Chapter 281 – Entering the Top Three … … … As the tournament continued, top level geniuses frequently collided. During the 20th round, Jiang Lanjian fought against Qin Wuxin. Qin Wuxin and Jiang Lanjian’s styles could be said to mutually oppose each other. Qin Wuxin was slow and she was poor at melee combat. As for Jiang Lanjian, he was just the opposite. Qin Wuxin’s attacks were sharp and invisible, and Jiang Lanjian happened to have inadequate defensive capabilities. It was difficult to predict who would be the winner this match. On the martial stage, Qin Wuxin’s white robe fluttered in the wind. Jiang Lanjian was wearing a tight-fitting green robe, holding his sword as he stood there calmly. They were 200 feet apart. If Jiang Lanjian could completely close this distance, then victory was his. If he couldn’t, then he would undoubtedly be defeated. After the match started, the two contestants went all out with everything they had. Qin Wuxin immediately played the Profound Wind Eight Melodies, and Jiang Lanjian fused the Concept of Wind into his sword. This was the first time that Jiang Lanjian had used the Concept of Wind ever since being defeated by Lin Ming. Not only that, but he used it right at the beginning. Jiang Lanjian was aware that if he didn’t use it now, he wouldn’t have the chance to later. The zither sound wave attacks were invisible and formless. Jiang Lanjian’s soul force was limited, and he wasn’t able to sense them in the wind. He could only use sword light to protect his body. With the support of the Concept of Wind, Jiang Lanjian’s sword formed a vortex of sword energy. Dozens of wind blades shot out in all directions, crashing into the hidden murderous intent that was hiding in the void. Ding ding ding! Crisp and clear sounds resounded in the air, as if zither strings were snapping apart. Jiang Lanjian was breaking apart the zither notes, but his sword light was also constantly being chipped away. Qin Wuxin’s Profound Wind Eight Melodies was an incomparably mysterious technique. The zither sounds contained a formidable vibrating power. A single sound was able to shatter several sword lights! Jiang Lanjian was repeatedly trapped and cornered by this zither music, and was unable to close in on Qin Wuxin. However, Qin Wuxin did not dare to be arrogant and underestimate her enemy. As long as she gave him even the slightest chance, Jiang Lanjian would instantly close the distance. Qin Wuxin wasn’t fast, but she could still move with her zither suspended in front of her, without interrupting her melody. As a result, Jiang Lanjian was unable to catch up to her. Ordinary sounds were mixed in with the lethal zither music of the Profound Wind Eight Melodies; it was simply like a dangerous tide. Jiang Lanjian was encompassed by this zither music as if he had fallen down into a bog, and his Concept of Wind was constantly being dashed to pieces. Jiang Lanjian knew that if he stayed on the defensive and didn’t attack, he would be defeated sooner or later. All he had to do was miss a single sound and he would be in danger. “Graceful Sword!” Jiang Lanjian fiercely clenched his teeth and completely gave up his sword light defense. He stimulated all of the true essence to enhance the protection of his body, and flew forward at an extreme speed, his sword thrusting straight towards Qin Wuxin’s throat. His speed quickly reached the limit of his ability. He was only about a few hundred feet away. As long as he wasn’t struck by any zither music, he could close this distance in a flash! Ka! A zither soundwave struck against Jiang Lanjian’s bodily true essence, the power of vibration erupted forth! It was just a sound, but all of Jiang Lanjian’s clothes broke as if he had suffered a major blow, and his extreme speed suddenly came to a halt. At this point, Qin Wuxin had become wholeheartedly engrossed in this match, and was waiting for any opportunity to subdue her opponent; how could she miss this wonderful opportunity? A finger flicked out, and two zither notes struck Jiang Lanjian. Jiang Lanjian’s bodily true essence broke apart, and he was sent flying backwards. “Qin Wuxin, victory!” With the referee’s announcement, Qin Wuxin let out a light breath. It had been very difficult for her to win this match. Her strength and Jiang Lanjian’s were very similar to each other, and the reason she could win this time had a bit to do with luck. When Jiang Lanjian had desperately staked everything on his last move and used Graceful Sword, if he hadn’t struck a zither note in the air, then the one that would have been defeated was her. With Qin Wuxin’s victory, the young girls of the Zither Faction burst into cheers. With this win, even if Qin Wuxin lost to Ouyang Ming, Mugu Buyu, and the others, she would still advance to the top five. The 21st round, Lin Ming against Mugu Jirong. Mugu Jirong didn’t bother fighting Lin Ming, he simply admitted defeat right at the start. There was nothing else he could have done. Puppet Masters were powerful, but they also had a fatal weakness. That was that once their puppets were lost, they would have nothing left. Mugu Jirong still had a total of three puppets left. But Lin Ming’s attack power was just too abnormal, it wouldn’t be strange if he lost another puppet or two. To Mugu Jirong, this sent him into a tearless grief, a state of hopelessness beyond crying. He also had hopes of advancing to the top 10. The 22nd round, Lin Ming against Huan Xiaodie. This was a match without an ounce of suspense from the audience. Even the young boys and girls of the Mirage Faction didn’t believe that their Senior-apprentice Sister Huan had a chance of winning. From the very start of the match, Huan Xiaodie created her trademark 108 phantoms. However, Lin Ming used his Flow like Silk, and 10,000 vibrating true essence filaments rushed forth, destroying every phantom. After that, Huan Xiaodie still put up a symbolic struggle and cast some illusions. But this too was easily broken by Lin Ming. Using Ouyang Ming’s own words, Lin Ming was a versatile genius who excelled in multiple fields. Just in terms of discussing his defensive abilities, Lin Ming’s bodily defensive power was simply abnormal, and his soul defensive power was even more freakish. The Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder had integrated into his spiritual sea, so Lin Ming could simply stand motionless onstage and let Huan Xiaodie throw whatever illusions she could towards him. Lin Ming could sense that Huan Xiaodie hadn’t been putting in her full effort, and was only symbolically displaying some moves so that she wouldn’t lose face. Such being the case, Lin Ming would naturally not let a girl lose face. After several moves, Huan Xiaodie smiled and said, “Junior-apprentice Brother Lin’s strength is amazing, I admit defeat.” After she said that, she turned around to leave the stage. But Lin Ming’s mind suddenly stirred. He said, “Senior-apprentice Sister Huan, please wait.” “Mm?” Huan Xiaodie turned around, her bright eyes winking at him, “What matter does Junior-apprentice Brother Lin have to say?” “I would like to ask Senior-apprentice Sister Huan if the Mirage Faction has some sort of transformation technique that can change one’s appearance, and would make it so that it can’t be seen through by anyone whose cultivation isn’t too far apart?” Huan Xiaodie said, “There is. Why, is Junior-apprentice Brother Lin interested?” Lin Ming nodded. Ever since he had fallen for Bi Luo’s trap, he had been very interested in this sort of technique. This technique could be said to be almost necessary if one wanted to travel around and commit crimes like murder and arson. If he had this ability, it would be easier and convenient to hide his identity. Huan Xiaodie impishly laughed, slyly smiling as she said, “This skill can’t be considered a core technique or anything in the Mirage Faction. If disciples of other factions wanted to study it, they could as long as they paid a sufficient amount of true essence stones. But if Junior-apprentice Brother Lin is interested and wouldn’t like to pay true essence stones, I can… personally… teach you~~~~~” Huang Xiaodie’s last sentence had an extremely enticing and inviting purr, causing the heart of anyone who heard it to be a bit stirred. Lin Ming subconsciously nodded and said, “Then I’ll have to thank Senior-apprentice Sister Huan.” Lin Ming suddenly realized why although Qin Wuxin and Huan Xiaodie had been labeled the proud twins of the Seven Profound Valleys’ younger generation, their strength had ultimately diverged so far. Of the two, one wholeheartedly walked the martial path and was pure and ascetic in their heart. She cultivated the zither until she finally reached Large Success of her Zither Heart. As for the other, she played around most of the time, amusing herself and laughing at the world. She seemed indifferent to any sort of illusion martial arts. Like this, the difference in their strength would naturally become greater over time. Of course, Lin Ming didn’t care much at all about these things. With Huan Xiaodie to personally teach him, this would be the best way to learn. Lin Ming earnestly wished to comprehensively understand appearance changing techniques. ……………… 22nd round, fifth match. Ouyang Ming against Qin Wuxin! Although Ouyang Ming gave the impression that he was more powerful, Qin Wuxin was no pushover; this wouldn’t be a one-sided battle. The question was: just how would Ouyang Ming defend against Qin Wuxin’s invisible zither music? From the very start of the match, Ouyang Ming used his Perfect fifth layer of the Divine Acacia Power, shrouding his entire body in purple flames. Under his control, the purple flames formed clouds that revolved around his body, becoming thick shields of flame. The audience were not strangers to this flame shield. When Ouyang Ming had faced Lin Ming, he had also used his purple flame shield, but the result had been that all three layers of his flame shield had been pierced by Lin Ming’s spear! After that, Ouyang Ming had been forced to give up his purple flame shield and use Butterflies Dance on 100 Flowers to escape. However, he had only managed to dodge for a short time. Eventually, he had been swept up by Lin Ming’s spear and sent flying away. Because of this, the audience didn’t feel that the purple flame shield was a good skill. However, as Qin Wuxin played the Profound Wind Eight Melodies, the invisible sonic attacks were actually blocked by the purple flame shield, unable to break it. The power of vibration was able to break through a few layers of the purple flame shield. But right after, a new power of fire would continuously rise up to fill in whatever was broken. After reaching the Perfect fifth layer of the Divine Acacia Power, Ouyang Ming’s true essence had become thick to the point of terrifying others. If one couldn’t do what Lin Ming did when he broke through the entire shield with his spear, then Ouyang Ming would be able to continuously restore it with his true essence. Pa! Ouyang Ming turned the iron fan in his hands, sending a Scythe of the Death God cutting towards Qin Wuxin! Qin Wuxin grit her teeth, her right hand fiercely dancing across the zither strings, “Profound Wind Eight Melodies!” Peng peng peng peng! The eight notes of music impacted on the Scythe of the Dead God, dispersing the purple flame scythe. However, Ouyang Ming used this opportunity run forwards until he was less than 100 feet away. “Junior-apprentice Sister Qin, your zither attacks are truly fierce, unfortunately… your attacks are too singular, they are too easily predicted.” Hoh! The purple flame shield erupted forth, blocking the second round of Qin Wuxin’s zither attacks. Qin Wuxin took this opportunity to pull away, but Ouyang Ming continued pressing down on her. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚 Zither note after zither note was sent out. Although Ouyang Ming encountered many obstacles as he sped forwards, he was still able to close in more and more on Qin Wuxin. Because Qin Wuxin had to send out a salvo of Profound Wind Eight Melodies, she was already at the limit of what her true essence could support. But as for Ouyang Ming, his true essence was very thick and he didn’t consume too much. Pa! The iron fan opened once again, a mere three feet away from Qin Wuxin’s slender jade-like neck! Now that the battle had reached this point, the outcome was basically decided. Qin Wuxin had lost. The audience gasped. In the finals, Ouyang Ming hadn’t encountered many strong opponents. He was smoothly defeating everyone he fought until he ran into Lin Ming, and was thoroughly defeated himself. Many people felt that it was because Ouyang Ming wasn’t fierce enough until they witnessed this match. Ouyang Ming had defeated Qin Wuxin by a significantly large margin of superiority. This really made everyone aware of the fact that Ouyang Ming had taken third place during the last Total Faction Martial Meeting; his strength couldn’t be doubted. The reason that Ouyang Ming had been defeated by Lin Ming was because Lin Ming was that much stronger. “Lin Ming is already steadily in the top three. There is only Jiang Baoyun and Mugu Buyu left. I’m really looking forward to their matches.” “If Lin Ming can win the next match, he will be second. If he can win the next two matches, he will become the champion!” “Champion? How could he possibly come in first place? Jiang Baoyun is just too abnormal. When he fought Qin Wuxin, he didn’t even use his sword, even Lin Ming wasn’t that strong. He just isn’t Jiang Baoyun’s match. At most he will struggle will Mugu Buyu, but even Mugu Buyu hasn’t revealed his true strength.” As these people spoke, another heavyweight match began. Mugu Buyu against Jiang Lanjian!