Chapter 238 Top Eight
As Fang Xingjian’s match ended, the top eight of the arena battle were finally decided.
They were respectively:
1. Fang Xingjian
2. Allen
3. Anderson
4. Caesar
5. Wei Leng
6. Schreyer
7. Rota
8. Hoult
Numbers one to four would have their matches in the first segment while numbers five to eight would have theirs in the second segment. They would be split into pairs to have their matches before the last two fought for the championship title.
For example, numbers one and two would have their match and the victor would fight against the victor that emerged between numbers three and number four. The one who won would then be the victor for the first segment and pitted against the second segment’s victor to decide who would be the final champion.
Since there was a need to fix up the area, the examinees could only take a break now. Because Fang Xingjian’s Terra Ingurgitation could only be performed once every hour, he did not mind taking a break.
Rota walked up to him and shook her head, “My opponent is Hoult. Seems like I’ll only be able to compete for fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth position.”
She knew her worth and knew that it was impossible for her to be a match for Hoult.
Fang Xingjian nodded but did not say anything. He continued to keep his eyes closed as he cultivated his skills. Finally, after four days of ceaselessly cultivating his skills, his Ether Divine Art had finally reached level 4 while his High Frequency Silver Fox was now able to tremor 2000 times per second.
Rota let out a sigh. She felt helpless toward this cultivating maniac. To think that he was still cultivating his martial techniques during the breaks in the arena battle. He was really not willing to waste even a single second.
Seeing how Fang Xingjian was, Rota could not help but asked again, “Fang Xingjian, do you have something bothering you? Why do I feel that you always seem to have a whip behind you, pushing you to grab every bit of time you have for your cultivation? Won’t the stress be too heavy? Everyone has their own limits. With the way you’re pushing and forcing yourself, it’ll be easy for you bring things to the extreme.”
Rota had seen many Knights who had pushed themselves too far and ended up going crazy or dying.
She was not wrong. Everyone had their limits. For example, when a Knight cultivated, the initial plan would be to spend all of the time not eating or sleeping on cultivation. This seemed to be a perfect scenario, but out of a hundred Knights, there might not even be one who would be able to hang on.
It was more realistic to arrange time to relax or to find activities to let loose. It was very childish to believe that you would be able to exceed the limits and have no need to relax, being able to move like a spinning top at all times.
However, this was what Fang Xingjian was doing, and he was holding on. Rota felt that he was like a stretched out elastic and may break anytime. To be honest, she felt that Fang Xingjian’s condition was very dangerous.
Although she had also devoted hard work into her training, she had always found time everyday or every week to relieve her stress.
However, hearing Rota’s words, Fang Xingjian miraculously spoke.
He gave it some thought before replying, “There’s no limits to martial arts. Putting aside those below the Divine level, even after reaching the Divine level, each Divine level expert would also be training in seclusion, seeking the endless mysteries.
“A person’s lifetime is too short. It’s so short that with just a blink of an eye, it’d already have been over.
“Having so little time to look into the endless mysteries that martial arts hold, one must treasure every little bit of time. If one were to slack, even if it was just a little, it would be wasting one’s life.”
After finishing this, Fang Xingjian stopped saying anything. His body was always cultivating sword arts for twenty-four hours a day. Even when he was not thinking nor speaking, his mind would still be cultivating sword arts. It was because he had even less time than what he had said.
Rota shook her head and turned, noticing that there were even more people in the stands than before.
Now that only the top eight in the Regional Selection were left, the atmosphere was increasingly heated up. The results of this year’s Regional Selection would affect the budget allocated to the other Prefectural Academies. The difference of money allocated between each rank was measured in terms of tens of thousands of gold.
Moreover, there was also the gambling set-ups which involved hundreds of thousands of gold. Now, the matches between the top eight had already attracted the attention of countless aristocrats in the Great Western Region.
It could be said that the matches that were to follow would not only affect the future of the twelve Prefectural Royal Academies in the entire Great Western Region, but also the wealth of countless aristocrats in the Great Western Region. They held the power to affect an entire region.
Under the control of the examiner, Armstrong, the ground was filled up, and the arena once again rose from the ground. It was now covered with a thick metallic glow. Clearly, a large amount of metal had been incorporated to strengthened the arena’s toughness.
Parts of the battle coliseum which had been cracked or had crumbled earlier were now mended once again, returning to its previous appearance.
Although Armstrong did not fight, his ability to control the earth, changing the ground and controlling metal and rocks, had already displayed his strong powers as a Conferred Knight.
However, no one was concerned about his abilities at this moment. Everyone had their gazes fixed on the arena, waiting in anticipation for the next match to start.
The first match amongst the best eight was number one, Fang Xingjian, against number two, Allen.
The two of them headed up the newly constructed metallic arena. Allen was a man covered by a long sleeved, green robe. Since the start of the Regional Selection, he had used his skills in bare-fisted martial arts to arrive to where he was now. In the Pantheon Monument Observation earlier, he had comprehended the first level, showing talent that exceeded ordinary people.
However, facing Fang Xingjian now, he finally started to remove his green robe.
“I had wanted to save my trump for the last, but since I’ve encountered you in the match amongst the top eight, it’s impossible for me to continue to hold back.”
His words showed that he was extremely wary against Fang Xingjian’s abilities. In the blink of an eye, he removed his green robe, revealing a body covered with many horrifying scars, blood traces, poison wounds, and pus.
When he revealed his body, over 30% of the people present received a great shock. There were even some younger aristocrat ladies who were so scared that they shut their eyes, as if they had just experienced a nightmare.
Allen looked at his body and revealed a brutal smile. “The Killing technique I cultivate, the Myriad Poison War Deity, amasses countless poison elements, letting them use my body as a battlefield as they fight each other endlessly. I tap on the vitality they burst out to train my body.
“Although poison elements have strong damaging prowess, they also hold strong vitality at the same time. Otherwise, how could they have survived in this world for so long? Only people who understand this would be able to use poison elements to train their body.
“And the balance between the poison elements in my body is constantly overthrown. The poison elements change every single moment. Therefore, after being poisoned by the poison in my body…”
Before he could finish his words, Fang Xingjian shook his head and said, “Now, the people I hate the most are the ones who use poison in battles.”
With that, he took a step forward and walked up behind Allen. With a slight move, his longsword pierced toward Allen’s back. Allen was not an easy target. Almost at the same moment Fang Xingjian disappeared, he rolled to the ground, wanting to dodge Fang Xingjian’s sword attack. Concurrently, poison gas rose from where he had been standing, drifting toward Fang Xingjian.
However, how could Fang Xingjian possibly allow him to leave? He retreated and dodged the poison gas, and at the same time, unleashed two Ether Sword Ripples, one on the left and one on the right, slashing at Allen who was rolling on the ground. With a cry, Allen was sent flying toward the poison gas.
With a cold snort, Fang Xingjian passed by the poison gas while taking a large curve before thrusting out 188 consecutive sword attacks. Amidst the spurting poison blood and terrible cries, Allen was flipped as he was slashed time and time again.
How could he have known that just the fact that he used poison had already offended Fang Xingjian?
And in the following matches, as if affected by how brutal Fang Xingjian was, Wei Leng, Anderson, and Hoult all began attacking viciously too.