On the arena platform, the three-way standoff was like a bowstring drawn to its limit, ready to snap at any moment.
Chu Yunfei wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Ling Feng and Liu Jie.
Although his powerful body had withstood that saber strike to his back, the shock to his internal organs had still left his breathing slightly uneven.
Ling Feng gave him no chance to recover.
"Die."
Ling Feng flickered into a gray afterimage, thirty percent faster than before.
He unleashed his Fifth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm spiritual power without reservation. His palm strikes fell relentlessly like a torrential downpour, each carrying spiritual power fluctuations so dense they made hearts tremble. The platform floor shattered beneath the blows, and fragments of dark stone were swept up by the shock waves and ground to dust in midair.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Four successive palm strikes, each faster and more treacherously angled than the last.
Chu Yunfei pushed the Divine Movement Art to its limit, constantly shifting position within a tiny space. Each dodge came in the instant before Ling Feng's palm force reached him.
The palm force skimmed past his robes, tearing the gray fabric into strips.
The spectators below watched with pounding hearts.
"That movement technique is too bizarre. How could someone at the ninth level of Qi Condensation be that fast?"
"Look at his footwork. Every step lands in a gap between Ling Feng's attacks, as if he knows where Ling Feng will strike beforehand."
"Speed won't help. The gap in their cultivation is enormous. One hit and he's finished."
Ling Feng's assault grew fiercer. Spiritual power surged through his meridians, bringing not only an explosive increase in strength but also an almost crazed exhilaration.
His eyes were bloodshot, the corners of his mouth twisted upward. Every palm strike carried the ruthless intent to grind Chu Yunfei to dust.
As Chu Yunfei dodged, he retreated to the edge of the platform.
Just then!!
A dark red saber gleam slashed in diagonally from behind. Its target was not Chu Yunfei.
It was Ling Feng.
"What!"
The entire crowd erupted.
Liu Jie raised his fifty-jin broad-bladed saber high. Dark red spiritual power climbed along the blade to its peak as he slashed toward the back of Ling Feng, who was pursuing Chu Yunfei.
The strike came without the slightest warning.
The saber gleam split the air with a piercing whistle. Its dark red arc resembled a crescent blood moon as it shot straight toward Ling Feng's back.
Ling Feng sensed a biting surge of Saber Qi approaching from behind. A chill pierced his spine, and his expression changed drastically.
He forcibly withdrew the attack aimed at Chu Yunfei, swung his longsword across, and retreated sharply.
But the instant he withdrew his attack, he was already half a beat too late.
The saber gleam struck the sword he had hastily raised. A full-power strike at the third level of Spirit Martial collided head-on with a hurried block at the fourth level of Spirit Martial.
Boom-!!
The clash of metal left half the martial training grounds ringing.
Ling Feng was blasted backward by the tremendous force. His feet plowed two deep furrows through the dark stone floor, sliding a full three zhang before he barely steadied himself.
Pfft!!
A mouthful of fresh blood spilled from Ling Feng's lips. His hands trembled, the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers split open, and a visible crack appeared in his longsword's blade.
"Liu Jie, have you gone mad?"
"What are you doing?"
The spectator stands erupted into an uproar.
"Why is Liu Jie attacking Ling Feng?"
"Did he get the wrong target? In a three-way melee, shouldn't he take out the weakest one first?"
"Madness. Absolute madness."
At the elders' seats, Zhou Huanzhang's expression also turned extremely ugly.
Standing at the edge of the platform, Chu Yunfei's gaze sharpened slightly. He had not expected this turn either. Liu Jie and Ling Feng had coordinated seamlessly in their earlier joint attacks, and he had thought the two were united like a solid slab of iron.
Liu Jie ignored the clamor pouring in from all directions, as well as the elders' ashen faces in the stands. He simply stood there, saber in hand, and turned to glance at Chu Yunfei.
That glance was calm.
"I owe Peak Master Chu a debt for his guidance. Six years ago, I was still an outer sect menial disciple with poor aptitude. After years of cultivation, I was stuck at the Body Tempering Realm ninth layer, unable to break through. Peak Master Chu happened to pass by and pointed out a blockage in my meridians. Only then could I enter the Qi Condensation Realm and have everything that came afterward."
"I worked with Ling Feng against you earlier to make him lower his guard. This strike repays Peak Master Chu's kindness from back then."
Chu Yunfei fell silent for a moment.
His father's face, voice, and smile flashed through his mind.
"Thank you."
Liu Jie said nothing more. He turned and charged at Ling Feng with his saber.
His broad saber swung out, its dark red gleam bearing down like a mountain. Carrying all the strength of the third level of Spirit Martial, it slashed straight at Ling Feng.
Ling Feng wiped the blood from his lips, the malice in his eyes turning entirely into intense killing intent.
"Good. Very good."
He stopped hiding his strength. The presence he had deliberately suppressed suddenly soared, and fifth level of Spirit Martial spiritual power poured from his body like floodwater bursting through a dam, forming a visible vortex of spiritual power around him.
His robes snapped in the surging air. His ink-black hair ribbon broke and scattered, and his loose hair danced wildly in the storm of spiritual power.
He brought both palms together.
A martial technique he had never displayed in the sect took shape in Ling Feng's hands.
Heavenly Dipper Soul-Rending Palm.
It was actually a mystic rank middle grade martial technique.
Spiritual power gathered in his palms, compressed, and solidified, finally forming the phantom of a fierce tiger baring its fangs and claws.
The tiger was silver-white all over, its eyes blood-red. Its jaws opened wide, releasing a soundless roar.
It was not a vibration of sound, but an assault upon the soul.
Carrying terrifying fluctuations that could rend souls apart, the phantom tiger lunged at both Liu Jie and Chu Yunfei, who stood a short distance behind him.
"Then both of you can die together." Ling Feng's voice was ice-cold.
Cries of alarm rose from below.
"A mystic rank middle grade martial technique! When did Ling Feng learn a mystic rank middle grade martial technique?"
"That soul attack is terrifying. I can feel it even through the platform's protective runes."
On the platform.
Liu Jie's pupils contracted.
The soul shock wave carried by the charging phantom tiger sent a bone-deep chill through him, making his scalp prickle, but he did not retreat.
He held his saber upright before him. Dark red spiritual power spread along its blade like molten lava, condensing into a thick spiritual power barrier in front of its edge.
"Iron Wall Saber Formation."
This was a defensive saber technique of yellow rank high grade, Liu Jie's signature trump card, which he had cultivated to perfection.
The dark red Saber Qi barrier collided head-on with the silver-white phantom tiger.
Boom!!
The sound was less like a clash of martial techniques and more like a boulder falling from ten thousand zhang in the sky and smashing into the earth.
The entire platform shook. Dense cracks spread across the dark stone floor, and the protective runes flashed frantically, almost on the verge of collapse.
Liu Jie's Iron Wall Saber Formation held out against the phantom tiger for less than two breaths before shattering with a crash.
The dark red spiritual power barrier crumbled inch by inch like glass. Without losing momentum, the phantom tiger slammed into Liu Jie's chest.
Bang!!
Liu Jie's massive body was sent flying. He sprayed a great mouthful of blood in midair and flew backward beyond the platform's edge like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into the ground below and leaving a deep crater.
He struggled to get up, pushing twice with his arms before collapsing limply again.
The saber slipped from his hand and stuck into the earth beside him, quivering slightly.
"Liu Jie is eliminated."
The presiding elder's voice rang out.
Ling Feng was not faring well either.
The price of forcibly executing a mystic rank middle grade martial technique far exceeded what he could bear. Spiritual power churned violently through his meridians like boiling magma rushing through his blood vessels, every meridian protesting sharply.
His face was white as paper, and blood kept seeping from the corners of his mouth. His legs trembled slightly, and only by propping himself up with his longsword could he barely remain standing.
His fifth level of Spirit Martial presence was rapidly weakening.
Chu Yunfei had not been caught by the phantom tiger's aftershocks. The instant Liu Jie blocked the main impact with the Iron Wall Saber Formation, he had already used the Divine Movement Art to put distance between them.
Now he stood at the other end of the platform, looking at the utterly bedraggled Ling Feng.
Ling Feng was looking at him too.
Ten paces separated them.
Ling Feng forced an ugly smile and tried to rouse his spiritual power for another attack, but a sharp stab of pain from his meridians twisted his face.
Chu Yunfei walked toward him, one step at a time.
He used no movement technique and activated no martial technique. He simply walked toward Ling Feng, step by step, over the shattered dark stone strewn across the floor.
The Abyss-Devouring Sword hummed low in his hand.
Ling Feng gritted his teeth and raised his sword, barely managing a defensive stance, but his trembling hands and the blood spilling ceaselessly from his mouth already said everything.
Chu Yunfei stopped in front of him.
One sword strike.
The Abyss-Devouring Sword became an arc of dark golden light. It was not the Heaven-Severing Slash, nor even the Triple Wave Slash, but merely the most ordinary sword strike.
Yet that single strike shattered the remnants of the longsword Ling Feng held before him and blasted him off the platform.
Ling Feng tumbled twice through the air before hitting the ground below with a dull thud. He never managed to stand again.
The martial training grounds fell deathly silent.
The silence lasted roughly three breaths.
Then the clamor surged forth like floodwater bursting through a dam.
"Fuck, he got himself a massive bargain."
"Exactly. Senior Brother Liu and Senior Brother Ling fought until both were badly injured, and Chu Yunfei reaped all the benefits."
"Just luck. Anyone in his position could have won."
"Right. If he fought Senior Brother Ling one-on-one, he wouldn't last three moves."
Discussion filled the air, almost entirely doubt and disdain.
Chu Yunfei stood in the center of the platform, covered in dust and blood, his gray robes in tatters.
He ignored those voices and merely lowered his head to look at the Abyss-Devouring Sword in his hand, the corner of his mouth moving slightly.
The presiding elder cleared his throat, silencing the uproar.
"Second group, winner: Chu Yunfei."
At the elders' seats, Zhou Huanzhang's face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Chu Yunfei!" Zhou Huanzhang's fingers slowly tightened around his chair's armrest, his knuckles turning white.
Meanwhile, in that inconspicuous corner of the spectator stands, Zhao Baimei stroked the sparse whiskers on his chin, a trace of appreciation flashing through his cloudy old eyes.
"Steady in temperament, bold yet meticulous. Even knowing the two had joined forces, he remained composed, preserving his strength throughout as he waited for a change. That judgment in the moment was not luck."