qian was clearly dissatisfied by what he said but he knows Huo Qiang makes sense thus he has to accept that all the effort he put towards this day would be in vain.

"I should go then," Huo Li volunteered, she has been praying a situation like this arises so she also has the chance to compete but she was soon disappointed by Huo Qiang's next statement.

"No, you can't, you are her personal disciple," he cancelled

"Let me," Bingchen suggested, they weren't expecting it so they turned to him with surprise written on their faces.

"Are you sure about this?" Huo Ying asked but he nodded in affirmation.

"Alright, he dared to try to force me out then you should show him that he is not capable to competing with me or the guardians of the flame sect," Huo Ying said in a commanding tone.

He nodded reassuringly then stood up from his seat.

"If the young master of the thunder sect wants to compete with our young mistress then you should beat me first," he spread his arms out as he flew into the ring while Li Bing exited the ring in disappointment.

"You are..."

"The fourth guardian of the flame sect, Huo Bingchen," he boldly stated, from his uniform, it is already clear that he is the guardian but the fool just had to ask.

"A fourth guardian?"

Murmurs filled the place again.

"The flame sect has always had three guardians, how come there are four this time around?" the first prince remarked.

"Your highness seems to know a lot about the flame sect then you should also know that the guardians are chosen based on their talents, if he can become the fourth guardian then you should know he has what it takes," sect madam Huo unexpectedly responded.

"If so then I assume this fight will be an interesting one," he added, taking the chance to build rapport with her in case he has the need to gain the support of the flame sect one day, after all, the enemy of an enemy is a friend that is if one day the need arises.

Back in the ring, Tang Fan was angered by how confident this fourth guardian sounds, he asked to fight the young mistress but they sent a guardian, if he loses the competition then it is clear that he will lose face.

"Alright, let me see what you have got," he got into his fighting stance and Bingchen did the same, the moment he entered the ring, he already underestimated Tang Fan's ability, Tang Fan released the chain of the thunder ring, it immediately transformed into a long whip with streaks of thunder around it.

Bingchen who prefers using sword over whips, relieved his sword of its sheath, he held it in front of his face, he raised two of his finger on the other hand then struck the end of the sword then he slowly brought it up, flames soon enveloped his sword.

Tang Fan made the first move when he lunged the whip at him which Bingchen swiftly dodged, he kept lunging it towards him over and over again at a very fast speed, it continued until Bingchen wrapped the whip around his sword then he used it to pull Tang Fan towards him but before he could get hold of him, Tang Fan bent backwards then used the whip to pull Bingchen over him, he did a somersault to escape the trap.

Everyone watched with tense expressions on their faces, currently, no one can tell who has the upper hand but one thing they can tell is that the skill of the guardian from the flame sect is up to par with the young master of the thunder sect, it makes them wonder just how strong Huo Ying really is.

"He is taking so long to defeat a mere guardian, how can he think of competing with that witch," Meng Hui remarked but her words entered BiYu's ears.

"You talk as if you can defeat him with your mediocre capability," Biyu slammed, Meng Hui was about to retaliate but she was held back by Bohai's glare but she soon noticed after that he keeps stealing glances at both Huo Ying and Huo Lan.

{You..}

She balled her fist tightly.

After a series of powerful moves, they both decided to level up their moves.

"Sky cracking bolt!" Tang Fan yelled as he pulled out the sword anchored on his waist then he raised it to the sky, immediately, lightning appeared in the sky then the sword began absorbing the lightning.

"If not for the our pillars, we might all meet our death,"

They were scared at the strange phenomenon in the sky.

"Lets see how long you can last now," Tang Fan remarked, rather than get riled up, Bingchen merely smiled then he threw his sword into the sky then he clasped his index and middle finger from both hands together.

"Flame meteor sword!" he summoned, flames from his sword shot up, forming flaming sword auras in the sky, he smirked hauntingly at Tang Fan.

WOAH!

They were thrilled to see both using their sect skills rather than their personal skills.

Tang Fan grabbed the handle of his sword then directed it at Bingchen who yelled 'combine' just in time for the sword auras to combine to form a large sword which swiftly descended against Tang Fan's sword, before his sword could touch Bingchen, he was sent flying backward but Bingchen used the opportunity to use his real sword to control the large sword, he dashed towards Tang Fan who was still trying to recover from the hit but quickly rolled away before Bingchen could aim at his neck with the sword.

His sword kept asborbing the lightning from the sky as he jumped into the air while Bingchen followed suit, both kept clanging swords while the sword aura above then and the aura created by Tang Fan sword were battling.

Sect leader Zhou was extremely agitated watching his son, he could tell that his son is on the losing side, he now wished it was Biyu who went into the ring instead of his son.

Soon, Bingchen kept Tang Fan trapped by holding onto the handle of his sword while Tang Fan struggled to release his sword, seeing how distracted he is, he used that opportunity to land a kick on his abdomen just as Tang Fan was about to retaliate the kick, he pulled his hand then spun him around, taking the opportunity to aim his sword at his neck then he punched his face twice and pushed him down.

And just like that, he lost.

The people sprung up from their seats with thundering claps resonating in the arena.