Round 3 begins

As he returned to his seat within the audience, Shui once again kept a look out for any of Emily's enemies. He was especially focused this time because he had a feeling that the enemy might strike during the competition. Others would laugh at him since there was a powerful protection array around the stage, but Shui trusted his intuition more than everything else.

For the sake of her fellow competitors, Emily was placed in the last batch for this round so that they didn't have to witness people getting up and leaving before they got the chance to show off their skills, which was what happened in the second round. However, this didn't solve the problem of spectators looking forward to Emily so much that they didn't pay any attention to those before her. Even so, they were better motivated than exactly after Emily's performance in round 2.

Still, before anyone could remember the name of a competitor that they weren't already paying attention to, it was time for Emily to stand up on stage. Everyone leaned forward in their seats, but Shui placed the most attention on her while also checking those in her batch. Even he wouldn't be able to destroy the protection array around the stage quickly, but he did have a way to attack through the array if necessary.

This was her third round, so Emily could strut towards a cage without much tension, however, this happened to be the time when she needed the most tension.

"No, no, no, I won't let it end like this!"

Shocking to almost everyone in the amphitheater, a middle-aged man took out an ominous purple dagger and rushed at Emily with it. They were too close for anyone to interfere, so others could only watch helplessly as the dagger approached Emily's chest. Emily was shaken, but she believed in the protection array sewn into her clothes so she wasn't too scared, however, when the dagger touched the edge of the barrier, instead of seeing the dagger bounce back, she instead saw it slip through unhindered.

'What?!'

In the audience, Shui also turned pale as he just noticed that there was a reverse-protection array inscribed on the knife. As long as you knew an array, it was possible to create an opposing array that could completely negate its effects, which was a reverse array. It wasn't an all-powerful technique since it tended to need more resources than the array it targeted, but in this case it was an excellent surprise attack. Things would have been different if Emily had a custom protection array in her clothes, but Nikolai was a traditional array master and she inherited his arrays so that wasn't the case. Shui immediately opened his Sage Eyes to kill the man through a spiritual attack, but by then the dagger was about to pierce her chest. Fortunately, Emily's last line of defense still remained.

Suddenly, the man was stuck in place as a small sword appeared in front of him and captured the attention of his soul. Then, without any special effects, the small sword sunk into the man's head and took his life. Once the man fell down with empty eyes, Shui breathed a sigh of relief before he checked on Emily. He wasn't sure if she would be able to do her best after a near-death experience like that, but he didn't think she would give up either.

Besides, Shui and Emily, few had noticed the entire course of events, and even among them, none could tell what the small sword was. They, like everyone else, assumed that she had a special artifact that could instantly kill someone with the same level of cultivation as the man. For her pure fans, this was something to be celebrated, but those in more ambiguous positions wore pensive expressions.

Some of the assassins that were targeting her immediately decided to give up on the task as there was too little information about how the man suddenly died. There were people who wanted to steal the unknown artifact from her, but they were hesitant because they didn't know what other tricks she could pull out. Adler was of the same position. Now that this artifact was in the picture, he knew he had to be even more careful about how he handled her.

'Damn it! Why is that brat causing me so much trouble?!'

Similar to his father, Adrian was also visited by rage when he noticed the artifact, but his reason was more personal. He had travelled with her through many life-threatening situations, so even if she wanted to hide it, he was sure that she would have been forced to reveal this artifact at some point, which meant that she recently got it. And without any solid evidence to back his idea, he believed that she got it from Shui.

'Was it that? Was that what made you jump on his lap?'

Adrian's corrupt desire had already engulfed the positive feelings he originally had for Emily. There may be others who were wary about killing her, as well as those who would follow through with it regardless or were relieved that she wouldn't die easily, but he was on top when it came to the intensity of his intentions.

Back to the stage, the round was paused so that officials could check up on Emily and dispose of the dead man. She didn't receive any injuries so it was just a quick check-up, but then they asked her if she was willing to continue. It was an unexpected incident for everyone, but they couldn't make her an exception by allowing her to do the puzzle separately, or so they were reminded by their superior.

Unknown to them, the Array Association Head wanted to use this opportunity to have Emily drop out. Although it would be nice if she continued climbing through the evaluation, the young duke would definitely try to have her killed at this rate. The young duke might not have been associated with the incident that occurred, but the Array Association Head wouldn't be surprised if he planned a more inescapable death to trap her.

'I'll groom you as my successor, so please, say no.'

Him and several members of the audience, paid close attention to where Emily was talking to the officials to figure out the verdict. The vast majority wanted her to continue, but her fans, especially the most passionate ones, knew that it would be hard for her. The girl had almost died after all. Even for cultivators who went through constant brushes with death, every experience was always near-traumatic.

For a moment, Emily wondered if it would be okay if she forfeited, but she laughed at herself soon after. Those watching may not know, but she had encountered fatal threats too many times on her journey for her to back down now.

"I'll continue."

The officials gave wry smiles in response, but they accepted her answer and backed off with the corpse. When the news was announced, there were some grumbles, but mostly relief was expressed. However, worry remained among those who were relieved. Would she still be able to pull off another city-stunning performance after such a terrifying incident?

They would have to wait a few more minutes before the answer was displayed.