Like Lan Jue, the Driver was a Dual Lightning Adept. His Discipline was even higher than Lan Jue's, so he wasn't afraid of his opponent.
But the Northern Alliance Adept had surprised him as soon as the fight began.
When the little Adept heard the electronic voice, he leapt to his feet and leapt two meters into the air.
This wasn't much to an Adept, but what he did next made the Driver's heart skip a beat.
The little Adept's body spun horizontally through the air, and then he spun like a spinning top. Like a spear, he was right in front of the Driver. Even with his Lightning Discipline, the Driver's vision blurred for a moment before the spear pierced right through his chest.
Five spikes shot out from each of the Adept's black arms. Each spike was dark and unremarkable, but even before it reached the Driver's protective shields rippled violently, as though they were on the verge of breaking apart.
Still, the Driver was one of the best of Skyfire Avenue's younger generation.
He didn't panic in the slightest. Instead, he shifted his feet, and a blue electric light sprang up around him. By a hair's breadth, he was able to evade the Adept's attack.
Both sides had mastered the art of speed.
The little Northern Alliance Adept bounced back as soon as he hit the ground. In the blink of an eye, he was back on his feet, aiming for the Driver's back.
The Driver's attack came at the same time. As he dodged, a ball of blue lightning appeared behind him.
The Adept was too fast for him to dodge. He dove right into the ball of lightning.
However, a shocking scene appeared. The ball of lightning that was supposed to explode actually stopped in midair.
The little Adept dug a hole in the wall and pushed his way through. He was right in front of the Driver.
The Driver darted forward like lightning. Tears streamed down his face, accompanied by a low rumble.
The Adept exploded in all directions.
After the short man's attack missed again, he landed on the ground. He suddenly turned around and raised his hands. A huge tornado with a pale purple light swept out. He was actually facing the lightning that was famous for its explosive power.
He chose to fight offense with offense.
That's why it's said that you can't judge a book by its cover. Although he looked so small, he was surprisingly strong in battle.
The lightning and the hurricane collided, causing a series of explosions.
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled on the stage, and the stage's barrier began to tremble violently.
No one knew when Chu Dong had arrived, but he had poured his power into the barrier to stabilize the defense.
Most of the matches were decided by machines, but in this special situation, a top-level Arcanist like him was needed to safeguard the match.
The two sides collided fiercely. Thunder exploded and the hurricane shattered.
The intense energy fluctuations turned the large stage into an energy storm.
The short Arcanist leaped backward.
His body spun again, and another cyclone sprang up to attack the Driver.
The Driver grunted.
It suddenly flashed and disappeared.
The next moment, he appeared behind the short Arcanist and stopped.
The energy storm continued to rage on the stage, but the tornado the short Adept had created was gone.
Then, nine claps of thunder rang out from his body.
His body trembled violently, and he collapsed.
Nine bolts of silver lightning flashed.
In the end, it turned into a strange symbol that stagnated in the air before slowly dissipating.
The fight was over!
From the beginning, the fight had been evenly matched.
In the end, he had defeated the Driver.
The entire process had taken no more than a minute.
The Driver had won. Not many people had seen how he had done it.
Below the stage.
Chu Dong's face betrayed his shock. This fight had been even better than the one between Chu Cheng and Liliana.
He recognized the short Adept. He was only ninth level first rank, but in the Northern Alliance he was one of the best.
He had an exceptionally keen understanding of the wind, and he was a powerful Wind Attribute Innate Arcanist.
Later, when he realized he wasn't strong enough for a single attack, he modified his body.
His arms were forged from an extremely precious alloy, which resonated with his wind-attribute ability and could produce extremely powerful high-frequency vibrations, thus giving his arms an incomparably powerful offensive power.
They could even tear through the hull of a warship.
The short Adept's true identity was that of an assassin's guild.
But he'd been defeated.
He'd been defeated.
First, the speed of the wind he was so famous for had been defeated by his opponent's lightning.
His attacks hadn't been able to reach his opponent because of the difference in speed.
Worst of all, his opponent's lightning was accompanied by thunder.
That last attack had been beyond the realm of ordinary lightning. It had contained protogenia, but it hadn't been revealed.
In all the fights Chu Dong had seen, this was the most explosive attack Chu Dong had ever seen.
However, he did not know the name of that attack.
The others couldn't name it, but Lan Jue's face betrayed a small smile. He knew the name of the Driver's attack.
Nine Taiyin Lightnings!
The Nine Taiyin Lightnings, the Forefather of Yin Lightning.
What the Driver had shown was only the tip of the iceberg.
If he hadn't, the short Adept wouldn't have just collapsed, he would have been reduced to ash.
Lan Jue knew from the Driver's attack that the Driver was superior to him in terms of pure understanding of lightning.
The Nine Taiyin Lightnings was the opposite of the Nine Taiyin Lightnings.
Lan Jue must have trained in this discipline, but because he'd focused more on taiji, he'd given up on the Nine Taiyin Lightnings.
His father had wanted him to wait until he was ninth level seventh rank before training in the Nine Taiyin Lightnings. With his understanding of taiji, he'd be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Lan Jue thought to himself that he'd have to go back and visit his father. He'd have to learn more about the Nine Taiyin Lightnings.
He could still vaguely recall the Nine Taiyin Lightnings and the Three Prajna Mantras being the strongest of the old man's techniques.
But the old man had said that if he could one day combine the Nine Taiyin Lightnings with the Nine Taiyin Lightnings, he'd be able to improve even further.
Both the Nine Taiyin Lightnings and the Nine Taiyin Lightnings were too powerful. Cultivating them would harm the body.
Only Taiji could harmonize them and neutralize the dryness.
The Nine Taiyin Lightnings, in particular, was the fiercest of yang. Cultivating it would not harm his body.
The thought of the Nine Taiyin Lightnings filled Lan Jue's heart with excitement.
Once he mastered it, his strength would rise to new heights.
It seemed the Driver had only just begun to learn the Nine Taiyin Lightnings.
Whether it was the Taiyin Lightnings or the Taiyin Lightnings, they were existences on the level of protogenia.
At their peak, one could seek out the Dao of Taiyin or Taiyang to become a Paragon.
Clearly the Driver had chosen this path as his own.
Lan Jue's path, however, was more complicated. At least, he hadn't made up his mind yet.
The rest of the competition was relatively calm, and there were no more Level Nine versus Level Nine situations. After all, when the ranking was carried out, the organizers still took this into consideration. Compared to a Level Nine Ability User, the chances of a Level Nine Ability User being matched against a Level Nine Ability User was still relatively low.
After half a day of waiting, Lan Jue's last team was finally ready to enter the arena. It was the middle of the day.
Arena Eight. His opponent was Adept sixty-seven.
When Lan Jue reached the ring and saw his opponent, he couldn't help but sigh helplessly.
Sixty-seven was none other than the Barber from Skyfire Avenue.
Wasn't this like a flood crashing into the temple of the Dragon King?
His luck wasn't just a little bad!
There were certain unspoken rules to the tournament, one of which was to avoid them. In other words, Adepts from the Major League, Skyfire Avenue, and the Citadels would not be matched against each other in the first three rounds.
But Lan Jue had registered as an individual, and hadn't gone to Skyfire Avenue.
So there was still a chance he'd be matched against someone from his own group.
Of the seventeen hundred or so Adepts in the second round, he'd drawn one of the few from Skyfire Avenue. It was a stroke of luck that defied common sense.
When the Barber saw that it was Lan Jue, his face darkened.
Lan Jue's luck was bad, but it was worse for the Barber.
He couldn't say anything, he was in the arena.
In order to keep Lan Jue's identity a secret, the Barber had to go down.
"I'm sorry," Lan Jue said helplessly.
The Barber snorted. "Are you sure you'll win?
Let's see. "
Ever since he'd lost to Lan Jue, he'd been working very hard. It had stimulated his potential, and he'd broken through to ninth level second rank.
Lan Jue was taken aback by his words. Yes!
He was no longer ninth level seventh rank, but ninth level first rank.
Defeating the Barber wouldn't be as easy as it had been before.
Still, it wouldn't be easy at all.
The Barber's lips curled up at the thought, and a faint smile spread across his face beneath his mask.
Since he'd met, he might as well fight.
He'd have to leave something for his opponent.
"Three, two, one. Begin!"
As the electronic voice rang out, the Barber's body flickered, and he was already in the air.
His Discipline was wind, the same as the Driver's.
But his was purer, and he'd reached ninth level just by virtue of his Discipline.
-----
Asking for votes for chapter four hundred.
(To be continued)