Chapter 117: The Eerie Duo

In the hall, martial artists exchanged glances, momentarily falling into silence. Everyone understood that with the test method proposed by Gro, the later a contestant fought against Gro, the higher the chances of successfully passing the test.

“Hmph! What a bold claim! Since you’ve said that, let us go first!” Suddenly, a cold snort came from the back of the crowd. Immediately afterward, the crowd densely gathered in the hall’s center parted like the Red Sea before Moses, creating a path.

Behind the crowd, the only three contestants in the hall who had revealed Saint-tier strength appeared together.

“Oh? Are all three Saint-tier fighters stepping forward together?” Gro sneered, his gaze still arrogantly sweeping across the three Saint-tier martial artists, although his tone seemed to carry a bit more caution.

“Ah? Is Examiner Gro perhaps afraid?” The three Saint-tier martial artists, the most elite among the dozens of martial artists present, also sneered and slowly walked into the battle circle formed by the gathered crowd.

“If you want to take back your words, just announce that we all pass, apologize to everyone, and cancel the following matches. It doesn’t matter.” The saint-tier强者 in the center stared at Gro and spoke casually.

Frankly speaking, after witnessing the combination of the three Saint-tier experts, not only the martial artists gathered in the center of the hall but even the black-uniformed guards at the door felt that Gro’s boasting might finally burst like a balloon!

Judging from every aspect, Gro’s battle energy was only at an average Saint-tier level, not even reaching the peak of Saint-tier. With such battle energy, even if Gro, like Maryan before him, had mastered the technique of precisely controlling his strength, dealing with two of the three Saint-tier fighters would probably be the limit of Gro’s capabilities!

Among the many seasoned martial artists present, they believed that Gro had dared to make such a bold claim—challenging all martial artists in the room—because he had previously seen the three Saint-tier martial artists each occupying a different corner of the hall. He must have assumed that these three definitely had conflicts and, being concerned about their pride, would never join forces. Unfortunately, Gro didn’t expect that his earlier word “waste” had enraged the three Saint-tier fighters, who indeed disliked each other, to the point of completely abandoning their past grievances and joining forces!

“Hehe! Now there’s going to be an interesting show.” As the three Saint-tier fighters stood opposite Gro, murmurs of schadenfreude immediately rose from the crowd.

“Haha… Hahahaha!” At that moment, Gro also burst into inexplicable laughter. “You? With you wastes daring to say that I, Gro, am afraid? What a huge joke!”

As Gro’s laughter echoed throughout the entire hall, he suddenly raised his head and disdainfully glanced at the five martial artists before him with the corner of his eye.

“What… What?” The entire three-story hall was once again in an uproar.

He must be insane! Almost all the martial artists stared in disbelief at the arrogantly proud Gro in the center of the hall. No one could believe that, under such circumstances, Gro still dared to speak so brazenly!

“Forget it! It’s meaningless to waste words on wastes like you. Come on.” Gro completely ignored the shocked expressions of everyone and once again extended his finger toward the three Saint-tier fighters whose battle energy was no less than his, provocatively beckoning twice!

Faced with such an arrogant provocation, even the Buddha would probably erupt in fury! The three Saint-tier fighters stepping forward to confront Gro were now so angry their faces turned dark green.

“Doesn’t know when to die…” One of the three Saint-tier fighters in the center almost growled through clenched teeth, then instantly erupted the battle energy within his body!

Boom!

Once the Saint-tier martial artists fully activated their combat energy, the aura they emitted, though not as towering as Agate’s pillar of flame that reached the heavens, was certainly not far behind in terms of imposing momentum.

When three Saint-tier martial artists at the peak of their power simultaneously unleashed their full battle energy, the aura generated in that instant was like a volcanic eruption, sweeping through the entire hall!

“Damn! Shit!” The martial artists who had originally formed a wall around the battlefield cried out in alarm, hastily jumping backward like they had been burned, while simultaneously activating their battle energy to resist the effects of the aura.

Although the destructive power of the aura generated by martial artists during battle was minimal, such a powerful aura suddenly exploding forth, within several meters of the three Saint-tier fighters, its power was absolutely no less than the full-strength strike of a tenth-tier fighter!

The red, purple, and orange auras also surged toward Zhang Wen and the two pretty maids in an instant.

“Ahh!” The two pretty maids screamed desperately. When had they ever witnessed such a grand spectacle of three Saint-tier fighters unleashing their full power in battle?

However, the two maids’ screams only lasted for a moment before stopping. Because they soon saw that the large mass of terrifying tri-colored aura, when it reached about six or seven meters in front of Zhang Wen, was as if it had hit an invisible wall and stopped.

Not long after, the aura that had swept through the entire third-floor hall gradually faded and dissipated. Only the three Saint-tier fighters in the center were still enveloped in large masses of flame-like aura.

“Phew!” The two pretty maids, letting out a long breath of relief, stole a glance at Zhang Wen, only to find that Zhang Wen was wearing an interested smile, his gaze moving back and forth between the south, north, and central areas of the hall.

In fact, at the moment the three Saint-tier fighters suddenly unleashed their full power and erupted terrifying auras, Zhang Wen had quickly turned his gaze toward the two martial artists who had caught his attention.

The martial artist at the south side of the hall was still comfortably sitting with his right leg bent, leaning against the wall, his face still wearing a friendly smile, not moving at all. However, within a radius of twenty meters around him, it was as if it were his own absolute domain, not allowing even a single trace of aura to intrude!

This discovery immediately caused Zhang Wen to raise his evaluation of this martial artist, who always wore a friendly smile. Zhang Wen honestly believed that if he exerted his full strength, he might also be able to keep the aura erupted by the three Saint-tier fighters at twenty meters away. However, Zhang Wen absolutely couldn’t be as relaxed and effortless as the other person. The application of power could never reach the other’s level of balanced perfection!

As for the doll-faced martial artist at the north side of the hall, his performance was completely opposite to that of the martial artist at the south side. The aura erupted from the three Saint-tier fighters flowed unimpeded to the front of the doll-faced martial artist! However, the doll-faced martial artist seemed completely unaffected! That mass of aura was as if it had ignored the doll-faced martial artist, sliding past his body, then re-converging behind him, finally colliding with the wall made of sea urchin stone and being absorbed completely.

Such a strange scene was something Zhang Wen had never heard of before. He could only secretly warn himself and finally turned his gaze to the most eye-catching focal point in the hall at this moment—the examiner Gro.

In the hall, Gro was the closest to the three Saint-tier fighters. When the three Saint-tier fighters unleashed their full power, the distance between them was even less than three meters! In other words, the power of the aura Gro faced was almost equivalent to the full-strength strike of a Saint-tier fighter!

Faced with such a destructive aura, Gro also adopted a completely different method of dealing with it compared to everyone else.

Almost as soon as the three Saint-tier fighters fully activated their battle energy, Gro also completely mobilized his own battle energy. When the tri-colored aura struck Gro’s side, Gro himself was already wrapped in a layer of his own blue aura.

Then, Gro swiftly extended his right hand, swinging it powerfully in front of him as if pushing a swing. When Gro made the first swing, the tri-colored aura rushing to his side collided with Gro’s blue aura and scattered explosively.

However, just as everyone thought Gro was merely using this method to resist the first strike of the three Saint-tier fighters as a warning, Gro swung his right hand again.

The originally scattered four-colored auras began to rotate slowly along with Gro’s arm movements! Then, the four-colored auras quickly mixed together, and the rotation speed became faster and faster. Within just a few seconds, the four-colored auras followed Gro’s arm movements and formed a whirlwind-like vortex of aura in front of him!

As the aura vortex rotated, the four-colored auras gradually merged into one, eventually turning into an astonishing black vortex!

“This… This can’t be possible?” Witnessing everything Gro did in just a few seconds, even the three Saint-tier masters couldn’t help but widen their eyes in shock.

“Three so-called Saint-tier fighters, is this all you’ve got? How boring.” Gro sneered coldly, his Saint-tier battle energy exploding again with full force. His body seemed to transform into an illusion, instantly breaking through space and appearing in front of the three Saint-tier martial artists.

“Franz, watch out!” The martial artist on the far left saw that Gro’s attack target was Franz in the middle, couldn’t help but angrily roar, fiercely stomping the ground, and his body shot forward like an arrow.

However, seeing the martial artist on the left rushing forward to rescue, Gro not only didn’t panic, but instead revealed a cold smile. At the moment he rushed in front of Franz in the center, Gro unhesitatingly threw his right fist, still wrapped in the black aura vortex.

Franz, who had been warned, was already fully prepared. Together with the Saint-tier comrade rushing forward to rescue, the two of them simultaneously launched a full-force strike at Gro.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed in the ears of every martial artist in the hall, like a thunderclap. The surging air currents even lifted the nearest few black-uniformed guards off the ground, throwing them against the walls or the ceiling of the hall.

Many of the nearby tenth-tier fighters found themselves unable to stand steadily and hastily retreated further back. As for those martial artists who could barely maintain their footing, they all widened their eyes, straining to look toward the center of the hall.

The outcome of the clash between Gro and the two Saint-tier fighters once again surprised everyone. The combined attack of the two Saint-tier peak fighters was easily shattered by Gro! The black aura vortex swirling around Gro’s right arm effortlessly destroyed the battle energy defenses of the two peak Saint-tier fighters.

At the moment the black aura vortex struck the two Saint-tier fighters, it detached from Gro’s right arm, swirling like a tornado and engulfing the two heavily injured fighters. Their bodies were spun around like toys and then slammed violently into the sea urchin stone wall at the back of the hall.

“Hmph…” Seeing the plight of his two companions, the only remaining Saint-tier peak fighter among the three showed no concern and merely snorted coldly, a smirk forming at the corner of his mouth.

This lone remaining Saint-tier peak fighter naturally saw clearly that Gro’s previous strike was not truly the result of Gro’s strength being sufficient to single-handedly defeat two opponents and severely injure two Saint-tier peak fighters in one blow. Gro had merely used some unknown method to harness the battle energy contained within the aura they had previously unleashed!

In other words, what Franz and Diago had faced was actually the combined full-strength strike of four Saint-tier fighters—the three Saint-tier peak fighters plus Gro himself! It was no surprise that Franz and Diago, caught off guard, were defeated in one blow by Gro!

“You are indeed clever. Using our strength to attack ourselves. If I had rushed forward to save Franz just now, I would probably have been knocked down by you in the same way. However, I am not a fool like Diago. Your little trick has no effect on me at all.” The remaining challenger sneered, slowly bending down and assuming a common attack stance in the Empire’s martial arts, “That punch just now must have consumed all the absorbed battle energy you had. Now, what do you have left to fight me?”

“Oh, and thank you as well. You’ve helped me get rid of Franz and Diago, those two idiots. Without them, it seems this selection match is destined to be mine to win in the end. Remember, my name is Saint Rio.”

After the last Saint-tier peak fighter coldly finished speaking, his entire body’s battle energy erupted again, and he charged toward Gro at top speed! The Saint-tier master was very clear that when he unleashed his full battle energy, he couldn’t control his aura. However, if his speed was fast enough, he could attack Gro before Gro could utilize his aura!

As long as Gro couldn’t borrow his own strength, this Saint-tier peak fighter had no doubt that with Gro’s own battle energy, which was merely at the middle Saint-tier level, he would absolutely be unable to resist his full-strength strike!

However, as Saint Rio charged toward Gro, he failed to notice that there wasn’t a trace of tension or fear on Gro’s face. Gro merely smirked disdainfully, softly uttering two words: “Fool.”

As Gro finished speaking those two words, Saint Rio had already nearly reached Gro. However, Gro didn’t even glance at him, but instead forcefully twisted his waist backward, pulling his right arm into an extremely stretched position, then delivering a powerful punch in the direction from which Saint Rio was coming!

Boom!

Another deafening explosion echoed through the hall, and Saint Rio, who was attacking Gro, was literally sent flying backward like a cannonball by Gro’s punch!

Boom! When Saint Rio crashed into the wall of the third-floor hall, the entire hall seemed to tremble slightly!

Plop… Saint Rio landed limply on the ground, his right arm bent into a strange “S” shape after clashing with Gro’s punch, obviously broken into several pieces.

A few black-uniformed guards hurriedly ran forward, checking Saint Rio’s nose.

“He’s still alive!” Soon, those few black-uniformed guards shouted, calling in several sailors from outside the door. Six of them quickly divided into three groups, lifting the three unconscious Saint-tier fighters onto stretchers and rushing them out of the third-floor hall.

Franz, Diago, Saint Rio—three Saint-tier peak fighters defeated, Gro had only used two punches! Moreover, both punches were straightforward frontal confrontations! The third-floor hall was instantly silent as a tomb.

Why was this so? Saint Rio was clearly a Saint-tier peak fighter, so why did he lose so helplessly in front of Gro, who was obviously only at the middle Saint-tier level? All the martial artists were asking themselves the same question in their hearts.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

At this moment, loud applause suddenly rang out from the northernmost part of the hall, near a statue.

“Hehe, brilliant!” The young-faced martial artist leaning against the statue stepped forward, clapping his hands with a beaming smile, “First, using the illusion of borrowing strength to confuse the opponent, making them unable to attack together, not only defeating two opponents at once but also easily leading the final enemy into a trap. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!”

“An illusion?” In the silent crowd of martial artists, murmurs immediately rose again. Many martial artists were surprised and began discussing, while more martial artists turned their puzzled gazes toward the young-faced martial artist.

The young-faced martial artist didn’t keep them waiting and smiled as he spread his hands, saying, “Of course it’s an illusion! Even for a Saint-tier peak fighter, how much power can the aura unintentionally scattered during the activation of battle energy really have? Even if Mr. Gro processed the aura he collected to enhance its power a bit, it probably wouldn’t exceed one or two tenths of a Saint-tier fighter’s strength. He should be thanking heaven and earth already.”

“What nonsense are you talking! Franz and Diago were knocked flying by one punch from him! If it wasn’t because of the aura, how could he have such strength?”

“Hehe! Didn’t Mr. Gro also knock Mr. Saint Rio flying with one punch before he even used the aura? The main reason for the defeat of Mr. Franz and Mr. Diago wasn’t because of Mr. Gro’s gimmicks, but because of Mr. Gro himself. Am I right, Mr. Gro?” The young-faced martial artist smiled as he looked at Gro.

“Hmph…” Gro narrowed his eyes and coldly looked at the young-faced martial artist but didn’t answer his question.

“Hehe! Every martial artist who advances to the master level or above will encounter the issue of aura. Everyone also knows that the so-called aura is actually the part of battle energy that the martial artist cannot use.” Seeing that Gro didn’t answer his question, the young-faced martial artist smiled and continued explaining on his own, “Although the ratio of aura generated by each martial artist won’t be exactly the same, the aura ratio for most Saint-tier martial artists fluctuates around four to six. In other words, a typical Saint-tier martial artist can only use about forty percent of their battle energy. The remaining sixty percent will turn into aura and dissipate uselessly during battle. Mr. Franz, Mr. Diago, and Mr. Saint Rio were all about like this. However, Mr. Gro, you are different. The battle energy you can use in combat is probably around eighty percent of your total.”

“What? Eighty percent?!” Although most of what the young-faced martial artist had explained about the aura issue was common knowledge found in the Empire’s martial arts, the last sentence made almost all the martial artists present jump to their feet!

No wonder Gro had the audacity to be so arrogant, challenging all three Saint-tier peak fighters by himself! If he could utilize eighty percent of his battle energy, even if Gro was merely a novice newly entered into the Saint-tier, he could still easily defeat an ordinary Saint-tier peak fighter in a one-on-one duel!

You must know that battle energy cannot be measured by ordinary addition or subtraction! In a battle between two martial artists, even if one side has just ten percent more battle energy than the other, the gap in speed and strength would be enough to create a significant difference! And Gro’s usable battle energy was a full double that of a martial artist at the same level! Even though the total battle energy of a Saint-tier peak martial artist might be much higher than Gro’s, in actual combat, Gro’s usable battle energy would still be significantly more than his opponent’s!

Faced with such an opponent, Franz and the others were defeated without any injustice. Even if they had been given two more companions at the peak of the Saint tier, they probably still wouldn’t have been a match for Gro!

“Hmph!” Gro, whose secret had been exposed by the young-faced martial artist, snorted coldly again, “Who are you?”

“Me?” The young-faced martial artist pointed to himself with a grin, “Didn’t Mr. Hassan already know my name when he accepted the recommendation? Didn’t he tell you?”

“Cut the crap.” Gro coldly squeezed out a few words through his teeth.

“Okay, okay. My name is Batengping.” The young-faced martial artist smiled and gave a very peculiar name.

“Batengping? Sounds like a name from the Northern Border’s chaotic star system.”

“Oh! I remember, I remember! It’s from a native tribe called ‘Shan Zu,’ right? They like to use names like that. But this guy doesn’t look like someone from the chaotic star system at all!” The young-faced martial artist’s name once again sparked discussions among the crowd.

When mentioning the “chaotic star system,” even these “professional adventurers” who had long lived on the edge of a knife couldn’t help but show a flicker of fear on their faces.

“Batengping…” Gro raised his chin, softly repeating the young-faced martial artist’s name, then added a cold smirk, “You’ve talked so much nonsense… Are you ready to take the test now?”

“Hehe…” Batengping’s young face once again showed a happy smile as he shook his head at Gro, “Mr. Gro, I think it’s better for us not to fight right now.”

“Tsk!” Gro disdainfully spat, “After talking so much… If you just want to quit, you can leave now.”

“No, no, no! I don’t mean to quit!” Batengping shook his head like a drum, “What I mean is, before we fight, you’d better deal with all of them first.” Saying this, Batengping cheerfully waved at the other martial artists present.

“What… What?” Everyone was in an uproar. No one had expected that this young-faced Batengping would say such a thing!

“Hmph! Want to use these wastes to wear me out?” Gro sneered again.

“Oh, right!” Amidst the uproar, Batengping suddenly turned around again, smiling as he extended his finger, “I almost forgot to tell you. Before dealing with those people, you’d better not rush to fight him and him too soon.”

Batengping’s finger first pointed at the martial artist sitting alone at the south end of the hall with a friendly smile, then his target was Zhang Wen!