On the high platform, Li Jingzhou's expression barely changed. As steady as a mountain, he studied Shi Lan from head to toe, deep in thought.
In a pavilion not far away, a middle-aged monk in a kasaya chanted a Buddhist prayer and murmured to himself:
"She can manifest a Vajra phantom with nothing but the Vajra Divine Fist? What astonishing Buddhist nature..."
His skin was bronze, and a halo of Buddha-light faintly encircled the back of his head. His solemn face made him look like an arhat Vajra.
The other dueling platforms gradually fell silent. The young prodigies, including Shi Feng, gathered before the arena one after another, staring fixedly at the platform.
This was more than a martial contest. It was a battle for the title of humanity's foremost prodigy.
Bang!
A faint golden light flared across Gao Linyuan's body, blocking Shi Lan's fist. Blood kept spilling from his mouth, yet his aura did not weaken in the slightest.
His gaze grew unfathomably deep, traces of the Dao faintly swirling in its depths.
Shi Lan sensed something amiss and turned her fist into a palm, slamming out the Heavenly Extremity Seal.
Gao Linyuan made no attempt to block it. He formed a fist seal, laws interweaving across his knuckles, and suddenly smashed his fist into Shi Lan's abdomen.
Thud!
Fist and palm collided. Shi Lan flew backward like a meteor and crashed onto the platform. The entire arena shook violently; without the protective formation, it would have collapsed.
The Heavenly Extremity Seal struck Gao Linyuan squarely in the chest. Its wild, crushing force, as heavy as an ancient mountain, made the golden light around him flicker and scatter. Ripples spread across the formation's light curtain behind him like waves across a lake.
Shi Lan rose from the platform.