Chapter 11687 — The Key to the Trial Selection Is the Instructor Picking a Batch of People by His Own Standards and Eliminating Another

Monarch Song could not help but take another look at Ye Yinxiao.

The essence of a battle song was to use sound to temporarily draw out deeper reserves of potential; at the highest levels, it could even develop that potential permanently.

Only, a figure of that caliber was a treasure wherever they went, and any faction would enshrine them at the highest possible station.

In the whole of the Heavenly Dao Academy, there was only one such person.

Ye Yinxiao, a mere candidate recruit, was naturally nowhere near that level—but to master a battle song in a scant three days was in itself no small feat.

On the measure of comprehension alone, few present could stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

"No wonder Wei Zhao took a fancy to her."

Taken on her own, Ye Yinxiao's overall competitiveness could only be called abysmal—at the very least, she would never clear the hurdle before them.

But as a member of a team, she was a superb support.

Now, with the battle song amplifying him, Wei Zhao's offense was far fiercer than before.

Even if it was still nothing but the plainest hand-to-hand techniques, the pressure they radiated was enough to crush the breath out of everyone present.

Di Liankong and the others even had the illusion that were they all to rush him at once, they would simply be slaughtered one by one by Wei Zhao in this state.

In the arena, figures kept flickering and crossing; even Monarch Song no longer moved with the ease he had shown moments ago.

By the result, his defense was still watertight, but the overall momentum had taken on the shape of his being completely pinned down and hammered by Wei Zhao.

The crux was that he also had to stay forever wary of the lightning flash Wei Zhao might unleash at any unknown moment.

An attack paradigm of lightning flash's power could hardly be flung about at will like an ordinary jab, yet neither could it be that he could only use it once.

Should Monarch Song reveal the slightest opening and take another lightning flash from Wei Zhao, having a layer of True Mandate stripped away would be all but certain.

Inside and outside the arena, every eye was fixed on the scene.

No one dared so much as breathe.

"Here it comes!"

The whole crowd snapped to attention.

At that moment, Monarch Song's right arm was knocked aside by a Wei Zhao elbow, leaving his whole face utterly exposed before Wei Zhao, with no room left to defend.

The onlookers outside the arena sighed softly.

The missing arm had always been Monarch Song's greatest weakness; otherwise, with his talent and strength, he would long since have graduated from the Heavenly Dao Academy like Cao Kuang, instead of lingering here as an instructor to this day.

The dark red radiance welled up once more on the spot.

But before the lightning flash could erupt, Di Liankong, watching from the sidelines, suddenly moved.

He slapped one palm to the ground, and a tightly compressed pulse of force shot through the earth to arrive beneath Monarch Song's feet and thrust upward straight between his legs.

At the same instant, Wei Zhao's lightning flash landed square on Monarch Song's face.

This sudden turn of events truly startled everyone.

"Stealing the kill?"

Shi Wushuang caught on and flew into a rage: "Despicable!"

Wei Zhao had worn himself out to carve out the opening, and now Di Liankong leapt in at this very moment to strike—plainly angling to steal the kill.

Now if Monarch Song really did lose a layer of True Mandate, the final ruling might well go to Di Liankong, since his thrust had come before Wei Zhao's lightning flash.

Di Xuanwang looked scornful: "There's no rule restricting anything in this round of trial selection. No one said we couldn't make a move at this moment. Surely you aren't trying to say, Junior Sister Wushuang, that so long as Wei Zhao is present, everyone else can only stand by and watch, and none of them may act?"

Shi Wushuang gave a cold snort: "Whoever is despicable knows it in his own heart."

Di Xuanwang nodded: "That goes without saying. Wei Zhao deliberately squats on the latrine and won't shit, waiting out the whole day so everyone else gets eliminated—only he could dream up such a despicable scheme."

Shi Wushuang ground her teeth in fury.

But no one paid the two's squabbling any mind now; everyone was waiting for the final verdict.

To whom this layer of True Mandate would be awarded still rested ultimately in the hands of the instructor, Monarch Song.

Yet when the dust settled, the scene before them made everyone start in unison.

Monarch Song still bore eight layers of True Mandate.

That meant that with his face wide open, facing Di Liankong's thrust and Wei Zhao's lightning flash at once, he had still defended without a single leak, giving not the slightest opening.

The crowd gaped.

How had he done it?

Whether it was Di Liankong's thrust from that tricky angle between the legs or Wei Zhao's lightning flash square to the face, by Monarch Song's state at the time both were attacks utterly impossible to defend—and he had come away without a scratch!

As the person nearest Monarch Song in the whole arena, Wei Zhao was more astonished than anyone.

Never mind how Monarch Song had withstood the thrust from below; the lightning flash to his front had been genuinely taken head-on.

The crux was that the way his opponent took the lightning flash was very peculiar.

The mouth of the painted mask suddenly split open and simply swallowed the entire lightning flash whole.

In truth, at his present level Wei Zhao had seen no end of opponents of every kind, but that bizarre spectacle just now was enough to sear itself into his memory.

Wei Zhao caught on at once.

His opponent was not about to keep holding back.

Given the gap in absolute strength, the instructor was bound to hold back; otherwise there would be no hope of anyone passing at all.

The only difference lay in how much he held back.

And that standard varied from person to person.

At least one thing was certain: of the two layers of True Mandate he had yielded so far, Monarch Song had clearly gone easier on Liu Han and harder on Wei Zhao.

But now Wei Zhao could plainly sense that his opponent had begun to get serious. He might still hold back somewhat, but at least when facing Wei Zhao himself, the water he let out would inevitably be less.

Under such circumstances, wresting another layer of True Mandate from him would be more than doubly difficult!

On the other side, Di Liankong's face had gone black.

He had indeed been saving his strength to pluck the peach, but he knew very well that in such matters one had best succeed at the first blow.

With a shrewd one like Wei Zhao, once he was on guard, plucking the peach from his hand would only grow steeper in difficulty.

Especially since Wei Zhao had already taken down one layer of True Mandate and passed on his own account; he could advance or retreat at ease.

At worst, in the end all he would lose was Ye Yinxiao—Wei Zhao himself would not be hurt at all.

In that case, Wei Zhao was even less inclined to hurry, perfectly free to play a slow game with them.

After all, time was on his side.

Yet Wei Zhao seemed to have no such intention. He did not change his strategy; instead, his fighting spirit rose higher, and he launched another fierce offensive at Monarch Song. (End of Chapter)