Cang Wu's Assessment

"Interesting!"

Cang Wu chuckled softly, withdrawing his gaze from a certain spot in the stands and focusing on the arena before him. He watched with great interest, even offering occasional commentary.

"So stupid, if he'd aimed for the center with that kick, he would have won within three moves."

"This kid is really dense, he should be stabbing his throat."

On the arena, Lin Dong was fiercely battling Song Cheng. He felt the fight was incredibly exhilarating, completely unaware that in someone else's eyes, his combat skills were utterly crude.

Unlike his last battle with Wei Tong, where he fought across a significant realm difference for the first time, Lin Dong's biggest feeling then was excitement and surprise. He felt that with guidance, fighting was surprisingly easy.

But this time, Lin Dong relied entirely on himself. Every punch, every kick, was the result of his own effort and sweat. Every near miss in dodging made Lin Dong's blood surge.

This made Lin Dong truly realize that it was indeed possible to fight across realms purely through one's own strength.

Fighting was awesome!

Immediately, Lin Dong's attacks became even fiercer and more decisive, even adopting a reckless, life-risking posture.

Lin Dong raised his fist and delivered a whip-hammer strike towards Song Cheng. After Song Cheng blocked it, Lin Dong smoothly lowered his elbow and then raised his arm, striking Song Cheng directly on the chin.

Song Cheng felt a sharp pain in his chin, and his entire body was sent flying backward. Before he even landed, he heard several sounds of rushing wind.

Song Cheng was also ruthless. To avoid being further entangled by Lin Dong, he abandoned resistance, spun his body, and narrowly avoided vital points.

The next moment, Song Cheng felt a chill on his arm and thigh. As he landed, he looked closely and saw that his left forearm and the outer side of his right thigh both bore not-so-shallow wounds, from which blood was now gushing.

"Good! Good! Good! I almost forgot, you're also a Talisman Master."

Song Cheng sneered, then raised his hand and beckoned. A refined iron longsword appeared in his hand.

Lin Dong's expression also turned serious. In his previous fight with Wei Tong, and earlier with Song Cheng, he had relied on fist and foot techniques. With the power of the devouring Spirit Talisman, he could withstand them.

Before, Lin Dong had indeed fought against someone wielding a weapon, Yue Feng. However, the opponent's strength was too poor to pose any threat to Lin Dong, who had treated it purely as practice.

But now it was different. The opponent before him, Song Cheng, was a powerhouse at the Lesser Perfection of the Yuan Dan Realm, and likely possessed martial arts of no low grade.

Seeing Lin Dong's expression, Cang Wu naturally guessed his thoughts and couldn't help but curve his lips into a smile, muttering to himself.

"Kid, becoming the next controller of the Ancestral Stone, or even my junior disciple, isn't that simple. I, as the chief examiner, am much stricter than them."

However, around Cang Wu, there seemed to be an invisible barrier. His voice couldn't be heard at all.

In fact, the people around him couldn't even see his appearance clearly, as if separated by a watery screen, somewhat blurry.

Lin Dong was unaware of Cang Wu's thoughts. If he had known, he might have fought even harder. But for now, looking at Song Cheng opposite him, Lin Dong's expression was extremely serious and focused.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two dark shadows flew back into Lin Dong's sleeves. Lin Dong leaped up, and two more dark shadows flew out, carrying him into the air.

Seeing Lin Dong's actions, Cang Wu chuckled and shook his head, remaining silent, simply watching the match on the stage with a faint smile.

Seeing that Lin Dong wasn't attacking at close range, Song Cheng's expression relaxed slightly, clearly relieved. The next moment, he channeled his Primal Energy into the longsword in his hand and swung it towards Lin Dong.

"Mountain Splitting Sword Art, Mountain Splitting Strike!"

As the deep shout fell, Song Cheng held his longsword horizontally before him and swung it forcefully. A sharp sword qi swept out, heading towards Lin Dong in mid-air.

Lin Dong's expression turned serious upon seeing this. His Spiritual Power surged out from his Numinous Palace, condensing before him into a sharp, spiral wave.

It was the mental secret technique Lin Dong had acquired from the Wanjin Merchant Association, Sharp Spiral Wave!

Raising his hand, as the Sharp Spiral Wave met the sword qi, Lin Dong formed hand seals with both hands. This was the martial art refined through the Ancestral Stone, Mysterious Gate Seal.

As Lin Dong formed the seals, the invisible Sharp Spiral Wave fiercely collided with the sword qi. Spiritual Power and Primal Energy clashed, constantly wearing each other down.

However, judging by the situation, Song Cheng's sword qi seemed to have a slight edge, but not by much.

Seeing this, Song Cheng raised his longsword again, channeling his Primal Energy into the blade. A more powerful sword qi took shape.

"Sweep Across the Thousand Armies!"

With a vertical chop of the longsword, the sword qi instantly flew out, carrying a momentum like splitting bamboo, heading towards Lin Dong.

Perhaps due to the support of another sword qi, the previous sword qi suddenly erupted with a fierce Primal Energy, annihilating the Sharp Spiral Wave. The remaining force then shot towards Lin Dong ahead of schedule.

Lin Dong instantly struck with his hand seals, grinding away the residual sword qi before directly facing the second sword qi.

"Boom!!"

The collision between the hand seals and the sword qi was different from before, erupting with a powerful energy fluctuation.

The next moment, Lin Zhentian and the others' expressions changed drastically. The sword qi rapidly broke through the Mysterious Gate Seal and continued to slash towards Lin Dong.

"Boom!"

Just then, a pure white giant finger pointed out, shattering the sword qi. It was the Lin Family's martial art, Pure Origin Finger.

After crushing the sword qi with a single finger, Lin Dong clearly realized he couldn't continue clashing martial arts with Song Cheng at a distance. He immediately waved his hand, and several dark shadows flew out in all directions towards Song Cheng.

Simultaneously, Lin Dong himself, stepping on two Primal Shuttles, flew towards Song Cheng.

Song Cheng, whose two full-powered sword strikes had been blocked by Lin Dong, was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting Lin Dong to have the strength to clash head-on with him.

Immediately after, seeing Lin Dong's move, Song Cheng's expression changed again. He quickly swung the sword in his hand, constantly fending off the Primal Shuttles that shuttled back and forth around him.

At this, Lin Dong's attacks became even more ferocious. He didn't even bother to dodge Song Cheng's sword much, adopting a strategy of trading injuries for life, which left Song Cheng feeling extremely frustrated.

Seeing his Primal Energy being constantly depleted, and even at an inexplicably faster rate, Song Cheng's heart suddenly jolted. After forcing Lin Dong back with a sword strike, he wanted to concede.

"I..."

But as Song Cheng uttered the first word, he saw Lin Dong attack again, forcefully cutting off Song Cheng's words.