In the first match of the fifth round, Li Fuchen encountered Liu Wuhuang after his match against Yuwen Tian.
It was obvious from the earlier matches that Liu Wuhuang's ability was much superior to Yuwen Tian's.
After all, Liu Wuhuang was two years older than Yuwen Tian, hence he had two more years of cultivation time.
Generally, cultivation could be forcefully increased by using foreign resources, but one's sword dao foundation was only slightly affected by foreign resources. At least from the looks of it, Liu Wuhuang only lost one match, while Yuwen Tian already lost three matches.
On the tournament stage, Liu Wuhuang had on a grave expression.
He knew that Li Fuchen had passed the third floor of the Tower of Inheritance, while he still didn't have the ability to pass the third floor.
But, this didn't mean that he had to concede his defeat.
He was able to withstand for a fair amount of time on the third floor of the tower and he assumed that he wasn't far inferior to Li Fuchen who had just passed the third floor of the Tower of Inheritance.
Furthermore, the Tower of Inheritance mainly tested one's attack power. If one didn't have enough attack power, one wouldn't be able to defeat the demonic beasts from the formation array.
But this was a fight between martial artists and attack power wasn't the only factor, sword skill proficiency was of higher importance.
"Take this move!"
Liu Wuhuang's flashed while he lifted the black gold sword in his hand. The imposing sword qi split from one into two, two into four, four into eight… In an instant, there was a dense sword qi which looked like a locust swarm shrouding at Li Fuchen.
Dense, boundless, dominant. These were the feelings that Liu Wuhuang's sword art gave off.
And this sword art was one that many of the Azure Water Sect's direct disciple knew about, it was the mystic class mid-tier sword art—Shadow Split Sword Art.
Moreover, Li Wuhuang's Shadow Split Sword intent was obviously at the matured stage and was unfathomable.
"I wonder how is he going to neutralize it?"
A few of those gold class direct disciples who had passed the third floor of the Tower of Inheritance were staring at Li Fuchen.
"He is worthy to possess the 5-star bone frame. A pity that he encountered me."
Li Fuchen made his move and a single blade caused sparks to dance in the sky. Li Wuhuang's Shadow Split Sword qi was all wiped out.
Pfff!
Breaking through the qi protection, one of the Starfire sparks blasted Liu Wuhuang away, charring his clothes.
It was the same mystic class mid-tier sword art, but Li Fuchen's Starfire Sword Art was much more profound than Li Wuhuang's sword art by more than two folds. If Li Fuchen was willing, he could have used this blade to leave Liu Wuhuang with only bones.
"Amazing!"
All the direct disciples' eyes shrunk.
A single move was more than enough for Li Fuchen to neutralize the Shadow Split Sword Art effortlessly. It was as though an adult was dealing with a child.
Unknowingly, the selection tournament was now in the ninth round.
Up till now, after all the elimination, there were only 16 participants left.
Yuwen Tian had already been eliminated and Liu Wuhuang now had three losses.
During all those rounds, Li Fuchen defeated several gold class direct disciples who passed the third floor of the Tower of Inheritance. Li Fuchen's ability was something that was out of everyone's expectation.
In the seventh match of the ninth round, Li Fuchen went on stage again.
This time his opponent was the Azure Water Sect's 5th ranked direct disciple, Liu Yuan who was at the 9th level of the Earth Realm.
Liu Yuan had already passed the third floor of the Tower of Inheritance more than a year ago. He faced Li Fuchen with a relaxed expression, "Li shidi sure has some good moves. Having such ability at such a young age. Perhaps in another one or two years, I might not be Li shidi's match anymore."
His ability wasn't inferior to Xue Feng and the only thing he lacked was creating a mystic class mid-tier kill move.
"Make your move!" Li Fuchen spoke loudly.
"Then, Li shidi, beware now."
The black gold sword in Liu Yuan's hand shook and countless sword flowers blossomed.
Mystic class mid-tier sword art—Brocade Sword Art.
Executing a mystic class mid-tier sword art with a 9th level Earth Realm cultivation, this sword art was much stronger than Liu Wuhuang's Shadow Split Sword Art.
Comparatively, Li Fuchen was only at the 6th level of the Earth Realm and was three levels lower than Liu Yuan.
Right now, the 3-star secret technique, Mystical Dragon Secret Technique, and Primary Clear Hand weren't considered a trump anymore. Basically, most of the people here had 3-star secret techniques.
But Li Fuchen didn't intend to use the Black Iron Sword Essence and he didn't intend to use a stronger sword art or kill move. With his astounding awareness, he could instantly see through the flaw in Liu Yuan's sword art. As long as he was targeting the flaws, Li Fuchen would be able to defeat power with skill.
He still used the Starfire Sword Art, but this time it was much more magnificent and splendid.
It was as if someone scattered a bonfire with a palm strike. Tens of thousands of sparks burst from the bonfire, circling in the sky and was incredibly beautiful while unimaginably dangerous at the same time.
"Perfected mystic class mid-tier sword intent?" Zhao Wujin blurted out on the rostrum.
A perfected mystic class mid-tier sword intent meant that it was close to the level of a mystic class high-tier sword intent.
To be able to reach this phase, it meant that Li Fuchen had raised the mystic class mid-tier sword art to the extreme and any further would transform it into a mystic class high-tier sword art.
"And his awareness?"
Ouyang Wentian's vision was extremely sharp as he could obviously see that Li Fuchen had seen the flaws of Liu Yuan's sword art.
Pitter, Patter!
Liu Yuan's sword art was brilliant, but Li Fuchen's sword art was several folds more brilliant.
It was as though bubbles were getting punctured, Liu Yuan's sword art collapsed upon contact and it was unable to even provide any threat to Li Fuchen.
"Eh?" Liu Yuan's eyes shrank.
"Gathering of Brocade Flower!"
Liu Yuan burst out with the signature move of the Brocade Sword Art. The layers of sword flowers were just like a sea of flowers surging towards Li Fuchen.
"Ceaseless Rotating Flow!"
Li Fuchen changed his sword stance from the Starfire Sword Art into the Rotating Flow Sword Art.
The rotating flow of sword light was like a scarlet red flow of water current which engulfed the sea of flowers before exploding with ferocity.
Rumble!
Liu Yuan involuntarily flew backward and landed outside of the tournament stage.
"I have won." Li Fuchen said.
Liu Yuan's expression changed countless times and his eyes finally dimmed.
He was defeated convincingly, his opponent's sword skill proficiency was too high.
The horrifying thing was that Li Fuchen was just 20 years old.
To have such sword skill proficiency at 20 years of age was something even Sword Maniac Li Xiangru couldn't compare with.
No wonder he was accepted as the personal disciple of the first Mystic Martial Expert. Li Fuchen was an existence that Liu Yuan couldn't make assumptions with.
"Too strong."
The rest of the golden class direct disciple who passed the third floor of the Tower of Inheritance shook their heads and were rather dejected.
They originally thought they had some hope for striving for the top four positions, but now, all that hope were gone.
From what it seemed like, only Sword Maniac Li Xiangru, Sword Tiger Chen Yuanhu, Emotionless Sword Xue Feng, Bu Qingsong, and Li Fuchen had the possibility to qualify and the others wouldn't even have a chance.
"He has a competent ability." Bu Qingsong's expression turned dignified too.
Li Fuchen's sword skill proficiency was too high and it was highly possible that he had created a mystic class mid-tier kill move. If that was the case, it wouldn't be easy for him to defeat Li Fuchen.
In the eighth match of the ninth round, Chen Yuanhu went against Xue Feng.
After clashing for more than a few dozens moves, Chen Yuanhu managed to defeat Xue Feng.
In the first match of the tenth round, Sword Maniac Li Xiangru went against Chen Yuanhu. Chen Yuanhu was defeated in three blades.
On the third match of the tenth round, Li Fuchen was up against Bu Qingsong.
"They have finally encountered each other."
Everyone's eyes were wide opened.
One was a veteran direct disciple and during his prime, he was the no.1 direct disciple in the Azure Water Sect. Although he was surpassed by Sword Maniac Li Xiangru, Bu Qingsong's ability was still undeniable. Moreover, his cultivation was the highest among all the participants, which was at the peak level of the Earth Realm.
The other was the most dazzling prodigy in the Azure Water Sect. Apart from his lower cultivation level, he was undoubtedly the best of the best in every other factor.
The battle between the two of them would definitely be historical.
It was either the old waves remaining ferocious, or the new waves would push away the old waves.