The Dragon-Tiger Sect's main peak martial arena was paved with bluestone, broad and level enough to accommodate a thousand people competing at once.
This was the most renowned place for contests between peers in all of Dengzhou Prefecture.
For generations, the Dragon-Tiger Sect's prodigies had tested and confirmed their martial paths here, clashing for fame. A thousand years of accumulated domineering martial intent still lingered in the air, and its fierce, solemn, killing atmosphere was far beyond anything the sect martial arenas of Qingchuan Prefecture could compare with.
As Elder Hong Kuo nodded in agreement and Zhang Jin's tacit approval of the sparring match fell, the news instantly spread throughout the entire martial arena.
Dragon-Tiger Sect disciples who had been standing guard or training swarmed over, filling the stone steps of the stands layer upon layer and crowding densely around the entire arena.
Every gaze focused in unison on the young man from the Cloudpiercing Sect of Qingchuan Prefecture.
Cheng Heng stood quietly in the center of the arena. Dressed in a plain yet elegant green robe, he stood tall and straight; his frame was lean, yet his muscles and bones were tempered and compact, while his aura was restrained to the extreme.
There was no outward sharpness, no surging true qi. He looked utterly ordinary, without the slightest trace of the fierce bearing rumored to have come from "fighting the two elders of the evil path alone and surviving a desperate situation."
To the Dragon-Tiger Sect disciples, who had always been proud and fierce, such an appearance drew nothing but contempt and ridicule.
The Dragon-Tiger Sect stood firmly as Dengzhou Prefecture's foremost sect. Its martial resources far surpassed those of Qingchuan Prefecture. Its disciples cultivated the domineering and ferocious Dragon-Tiger True Art from childhood, tempering their sinews and bones