Xu Wuyi retracted his longspear, leaning on it to support himself as he panted lightly.

Less than a minute of high-intensity combat had nearly exhausted the last of his strength.

"East Courtyard, Xu Wuyi is victorious!"

"Round two, the East Courtyard wins!"

The referee’s announcement brought the duel to a close.

Applause erupted throughout the arena, celebrating both the East Courtyard’s victory and the powerful dominance Xu Wuyi had displayed even while severely injured.

"As expected... he still won."

"Xu Wuyi is just too tough. He ended the fight so quickly even with injuries like that."

"Sun Ming was a bit of a letdown. He didn’t put up any effective resistance at all."

"The North Courtyard made a strategic error. If only Luo Liang had been able to wear him down more..."

Amidst the discussions, Xu Wuyi’s form was teleported back to the East Courtyard’s rest area, his body instantly restored by the Battle Network.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Even though he knew it wasn’t real, the sensation of being grievously wounded was truly awful.

...

The duel between the East and North Courtyards had concluded, but the fervent atmosphere in the arena did not fade. On the contrary, Xu Wuyi’s dominant one-on-three performance pushed the excitement to a new peak.

"A one-on-three! Xu Wuyi actually pulled it off!"

"He struggled a bit against Sun Ming at the end, but that was after taking down Zhao Qingwei! He’s too strong!"

"Just how strong is he? Wasn’t he from a common background, lacking resources? How is he still this powerful?!"

"The East Courtyard really struck gold this time. With Xu Wuyi, it’s hard to say who will be number one between them and the West Courtyard!"

Waves of discussion surged through the spectator stands.

In the East Courtyard’s rest area, Shen Wei clapped Xu Wuyi hard on the shoulder, his excitement palpable. "Old Xu, you’re a beast! A one-on-three! Now let’s see who dares to look down on our East Courtyard!"

Zhou Mingxuan also smiled and nodded.

Xu Wuyi’s powerful, injury-defying defeat of Sun Ming had completely secured the East Courtyard’s victory and given a massive boost to their morale.

Xu Wuyi’s expression, however, remained calm. He gently stretched his body, which had been perfectly restored by the Battle Network, and his gaze shifted to the arena where the next duel was about to begin.

"Don’t celebrate too early. The real tough battles are still ahead," he reminded them.

The West Courtyard was the opponent they would ultimately have to face.

Shen Wei’s smile faded slightly, and he nodded seriously. "Got it! First, let’s see how the West and South Courtyards fight."

After a short break, the light screen in the center of the arena lit up again, displaying the information for the next match:

West Courtyard VS South Courtyard.

Just as most people had predicted, the South Courtyard’s overall strength was at the bottom of the four courtyards. Apart from Li Hao, their other two team members had only just broken through to the Martial Artist realm. In terms of both Energy Level and combat ability, there was a clear gap between them and the top-tier contestants.

This was a duel with almost no suspense. The only points of interest were how the West Courtyard would win and whether Li Hao could once again put on an amazing performance under their immense pressure.

「West Courtyard Rest Area.」

Qin Rui stood with his arms crossed, his calm gaze sweeping over the South Courtyard’s roster before finally landing on Li Hao’s name.

"The South Courtyard is basically a one-man team," he said faintly. His tone held no trace of contempt; he was simply stating a fact. "The other two are not worth worrying about."

Tana clenched her fists, eager for a fight. "Let me go first! I promise I’ll finish one of them in three hammer strikes!"

But Qin Rui shook his head. His gaze shifted to Tana as he calmly analyzed, "No. For this match, I’ll go first."

He paused, then explained, "Li Hao is extremely fast, and his fighting style is flexible. While you have great strength, your margin for error is low against this type of opponent, which makes it riskier."

"If he wears you down with hit-and-run tactics or finds an opening, the loss would outweigh any gain. It’s safest for me to go first."

Tana pouted. Although she was a bit unconvinced, she knew Qin Rui was right.

She had been in her element against a head-on brawler like Luo Liang, but facing a slippery eel like Li Hao would definitely be a headache.

’It’s better to let Qin Rui go up and fight speed with speed. Even if he loses, Li Hao will be in bad shape. By the time he has to face me, that eel won’t be so slippery anymore.’

Xu Zhi nodded in agreement from the side. "It’s safest for Old Qin to go. If we take down Li Hao quickly, we can end this duel easily."

Qin Rui said no more. His gaze returned to the arena, his eyes as sharp as a sword.

He would secure this victory for the West Courtyard in the most direct way possible.

...

Meanwhile, in the South Courtyard’s rest area, the atmosphere was far more somber.

Li Hao stared at the West Courtyard’s star-studded roster on the light screen and took a deep breath.

He was keenly aware of the massive gap between his team and the West Courtyard. If they wanted to win, their only hope was for him to create a miracle.

"Li Hao, we..." his teammate beside him started, then trailed off, his face a mixture of nervousness and unease.

Li Hao cut him off, his voice firm. "We’ll do our best. I’m going first. No matter what, I’ll try to wear down Qin Rui as much as possible."

He knew that against the West Courtyard, trying to outmaneuver them with clever matchups was pointless.

Their only sliver of hope was to defeat the opponent’s ace head-on.

Although that hope was exceedingly slim, he had to try.

A flash of light, and the figures of the first combatants from each team appeared in the arena.

West Courtyard: Qin Rui.

South Courtyard: Li Hao.

When both names appeared on the screen at the same time, the entire stadium erupted!

"Ace versus ace!"

"Qin Rui is facing Li Hao right from the start!"

"Now this is going to be a good show! Li Hao’s speed versus Qin Rui’s sword—who’s faster?"

None of the spectators had expected this seemingly one-sided duel to jump straight into its most climactic part from the very beginning.

The leading figures of their respective courtyards were crossing swords in the very first match!

In the arena, Qin Rui stood tall and straight, longsword in hand, his aura sharp and oppressive.

He looked at Li Hao opposite him, his eyes calm but carrying an invisible pressure.

Li Hao gripped his twin sabers, his gaze as sharp as a hawk’s. The aura around him condensed, making him seem like a cheetah poised to strike.

Facing Qin Rui, he felt an unprecedented pressure, but even stronger was his boiling will to fight.

"Begin!"

The moment the referee’s voice fell, the two of them moved almost simultaneously!

CLANG!

SWOOSH!

In an instant, the gleam of a sword and the shadow of sabers filled the entire arena! 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Qin Rui unleashed his Light-Splitting Shadow-Stealing Sword. Layers of sword-shadows appeared, making it impossible to tell which were real and which were fake. His sword moved at an astonishing speed, shrieking as it tore through the air, stabbing at Li Hao from all sorts of bizarre angles.

Meanwhile, Li Hao pushed his own speed to the absolute limit. His twin sabers danced as his figure flickered like a phantom, weaving through the dense sword-shadows to parry and counterattack.

The arena was almost entirely filled with the afterimages left by his high-speed movements. The light from his sabers flashed like blue lightning, periodically clashing with the gleam of the sword and throwing off blinding sparks.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG—!

The dense sound of metal on metal, like rain drumming on banana leaves, rang out continuously with barely a pause!

The two of them had launched into such a spectacular battle right from the start, drawing continuous gasps of astonishment from the audience.