According to the rules, when it was a four against one, the party that outnumbered the other could only make one move. Two moves when it was a three against one and three moves when it was a two against one. Once the attack failed, they would have to change their target immediately.
Shang Xia fought one against two and suppressed Qin Daxing with his spear while sending out his Jade River Sword to keep ?Song Yushu busy. However, their exchange had already broken the three moves rule.
No one expected the two of them to be the ones suppressed instead! The rule was there to prevent anyone from intentionally suppressing an individual, but it no longer mattered when the individual was able to take down the two of them! If they wanted to take technicalities into account, Shang Xia only used three moves to kick Qin Daxing out of the arena. Song Yushu was fighting with a sword so that technically didn’t count.
Naturally, neither of them would be thick skinned enough to complain about him breaking the rules. They might find it hard to accept the loss, but being a sore loser would affect their reputation much more negatively.
That was precisely the reason why Qin Daxing stood silently outside the area for a full minute before chuckling to himself under his breath. Turning around, he left without saying a word.
He didn’t even bother staying behind to watch the ongoing battle.
Since his ally had been kicked out of the arena, Song Yushu knew that he wouldn’t be Shang Xia’s opponent. He immediately turned to join the chaotic battle between Tan Xinya and Ma Jianfan.
Similarly, the two who were embroiled in a tough battle intentionally moved closer to where Song Yushu and Shang Xia were.
At the start of the battle, they wanted to knock Shang Xia down a peg because of his supposed arrogance when he defeated the elite sword cultivators of the five institutions. That was the reason they worked together previously. Now, they finally realized that Shang Xia’s strength was enough to threaten anyone present.
Due to the expanded space in the arena, the three of them weren’t able to carry out their plan right away. However, their subtle actions caught the attention of many.
Watching the ‘despicable’ actions of the Martial Intent Realm disciples from the other institutions, the disciples of the Tongyou Institution had already forgotten their anger towards Shang Xia.
Shang Xia’s display of strength helped them to vent their pent-up frustrations. Now, they were cheering for their chief as he fought for the prestige of the Tongyou Institution.
Since Tan Xinya, Ma Jianfan, and Song Yushu’s plan to work together had been noticed by the spectators, the disciples of the Tongyou Institution couldn’t help but snort in contempt. Some of the more hot-tempered ones even unleashed a barrage of expletives on the three.
The feelings of the disciples from the other institutions took a huge hit. Their original excitement became a lot more subdued.
Their expression turned all the more somber when the three started to close in on each other and became the target of curses by the disciples of the Tongyou Institution. Anger smoldered in their heart when they heard how the disciples of the Tongyou Institution were insulting their esteemed senior brothers and sister, but no one dared to say anything. Their faces flushed red in anger and they wanted nothing more than to bury their heads into the ground.
There were even some who chose to leave the plaza completely.
Due to the barrier around the arena, Shang Xia had no idea what happened outside. Regardless, he wasn’t surprised by their decision to work together.
He didn’t bother with the Jade River Sword that Song Yushu had sent flying earlier. Instead, his spear came crashing down towards Song Yushu who was running away.
“Rumble…” A dense web of lightning appeared and formed a domain thirty feet wide.
When Shang Xia was in the Martial Realm, he comprehended his first martial intent, the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm. The power contained in it only increased with his cultivation. Currently, he unleashed it with his Waning Moon Spear.
“Does he not need to recover from his true qi expenditure? How can his meridians withstand so much pressure constantly?” Song Yushu grumbled silently. However, he was pretty jealous of Shang Xia’s strength too.
His thinking didn’t slow him down in any way as rays of sword light emerged to fill the space around him. It sliced open the web of lightning that was attempting to stop him from regrouping with the otter two. He continued to accelerate towards Tan Xinya and Ma Jianfan.
On the other hand, the two of them took the chance to stop the fight between each other as they moved to resist the web of lightning summoned by Shang Xia.
Even though Shang Xia’s attack didn’t injure any of the three, he managed to slightly restrict their movements.
At that moment, the third strike he comprehended from the Providence Spear Art was unleashed. Flashing Meteor!
Like the first move, it emphasized on speed.
However, it was fundamentally different from the two strikes before it.
Rift Crossing, the first move, was focused on breaking through the weak points in his enemy’s technique. His second move, Lightning Stonefire, was a tyrannical strike that blew apart everything in his way.
Flashing Meteor seemed to be a combination of the two moves. It was especially powerful, and it could be considered his ultimate strike. In a certain sense, it had the ability to decide the outcome of the battle.
In fact, Flashing Meteor closed in on the ranks of a martial intent!
After Shang Xia unleashed the move, he felt his residual Yin Yang Essence Qi transforming rapidly into Origin True Qi. A feeling of having entered the large completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm filled Shang Xia’s mind.
That wasn’t the most surprising thing. Instead, his spear art seemed to have broken through in that instant.
It shot out at an even quicker speed and the power contained in it increased slightly. His spear shot out like a meteor.
This time, Shang Xia took the initiative to attack.
When Song Yushu gathered together with the other two, the three of them felt their heart pounding strangely.
Staring in Shang Xia’s direction, they were greeted with the sight of a shooting star flying right at them. That attack contained Shang Xia’s full-powered divine sense, and with so little time to react, none of them could try to avoid it.
With a huge blast resounding through the air, a burst of white light filled the arena. The soundwave was so powerful that it managed to emerge from the protection screen, deafening those outside. Other than the blast, no sounds remained.
As the light faded, a figure was sent flying out of the arena. When the dust settled, everyone saw Tan Xinya’s sorry figure.
Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead as a look of fear remained in her eyes. All of a sudden, her hooks came flying out of the arena. Reaching out to grab them, she snorted softly before turning to leave.
The crowd parted to let her through, but no one bothered to look at her retreating figure. Everyone’s eyes were glued onto the arena that was filled with tiny arcs of lightning.
Before anyone could react, Song Yushu and Ma Jianfan were sent flying out one after the other. Stabilizing their bodies, Ma Jianfan was the first to speak. “That fellow is too demonic!”
“Brother Ma, forget it. His strength is truly terrifying. All we can do is accept our defeat.” Song Yushu interrupted.
As the words left his lips, a thunderous cheer broke out in the crowd. Even those who were partially deafened from the blast earlier seemed to regain their hearing that instant.
Their cheers filled the plaza and this time, Shang Xia truly achieved complete domination. With his strength alone, he suppressed everyone!
The barrier that surrounded the arena started to dissipate, but the scene that greeted the cheering disciples was kind of disturbing.
In the heart of the plaza, Shang Xia’s Waning Moon Spear was stabbed deeply into the ground. His buttocks were stuck firmly to the ground as he leaned his body back. He stretched his legs out in front of him and a weary expression was plastered on his face.