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Xiao Budian glanced at Tuntun and smirked. "And you didn’t think about shirking your duty? You didn’t think about standing aside and watch the two of them gang up on me?"

Tuntun was taken aback for a moment. She actually had this sort of plan in mind – but unfortunately it wasn’t executed as fast as Xiao Budian, neither can she match his shamelessness.

"Of course not, from the start it has been me putting my life on the line!" Her volume was now a notch lower.

Xiao Budian snorted. "Oh please. Even if I lost this round, I can still enter the Ancient Huanghai World. The quota was primarily for you – and you want to sit and watch? When has there ever been a free lunch?"

Tuntun wanted to issue another retort, but Xiao Budian terminated her with one sentence. "Golden Deer, Black Spiritual jiao, Heavenly River Jade Fruit, Purple Jade Melon, Crimson Fire Pear and Original Gold Fruit, and Pine Needle Spiritual Snake, Eight Delicacies Chicken, Nine Hearts Spiritual Sparrow, Pearl Fish, Purple Lightning Mink. Oh yeah, and Blue Glow Vine, Emerald Spiritual Celery and Dragon Scale Bamboo Shoot..."

Tuntun swallowed and snorted with feigned coldness. "You...Why are you talking about these things? Now we’re discussing how you sold me out!"

It’s just that the last line betrayed her true thoughts instantly. "What’s the point in saying so much? Not like you have these."

Xiao Budian looked up at the sky and said with a leisurely confidence, "But I’ll have these very soon."

Tuntun’s eyes lit up. "Really? Where?"

Xiao Budian looked at her and chuckled. "Why tell you? I see that you’re not really interested."

"You..." Tuntun’s facial features instantly screwed up. She grabbed Xiao Budian’s arm and said threateningly, "Give everything to me...half at least, and I won’t pursue the matter further!"

Xiao Budian raised his eyebrows. "Nice try. I don’t even have enough for myself to eat."

Lin Feng did not bother with this pair of clowns, but instead said to Zhu Yi, "Yi, watch this round carefully. Observe every single detail."

Zhu Yi looked at Song Qingyuan and Gu Lei as they walk towards the Hidden Dragon Gorge and nodded slowly.

Lin Feng’s gaze fell on the Hidden Dragon Gorge as well. "This round should be able to verify my hypothesis."

After the fight between Xiao Budian and the Dual Swords of the Sun and the Moon, the second round of the Top Eight Battle would be Song Qingyuan of the Heaven Lake Sect versus Gu Lei of the Purple Clouds Sect.

If you look at their past records, Song Qingyuan has just defeated his nemesis, Du Kun from the Royal House of the Northern Tribes, and was on an upwards trajectory. Meanwhile, although Gu Lei entered the Top Eight via nomination from his junior Li Kuiyin, no one dares to underestimate him either.

As expected, the battle, from the start, bore a resemblance to the collision of two massive planetary bodies. Ice and fire flew through the air along with lightning and thunder – the two demonstrated maximal mastery of their Sect’s crafts.

Regardless of the intricate control of the spells or the destructive power of the spells themselves, the two both proved their great proficiency, granting the spectators a feast for the eyes.

They fought through the forests and the hills, with their strength being comparable to each other. This could be said to be the most exciting, and the most balanced fight since the start of the Aurous Core cultivator battles of the Conference.

The turning point of the battle came during a sudden close-in assault by Song Qingyuan, when he activated the Two Bodies of Ice and Fire, defeating Gu Lei with pure physical might.

Looks of regret and disappointment flashed across the faces of the Purple Clouds Sect cultivators. After Gu Lei’s defeat, in either Foundation Establishment or Aurous Core, none from the Purple Clouds Sect could make it into the Top Four this Conference.

Gu Lei himself, meanwhile, was rather graceful instead of being bitter. Having exited the Hidden Dragon Gorge, he looked at Li Kuiyin coming towards him and smiled helplessly. "Sorry to disappoint you. If I had known, it’s better to have me concede and let you enter the Top Eight."

"It’s not like I need this to prove myself." Li Kuiyin shook her head slightly. "If it was me, I would have fell to Song Qingyuan long ago, instead of fighting until the end."

Just as Li Kuiyin said, Gu Lei and Song Qingyuan have supplied an exciting, textbook-worthy battle, benefiting many of the spectators. Although Gu Lei was narrowly defeated, he won every single person’s respect.

His seniors and juniors from the Purple Clouds Sect were regretful, but they still came up, one by one, to comfort and console Gu Lei.

On the other side, Song Qingyuan’s popularity skyrocketed yet again due to this battle with Gu Lei. The consecutive victories over Du Kun and Gu Lei, two seed candidates, proved the worth of his Top Four seat.

Right now, support for Song Qingyuan to become the champion was almost going to exceed that for even Zhu Yi and Jiao Junchen.

But at this moment, as Lin Feng looked at Song Qingyuan, a subtle smile surfaced at the corner of his mouth. "My previous guess is correct. Unless up until now he has been acting and giving off smoke all along, this man is truly not a serious danger. He can be removed from the list of threats now."

Lin Feng gazed at Zhu Yi by his side, seeing that his eyebrows were crunched up as he stared at Song Qingyuan’s figure with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"See it?" Lin Feng asked, smiling.

"Somewhat. I have some inchoate ideas, but it’s like looking through frosted glass, completely unclear." Zhu Yi answered.

Lin Feng laughed lightly and gave him a subtle hint. Zhu Yi’s eyes lit up instantly. "So that’s it. If this is true, it would be much easier to defeat him."

"You must be careful that he’s not intentionally laying a smokescreen." Lin Feng reminded.

"Master is right. However, even if he is indeed trying to deceive us, we know where the smokescreen is now. We just have to be careful and prudent." Zhu Yi nodded.

At this moment, Lin Feng gazed at the Hidden Dragon Gorge. "I’m afraid the next battle would be rather dull."

Zhu Yi was taken aback for a moment. Looking at Shi Xingyun and Tao Yaoyao, who were walking towards the Hidden Dragon Gorge, he started to ponder.

Unlike Lin Feng, most of the audience had high expectations for this battle. They all think this shall be an exciting fight that matches the previous one.

Tao Yaoyao, recognized to be the finest Aurous Core disciple of the Sword of Radiance Sect, having made a name for herself since centuries ago. Strictly speaking, she could be considered to be of a different generation from most other participants of the Conference.

Even the younger, more junior disciples of the Sword of Radiance Sect itself did not even know that such a person existed, let alone the others.

Tao Yaoyao has already reached peak Advanced Aurous Core several hundred years ago, only a step away from forming her Nascent Soul. Her talent was dazzling and indubitable, being one of the greatest prodigies of not just the Sword of Radiance Sect, but the entire Nine Heavenly Sword Alliance.

Her strength was so incredible that she, as an Advanced Aurous Core cultivator, was able to annihilate a Nascent Soul elder, creating ripples in many circles.

But lamentably, it was also that very battle that caused Tao Yaoyao’s Aurous Core to almost shatter, forcing her to stagnate for centuries at Advanced Aurous Core stage and wasting uncountable years.

But after a hundred years of convalescence, although she can’t hope for advancement to Nascent Soul stage yet, Tao Yaoyao has returned to her former strength. Since she entered the Conference, she has crushed all her adversaries along the way, defeating the Dual Sword Combination of the Sun Moon Sword Sect alone. Her unstoppable momentum was rarely even matched among the participants.

While Shi Xingyun was little known before his participation in the Conference. The phrase "Nascent Soul - Chongyun, Aurous Core – Xingyun" only circulated in small circles; this Spiritual Conference of Huanghai was the real stage on which Shi Xingyun shall prove himself.

And she did indeed demonstrate her strength and power, laying waste to her opponents along the way as well to advance. Even Sang Luohe, the top Aurous Core Soul Sorcerer of the Northern Tribes, fell to her – and Shi Xingyun was visibly holding back as well.

Melding the soul of the Immemorial Celestial Dragon into her own Soul, particularly, warned people to not look on her lightly. Even though she only demonstrated the resilience of her Soul, but after melding the Dragon Soul, it was definitely much faster for her cultivation of the Great Qin Empire’s Secret Manual of the Five Imperial True Dragons, giving rise to surprises as well.

In contrast to the Foundation Establishment stage pair, Yue Hongyan and Dao Yuting, Tao Yaoyao and Shi Xingyun were regarded as the unrivalled Valkyrs of Aurous Core stage; many busybodies wished that the two would decide with the sword who was the better.

It was the regret of many that Yue Hongyan and Dao Yuting had not managed to fight each other.

And now the Aurous Core pair, Tao Yaoyao and Shi Xingyun, were bound for a collision – they should be able to provide a more exciting battle!

Unfortunately, expectations were far from reality. The intense clash of the beauties that many has anticipated did not show.

The fight between Tao Yaoyao and Shi Xingyun, like Lin Feng has said, was extremely dull and insipid.

In short, it was basically one party all-out attacking, while the other defends like a turtle and refuse to retaliate in kind.

Tao Yaoyao did not let the spectators down. She did not even use the Radiant Clouds Sword Technique – but rather the strongest, Instant Sword Teleportation, immediately, transforming into a streak of light. She was so fast that she was impossible for the naked eye to observe, forcing people to rely on Awareness to sense her.

Within the Hidden Dragon Gorge, streaks of sword radiance weaved a web in the air. When the previous sword radiance yet remained on the retina, the second, third, fourth have already appeared.

While Shi Xingyun’s performance disappointed many – she was so extremely conservative, forgoing all possible attacks and using all of her energy on defense, parrying the storm of attacks from Tao Yaoyao.

The anticipated exciting battle turned into a one-sided attack-defense exercise. Apart from the Sword of Radiance Sect disciples, who were audibly stoked, most others felt great disappointment – it was so far from their expectations.

Shi Xingyun’s only commendable performance was a spell that astonished the entire audience.

White, Blue, Black, Red, Yellow – Five dragons of five colors of light hovered and spun, linking with each other to form circles. As the Five Elements gave birth to each other, they were impregnable and impenetrable, forming an unchanging fortress that shielded Shi Xingyun at its center. Regardless of the ferocity of Tao Yaoyao’s attacks outside, the five-colored barriers were unmoved and unyielding.

Imperial Script of the White Dragon, Imperial Script of the Blue Dragon, Imperial Script of the Black Dragon, Imperial Script of the Red Dragon, and the Imperial Script of the Yellow Dragon – those were the five major branches of the Great Qin Empire’s Secret Manual of the Five True Imperial Dragons. It was not easy for ordinary Imperial family members to master even one of them.

Shi Shaogan was already celebrated as a genius for mastering two, the Imperial Script of the Red Dragon and the Imperial Script of the Yellow Dragon.

But Shi Xingyun managed to master all five mantras – such talent was indeed shocking and unbelievable.

When they saw her five dragons flying side by side, the entire audience went hysteric – they could not wait to see whether Shi Xingyun’s Five Elements Light Dragons were stronger, or will Tao Yaoyao’s Instant Sword Teleportation be sharper.

But Shi Xingyun immediately doused their sudden euphoria. The Five Elements Light Dragons only defended and did not attack – as if hidden under a turtle shell, she allowed Tao Yaoyao to land her blows and just refused to retaliate in any way.

Finally, Tao Yaoyao let herself loose completely, only attacking with zero defense. All her energy was used on attacking, with her defense full of holes like a slice of Swiss cheese – but Shi Xingyun somehow managed to restrain her temptations and consolidate her defense, as if she came up just to force a draw with Tao Yaoyao.

The low-level cultivators watching were depressed and unsatisfied, but Lin Feng, Shi Zongyue and co. watched with much interest. The VIPs all looked on at the Hidden Dragon Gorge, in high spirits and with obvious attentiveness.