The presiding elder swept his gaze over the three of them. Once he confirmed everyone was in position, he raised his right hand high.
"Second group."
"Begin."
The instant his arm fell.
Ling Feng and Liu Jie sprang into motion almost simultaneously.
There was no probing, no hesitation.
The two figures came from the left and right, like two savage beasts seeking someone to devour, launching a ferocious pincer attack on Chu Yunfei.
Ling Feng was faster. His figure became a gray blur as he drew his longsword, pouring out the spiritual power of the fifth level of the Spirit Martial Realm. Silvery-white light enveloped the blade, turning the entire sword into a dazzling silver rainbow that thrust straight toward Chu Yunfei's chest.
On the right, Liu Jie's attack came half a beat later, but its might was even more terrifying.
He lifted his fifty-jin broad-bladed saber with one hand and poured spiritual power into it. Dark red patterns emerged along its blade.
Taking a great stride forward, he hacked down. The saber light descended on Chu Yunfei's head like a collapsing iron wall, carrying a pressure so heavy it was suffocating.
The two surges of Spirit Martial Realm force converged and crushed against each other in midair. The arena floor cracked instantly, spiderweb fissures spreading rapidly from beneath their feet.
At this sight, almost everyone in the audience below cried out at once.
Dark golden light flashed in Chu Yunfei's eyes.
When Ling Feng and Liu Jie exchanged that furtive glance, he had already confirmed his judgment. These two had colluded.
They would join forces to eliminate him first, then fight each other.
Just as expected.
Rather than growing tense, he felt a surge of excitement he had not experienced in a long time.
Over the ten thousand years of his previous life, he had faced countless desperate battles outnumbered, dancing on a knife's edge each time, searching for a chance to live in the cracks between death.
Compared with those truly fatal situations, the pincer attack before him was merely a warm-up.
The Abyss-Devouring Sword left its sheath.
The Divine Movement Art began circulating.
Just as the two attacks were about to close around him, Chu Yunfei abruptly dropped low. Skimming along the arena floor, he shifted sideways at an incredible angle, slipping through the gap of less than three feet between Ling Feng's sword tip and Liu Jie's saber blade.
Hiss-
The silvery-white sword light skimmed past the corner of his robe, tearing a slit in its hem.
Boom-
The dark red saber light crashed into the spot where he had just stood, cleaving a fissure several inches deep into the solid mystic rock floor and sending stone fragments flying.
Both attacks missed, intersecting and colliding in midair with a deafening boom.
Waves of force spread in every direction, making the protective runes along the arena's edges flicker several times.
The entire audience drew in a sharp breath.
"He dodged it?"
"How is that possible? How could someone at the ninth level of Qi Condensation be fast enough to dodge a Spirit Martial Realm pincer attack?"
"It's his movement technique. Look at his footwork!"
Chu Yunfei steadied himself about seven paces from the two, the Abyss-Devouring Sword pointing diagonally toward the ground. His robe's hem was tattered, yet his expression remained calm.
Ling Feng's expression darkened.
He and Liu Jie had rehearsed their coordination many times. The timing, angles, and force of this opening pincer attack had all been precisely calculated. Someone at the ninth level of Qi Condensation should not possibly have had the reaction speed to evade it.
But Chu Yunfei had evaded it.
A trace of gravity flashed in Ling Feng's eyes.
That was no ordinary footwork. The timing of his change in direction had been exceptionally tricky, and his speed was far beyond what someone at the ninth level of Qi Condensation should possess.
"Just a fluke." Ling Feng snorted coldly, suppressing his unease as he sprang forward again.
This time, he gave Chu Yunfei no chance to catch his breath. Silvery-white sword light poured forth like a raging storm, every strike infused with the full power of the fifth level of Spirit Martial, so densely packed that they dazzled the eye.
"Seven Forms of the Firmament!"
Seven streaks of sword light burst forth in succession, weaving an impenetrable silvery-white sword net in midair that sealed off every escape route ahead of Chu Yunfei and to his left and right.
At the same time, Liu Jie circled behind Chu Yunfei and raised his saber overhead, its dark red light swelling to its utmost intensity.
"Mountain-Splitting Slash!"
A saber strike hacked down from behind.
A sword net in front, saber light behind, and nothing but dead ends above, below, left, and right.
Some in the audience had already cried out, believing Chu Yunfei could not escape his doom.
On the arena.
Facing attacks from front and rear, Chu Yunfei made a choice that defied everyone's expectations.
He did not dodge.
Instead, he met them head-on.
Dark golden spiritual power suddenly surged along the Abyss-Devouring Sword. Its ringing cry pierced the sky like a dragon's roar and a tiger's howl.
Heaven-Severing Slash.
The earth rank low grade sword technique at major accomplishment carried all the spiritual power of the ninth level of Qi Condensation, transforming into a thick streak of dark golden sword light. Like a roaring dark golden flood dragon, it slammed head-on into Ling Feng's Seven Forms of the Firmament.
Boom-
The dark golden sword light and the silvery-white sword net collided head-on in midair.
In that instant, a dazzling burst of light erupted in the center of the arena. Gold and white intertwined and clashed, a storm of spiritual power sweeping in every direction. A layer of the mystic rock floor was torn away, fragments flying like torrential rain.
Ling Feng's Seven Forms of the Firmament was a yellow rank high grade sword technique, cultivated to major accomplishment.
Chu Yunfei's Heaven-Severing Slash was an earth rank low grade sword technique, likewise cultivated to major accomplishment.
Their grades differed by an entire major rank.
But their spiritual power cultivation differed by an entire major realm.
As the two offset each other, the sword net shattered.
The dark golden sword light tore through the seven streaks of silvery-white sword light, but nearly all its own strength was exhausted as well. Finally, it dissolved into dark golden motes that scattered through the air.
The aftershock drove Ling Feng back three steps, leaving the web of his sword hand numb. The gloom on his face turned to disbelief.
His Seven Forms of the Firmament had been shattered head-on by someone at the ninth level of Qi Condensation?
An earth rank martial technique.
Someone at the ninth level of Qi Condensation had actually mastered an earth rank martial technique, and to major accomplishment at that.
Could Chu Yunfei have been hiding his abilities all along?
But Ling Feng had no time to think further, for just as he was driven back, a dull impact sounded behind him.
Chu Yunfei had blocked his sword net, but had no strength left to deal with Liu Jie's saber strike behind him at the same time.
The Mountain-Splitting Slash struck him from behind.
The dark red saber light cleaved into Chu Yunfei's back, its tremendous impact blasting him forward.
Chu Yunfei grunted, rolling several times across the arena. A mouthful of blood sprayed onto the gray mystic rock floor.
A tearing pain came from his back.
The saber light had ripped a long gash through his outer robe, exposing the skin beneath, yet there was no bleeding.
The body tempered by the Boundless Creation Scripture played a crucial role at this moment.
A full-strength saber strike from the third level of Spirit Martial had landed on his body, tearing his clothes and injuring his internal organs, but it had failed to breach the defenses of his flesh.
An uproar erupted below.
"That strike actually failed to break through his defenses?"
"A body at the ninth level of Qi Condensation blocked a saber strike from the third level of Spirit Martial? How is that possible?"
"What exactly is his body made of?"
Planting one hand on the ground, Chu Yunfei flipped to his feet and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He held the Abyss-Devouring Sword across his body, his gaze sweeping between Ling Feng and Liu Jie.
The three spread apart again, once more forming a triangular standoff.
Chu Yunfei's breathing was slightly uneven, but his back remained perfectly straight. The dark golden light in his eyes had not weakened; instead, it shone even brighter.
Meanwhile, in an inconspicuous corner of the stands, an old man in gray watched Chu Yunfei on the arena with keen interest.
The old man wore plain clothes and had a head of white hair and an aged face. His cloudy eyes were half closed, making him look like an ordinary old man who might doze off at any moment.
Yet the occasional, almost imperceptible fluctuation of his presence made the spectators within thirty feet instinctively move away from him.
Zhao Baimei.
The elder guarding the Azure Mystic Sect's scripture pavilion.
An old man with very little presence and very little authority in the sect, yet whom no one dared offend.
His gaze closely followed Chu Yunfei's every movement on the arena, a sharp gleam passing through his cloudy old eyes.
"Interesting."
"That movement technique, that physical strength, that major accomplishment in swordsmanship, that level of comprehension-there's far more to him than merely the Qi Condensation Realm."
Beside him, a figure wearing a bamboo hat sat quietly.
The hat was pulled extremely low, hiding most of the face and revealing only a small patch of snow-white skin along the jaw.
That person said nothing, but was also watching the arena.
Watching the gray-robed young man on the arena, covered in dust and blood, who still refused to retreat a single step despite the pincer attacks of two Spirit Martial Realm experts.