The entire Drill Ground fell silent!
Above the stands, True Person Muxuan's expression changed abruptly. Ren Baili, who had just taken a heavy bet, stared wide-eyed at the scene below.
Anyone could see the difference.
There had been other Xiantian Lifeforms skilled at controlling fire who tried to use fire to overcome wood, but all they got for their efforts was a whipping from the Vine Wood Puppet.
The enormous grindstone formed by Zhou Hao's Six Paths Water-Fire Taiji Diagram was clearly far more powerful than anything the previous challengers had managed.
"Good!"
Cao Rong was the first to cheer. The Xiantian Lifeforms gathered below the arena joined in, with the newcomers cheering loudest.
"Those who cultivate the Chiming Nine Heavens Map are naturally good at controlling water and fire. It's no surprise their techniques are more powerful than those of other arts." Ren Baili shot Cao Rong a sidelong glance. "But a Vine Wood Puppet at the Purple Mansion Realm isn't so easy to destroy."
Cao Rong couldn't help rolling his eyes. You'd think the Vine Wood Puppet belonged to him.
Completely destroying the Vine Wood Puppet was difficult!
The same thought flashed through Zhou Hao's mind on the arena.
No matter how many fights he'd watched from below, he could only understand how difficult it was to completely destroy a puppet with a Purple Mansion Realm body once he faced the Vine Wood Puppet himself.
To the onlookers, the moment the Taiji Grindstone appeared, all six vines had snapped. It seemed easy.
But Zhou Hao alone knew that in that instant, he'd pushed his divine sense to its limit.
And those were only vines as thick as a child's leg. Using the Taiji Grindstone's crushing, grinding force to destroy the Vine Wood Puppet's burly, three-meter-tall body was nothing but wishful thinking.
But Zhou Hao had to destroy the Vine Wood Puppet within ten breaths.
Otherwise, as time passed, the puppet would grow stronger and develop more techniques. He'd be the one to lose.
"Fortunately, my divine sense can see through your true form." Zhou Hao's lips curled. "Completely destroying you would be difficult, but I only need to destroy your vital core... That should be enough!"
Whoosh!
Zhou Hao suddenly moved.
The Red Gold Copper Rod in his hand dragged along the ground as he charged toward the Vine Wood Puppet like a gale, covering nearly ten zhang in an instant.
Bang! The arena trembled, and earth and stone shattered.
Zhou Hao stamped his right foot down hard. His true essence and divine strength surged through his body according to the Water-Fire Spiral, and a tremendous force rose from the ground, passing through his waist and abdomen into both arms.
Whoosh!
His right hand swung the Red Gold Copper Rod upward. It moved so fast that friction with the air set flames leaping across its surface. Then the rod crashed into the Vine Wood Puppet's two thick arms as they rose to block it.
Boom! Wood chips flew everywhere, burning to ash in midair against the flames on the Red Gold Copper Rod.
With Zhou Hao's true essence, divine strength, and divine sense poured into it, the Red Gold Copper Rod struck with overwhelming force. The Vine Wood Puppet's arms, each thicker than a man's waist, were like a mantis trying to stop a cart. They cracked apart with a sharp snap.
But in the end, the Vine Wood Puppet's arms had dissipated most of the force in Zhou Hao's fiercest strike.
"That kid really is ferocious." Ren Baili let out a breath.
But before his pounding heart could settle, Zhou Hao stepped forward again. The Red Gold Copper Rod, its force already spent, suddenly flared with dazzling firelight once more.
Rumble~~~ The ground shook with a thunderous roar.
The Red Gold Copper Rod in Zhou Hao's hands swept across the Vine Wood Puppet's chest.
After carving a gaping wound through its vine-covered torso, it slammed into the arena.
The arena was twenty zhang long and wide, its sturdy surface forged by True Person Muxuan with earth-element spells. In an instant, more than half of it was destroyed.
The tremendous force carried through the ground, sinking and shattering the earth beneath the arena into a huge pit.
The Vine Wood Puppet's body, woven from countless gnarled vines, now had a huge wound several feet wide in its chest. Among the broken vines, a green seed the size of a chicken egg, its surface covered in Dao patterns, lay exposed before Zhou Hao's eyes.
"That's it!" Zhou Hao's gaze sharpened. His left hand swung the Red Gold Copper Rod in a Splitting Wind and Slashing Waves strike, turning it into a streak of light that cut through the gap in the Vine Wood Puppet's chest toward the Green Seed.
Crack! The Green Seed shattered.
"Taiji Grindstone." Zhou Hao moved his mind.
Boom! One Water-Fire Taiji Diagram after another appeared from thin air, enclosing and crushing the Vine Wood Puppet.
With its core seed gone, the Vine Wood Puppet's body turned brittle as deadwood. Under the Taiji Grindstone's crushing force, it was shredded to pieces.
The broken Withered Wood vines were singed by the flames inside the Taiji Grindstone and caught fire.
The entire Drill Ground—over ten thousand soldiers of the Green Flood Dragon Army, six hundred Xiantian Lifeforms, two Purple Mansion Realm deputy generals, and a Myriad Phenomena Realm general—stared at Zhou Hao before the blazing flames, all struck speechless.
He'd destroyed the Vine Wood Puppet in a single breath?
Everyone was stunned.
A moment ago, some had mocked Zhou Hao for being so terrified of the Vine Wood Puppet that he'd be lucky to last a single breath. Many hadn't even seen clearly what happened. They'd only caught Zhou Hao smashing through the puppet's arms with one strike, carving a huge gash across its chest, then striking again and making it lose all signs of life before it burst into flames.
"Brother Zhou Hao..." Zhao Hu watched Zhou Hao on the arena and shuddered. "He's even more savage than when he beat me!"
Boom~~~~
A commotion erupted!
The entire Drill Ground burst into an uproar!
"Impressive! Brother Zhou Hao is incredible!" Shangguan Yun clapped his enormous hands like fans, making thunderous slaps, and shouted, "From now on, I won't bow to anyone but Brother Zhou Hao!"
"This guy..." Shangguan Yu gaped. She was too stunned to care that her brother was shouting so loudly and might embarrass himself.
"Impressive!"
"That guy's a beast!"
"What a monster! Who'd dare spar with him now? He smashed the Vine Wood Puppet, and the force he had left over even wrecked the arena."
On the arena, Zhou Hao heard the cheers all around him and felt delighted. Smiling, he cupped his hands to the crowd.
Sixty High-Grade Origin Stones were his!
...Above the stands.
Cao Rong's face was flushed with excitement. Yang Yun beside him looked stunned too, her beautiful eyes fixed on Zhou Hao on the arena.
Even Li Zhan, who had been sitting with his eyes closed in quiet cultivation on the other side, had opened them and was watching Zhou Hao from afar.
"Impressive. Does the fourth level of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map really grant that much power?" The silver-haired elder looked down at the arena, his eyes filled with delight. "General, what do you think?"
"The fourth level of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map doesn't grant that much power." True Person Muxuan shook his head. "Zhou Hao must know a secret art that can multiply his strength without doing much damage to his body."
"How did he find the Vine Wood Puppet's vital core so quickly?" Ren Baili frowned as he watched Zhou Hao, puzzled.
Destroying the Vine Wood Puppet required more than great strength and attacks powerful enough to damage its body. The key was first finding the core seed.
The puppet's seed, the size of a chicken egg, could be anywhere inside the three-meter-tall Vine Wood Puppet.
Finding and destroying the seed by breaking open the puppet's body was undoubtedly extremely difficult.
Even if Zhou Hao had a secret art that made his attacks powerful enough to damage the Vine Wood Puppet, Ren Baili couldn't understand how he'd managed to expose the seed with such a precise strike.
Even if he went onto the arena himself to destroy the Vine Wood Puppet, he wouldn't have done it more cleanly than Zhou Hao.
"What a freak!" Ren Baili couldn't figure it out, so he stopped trying.
Well, freaks were supposed to do what others couldn't.
"It looks like today's betting pool was all for nothing. I don't even have enough to pay this kid."
At the front of the Drill Ground, before the stands.
Zhou Hao, Hu Yong, and the other three stood in a line before all the Xiantian Lifeforms.
"The first round of trials is over. By time endured, Hu Yong lasted thirty breaths, Yang Qiong twenty, Xi Qianshui nineteen, and Nan Ming nineteen." The silver-haired elder's gaze swept across the five, finally landing on Zhou Hao. "And... Zhou Hao destroyed the Vine Wood Puppet."
Shock, amazement, admiration...
As Zhou Hao felt the four others beside him looking at him with all kinds of expressions, he nodded to them and smiled at Yang Qiong.
Both Yang Qiong and Miao Ying had taken part in this selection for a new commander. Miao Ying excelled at saber techniques and Gu worms, which were heavily hampered against the Vine Wood Puppet. She hadn't even lasted ten breaths.
Yang Qiong, on the other hand, was best at formations. He had relied on laying down one defensive formation after another on the arena, holding out for a full twenty breaths before the Vine Wood Puppet's sudden burst of strength broke through his formations and knocked him off the arena.
"Next will be one-on-one duels. The last one standing will become the new commander," the silver-haired elder said. "I'll announce the match order..."
"My lord, I forfeit," Yang Qiong suddenly said.
"You forfeit?" The silver-haired elder paused. "Are you sure?"
"After seeing Brother Zhou Hao's strength, I know I can't compare. I'd lose either way, so I might as well forfeit," Yang Qiong replied respectfully.
Who'd be foolish enough to fight a savage like that?
Unlike Er Hu, I wouldn't survive being cleaved in half.
"My lord, I forfeit too."
"I forfeit."
Seeing Yang Qiong give up, Xi Qianshui and Nan Ming immediately followed suit.
"You're all forfeiting?" The silver-haired elder nodded, then looked at Hu Yong.
He understood that although all five had passed the first trial, the gaps in their strength were indeed huge. Hu Yong and Zhou Hao were clearly the strongest.
"Brother Zhou Hao." Hu Yong turned to Zhou Hao. "Yesterday, I saw you with Boss Cao and the others and didn't think much of it. But your performance today truly surprised me."
"You flatter me." Zhou Hao spoke softly. "Brother Hu Yong's movement technique was also astonishing."
"I've mastered my movement technique recently. I'm confident I can fear no one in the Xiantian Battalion. Brother Zhou Hao, you may be strong, but I won't be satisfied unless I give it a try." Hu Yong smiled.
"I've been wanting to experience your movement technique too, Brother Hu Yong." Zhou Hao's eyes lit up, and he smiled in reply.
He'd been wondering where he could learn a movement technique. Sparring with Hu Yong, who had already grasped a trace of the True Meaning of the Dao in his movement technique, should teach him a lot.
I'm making up for the chapter I missed the day before yesterday. Yeah, there's still one more to go.
Thanks for everyone's concern. My wife's hospital arrangements have been taken care of.
I'll keep writing. Tomorrow's busy too.
I'll try to get a bit more done and update at the usual time if I can.
Before you continue