Chapter 585: The Final Two
The first four winners had been determined, and the other four were eliminated. Of the four, three were adopted into kings’ families while Pei Ze was led to the audience to observe the rest of the tournament.
Although they had all fought once already, the tournament continued. An hour to rest was given before they continue with the second round of the tournament. Thus the four experts would become two.
During this hour, all four experts were seated in meditation fully focused on restoring the energy they had just used. The one who had used the least amount of energy was the Nightcrawler youth and after him was Hui Yue.
Both of them had not spent too much energy during their first fight, and now they were back in peak condition even before the hour was up.
The other two cultivators had rather desperate battles, and both of them were eagerly hoping that Hui Yue and the Nightcrawler youth would fight each other. If they did not, then they would be in a world of pain.
As the hour went by, the audience was busy chatting amongst one another. The Judges of Hell were busy discussing the two people they wanted to win, and so was the audience, but where the judges favored Hui Yue, the audience preferred the Nightcrawler youth because of his connection with death. Having such a connection with death would make him a perfect Judge of Hell!
"Time to continue!" Yanluo called out, and once more the cauldron appeared in front of the contestants who all picked a piece of paper.
Before they could open them, Yanluo made a gesture with his hand, and all four shone with a white light before dimming once more. Anyone with a slight amount of knowledge would know that Yanluo had just changed the numbers on the cards. He had clearly cheated, but no one dared to say anything, they all were dumbfounded. Had Yanluo such thick skin that he did not mind that others would call him unfair and a cheater?
But Yanluo truly looked as if he did not care and a smile was even adorning his face as he nodded to the experts, "See who you are up against."
No one wasted more time, and all of them looked curious to see whom Yanluo had planned for them to fight.
Hui Yue expected that he would be up against the Nightcrawler youth. Although they were both the strongest left in the tournament, they were also both members of major sects.
One would think that they preferred the two for major sects to mutually destroy one another, leaving a small chance for the other unaffiliated experts to win, but when he saw his opponent, Hui Yue was surprised to find that this was not the case.
His opponent was one of the unaffiliated experts who had fought desperately just a while ago, and although he had been given an hours rest, he was far from his peak condition.
When Hui Yue saw who his opponent was, a stone of relief was lifted from his heart. It seemed that Yanluo was quite supportive of Hui Yue this time something which he would forever remember in his heart.
Hui Yue was the second person to fight this time. The first ones on stage were the Nightcrawler youth and his opponent, but the battle ended quickly. The opponent was wrapped up in shadows which formed a shadow cocoon before he fell unconscious and was finally released.
So far no one had been able to make him show even a tenth of his real strength while Hui Yue had been forced to use quite a lot of his in the first battle.
'Don't worry too much,' Lan Feng's voice sounded in Hui Yue's ear. 'He is controlling darkness and death, but who am I? I am a phoenix! I control fire and rebirth! I am his natural enemy. Although I don't wish for it to go that far, but if you are incapable of winning, allow me to take over your body, and I will do my best not to let you down.'
Hui Yue sighed and nodded, but he could not help but feel that something was not quite right. It was true that the daos that Lan Feng controlled countered this Nightcrawler Youth, but he was also just a Primordial Immortal like Hui Yue, he was nothing more than a soul within Hui Yue's body. If Hui Yue, with the help of all those extra lives and all the daos at his disposal, was incapable of winning, how could Lan Feng expect to win this tournament? Hui Yue had no idea, but Lan Feng had never before lied to him, and thus he trusted him completely.
The fight had ended, and it was now time for Hui Yue to stand on stage and meet his opponent. His opponent was not as energized as Hui Yue, but he was not weak, and the white-haired young man was not stupid enough to look down on him.
Exactly because Hui Yue did not look down upon his opponent, the fight was incredibly fast and without any suspense. The first thing he did was to activate the dao of gravity, putting a thousand-fold pressure on the opponent, rooting him in place. After which he easily poured the blue cloud within his body and withdrew all of his energy.
Without any reserves of Ancestral Worldpower, the opponent had no other option than to give up. His loss was as terrible as the one before, but to have reached this far, one could easily see how talented he was, and he too was instantly recruited by one of the judges.
After his defeat, the entire stadium lapsed into silence. Not because of them being disappointed by seeing such a one-sided battle, but because they could feel the fighting spirit that erupted from the Nightcrawler Sect's youth. He was simply incapable of holding back anymore, and when he looked at Hui Yue, his eyes glistened with ferocity.
"He has no interest in becoming the new Judge of Hell," Yanluo said in a low voice that only the kings could hear. "He is here solely because he wishes to challenge Pei Yue. I never thought that the tournament final would be between one who does not even want to become the Judge of Hell and another who wishes to become the judge more than he yearns for life itself."
Hearing the words, Yanluo spoke everyone was surprised and rather shocked. No one questioned his words though, if Yanluo said something then it was true. But who would have thought that the most nerve-wracking battle of the century, the battle that everyone wished to be apart of, was between two people where only one had a real desire to become the Judge of Hell.
If Yanluo had told them that Hui Yue only wished to become the judge for the sake of a bet he had with Yanluo, then these people would fall from their chairs in shock.
In truth, neither of the two finalists actually wished to become the Judge of Hell for the sake of the fame or the safety it brought, but both would fight as if their lives depended on it.
Hui Yue had decided to become the Judge of Hell for the sake of Wang Ju Long, while the Nightcrawler Sect's youth simply wished to fight Hui Yue with all he had.
This youth had never before had a true rival in his own generation. He had long since been seen as the strongest of the younger generation, and every time there was a battle, the opponent would always concede before it even started.
Back in his sect, he would have to fight the older generation, but the elders were too strong for him to fight and the others dared not fight him for real since he was the crown prince of their sect. If they truly beat him, were they not going to get on his bad side, and thus be punished later on?
Due to this, the youth had no real idea of his actual strength. He had never experienced a real desperate fight as the elders would always stop him before things went too far, but this time he felt that he had found his rival.
Just looking at Hui Yue made him feel threatened. His fighting spirit would rise when he looked at this white-haired young man, and his hands would involuntarily clench into fists as he could not wait to try his hands at a real battle.
Were this not a question about the life and death of Wang Ju Long, then Hui Yue too would also likely enjoy the battle.
Hui Yue was aware that this expert was only in the tournament to fight him, but asking him to allow Hui Yue to win and then fight afterward was useless.
No one knew exactly why Hui Yue wanted to win, but everyone could see that he would do anything to do so.
It was only in such a desperate fight that the Nightcrawler Sect's youth would be able to fully feel the pressure and stimulate his potential, allowing for him to reach new heights. This pressure was something he never truly experienced, so even if he had to fight to the death, he would gladly do so, just to experience it.
The Nightcrawler Sect's youth was in no way looking down on Hui Yue. He was already looking at him as his rival and someone who was possibly even stronger than himself.
Although the battles before had been won easily, Yanluo once more gave Hui Yue and the Nightcrawler Sect's youth an hour to restore their energy to the peak and to mentally prepare themselves for the battle they were about to fight.
This was an important fight for everyone. It would determine who was the number one genius of the younger generation, but more importantly, it would determine the future of Wang Ju Long.
It would also determine the new King of Hell.
Hui Yue shrugged his shoulders as he thought about that. It was only a temporary position. He had already done what he could to ensure that the previous Chujiang would return. He was at most going to be sitting on the throne for a few years while the late king's wife would gather the items needed to resurrect Chujiang. This was the main reason for him to make them remember that death was not final.
Yes, Yanluo had said that if he wanted answers, he needed to become the new King of Hell, but Hui Yue was not interested in this position. Because of this, he decided to do what he could to make them get the previous one back.
Still, this meant nothing right now, and he quickly removed every single thought from his mind. The only thing which mattered to him was to win the next battle. As long as he could win this fight, he would be able to know how to resurrect Ju Long.
The atmosphere was not as light as it had been before. It was now tense, and everyone was counting the minutes, waiting for the battle to start. The ones who seemed the most at ease were the two contestants who were seated in meditation, but truthfully, neither of them were calm.
'Don't worry, we'll win,' Lan Feng tried to ease the worry in Hui Yue's heart, and hearing this, the young man steadily opened his eyes. He nodded his head, and a gleam of certainty appeared in his eyes, "We will win." He repeated as he ascended the stage. It was finally time for the showdown.