Cordelia's expression changed as she inspected the wall of icy water.

[Just by looking at the manifestation of the move you can tell that the person behind it is highly skilled. The quality of the qi is superb, and they have an almost perfect comprehension of the skill if they have been able to incorporate secondary effects such as the slowing and numbing effect to such a high level. Who did this!?]

Cordelia and Daphne's eyes hardened.

[Is there another hidden 7th rank in this battlefield?]

As Van closed his palm, the last of the icy qi disappeared and the Silver Cutter Eagle's corpse plummeted downwards. It disintegrated into motes of light before it could hit the ground.

"You!?"

Cordelia, for the first time since the Mausoleum opened was shaken to her core.

Impossible! This boy actually had this level of skill?

Daphne bit her lip. Her pride in her exceptional observation skills took a hit. How had they underestimated him so much?

Loud cheering erupted from the battlefield below. The partic.i.p.ants elated to see the Silver Cutter Eagle defeated before it could attack the light-emitting crystal. The Cedar Sect battalions cheered the loudest.

Van smirked and threw a challenging gaze at the two twins from the Zephyr Sect, who were gazing at him with stunned and unwilling-to-believe expressions on their face.

"Cat got your tongue?" Van teased.

Cordelia's expression turned ugly. If her eyes could shoot daggers then Van would have been pierced through all his organs right now.

Van tsked and then smiled broadly.

"Seems that the so-called 'leaders.h.i.+p' ability of the person with the highest cultivation here is just this much!"

Van said this sentence loudly and deliberately, broadcasting the statement to the people fighting below. While they were concentrating on fighting the hordes of beasts coming towards them, these words still incited the emotions of the people who were fighting with one ear listening. They felt it was somewhat hilarious and true, after all, Cordelia had claimed the leaders.h.i.+p position so confidently and yet showed herself to be extremely short-sighted. If Van hadn't intervened just then then the crystal would have been attacked!

A hidden smile lifted the edges of Daphne's lips. Deep down she felt it was refres.h.i.+ng for her sister to be ridiculed like this. Daphne often felt that Cordelia treated her like another lackey rather than an equal, and lorded it about the place just because her cultivation was slightly better. However, Daphne's lapse in composure was so brief it was almost undetected.  

Listening to Van's words, Cordelia felt her blood pressure rise to the sky. Her face turned the colour of puce and she nearly spat blood. She remembered how she had said that the person with the highest cultivation should lead the defence of the crystal in this round.

[Isn't he just throwing my words back at me and giving me a big slap on the face?!]

"How dare you!?" Cordelia was so angered that she briefly lost control of her composure. She swiped her palm through the air and a giant blade of wind swept towards the red-haired youth.

Van's expression changed.

[Is she crazy!?]

He had said the words to purposely enrage her and embarra.s.s her but he didn't expect her to actually attack him. But when he thought about it for a moment longer it made sense; he had been pus.h.i.+ng her b.u.t.tons since the first few rounds after all, and her high pride as a top genius caused her to be unable to tolerate a single grain of sand in her eye.

[Scattering Smoke Steps!]

Van disappeared just as the blade of wind pa.s.sed through the spot he had been standing in.

"Sister!" Daphne chastised, shocked by her twin's actions. She was worried about the repercussions this would have on their Zephyr Sect's image.

"Shut up!" Cordelia hissed. She waved her hand and another giant blade of vicious wind qi swept towards the red-haired youth. She completely ignored her sister's words.

Daphne paled.

Van saw the interaction between the sisters and calculations filled his heart. It seemed that the twins' relations.h.i.+p had some cracks…

The wind blade swept pa.s.sed him and Van dodged nimbly. As he did, his gaze landed near the giant crystal.

There was a small shadow on the ground. At first, Van thought it was just an irregularity but then the black shadow s.h.i.+fted.

Alarm bells went off in Van's head.

As he looked closer, he realised that the small black shadow was actually a 7th ranked Midnight Oil Scorpion! It raced towards the giant crystal. Because of its small size and slippery movements, it had actually evaded the detection of the partic.i.p.ants in the battlefield.

Van's instinct was to race towards it and prevent it from reaching the crystal but then a thought raced through his mind.

[Jet!]

The black ring was actually still awake this time, having been observing the battlefield with its mental energy. Unlike a cultivator, the mental energy of the ring was almost undetectable and the amount of power it used incredibly small. Unfortunately, the store of energy the ring contained after all this time was still low and so it could not use its mental energy for long. When Jet was awake, Van basically had a 360-degree surveillance system. Albeit a crabby one that liked to throw around sarcastic remarks.

[The crystal - can it withstand a blow from the 7th ranked demon beast?]

The black ring inspected the crystal critically.

[It was designed to withstand five blows before breaking. However, the most important thing is not this. By striking the crystal, a demon beast can instantly increase its rank by one.]

Van was shocked.

The crystal could actually increase a demon beast's rank! It didn't sound so bad if a 3rd ranked beast levelled up into a 4th rank beast, but the difference between an 8th ranked beast and a 9th ranked beast was the difference between Heaven and Earth! Van realised that protecting the crystal was much more important than just sustaining a source of light.

Jet continued, [The light emitted by the crystal is actually just a side-effect of the high amount of spiritual energy contained within it. That is also what the demon beasts are attracted to.]

Van's eyes darted between the Midnight Oil Scorpion and the crystal.

He turned around and faced the twins, his body angled in such a way that the small form of the Midnight Oil Scorpion was concealed.

In front of him, Cordelia was still furiously slinging wind blades. As before, they were unable to hit the red-haired youth.  

Van smirked, "You missed again."

A vein pulsed on Cordelia's forehead. She laughed coldly and gathered the energy in her palm.

[Let's see how much longer he can keep smiling for!]

However, at that moment -

WENG!

A loud ringing noise echoed through the battlefield.

Van knew in his heart that the 7th ranked demon beast had reached the giant crystal. He turned around and staggered back as if extremely shocked and surprised by what he saw.

Cordelia and Daphne finally noticed the 7th ranked Midnight Oil Scorpion and paled. A fine hairline crack had formed on the surface of the crystal and a bright beam of light shot out of the crystal and landed on a small shadow on the ground.

As the beam of light hit it, the Midnight Oil Scorpion visibly swelled. Its glossy black exoskeleton became laced with red and it went from the size of a mouse to the size of a small pony. Its aura grew denser and suddenly shot to the skies.

It was the aura of an 8th rank demon beast!

The Midnight Oil Scorpion lifted its barbed tail and screeched loudly. The tails stabbed forwards with the speed of light and instantly eliminated a disciple.

The crowd was shocked – how did a 7th rank monster suddenly become an 8th rank monster? They were filled with shock and unhappiness, after all, an 8th rank demon beast was no joke and somehow it had slipped past all of them, including Cordelia and Daphne.

The gazes they shot to the twins were full of unhappiness.

Gritting her teeth, Cordelia shot Van a poisonous glance before going to deal with the 8th rank Midnight Oil Scorpion. Daphne followed.

Van smiled.

[Do you think I'm letting you two get all the points?]

Van rotated Scattering Smoke Steps and appeared behind the 8th rank beast just at the same time the twins did. They immediately launched the offensive. Wind qi whipped through the air and sliced the air around the Midnight Oil Scorpion.

Enraged, the demon beast stabbed its tail forwards with flickering movements. Afterimages of its tail appeared in the air. The twins were kept on their toes as they dodged the lightning-fast attacks from the Scorpion. As they fought, the twins realised that the 8th rank Midnight Oil Scorpion's sh.e.l.l was particularly resistant to spiritual power.

Van looked at the glossy exoskeleton and licked his lips.