2026-07-30 18:55:59Elder Zhao turned his old, withered face to look at his grandson. "Listen to me very carefully, Feng. The cultivation world is a cruel place. It runs on respect and fear. A month ago, you beat that boy in front of your followers. You crushed him. You left him for dead."
"Yes, and I should have cut off his head to be sure," Zhao Feng hissed.
"Exactly," Elder Zhao nodded slowly. "Now, he has returned. And he is destroying everyone. Do you know what the other disciples are whispering? They are whispering that Zhao Feng is weak. They are saying that Zhao Feng could not even kill a Broken Root. They are wondering if the king is losing his power."
Zhao Feng’s face turned bright red with pure anger. The thought of the weak, pathetic disciples laughing at him behind his back made his blood boil.
"I am not weak!" Zhao Feng growled, his eyes burning with fury.
"I know you are not weak," Elder Zhao said smoothly. "But you must prove it to them. You cannot let this boy live. If he survives today, your reputation will be stained forever. When you enter the Inner Sect, people will look down on you. They will say you let a piece of trash defeat your men and walk away. You must erase this humiliation completely."
Zhao Feng looked down at the arena. "I will kill him. I will fight him in the tournament and snap his neck."
"The rules of the tournament forbid killing," Elder Zhao reminded him. "If you kill him openly, the Sect Leader will punish you. You must make it look like an accident. You must hit him with a spell so powerful that you 'could not control it.' I will use my power as an Elder to protect you from the punishment afterward."
It was a good plan. But as Zhao Feng watched Li Chen destroy Venomous Ma, a new realization hit him.
An "accidental" kill was not enough.
If he killed Li Chen by accident, people might think Li Chen slipped, or that Zhao Feng got lucky. Zhao Feng did not want luck. He wanted absolute, terrifying dominance. He wanted to look Li Chen in the eyes and tell him that he was nothing. He wanted Li Chen to know that he was dying. He wanted the entire sect to see that Zhao Feng was a god among men.
That was why, when the Semi-Finals were announced, Zhao Feng had jumped down from the balcony. That was why he had thrown the broken pieces of the jade pendant onto the floor.
He wanted to make Li Chen so angry that the boy would accept a Life and Death Contract. With the contract, there were no rules. There were no "accidents." It would be a pure, legal murder.
And Zhao Feng was completely confident he would win.
Why was he so confident? Why was he arrogant, even after seeing Li Chen’s unbreakable iron skin?
Because Zhao Feng had a massive secret.
Standing on the stage, waiting for the Blood Scroll, Zhao Feng smiled and thought about the previous night.
Last night, in his private meditation room, his grandfather had visited him. Elder Zhao had brought a small, beautiful wooden box. Inside the box was a single, dark red pill. It was called a Dragon-Blood Pill.
"This pill cost me ten thousand spirit stones, Feng," Elder Zhao had said. "I bought it from a secret alchemist outside the sect. It is incredibly powerful. It is meant for Inner Sect disciples. Eat it tonight. Endure the pain. Break through the barrier."
Zhao Feng had eaten the pill. The pain was terrible. It felt like his blood was on fire. He sweat black impurities for six hours. But when the morning came, the pain vanished.
He had broken through the massive barrier.
Zhao Feng was no longer at the 5th Level of Qi Condensation. He had officially reached the 6th Level.
The difference between the 5th and 6th Level was like the difference between a small pond and a massive lake. At the 6th Level, a cultivator's Qi became incredibly thick. Their magic spells became twice as large and ten times as deadly. In the entire Outer Sect, there was not a single person at the 6th Level. It was a level reserved for the elite Inner Sect.
But Zhao Feng had hidden his new power. He wore a special silver ring on his finger—a Shadow Ring. The ring masked his true aura, making him still look and feel like a 5th Level cultivator. He had planned to hide his power until the very final match, to shock everyone and guarantee his victory.
Now, he realized he would use it to crush this grey-skinned freak.
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Chapter 47
The sun began to set behind the high peaks of the Azure Sword Sect. The sky turned a deep, dark red. The clouds looked like thick bruises bleeding into the evening air. Long, dark shadows stretched across the massive stone arena. The bright, warm light of the morning was completely gone. It was the perfect setting for a Life and Death match. The sky itself looked like it was preparing for a bloodbath. Thousands of disciples sat perfectly still on the high stone steps. They did not cheer. They did not whisper. They did not even move. The giant wooden drums in the corners of the courtyard were completely silent. In the center of the broken, melted stone stage stood Li Chen. He was as still as a stone statue. His long, black leather Enforcer coat blew softly in the cold evening wind. His dull, grey metallic skin caught the red light of the dying sun. He looked exactly like a demon standing in a pool of blood. He had not moved from that spot since he defeated Meng. He just waited. He
Chapter 46
Because Li Chen had infused the devouring dark Qi directly into the open air, the tiny black void on his knuckles kept eating. It could not stop. Having consumed the magical shield, the dark Qi violently consumed the closest available energy. It consumed the oxygen. In a fraction of a second, the dark Qi on Li Chen's fist sucked all the air out of the space immediately surrounding Meng. It created a perfect, localized vacuum. A space with absolutely zero air formed in a five-foot circle around Meng. Meng’s confident smile instantly vanished. Li Chen’s fist stopped moving. He did not even touch Meng's actual body. He just held his fist in the air, a few inches away from Meng’s face. Inside the vacuum, Meng suddenly felt an unbearable, terrifying pressure difference. The air inside Meng's own lungs was violently, forcibly sucked up through his throat and ripped out of his mouth to fill the empty void created by the dark Qi. "G-ghhk..." Meng choked. He grabbed his own throat wit
Chapter 45
The Sect Leader shivered. He nodded slowly and stepped off the stage. The old referee, shaking with fear, walked back to the center of the arena. He cleared his throat loudly. "The Semi-Final match will now begin!" the referee announced. "Li Chen... versus Meng!"The crowd suddenly erupted into loud, excited cheers again. "Meng! It is Iron-Mountain Meng!""He is a top-3 disciple! He is at the peak of the 5th Level!""Meng has the absolute best defense in the entire Outer Sect! Even Inner Sect disciples have trouble breaking his shield!"From the other side of the arena, a giant figure walked slowly up the stone steps. It was Meng. He was incredibly tall and wide, built like a walking fortress. He wore heavy, thick brown armor made of special magical leather. His face was square and hard. He carried no weapon. His body was his weapon. Meng stepped onto the broken, melted stone of the stage. He looked at the spot where Li Chen had just eaten Zhao Feng’s fire. Meng did not look sc
Chapter 44
Li Chen threw his Void Shattering Fist directly into the massive, roaring wave of bloody fire. The crowd outside the red Blood Barrier screamed, expecting Li Chen to be instantly melted into a pile of grey ash. The Blood Demon Firestorm was a 6th Level magical attack. It was so hot that the stone floor of the arena was turning into bubbling orange lava. But the moment Li Chen’s fist touched the dark red flames, the impossible happened. Li Chen did not burn. Instead, the terrifying, ancient black Qi wrapping his fist acted like the open mouth of a starving god. WHOOSH! The massive tsunami of bloody fire did not explode. It did not push Li Chen backward. It was violently, instantly sucked into the pitch-black void surrounding his hand. The Primordial Chaos Root swallowed the deadly 6th Level magic as if it were a tiny, weak candle flame. In less than a single second, the entire stage was completely clear of fire. The heat vanished. The blinding red light disappeared. Only Li Chen
Chapter 43
The thousands of disciples in the crowd went completely wild. They cheered, they screamed, they stomped their feet. The noise was like a roaring thunderhead. Inside the red barrier, the noise was muffled. It was surprisingly quiet. Zhao Feng looked at Li Chen. The arrogant smile on his face grew wider. He raised his left hand. On his finger, the silver Shadow Ring glowed slightly. "You think you are strong, Li Chen," Zhao Feng said, his voice echoing in the red dome. "You think because you beat a few weak 5th Level disciples, you can beat me. You think we are on the same level."Zhao Feng reached over with his right hand. He grabbed the silver ring. "You are just a frog in a well, looking up at the sky," Zhao Feng mocked. "Today, I will show you how massive the sky truly is. I will show you the power of a god!"Zhao Feng pulled the silver ring off his finger and threw it onto the stone floor. BOOM! The moment the ring left his body, the disguise was broken. A massive, terrifyi
Chapter 42
"Li Chen thinks he is strong because no one can cut his skin," Zhao Feng thought to himself, staring at Li Chen across the quiet stage. "But physical strength has a limit. When I unleash the full power of the 6th Level, I will summon a fire so hot it will boil the blood inside his veins. His iron skin will become a metal oven, cooking his organs alive. He will scream, and I will laugh."Zhao Feng’s arrogance returned completely. The unsettled feeling vanished. He was a 6th Level master. He was a dragon. Li Chen was just a stubborn insect that needed to be stepped on a second time. "You are very quiet, little rat," Zhao Feng mocked, breaking the silence on the stage. Li Chen did not look up from the floor. He was slowly, carefully picking up the broken pieces of his mother’s dark green jade pendant. "Are you praying to your dead mother?" Zhao Feng laughed. It was a cruel, loud sound. "Do you think she can help you? I heard she was crying when the killers cut her down."Li Chen stopp
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