Chapter 114: Match Victory!
Li Zong wanted to avoid it, but a quick glance around showed that the opponent's attack range encompassed the entire arena.
He tried to leap behind his opponent using a spatial technique.
But at this moment, space itself had already been shattered!
A series of spatial ripples rippled outward before the opponent.
The space within the entire arena had become wildly chaotic!
In such a state, there was no way for him to release any spatial skill of that kind.
"Then I'll just have to take it head-on!"
Li Zong gritted his teeth, his eyes splitting wide with fury!!
"Mystic Gate Divine Astral Plate!"
"Black Tortoise!"
The will to survive drove his hands to blur into countless afterimages!
Finally, in the moment before the attack landed, he summoned an archaic, illusory tortoise shell suffused with an ancient divine aura.
The moment the shell appeared, it instantly expanded severalfold, shielding him firmly within.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!!
A horrifying wave of force, suffocating in its intensity, slammed against the tortoise shell!
It came in surging, relentless waves like a furious ocean!
The protective formation within the arena—jointly laid down by several level-90 array masters—was forced into visible manifestation under the bombardment. It wobbled violently in the air like a soap bubble caught in the wind!
The contestants in the spectator stands felt their legs go weak, terrified that the formation might not hold!
The residual force of that single punch lasted for several full minutes before finally expending itself...
As the dust settled...
Only then could the people in the stands finally make out the scene at the center of the arena!
But one glance was enough to strike terror into countless hearts, making them tremble to the very core!
The entire arena no longer bore the slightest resemblance to its former self!
It looked as though a ferocious typhoon had ravaged it over and over again!
The bricks and stones that had once paved the ground had all been reduced to powder and rubble.
A semicircular trench nearly a hundred meters deep had been gouged straight through the middle of the tens of thousands of square meters of floor!
It had bulldozed all the way to the edge of the formation before finally stopping.
"Terrifying..."
The contestants in the stands were still shaking from the experience.
"If I had been inside there, I probably wouldn't even have left a whole corpse behind?"
"Never mind a whole corpse—I doubt there'd even be a trace of me left."
"Forget being inside—I was sitting out here and I almost wanted to run just now... How embarrassing!"
"We're all supposed to be geniuses, so why is he this outstanding?"
"Are you telling me this Song Qi only awakened his class a month ago?"
"No, seriously, why?! Why is he not only leveling up fast, but also this absurdly powerful? What gives?"
"His first two summoned spirits were already incredibly strong! And now this third one is even more outrageous!"
"Is this the true ceiling of a Summoner?"
Because of Song Qi's performance, many people in that moment found their opinion of the Summoner class considerably changed.
...
Clang!
The tortoise shell landed on the ground with a crisp sound, then vanished.
Li Zong appeared, completely unharmed, on the ground.
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Seeing this, his fans all breathed a sigh of relief.
"As expected, even against an opponent like this, Young Master Li Zong is second to none!"
"Well done, Young Master Li Zong—you will surely become the next Great Emperor of the human race!"
"Keep going, Young Master Li Zong! You're invincible!!!"
"Defeat him! After that strike, he definitely has nothing left!!!"
Just as everyone expected the battle to continue, Li Zong slowly raised his hand.
"I... concede."
BOOM!!!
It was as if a depth charge had been dropped!
Every single spectator, staff included, was instantly struck dumb with shock!
This shock was even greater than the awe they had felt just moments ago when Di Xin had launched that attack!
Li Zong... lost?!
The undefeated war god in everyone's eyes... had lost?
The sole descendant of Emperor Li Er... had lost?!
"Am I... dreaming?"
A contestant stared blankly, momentarily unable to tell whether he was in a dream or reality.
If Song Qi's display of strength had broadened their horizons, then Li Zong's defeat was a traumatic shock to their very worldview!
Even the city lords sitting on the high platform found it hard to believe.
Old Mu furrowed his brow deeply.
Even the usually reliable announcer failed to react in time.
It took a long while...
Until Li Zong had walked out of the arena and returned to the spectator stands...
"Contestant Li Zong... concedes?"
"So then, the victor is..."
There was still obvious disbelief in his voice, but the scene before him was undeniably plain.
There was not a hint of falsehood.
After snapping out of his brief stupor, the announcer finally regained his senses.
"From the Seventh District—the greatest genius of our human race's new generation... Song Qi!!!!"
He roared out Song Qi's name in an almost hoarse voice!
"OOOOOH!!!!"
"Song Qi! Song Qi! Song Qi!"
"So powerful!!!"
"He actually defeated even Li Zong?!"
"As expected of a genius from my cohort!"
"I knew it—my 48th place was only because this year's genius tournament was just that brutal!"
Song Qi walked out of the arena amid the tsunami-like, frenzied cheers of the crowd.
The moment he stepped out, Chu Shaojiang and City Lord Fu immediately rushed over to greet him.
City Lord Fu had intended to keep a stern, solemn expression, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hold it back and eventually burst into laughter.
He then gave up all pretense, slung an arm around Song Qi's shoulder, and headed out.
Clearly, the two of them were most likely going to treat themselves to a fine meal.
...
On the other side, Li Zong returned to the high platform and sat down beside Old Mu.
"What happened? Why did you concede?"
"You should know full well how much of an impact conceding will have on you!"
Old Mu asked, frowning.
Li Zong shook his head.
"I had already lost."
"Even if I were to unleash my full power at level 60, I still wouldn't be a match for him."
"Had this been an open plain, I might have been able to contend with him."
"But inside the arena, I was doomed to lose."
"Your level has already exceeded 80! How could you possibly lose?"
Old Mu said in a deep voice.
"But at level 40, I had already lost."
Li Zong said seriously.
"You!"
"You, you, you... Ugh. Forget it."
Old Mu shook his head, knowing he could not talk sense into this stubborn mule, and said helplessly.
"Then in your estimation, this child Song Qi's strength is equivalent to what level of yours?"
"Somewhere between level 50 and level 60."
Li Zong explained.
"His third summoned spirit has already grasped the laws!"
"In a head-on battle, even a level-60 me would not be his opponent."
"If my only goal were to kill him, with no other restrictions whatsoever, I am confident I could defeat him."
"Though powerful, his third summoned spirit is not skilled at pursuit. If I wanted to flee, he couldn't stop me."
"I could deal with him through gradual attrition."
"Of course, that is assuming he has no other tricks up his sleeve..."
Hearing this, Old Mu nodded thoughtfully.
"And what if that single weakness were also compensated for?"
"Then it would take a level-70 me to do it."
Li Zong admitted this very frankly.
He did not seem the least bit ashamed or angered by being surpassed.
"Hiss!—So you mean to say that although this child Song Qi is only level 40 right now, his actual strength already rivals that of an ordinary level-90 expert?"
Old Mu said, half delighted and half puzzled.
He was delighted because the human race had once again produced a figure of unparalleled brilliance!
He was happy for the future of humanity.
What puzzled him, however, was whether Song Qi's true strength was really as such.
Could this performance have been some kind of exceptional state?
A level of combat power that could not be sustained, existing outside the norm?
After all, even Li Zong—a prodigy rare to be seen once in a century—had not possessed such combat power at level 40.
"Still... even if it isn't his normal state, his earlier performance alone is already more than impressive."
"Not to mention, his third summoned spirit has grasped the laws—that is no trivial matter and cannot be faked."
"Then let us go pay him a visit tonight."
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