The excitement in the arena had finally reached its peak as a bald young man with a burly build stepped on the platform and turned his gaze towards a red-haired young man who was standing on one of the surrounding platforms.
This bald young man was no one else other than the person ranked 7th in the Martial Roll of Honor, Mao Lim.
As for the red-haired young man whom he was staring at, he naturally attracted a lot of attention himself.
After all, not only was this red-haired young man standing right next to Qiao Min, the goddess who was ranked 2nd in the Martial Roll of Honor, but even Shun Long and the others all had heard of his name as well plenty of times.
This was the person who was ranked 4th in the Martial Roll of Honor, one of the 5 strongest outer court disciples of the Holy sect, Zheng Zihao!
''Hey! Senior brother Mao is intending to challenge Zheng Zihao again? Is he serious?''
''I knew this would happen. In the last Martial Roll of Honor tournament, Mao Lim didn't manage to make it to the top 5 only because of senior brother Zheng who defeated him with one punch! He naturally wants to take revenge!''
''How is he planning to take revenge? The last time, senior brother Mao was only an early rank 3 Dao King while Zheng Zihao had already reached the peak rank 3 in the Dao King realm.''
''If I was Mao Lim I would challenge Luo Zhelan to get into the top 5 instead of challenging senior brother Zheng. It should be easier to beat the person ranked 5th than the person ranked 4th.''
''Idiot, do you think senior brother Luo is weak? Even if he is weaker than Zheng Zihao, it shouldn't be by too much. It's better to challenge an opponent you are already familiar with than someone that you have never fought before.''
While he listened to the discussions from the disciples in the crowd around him, Shun Long had already focused his attention towards the bald young man who was standing on the platform.
Mao Lim had his aura retracted inside his body, not leaking out even a little bit of it.
He was calmly staring at the red-haired Zheng Zihao with a gaze filled with fighting intent.
Next to Zheng Zihao, Qiao Min looked at him and smiled as she said
''Junior brother don't lose, or you will cause me to lose face as well.''
Zheng Zihao looked at Qiao Min calmly and shook his head without saying anything, before he turned his gaze towards Mao Lim on the platform.
Without any hesitation, his body suddenly shot towards the arena like a red blur, crossing the distance between them and arriving right in front of Mao Lim in less than a second.
''Eh? That kid is a bit faster than most other rank 3 Dao Kings. I guess this fight may be a bit interesting after all.''
For the first time in a while, the green-haired Bai Liuxian who had a sulky mood previously finally spoke, as she stared at Zheng Zihao on the platform below her.
Indeed, none of the previous fights had managed to catch her interest in the slightest.
Even those disciples in the top 50 could only be considered below average or average at best in her eyes.
As for this Zheng Zihao, it seemed that speed was his greatest strength.
The purple-robed 'uncle Mo' next to her didn't speak, as he simply stood there and looked at the fighting platform in the arena with an uncaring look on his face.
He knew that although the princess seemed to be interested, it was only because the previous fights had been too boring for her.
In the past 5 months that he had been traveling around the central region with her, he had seen plenty of talents similar to this Zheng Zihao and even stronger than him, but none of them were strong enough to attract his princess' attention.
Bai Liuxian had only chosen only 4 geniuses so far, and every single one of them was far stronger than this Zheng Zihao, whether it was in terms of talent or strength.
In 'uncle Mo's' eyes, Zheng Zihao's famed speed would only put him at the bare minimum to stand on the same stage as those geniuses.
As for his strength, it would need to be at least a few levels higher than his speed if he wanted to compete against them.
As the outer court Elder called for the battle to begin, Mao Lim didn't hide his cultivation base any longer, revealing that he had actually reached the peak of rank 3 in the Dao King realm.
Many outer disciples were surprised by this, including Dong Ai's elder brother, Dong Cheng who was ranked in 6th place, right above Mao Lim.
Dong Chen was previously certain that he could defeat Mao Lim effortlessly, since he had also reached the peak of rank 3 in the Dao King realm before the Martial Roll of Honor tournament started... but now, he felt slightly uncertain.
Dong Cheng had been confident previously that he could beat either Zheng Zihao or Luo Zhelan and earn a spot in the top 5, but now he understood that Mao Lim was most likely not any weaker than him.
''Hmph, it doesn't matter. I have a star-rank weapon while Mao Lim only has that pair of gloves at the peak of rank 3 in the gold grade. Even if we fought against each other again, I would be the one who would come out on top!''
As he remembered his biggest advantage against Mao Lim, a surge of confidence bloomed in Dong Cheng's heart before he turned his attention towards a young man who was standing a few tens of meters away from him.
This was Dong Cheng's target this time, the person ranked 5th in the Martial Roll of Honor, Luo Zhelan!
Even though Luo Zhelan also had a star-rank weapon like him, Dong Cheng was confident in his chances of winning.
In his heart, he had at least a 50 percent chance to enter the top 5 this time.
On the fighting platform, the fight between Mao Lim and Zheng Zihao was extremely heated.
Mao Lim fought with his pair of gloves while Zheng Zihao took out a large yellow hammer that was more than 2 meters(6.5ft) tall, with many mysterious runes covering it completely.
Although Mao Lim's attacks were extremely fierce and his speed was actually only a bit lower than Zheng Zihao's own speed, Zheng Zihao's hammer attacks were truly horrifying, leaving Mao Lim pale-faced against them.
Mao Lim had to dodge most of the hammer attacks, and those few that he didn't manage to avoid in time ended up sending him stumbling back, as they caused hints of blood to appear on his lips.
In the past, Zheng Zihao hadn't used his hammer when he fought against Mao Lim, using only a single fist to defeat him.
But this time, he had to go all-out.
Although Zheng Zihao had the advantage in this fight, Mao Lim's attacks weren't weak either.
Finally, a few minutes later, Mao Lim's body was sent flying from the sky as it crashed on the platform below him, creating a small crater in the process.
Zheng Zihao was panting for breath as he stood in the sky above the platform looking downwards with a look that was filled with fighting intent.
Indeed, Mao Lim was weaker than him and he had won, but Zheng Zihao knew that he couldn't underestimate him any longer.
He understood that if Mao Lim had a star-rank weapon as well, Zheng Zihao would find it much more difficult to win.
Cheers filled the arena as Mao Lim stood up a few moments later and looked at Zheng Zihao in the sky unwillingly, before he carried his battered body away and left the platform.
Zheng Zihao flew back towards Qiao Min, before another fight between the top 10 started.
Dong Cheng finally challenged the person ranked 5th, Luo Zhelan.
Liu Mei and the others all stared at Dong Cheng with cold looks filled with killing intent.
After all, everyone had seen how he had suddenly stepped on the arena and attacked Shun Long after his fight with Dong Ai.
Although Dong Cheng hadn't tried to kill Shun Long since the Elders of the sect would have definitely punished him heavily and even killed him for killing another disciple openly like that, his attack had been strong enough to heavily injure any normal peak rank 9 Nascent Soul cultivator.
Luo Zhelan faced Dong Cheng calmly, before he took out a huge silver sword that he held in front of his chest with both hands.
This was Luo Zhelan's weapon, a star-rank heavy sword!
Dong Cheng had been confident that he could win the fight since he had already fought with Luo Zhelan in the last Martial Roll of Honor tournament as well, but once the fight actually started, Dong Cheng was stunned when he clashed with Luo Zhelan head-on for the first time.
The moment that his black saber collided with Luo Zhelan's heavy sword, Dong Cheng stumbled back for more than a few steps until he regained his balance.
The web on his hand that was holding his saber almost tore apart as Dong Cheng realized that Luo Zhelan's attacks were much stronger than the last time.
Dong Cheng who was most confident in his own offense finally understood that Luo Zhelan wasn't any weaker than him either in this regard.
As for his defense, it was actually much weaker than Luo Zhelan's.
Although Dong Cheng was slightly faster and could hold his own, he was unable to hold on for too long and was defeated.
Surprisingly, after this fight ended, the person ranked 3rd in the Martial Roll of Honor, Zhang Jing didn't step forward.
Instead, silence filled the arena, as a beautiful young woman with blue hair and a pair of sapphire-like eyes stepped on the empty platform, and turned her gaze towards the strongest outer disciple on the outer court, the person ranked 1st in the Martial Roll of Honor, Yang Hui.