The training ground fell silent!
Yet the duel they had just witnessed—an unarmed crushing victory—struck like a thunderclap, reverberating in the hearts of every Dragon-Tiger Sect disciple long after it ended.
After that deathly hush, cries of astonishment and bursts of discussion rose one after another, sweeping across the entire training ground.
When the Dragon-Tiger Sect disciples looked at the young man in blue standing in the arena, not a trace remained of their earlier contempt, arrogance, or mockery. In its place were utter awe, shock, and disbelief.
Before this, everyone had been certain Cheng Heng's reputation was hollow. He was merely an ordinary talent praised to the skies in a corner of Qingchuan Prefecture, someone who had escaped the Dark Nether Elders by luck. He had no right to be compared with the finest direct disciples of Dengzhou's foremost sect.
They had looked down from on high with the arrogance of disciples from a great sect, waiting to see Cheng Heng lose and make a fool of himself—and the Cloudpiercing Sect humiliated before everyone.
But the final result shattered every one of their prejudices.
He had fought barehanded from start to finish, never once drawing a weapon. The Golden Metal Demon-Slaying Blade, which had struck fear across Qingchuan Prefecture and which he had mastered to perfection, had remained quietly in its sheath without revealing a sliver of its edge.
Even while seemingly holding back, Cheng Heng had steadily suppressed Lu Zheng, a top direct disciple of the Dragon-Tiger Sect, for dozens of exchanges with nothing but his extraordinarily refined, domineering physique. Then one heavy punch broke the deadlock, shaking Lu Zheng's blood and qi into turmoil and forcing him back step by step until he could fight no longer.
Lu Zheng was a standout among his generation in the