Cheat Cultivator's Ascension

"What the…"

"How did he even…"

"Oh my…"

A few people, witnessing the scene in front of them, failed to complete their sentence as their mouths gaped wide from the astonishment of what they just watched.

As the young man wearing a dao robe disappears, they initially thought that his opponent, an immortal-like young man, is already facing the doors of defeat, the only remaining thing is to confirm how he will be defeated the moment the young man wearing a dao robe, Qing Yun, appears again to deliver the decisive strike, however, the succeeding frames of the event is bound to make them flabbergasted.

As Qing Yun appears behind Wu Xiaotian, the whirling wind that disappears along with him shows itself once again, seemingly amplifying the power of his swing as it goes closer and closer towards his opponent, the greenish glow of his sword already reaching near the young man.

Unfortunately for him, a glowing arc moves towards his sword, after the two metallic surface produces sparks bright enough to blind a mortal, it is only now that he realizes that the young man in front of him completely blocks his attack with his blade, his action surprising not only him, but also the few people watching their battle.

"That was a great attack…" Wu Xiaotian declared as he flicks his blade upwards, the force surging from it making his opponent feel like he's going to be flying away if he doesn't create distance between the two of them now.

As the young man follows his instinct, Wu Xiaotian smiles as he lowers his posture a bit, sheathing his blade at an inhuman speed as he contracts his legs, his muscles letting out tremendous force as he dashed towards his opponent, leaving a sizeable damage to the stone platform from where he starts dashing.

Seeing Wu Xiaotian shooting towards him like a meteor, Qing Yun couldn't help but think that he's about to die as his opponent's figure starts growing exponentially in front of him, the edge of his opponent's blade feeling like a mountain bearing down on him making him unable to move.

Ultimately, he just accepts whatever outcome will be as he closes his eyes and prepares to feel his head getting separated from his body, the feeling he's expecting not aligning with what happens afterwards.

After a few seconds of closing his eyes, he felt like nothing happens, hence out of curiosity, he opens his eyes once again, only to find out a blade still pointing at him, the immortal-like figure holding the blade looking at him seriously, causing him to raise his hands up as he declares his surrender.

"That was a great match, you're strong" he said towards his opponent as his stone platform separates, rising up as he joins the audience that was defeated the previous round.

Wu Xiaotian, hearing this, merely smiles a bit as he nods towards the young man, then turning his head to watch the other fights still proceeding currently.

"We might have a black horse…"

"HAHAHA, what an idiot, what black horse? It looks like he doesn't even know the guy who suppressed the entire Purple Lightning Temple's group"

"He's THAT monster!?"

"Yeah, you don't see what he looks like previously?"

"I was too focused watching the comedy the Purple Lightning Temple is showing so I didn't even got an idea of what he looks like"

"Yeah, that makes sense…"

As the people all around the audience talks, they eventually start noticing Wu Xiaotian's platform, his battle one of the fastest among the second round, that is even considering those matches with people who immediately surrendered the moment their match started.

With the people starting to pay attention to him, of course there are bound to be dissatisfaction, this emotion particularly visible within the Purple Lightning Temple's group, with some of them grumbling about the fact that Wu Xiaotian is using an 'artifact' and not his real strength, and even some of them going as far as cursing him, wishing for something bad to happen so that he won't be able to proceed further in the competition.

Their curses and wishes are bound to be useless though, as Wu Xiaotian will prove time and time again just how much of a monster he is during this competition.

Given that the second round participants are clearly stronger than those of the first round, the time it takes to finish all the fights are longer compared to the first round, with this round taking almost an hour to finish, ten times longer than the previous one.

Among the spectators, there are already groups that are starting to form, gathering of people who share the same thought on who would eventually win the competition, the audiences divided into major groups rooting for their respective leader, the noble looking young man wearing a white dao robe same as those of the Dao Seeking Mountain, the phoenix-like young lady, the alluring young lady, the huge young man using a club as a weapon as well as the eldest disciple of the Purple Lightning Temple.

In addition to these groups, there are also some people rooting for other contestants such as Wu Xiaotian and his friends, thinking that they're capable enough to contest for the final reward.

"Hehehe… eldest brother will definitely take the first place"

"Indeed, he's the strongest participant in the competition after all"

"What thick faces, they still got the guts to say that after what that immortal-like young man did to them…"

"HAHAHA, let them be brother, we might be screwed if we interfered with them"

A lot of voices are spreading across the audience, some having discourse and logically discussing who has the highest probability of winning, while some of them just straight up talking trash to each other, either way, the once silent audience are starting to get lively as the competition continues.

"Congratulations to the participants that managed to pass through the second round of the competition. Now entering recovery period for an hour, during which ambient qi will start to gather in each of the participant's stone platform, dense and pure enough for each one to recover and cultivate"

As the cold mechanical voice resounded, the stone platforms still remaining inside the arena-like structure starts assembling again, separating each other in a symmetrical formation before they start forming a barrier, ambient qi surging across each and every one of the stone platforms creating a wondrous sight.

As the audience stares at the platforms with jealousy in their eyes, they still try their hardest to resist attempting to go towards those stone platforms as they instinctually know that there's something dangerous about the barrier surrounding the stone platforms.

The participants, knowing that the audience dare not to invade the stone platforms start focusing on recuperation, some of them having serious or even grievous wounds as they encountered some pretty strong enemies during the second round, these people trying to recover as they hope that they would encounter some easy enemy for the next round.

After an hour of a torturous wait, the audience finally witness the stone platforms moving again, starting another pair up, the stone platforms moving around and sliding past each other for a few minutes until it finally settles, connecting two stone platforms to each other, forming five-hundred and twelve pairs.

"Now starting the third round, good luck to all participants" as the announcement of the mechanical voice resounded across the place, the barriers separating the participants starts dissolving, signing the complete start of the of the third round.