As soon as his opponent was announced, all of Group 7 sighed and mourned despondently. They all looked at Lu Ping with sympathy and had a—‘Senior Martial Brother, you’re done for’—look on their faces.

Lu Ping could even feel the gloating expressions from people like Li Cheng.

Clad in a red blouse, Shi Lingling walked to Lu Ping’s side and chuckled. “Tenth Junior Martial Brother, give it your best! I have faith in you!”

Lu Ping stayed silent and blushed while the disciples laughed happily.

Yao Yong also walked to him and said, “Do your best. Junior Martial Brother, although you’ve already proven yourself. Even if you lose this match, no one can mock you for your defeat.”

Du Feng didn’t say anything, but he, too, nodded at Lu Ping while passing by.

These three were the strongest disciples in Group 7 and formed their own small circle as friends. If not for Shi Lingling’s disinterest in challenging for third place, she would already be the Third Senior Martial Sister a long time ago.

For the three to encourage Lu Ping in his upcoming match, it clearly showed their acknowledgment of his prowess.

Leng Qian was in the Ninth Layer, a cultivation layer even higher than Shi Lingling’s. The two of them were known as the “Two Maidens”, not only due to their high cultivation layers, but also because they were the two most beautiful girls among the Grade 2 disciples.

In the side hall, there were close to a thousand Grade 2 disciples. Among them all, there were five who entered the Late Blood Refining Realm before the age of fourteen. These five were known as the “Five Talents”.

Two of the five managed to cultivate to the Ninth Layer; Lin Sheng of Group 1 and Leng Qian of Group 14. Although Leng Qian had broken through to the Ninth Layer just recently, one could discern how strong she was.

Unlike Shi Lingling’s cheerfulness, Leng Qian always put on a never-changing ice-cold face that alienated her from others. Even so, there were still countless disciples trying their luck on her, only to be ignored without fail.

Lu Ping walked up onto the stage where Leng Qian, clad in white, stood there waiting.

He greeted her as part of the match’s rules and asked, “Senior Martial Sister, shall we?”

Then, he took out his high-grade mystic weapon and stood in a sword stance, ready for the battle.

Leng Qian felt curious—it seemed like Lu Ping, this dark horse, was really different from the rest. Usually, the other disciples would still act a little humble and ask for her mercy before the match began, but this guy just came forward and prepared to fight right away.

Little did she know that Lu Ping had already seen way too many beauties in his past life, so much that he was immune to those so-called beauties. Despite being a natural beauty, Lu Ping never had a thing for the ice-cold ladies like Leng Qian.

With a wave of her hand, Leng Qian brought forth a top-grade mystic weapon. With another swing, she cast the [Jade Lady Sword Styles] sword skill, aiming for Lu Ping’s right shoulder.

Lu Ping once again parried with his sword skill [Blood Condensation Bone Melting Fist]. After exchanging a few bouts to test each other’s strength, Leng Qian made her move.

Her long sword suddenly struck fast and fierce, with each strike accompanied by various spells.

Lu Ping cursed once again and lamented in his heart, Another sword-spell “Technique” talent. Why are talents so common nowadays?

She was close to him in age, or maybe even younger, but had already attained the state of “Technique” for both sword and spell, and on top of that, she was two cultivation layers higher.

As Lu Ping watched her, his own sense of accomplishment for achieving the state of “Technique” quickly vanished.

It was a matter of course to the crowd that Lu Ping took the defensive stance.

But Lu Ping felt sulky for being oppressed in battle. He barely had a second to recover his stance even after releasing two blood charms, let alone fight back.

So this is it? I’ll lose just like this? Lu Ping was unyielding.

Little did he know, Leng Qian was shocked as well. Even her opponent in the previous match, a peak Eighth Layer disciple, didn’t last this long from her attacks.

She initially felt it was a joke to call Lu Ping a dark horse and that he made it to the fourth round due to sheer luck. But now she had to admit he was really something else. Not to mention his attainment of the state of “Technique” in the Seventh Layer, just by looking at his timely release of blood charms alone proved that his strong grasp on the flow of battle. It was even superior to her own.

Her group’s Master Immortal Chen once said that having a precise grasp on the flow of the battle was the foundation to master the state of “Law”. Although having this foundation really didn’t guarantee achieving the state of “Law”, it certainly paved the way.

Am I worse than a mere Seventh Layer disciple? Leng Qian gritted her teeth as she looked at Lu Ping.

She had him heavily oppressed but even so, his stance was firm and his defences were unbreakable. She couldn’t help feeling upset and raised the intensity of her attacks. The arena was suddenly filled with her sword rays and spells.

The crowd below the stage could also tell that Leng Qian was pushing to end the battle quickly and they cheered loudly for her imminent victory.

Just when the crowd was cheering one-sidedly for her, a clear and lucid voice shouted unyieldingly, “Lu Ping, Lu Ping!”

The crowd cursed in their hearts, Who is this, why is he going against the crowd?! Is he looking to get bashed?!

They turned to look and saw a figure in red, Oh, it’s Senior Martial Sister Shi! 

Immediately, the crowd’s cold eyes melted like snow under the sun as they looked at her warmly. It somehow felt a bit disgusting for a bunch of males to stare at a girl like that.

Shi Lingling was sweating. Obviously, she had just finished her match. She ignored the crowd’s attention and continued to cheer for Lu Ping.

Apparently, her opponent was an experienced Ninth Layer disciple. Although she had given her best and used every move she possessed, it was still her defeat. Her opponent had cast a mid-grade mystic instrument, one that a Ninth Layer disciple could barely cast, and defeated her with it. As such, her journey in the competition ended in the top 32.

After she finished her match, she learned that Yao Yong and Du Feng had entered the top 16 but Lu Ping was still fighting, so she rushed to watch the battle. But she didn’t expect to see the crowd cheering for his defeat, which of course, made her indignant on his behalf.

Even more so when she noticed that Lu Ping’s opponent was Leng Qian, the other beauty of the “Two Maidens”. The prideful girl was already unhappy that Leng Qian was a cultivation layer higher than her and after seeing that Leng Qian would most likely enter the top 16, she grew even more grumpy.

So when she heard the crowd’s cheers, it triggered her jealousy and she started cheering for Lu Ping on her own.

Leng Qian was annoyed that she still couldn’t take him down and that he still held his ground so firmly.

She knew that Lu Ping had a defensive mystic instrument and she was planning to oppress him enough into using it. Then, she would seize the chance to use her mystic instrument and easily take him down right after.

But she never expected Lu Ping to be like water to a sponge. Whenever she thought he’d run out of moves, he would keep pulling out something new and remain standing.

Finally, Leng Qian decided to pull out her mystic instrument to attack. This meant putting in more effort to overcome her opponent but that was fine. After all, she had more than just one mystic instrument.

A tiny hammer-like mystic instrument flew out from Leng Qian’s spatial pouch and expanded from one yard in length to almost the size of a house as it crashed down toward Lu Ping.

The crowd exclaimed in shock, their eyes swivelling between the huge hammer and the petite lady. They never expected that a dainty girl like Leng Qian would own such a savage-looking hammer. Even Shi Lingling was dumbfounded.

Lu Ping was in danger!