Tempest of the Battlefield

Wang Tong and Karl\'s feeling was shared among the audience. They came into the arena already with prejudice against the covert Mastery sects, and Han Linu\'s defeat seemed to have lent credence towards their bias.

Head lowered, Han Linu walked off the stage; it was an embarrassing fight indeed. He was quickly surrounded by his fellow sect members and was bombarded with questions. The sect members were well aware of Han Linu\'s strength, and they had never thought that he would be trounced. One thing they were certain was that Han Linu\'s defeat was not because of a slip-up, but rather due to the extraordinary opponent.

The outcome of the match had taken the wind out of the Lunar Mastery\'s sail, as the members of the sect plodded out of the arena, faces reddened with anger and shame. Should their opponent be any famous fighter, such as Patroclus or Michaux, the defeat would be much less humiliating.

Nevertheless, a defeat was a defeat. However, there was still a silver lining for the Lunar Mastery sect, since Han Linu still had two more matches to prove himself.

Wang Tong had won the match, and that was something worth celebrating for the Ayrlarng\'s students.

Hu Yangxuan pulled Wang Tong aside and asked, "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Don\'t pretend you don\'t know what I am talking about. How did you break the Mastery\'s spell?"

Wang Tong cracked a smile and conceded that he could not beguile Hu Yangxuan, the former Templar disciple. "It\'s nothing new, just a different way of controlling soul energy. My soul energy happened to be particularly effective in breaking the Mastery\'s spells." Wang Tong had spoken the truth, since there weren\'t any sophisticated techniques used during the fight.

Hu Yangxuan nodded, and he knew Wang Tong was telling him the truth. From the battle, he could tell that Wang Tong\'s moves were very straightforward and lacked finesse. Plus, everyone at Ayrlarng knew that Wang Tong\'s soul energy was extraordinary, so Wang Tong\'s claim about his soul energy\'s effectiveness against spells was not unthinkable.

Although the web-like soul energy—an inborn attribute of a fighter— had made Han Linu an extremely powerful caster, Wang Tong, on the other hand, was even more powerful.

"Wang Tong, I\'m glad you can teach these pricks a lesson about never looking down on grass-root fighters!" Hu Yangxuan announced, his filled with resentment. Ever since he had met his inner court brothers, Hu Yangxuan seemed to carry a chip on his shoulder constantly.

Hu Yangxuan\'s second match went smoothly, and his opponent was also a fellow court brother from the moon.

Despite the Ivantian\'s futile resistance, Ha Yangxuan had achieved a decisive victory. It was evident that his strength and skills were much superior to his fellow court brother. Not only had Hu Yangxuan improved his fighting skills during his boot-camp training under Ma Sa, but the excruciating sparing with Wang Tong had also significantly toughened his will.

Although Ayrlarng had lost one of three contestants, the other two fighters were already on their way towards the final playoff matches.

Bernabeu and Ayrlarng were sister schools, and therefore, they both followed each other\'s match results closely. So far, there were only Apache and Cao Yi who remained in the game, although Cao Yi had already lost one round.

Apache, on the other hand, had improved his skills significantly ever since he joined the military. Therefore, he had remained undefeated.

By then, almost all the players had fought at least one match, and the competition was extremely fierce. Everyone agreed that this year\'s tournament was the largest gathering of the world\'s toughest fighters, some of whom were relatively unknown before the tournament.

It was worth mentioning that fighters from the Planet Ceres and Andromeda Galaxy had also fought ferociously like everyone else. Despite the consensus that they were most likely not to be seen at the final stage, their display of strength had caught many off guard.

After another three days of fierce battles, one hundred and twenty-eight fighters had finally made it into the final playoff. These fighters represented the strongest of the young generation, as they included top fighters from all factions and planets.

Even for a significant event such as the pan-solar tournament, the strength of the players varied greatly from year to year. The last tournament, for example, had no top fighters except Li Shiming and Lie Jian, despite it being an improvement compared to the one before it. Not only had there been ten times more players than an average year, but the incredible prowess of these players was also unprecedented.

The most anticipated segment of the tournament was finally about to draw back its curtain.

From then on, every round was a playoff, and only the winner would earn the rights to fight in the next round; there were no second chances.

Lie Jian, the strongest fighter of the Martian coalition, and his opponent, the wielder of the Heavenly Halberd, Wu Gang from the Templar\'s Inner Court, kicked off the final playoffs.

No doubt this would be a fight to remember, since both combatants were renowned fighters from prestigious backgrounds.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the first battle of the playoffs for the top-sixty-four positions is about to start! On one side of the arena stands the heir of the Tactics of the Blaze, symbol of the martian\'s spirit! LIE—JIAN!"

All martian audiences stood up from their seats at the announcement, howling and shouting the name of their champion. Lie Jian was in a vibrant red gym suit. His eyes held an unswerving belief that he would annihilate whoever stood in front of him.

"Lie Jian\'s opponent is from Earth, the birthplace of all tactics, the powerful, mysterious and sacred Templar\'s Court! His name is Wu Gang, the HEAVENLY HALBERD!"

Waves of cheers and applause erupted from the audiences. This match was bounded to be an uphill battle for both contestants. However, the poll had suggested that eighty percent of the audiences believed that Lie Jian would come out as the winner. It was evident that the public still held the five major tactics with high regard.

At the announcement of his name, Wu Gang sauntered onto the stage with a halberd strapped to his back.

After the two fighters bowed to each other, the fight finally began amidst a tsunami of cheers and shouts.

Even though Lie Jian was faced with the Templar\'s inner court disciple, he held the Martian\'s signature haughty expression. On the other hand, Wu Gang looked indifferent as he slowly loosened the halberd on his back.

"Show me what a Templar\'s Disciple can do!"

"Be careful what you wish for!" Wu Gang answered as he brandished the sharp halberd.

"Hehe... Why do I feel that I will be disappointed?"

The Martian\'s insult had angered Wu Gang. The young Templar cranked up his soul energy to three hundred and ninety as he charged at Lie Jian, the tip of his halberd pointed squarely at the Martian\'s chest.

Sensing the incoming attack, Lie Jian started his tactics as a burst of soul energy shot through his body. Fist infused with blazing power, Lie Jian pounded directly at his attacker without any hesitation.

With a deafening blare, Lie Jian\'s body jerked forward slightly to finish the punch, as Wu Gang staggered backward after the impact as the force of his attack fell short. It was evident that Wu Gang was just probing his opponent, as he didn\'t use his full strength.

Wu Gang quickly regained balance and pushed forward with a wave of halberd attacks. Each thrust of the halberd was faster and more powerful than the last. Meanwhile, Lie Jian held his ground and met the attacks head-on with fiery fists. It had become clear to Lie Jian that he could not waste time on defense and evasion while facing such belligerence. His only hope lied in subduing his opponent with an overbearing aggression.

In the heat of the battle, the stage turned into a crazed swirl of glowing fire, and silvery steel. The impact of the fist and the halberd sent explosions after explosions. Suddenly, the audiences watched as a burst of fireball exploded on the stage, and Wu Gang was sent flying by the intense wave of heat.

Lie Jian paused and watched as Wu Gang struggled back to his feet. "Hehe...Is that all you got?"

Wu Gang held back the pain and swallowed down the anger as he conceded that his opponent was truly powerful. Not only he needed to counter Lie Jian\'s attack, but he had also needed to watch out for the deadly Poison Fire constantly. Although he had learned a great deal about the Tactics of the Blaze from the books, Wu Gang conceded that it was much harder to overcome the deadly tactics than it had appeared on paper.

The other three inner court disciples remained calm at the development. They had anticipated that Wu Gang would have to fight an uphill battle. However, they were also confident that their court brother would be able to pull it through.

"Don\'t hold back your strength. Show me the Heavenly Ten Strikes!" Lie Jian demanded. It was evident that House of Lie was also familiar with the power of the Templars.

Without saying a word, Wu Gang charged up his soul energy, and in a blink of an eye, his soul reading had broken through four hundred—the top limit of level five soul energy. This impressive amount of soul energy spoke loudly about the power of inner court disciples.

By then, deadly GN force had been burning at the tip of Wu Gang\'s halberd. The young Templar bent backward and held the halberd like a spear, then hurled it with all the force he could muster. Even as the halberd pierced through the air with lightning speed, Wu Gang ran to the projectile at an even faster pace and kicked its end, giving it even more velocity.

Heavenly Ten Strike—Flying Serpent!

Faced with such a deadly attack, Lie Jian didn\'t even flinch, and he punched at halberd with abandon. As the impact sent a shock wave throughout the arena, Lie Jian staggered back a few steps, almost losing his balance. Wu Gang quickly followed with another attack, pointing the halberd at Lie Jian\'s head while sweep-kicking below his opponent\'s knees.