The seal took the form of a giant lock, improving the fortress multiple times over. It seemed that a divine race was empowering the prince.

“What is that?” Many became startled by the sudden influx of power.

This didn’t seem to be a shortcut or a temporary forbidden technique with side effects. This power boost was righteous and orthodox, stemming from his source. There was no danger in using this technique.

“The power of the sky spirits.” An elder said: “That’s their special power.”

Sky spirits were unique and shrouded in mystery. They seemed to be blessed by heaven itself.

Starshooter Dao Lord had a pure bloodline of this race. As for the prince, he also came from this branch.

“So he has the bloodline of the dao lord too?” One youth took a deep breath and said.

“No, don’t conflate the issues.” An expert shook his head: “He only has the sky spirit bloodline.”

Starshooter Dao Lord already had a powerful bloodline. However, after becoming a dao lord, his bloodline became even stronger - something uniquely his.

The prince naturally didn’t have this bloodline. Nonetheless, the sky spirit one alone was beneficial enough.

“This is already so powerful. Imagine if he has both…” Someone from the last generation commented.

If he actually had both bloodlines, he might be chosen as the successor of Sword Emperor instead of Peace Ocean Sword King.

All in all, everyone felt that this defensive line should be enough to stop Ning Zhu’s incoming slash. The prince himself believed so as well.

“Sword Breaker!” As she was mid-swing, her light suddenly came together and something seemed to be awakening.

Everything happened so quickly and the spectators had no idea what was going on.

“Boom!” The slash struck the fortress.

However, the result was rather unexpected. Though the prince had a multi-faceted approach, cracks still appeared on the fortress.

Her slash seemed capable of severing the five elements and the karmic ties. This made it impossible for the defenses to keep up.

With a loud blast, the seal of the sky spirit broke down and the divine swords were reduced to scattering pieces.

The prince couldn’t handle the blast and vomited blood while flying through the air like a meteor. He eventually smashed into the ground and left behind a large pit. His blood stained the walls, who knows if he was still alive down there?

A hush descended over the crowd as they exchanged glances of disbelief. None expected the prince to lose so quickly or in other words, for the princess to win so effortlessly.

“It’s over already?” The young ones from Sea Emperor couldn’t believe it.

It only took three moves for this to end.

Of course, there was a belief that a battle could end after one decisive move. It’s just that the lack of competitiveness was apparent. The princess was just far stronger.

“But how?” One spectator clearly saw how strong the prince was. He lived up to his title and fame.

“The princess is just too strong.” An expert said.

“Really?” Others remained doubtful. Their first impression of her was her engagement to Peace Ocean Sword King. The fact that she was one of the Ten Sword Prodigies was usually put off till later.

They also thought that she was a regular noble - prideful and haughty. There was a lack of her true power. Perhaps they didn’t care to find out.

“I believe she is among the top three.” One sect master concluded after seeing the result.

“Who are the other two then?” His juniors became curious right away.

There were no rankings within the ten prodigies so this interested the crowd.

“Right, who are the top three? What’s the exact ranking?” People kept on asking without caring about the prince’s survival.

“If the princess is among the top three. The other two spots, hmm… Fire-and-Ice Sword, Abyss Scion, or Hundred-blade Noble?”

“I would bet money on Abyss Scion and Hundred-blade Noble.” Someone from Sea Emperor responded.

These two were also from this kingdom, just as gifted with incredible backgrounds as Starshooter Prince. The kingdom had three out of the ten prodigies - a testament to its power.

“I agree with Abyss Scion. He cultivates one of the nine - Abyss. Who can stop him?” One youth said.

“Then why aren’t you bringing up Chen Cangsheng of Daoist Sword Ground? He has the War God Sword Dao.” Someone else immediately disagreed.

“Right, Fire-and-ice also has one of the nine, Darkflame.” A calm cultivator interjected. [1]

Youths argued with each other regarding the rankings, supporting different cultivators.

No matter what, the consensus seemed to be that Princess Ning Zhu was among the top three.

Meanwhile, she didn’t say a thing and stood there patiently.

The big shots took note of her calm and composed nature. They thought that there was more to her being chosen as the future queen of Sea Emperor.

There were plenty of fish in the sea yet she alone was chosen for this position. This helped them understand the decision.

1. The word for dark can be profound. The ice part can mean that this cultivator is cold or emotionless instead of possessing the ice affinity. Some corrections might be necessary with more context.