Chapter 674: The Top 14

After this round of matches, only fourteen contestants remained. Liu Yuan’s opponent vomited frantically on the arena, continuing until he collapsed and withdrew, allowing Liu Yuan to become one of the top 14. His presence made Ye Feng see him as an even greater threat.

The matches to determine the seven finalists were postponed to the next day—not due to lack of time, but because the suspense was growing. The organizers felt that one match per day was sufficient, as such intense battles left the contestants severely exhausted. A day’s rest might help them recover slightly and avoid being too worn out.

After drawing the numbers for the next round, Ye Feng and all the qualifiers were sent away.

Inside the Arche of Ultimate Martial Arts, Pearl, who had been resting, had already finished her recovery. Her aura now felt strange to Ye Feng—different from before.

“Are you okay?” Ye Feng couldn’t help but ask, noticing the change in her aura.

“I’m fine. The Hellish Nether Butterfly devoured that guy named Xiao Ran. I not only got his memories but also his talents, powers, and inheritance,” Pearl said with a smile. “Now, I’m also a Void Walker.”

“By the way, I just obtained two useful items today. I think you’ll need them.” Ye Feng took out the Hellish Golden Silkworm and the Poison God Essence.

“This is…” Pearl was stunned upon seeing the sealed golden silkworm in Ye Feng’s hand. “The Hellish Golden Silkworm?”

“That’s right. You recognize it?” Ye Feng was surprised as well.

“I have the Hellish Nether Butterfly inside me, so I know many things about the Hell. This Hellish Golden Silkworm is one of the ten most poisonous insects in the Hell. If my Nether Butterfly can devour it, it will evolve further, increasing its chances of becoming a Butterfly Queen,” Pearl explained. Then she looked at the power in Ye Feng’s hand. “What kind of power is this?”

“It’s a poison-related power. I thought you might need it too.” Ye Feng handed both to her.

“I don’t plan to cultivate poison-related powers, but I can use them to feed my Nether Butterfly.” Pearl was surprised again. After a moment, she figured out how to deal with this power.

“Do as you wish. It’s not suitable to cultivate on your own. Giving it to the Hellish Nether Butterfly works too.” Ye Feng nodded. As someone who had fought Lady Chun, he knew well that those who used such poison powers would suffer a terrible death if they encountered true strong opponents.

Pearl took both and casually asked, “How was your match?”
“Tomorrow is the round of 14 to 7,” Ye Feng said with a slight frown. Pearl’s question reminded him of Liu Yuan, who had seemingly won by luck in the arena again. He still couldn’t figure out what Liu Yuan was all about—that guy gave him a sense of unease.
“What’s wrong? With your current strength, shouldn’t it be easy for you to compete for the championship? Why do you look so worried?” Pearl asked curiously.
Only then did Ye Feng express his concerns about Liu Yuan.
“That Liu Yuan sounds a bit strange,” Pearl said, frowning after hearing that. “I’ll go with you tomorrow to take a look. If he uses Hellish techniques, maybe I can help. After all, you’re not familiar with those techniques at all.”
“That’s good!” Ye Feng nodded. He hadn’t really held much hope. Since Pearl offered to help, he couldn’t refuse and agreed.
Early the next morning, Pearl emerged from the Absolute Martial Ark early. Her strength had grown significantly, though her cultivation level was still at the Star Sea stage.
“Let’s go. I’ll accompany you today,” Pearl said, looking in high spirits.
“That golden silkworm…”
“It’s already been devoured by the Nether Butterfly. Its poisonous powers have also been absorbed by it,” Pearl nodded. “Although just one night has passed in the outside world, time accelerates by a million times inside the Absolute Martial Ark. That’s enough time for the Nether Butterfly to digest both.”
Ye Feng led everyone to the competition venue. Long Tian and the others found seats in the audience, while Ye Feng patiently waited for the other contestants to arrive.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, all 14 contestants finally arrived. Soon, they drew lots to determine their opponents.
Ye Feng drew number 11, and his opponent was number 12—Ximen Shu, the strongest swordsman aside from Ye Feng. During the preliminary rounds, Ximen Shu had been one of the four who blatantly inspected the corpses. After these rounds, Ye Feng realized that although this guy also had only a Star Universe-level cultivation, he was strong enough to defeat peak Pseudo-Empty-level fighters. From several matches, Ye Feng guessed that if this guy had a powerful spiritual treasure like Tianjian Gu Tiannan’s, he might actually be able to fight Gu Tiannan. But with the long sword he currently wielded, which was a peak-level spiritual treasure, facing Gu Tiannan head-on would mean certain defeat.

But Ye Feng also wanted to see how many sword techniques this guy had mastered, because from start to finish, he had used only one so far—Fast Swordsmanship, a style that relies on speed to win. Yet Ye Feng felt that Xi Men Shu must have other sword techniques as well; it was pure intuition.

The match between Ye Feng and Xi Men Shu took place in Arena 6, while Liu Yuan’s fight was held in the adjacent arena—Arena 7, where he was assigned number 13.

Liu Yuan still wore a cheerful expression and greeted Ye Feng from afar. Ye Feng could only nod politely in return, though he remained wary of this actor-like man.

With fourteen people left, Liu Yuan appeared to have the lowest cultivation level and strength on the surface. The other thirteen could all defeat opponents at the late Pseudo-Empty stage, and almost each of them possessed peak-grade spiritual treasures, or even the strongest ones. No matter how you looked at it, Liu Yuan was doomed to lose. However, some people saw through it—Liu Yuan’s progress wasn’t entirely luck, even though few had seen any evidence of his strength. Many didn’t think these were coincidences but rather signs of his hidden abilities.

“Is that guy in Arena 7, who looks so unsophisticated, the Liu Yuan Ye Feng mentioned?” Pearl nudged Long Tian, sitting to her right, her eyes never leaving Liu Yuan as she tried to figure out if something was wrong with him.

“Mm,” Long Tian replied in a low voice, nodding but saying nothing more. His gaze remained fixed on Liu Yuan, still filled with confusion.

“That guy is indeed strange, but with my cultivation level, I can’t detect any issues in him. Even those top experts from the upper realms in the guest seats can’t spot anything wrong either.” Luo Yan frowned slightly; he had also been watching that guy but found nothing amiss.

“We just need to keep an eye on him. He’ll eventually reveal a flaw,” Pearl said confidently.

The chief referee struck the start bell, and the battles in the seven arenas finally began.