Sealed Divine Throne

_Who is this person?_ This question appeared simultaneously in the minds of almost all the assassins hidden in the shadows. _Is she a competitor? But how can an Assassin possibly be blind?_

At this moment, a thought dawned upon all the assassins. In the previous contests, the total number of contestants amounted to forty-seven people, not forty-eight people as that gloomy voice had just announced.

This place that was vacant on the two previous matches, could it be…… 5th step?

But, what would it matter if she was at the 5th step? What percentage of an assassin’s power could a blind, female assassin display?

“Du, du, du……” Cai’er silently walked towards the arena. Her movements weren’t fast, to the point that they were slower than the average person’s walking pace. It looked as if she was the walking dead, no signs of life arose from the coldness that radiated from her.

The gloomy voice that sounded from the platform totally ignored Cai’er’s actions and continued to count down, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Begin.”

Cai’er reached the center of the arena just as that voice called out ‘Begin’. The place where she was standing was approximately in the center of the stadium, and this area, void of any stelae, was quite wide. She was completely visible to the hidden assassins.

Silence. The whole arena was temporarily silent, and no assassin rushed to act first. Twelve people, and the first four to get knocked will compete in an additional match. In other words, the eight people that kept from getting knocked out in this match would automatically enter the top ten. Under these circumstances, no one would rashly make the first move.

However, just because others didn’t move, didn’t mean that Cai’er didn’t move. She quietly stood there for just three seconds, then her blue bamboo stick again began making ‘ _du, du_ ’ sounds towards one direction. Coincidentally, that direction led straight to a stele, and furthermore, there was a assassin hidden right behind it.

Cai’er’s appearance didn’t even display a hint of defense. Her whole body was littered with openings, not to mention that her pace was extremely slow, completely relying on that green bamboo stick to advance.

_Pu——_ Finally, the green bamboo stick in her hand bumped into that stele. Cai’er’s feet abruptly halted, and it was just at this moment that the hidden assassin made a move.

The assassin leapt out from the middle section of the stela, taking advantage of his agility and his light clothing, and without letting out the slightest sound, glancing at Cai’er’s head, he aimed his pitch black dagger at Cai’er’s shoulder.

If not for the fact no one was to be killed during the competition, he would have aimed at Cai’er’s neck.

The other assassins, hidden in the shadows, didn’t move the slightest bit. They calmly observed their surroundings; everyone clearly wished to see someone else initiating an attack to deal with Cai’er.

A piercing blow!

All the assassins could clearly see that this black clad assassin’s dagger was aiming for Cai’er’s shoulder. But in the next instant, all the observers’ pupils suddenly shrank.

Because they could see two Cai’er.

The Cai’er that was hit by the assassin’s stab was standing in place, completely motionless, but the pitch black dagger didn’t manage to spill out any blood. And the second Cai’er that appeared was two meters tall.

Cai’er’s soft hand, the same one that was held by Long Hao Chen the day before, was placed at the quarter length of her bamboo cane. Her palm that didn’t seem more than a sixth of meter long was slowly reaching forward.

The assassin discovered that, unexpectedly, what he stabbed was the air. Unfortunately, he couldn’t bypass nature’s rules, and thus, his body could only fall down.

With a numb feeling behind his neck, he lost consciousness.

The others assassins only saw a flower before their eyes, as she stood before the stele, at the same place where she was supposed to be hit by her opponent’s piercing blow.

The bamboo cane swept across the ground as she softly aimed at the black-clad assassin’s waist. Immediately, this black-clad assassin’s body crumpled, just like a rag, directly falling on the ground.

“#18, eliminated.” A cold voice sounded from the platform.

[Shadow Doppelganger]!

All the assassins had their heartbeat quicken, grasping their daggers as they were soaked in cold sweat.

[Shadow Doppelganger] was a secret skill of the fifth step, and the one that required the most achievements to be learned at this step. It seemed that there was no way to differentiate this girl’s clone from the original. Her [Shadow Doppelganger] seemed practically perfect: it went as far as giving a sensation of illusion, and when she used this splitting skill, no one could know which one was real.

Fifth step, she was at the fifth step for real, in addition to being such a powerful assassin of the fifth step.

_Du, du, du._ The blue bamboo cane’s sounds rang once again.

Cai’er changed direction, and slowly advanced. Seeing the bamboo cane in her hand, each competitor went to the defensive, as if continually pressured. It felt as if the sound of this bamboo cane could control their heartbeat. No one dared belittle this slim figure, even if it belonged to a petite blind girl.

_Du, du, du._

A leaping sound could be heard, coming directly from this figure, as the assassins fled at flying speed. None of them wanted to become Cai’er’s next target.

Only, the stadium was not so huge and there were only so many stelae that as soon as she moved, they would naturally run into each other.

Daggers collided with _ding, ding_ sounds. The former silence was completely destroyed by Cai’er and her havoc.

Hearing the daggers’ colliding sounds, Cai’er halted her steps. She silently stood there, motionless and in the eyesight of all the assassins. Only, there wasn’t a single assassin that dared approached her. Everyone could clearly see that even though she was blind, her other senses were without doubt developed at a terrifying level.

“If I finish earlier, I will be able to go wait for him. I wonder if today’s match went well for him.” The ice-cold atmosphere around Cai’er’s body quietly faded away.

Knight Temple Stadium.

“#97, #4, enter the stadium.”

It was the seventh match of the Knight Temple. Long Hao Chen’s number was finally called, but at this very moment, Li Xin and Ye Hua both revealed extremely ugly expressions.

Among the four knights of the fifth step, a single one had already crossed the stage; to describe this match, it wouldn’t be exaggerated to use the four words, ‘strong bullying the weak’. When facing a knight of the fifth step as his opponent, the fourth step knight didn’t have the slightest chance. With a mere charge, the unlucky knight had already been compelled to surrender.

#4 was the second knight of the fifth step that had been called out today. And his opponent was precisely #97, aka Long Hao Chen.

A total of 38 contestants had to enter this third match, and among them were four knights of the fifth step. In other words, only 4 of the 19 matches would involve a powerhouse at the fifth step. And Long Hao Chen was now one of these four unfortunate youths that had to face them.

Standing up, Long Hao Chen revealed a sun-drenched smile, as told Ye Hua, who was standing at his side, “Teacher, as you instructed me, no matter what kind of powerhouse I’ll be facing, I won’t lose my self-confidence.”

Ye Hua was startled, before nodding energetically at Long Hao Chen, “Go. You are the disciple I am proud of.”

Long Hao Chen walked at a good pace, advancing towards the stadium. All the knights in the lounge had calmed down, attentively looking at the match that was about to start. It was the same for this black-clad youth that had been provoked by Long Hao Chen on the previous day. He was tranquil and gave a cold glance to Long Hao Chen, as if trying to say: _Only if you pass this hurdle, will you have the qualifications to be my opponent._

Long Hao Chen’s opponent was a knight with a tall figure, around 190 centimeters, with a broad back, and short, thick brown hair that slightly curled. His right hand gripped a sword that was wider than most, and his left hand a shield that was squared at the top, and tapered down to a point at the bottom, certainly not like the rounded shields of most knights.

*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes

*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap