Martial Conquest of the Nine Desolates

With the Han Family's withdrawal, the remaining nine major families sent martial artists to clean up the Duel Arena and hastily put together a temporary stage to reconvene the battle between the Ten Great Families' Heavenly Prides of Barbarian Valley City.

Under the guidance of the elderly man in a black robe, the second bout of the third round continued.

Due to Xiao Ye's previous brilliant performance, the following duels, no matter how exciting, could hardly capture the attention of the surrounding martial artists. Their gazes inadvertently drifted towards the silhouette of Xiao Ye.

In this contest of Heavenly Prides, the most advantageous was undoubtedly the Yang Family.

So far, the Yang Family still had three Heavenly Prides left, among which Xiao Ye, with his unrivaled Physical Body Power among the younger generation of Barbarian Valley City, was unstoppable, securing the highest points and the first place without any suspense.

As for the Yang Family, unless they were extremely unlucky, they would naturally win the first place in this battle of the Ten Great Families' Heavenly Prides.

Therefore, the remaining Heavenly Prides of the other families were aiming for second and third place, while secretly praying in their hearts not to face Xiao Ye in the next round.

There were only four bouts in the third round, and after Yang Qianfan and Yang Qianyu had put in some effort in their respective matches, they both clinched victory and successfully advanced to the next round.

"Ha ha!"

Seeing all three advance, Yang Wudao laughed heartily with his head thrown back, as if his body was injected with boundless vitality, even his speech was full of vigor. He seemed to already visualize the Yang Family securing first place.

You see, the Yang Family had hoped to take third place in this contest of Heavenly Prides to win a Snow Lotus Sky Fruit. However, the stunning performance of Xiao Ye had propelled the Yang Family to the first-place position, winning six Snow Lotus Sky Fruits—how could they not be excited?

The members of the Yang Family each revealed an excited smile when they looked at Xiao Ye, their eyes filled with gratitude.

The Snow Lotus Sky Fruits were originally discovered by the Yang Family and should have been entirely theirs. However, the Han Family caused trouble and arranged for the ownership of the ten Snow Lotus Sky Fruits to be determined in this way.

Even their Family Head, Yang Wudao, was seriously injured and had no choice but to agree with the arrangement.

This had resulted in a gloomy atmosphere in the Yang Family recently, but now Xiao Ye finally gave them a reason to hold their heads high. Even the once most hopeful Han Family took the initiative to withdraw, so they were naturally excited.

After the third round of bouts concluded, the top four emerged, with the Yang Family occupying three of those spots. Now, the overall highest scores were Yang Qianfan and Ge Ye of the Ge Family with three points each, closely followed by Xiao Ye and Yang Qianyu, both with two points.

By now, the third place had been decided to belong to the Hong Family among the Ten Great Families.

All four of their Heavenly Prides had been eliminated, but their total points reached seven.

The Ge Family, due to Ge Ye's presence, had a total of eight points, and the Yang Family also totaled eight.

As soon as these numbers were announced, the Duel Arena erupted into turmoil.

Now, the contest for first and second place would be between the Yang Family and the Ge Family.

The fourth round would also determine the third individual rank among the Heavenly Prides, with matches set by drawing lots for one-on-one bouts. The victors could take their opponents' points and add them to their own, thereby advancing to the final round to compete for the first and second individual ranks.

In the fifth round, the winner would gain one point, while the loser would receive no points.

As the elderly man in the black robe announced the new rules for the fourth round, Yang Wudao and the rest of the Yang Family became nervous.

They couldn't help but curse the man in black for changing the fourth round rules overnight, coming up with such a points system where one could even take away the opponent's total points. With this change, it was no longer certain the Yang Family would take first place.

But dissatisfaction aside, they had no choice. After all, inviting the elderly man in the black robe as a referee was a decision made jointly by the Ten Great Families and even if they protested now, it's unlikely the other families would agree.

"Ha ha, Elder Qian is maintaining the balance of this contest!" The Ge Family, previously despondent, now laughed excitedly.

This gave the Ge Family a chance to contend for first place.

"Ah, little fellow, don't blame me for suddenly changing the competition rules. I had to do it to protect you." The elderly man in the black robe helplessly glanced at Xiao Ye, a bitter smile forming on his face.

Xiao Ye, who wasn't a martial artist from Barbarian Valley City and had shown such astonishing cultivation, if the Yang Family were to win outright, it's possible the other families would use this as an excuse to cause trouble. He had no choice but to alter the rules for the fourth round slightly, giving the Ge Family an opportunity.

If the Ge Family still lost after this, they certainly couldn't complain later.

"May heaven protect me from drawing Xiao Ye," everyone thought.

"If I face Yang Qianyu or Yang Qianfan, perhaps there's a chance at victory, taking their points could place the Ge Family first in total."

Ge Ye seemed very ordinary, but his strength was not to be underestimated. Like Yang Qianfan, he was on the brink of a breakthrough that could place him shoulder to shoulder with Han Tian, reaching the King Body Completion.

If he drew Xiao Ye and was defeated, the Ge Family would be thoroughly vanquished, with no chance of turning the tables.

Hence, this round was crucial and would decide the fate of the Ge Family.

The martial artists in the Duel Arena also came to this realization, and each one held their breath in anticipation, watching the drawing of lots nervously.

"Brother Xiao, if I draw you as my opponent, I'll just admit defeat," Yang Qianyu said with a laugh, his expression revealing his tension.

Luck is also a part of strength!

And this draw would determine the fate of the Yang Family!

After all, this was a team competition format. Even if Xiao Ye was extremely powerful, if luck was not on their side and they did not draw Ge Ye as an opponent, the Yang Family could very well end up in second place.

Xiao Ye glanced at the elderly man in the black robe in the distance and smiled slightly. He had already guessed that the sudden change in the fourth round rules was for his protection.

As for whether the Yang Family ended up in second or first place, he didn't care much. His participation in this Heavenly Pride contest was primarily to witness the strength of Barbarian Valley City's Heavenly Prides and to help Yang Qianyu.

Having done all he could in his performance, Xiao Ye would be at peace even if the Yang Family did not end up in first place.

After Yang Qianfan and Yang Qianyu had drawn their lots, Xiao Ye approached the draw in the midst of the crowd's tense gazes and picked up a bamboo stick.

"Who will my opponent be?" Xiao Ye curiously looked at the number on the bamboo stick.