Julian exploded forward. He did not hold anything back. He unleashed his absolute, maximum magical power. The Golden Dragon Qi erupted from his body again. But this time, it was even bigger and hotter. A massive, roaring pillar of golden holy fire shot into the sky. The heat was so intense that the white sand around Julian instantly turned into bubbling, boiling liquid glass. Julian raised his expensive, perfect golden sword high above his head. "Golden Sun Annihilation!" Julian roared at the top of his lungs. He swung the golden sword down with all his might. A massive, thirty-foot-tall wave of pure, concentrated holy fire shot across the arena. The fire took the shape of a giant, screaming dragon’s head, opening its fiery jaws to completely swallow Lucien. The crowd screamed. The heat washed over the stadium seats. People covered their faces in terror. Seraphina gripped the wooden railing of the Coach’s Box so hard the wood splintered. She knew Lucien was hiding his magic. But

As the Golden Sword Saint drew the blade from its scabbard, the entire sky above the capital city seemed to change color. The blue sky turned a bright, blinding, painful yellow. The Sword Saint landed softly on the white sand, landing exactly thirty feet away from Lucien. The old master did not look angry. He looked completely, perfectly calm. But it was the calm of a deadly hurricane just before it destroys a city. "You fight with no honor, beggar," the Golden Sword Saint spoke softly. His voice was smooth and deadly. "You rely on brute, ugly physical force to bully a boy who relies on magic. You think you are strong because your muscles are thick."Lucien looked at the legendary master. He kept his cheap iron sword resting lazily on his shoulder. "He attacked my students," Lucien replied calmly. "A dog that bites children gets put down. Honor has nothing to do with it."The Golden Sword Saint slowly shook his head. "I will show you the difference between dirty muscles and true,

The bright, hot sun above the Imperial Arena seemed to completely disappear. In the exact center of the massive stadium, two completely different worlds were crashing into each other. On one side stood the Golden Sword Saint. He was the greatest, most famous master in the entire Empire. He radiated a blinding, brilliant, burning golden light. His magical pressure was so heavy it felt like a falling mountain. It was the pure, absolute power of a hundred years of perfect training. On the other side stood Lucien. He was dressed in a simple grey shirt and dirty dark pants. But the air around him was pitch-black. He had just unlocked the second stage of his Grandmaster Intent: The Abyssal Domain. A thick, suffocating, completely dark shadow poured out of his body. It looked like a piece of the deep, cold graveyard had been dropped onto the white sand. Lucien pointed his cheap iron sword at the Golden Sword Saint. The cheap iron was completely coated in black, destructive magic. It hum

Seraphina, sitting in the dirty Coach’s Box, clenched her fists. "Liar," she whispered angrily. "He is trying to make it sound like a friendly test. He was trying to murder Lucien."Lucien just listened, chewing the inside of his cheek. He let the Emperor talk. "However!" the Emperor shouted, his voice getting louder and more dramatic. "This little misunderstanding has revealed a great, wonderful truth to us all!"The Emperor pointed his golden finger directly at Lucien. "This man, who calls himself Mo Yan, is clearly not a normal, average teacher!" the Emperor declared. "He possesses incredible, hidden strength! He is far too powerful, far too dangerous, to be allowed to fight in the Junior or Vanguard brackets! It would be completely unfair to the other young children in the tournament!"The crowd murmured in agreement. They had just seen Mo Yan crush a golden prince with a single kick and break a Grandmaster’s aura. He was definitely too strong for normal matches. "Therefore," t

Deep inside the Golden Palace, far away from the cheering crowds of the arena, there was a secret room. It was the Emperor’s private war room. The walls were made of thick, heavy white marble, covered in beautiful red silk banners. A massive table made of dark, polished wood sat in the exact center of the room. A map of the entire Empire was spread out on the table, marked with little golden flags. But right now, nobody was looking at the map. The room was completely, perfectly silent. The air was heavy and thick with terrible anger. The Emperor of the Sun stood near a large glass window. He looked out over his massive, rich capital city. His face was twisted in an ugly, furious mask. His hands were shaking. He gripped the edge of a golden table so hard that his knuckles were pure white. Sitting in a comfortable velvet chair behind the Emperor was the Golden Sword Saint. The legendary old master did not look legendary today. He looked incredibly old, tired, and sick. His perfectl