Chen Fan, "This Qian Daoliu is so straightforward, it's almost cute..."

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Almost the moment Chen Fan's heart stirred, Chen Jianjun landed steadily three meters in front of the high platform.

The sleeves of his robe were torn clean off from the elbows down, revealing two sturdy arms marked with faint scorch marks, though it was clear these were merely superficial wounds.

His hair remained neatly tied back without a single strand out of place; his face was slightly pale, but he stood ramrod straight, his breathing calm and rhythmic.

Seeing this, Chen Fan let out a small sigh of relief. Thank goodness, it looks like he just exhausted too much Soul Power...

In front of Chen Jianjun, the figure of Qian Daoliu also materialized.

By comparison, Qian Daoliu looked far more disheveled.

His simple gray robe was covered in fine, jagged cuts, the most prominent being a long, gaping tear running from his left shoulder to his chest, revealing a thin layer of undergarment beneath.

More than half of his hair was disarrayed, with faint traces of frost-white visible, and a lock of his bangs had been shorn off at the root. His face was covered in dust, and a streak of blood he hadn't yet wiped away hung from the corner of his mouth.

The moment the two appeared, the entire venue fell into a deathly silence.

Countless eyes were locked onto Qian Daoliu's dusty, disheveled face, then shifted to the composed Chen Jianjun, their minds buzzing with disbelief!

This...

Did Qian Daoliu lose?

The Adjudicator Elder of Spirit Hall, the number one executioner of Spirit Hall... had he been defeated?

"Hiss!"

"Terrifying!"

"How is this possible..."

After the brief silence, someone in the crowd finally couldn't help but gasp, and as if contagious, a continuous chorus of sharp inhalations rose one after another.

Some subconsciously clenched their fists, while others pinched their own thighs hard.

Qian Xunji's eyes widened, and he drew a sharp breath, looking at Chen Jianjun with extreme wariness.

His father... had lost?

Was this Chen Jianjun really that formidable?

"Qian Daoliu... did Qian Daoliu actually lose?"

"How is that possible! The Adjudicator Elder of Spirit Hall, actually..."

"Didn't you see how shredded Chen Jianjun's sleeves are? He isn't exactly unscathed, is he?"

"But didn't you see that a chunk of Qian Daoliu's hair was shorn off? If that had been a hair's breadth to the side, it would have been his head!"

"And look at Qian Daoliu's face—he's covered in dust. Although Chen Jianjun's face is a bit pale, his stance is clearly still rock-solid!"

The murmurs in the crowd grew louder and louder. The older generation of soul masters stared with wide eyes, as if they had seen a ghost.

Qian Daoliu's reputation in the soul master world was built upon a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

During his tenure as the Adjudicator Elder of Spirit Hall, the amount of blood on his hands was countless. Whenever his name was mentioned in the soul master world, there wasn't a single veteran who didn't turn pale.

But now.

He had actually lost?

In a one-on-one, head-on confrontation, he had lost to Chen Jianjun?

And he had lost so... miserably?

"Your sword strike... it is on par with Tang Chen's Ring Detonation."

Qian Daoliu didn't seem to care about the surrounding gazes. He stared at Chen Jianjun before him and said in a deep voice, "I just don't know which is stronger or weaker."

"I would certainly like to spar with him."

Chen Jianjun spoke bluntly, "Of course, I wouldn't force it."

"By comparison, I would much rather learn from your swordsmanship."

Hearing this assessment from Qian Daoliu, the scene erupted as if a pot had boiled over!

"My god... just what is the strength of this Grand Sect Master of the Seven Kill Sect?! Even the Adjudicator Elder of Spirit Hall..."

"Didn't you see Qian Daoliu's robe? So many cuts—if even one of those strikes had been off by half an inch..."

"Stop talking!"

Someone yanked hard on their companion's sleeve, signaling them to shut up.

Because Qian Daoliu's gaze had just swept across the crowd.

That look wasn't particularly sharp—it could even be called calm—but everyone it touched felt a chill run down their spine, as if an invisible sword were pressed against the back of their necks.

On the platform, Chen Fan took in everything, and the stone that had been hanging in his heart finally settled completely.

In truth, he was not surprised by this outcome.

"Nine Kill Sword, combined with Ultimate Frost."

"Another ninety-ninth-level peak."

"If it were a standoff against an ordinary Peerless Douluo, perhaps the outcome wouldn't be decided so quickly."

"But..."

Chen Fan looked at Qian Daoliu and shook his head slightly. "Qian Daoliu is different!"

"Qian Daoliu is too straightforward."

"The Nine Kill Sword combined with Ultimate Frost, while fast, accurate, and ruthless to the extreme, is not impossible to dodge; it merely reduces the opponent's chances of evasion."

"If Qian Daoliu were to take to the sky and simply refuse to engage, it would be very difficult to land a hit on him."

"But unfortunately, Qian Daoliu is too straightforward; dodging is simply not in his dictionary."

It was just like when Qian Daoliu fought Tang Chen.

If Qian Daoliu had been willing to maneuver, kite, and avoid the sharp edge of the attack, perhaps the result wouldn't have been so one-sided.

Yet he refused; he insisted on a head-on collision, using the most rigid method to test exactly how sharp the opponent's blade was.

This... it must be said, was actually a bit endearingly straightforward.

"Father, did he... really win?"

Chen Xin was also somewhat incredulous, staring fixedly at Chen Jianjun and murmuring to himself.

Meanwhile, below the high platform.

The commotion among the crowd grew even more intense!

The nobles who had originally been sitting in their seats, cracking melon seeds and watching the spectacle, now had faces that shifted with unpredictable expressions. Their gazes darted back and forth between Chen Jianjun and Chen Fan, their expressions truly magnificent.

"I regret this!"

An old marquis dressed in brocade robes wailed in a low voice. His tone was kept very quiet, but his companion beside him still heard it clearly. "If I had known Chen Jianjun could fight Qian Daoliu to this extent, I... I would have brought my eldest granddaughter along too..."

"Isn't your eldest granddaughter only thirteen?"

"What does thirteen matter? That's called early preparation! What if there's an opportunity in the future? What do you know!"

On the other side, several noble representatives from the Heaven Dou Empire were also whispering to each other, discussing whether to immediately send a carrier pigeon back to the empire to urge the royal family to send over any eligible princesses from the clan.

Even if it were a few days late, it would still be worth it!

As long as they made their stance clear and could climb the social ladder of the Seven Kill Sect, anything would do!

"The foundation of this Seven Kill Sect is far deeper than we anticipated."

"Deeper? Didn't you see Qian Daoliu's robe? That is the Adjudicator Elder of Spirit Hall, and it was shredded like that!"

"Send the message, send it immediately."

"No need to tell me, I've already sent someone."

In the corner, Tang Wei's expression was more complex than anyone else's present.

In his expectations, although Chen Jianjun might possess a Soul Power pressure equivalent to Tang Chen's, Tang Chen had been a Peerless Douluo for many years, while Chen Jianjun had at most achieved it within the last two.

Logically speaking, Chen Jianjun should not have possessed such formidable strength.

Yet, unexpectedly...