Claiming the Championship!

"The match begins!"

As soon as the words fell, a savage gleam flashed through Pang Fei's eyes as he released the enormous medicinal power he had been suppressing within his dantian.

"Boom!"

A violent surge of blood and qi shot skyward from his body.

His aura, originally at the Mid Fourth Realm, swelled madly under the stimulation of the Bloodburst Pill. In the blink of an eye, it broke through the barrier and was forcibly raised to the Early Fifth Realm!

Veins bulged across his body, and his eyes turned crimson red.

"Die!"

With a furious roar, Pang Fei swept up a gust of bloody wind and smashed his fist straight toward Su Yueli's face.

Su Yueli's gaze sharpened. Rather than retreating, she advanced.

Blood and qi gathered in her fists as she launched the first form in counterattack.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The two figures clashed more than a dozen times in an instant atop the arena. Fists struck flesh, force blasted outward, and the ground cracked apart beneath them.

After several head-on exchanges, Su Yueli had gauged the depths of her opponent.

Although Pang Fei had reached the Fifth Realm for the moment, that strength had been forcibly stimulated by pills, and his blood and qi were extremely unstable.

He possessed none of the tempered solidity of a Fifth Realm martial artist, whose inner and outer self had become wholly connected and whose marrow had been cleansed and bones reforged.

Still, backed by the Pang Family's vast resources and supplemented by that immense medicinal power, he was indeed far stronger than an ordinary Fourth Realm martial artist.

Yet Pang Fei grew more alarmed the longer they fought.

He had thought that after taking the Bloodburst Pill, he could crush her through the difference in their realms.

But once they exchanged blows, he discovered that Su Yueli's blood and qi were unfathomable. No matter how wildly he bombarded her, her defense remained in the Leakless State.

The Bloodburst Pill's effects had a time limit. Once it wore off and the backlash struck, he would undoubtedly lose.

He could not drag this out any longer!

Pang Fei bit through his tongue, using the sharp pain to unleash his potential as all the blood and qi in his body gathered in his right arm.

"To die beneath my Pang Family's ultimate art is enough for you to be proud of! Blood Fiend Mountain-Shattering Fist!"

At the sight, countless martial artists were stricken with horror and cried out.

"A low-grade Earth Tier martial skill?!"

"The Pang Family actually taught Pang Fei a martial skill of this caliber from their lineage! They're dead set on killing someone in the arena!"

The elders of the Yun and Chu Lineages wore grave expressions as they witnessed this scene.

Earth Tier martial skills were trump cards kept hidden at the bottom of the chest, even among the martial artists of the four great lineages.

This time, the Pang Family had truly been driven to desperation.

On the arena, feeling the wind pressure wrapped around that fist, Su Yueli raised her brows, a trace of pressure stirring in her heart.

The power of this punch was indeed astonishing.

She no longer intended to hold back. Taking a deep breath, she moved.

Fourth Form! River Severing!

Su Yueli shattered the bluestone beneath her feet. Her entire body became a streak of azure lightning as she met Pang Fei's overwhelming Blood Fiend Mountain-Shattering Fist with a punch of her own.

"Boom—rumble!"

One large and one small fist collided explosively in midair.

The blast was deafening, and shockwaves swept outward from the two of them.

With a sharp crack, Su Yueli's solid blood and qi, tempered through a thousand hammers and a hundred refinements, shattered Pang Fei's protective blood qi with the force of rotten wood collapsing before a storm, breaking his right arm!

The inch-force penetrated deep into his body.

Before Pang Fei's scream had fully escaped his throat, he flew backward like a kite with its string severed. His chest caved in as he crashed onto the open ground beyond the arena, more than a dozen zhang away.

Whether he lived or died was unknown.

Dead silence fell.

Whether Rogue Cultivators watching the match or children of great lineages, all stared in shock.

He had taken the Bloodburst Pill and used an Earth Tier martial skill, yet he had still been defeated in a single punch?!

Just how terrifying was this girl's combat power?!

On the high platform, Fourth Prince Zhao Yan watched Su Yueli standing proudly on the arena, and the amazement in his eyes deepened.

He clapped his hands and laughed loudly. "Good! What an unparalleled genius! It seems she had still been hiding her strength!"

In the Pang Family camp—

Pang Jinbiao's eyes turned bloodshot. He abruptly rose to his feet, and the stone chair beneath him instantly crumbled into powder.

"Little beast!!"

His entire body trembled, his blood and qi at the Peak Eighth Realm nearly breaking out of control.

In merely two days, two core geniuses of the Pang Family had been crippled by this girl on the arena in succession. It was like grinding the Pang Family's dignity into the dirt and stomping on it viciously!

Not far away, in the Lin Lineage camp—

An elder of the Lin Lineage looked at Su Yueli, wariness flashing in his eyes as he quietly asked, "Patriarch, this woman's talent is too terrifying. We are allies of the Pang Family. Should we act in secret and erase her for them?"

The Lin Lineage patriarch turned and cursed, "Idiot! We joined hands with the Pang Family to fight for benefits in the imperial capital, not to serve as their thugs!"

Besides... if Pang Jinbiao could not even handle a girl with no background, then the Pang Family might as well pack up and get out of the four great lineages of the imperial capital.

With that thought, the Lin Lineage patriarch swept his gaze toward Arena One and frowned. "Furthermore, with the strength this woman has displayed, winning the championship is nearly a nail in the board. Once she takes the championship, she can make one request of the imperial family."

"If we interfere now and provoke the imperial household, what will the Lin Lineage use to bear the consequences? Keep your people under control. No one is to interfere!"

The Pang Family's misfortune was not necessarily entirely bad news for the Lin Lineage.

The following ranking matches progressed with great speed.

After several rounds of fierce competition, the geniuses of the various great lineages fought one after another.

In the end, the one standing on Arena One to contend with Su Yueli for the final championship of this Martial Dao Tournament was Chu Feng, a core descendant of the Chu Lineage.

The blazing sun hung overhead.

The gazes of more than a hundred thousand people converged on Arena One.

Chu Feng stepped onto the arena. Looking at Su Yueli across from him, he gave a wry smile and cupped his fists.

"Miss Su, with my Peak Fourth Realm strength against your genuine Fifth Realm Martial Awakening, I most likely have no chance of victory."

Chu Feng looked calm and open as he continued, "But as a martial artist standing upon this arena, if I do not even have the courage to draw my sword and fight, how could I surrender outright? Today, Chu will boldly ask Miss Su for guidance!"

Those words made Su Yueli regard him more highly.

At last, she had encountered an opponent with a normal brain and the spirit of Martial Dao.

"Please." Su Yueli nodded and assumed her stance.

As the referee gave the order, the match began.

Chu Feng held nothing back. The moment he attacked, he used the Chu Lineage's finest movement technique, coupled with dense and tricky swordsmanship, attempting to use softness to overcome strength and wear down Su Yueli's blood and qi.

It had to be said that, as a core member of a top lineage in the imperial capital, Chu Feng's Martial Dao foundation was indeed solid. His martial skills flowed together like drifting clouds and flowing water, without any obvious flaw.

Since Su Yueli had entered the tournament, setting aside that Fifth Realm assassin, he was the strongest opponent she had faced.

Their figures crossed atop the arena as Sword Qi and fist winds collided without pause. The fight was spectacular, drawing wave after wave of cheers from below.

But the gulf in strength was ultimately difficult to cross.

After more than thirty exchanges, Su Yueli spotted a fleeting opening just as Chu Feng's old force faded and his new force had yet to rise. She stomped her foot and closed in.

An inch-force tempered through a thousand hammers and a hundred refinements shot straight toward Chu Feng's face.

Her fist stopped three inches from Chu Feng's nose, the force stirring his long hair in the wind.

Chu Feng's body stiffened. Knowing defeat had already been decided, he sheathed his sword and stepped back, cupping his fists. "Miss Su's fist technique is astonishing. Chu admits defeat wholeheartedly."

The referee strode onto the arena and announced with blood and qi surging through his voice:

"The final match of the Great Li Martial Dao Tournament has concluded!"

"The champion of this tournament—Su Yueli!"

"Boom—!"

After a brief silence, the entire Imperial Martial Arena erupted with cheers like mountains roaring and seas crashing.

The waves of sound shot into the heavens and shook the earth.

A Rogue Cultivator girl with no background, arriving from the outer city, had actually crushed her way forward, stepping over the bones of the top geniuses from the four great lineages of the imperial capital to forcibly ascend the highest peak of Great Li's Martial Dao!

The sheer impact of it made the blood of countless lowborn martial artists present boil. They shouted Su Yueli's name again and again.

On the high platform, the patriarchs of the Lin, Yun, and Chu Lineages wore different expressions, but all tacitly accepted this outcome.

Only Pang Jinbiao's face was livid. With a cold snort, he flicked his sleeve and left at once.

The referee pressed both hands downward, signaling for the crowd to quiet down, before loudly announcing the champion's rewards:

"To champion Su Yueli: one low-grade Earth Tier weapon! And after the tournament ends, she may proceed to the inner palace of the imperial capital to receive the imperial family's unconditional promise!"