Wang Teng had a sudden inspiration. All he needed to do was to follow this train of thought.

No one would mind hitching a ride.

His fight against Valmont was already over, but everyone was still engaged in heated discussions about it.

No one paid attention to the following matches for this reason.

Fortunately, the appearance of the Crown Prince pulled everyone’s attention back to the arena.

The Crown Prince vs Lu Tai!

The latter had entered the top five in Zone 3. He was strong too, but his face turned green when he saw that his opponent would be the overall favorite.

Alas, he finally reached the top thirty-six, but he ended up meeting the Crown Prince. This seemed like the end of the road for him.

Even so, he stepped forth, ready to do his best.

Both parties appeared in the sky above the arena.

The match began!

Neither of them spoke, instantly coming to blows.

In truth, Lu Tai was decent. He was a wood element warrior that used a sword as a weapon. The green sword glows he released were filled with vitality. They were shot nonstop.

That sword skill was powerful. Many were surprised by it.

The fellow relied on that sword skill and his perfected tenth-level wood ultima to reach that far.

Unfortunately, he met with the heir apparent and was defeated in the end.

The latter’s sword skill was domineering, cutting through the opposing sword glows, to then forcefully slam into Lu Tai’s chest. The latter was heavily injured, vomiting blood after the impact.

The match ended. The crowd was amazed by the prince’s sword skill; they estimated that he could go head to head with Su Jianchen!

It was astonishing!

Mind you, the prince had other skills aside from the powerful sword skill, while the other was only an expert in sword skills; his sword had allowed him to advance thus far.

However, many people felt that the favored prince’s sword skills were comparable to Su Jianchen’s; they might even be stronger. Their estimates about the Crown Prince’s abilities continued to rise.

The favorite swordsman wasn’t afraid by the comparison; instead, the competitiveness in his eyes grew stronger. He yearned for a match with the prince.

Back in the Tian Luo Empire—the emperor frowned while he stared at the live feed on screen.

A universe stage warrior asked, “Your majesty, how do you think the Crown Prince’s sword skill fares against your disciple?”

“It’s hard to tell.” The emperor shook his head. “The Crown Prince has only executed a single sword move thus far. However, I can tell that his skill consists of more than one move.”

“More than one move!” The people below gasped. That would be troublesome. They started to worry for their boy.

The emperor continued, “There’s no need to worry. Jianchen has entered the top eighteen, only one step away from the top ten. I believe he’ll be able to do it.”

…

Wang Teng was quick to pick up the attribute bubbles left by the Crown Prince and Lu Tai.

The Twelve Tyrant Swords (First Sword)*3000

Tyrant’s Finger*1600

Constellation Force (Metal)*8200

Constellation Force (Wood)*7800

Wood Ultima*3500

Divine Level Wood Talent*2600

Green Essence Sword Skill*4000

…

Enlightenment was solidified in the hero’s mind as the bubbles were assimilated.

The Twelve Tyrant Swords rose a little; however, it was still at the foundation stage.

The Twelve Tyrant Swords (First Sword): 7500/10000 (foundation)

The Tyrant’s Finger was also increased, rising from foundation to the well-versed stage. The young hero wondered if the Crown Prince would be surprised if he used the Tyrant’s Finger in their upcoming encounter.

However, he decided against it after some consideration. The noble had probably reached a high stage of proficiency, while he himself had barely reached the well-versed level.

Wang Teng understood his shortcomings. He wouldn’t make use of a weakness to fight his opponent’s strong suit.

Tyrant’s Finger: 100/5000 (well-versed)

He looked at his stats with satisfaction. It wasn’t possible at the moment, but he could eventually surpass the prince one day.

The next attribute surprised him. It was a divine level wood talent!

Lu Tai dropped this attribute. Coincidentally, it was a divine level talent our hero didn’t have.

Divine Level Wood Talent: 2600/50000

That was a sudden surprise. He felt that some thanks to the owner were in order.

Safe travels!

Lu Tai also dropped another attribute, the Green Essence Sword Skill.

That was the universe stage skill the fellow used as his main attack. It was indeed powerful; the young hero gladly accepted the gift.

Green Essence Sword Skill: 1000/5000 (well-versed)

4,000 points had already pushed the stat all the way to the well-versed stage, saving him lots of time.

Once the Crown Prince’s match was over, another fight followed and the top eighteen were chosen.

The young hero glanced at the candidates. All the faces were familiar.

The Crown Prince

The Second PrinceStrachey

Landon

Ji Haochen

Timothy

Sawyer

Xiahou ZunLing YangxuBerkshire

Leng Qianxue

Jiang Weisheng

Gaunt

Su JianchenTu Xiaoba

Yue Qiqiao

Situ Wan’er.

Wang Teng was the last person. They were the top eighteen candidates.

All the hopefuls were sizing up one another. They would soon be fighting for the top ten positions!

That would be an extremely important milestone.

Only the first ten would have the chance to select their desired campus among the Seven Stellar Academies. The rest could only wait to be chosen, and neither would they have special privileges.

Wang Teng was surprised to see Situ Wan’er among the finalists.

The lady didn’t seem to be that strong, but she managed to reach that stage, surpassing countless others.

There was also Jiang Weisheng, a talent from the Jiang family. His sister was eliminated, but he managed to persevere.

Furthermore, two members of the Parkers family still managed to make it to the top eighteen.

Wang Teng found this to be a pity, but he couldn’t do anything. He didn’t get to meet them before that part of the competition.

He couldn’t choose his opponents; all of them had been chosen at random.

Still, it didn’t matter. He would have to fight everyone in the next round; he would definitely meet them later.

“Congratulations for entering the top eighteen. Your abilities have gained everyone’s recognition!” said the voice coming from the light sphere all of a sudden.

“You will have ten days to rest, and then we will proceed with the top ten elimination round!”