Jordan Smith signed for a brilliant 64 to set the clubhouse target but Adrian Otaegui was just a shot back at the turn on a dramatic Sunday at the Volvo China Open.
The Englishman's wonderful bogey-free effort got him to 16 under and handed him a one-shot lead over the Spaniard, who had shared the overnight lead and turned in 33.
Dane Lucas Bjerregaard matched Smith's 64 to sit in the clubhouse at 15 under, a shot clear of Swede Alexander Björk and South Korea's Jeunghun Wang.
Wu Ashun delighted the home crowd with a hole-in-one at the 13th as he moved to 13 under and sat alongside co-overnight leader Matt Wallace.
By the time the two overnight leaders teed off they were already in a five-way share on what was set to be another day of low scoring at Topwin Golf & Country Club.
Smith turned in 32 with birdies on the first, second, seventh - after a nice approach - and eighth, while Zimbabwe's Scott Vincent made four gains in a row from the fifth
Björk hit a brilliant approach into the first to swell that group further and with the final group coming up the first, Wang added to a birdie on the second with a gain on the fourth.
Vincent was flying and he made it five birdies in a row on the ninth to turn in 31 and take the lead on his own but he was not alone for long.
England's Wallace had hit a beautiful drive up the first and he put his approach to three feet for an opening birdie.
A ten-footer from Wang on the fifth moved him into a share and Otaegui was the next man to join the party, holing a brilliant 25-foot left-to-righter on the second.
Otaegui hit a poor bunker shot on the third but chipped in brilliantly to save par with Wallace also making a smart up-and-down after going right with his second.
Smith birdied the 11th for the third day in a row to join the lead and when Björk took advantage of the par five fourth, there was a five-way tie again at 13 under.
Another Smith birdie on the 12th from six feet handed him the solo lead and Wallace had a disaster on the fourth, chipping out sideways from the trees, finding sand and then two-putting for a double-bogey.
He bounced back with a birdie on the next to get to 12 under where he found himself alongside Vincent who had sandwiched a birdie on the 12th with bogeys on the tenth and 14th.
That was soon three back, though, as Smith hit a brilliant approach into the 15th for a birdie and a two-shot lead.
Björk cut the gap as he birdied the eighth for the fourth day in a row but he was soon joined by Bjerregaard who was making a stunning surge through the field.
After birdieing the first and dropping a shot on the fourth, he made a hat-trick of gains from the sixth and further birdies on the 11th, 12th and 15th.
A brilliant chip-in on the 17th then got him within one shot of the lead where he was joined by Wang after an excellent up-and-down from the sand on the 11th.
Otaegui took advantage of the eighth and all of a sudden there were four players in a tie for second, with Wallace also making his birdie to stay right in the mix.
A burst of scoring also kept Wu in contention as he birdied the 11th and 12th and then made the 14th ace of the season and third of the week on the 13th.
Bjerregaard had missed his last four cuts but he made a closing birdie to set the target at 15 under after a 64 that matched the lowest round of the week.
Otaegui played a stunning approach into the ninth to join the lead but a closing birdie from Smith made him the man to catch.
Jin Daxing and Shubhankar Sharma were in the clubhouse at 12 under alongside Vincent, Jorge Campillo, Jinho Choi, Paul Dunne, Julien Guerrier Sihwan Kim and Soomin Lee.
