Championship battle, floating stage.

The atmosphere at the scene surged to its peak, the champion of the Continent Martial Arts Competition is about to be decided.

The arena, floating in mid-air, is a disposable prop intended to be wrecked tonight by the championship contenders, funded by the wealthy Alan Royal Court.

Xiao Long was dressed in a plain open-collared shirt, black and silver striped straight-leg pants, and leather boots. On the night of the final battle, his long hair was tied up, and he held a long sword in his arms, ready for combat.

Meanwhile, Saleret had quickly frozen a mask onto his face to contain his power from leaking. He remained bare-chested, sporting tattoos, wearing only breeches and military boots, and wielded dual blades.

Yet everyone already knew what lay beneath Saleret's mask. A handsome face is a long-term asset, beauty dictates personality, it instantly created a Dream Girl.

The Sky Arena was a culmination of magic energy industry innovation, featuring floating platforms with 1600X1600 lit-up tile flooring.

The two stood facing each other, but Saleret seemed still affected by the side effects of earlier forward time shifts, his head pounding slightly, not in peak condition.

Adjusting time back, he wouldn't retain memories from before the adjustment.

Forward time shifting overloaded all senses, overburdening the soul.

His perception of time changed entirely, outside of his will.

The announcer hadn't spoken yet, the battle hadn't commenced, it was still in the final betting stage before closing the bet pool.

"It's a shame, you shouldn't have entered the Continent Martial Arts Competition."

Xiao Long sighed a bit.

"..."

Saleret ignored Xiao Long completely, having come this far, retreat was not an option.

"The world loses a mighty warrior, I don't deny your powerful combat skills, you are strong but not the strongest. If those abilities were used covertly, with hidden information, few today could stand against you."

Xiao Long looked serious, but still carried a "I'm here to save you" kind of swagger, "I'll end this quickly, you seem not in great shape, sorry, I have greater reasons to seize the championship."

Often, people are not what they seem outside.

The Sword King, as a minion of Alan, was beyond change.

Long before the bloody fourth round.

Quan Jiu had already talked to Xiao Long, asking him to abandon his Hall-level Adventurer status, suggesting he could keep it but act as a spy in the Western Continent, joining the Sword Hanging Organization, and help put an end to the endless chaos in the Far East Islands.

Quan Jiu seemed wild and unrestrained, killing whoever was in the way, yet he wasn't bound by rules but rather had a big-picture mind.

Xiao Long appeared humble and righteous but stayed detached, removed himself from involvement.

Xiao Long naturally refused, human strength has its limits, and no matter how powerful an individual is, with the advancement of the era, they can't withstand magic ship cannons or other destructive weapons.

If one isn't enough, how about ten, a hundred?

To Xiao Long, Sword Dao was more of a cultivation of character, he had yet to grasp its ultimate essence.

Not that Xiao Long wanted to remain aloof, but unlike the Sword Hanging Organization, solving disputes meant entangling in them, it was an unsolvable stalemate, only reaching a higher level might provide a way.

"..."

Saleret was fed up with all opponents who loved trash-talking, from the disfigured face to Heavenly Slaughter to Shadow of Death, and then to Divine Sword, could these people talk less?

Court Alchemists had prepared tougher, more resilient standard equipment for the championship battle, made with Mithril second only to Ancient Divine Steel, crafted from various mixed materials, uniformly silver-colored, fitting for the final monstrous battle.

"Hmm... I'm just making it clear beforehand, otherwise it might be an unfair victory. As I mentioned earlier, if there was an information gap, it'd be hard to defeat you, but Shadow of Death already pushed you to your limit, exposing your weaknesses, so I need to clarify."

Xiao Long pursued absolute fairness, had Quan Jiu known those abilities beforehand, he might have been able to defeat him.

"Then... Let us enter the Stargazing Festival championship battle, first match! Divine Sword Xiao Long versus Ghost-eyed Mad Saber Saleret, begin!"

The female announcer's voice fell.

The light-tiled flooring of the Sky Arena flashed, poised for ignition.

Xiao Long held his sword single-handedly at his base, intending to draw out this man's strange abilities with extreme speed.

Saleret also understood he couldn't repeatedly forward time shift; even two seconds brought severe side effects. This was only the second time in his life using it, for besides when he was pursued during his escape, there was no situation worthy of using it.

Five seconds should be manageable, it's the upper limit. Further forward shifting would undoubtedly cause a mental overload, turning him into a mindless lunatic.

Saleret removed the ghostly mask, no longer suppressing its power. Instantly, ice threads spread across the Sky Arena, transforming it into permafrost, and the light-tiled flooring's glow blurred into mist under the cold.

Saleret had already witnessed Xiao Long's incredibly exaggerated speed in previous battles.

Saleret didn't act rashly and instead waited for a crucial moment to find the opportunity for a violent strike.

No matter how powerful Xiao Long was, there was an insurmountable gap with the state he was in, achieving feats within five seconds was like a divine miracle.

Moreover, even without Ghost Eye, Saleret was a Hall-level Adventurer; otherwise, he couldn't have reached the top four in the competition, an already astonishing achievement.

Xiao Long approached Saleret, holding his sword in one hand, breathing steadily, closely observing Saleret's movements and those blood-red glowing eyes.

Everything has a weakness, those eyes gave him the mystic ability to regenerate injuries, so fulfilling all this was a prerequisite.

So far, apart from Abyss Exiled Clement suffering a slightly hard hit, which still wasn't a severe injury, all opponents either surrendered themselves or were lightly injured.

Xiao Long would not blind Saleret.

It's challenging, but as long as he was forced to use that burst of incomprehensible power in a short period, he had already lost, without blinding him.

"Are you ready? Your peculiar ability is worth my full strength."

Xiao Long indeed worried about accidentally killing someone because of its high power.

"..."

Saleret completely ignored Xiao Long, crossed his dual blades, cast a Cross Slash, his eyes glowing with blood, wrapping the extreme cold power around the blade, the sky frost cold air shrieked forth.

Xiao Long stood firm like a mountain, blocking the attack with a stable stance, taking hits directly, without a shadow of a sword, his hand seemed motionless, sword blossoms erupted, shattering everything into ice fragments.

After blocking the attack, he continued to slowly walk toward Saleret.

But his steps were peculiar, appearing to only take a few steps, but with visual distortion, the original thirty-yard gap between the two suddenly closed to just a few meters.

Saleret's mind was in turmoil, as Xiao Long hadn't shown this in previous battles.

He watched Xiao Long step forward and immediately reach him, with uncanny speed, no shadow of a sword, only his shirt sleeves bizarrely flicking in the wind a few times.

He didn't move, but the killing intent was choking.

It was then that Saleret understood what "Divine Sword" meant, the sword aura broke away from his hand, the arcs of instant death opened dozens to hundreds in an instant.

Too powerful, too explosive.

An indistinguishable rhythm of speed, divine craftsmanship.

His sword seemed slow, yet gathered all unmatched killing intent.

Even predicting the future, the strange rhythm posed challenges.

Blades danced wildly, blocking east and west.

In an instant, a tiny red line blossomed on his shoulder, seeping hidden blood plasma.

Feeling it in combat was more intuitive than watching, Xiao Long roughly discerned Saleret's style.

"Die!"

Saleret spun around, slashing, predicting Xiao Long would appear behind him, shadows shifting, blood-red eyes glowed, and the time scale began to shift forward.

Planning to instantly kill Xiao Long.