"Whoosh!"
The blood energy around Xu Yang was blasted apart. He felt a force no weaker than his own surge toward him, fierce and domineering.
His whole body shuddered despite himself, his muscles and bones rumbling. The physical strength he had deliberately suppressed nearly slipped out of control.
The clothing on the arm he had used to clash palms with Wan He had long since been strained to its limit. Under the impact, his muscles swelled further, and with a ripping sound, the entire sleeve burst into scraps, exposing his corded arm.
Rather than take the force head-on, he hurriedly retreated in great strides.
It was not that he could not overpower Wan He. Forcing the issue might briefly disrupt the Formless Thousand Illusions Art, and exposing the Dragon Elephant Heart Sutra would be troublesome.
"Ugh!"
Wan He fared little better. A low grunt escaped his mouth as his muscles and bones rumbled. Spiderweb cracks spread across the astral energy protecting his body before it exploded, just as Xu Yang's blood energy had.
That raw physical strength was fiercer than he had imagined, and not as easy to disperse as astral energy. His palm went numb, and he too retreated in great strides, making the runes on the arena flicker beneath his feet.
"Xu Yang really blocked it."
"They both took five steps back. They seem evenly matched."
"Wan He ranks nineteenth, yet he couldn't gain the upper hand."
"Xu Yang's body is incredibly strong. A head-on clash is what he fears least."
An uproar rose from below the arena. No one had expected Xu Yang to hold his ground.
"Nothing more than this!" Wan He cried out, suppressing his surging blood energy.
A body at the realm of blood energy manifestation was much weaker than he had imagined.