"Chen Feng, Chen Mo, and Wu Yong actually stopped Lu Ming!"
"It's already the twenty-fifth stake. Chen Ping, Ma Sandao, and the other county's geniuses are all close to the Iron-Scaled Python Demon. What are Chen Feng and the others doing?"
"To deal with Lu Ming, they're actually willing to risk losing their Red Tokens? They're terrified of him!"
The sudden turn of events in the Iron Stake Area left all the spectators in the Grand Martial Arts Arena astonished.
On the elevated platform, Xu Shou's expression shifted. "Senior Brother, I didn't know Wu Yong would be so brazen as to team up with geniuses from our county to stop Lu Ming."
He stared at Wu Yong, speechless. Lu Ming was already struggling to catch up with the others. Why had Wu Yong taken it upon himself to meddle and make things worse?
The Chen Family head, Chen Boxiong, and the Shen Family head, Shen Wanlin, both watched Chen Feng and Chen Mo, their brows furrowed.
They hadn't known about this.
"Director Wei..." Chen Boxiong began, as if to say something.
Wei Jinlin's expression didn't change. "Martial artists have to compete. Otherwise, why call it a contest for the Red Tokens? Intercepting others is only natural. Let's wait and see."
At his words, everyone exchanged glances and silently admired his composure. Wei Jinlin had long understood this. Compared with him, they had been far too narrow-minded.
Meanwhile, in the Iron Stake Area,
Lu Ming faced the three who were blocking him. He swept them with his gaze, then suddenly fixed his eyes on Wu Yong. Pushing off with his feet, he used Smooth Ascent to the Clouds and charged at him.
A Flesh Refining martial artist had a basic strength of two thousand pounds.
The momentum from Lu Ming's Godly Movement now added roughly another two thousand pounds of force. When he unleashed his own two thousand pounds of strength on top of that, his aura surged as though he had broken through in the heat of battle!
He thrust out a Cloud-Piercing Finger. It flashed like lightning, so fast and so powerful that even Chen Mo, whose blood and qi ran strong, couldn't help but turn pale and hesitate.
Wu Yong, a burly, rugged-looking man, was even more shaken.
"He was hiding his strength! Damn it, there are three of us—why am I the one he's attacking?"
As Lu Ming's Cloud-Piercing Finger shot toward him, Wu Yong roared and slapped out with his palm. His blood and qi surged, his muscles knotted, and his palm struck with enough force to shatter stone!
But Lu Ming stepped forward and abruptly shifted sideways, narrowly evading the blow. His Cloud-Piercing Finger left a blur in the air and struck Wu Yong in the shoulder.
"Ugh!" Wu Yong groaned, a sharp pain shooting through his shoulder.
His expression changed at once. The flow of blood and qi inside him went haywire, and he couldn't withstand the Iron-Scaled Python Demon's pressure from behind. His stomach churned, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"I'll deal with the one helping them first." Lu Ming shot him a cold glance and kicked.
Wu Yong had no time to dodge. The kick struck him in the stomach, sending him stumbling backward against his will until he landed at the twenty-third stake.
His blood and qi felt weak and unsteady, making the pressure hard to withstand. Chen Ping, Ma Sandao, and the others were already ahead of him. He knew he had no chance of placing now.
Deep regret welled up inside him. He shouldn't have listened to Chen Feng's offer. For a bit of petty gain, he had thrown away his chance to obtain Demon Meat.
"I only have to hold you back so you can't get a Red Token!"
Up ahead, Chen Mo seized the moment while Lu Ming dealt with Wu Yong. A glint flashed in his eyes as he used the Shen Family 36-Style Grappling Hands, lunging forward to grapple Lu Ming.
"You pathetic clown!"
Lu Ming coldly glanced at Chen Mo as he attacked. From the corner of his eye, he saw Chen Ping and the others had taken advantage of their struggle to overtake him.
He snorted and suddenly sprang into the air. Moving so quickly that he bypassed Chen Mo altogether, he landed at the twenty-sixth stake and stamped hard on it.
Boom!!
The Iron Stake rang out. Using the rebound to propel himself, Lu Ming leaped forward again, reaching the twenty-seventh stake in an instant and lightly slapping it with both hands.
Bang! The twenty-seventh stake rang out.
Before the sound had faded, he was already at the twenty-eighth stake.
Chen Feng, Feng Qingzhu, Liu Yiyi, Chen Ping, and the others nearby all narrowed their eyes at the sight.
Chen Feng's pupils contracted. What kind of strength was this? Lu Ming could leap from stake to stake in the Iron Stake Area as easily as walking on flat ground!
Could the Iron-Scaled Python Demon's pressure not affect him?
He had no idea that Lu Ming's Godly Movement gave him extra force and bolstered his aura. On top of that, with his divine ability at his command, he felt no fear in the face of demonic pressure. And he had also sparred with Feng Qingzhu every day, honing his skills...
With all three advantages combined, Lu Ming could now almost ignore the pressure from the Iron-Scaled Python Demon's corpse!
Until now, he had merely kept a low profile and hidden his strength. Once he revealed it, he stunned the entire crowd.
Chen Feng could no longer hold back. A murderous glint filled his eyes as he twisted around and swept his curved saber toward Lu Ming's waist.
In Chen Feng's hands, the Chen Family Returning Wind Sweeping Willow Saber was like a breeze brushing past one's face. By the time the chill registered, the blade was already before Lu Ming, its edge glinting coldly and its killing intent surging!
"Hmph!"
Lu Ming was about to meet the attack when he heard Feng Qingzhu snort from the Iron Stake to Chen Feng's left. A streak of green light shot diagonally across and struck the blade.
Clang!
Chen Feng's saber technique was knocked aside, and Lu Ming was already in front of him!
As Lu Ming's sharp gaze swept over him, Chen Feng's face changed. He looked at Feng Qingzhu in disbelief, anger and shock churning inside him.
He had considered whether Feng Qingzhu might help Lu Ming, but then he'd thought that the Green Bamboo Gang was a neutral force. If Feng Qingzhu considered the gang's interests, she would never intervene.
He hadn't expected her to use her green bamboo staff at the critical moment to interrupt his killing blow.
After that one move, Feng Qingzhu immediately withdrew and continued forward to compete for a Red Token.
A fierce gust struck from ahead. From the corner of his eye, Chen Feng saw Lu Ming attacking him with Nine Palaces Palm.
He was so furious he laughed. "You won't even use your Cloud-Piercing Finger? You dare look down on me?"
His saber technique had just been interrupted, and in that split second there was no time to use his saber again. Chen Feng simply abandoned it and switched to a palm strike, meeting Lu Ming's with one of his own!
He was at Major Completion in Flesh Refining and on the verge of breaking through to Tendon Refining. Lu Ming, by contrast, was only at Flesh Refining. Chen Feng didn't believe he could lose in a clash of palms.
But the moment their palms met, Chen Feng's expression changed. Lu Ming's strike sent him stumbling backward against his will.
Had Feng Qingzhu's strike just now left his footing unstable?!
Chen Feng was still reeling with uncertainty and hadn't yet stopped when a chill suddenly swept up behind him.
"Who else?!" A trace of panic finally appeared in Chen Feng's eyes as he spun around.
A handsome young man approached with a wild, arrogant expression. His powerful aura surged as he threw a punch!
"Yun Potian! You dare?!"
The newcomer was Yun Potian, a genius from Cloud Peak County. Chen Feng had never offended him, but he had no choice but to take the blow. Pain shot through his palm as he staggered backward more than a dozen steps.
Lu Ming and the others had already turned back to compete for the Red Tokens. Chen Feng had fallen back to the twenty-sixth stake, several stakes behind them. On top of his poor condition, he had no time to catch up.
Fury consumed him. That Red Token had been all but guaranteed—how had it slipped through his fingers?
He roared, "Yun Potian, when did I ever offend you?"
"You can do it, but no one else can? Hmph!" Yun Potian laughed loudly, cast him a disdainful glance, and turned to compete for the Red Tokens.
Chen Feng froze. Yun Potian hadn't intended to stop anyone at first. It was only after Chen Feng intercepted Lu Ming that Yun Potian had decided to act?
He had brought this on himself!
Lu Ming, Feng Qingzhu, Liu Yiyi, Chen Ping, Yun Potian, and the others had already reached the Iron-Scaled Python Demon's three- to four-zhang-high corpse.
Chen Feng stared at Lu Ming, hoping the others would drive him back as they fought over the Red Tokens.
But the next moment, his eyes widened as he stared at the scene before him in disbelief.
Before you continue