A skill that shocked the crowd

In the viewing room, Zhao Xing'er asked curiously, "Is the Sky-Piercing Gate really that strong?"

He Caihua glanced at her and replied, "The Sky-Piercing Gate actually has a very powerful legacy. It only languished before because it couldn't adapt to Eastern Sky Province. Within just two generations of bringing its teachings to Northern Sky Province, it became one of River City's three strongest sects. That tells you plenty."

In Eastern Sky Province, supernatural arts that required divine marks to be tattooed onto the body really were no different from demonic cultivation.

Northern Sky Province had fewer restrictions. It wasn't that becoming a civil servant didn't matter here; it was mainly that the examination part didn't matter quite so much.

People here placed more importance on bloodline inheritance.

Chen Hao bared the skin of both arms. A coiling azure dragon was tattooed on his left, a fierce tiger descending a mountain on his right. As he unleashed his supernatural art, the markings on both arms suddenly shone and rose into the air!

The azure dragon on his left twisted and soared, instantly becoming a flying dragon over ten meters long! The fierce tiger on his right landed with a savage snarl, its icy claws and fangs striking terror into the heart!

With a single sharp shout from Chen Hao, the dragon in the sky and the tiger on the ground lunged at Yue Wen together. Dark blue-green flames wreathed them both, their oppressive might sweeping over him!

Yue Wen immediately summoned his sword and initiated the Sword-Controlling Technique, sending it spinning through the air to protect him.

Though this fellow had been arrogant from the moment he appeared, he did have some grounds for it. The power he displayed with this attack far exceeded that of either participant in the previous bout.

As the dragon and tiger pounced, Yue Wen spotted a slight gap in their timing. His flying sword shot out at once, a streak of light piercing the dragon's open-mouthed head in an instant!

Bang!

The dragon's head exploded, and the azure dragon divine mark shattered with it.

Meanwhile, the tiger mark below had already lunged at him. Yue Wen seemed about to end up in its jaws.

Just as Chen Hao was about to break into a vicious grin, Yue Wen suddenly charged forward instead of retreating. He dropped low and slid straight beneath the tiger mark!

Yue Wen had plenty of experience fighting tigers. He had used this same move to dodge back in the tiger's den, and it was a practical trick well worth recommending.

After sliding beneath the tiger mark, he twisted around and pressed his sword fingers downward. The flying sword that had just burst the dragon's head swung down, piercing the tiger's spine in the blink of an eye! Sshk-

That sword strike was incomparably sharp.

The tiger mark shattered on the spot.

"Ah..." Chen Hao staggered back two steps. The dragon and tiger divine marks returned to his arms, but their glow had dimmed. It seemed he would need some time before he could use them again.

"You really do have some skill." The backlash had weakened his vitality slightly, but he wasn't discouraged in the least. He raised his voice again. "If the Azure Dragon and White Tiger can't take you down, try this-Asura Hundred Ghosts!"

As the words left his mouth, he exerted his power again, blasting his tank top apart and baring his torso. A tableau of the Asura Hundred Ghosts was tattooed across his chest and back!

The vicious ghosts depicted there all had green faces and protruding fangs, a horde of fiends tangled together within a pitch-black purgatory.

"Raaagh-"

Chen Hao roared. Dark blue-green smoke billowed from his body, and countless vicious ghosts emerged with it. In an instant, the entire training ground became an asura purgatory!

There were too many.

Yue Wen was immediately surrounded by the dark blue-green ghosts. Inky darkness blotted out everything around him; he couldn't even see three meters away. He could only do his best to guard his front, cutting down each ghostly head as it emerged.

But at this rate, how long would it take him to cut down those hundreds upon hundreds of ghostly heads?

Yue Wen immediately stirred all his true qi, and his flying sword shot from his hand again!

It tore through the air with overwhelming force!

Boom-

With his defensive flying sword sent out to attack, he was suddenly engulfed in a sea of ghost marks. Just as the ghosts were about to devour him, he thrust both hands forward, unleashing an earth-shaking thunderclap!

Thunder was the bane of yin entities, and these ghost marks weren't even real nightmare wraiths, merely manifestations of spiritual essence.

That single thunderclap instantly scattered the layers of ghostly shadows around him!

It was precisely the thunder technique he had learned from the Riverside Gate.

But in his hands, this thunderclap was far stronger than Qi Dian's. It wasn't merely an entrance effect; it could genuinely cow all manner of yin entities!

Yue Wen had deliberately used the Sword-Controlling Technique before the Thunderclap Art. While Chen Hao's guard was down, his flying sword was already on its way.

The sword whistled like mingling wind and thunder, breaking through the ghost marks' obscuring haze and arriving in an instant, startling Chen Hao. Seeing that it would pierce his body within a breath, he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Heaven-Pillaring Wings!"

Rrrip!

Another burst of force shredded his clothes, and his trousers exploded with a sharp crack! Rows of feathers tattooed on his legs were revealed, forming two enormous wings!

With his torso and legs bare, he was left wearing a thong in a vivid shade of pink.

The two wings turned dark blue-green and flowed behind Chen Hao, forming a pair of enormous black-feathered wings. With one beat, he narrowly evaded the flying sword.

Sshk.

The flying sword returned without success. Yue Wen looked up to see Chen Hao hovering on enormous wings, black clouds coiling around him, his entire body clad in nothing but a pink thong. He looked indescribably sinister and flamboyant.

Yue Wen's heart lurched. Don't tell me this bastard has more divine marks? He hurriedly stepped onto his flying sword and charged straight at him.

The viewing room was utterly silent.

A Mei covered his eyes, leaving just a narrow gap between his fingers to peek through as he muttered, "How embarrassing. What's wrong with this guy?"

Liu Yuanjun covered his junior sister Li Flying Rosy Clouds' eyes and said gravely, "Even if he wins, a supernatural art like this probably isn't suitable for livestreaming, is it?"

"It's already obscene at this point. I'm just afraid..." He Caihua trailed off.

Afraid he still had another step.

The red-haired man's eyes darted as he asked quietly, "Does the Sky-Piercing Gate have any female disciples?"

"What are you thinking?" The girl with long, straight black hair behind him was a head shorter than him. She smacked the back of his head hard with her scabbard.

The red-haired man yelped and rubbed his head, not daring to object.

"You forced my hand, rogue cultivator!" Chen Hao hovered in the air with a vicious grin. "This was a secret technique I prepared for the Youth Cultivators' Assembly. Today, I'll give you an early look at my final divine mark, the Double Flower Red Staff-"

At those words, everyone's heart in the viewing room tightened, their expressions turning queasy.

Every face said the same thing: Please, no...

A skill that shocked the crowd in the truest sense!

"That's enough, you beast!"

A streak of light flew over, reaching him in an instant. Yue Wen's figure abruptly appeared, body and sword as one, swift as a shooting star!

One hundredth of a second before Chen Hao could blast apart his thong and expose the final divine mark on his body, Yue Wen's iron fist slammed hard into his face.

-Bang!

Roaming

Dragon Freehand Strikes powered the blow to the fullest. Chen Hao had never imagined a fist could hit so hard. His face caved in, and he lost consciousness on the spot. His black wings scattered, and he plummeted to the ground.

Crash.

A cloud of dust rose.

"Whew-"

That punch made everyone present heave a deep sigh of relief.

Almost in unison, they silently said, Thank you, Yue Wen.

"Body and sword as one..." Liu Yuanjun murmured again.

Everyone had been so focused on Chen Hao's precarious thong that they had overlooked something: when Yue Wen first stepped onto his flying sword, he hadn't been fast enough to stop Chen Hao.

At the critical moment, he had transformed his body into sword light and merged with the flying sword, instantly accelerating to reach Chen Hao. If he had wanted to kill him, he could have driven the sword straight through Chen Hao's face.

His mastery of sword control was consummate.

The Sword-Controlling Technique wasn't an obscure supernatural art in the cultivation world. Many people practiced it, but very few at Yue Wen's cultivation level could wield it with such power. Those in the lower three realms who could reach the stage of "turning the body into sword light, becoming one with the sword" were rarer still.

Watching Yue Wen float down after his victory, Liu Yuanjun murmured, "To think River City had someone like him."

"Senior brother, is he really that powerful?" Li Flying Rosy Clouds was closest to him and heard his words. She tilted her head up to ask.

"Yes." Liu Yuanjun nodded gently.

"Throw this exhibitionist out. Carefree Media is to blacklist him from now on." Rubbing her temples, He Caihua stepped forward and pointed irritably at the unconscious Chen Hao. "No, blacklist the entire Sky-Piercing Gate!"

Then she looked up at Yue Wen. "Good thing you won."

"That really was close." Yue Wen nodded, still shaken.

He dared not imagine how much psychological damage Chen Hao's Double Flower Red Staff would have inflicted on everyone present if he had unleashed it.

Truly terrifying.

"He looked so proper in a suit and tie, but he's actually a total pervert." Zhao Xing'er came over as well, frowning. "I almost got angry."

"Then I really did save you," Yue Wen murmured as he watched Chen Hao being carried away.

If Zhao Xing'er had gotten angry, it probably wouldn't have ended with a punch to the face. More likely, a kick wreathed in martial spirit red light would have turned his Double Flower Red Staff into a three-section staff in an instant.