Crippling the Chief Disciple, Reaping Without Restraint
Their palms collided violently, and a violent wave of True Essence exploded outwards from the two of them, sweeping across the entire training ground.
Zhou Jingxuan felt a vast and powerful force, far exceeding his own, surging towards him, rushing up his arm and straight to his meridians and dantian.
He was struck as if by lightning; his body was suddenly lifted into the air, tumbling twice in mid-air before crashing heavily backward.
After landing, he braced his feet against the ground and stumbled back seven or eight steps before barely managing to stand. His hands were completely cracked and numb, his blood was churning, and his throat tasted sweet.
That once proud and aloof face was instantly filled with utter disbelief, astonishment, and bewilderment.
An uproar erupted on the sidelines, with exclamations of surprise filling the air. "He broke through? He broke through to the Peak Stage right in the middle of a battle?!"
Zhou Jingxuan stared intently at Chen Du, his pupils contracting violently, his mind blank, overwhelmed by an extreme sense of absurdity and frustration.
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
He was clearly Meridian-Sealing Secret Medicine I had carefully concocted! His True Essence should have been in disarray, and his combat power should have plummeted! He should have been suppressed by me, retreating step by step, on the verge of defeat!
Was all that earlier embarrassment, all that dodging, all that exhaustion just a facade?!
He couldn't understand it, he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried. The certainty he had built up inside him crumbled, leaving only endless frustration and resentment. He roared hoarsely, "Impossible! You clearly..."
Midway through his speech, he could no longer suppress his surging blood and qi, and fiercely charged forward again, unleashing all his trump cards and ultimate moves, desperately trying to turn the tide.
He refused to believe it! He refused to believe that his meticulously planned and foolproof scheme, which he had devised for many days, would end up being a complete failure!
But the next three moves were a complete crushing of his dignity.
Chen Du no longer deliberately dodged or pretended; his posture was calm and composed, and every palm strike was steady, domineering, and incredibly powerful.
Three head-on clashes, each resounding loudly.
The moment the third move landed, Zhou Jingxuan's protective True Essence shattered and vanished into thin air.
He flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the hard stone ground of the training ground, raising a cloud of dust.
This time, he experienced excruciating pain throughout his body, and his limbs felt weak and sore. He struggled several times but was unable to get up at all.
Chen Du slowly stepped forward, looking down at Zhou Jingxuan, who was lying on the ground in a disheveled state. He raised his hand and gently pressed down, accurately landing on Zhou Jingxuan's dantian.
A gentle touch, yet it carries an irresistible, immense power!
"Ah--!"
A piercing scream suddenly echoed throughout the training ground.
Zhou Jingxuan's dantian trembled violently, and his lifelong cultivation collapsed and fell like a river bursting its banks.
Seventh-Tier Peak Stage, Middle Stage the Seventh Tier, Early Stage the Seventh Tier... a sharp decline, finally settling firmly at the Third Tier!
His cultivation was completely destroyed, and his foundation collapsed!
He convulsed violently, curled up in the mud and dust, his body trembling uncontrollably, his face as pale as paper, his eyes bloodshot and filled with utter despair.
Endless frustration, absurdity, and resentment filled his being.
He couldn't understand it!
Why did my secret medicine fail to work?
Why was the opponent's weakness all an act?
Why did a battle I had meticulously planned for seven days, with every calculation in place, and which I thought I had the upper hand, end in the complete loss of my cultivation and utter defeat?
From beginning to end, he was like a clown, thinking he was in complete control, but in reality, he was completely played and manipulated by the other party!
This extreme frustration—not knowing how he won or how he lost—brought him to the brink of a mental breakdown. He mumbled incoherently, completely losing his composure.
[Deliberate Revenge triggered. The opponent is extremely arrogant, constantly toying with and slapping you in the face, Hatred Qi Value to surge dramatically! Hatred Qi Value increase: 3,000 years.]
[Super Talent - Deliberate Revenge Ascension Triggered! 10x Multiplier! Ascension Enmity Qi Acquisition: 30,000 Years.]
The training ground was deathly silent; you could hear a pin drop.
Just a few breaths later, an earth-shattering uproar erupted once again!
Everyone was dumbfounded. Some people stared wide-eyed, unable to close their mouths for a long time, while others rubbed their eyes repeatedly, unable to believe what they were seeing.
Many disciples who had previously mocked and watched the spectacle turn ashen-faced and retreated repeatedly, filled with fear.
Some insightful individuals saw through the whole affair instantly, their gazes towards Chen Du filled with awe, and they quietly bowed in goodwill.
The group of followers on the periphery were already terrified, looking at each other in dismay, trembling with fear, and none of them dared to step forward to help Zhou Jingxuan, whose cultivation had been destroyed.
At the center of attention, Chen Du withdrew his hand, his expression calm and composed, as if crushing the outer sect's chief disciple and crippling his cultivation was merely a trivial matter.
He gave a slight bow to the astonished law enforcement officers on the sidelines, his posture upright and his steps composed, ignoring all the gazes of the crowd, before turning and slowly walking away.
All that remained was a commotion and Zhou Jingxuan, a useless man trapped in frustration and doubt for the rest of his life.
When Chen Du left the training ground, the commotion behind him did not subside for a long time.
The scene of that battle was etched into the hearts of all the disciples who had watched it.
Everyone remembers how confident and ambitious Zhou Jingxuan, the chief disciple of the outer sect, was before the competition, having calculated everything, but in the end he lost inexplicably, his cultivation level was reduced to the Third Tier, and he collapsed in the dust, trembling incessantly.
Many people had the same thought: Zhang Shun did not win by breaking through on the spot. His miserable retreat was a deliberate act from beginning to end.
But no one dared to say it aloud in public.
Back in the courtyard, Chen Du closed the gate, and two lines of prompts in his mind slowly dissipated.
He roughly tallied up the amount of Enmity Qi, and this martial arts competition settlement added another 30,000 years of sublimated Enmity Qi to his account.
This Enmity Qi came easily, but it was well worth the effort.
Chen Du sat down cross-legged, slowly closed his eyes, and let the surging Enmity Qi swirl in his sea of consciousness, gradually stabilizing his cultivation.
He didn't choose to exchange it for insights immediately. He was still in the outer sect and it wasn't advisable to make too much of a fuss, so he decided to keep it for now.
On the training ground, the law enforcement officer only hurriedly approached Zhou Jingxuan after Chen Du had walked far away.
Zhou Jingxuan remained curled up on the ground, his whole body trembling uncontrollably. His dantian was empty, and most of his once powerful True Essence had dissipated.
He clenched his teeth, muttering repeatedly to himself, asking why.
Why did that Meridian-Sealing Secret Medicine fail?
Why did his opponent suddenly unleash power equal to his own, even though he was about to defeat them?
Why did everything I meticulously planned end up like this?
He racked his brains but couldn't find a reasonable explanation.
That was a secret meridian-sealing medicine passed down by the Zhou Family. It had been verified countless times and could not possibly have failed out of thin air.
But the facts were undeniable: he had lost, his cultivation was nearly destroyed, and his title as the top disciple of the outer sect vanished in an instant.
Several henchmen stepped forward tremblingly and half-lifted him up.
The obsequious manner they used to show to Zhou Jingxuan was gone; everyone kept their heads down, afraid of being implicated in this turmoil.
The steward sighed and announced to the crowd that Chen Du the battle.
In martial arts sparring, it is permissible to strike harder. Zhou Jingxuan intended to cripple someone, but ended up being severely injured himself. According to the sect's rules, this can only be considered a mistake during the sparring, and Chen Du will not be punished.
The news caused an uproar throughout the outer gate.
In just one day, the news spread throughout the entire outer sect, and some even reached the inner sect.
Upon hearing this, many elders within the inner sect began to have their own ideas.
For a disciple who rose through the ranks from menial labor to defeat the top disciple at the Seventh-Tier Peak Stage of the outer sect is an extraordinary feat.
Some people, appreciating his talent, planned to keep an eye on this young man named Zhang Shun before the inner sect selection began.
However, many elders had a long-standing relationship with the Zhou Family and harbored resentment, planning to set up obstacles and suppress Chen Du during the inner sect assessment.
A faint Divine Thought also flashed by from the depths of the holy land, lingered briefly at the outer gate, and then quietly retreated.
It was still that same old monster at Sixteenth Tier.
This time, he vaguely sensed the lingering power in the arena, but that power was completely dissipated after the exchange, leaving only traces of a fight between ordinary Seventh Tier cultivators.
The [Beyond Cause and Effect] talent quietly activated, completely erasing all of Chen Du's special aura of law.
The old monster pondered for a moment, but still did not make a move to investigate further, and returned to silence once more.
Inside the courtyard, Chen Du slowly opened his eyes, a glimmer of light flashing in them.
The seeds of turmoil have been sown.
After this battle, no one will ever again think of him as just a junior who can be manipulated at will.
The Zhou Family will not let this go easily. There are already undercurrents within the inner sect, and countless eyes are on him.
And this is merely the first hurdle to overcome on the path to the inner gate.
He raised his hand and gently rubbed his waist, his gaze fixed on the direction of the inner door.
The real show will take place a year from now in the inner sect selection.