The entire venue once again fell into deathly silence.
Everyone's eyes widened as they stared, as though at a monster, at the figure kneeling on one knee and gasping for breath.
He had won...
He had won again!
Facing Shi Lei of God of War Academy, whose defense was hailed as "absolute defense," Ye Xuan had once again blasted through his opponent's barrier by the most brutal, unreasonable means possible and claimed victory!
Was this guy even human?!
He was practically a Young Demon God born for battle and destruction!
"He... he won! Ye Xuan won again!"
"Holy shit! He shattered Shi Lei's King of Light Glazed Body! That's Shi Lei's unique and rare constitution!"
"A miracle! This is absolutely the greatest miracle of this tournament! Ye Xuan was born to create miracles!"
After that brief silence came cheers and shouts more fervent than ever before!
Countless people leapt to their feet in excitement.
They waved their arms wildly and shouted Ye Xuan's name until their voices turned hoarse!
In their eyes, Ye Xuan was no longer merely a contestant, but a living legend!
A myth that had risen from the bottom and challenged every impossibility...
A legend!
Yet beneath that endless glory and cheering, only Ye Xuan himself knew just how terrible his condition was.
His meridians felt as if they had been seared by blazing fire, sending waves of tearing agony through his body.
His internal organs seemed to have shifted out of place, and every breath pulled at unbearable pain.
The spiritual energy within him had been completely drained by that earth-shattering punch, leaving behind only a thin trickle.
Just then, the Extreme Dao Ancestor's urgent and grave voice rang out within his Consciousness Sea.
"Kid! Enough! Stop now!"
"You forcibly activated your technique just now and have already damaged your foundation! If this continues, your martial path will be utterly ruined!"
"Listen to this old man! You have already proven yourself! Admit defeat now, and with your record of defeating Shi Lei, securing the top three will be no problem at all!"
"The rewards for the top three are already generous enough! They will be enough to repair your damaged foundation and even take you a step further! There is no need to stake your life on a hollow reputation!"
The Extreme Dao Ancestor's voice carried unprecedented severity.
Yet upon hearing this, a ferocious and stubborn smile appeared on Ye Xuan's pale face.
"A hollow reputation?"
He roared inwardly, "How can first place be a hollow reputation?!"
"I, Ye Xuan, either do nothing—or if I do something, I become the strongest! Why should I bow to anyone else?!"
"Teacher! Didn't you say that as long as I have enough natural treasures, the backlash from this technique of mine is nothing to fear?!"
"As long as I win the championship! The champion's reward, added to the benefits promised by the Huangfu Family, will be enough to push my strength to an entirely new height! By then, what does a little damage to my foundation even count for?!"
His crazed will burned like a raging blaze, to the point that even the Extreme Dao Ancestor within his Consciousness Sea felt a flicker of alarm.
"Foolish!"
The Extreme Dao Ancestor shouted angrily, "The Burning Blood Dragon Transformation Technique is a forbidden secret art! What it burns is not merely your spiritual energy, but your Life Origin! Your fortune! Your future!"
"Natural treasures can indeed make up for your losses! But that is merely drinking poison to quench thirst! The more fiercely you burn, the more dependent you become on resources! Unless you cultivate it to completion, if this goes on, this technique will eventually devour you entirely and turn you into a walking corpse that knows only slaughter!"
"Even a walking corpse is better than being trash trampled beneath other people's feet!"
Ye Xuan abruptly raised his head.
His scarlet gaze locked onto the direction of the VIP box.
"I have to win the championship! I have to claim everything that should have belonged to him, right in front of that guy!"
"Not only will I win, I will win more gloriously than him! More brilliantly!"
"..."
Within the Consciousness Sea, the Extreme Dao Ancestor fell into prolonged silence.
In the end, only a helpless and complicated sigh remained.
Alas...
Naturally, he had his own selfish reasons for trying so hard to persuade Ye Xuan.
He had been trapped in this state of a remnant soul for far too long.
If he wished to escape his predicament, even reconstruct his body, his sole hope rested on Ye Xuan, this host.
He needed Ye Xuan to grow stronger without end, but he absolutely did not want Ye Xuan to die young because of reckless haste.
But now, it seemed this boy had completely gone astray under the stimulation of hatred and victory.
His Dao Heart, once so resolute, was being eaten away bit by bit by arrogance and madness.
Was this a blessing, or a curse?
For the first time, a trace of uncertainty arose in the Extreme Dao Ancestor's heart.
Just then.
The host's impassioned voice rang through the entire venue once more!
"Let us congratulate contestant Ye Xuan for successfully advancing to the final battle of the grand finals!"
"Next, we will hold our final semifinal match!"
"Please welcome—"
"Qin Zhan of Imperial Military Academy!"
"Versus—"
"Gu Ningxue of Capital Martial Arts Academy!"
As the host's impassioned voice fell, the atmosphere in the Dragon's Nest Stadium was once again pushed to its peak!
"It's here, it's here! The match I've been looking forward to most!"
"Qin Zhan's Dragon Elephant Subduing Prison Technique is tyrannical beyond compare, using one force to crush ten techniques! Gu Ningxue's Glazed Snowheart Sword Art is swift as a startled swan-goose, nimble and graceful! This is simply the ultimate collision between ultimate strength and ultimate skill!"
"Who do you think will win? I feel Qin Zhan has the better odds. After all, he's at the Marrow Cleansing Realm Eighth Level! A whole minor realm higher!"
"Not necessarily! Goddess Gu's sword is unfathomable, as elusive as gods and ghosts!"
Amid the discussions filling the venue.
Qin Zhan, dressed in a black combat uniform with a cold expression, and Gu Ningxue, wearing an equally black martial arts uniform and radiating heroic spirit, stepped onto the arena at the same time.
The two faced each other from afar as invisible battle intent collided fiercely in the air, seemingly sparking crackling arcs of electricity!
"Gu Ningxue."
Qin Zhan looked at the woman before him. There was not the slightest hint of disdain in his eyes, only the pure battle intent of encountering a worthy opponent. "Your sword is fast. I'm looking forward to this."
Gu Ningxue gripped her sword hilt, her beautiful eyes cool and aloof.
"Your fists are heavy too."
"Then fight!"
At the referee's command, the match officially began!
"Roar—!"
Qin Zhan had no intention of testing her out. He opened with a full-force eruption!
He threw back his head and unleashed a roar like the bellow of a Dragon Elephant. The muscles across his body bulged and his veins stood out, making him seem to grow taller out of thin air!
A terrifying aura, primordial, tyrannical, and capable of suppressing all things, swept across the venue!
"Dragon Elephant Stomp!"
Boom!
He fiercely stamped a foot onto the ground!
The incomparably hard alloy arena was stomped into clear indentations by his single foot.
Crack! Crack! Crack!!!
Cracks spread outward, centered on where his foot had landed, crazily racing in every direction!
His entire body turned into a cannonball fired from its barrel.
Carrying unmatched might capable of crushing mountains, he charged headlong toward Gu Ningxue!
Before he even arrived.
The terrifying wind from his fist had already compressed the air into a piercing shriek!
Facing that World-Ending strike, Gu Ningxue's gaze remained as calm as still water.
At the instant before Qin Zhan was about to touch her, her figure suddenly became illusory.
Like a reflection in water, one became three, and three became nine!
Startling Swan-Goose Movement!
Qin Zhan's punch, powerful enough to smash through an armored vehicle, struck empty air heavily. Its violent gust pulverized one afterimage after another!
Yet Gu Ningxue's true body appeared behind and to Qin Zhan's side like a ghost!
"Clang!"
A frigid flash of sword light, like a startled swan-goose in a snowy night, silent yet swift beyond measure, stabbed straight toward the vital point at Qin Zhan's back!
However, Qin Zhan's combat instincts were equally terrifying!
Without looking back, he struck with a backhanded elbow!
"Dragon Elephant Tail Whip!"
Bang!
The sword tip and elbow tip collided with perfect precision!
An irresistible force surged through the blade!
Gu Ningxue felt her tiger's mouth go numb. Her entire body flew backward out of control, and only after an elegant midair flip did she land steadily at the other end of the arena.
What tremendous strength!
A hurried elbow strike alone had nearly made her lose her grip on the sword!
Qin Zhan did not fare well either.
A shallow white mark had appeared on his elbow.
Threads of icy Sword Qi were trying to burrow into his meridians.
Though they were quickly crushed by his tyrannical Dragon Elephant True Qi, that bone-piercing chill still made his heart tighten.
What a fast sword!
What strange Sword Qi!
"Again!"
Qin Zhan's battle intent grew even stronger as he launched another storm-like barrage of attacks!
In an instant, fist shadows whirled and sword light crisscrossed across the entire arena!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every punch Qin Zhan threw seemed capable of piercing the void, smashing terrifying deep pits into the hard arena!
Gu Ningxue, meanwhile, was like a butterfly weaving through a meteor shower, her figure graceful and fluid.
Each time, she narrowly evaded those fatal attacks by the breadth of a hair.
At the same time, the longsword in her hand always stabbed toward Qin Zhan's openings from the most unimaginable angles!
The two exchanged blow after blow, fighting until heaven and earth seemed to collapse and sun and moon lost their light!
The audience watched in rapt fascination, their blood boiling!
"Too incredible! This is what a true peak showdown looks like!"
"Qin Zhan's strength is too impossible to deal with! Gu Ningxue doesn't dare clash with him head-on at all!"
"But Gu Ningxue's movement technique and swordsmanship are incredible too! Qin Zhan still hasn't even touched her clothes!"
Just then, Qin Zhan, unable to break through after attacking for so long, seemed to have finally exhausted his patience!
"Gu Ningxue! What kind of skill is dodging and hiding!"
"If you have the guts, take this move!"
He abruptly stopped, Took a Deep Breath, and unleashed every last bit of spiritual energy in his body!
"Dragon Elephant Subduing Prison!"
Roar—!!!
A gigantic Dragon Elephant phantom formed from golden spiritual energy slowly condensed behind him!
A terrifying pressure capable of suppressing heaven and earth and shattering all things instantly enveloped the entire arena!
Gu Ningxue felt her entire body sink, as though an ancient divine mountain had been placed upon her back. Even her movements became sluggish!
"It's over!"
Qin Zhan roared.
He merged as one with the Dragon Elephant phantom behind him, transforming into a golden torrent of destruction that bore down on Gu Ningxue from above!
This attack sealed off every route of retreat!
There was no avoiding it!
In the VIP box, Lin Yuan watched this scene, finally set down the Spirit Fruit in his hand, and sat upright for the first time.
Buzz—!
Unprecedented brilliance erupted from Gu Ningxue's eyes!
The longsword in her hand let out a clear phoenix cry!
"High-grade Earth-rank Sword Art—Ice Phoenix Descends to the World!"
An even holier, nobler ice-blue phoenix phantom soared into the sky from within her body.
It spread its enormous wings and released a clear cry capable of freezing souls!
Before the world-shattering gazes of everyone present.
The ice-blue phoenix and golden Dragon Elephant crashed fiercely into one another!
Boom—!!!
The entire Dragon's Nest shook violently!
Before you continue