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. His red hair floated behind his back as he burst forwards.

Red and blue lights rotated in his palm.

Then he clenched his hand!

[Thermocycling Fist!]

A hair-raising screech split the air as a ma.s.sive crack formed in the exoskeleton of the Midnight Oil Scorpion.

Cordelia clenched her teeth. She hated that she couldn't just kill him and eliminate him from the compet.i.tion right this second. He was like an annoying fly that wouldn't stop buzzing around and ruining her mood. Worst of all, he kept stealing her thunder and making her look bad.

Daphne was looking at Van with complex eyes.

[How is he able to damage it so easily when me and Cordelia combined are struggling to make a dent?]

In fact, the reason that the twins seemed to do so little damage compared to Van was due to the characteristics of the Midnight Oil Scorpion. Like the Brown King Ant in Threadspinner Town, it possessed an exoskeleton that was resistant against both spiritual and physical attacks. Adding the fact that it was in the 8th rank, any 7th rank cultivator would struggle against the Midnight Oil Scorpion.

However, Van was not 'any' 7th rank cultivator. He had a move that was the absolute bane of any hard-sh.e.l.led demon beast - Thermocycling Fist! This self-made fist used the opposites of extreme cold and extreme heat to crack the impenetrable exoskeleton of these types of demon beasts.

With this one fist, Van grasped the weakness of the Midnight Oil Scorpion!

One might be tempted to scoff and say Van was 'just lucky' to have a skill that countered the strength of this 8th ranked Midnight Oil Scorpion.

However, do you think Van would have allowed the demon beast to attack the giant crystal if he hadn't calculated it all clearly in his heart?

Of course not!

Van pressed his advantage. Copper light emanated from his body as he used his fists to pummel the crack.

The 8th rank beast immediately turned its attention to Van. The agile and fearsome tail flickered through the air.

Van immediately disappeared and the tail was unable to pierce him. He reappeared several metres back.

The 8th rank beast stared at him menacingly.

Cordelia saw that the scorpion was now using its tail to protect the crack in its exoskeleton and frowned. She and her sister specialised in long-range spiritual attacks. However, they had already seen that their spiritual attacks were somewhat weakened by the resistant sh.e.l.l of the demon beast. The problem was that close combat was not their forte. If they got in close to target the crack in the Scorpion's sh.e.l.l, they would definitely suffer losses. Their only option was to just keep slinging powerful attacks at the demon beast in hopes of breaking through its defences.

While the twins hesitated, Van dashed in again.

The enraged scorpion suddenly stabbed its pincers into the ground. The earth trembled and then giant boulders shot out of the ground and shot towards Van.

Van lightly floated up. His image flickered as he stepped through the air as if he were made of hazy smoke. The boulders were easily evaded.

A heavy and forbidding axe suddenly appeared in Van's hand.

The black scorpion screeched. The glinting tip of its tail was like a snake that coiled and whipped around in the air. It jabbed forth!

[Heavy Axe Art!]

A heavy and immense aura suddenly flooded the battlefield as Van gathered the power into his axe. In his mind, the silently rotating black sun appeared once more.

Shk!

A s.h.i.+ny segmented object fell to the ground.

The Midnight Oil Scorpion screeched in agonised pain.

Its venomous barbed tail disarmed, Van nimbly avoided its pincers and attacked its broken exoskeleton.

Cordelia and Daphne realised at this moment that Van was about to steal the points for the 8th ranked beast right in front of their eyes. Angered, Cordelia pointed a slender finger towards Van's unprotected back.

"Wind Bullet!"

Jet warned Van and the red-haired youth was able to activate his body cultivation just milliseconds before the air bullet hit his back.

 A trace of red appeared at the corner of Van's lips.

[Even more vicious than I expected!] Van thought.

In the next second, Van's obsidian axe slipped between the crack in the Midnight Oil Scorpion's exoskeleton and tore through its soft insides. Screeching, it toppled over.

Van wiped his slimy axe on the ground before turning his head to the twins.  He pinned Cordelia with a baleful eye.

"Very good!"

His words were filled with sarcasm.

"The conduct of the top disciple of the Zephyr Sect is really exemplary and should be admired!"

______

In the large coliseum, a large segment of people interested in the twin phoenixes from the Zephyr Sect were watching the scene with ugly expressions. In contrast, those who were interested in the Cedar Sect's performance were grinning.

An audience member who was an expert at lip-reading was interpreting Van's every word.

"The conduct of the top disciple of the Zephyr Sect is really exemplary and should be admired!"

Even with the audience member dutifully interpreting the words without any intonation, the audience members could feel the sarcasm dripping in every word.

"First you were blind to the intentions of the Silver Cutter Eagle, then because you were busy attacking me for dealing with the Silver Cutter Eagle, you did not see the Midnight Oil Scorpion making a move on the crystal."

The audience t.i.ttered. Indeed, it had happened like this!

The lip-reading expert continued.

"Finally, when I tried to protect the crystal by quickly dealing with the scorpion, you dare to launch a sneak attack. Did you forget that the reason the beast was able rise from the 7th rank to 8th rank was because of you? Indeed, the Zephyr Sect's conduct is very good!"

m.u.f.fled laughter filled the stands.

Indeed, the Zephyr Sect's conduct was too good!

The audience members weren't stupid – they could see that the red-haired youth had been taunting the Zephyr Sect's twins from the beginning, however those two 'twin phoenixes' really put on a good show and humiliated their sects' name!

Tsk, tsk. They were still too green!

In the higher stands, Madam Sophia's face was frozen into a stiff smile. If one looked closely, her skin appeared just a touch green.

[How dare he!]

She widened her eyes and glared at the red-haired youth shown in the mirage above; the venom within was enough to poison an entire city.

______

Elder Malkovich had just uneasily got used to the silence of the hooded man beside him when a low chuckle emanated from the person's mouth.

Sighing, Malkovich followed his gaze and was unsurprised that it was the second battlefield once more. The hooded man spoke for the first time in six hours.

"He knew it was there…Cunning boy."

Elder Malkovich detected a pleased undertone to the hooded man's words but had no idea what he was talking about because his attention had been purely focused on the first battlefield.

The Star-Cutting Sword Sect's Elder looked back at the first battlefield with a crinkle between his brows. He couldn't help but touch his goatee in concern.

Why was the gap getting smaller…?

______

Van looked coldly at the twins. He felt the stinging pain in his kidney and was reminded of the viciousness of the twins before him. He was afraid that now they had lost their sect's face, they wouldn't hesitate to act even more deplorably to get the top prize.

However, Van was no soft persimmon.

"I will be taking charge from now on," Van said loudly, "If there is anyone here not from the Zephyr Sect who opposes this then speak now!"

The battling figures below were already unhappy with the Zephyr Sect's twins when they had neglected the Silver Cutter Eagle and now this matter of the Midnight Oil Scorpion had cemented their dissatisfaction. They were afraid that – since the twins gave no thought to the defence of the crystal and only pursued points for themselves – that the crystal would fall sooner or later and they would all lose out.

No one spoke up.

Cordelia and Daphne looked at him with angry gazes but they felt that their mouths were stuffed with cotton; they could not refute his words.