At this moment, the final sixteen candidates drew lots in order to determine their opponents in the first
round of battle. When it was Rocky's turn, it seemed that he actually picked one of the ten high-grade
Spiritual Emperors, whose strength was ranked in the top three of the Sky-suppressing Mansion. It was
none other than Jude.
"Seriously? Do I already have to face such a strong opponent off the bat? It seems that I will be forced
to show some of my real strength to defeat this one. I'm afraid I don't have the luxury to keep a low-
profile in this match." Rocky let out a frown, but later on, he also thought that the result was just
reasonable. After all, ten of the sixteen candidates were all high-grade Spiritual Emperors. Hence, the
probability of encountering a strong opponent from the start was really high. So, whether his first
opponent was strong or not, it did not matter. Eventually, he would have to face all of them.
Of course, ideally, Rocky did not want to expose his real strength so soon. Thus, he decided that he
would do his best to defeat his opponents by only using his trump cards at the most crucial moments.
Besides, no matter how powerful Jude was, he was just a high-grade Spiritual Emperor. At Rocky's
current strength, it was absolutely easy for him to win this match.
In fact, what he was worried about was that he might hit his opponent too hard. If that happened, the
other candidates might become too wary of him, thinking that he had been hiding his real strength. This
was something that he wanted to prevent, at least for the time being.
However, in the eyes of the audience, they were already confident that Jude would actually bag the
victory in his first match. Since Rocky just participated in the challenge competition before as Basil,
most of the spectators today did not know this Basil guy's true strength. At the back of their minds,
Basil was just a middle-grade Spiritual Emperor, so there was no way that he could defeat Jude.
But of course, they were yet to see something that would instantly change their minds.
After everyone had already finished drawing lots, the sixteen candidates went to eight different sites,
where their first battle would happen.
All eight battles were going to be held at the same time, so it was impossible for the spectators to
watch all battles at the same time. They could only choose one battle at a time. Logically, they would
choose a battle between powerful high-grade Spiritual Emperors, thinking that it should be the most
exciting one, or perhaps a battle between the most beautiful participants.
It also meant that not many people went to see Rocky's first battle.
At this time, Rocky and Jude already stood at the center of the battlefield.
Both of them exchanged looks and had completely different expressions on their faces. Jude was
wearing a serious one, while Rocky was just calm and indifferent.
"Aren't you the legendary Basil?" Jude asked directly. Although it was just his first time meeting Rocky
in person, he had already heard about him before. Jude's eyes were full of disdain, and he didn't
expect that he would meet someone like Rocky in this contest.
"Oh, I did not expect that you already heard about me," Rocky replied with a faint smile.
"Yeah, a bit. It seems that you are not someone weak. But even so, I'm afraid that you are not a match
for me. Why don't you make your life simple? You can admit defeat right now so that you can preserve
your strength for your next battle. After all, your efforts and injuries will be in vain since you'll lose to
me," Jude said haughtily, thinking highly of himself.
"Well, thank you for your concern. Unfortunately, this is my first battle, so I cannot do that. After all, I will
look very disappointing in front of all these people. Why not just fight me if you're so confident that you
will beat me? Consider this as a warm-up. We still have fourteen more matches after this."
"Fine. But out of consideration, I won't go all out to beat you. However, I can't promise you that you
won't get badly hurt. Try to defend with all your might because you're in for a beating!" Jude exclaimed
arrogantly.
"Sure. You don't need to hold back. After all, if you lose, others might think that you just deliberately let
me win," Rocky retorted in a subtle way of mocking him.
Of course, Jude knew exactly what Rocky meant. Then, the next moment, he released a powerful aura
that shook the space around him.
"Look at that! No wonder Jude is one of the most promising high-grade Spiritual Emperors of the Sky-
suppressing Mansion. His aura alone is already terrifying!"
"On the other hand, that Basil's aura is too weak! I thought he is strong enough that he was given an
exemption to participate in this final round? It seems like Jude can knock him down in just a single
blow!"
"He might have become afraid after seeing Jude's overwhelming aura!"
The spectators were in an uproar even before the match began. All sorts of discussions and predictions
could be heard around the arena.
Meanwhile, the battle between Rocky and Jude was already on the verge of breaking out.
"Sword! I summon you!" Then, with a wave of Jude's hand, a snow-white spiritual sword suddenly shot
out of his sleeve.
"Look at that sword! It's the Glacial Snow Sword! I bet Jude is going all out right from the start!"
The Glacial Snow Sword was Jude's magnificent sword. In fact, it was one of the most famous swords
existing in the Ethereal Region, and it was forged by the Sword Spirit Sect.
At this time, the aura of the Glacial Snow Sword soared into the sky after Jude took it out. Then, the
sword suddenly shook and let out a loud buzzing sound as it pierced through the air towards Rocky at
an incredible speed. The rapid sword strike was accompanied by a surging sword aura that made it
more daunting. In an instant, it reached in front of Rocky and transformed into three sword shadows
that attacked three vital points of his body.
"He really did that attack this soon! It is a skill at the middle grade of the Emperor Realm!"
"That's it! With that powerful sword skill, I don't think his opponent can resist that!"
"I guess so too. Basil will be lucky to withstand that move!"
The commotion among the crowd continued as they witnessed Jude's flashy sword skill.
But to everyone's surprise, Rocky just stood still as if he had no intention of avoiding them. However,
the moment the three sword shadows approached, Rocky's figure suddenly became blurry, making the
three sword shadows miss their target.
In an instant, the sword shadows that penetrated behind Rocky suddenly stopped moving.
Seeing this, the spectators were all stunned. They did not understand how Rocky avoided the vicious
attacks because they were not able to see what happened.
"What? He actually dodged my strike!" Jude immediately clenched his fists in disbelief, unable to
accept what just happened.
However, it was not as if he had already lost. The next moment, he condensed more spiritual power
into his sword again. Then, in a flash, the sword flew out from his hand and roared in the air. This time,
the raging streams of sword aura poured down like a gushing torrent that enveloped the entire
battlefield.
"Now, he's even more serious! This skill is at the high grade of the Emperor Realm! Only powerful
masters like him could use this powerful strike!"
The people in the crowd had grown very thrilled because no one expected that Jude would employ
such a powerful skill just a few minutes after the start of his first battle.
After all, it was known that even high-grade Spiritual Emperors would only have at most two trump
cards. Moreover, they should try to conceal them unless they were faced with a very critical situation.
However, it seemed that Jude did not care about that, and he just wanted to defeat Rocky so badly.
The people were baffled at Jude's actions because, in their opinion, Rocky was not that strong in the
first place. Hence, there was no need for him to use all his strength.
Of course, no one had realized that Jude was actually threatened by Rocky ever after Rocky had
effortlessly avoided the first set of attacks thrown at him.
Moreover, even as he was faced with this more powerful attack, Rocky still looked calm and unfazed.
Although the overbearing sword aura fell from above his head, he still did not move away. Instead, he
flipped his two fingers and waved them as if he was swinging a sword.
Then, suddenly, a purple sword aura appeared out of nowhere and rushed towards Jude.
"What the hell? Where did this overwhelmingly strong sword aura come from?" Caught off guard, Jude
perceived that a tremendous sword aura was about to get him. At the same time, an intense spiritual
pressure descended from the sky, instantly making his face ghastly pale.
Even before the purple sword aura could reach him, Jude already felt that his breathing was in disorder
and he was actually panicking really hard.
However, he was still unwilling to admit defeat. After all, his reputation as a high-grade Spiritual
Emperor of the Sky-suppressing Mansion was at stake here. If he lost in his first battle against
someone whose strength was supposed to be inferior to him, he would become a laughingstock.
Ultimately, it would bring disgrace to the Sky-suppressing Mansion.
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