Victory? Defeat?

Lu Yun's robes were torn to shreds; it seemed he had not completely blocked that earlier attack either. Likewise, he had never imagined that an obscure nobody could activate the Spirit Ruins Apocalypse state so effortlessly! Glancing at the notched blade of his sword, his gaze turned inscrutable as he looked toward Cao Yan's savagely styled gauntlets. As Lu Yun stood proudly, a glowing spiritual sigil suddenly manifested between his brows. As the sigil burned away and dispersed, the aura radiating from him surged and grew ever more formidable. Li Guanqi's heart tightened. It seemed this was another technique used among the Ancient Clans to conceal strength. Even though Lu Yun could only achieve Soul Release with his sword ruins artifact, his prowess was still not to be underestimated. *Boom!* The sword intent of a peak Sword Gall Realm cultivator surged skyward! Lu Yun's tattered robes snapped in the wind, his eyes blazing with ferocious battle intent as he stared down Cao Yan. "Cao Yan, was it? I will remember your name." Hearing this, Cao Yan sneered, "Don't worry, I'll carve yours onto a tombstone!" *Boom!* The Dao platform trembled faintly as Lu Yun, eyes razor-sharp, teleported directly behind Cao Yan. Cao Yan knew the man had arrived, yet the rampant demonic qi thrashing within his body left him no spare attention to react properly. He could only raise his arms to block with the raw strength of his gauntlets. *Thud!* This time, it was Cao Yan's turn to slam into the Dao platform. Li Guanqi sprang to his feet, stepping forward abruptly! Leaping into midair, Lu Yun swung his longsword relentlessly toward the platform below! A violent tempest of dazzling sword qi poured downward like a torrential rainstorm. In an instant, the Dao platform's blue flagstones exploded into flying shards as furious sword light cascaded like a golden river. Everyone's heartstrings snapped taut at that moment. Even Li Guanqi clenched his fists, his eyes locked intently on the situation upon the stage. Dust and smoke billowed to the heavens. Lu Wuhen's eyes didn't flicker in the slightest as he watched; it was as if everything had fallen squarely within his expectations. Lu Wuhen chuckled softly, "It's won." Lu Yun was slashing with virtually all his might. The sword qi he unleashed was no ordinary volley, but the continuous, explosive discharge of an entire sword art. Lu Kangnian's eyes were bloodshot. Unlike the others, his drumsticks never faltered. The earthshaking thunder of the war drums seemed ready to upend the firmament, ringing like great bronze bells in everyone's ears. Though he spoke no words, he showed not the slightest hesitation. Li Guanqi was the same. He refused to believe that mere berserk demonic qi inside Cao Yan's body would cause him to fall so completely! "Third Brother!" *Boom!* An indescribable pressure suddenly erupted. Amidst the swirling dust and smoke, the crowd could gradually hear the rapid, chaotic clashing of metal. Sparks of deep azure flame emerged. A blood-soaked figure stood in the crater, swinging his fists like an impenetrable iron wall. Facing the dense canopy of sword light bearing down on him, Cao Yan's eyes were crimson as he hammered his fists with everything he had! Gradually, the crowd realized that the river of cascading sword light was actually being pushed back by the sky full of fist shadows! In its Apocalypse state, the Blood-Sworn Gauntlets radiated blinding brilliance. Cao Yan's frenzied fighting will resonated with the ruins artifact. The weaker the wielder's resolve, the fainter the will the ruins artifact sensed. The more unyielding the wielder, the more the power unleashed by the ruins artifact would defy imagination! The gauntlets burned like two scorching clusters of blue fire, blasting apart the raging sword light punch by punch. Stray sword qi carved ravines into the surrounding platform. Cao Yan's hair was disheveled, his face smeared with blood, his entire body crisscrossed with cuts from the sword light. Yet he stepped upon empty air, striding upward toward the sky step by step! His fists threw out countless afterimages, his gaze steadfast. Cao Yan threw back his head and laughed, roaring as he struck: "I, Cao Yan, was born to tragedy and lived in bitter hardship! "Had my Eldest Brother not risked his life to save me back then, my soul would have returned to Heaven and Earth long ago! "Now... let me, Cao Yan, use these iron fists to smash the cage of my past and laugh proudly across the Nine Heavens!" *Thump! Crack!* Hearing this, the drumsticks in Lu Kangnian's hands suddenly shattered. Yet he merely cast them aside, clenching his bare fists and madly pounding the war drum before him! "Hahahahaha! Good lad! Don't fear defeat! My Great Xia Sword Sect can afford to lose! Hahahaha! Kill him for me!" *Thump, thump, thump, thump! Clack! Thump, thump!* Lu Kangnian laughed uproariously, utterly ecstatic and mad. Li Guanqi swore he had never seen Lu Kangnian like this. Looking at the man drumming with wild abandon using his bare fists, Li Guanqi felt dazed for a fleeting moment. If not for the Great Xia Sword Sect, if he were not the sect master... Perhaps... among the mortal realms of six desires, there would have been one more carefree, unfettered sword immortal. Lu Yun panicked. He had never expected his opponent's willpower to be so formidable. Cao Yan had clearly taken over a dozen slashes of his sword qi at the very beginning. How could he still be throwing punches and fighting back with such desperate fury?! Panic flashed across Lu Yun's eyes as he swung his sword frantically. "Die, die, die! Die for me! "You could have just surrendered! Why fight so desperately?!" Lu Yun's roars echoed across the sky. Everyone could see Cao Yan covered in sword wounds. His mangled flesh was peeled open to the bone; anyone else would have passed out long ago. Yet facing the deluge of sword light, the youth advanced like a warrior braving a raging current, throwing punches with all his might even when his arms were drained of strength. Every blast of fist astral was wrapped in an overpowering fist momentum, and the erupting flames scorched the heavens. Cao Yan gave no answer, only a goofy grin—just like back when Ye Feng had called him Big Head. As the distance between the two shrank, everyone's hearts leapt into their throats. Cao Yan abruptly pulled back his fists, letting sword light graze his body, tossing up plumes of blood mist and shaving away his flesh. *Whoosh...* "Blood-Sworn Solitary Sun: Ten Thousand Mountains!" At that moment, an aura as heavy and vast as a mountain range erupted from Cao Yan's body. And he finally revealed his fist intent—the heart of someone determined to become truly strong! That was why he feared no one; even knowing he was outmatched, he still dared to throw his punch forward. *Boom!* The moment this intent emerged, the pressure choked Lu Yun's chest. The void within a hundred zhang of Cao Yan seemed to freeze. The fist momentum shook the heavens as a blue fist shadow spanning a full hundred zhang blasted toward Lu Yun! With this punch, Cao Yan gave everything—it was do or die. Yet just as Cao Yan's fist momentum reached its peak... His expression suddenly shifted, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood, his momentum faltering... Lu Yun was also completely exhausted by this point, the primal energy inside him virtually depleted. The instant he sharply sensed that falter, cold light glinted in his eyes. Facing the oncoming Cao Yan, he had nowhere to run and no way to dodge this strike. "I cannot lose! I cannot! "Defying Heaven Mad Slaughter Slash!" Gripping his sword with both hands, he bit down and crushed the Spirit Burst Pill hidden in his teeth, forcibly rallying all his power into one desperate, two-handed strike! *Boom! Crack, crack, crack!* The sword in his hands suddenly shattered. Under the intense clash against the gauntlets, it had reached its absolute limit long ago. As he swung, the blade fractured inch by inch, leaving only a palm's length of jagged metal attached to the hilt. *Boom!* Cao Yan gritted his teeth and drove his fist forward, but his mountain-like momentum had cracked at the crucial moment when the demonic qi within him rampaged. Sensing this opening, Lu Yun shifted his sword light, triggering a colossal explosion. The shockwave shook the entire Dao platform, sending ripples cascading across the barrier formation. Amid the raging turbulence of primal energy, no one could tell what was happening—yet Li Guanqi saw a staggering figure tumble toward the distance! "Third Brother..." Cao Yan's eyes were glassy, unfocused. His injuries were catastrophic. From severe blood loss, his face was as pale as paper. The blood seeping from his wounds was a murky purplish-black, writhing strangely with thread-like black strands. Yet Cao Yan knew nothing of this. Only a single thought remained in his mind: *Win!* Half of Lu Yun's body hung limp like mud as he lay on the ground, his consciousness fading. Suddenly! A cold, hard fist slammed into his face. *Bang!* The entire left side of Lu Yun's body felt like mush, and his left eyeball had been violently blown apart. Through his blurred vision, he saw a man who looked like a vicious ghost. Hair disheveled, the man was straddling him, swinging his fists like a madman. By sheer instinct, Lu Yun gripped the hilt in his hand and plunged it viciously into the man's flank! *Squelch!* *Bang!* Stung by the searing pain, both men regained a sliver of clarity, their remaining consciousness registering that their opponent had not yet fallen. Cao Yan straddled him and rained down punches; in just two blows, he beat Lu Yun into a bloody pulp. Yet Lu Yun ruthlessly stabbed Cao Yan over a dozen times with the broken blade! Lu Yun drove a knee strike into Cao Yan, knocking him back, and wobbled to his feet. Instantly, his hair was grabbed, and fist after fist smashed into him! Their movements on stage were clumsy. They bore no resemblance to peerless masters; they were like two street thugs brawling in the dirt. His mouth overflowing with blood, Cao Yan's eyes were bloodshot and vacant as he numbly pounded his fists again and again. Lu Yun was in no better state. He spat out mouthfuls of blood and broken teeth, a chunk of his scalp torn away by Cao Yan. He stabbed Cao Yan repeatedly with the broken sword, every thrust accompanied by the cracking sound of fractured bones. Cao Yan's left ribs were mangled and shattered. As the two dragged their bodies across the stage, every step left vast pools of blood. In the end, both were kept upright purely by sheer willpower. *Plop! Plop!* Both collapsed to their knees, yet each kept a death grip on the other, refusing to let go... Finally... the blood pouring from Cao Yan's mouth turned pitch black, and his arms would rise no more. With the last shred of his fading awareness, Lu Yun raised the broken blade to plunge it into Cao Yan's ear. Li Guanqi closed his eyes in agony and roared: "Enough! We... concede!!"