CHAPTER 137: SPIKE PIT

Chapter 137: Spike pit

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The battle was fierce from the very start, with one side choosing to wait while the other, seeing their opponent not making the first move, went straight on the offensive.

But it was quickly revealed that the first strike had only been a distraction, since the second was on its way.

Now that even the second attack had been stopped, what would the second year student do?

But more importantly, where was the second year student?

The audience quickly realized they had lost sight of him and began looking around in confusion, everyone except for a few, those who had been able to see through Li Daniu’s attacks from the very beginning.

While the crowd stirred, searching for the missing student, those who knew where he was could only watch with calm expressions as they saw him making his next move.

Barely five seconds had passed since the second earth pillar had been raised behind Zhu Rong, shattering the earth clone created by his opponent.

But during this time, Zhu Rong had never shifted his gaze from the front, where he had first raised the pillar of earth that had successfully blocked the opening strikes.

He smiled as he stared ahead, and almost as if triggered by that, the pillar of earth, no more than three meters tall, trembled, then shattered. From within it, something shot out at high speed, rushing straight toward Zhu Rong.

Seeing this, everyone’s focus immediately turned to the broken pillar, and their eyes widened when they noticed that, half buried among the debris of deflected attacks blocked by Zhu Rong’s pillar, was none other than Li Daniu himself.

His expression was dark as he appeared to launch yet another strike, this time from underground.

At that moment, many seemed to realize Li Daniu’s objective, and when they did, they nodded in agreement, as though supporting his tactic.

"So that’s it, huh? He might not match him in strength, but talent isn’t something he lacks. He’s created a string of distractions to keep closing the distance between them, waiting for the moment to catch him off guard," said a second year student, thinking Li Daniu’s approach was pretty good.

"On the surface, that might look like his aim, but if he fails to catch him by surprise, then the attack is useless. You saw how easily he crushed those third years. If Li Daniu ends up face to face with him and can’t land a blow in time, then all he’s doing is walking straight into his own defeat," said another third year, clearly not fully convinced by Li Daniu’s strategy.

The goal seemed obvious, but so did the risks.

Everyone understood that without taking risks, Li Daniu had no chance at all of defeating his opponent, who had already proven time and again just how overwhelming his strength was.

If they had been in his shoes, they doubted they could come up with anything better.

Using a battle of attrition would only accelerate Li Daniu’s own defeat, while charging recklessly without strategy would lead to the same result. His only hope lay in creating just enough distraction to close the gap and land a decisive blow.

The strike Li Daniu had just launched at high speed from the pillar toward Zhu Rong looked, to the audience, like yet another attempt at distraction, only confirming their suspicions. The follow-up move was nothing but further proof of that.

Right after unleashing that attack, Li Daniu didn’t waste a second. He thrust his hand toward the ground, pouring large amounts of earth Qi into it.

Those with sharper perception of Qi immediately noticed this, and their eyes tracked the energy rushing underground until it reached Zhu Rong. But Zhu Rong didn’t even move, allowing the high speed attack flying directly at him to reach within a meter of his body, only for it to suddenly stop in midair.

It was clear his opponent had caught it with his spiritual energy, but this made some frown.

If he was using his spiritual control to hold that attack in place, then part of his spiritual sense would be interrupted, leaving him vulnerable to the underground strike about to hit him head on.

This was a rookie mistake in the eyes of many, and it confused them. Everyone thought Zhu Rong was experienced in battle, but now they were forced to reconsider.

"Well, maybe he really has a chance to beat him," muttered a first year student.

The moment Li Daniu’s attack was stopped in midair, cracks spread under Zhu Rong’s feet, and soon the ground gave way, opening a pit two meters wide beneath him.

The collapse threw up debris to the sides, lifting a small cloud of dust, but even so, many thought Li Daniu had finally caught his opponent.

Standing just a few meters away, Li Daniu grinned. Without wasting time, he muttered under his breath:

"Spike Pit."

And as if responding to his words, sharp protrusions shot up from within the newly formed pit, the sound of piercing spikes echoing loudly.

Hearing this, a smile spread across Li Daniu’s face as he rejoiced inwardly.

’Got you, bastard. Who told you to take a fight lightly?’

But his joy was short lived. His brows soon furrowed.

"Strange... why isn’t the referee stepping in?"

He thought this odd. The Spike Pit was exactly what it sounded like, a spiked trap. Specifically, it was a surprise attack that dragged the enemy into a five meter deep pit, and once inside, spikes of earth would shoot up from all three sides to skewer them.

Normally, if an opponent wasn’t prepared, even a third year would have trouble escaping without serious injury, unless they had a technique to greatly boost their physical defense. But Zhu Rong wasn’t known for such abilities, and Li Daniu was sure of that.

Because of how brutal this attack was, he had fully expected the referee to intervene right away to save Zhu Rong. After all, weren’t they supposed to stop the fights before anyone got seriously injured, or worse?

Instead, what he saw was the referee standing calmly at the side, watching him with a pitying expression, shaking his head over and over.

’What the hell’s going on? Why is he looking at me like that?’ A strange, chilling sense of danger crept over him, the same one he had felt when that beast had charged him during the end of semester exam.

’Sht, don’t tell me...’

On full alert, he whipped his head toward the pit only a few meters away. But just as his vision shifted, it was blocked, not by debris, but by someone.

A shiver ran down his spine. He raised his head slightly, and there was Zhu Rong, completely unharmed, staring at him with a simple smile.

"Nice attack," he said.

Li Daniu didn’t respond. He tried to retreat, to put some distance between them, but it was too late. A sharp pain slammed into his head, and his vision instantly went dark.

He collapsed unconscious, a large bump swelling on his head.

Zhu Rong lowered his raised right fist, blew lightly on it, then turned his gaze toward the poor lamb he had just taught a lesson.

"Though your tactic was interesting, your lack of control over Qi makes it worthless. Even a third year would’ve spotted what you were trying to do right away. Still, nice try," he said, sounding more like an elder praising a junior than an opponent who had just won.

The referee, who had been standing nearby, had been ready to announce the result. But after seeing this scene, he couldn’t help but feel that Zhu Rong seemed more like the elder here than even himself.

"The winner of the final match of today’s semifinals is Zhu Rong!" he declared, as the crowd erupted in cheers.

Although the result was what everyone had expected, seeing Li Daniu attempt so many tactics to land even a single blow on his opponent had surprised some. The fact that he had almost succeeded made a few wonder if he might have really pulled it off.

But fate had decided otherwise.

Zhu Rong, who had defeated all his previous opponents, whether second or third-years, had once again proven his overwhelming strength.

It might have felt like a long battle, but less than five minutes had passed since the start.

It had been quick, yet intense, leaving no one with the sense that it had ended too soon.

As the audience began to calm down, Zhu Rong didn’t waste time and returned to the waiting hall for participants.

Now that all the matches were over, only the final remained to decide the tournament’s champion.

The main purpose of the tournament had been to select the five members of the expedition group. But by this point, those had already been chosen.

The last match now had only one goal left,

letting the students compete to determine who was the very best.

With the two finalists now decided, all that was left was to wait for the fight to begin,

one second year who had proven himself stronger than all his peers, even among third-years,

and one third year, acclaimed by everyone as the greatest talent of the third year, one of the rarest geniuses the academy had ever seen.