At this moment, a brief pause occurred in the battle on the stage, but without a doubt, the fight between Ling Xiao and Ling Cheng had become the focus of all the matches on the Martial Arts Platform.
It was just like the battle between Ling Yixue and Ling Tieshou not long ago.
"Why do I feel like Ling Xiao’s defense is even stronger than Ling Cheng’s?"
Ling Yixue, who had previously exchanged blows with Ling Cheng, muttered to herself.
"Impossible, Senior Yi Xue, ’Barbaric Bull Strength’ isn’t primarily a defensive cultivation technique, and it’s only Basic Martial Arts. How could it possibly be stronger than Brother Cheng’s advanced defensive technique, the ’Vajra Technique’?"
"Ling Xiao, I admire your guts, but if that’s all there is to your defense, then you’re bound to lose today!"
Ling Cheng was furious.
The punch he had just thrown indeed hadn’t been with his full strength, he had only used seven levels of power, because he wanted to conserve more True Qi for facing Ling Feng.
But this time, he had no intention of holding back.
"Ten levels of strength—Vajra Fist!"
Ling Xiao furrowed his brow, sensing that Ling Cheng’s punch was obviously much more powerful than the last!
"Then I’ll also counter with ten levels of strength!"
His casual remark nearly caused Ling Cheng to spit blood in anger.
After all that effort, it turns out he hadn’t been defensively exerting his full strength either. That’s pretty impressive.
Another thunderous noise erupted.
Ling Xiao was still unshaken.
On the other hand, Ling Cheng was sent flying backward from the recoil, struggling to stabilize his form.
The stronger the attack, the greater the recoil.
"Who can break through Ling Xiao’s defense?"
"I refuse to believe this!"
Ling Cheng pulled out a pair of gloves from the pocket close to his body, clearly made of a special material.
"Those are Ordinary Treasures; they can enhance one’s attacks. Generally, they increase one’s power by about twenty percent."
In the judge’s seat, there were already people who recognized that the gloves in Ling Cheng’s hands were not ordinary items.
Beyond worldly weapons, this world has Treasures, Spiritual Tools, True Instruments, Immortal Artifacts, Divine Artifacts!
And just among the Treasures alone, there are five grades: Ordinary, Elite, Rare, Immortal Grade, and Divine Grade.
Few among the Ling Family’s younger generation had ever seen a Treasure, not to mention a Spiritual Tool.
It was only the well-informed martial artists in the referee’s seat who recognized the nature of those gloves at a glance.
"Hahaha, this is an Ordinary Treasure. I’ll see if you dare to block now!"
Ling Cheng laughed maniacally.
He felt that it was somewhat embarrassing not being able to break through Ling Xiao’s defense, so this time he had no plans to hold back.
With ten levels of strength and an Ordinary Treasure, he refused to believe Ling Xiao could block it.
Unless Ling Xiao had a defensive type of Treasure.
"So what if I do, just bring it on!"
Ling Xiao knew that relying solely on ’Barbaric Bull Strength’ was definitely not enough to block this attack. He had to use ’Bursting Qi Technique’ to enhance the defensive effect of ’Barbaric Bull Strength’, otherwise, it would be truly troublesome.
After all, his opponent was the fifth-ranked expert of the Elite Hall, more formidable than he had imagined.
In a roar of fury, Ling Cheng once again launched his fists.
And in that instant, Ling Xiao deployed ’Bursting Qi Technique’, with the film on his body visibly thickening and emitting a faint glow.
With a scream, Ling Cheng was blasted flying out again, and this time he was unable to stand up, collapsing directly onto the ground and passing out.
The Ling Cheng, who was ranked fifth in Elite Hall, had been defeated by Ling Xiao without even a single move executed.
Everyone watching was utterly dumbfounded.
They had thought that Ling Xiao’s strength would at least place him in the top twenty.
Even breaking into the top ten was a possibility.
After all, Ling Ziran, who was ranked twentieth, had defeated a disciple ranked eleventh in the grand competition of ten thousand participants.
And since Ling Xiao had defeated Ling Ziran, entering the top ten, although challenging, was estimated to be not a big problem.
Yet, they still didn’t anticipate that facing Ling Cheng, who was ranked fifth, Ling Xiao would win so effortlessly.
Ling Xiao’s performance was simply too astonishing, too eye-catching.
Now, finally, people began to regard him alongside Ling Yihang, Ling Yixue, and Ling Feng.
"This youngster is truly fearsome; he has actually cultivated both the ’Bursting Qi Technique’ and the ’Qi Recovery Technique’ simultaneously. A martial artist of his realm typically cannot manage to cultivate two secret techniques at once," someone remarked.
"Indeed, how many more secrets is he hiding? After that marvelous display of body movement technique, and now two secret techniques, I’m genuinely curious," another added.
"However, he must have reached his limit by now, having used all the techniques at his disposal. He’s probably only slightly stronger than Ling Tieshou. Challenging the top three doesn’t seem likely," a third spectator mused.
"I share the same thought. Unless he has yet another tactic he has not yet revealed!" a fourth interjected.
In the stands, there were quite a few middle and high-ranking members of the Ling Family, as well as martial artists, all of whom had judged and analyzed Ling Xiao’s performance.
In their hearts, they were all astonished, yet they did not seem very optimistic about Ling Xiao surpassing Ling Feng, Ling Yixue, and Ling Yihang.
But the reality was that Ling Yihang, Ling Yixue, Ling Feng, and Ling Xiao were the four disciples who had maintained a streak of victories.
Although this was because they hadn’t yet faced each other, even so, Ling Xiao’s victory over Ling Cheng had already shown his terrifying strength.
Among these four individuals, Ling Xiao was definitely the true dark horse.
And, in fact, many people are most fond of such disruptors.
Therefore, Ling Xiao’s popularity had surged to the point where it nearly rivaled the top three, making him the fourth most popular contender in this elimination tournament.
From a small beggar who was bullied by everyone to a martial artist whose popularity soared today.
Beyond Ling Xiao’s own diligent effort, the most gratitude, of course, should go to his ’Mountain and River Martial Soul’.
If it wasn’t for the awakening of the ’Mountain and River Martial Soul,’ he probably wouldn’t have achieved his current glory.
"Ling Xiao! Ling Xiao!"
Every time Ling Xiao went on the platform, many people would shout his name, among them were some rather good-looking female disciples.
This made Ling Xiao feel somewhat happy inside.
After all, which young man doesn’t experience the yearnings of spring.
Having passed this year, he was now fourteen, and he had started to develop a somewhat vague understanding of romance.
Of course, he also reciprocated the audience’s cheers with outstanding victories.
More and more people admitted defeat upon facing him.
And for those who refused to concede, unless they were among the top ten, they still couldn’t last a single move against him.
Even those in the top ten couldn’t last more than three moves.
Of course, he still hadn’t faced Ling Yihang, Ling Yixue, or Ling Feng.
During this process, Ling Xiao encountered a few very interesting opponents.
This guy, who used to bully him all the time and now was constantly bullied by him, admitted defeat as soon as he saw Ling Xiao.
Ling Chong certainly didn’t want to break a few more ribs.
Then there was Ling Fei.
The person who had once tested Light-work Skill against Ling Xiao admitted defeat right from the start.
During the previous melee of a thousand competitors, Ling Fei had witnessed Ling Xiao’s Light-work Skill.
Knowing he couldn’t win, he figured it was better to conserve his strength.
The most unbelievable thing for everyone was that Ling Tieshou, upon facing Ling Xiao, also chose to admit defeat.
Some thought that Ling Tieshou was intimidated by Ling Yixue.
But Ling Xiao knew better.
Although Ling Tieshou was sinister and ruthless,
he was not stupid; he probably recognized Ling Xiao’s prowess and wanted to preserve his combat strength to deal with others.
After all, this was a scoring system competition; losing one match, or even three or four matches, didn’t matter. What was feared was losing to someone one shouldn’t lose to, because of excessive exertion or injury. That would be truly tragic.