In that instant, everyone had their own ulterior motives.
Zhan Wushuang wanted to crush the Southern Heaven Academy's disciples and force Shen Dong to appear.
Shen Dong's teacher, however, wanted to use the chief disciples of the Southern Heaven Academy's various institutes to wear Zhan Wushuang down. Once Zhan Wushuang was sufficiently spent, Shen Dong would emerge and easily break his hundred-match winning streak in battles between heaven's chosen. Shen Dong would then ascend straight to the position of the foremost heaven's chosen, and those beings would certainly invest more resources in nurturing him.
Moreover, almost everyone who had stayed at the Southern Heaven Academy was fairly talented. Back when Su Xiuyi had been there, the Southern Heaven Academy had been hailed as the foremost academy, so these people were naturally proud. Even in the face of Zhan Wushuang's terrifying presence, they showed no fear of battle. A chief disciple stepped forward and looked coldly at Zhan Wushuang. "Chen Feng of the Azure Heaven Institute. Please enlighten me."
"The Eighth Level of the Soaring Realm? Come on, then. As long as you can get close to me, I can suppress my cultivation to fight you, for fairness's sake!"
Zhan Wushuang said no more and promptly suppressed his cultivation to the Eighth Level of the Soaring Realm. Sitting on his mount, he looked at Chen Feng with arrogant defiance, fighting spirit rising in his eyes.
"How arrogant you are!"
Chen Feng sized Zhan Wushuang up, his expression terrifyingly dark.
"Arrogant? You think I'm not qualified to be?" Zhan Wushuang sneered.
"You..."
"Take this!"
Chen Feng was furious to the extreme. The next moment, three Will Characters appeared above his head. The immensely powerful Will Characters erupted as the sword in his hand suddenly left its sheath, and he slashed fiercely at Zhan Wushuang.
Sword Qi swept in all directions, like a sword coming from the west. Amplified by the three great Will Characters, "thunder," "speed," and "change," the Sword Qi in that strike was incomparably violent, swift as a hurricane and endlessly changing, impossible to fathom.
"Good!"
The head of the Azure Heaven Institute could not help crying out, dazzled by the strike. The moment Ji Zhan saw it, an unusual expression appeared at the corners of his mouth. Clearly, he too had not expected Chen Feng to have such a trump-card killing move. He had never used it during the grand competition, so this was clearly Chen Feng's life-saving sword strike, his strongest strike.
Yet when Zhan Wushuang saw that dazzling sword strike, he raised his head, his eyes full of disdain, and did not move in the slightest.
But the Blazing Flame Berserk Lion beneath Zhan Wushuang moved.
It took a step that seemed slow, but was in fact a divine ability of the Blazing Flame Berserk Lion clan. Moving with extreme speed, it appeared before Chen Feng, raised a foreleg high, and stomped down hard on him. A Will Character, "suppress," appeared and suppressed Chen Feng's Sword Qi, causing the terrifying Sword Qi to collapse in an instant.
"Boom!"
The Blazing Sun Berserk Lion's strike landed on the tip of Chen Feng's sword. The black iron sword shattered inch by inch, and the strike landed on Chen Feng's chest, stomping him into the ground. The huge stone slabs beneath him cracked inch by inch.
The next moment, the force of that terrifying presence sent the unconscious Chen Feng flying.
Defeated in one move, an instant kill!
Zhan Wushuang, who had sat on the Blazing Sun Berserk Lion's back without moving once, now showed a trace of disappointment in his eyes.
Under Su Xiuyi's leadership, the Southern Heaven Academy had gained an exceptionally resounding reputation and was a famous institution among the thousands of academies in the Great Zhou Kingdom. Although the one who had just fought was not a heaven's chosen, he had held considerable expectations, since this was the place he had chosen for the last of his hundred battles.
Zhan Wushuang had thought that anyone who dared step forward should have been able to fight the Blazing Flame Berserk Lion for several moves, but he had proven unable to withstand a single blow.
Had Zhan Wushuang not subdued the Blazing Sun Berserk Lion, allowing it to understand his thoughts, Chen Feng would already have been reduced to a puddle of minced meat.
"That's it? This is the chief disciple of one of your academy's institutes?"
"Too weak. Bring out the people with real strength." Zhan Wushuang seemed to have been insulted, and he made no attempt to conceal his dissatisfaction.
Zhan Wushuang, known as the Martial Madman, loved battle as much as life itself. He had arrived at the Southern Heaven Academy full of anticipation, only to find such a specimen, leaving him utterly disappointed. Chen Feng's sword strike had been powerful, but one look was enough to tell he had never used it in real combat. How could such flashy but useless moves compare with someone like Zhan Wushuang, who had fought countless battles? Having never seen blood, Chen Feng was like a flower in a greenhouse, utterly lacking in sharpness.
"Too weak!" Those words rang repeatedly in everyone's minds.
"You..." The head of the Azure Heaven Institute was so angry he nearly spat blood. When had he ever suffered such humiliation, looked down upon by a junior? His face flushed red, and he could not get a single word out.
"This Zhan Wushuang is truly arrogant."
The Southern Heaven Academy's disciples were all furious.
"I'll do it."
A cold voice rang out. A man stepped forward and sprang into the air, thrusting his long sword from midair like a flood dragon bursting from the sea.
But the moment he clashed with the Blazing Sun Berserk Lion's attack, he understood why Chen Feng had lost so quickly. Not only was the Blazing Flame Berserk Lion's Will Character immensely powerful, but its legs were covered in black scales with astonishing defensive power.
It also possessed terrifying divine strength, and its blows carried tremendous weight. In just a few moves, the disciple was sent flying, and another person was gravely injured.
"So limp and feeble. Are you a woman? If you went to the border, you'd be nothing but cannon fodder. You call yourself worthy of wielding a sword? The sword is the foremost of all weapons!" The Blazing Sun Berserk Lion spoke in human words, its face full of disdain.
The people who fought after him all fared the same. No one could withstand ten moves from the Blazing Sun Berserk Lion, and there was still Zhan Wushuang on the Blazing Flame Berserk Lion's back.
"Is that all the trash you have? Is there no one left at the Southern Heaven Academy? Shen Dong, get out here and fight!"
Zhan Wushuang was angry now, thoroughly enraged. His brows knotted together, he was utterly disappointed in the Southern Heaven Academy. If he attacked these people himself, they would surely die in a single move.
For a time, everyone at the Southern Heaven Academy, from Chancellor Ji Zhan down to the ordinary disciples, wore extremely grim expressions.
They had wanted to wear Zhan Wushuang down, only to prove unable even to fight his mount. They had lost far too much face today. Ji Zhan looked at Shen Dong's teacher, his expression terrifyingly dark.
"I'll do it. Brother Wushuang, sorry for the wait."
A voice rang out, and Ji Wuming appeared with a spear on his back. He was like a spear himself, his fighting spirit fearsome.
"He came out after all!"
Ji Zhan's expression was grave. He did not know whether Ji Wuming could salvage a little of their dignity.
"Interesting. This Ji Wuming isn't bad. Though he's certain to lose, he's a man, at least." At the Myriad Text Academy, Su Xiuyi glanced at Ji Wuming, a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
But the next moment, he looked toward Shen Dong and saw him hidden to one side, watching rather than coming out to fight at once. A trace of disdain appeared at the corners of his mouth. "Nothing special!"
(End of chapter)