Chapter 1701: Eastern Saint Academy
However, Zhang Feng didn’t expect that a few simple words from Zhao Hai would solve his problem. Although the Beast Sect had lost, they didn’t blame Zhao Hai much for it. After all, Zhao Hai didn’t kill the Beast Sect disciple. He was giving the sect face.
Zhao Hai’s action cleared Zhang Feng’s anxiety. As long as Zhao Hai secures the slot for the new foreign trial, his status in the Black Tiger Gang would definitely improve.
Zhang Feng also thought more about this. If Zhao Hai can really enter the new foreign trial, then the foreign trial will become his new ace. Anything he gets in the foreign trial will belong to the faction. He can decide who could go. And he can even choose when he goes. This was because of Zhao Hai’s spatial ability. This caused Zhang Feng to be ecstatic.
Although the various sects were now paying attention to Zhao Hai, the battles needed to continue. As long as slots for 1000 people haven’t been determined, the battles wouldn’t stop. The battles will now enter the fourth elimination round. This would also be the last round.
If it was calculated, it would be impossible to select 1000 people in just four elimination rounds. However, in reality, this wasn’t really the case. This was because in the first three rounds of battle, there were victors who were seriously injured. Despite winning their battle, they could no longer go on fighting. They had essentially lost the opportunity to fight for their slots. Therefore, the fourth round was enough to choose 1000 people.
Before long, Zhao Hai’s opponent for the fourth elimination round has been selected. This time, he was a disciple of the East Saint Academy. The East Saint Academy was one of the four Saint Academies of the Great World of Cultivation. The Four Saint Academies were once the biggest sect in the realm. They stretched four entire provinces and had innumerable branches in other provinces.
Their downfall was caused by internal strife. In the end, it was divided into four groups, the East Saint Academy, the West Saint Academy, the South Saint Academy, and the North Saint Academy. Such a large sect has been split into four.
Although the sect was divided into four academies, their strength remained formidable. The East, West, North, and South Saint Academies were still each on par with the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, Beast Sect, All Demon Sect, and the Wonderful Sound Pavilion.
But if it was really considered, individually, the four Saint Academies couldn’t compare to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery and the others. However, the gap wasn’t a lot. Moreover, although the four Saint Academies had separated, they were still connected with each other. Each Saint Academy would help the others. With this special relationship, even the Heaven Sect wouldn’t dare offend them.
The core disciples of the four Saint Academies generally learn Orthodox Methods and each one of them was very powerful. However, their inner disciples weren’t necessarily using techniques of the righteous faction. Zhao Hai’s enemy this time was someone who used orthodox cultivation methods.
The East Saint Academy disciple wasn’t wearing normal cultivator clothing. Instead he was wearing a scholar’s robe. He had a golden headband tying his hair and he also had a fan in his hand.
The four Saint Academies were also named the four Sage Academies in the Great World of Cultivation. The four academies also study chess, zither, poetry, and so on. The East Saint Academy was famous for their poetry.
A lot of East Saint Academy disciples used the pen as their weapon. However, instead of a pen, Zhao Hai’s opponent was using a fan as his weapon.
Cai’er and the others reviewed the previous battles of the East Saint Academy disciple. They confirmed that he wasn’t weak. Firstly, his dao avatar was a copy of himself. Another source of his strength was his fan. The fan was a formidable artifact.
Zhao Hai looked at the East Saint Academy disciple and then gave a warrior’s salute before standing still. The East Saint Academy disciple smiled at Zhao Hai as he shook his fan twice and said, “Junior Brother from the Black Tiger Gang, you’re one of the few geniuses I have seen in my entire life. It would be an honor to fight against you. But brother has to be careful, I won’t be showing mercy.”
Zhao Hai gave a short bow and said, “Please enlighten me.”
The East Saint Academy disciple smiled and said, “Then please.” After he said that, a white light flashed as a book appeared in his hand.
The East Saint Academy looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Junior Brother, take this move.” After that, he chanted, “Fish playing in the north lotus pond, fish playing in the east lotus pond, fish playing in the west lotus pond, fish playing in the south lotus pond, fish playing in the central lotus pond!” After he said those words, five huge kois departed from the book and swam towards Zhao Hai. Behind the kois, pink lotus flowers with deep green lotus leaves were following. Then the kois quickly surrounded Zhao Hai.
Unless Zhao Hai was an idiot, he would know that these kois weren’t meant for viewing. Zhao Hai swung his halberds towards the koi that surrounded him. One of the koi was chopped off. Zhao Hai’s elephant dao avatar also swung down at the koi in front of him.
The koi swayed its body and dodged to the side in an instant. Zhao Hai’s attack missed. And then, as though triggering a hornet’s nest, once the attack missed, the koi accelerated as they all charged towards Zhao Hai. At the same time, the water jets came out of the kois’ mouths.
Zhao Hai moved and instead of retreating, he rushed forward towards the East Saint Academy disciple. At this time, the lotus flowers and the lotus leaves surrounded him as the koi immediately went back, forming a line of defense between Zhao Hai and his enemy. Then the koi continued to attack Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai’s expression changed as he said, “Explosive Roar!” As Zhao Hai’s voice fell, the elephant’s belly enlarged. When it reached its maximum state, the elephant roared!
Roar! The giant elephant’s roar caused the surrounding space to distort. This wasn’t a true spatial distortion. But because it was a sound attack, everyone felt their surroundings shake.
As the roar expanded, the kois couldn’t help but be stunned. Meanwhile, the lotus flowers and leaves wilted down.
At this time, Zhao Hai moved and flashed in front of the East Saint Academy disciple. Then he swung his halberds down.
The East Saint Academy didn’t expect Zhao Hai to reach him. However, he didn’t panic. He quickly responded and raised his fan to block Zhao Hai’s attack.
Along with his movement, a fan held by the dao avatar got in the way of the elephant trunk that was swinging down.
Boom! A loud sound appeared as the trunk hit the folding fan. The fan disappeared. The fan in the hand of the East Saint Academy disciple was also flung off.
Zhao Hai’s second attack arrived not too long after. The East Saint Academy disciple sharply retreated. Zhao Hai followed him closely as he continued his attacks.
Although the enemy’s speed wasn’t slow, it was obvious that he wasn’t someone known for his speed. In the end, he couldn’t shake Zhao Hai’s pursuit off. His dao avatar was continually being attacked.
At this time, the East Saint Academy’s kois arrived behind Zhao Hai’s dao avatar and rushed to attack it. After a few attacks, the dao avatar shook. It looked like it would break at any time.
However, Zhao Hai didn’t stop his pursuit. He continued to attack his enemy. It was as if he wouldn’t give up until he destroyed the enemy’s dao avatar.
Experts who were spectating looked at Zhao Hai’s movement and couldn’t help but commend him. These people understood why Zhao Hai was eager to continue his attack. Even if it was a lose-lose situation, it still showed Zhao Hai’s talent.
Everyone could see that Zhao Hai wasn’t as strong as the East Saint Academy disciple. However, the East Saint Academy disciple has a weakness. And this weakness was his dao avatar’s slowness.
The attacks of the East Saint Academy disciple involves slowly surrounding his enemy and entangling them like a net. And in the end, he would strangle his enemy to death.
If Zhao Hai’s response wasn’t quick enough, then he would be killed by the enemy. Therefore, he would rather prefer his and the enemy’s dao avatar to shatter. Zhao Hai was in the right direction. This was his only chance of defeating his enemy.
Zhao Hai’s attacks increased in intensity. One attack after another came down with the impact of a thunderbolt. He continued to attack the East Saint Academy disciple’s dao avatar. After five more strikes, the East Saint Academy disciple’s dao avatar finally shattered. The East Saint Academy disciple’s expression changed as he vomited blood. At the same time, Zhao Hai’s dao avatar was destroyed.
The kois that attacked Zhao Hai also disappeared. Zhao Hai’s halberd continued to attack the East Saint Academy’s disciple. The East Saint Academy’s disciple also looked at Zhao Hai with a ruthless expression.
Then suddenly, Zhao Hai’s halberd stopped around 10 centimeters away from the enemy’s face. At the same time, the East Saint Academy disciple’s fan stopped 10 centimeters from the back of Zhao Hai’s head. It was a mutually destructive battle. Fortunately, the two sides stopped at the right time. Otherwise, someone would definitely die.
Naturally, this was in the eyes of the spectators. Zhao Hai certainly wouldn’t tell them that even if the attack to the back of his head connected, nothing would happen to him. At the same time, although the battle looked extremely close, everything was under Zhao Hai’s control. Each attack he made and every response the enemy made, all were within Zhao Hai’s calculations.